A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time, Part 12

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885. dn
Publication date: 1860
Publisher: Albany : Munsell & Rowland
Number of Pages: 422


USA > New York > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time > Part 12


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1 Samuel Henry Beach of Catskill, and Robert Wm. Dodge of Gouverneur, son of the Hon. Edwin Dodge.


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spot.1 Suchard came over in 1845, and after two days spent in personal exploration and conversation with settlers, this ardent and credulous adventurer returned and in the winter following, organized a company with a capital of 300,000 francs, for the purchase of the tract, and erection of an iron furnace.2


Charles Favarger was sent over to conduct operations, receiving a salary at first, and promised eventually an in- terest in the enterprise. He selected a site on the lot 886, on the outlet of Bonaparte lake, and began the erection of a furnace, giving the location the name of Alpina. Mr. F. was not a practical iron master, but the furnace which he erected was of superior construction, and after an expend- iture greatly exceeding the estimates, it was got in opera- tion in the spring of 1848, at a cost of $20,000. The local supply of ore proved insufficient3 and it was obtained from the Kearney and other mines in St. Lawrence co. After running two blasts with hot air, making from two to five tons per day, the company failed. By F.'s contract with Burnand, he was to have a deed of 1000 acres whenever he had paid $1000, and under this arrangement 17,000 acres had been conveyed at the time of the assignment.


Frederick de Freudenrich, to secure his own interests and those of his nephew, the Count de Portalis, in this Swiss company, bought the property of the assignee, and by care- ful management secured both without loss. The stock remaining at the furnace was worked up by Sterling, under an agreement with Freudenrich.


The furnace and its dependencies, with a large tract of land, passed into the hands of Z. H. Benton of Ox Bow, Jeff. co., who, on the 6th of June, with his associates, or- ganized the St. Regis Mining Co. with $1,000,000 capital, in shares of $10 each. The parties named in the articles were Thomas Morton, John Stanton, Lyman W. Gilbert, Wm. Hickok and Albert G. Allen, and they stipulated the right to work mines in various towns of St. Lawrence, Jef- ferson and Lewis counties. It is needless to add that this scheme proved a failure, and that certain parties lost heavily by the speculation. We are not able to follow the


1 This lot afterwards proved to be chicfly swamp and lake. Burnand, when this was found, made a satisfactory change of other lands.


2 The company consisted of about twenty persons, and its capital was af- terwards doubled.


3 A few hundred tons of ore were obtained on the lands of the company and proved of good quality. About 1000 tons of iron were made under Favar- ger. Some poor sandy bog ores, obtained from the vicinity, were used as flux only.


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intricate management of this affair, or to state further, than that there is a prospect of a continuance of operations at the furnace. One blast has been run by Benton, two by Emmet, and one by Pahud, since the above company was formed. About 1853, Loveland Paddock of Watertown, and D. C. Judson of Ogdensburgh, became the owners of about 30,000 acres in this town, to secure certain interests growing out of the Alpina management, and are now the owners of most of the wild lands in great tract number 4. Their agent is Mr. Pahud of Harrisville.


There are four post offices in this town : Harrisville, Diana, Diana Centre and Sterlingbush.


In 1852, Prince Sulkowski of Belitz, a political exile from Polish Austria, became a resident of Harrisville. His uncle had been a general under Napoleon, and fell in the battle of the Pyramids. The subject of this notice, in the revo- lutions of 1848, became obnoxious to the government, but managed to reach America with his family, and to secure a small stipend from a once large estate. He removed to this section from the opportunities it offered in the pursuit of his favorite diversion, that of hunting, and perhaps from the number of families who could speak his native language. In 1856 he removed to Dayanville, and he has recently been restored to his hereditary titles and estates. About two years since some attention was called to this person from a report that he was to marry the infamous Lola Montez ; but the story, originating from parties in Europe who were interested in preventing his restoration to the royal favor, was easily refuted and had none of its intended effect.


There are at present no church edifices in Diana, except- ing an Irish Catholic chapel at Sterlingbush, begun in the fall of 1858 and still unfinished. The Methodists organized a class about 1830, and have since held meetings, more or less regularly, in, school houses. The Seventh Day Bap- tists organized a church of 11 members in 1846.


GREIG.


This town was formed from Watson under the name of Brantingham,1 March 1, 1828, and changed to its present name, Feb. 20, 1832. It is named from John Greig, who was born in Moffat, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, August 6, 1779.


1 Named from Thomas Hopper Brantingham of Phila., in whom the title of a large portion was, for a short time, vested. He is understood to have been an unsuccessful merchant. The letters of cotemporaries, allude to him as unworthy of trust and destitute of honor.


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His father was a lawyer, the factor of the earl of Hopeton, and a landholder, who ranked among the better class of Scotch farmers. He was educated in his native parish and at the high school in Edinburgh, and at the age of eighteen emigrated to America with John Johnstone, a Scotch gen- tleman who had previously been concerned in Mr. William- son's settlements in western New York. After spending a short time in New York and Albany he went to Canan- daigua in April, 1800, and became a law student at the office of Nathaniel W. Howell. In 1804 he was admitted to the bar, and becoming a partner with Judge Howell, con- tinued in the practice of his profession until the death of the latter in 1820. In 1806, upon the death of Mr. John- stone, he succeeded him as the agent of the Hornby and Colquhoun estate, and continued in that relation till his death. He was relieved of a portion of the duties of this trust, at his own request, in August, 1852, by the appointment of William Jeffrey as associate agent. In 1820 he became president of the Ontario bank, and held this office until the expiration of its charter in 1856. In 1841 he was elected to Congress, but resigned at the end of the first session, and during several of his later years he was one of the ma- nagers of the Western house of refuge. In 1825 he was chosen a regent of the university, and in 1851 he became vice chancellor of that board. He held many years the office of president of the Ontario county agricultural society, and was one of the founders and corporators of the Ontario female seminary. His death occurred at Canandaigua, April 9, 1858.


Through a long and active life, he discharged the duties en- trusted to him with an industry, method and success, which earned him the implicit confidence of his employers, while his indulgent kindness towards those who settled under him, is remembered with gratitude by hundreds of the pioneer families. Of his private life, the village paper, in an obituary notice, remarks :


" Mr. Greig, though sometimes drawn from home by necessary business relations and interests, was eminently domestic in his habits and predilections. His chosen en- joyment was found in the indulgence, amidst the treasures of his select and ample library, of a refined literary taste- in the cultivation and adornment of the grounds about his stately mansion-in the society of a numerous circle of per- sonal friends, and in the dispensation of a generous and tasteful, though unostentatious hospitality. Almost to the close of his life, nearly every stranger of distinction that


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visited the place, found a welcome and a home at his hos- pitable dwelling. Indeed, our beautiful village, owes much of its reputation abroad, for social courtesy and refinement, and for a frank and liberal hospitality, to him and his ge- nerous hearted and worthy lady."


The first town meeting in this town was held at the house of Dr. Simon Goodell, at which Mr. Goodell was chosen supervisor; Joshua Harris, clerk; Jedediah Plumb, George Pinney and Henry Harris, assessors; Gilbert Ford and Ezbon Pringle, overseers of poor; Johannes Saut, Simeon N. Garratt and Otis Munn, coms. of highways; Henry Harris, collector: Henry Harris and Daniel T. Seares, constables; Wm. Parkes, Jedediah S. Plumb and John R. Myers, commis. of schools; S. Goodell, E. Pringle and G. Pinney, school inspectors; John Fisher, D. T. Sears and Milo Clark, fence viewers; John W. Southwick, Chancy Carroll and Judah Barnes, pound mas- ters.


Supervisors .- 1828, Simon Goodell ; 1829-33, Joshua Har- ris ; 1834-6,Wm. Dominick ; 1837-9, Aaron Perkins ; 1840-3, Francis Seger ; 1844, Wm. Dominick ; 1845, John I. Domi- nick ; 1846, Dean S. Howard ; 1847-8, David Higby ; 1849-50, Lyman R. Lyon; 1851, Aaron Perkins; 1852, J. I. Dominick ; 1853-4, Adam Deitz ; 1855-6, Thomas Rogers ; 1857-9, Henry S. Shedd ; 1860, Francis Seger.


Clerks .- 1828, Joshua Harris ; 1829-33, Henry Harris ; 1834, Joseph Atkins ; 1835, Geo. W. Sharpe ; 1836-8, Adam Deitz ; 1839-40, H. Harris; 1841-4, J. Harris; 1845-7, A. Deitz ; 1848-9, H. Harris; 1850, Aaron Perkins; 1851, Adam Shell ; 1852, Asa Beals ; 1853-4, Chauncey Munson ; 1855-6, Seymour Benedict ; 1857-8, James Springsteed, jr .; 1859, Emmet Harris.


This town has since 1832 voted money annually for the support of ferries across Black river, upon the condition that town's people should go free. The towns of Martins- burgh and Turin have, during several years, united in the support of these ferries. The first bridge from this town to the west side was the Davis bridge, first built in 1820 by Caleb Lyon, and since twice rebuilt by the towns. It is two miles above the High falls. Port Leyden bridge was first built in 1823, by the towns. A bridge from the point between Moose and Black river to the west side, was built by C. Lyon in 1824, and lasted three or four years. A bridge was built opposite Turin village in 1824-5 by the towns but did not last long, and the travel has since been supplied by a ferry. A bridge was first built over the High


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falls in 1836, and rebuilt in 1842.1 In 1849 a new bridge was built at the junction of Moose and Black river, so as to accommodate both sides of Moose river.2


A bridge at Tiffany's landing was built in 18463 by this town and Martinsburgh, and maintained until it was cut away by the state authorities in 1854, as obstructing the navigation. A ferry had existed several years before at this place, and has supplied the place of a bridge since the removal of the latter. Two bridges have been authorized to be built at the expense of the state, between the falls and Watson bridge, and the decision of their location will have probably been made before this volume is in the hands of readers. Concerning the upper one of these, there has been an active controversy between those advocating its location at the steamboat dock at Lyon's falls, and those who wish to have it constructed opposite Turin village, at or near the present ferry. A bridge has been recently built across the Black river, one mile below the Oneida county line at Hulbert's saw mill.


The first location by actual settlers was made just below the High falls in 1794, by the French, and their colony re- ceived from time to time accessions in number but not in strength. It may be questioned whether any number of tradesmen, jewelers and barbers from Paris could form a flourishing establishment in this wild wooded country, with- out a long previous course of misspent labor and fruitless expense ; for of what avail is industry when applied, as it was here, from dawn till twilight, in clearing land with a pruning hook ? or of what use was money, but to purchase provisions and other necessaries of life, which could be ob- tained much cheaper in cities. These tender exotics from sunny France soon found the privations of the northern wilderness beyond their capacity of endurance and quickly began to drop off and return to New York, from whence numbers went back to their native country, wiser and poorer from the bitter lessons which experience had taught.


A romantic account of this settlement, under date of Sept. 9, 1800, appears in the appendix of an anonymous


1 Act of April 12, 1842, allowing the question of tax upon West Turin, for this object, to be submitted to a town vote.


2 The town of Greig was authorized by the supervisors Nov. 15, 1849, to borrow $1,000 for this purpose, which was done.


3 Act of May 12, 1846, allowing $400 to be taxed on Greig, and $300 upon Martinsburgh.


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work published in Paris in 1801, from which we here offer several extracts :1


An event, as unfortunate as unexpected, has much hindered the prosperity of this colony. The death of a young man of much talent, whom the Castorland company had sent from Paris, to render a wild and hitherto unknown country fit to favor the re- union of a new born society, to divide the lands, open roads, begin the first labors, built bridges and mills, and invent machines, where man is so rare. A victim of his zeal, in taking the level of a bend of the river, he perished in trying to cross above the great falls. His comrades so unfortunate as not to be able to assist him, have collected the details of this disastrous event in a paper, which I have been unable to read without emotion and which I send.


Our rivers abound in fish, and our brooks in trout. I have seen two men take 72 in a day. Of all the colonies of beavers, which inhabited this country and raised so many dams, only a few scattering families remain. We have destroyed these com- munities, images of happiness, in whose midst reigned the most perfect order, peace and wisdom, foresight and industry. Wolves, more cunning and warlike than the former, live at our expense, and as yet escape our deadly lead. It is the same with the original elk. It is only seen in this part of the state, and our hunters will soon make it disappear, for you know, that wherever man establishes himself, this tyrant must reign alone. Among the birds we have the pheasant, drumming partridge, wild pigeon, different kinds of ducks, geese, and wild turkey, &c. Our chief place, situated on the banks of the pretty Bea- ver river, and from thence so appropriately named Castorville, begins to grow. It is still only, as you may justly think, but a cluster of primitive dwellings, but still it contains several families of mechanics, of which new colonies have so frequent need. Several stores, situated in favorable places, begin to have business. The Canadians, on the right bank of the river, come thither to buy the goods which they need, as well as sugar and rum, which, from the duties being less at our ports than at Quebec, are cheaper with us than with them. The vicinity of these French settlements are very useful to us, in many respects. Cattle are cheaper than with us, as well as manual labor. Such are the causes of communication between the inhabitants of the two sides, that it is impossible for the English government to prevent it. * * Among our families we have some, who, driven from their country by fear and tyranny, have sought in this an asylum of peace and


1 The article is translated in full, in the Hist. of Jefferson Co., p. 52-55. The work is in three volumes, and purported to be from a manuscript cast ashore on the coast of Denmark, from the wreck of the ship Morning Star. The authority of this letter is unknown, but that of the work is known to be J. Hector Saint John de Crevecœur.


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liberty, rather than wealth, and at least of security and sweet repose. One of these, established on the banks of Rose creek, came from St. Domingo, where he owned a considerable plan- tation, and has evinced a degree of perseverance, worthy of admiration. One of the proprietors1 has a daughter as in- teresting by her figure as by her industry, who adds at the same time to the economy of the household, the charms or rather the happiness of their life. Another yet is an officer, of cultivated mind, sprightly and original ; who, born in the burning climate of India, finds his health here strengthened. He superintends the clearing of a tract of 1200 acres, which two sisters, French ladies, have entrusted to him, and to which he has given the name of Sister's Grove. He has already cleared more than 100 acres, erected a durable house, and enclosed a garden in which he labors with an assiduity, truly edifying. He has two Cana- dians, whose ancestors were originally from the same province with himself. Far from his country, the most trifling events become at times a cause of fellow feeling, of which those who have never felt it, can have no idea. As for cattle, those raised that only bring $9 a pair, at the end of the year, are worth $70 when they are four years old. Fat cattle, which commonly weigh 700 to 900 lbs., sell at the rate of $5 per hundred. Of swine, living almost always in the woods, the settler can have as many as he can fatten in the fall. It should not be omitted to give them from time to time an ear of corn each, to attach them to the clearing, and prevent them from becoming wild, for then there is no mastering their wills, for they pining for their wandering life will not fatten on whatever is given them. But- ter is as dear with us as in old settled countries, and sells for a shilling a pound. * * * I have placed your habitation not far from the great falls, but far enough distant not to be incom- moded by the noise, or rather uproar which they make in falling three different stages. The picturesque view of the chain of rocks over which the waters plunge, their tumultuous commo- tion, the natural meadows in the vicinity, the noble forests which bound the horizon, the establishments on the opposite bank, the passage of travelers who arrive at the ferry I have formed, all contribute to render the location very interesting, and it will become more so when cultivation, industry and time, shall have embellished this district, still so rustic and wild, and so far from resembling the groves of Thessalia. The house is solid and commodious, and the garden and farm yards well en- closed.


I have placed a French family over the store and am well pleased with them. I think, however, they will return to France, where the new government has at length banished in- justice, violence and crime, and replaced them by the reign of reason, clemency and law. The fishery of the great lake (On-


1 St. Michel, noticed in our account of Croghan.


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tario) in which I am concerned, furnishes me an abundance of shad, 1 salmon and herring, and more than I want. What more can I say ? I want nothing but hands. You who live in a country where there are so many useless hands and whose la- bors are so little productive there, why don't you send us some hundreds of those men ? The void they would occasion would be imperceptible; here they would fill spaces that need to be animated and enlivened by their presence. What conquest would they not achieve in ten years ! and what a difference in their lot ! Soon they would become freeholders and respecta- ble heads of families. The other day a young Frenchman, my neighbor, seven miles distant, and established some years upon the bank of the river, said to me: "If it is happy to enjoy repose, the fruit of one's labors and ease after having escaped the perils of the revolution, how much more so to have a partner of these enjoyments ? I am expecting a friend, a brother; it is one of those blessings which nature alone can bestow. What pleasure shall I not enjoy in pointing out to him the traces of my first labors and in making him count the successive epochs of their progress and the stages of my pros- perity, but above all to prove to him that his memory has been ever present to me. The objects which surround me I will tell him are witnesses to the truth of this: this hill upon the right, covered with sombre pines, is designated upon my map under the name of Hippolites Absence, the creek which traverses my meadow under that of Brothers Creek, the old oak which I have left standing at the forks of the two roads, one of which leads to my house and the other to the river, Union Oak, the place of my house Blooming Slope. Soon he will arrive from St. Domingo, where Toussant L'Ouverture has allowed him to collect some wreck of our fortune."


The reminiscences of the French colony in this town have been made the subject of the following poem, written by Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale, entitled


LEWIS COUNTY IN THE OLDEN TIME. From the Evening Post.


In the lands of vines and olives, over three score years ago, Where the Bourbon Rulers perished in unutterable woe, Plans matured for emigration sanctioned were with revel gay, In saloons of la belle Paris, by the friends of Chassanais.


On an hundred thousand acres, never trod by feet of men, He had mapped out farms and vineyards, roads o'er precipice and glen, And, like scenes of an enchanter, rose a city wondrous fair, With its colleges, its churches, and its castles in the air.


1 White Fish.


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Then was struck a classic medal by this visionary band : Cybele was on the silver, and beneath was Castorland ; The reverse a tree of maple, yielding forth its precious store, Salve magna parens frugum was the legend that it bore.


O'er the Atlantic, up the Hudson, up the Mohawk's dreary wild, With his flock came Bishop Joulin, ever gentle as a child ;


Kind words of his dispelled their sorrows and their trials by the way,


As the darkness of the morning fades before the god of day.


By la Riviere de la Famine, ocean-tired and travel-sore, They up-reared a rustic altar, tapestried with mosses o'er ; Crucifix they set upon it where the oak tree's shadows fell


Lightly o'er the lighted tapers, 'mid the sweet Te Deum's swell.


Never Dominus Vobiscum, falling upon human ears, Made so many heart-strings quiver, filled so many eyes with tears. The Good Shepherd gave his blessing - even red men gathered there, Felt the sacrifice of Jesus in his first thanksgiving prayer.


After toils and many troubles, self-exile for many years, Long delays and sad misfortunes, men's regrets and women's tears, Unfulfill'd the brilliant outset, broken as a chain of sand,


Were the golden expectations by Grande Rapides' promised land.


Few among this generation little care how lived or died Those who fled from Revolution, spirits true and spirits tried ; Or of loves and lives all ended, orbs of hope forever set - These the poet and historian can not let the world forget.


Among the ruins of the French houses at the Falls, there have been found brick of a peculiar form and a light yellow color. If these were made in the locality, the source from whence they obtained the clay is well worth inquiry. If they were brought hither from a distance, the circumstance has scarcely less interest, especially since stone, well adapted for building, could be procured abundantly near the spot, and must have been noticed by the first explorers, had they been in the least degree observant.


The earliest criminal trial relating to this region, oc- curred in 1795, in the Herkimer court, at which D- C- - of Litchfield, was tried for stealing $1000 from a Frenchman at the Falls, and sent to state prison. In 1799, a white. man came in at the High falls from towards lake Champlain, stating that a negro in his company had died some miles back on the Beaver river road. From his having some property of the other, suspicions were raised that he had murdered him, and upon search the body was found at some distance from where it was reported, but so de- cayed that nothing could be ascertained. The fellow tra- veler was arrested, but released from want of evidence against him, and it was thought that the negro had arisen


Call Lyon


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from where he had been left, and come on some distance before lying down to die.


The first permanent settlement in this town was begun in 1819, under the agency of Caleb Lyon,1 although improve- ments had been made by John H. Dickinson, several bro-


1 Caleb Lyon was of Scottish ancestry, who removed to Hertfordshire, Eng., during the troubles of the Covenanters, and from thence to New England about 1680. He was a son of a captain in the Revolution. His grandmother was a daughter of Judge Sherburne of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and his mother was Margaret Hodges of the Island of Jamaica.


The name Caleb has been applied to the youngest son in this family through many generations. He was born at East Windsor, Ct., in 1761, and removed when a child to Greenfield, Mass. He entered at Harvard college, but did not graduate, and removed, about 1800, to western New York, where he settled as an agent in what is now Walworth, Wayne county. He was for several years engaged, in the winter months, in the manufacture of salt at Salina. He removed in 1810 to the mouth of Four Mile creek, now North Penfield, Monroe county, where he laid out a village, projected a harbor and formed a settlement, but the enterprise not succeeding, he removed to what is known as Carthage landing, on the Genesee, below Rochester. He there pur- chased 1000 acres, erected buildings, and in 1816 sold to several associates. Having been for some time an agent of the Pultney estate, and thus brought to the acquaintance of Mr. Greig, he undertook, in 1819, the agency of the Brantingham tract, in which that gentleman was concerned. In 1823 he set- tled at Lyonsdale, where he built a bridge in 1829, and a grist mill in 1830-1. There were but one or two settlers in town when he came on as agent. He was elected to the assembly of 1824, and took an earnest interest in the construc- tion of the Black River canal, but died before it was assumed as a state work. He was found dead in the woods, about a mile from the Davis Bridge, Sept. 15, 1835, having probably been stricken by apoplexy. Mr. Lyon was a fre- quent contributor to agricultural journals, especially to Fessenden's New Eng- land Farmer. His temperament was ardent and poetic, and his plans of business were pursued with an energy that allowed no common difficulty to prevent their accomplishment. He was the friend and correspondent of De Witt Clinton, and an enthusiastic friend of the great public improvements, brought forward under his administration. Mr. L. married Mary, daughter of Maj. Jean Pierre Du Pont, nephew and aid of Montcalm, last French com- mandant at Quebec.




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