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 14
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About 1831 ten German families settled in this town, and these have been followed by others, until the population of foreign birth equals half, and with their children, born in this country, considerably more than half of the whole population of the town. Of these Europeans, 376 were reported by the state census of 1855 as Germans, 171 French and 21 Swiss. They are divided between the Catho- lic, Lutheran and Reformed Protestant Dutch denomina- tions, in the relative order here named, and although they use their native languages at home, are mostly able to speak English with more or less facility, and the rising generation will learn to use it fluently. These foreigners are mostly an industrious, hardy and frugal people, obedient to the laws, and a large number of them naturalized citizens. The European settlement in this town was preceded by that in West Turin.
In 1841 a bridge was built over Fish creek, and a road opened from Lee, near the line of the old road of 1805, noticed in our account of Osceola. It led only to the line of township 13. The first deeds to actual settlers in this part of the town, were issued in May, 1840, amounting to 1,7464 acres, for $3,194.60. The bridge was swept off in the winter of 1842-3, and soon rebuilt, and in 1843 a mill was built by Mr. Herron.
Several branches of lumbering have been followed in this town, for which it appears to afford special facilities. About 1840, the manufacture of oars from white ash was begun and continued some seven years. The quantity is estimated at about 500,000 feet per annum, during that period, and the principal market was Boston. Whaling oars were sold in sets of seven, of which two were 14, two 15, two 16, and one 18 feet long. The price ranged about 6 cts. per foot, linear measure.
Of birdseye maple, Lewis county has, during twenty years, produced about 100,000 feet (board measure) annu- ally, mostly from this town, and the greater part sent off by Richardson T. Hough. Of this quantity, nine-tenths seeks an European market by way of New York. This accidental
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variety of the sugar maple is found somewhat common upon the range of highlands, extending from this town to Adams. It is estimated that two-thirds of all the timber of this variety, used in the world has, during the last twenty years, come from Lewis county; the market price depends upon the fashions of the day, with regard to styles of furniture, and prices range from $60 to $80 per M. ft., board measure. A mill for cutting veneers was formerly established, four miles west of West Leyden, but was burned in 1845. Of hoops, for oyster kegs, this town and Ava, in Oneida co., adjoining, produce about 4,000,000, averaging $2 per M., shaved and delivered, on the rail road. They are mostly used at Fairhaven and Cheshire, Ct. They are made of black ash and bought in a rough state by a few dealers who shave and forward them to market. Considerable quantities of hard-wood lumber, chiefly maple and birch, for flooring, turning, &c., are sent from this town.
West Leyden is the only post office in this town. The village of this name is located upon the Mohawk, here a moderately sized mill stream, and has a few shops, two saw mills, a grist mill, two inns, two churches and 170 inhabitants.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES .- Meetings were first held in 1804, by Justus Billings, a Presbyterian,1 at the house of John Put- nam. A Congregational church was formed in the summer of 1806, consisting of Josiah Dewey,2 Justus Billings, Cor- nelius Putnam, Solomon Washburn and their wives, Maj. Alpheus Pease, Widow Horton, Cyrus Brooks and a Mr. Wood and their wives, of whom the last four lived a mile east of Ava Corners, and the others in this town. This church erected a house of worship a mile north of West Leyden, many years after, and in February, 1826, it joined the Watertown Presbytery. The church has become nearly or quite extinct.
A Baptist church was formed May, 1829, with 14 mem- bers. Elders Marshall, Ashley and Salmon were present at the organization. A legal society was formed Sept. 9, 1837, with Winthrop Felshaw, Jonathan A. S. Pease and Nathan- iel Wadsworth, trustees, and a small plain church edifice has been erected. The Revs. - Burdick, Wm. Rice, R. Z. Williams, R. W. Chafa, D. D. Barnes and others, have preached here.
1 Died July 31, 1847, aged 80 years.
2 Died Jan. 14, 1838, aged 80 years. Mr. D. was one of the first deacons of this church.
Leyden. 121
The United German Lutheran and Reformed Congrega- tion of West Leyden, was formed Aug. 16, 1847, with Frederick Meyer, Frederick Schopper and Geo. Fries, trus- tees. It was formed of the German Lutheran and Reformed churches, and their new meeting house was to be called the Church of St. Paul. It was to remain a German house of worship, so long as the number of members of the congregation speaking the German language, was more than two. A law suit has occurred between the two sects, in which the Lutherans have gained the case, but the other party have designed to appeal. The Reformed Protestant Dutch church of West Leyden was formed Sept. 12, 1856, under the authority of the Cayuga classis, with John Boehrer, minister, Philip Rubel and Fred'k Meyer. Elders Fred'k Schaffer and Valentine Glesmann, deacons. Another united German Protestant, Lutheran and Reformed Congre- gation was formed Dec. 7, 1858, with Peter Wolf, Jacob Roser, Peter Kautser, George Trieps and Heinrich Roser, trustees.
LEYDEN.
This town was formed from Steuben,1 March 10, 1797, embracing besides Inman's Triangle, all of Lewis and Jef- ferson counties lying east and north of Black river. By the erection of Brownville in 1802, Boonville in 1805, Watson in 1821 and Lewis in 1852, it has been trimmed down to its present limits. It derived its name from the settlement made by Gerret Boon in Boonville, under the auspices of the Holland Land Company, whose members chiefly resided in Leyden, in Holland. In the division of the town, upon the erection of Lewis co., the old name was retained by a section to which it was not strictly applicable in order that Boon's name might be perpetuated in the christening of Boonville.
At the first town meeting held at the house of Andrew Edmonds (Boonville), April 4, 1797, Andrew Edmonds was chosen supervisor, John Stormes clerk, Asa Brayton, Jacob Rogers and Phineas Southwell assessors, Jared Top- ping and Levi Hillman constables and collectors, Bela Hubbard and Luke Fisher poor masters, Asa Lord, Reuben King and Elisha Randall com'rs of highways, Sheldon Johnson, Eliphalet Edmonds, Amasa King and Archelius Kingsbury, road masters,
1 Whitestown was formed March 7, 1788, embracing the whole of the state west of German Flats. Steuben and Mexico were formed April 10, 1792, em- bracing all of this county and a vast area north, south and west.
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Lilly Fisher, Asahel Hough and Timothy Burges, fence viewers, Charles Otis and Joshua Preston, pound masters.
Supervisors .- 1797-8, Andrew Edmonds ; 1799, Phineas Southwell; 1800, Asa Brayton ; 1801, P. Southwell ; 1802, A. Brayton ; 1803, Silas Southwell ; 1804, John Dewey ;1 1805, Peter Schuyler ; 1805 (Apr. 18), Lewis Smith ;2 1806-7, L. Smith ; 1808-10, James Hawley ; 1811, J. Dewey ; 1812- 16, Nathaniel Merriam ;3 1817, John Fish ; 1818-23, Stephen Spencer ;+ 1824-30, Michael Brooks ;5 1831, Amos Miller ;6 1832-3, Ezra Miller ; 1834-6, Isaac Parsons ; 1837-8, Allen Auger ;7 1839-42, Joseph Burnham ; 1843-4, Alfred Day ;8 1845-8, Thomas Baker ; 1849, Aaron Parsons ; 1850, T. Baker ; 1851, J. Burnham ; 1852-3, T. Baker ; 1854-6, Wm. J. Hall ; 1857-8, Wm. J. Olmstead ; 1859, Samuel Northum ; 1860, David Algur.
Clerks .- 1797-1803, John Stormes ; 1804, Aaron Willard; 1805-7, Stephen Butler ; 1808-9, David Higby; 1810, Benjamin Starr ; 1811-2, Augustus Chapman; 1813, D. Higby ; 1814-7, Stephen Spencer ; 1818-9, Martin Hart ; 1820-2, Allen Auger ; 1823, Samuel Northum, jr .; 1824-5, Parsons Talcott; 1826-33, A. Auger; 1834-9; Thomas Baker ; 1840-2, Lewis S. Auger; 1843-8, E. R. Johnson ; 1849, Alfred Day ; 1850-4, E. R. Johnson ; 1855, David Algur ; 1856-8, James M. Malcom; 1859, Chester J. Munn. The supervisors of Herkimer co. in 1797, allowed £17 .- 11.2 school money to this town, then a part of that county. A special town meeting was held June 17, 1797, to appoint school commissioners, and Luke Fisher, Eliashab Adams and Jacob Rogers, were chosen. This is the only money received in this region from the state school grants of 1795.
1 Born at Westfield, Jan. 20, 1754, served in the revolution, removed to Leyden in the spring of 1802, and died, Dec. 31, 1821.
2 Dea. Smith died May 21, 1841, aged 89 years. He was a soldier in the revolution.
3 Nathaniel Merriam was born in Wallingford, Ct., June 3, 1769, and in 1800 removed to Leyden and settled on a place partly new and the re- mainder first taken up by Asahel Hough. He continued to reside at this place until 1838, during many years as an inn-keeper when he removed to Indiana, but in 1846 he returned to this town. He died Aug. 19, 1847. In 1811, and 1820, he served in Assembly, and in 1815 he was appointed a county judge. He was widely known as an enterprising and public spirited citizen. His son Gen. Ela Merriam is elsewhere noticed. This family name occurs among the founders of Meriden, Ct., and has been till the present time a common and prominent one in that town.
4 Died, Sept. 24, 1851, aged 72 years.
5 Died, Feb. 1, 1841, azed 57 years.
6 Died, Oct. 2, 1840, aged 64 years.
7 Died, Oct. 6, 1839, aged 64 years.
8 Died, Nov. 17, 1849, aged 47 years.
Nathaniel Merriam
1
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In 1800, a special town meeting was held, for choosing per- sons to be appointed justices by the state council, and an- other, March 19, 1803, to choose two persons to a county convention, to nominate candidates for assembly. The delegates were Nathaniel Merriam and Samuel Snow. They were paid by the town, and present the only instance we have known, in which delegates were thus authorized and paid.
In 1801, John Storms, Lewis Smith and Eber L. Kelsey were appointed to petition for a division of the town. On the 10th of Jan., 1802, and Nov. 14, 1804, other attempts at division were voted. By the latter, it was proposed to divide the town (as was done the next year, on the erection of Lewis co.), the south part to retain the name of Leyden and the triangle and part east of the river Storrsburgh. On the 3d of Feb., 1804, Stephen Butler, Samuel Snow and Richard Coxe, were chosen delegates to a. convention to be held at Champion, Feb. 1st, to take measures for securing the division of Oneida co. On the 18th of Sept., 1802, Asa Lord, Job Fisk and Asa Brayton were delegated to attend a meeting at Lowville, to consult about procuring a road from Albany to Johnstown, and thence to the Black river and down to its mouth. This was the beginning of a movement that secured an appropriation for the state road through the valley.
In 1799, an unique resolution was passed to the effect, that if sleds of less than four feet track were found on the highway more than four miles from home, their owners were liable to a fine of $1, one half to go to the informant, and the remainder to the poor.
Bounties for the destruction of noxious animals have been voted as follows : For wolves, $10 in 1801, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11. For henhawks, 6 cts. in 1815; and for chip-squir- rels 2 cts. in 1806-7, if killed within one month after May 20.
This town is comprised within Inman's triangle, and in- cludes the whole of that tract excepting the acute angle taken off in the erection of Lewis in 1852. This was in some early documents erroneously named "Storr's Patent," and its south line running N. 68° E., is supposed to have been the earliest one surveyed in the county. The eastern part comprising its principal area, was surveyed into 126 lots by Wm. and Jas. Cockburn of Poughkeepsie, and the western angle into 28 lots, by Broughton White. The latter is called the "New Survey " and with the exception of the first five lots is now included in the town of Lewis.
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On the 5th of June, 1792, Patrick Colquhoun, high sheriff of London, purchased from his friend Win. Constable this tract of 25,000 acres, at one shilling sterling per acre, and from his friendship to William Inman, interested him in a share of 4000 acres at the original cost ; and as the purcha- ser was an alien, and therefore incapable of holding lands in America, he caused the whole to be conveyed in the name of Inman, in trust, and made him agent for the sale and settlement of the tract.1 A few of the early settlers in this town received their titles directly from Inman, among whom were Ebenezer Coe, Wm. Bingham, Jared Topping, Thomas Brayton and Asa Lord.2
Late in 1793 Mr. Inman returned to England, and through his representations, Mr. Colquhoun was induced to under- take the purchase of what is now known as the Branting- ham tract, of which he was entrusted the agency. He sold most of the 25,000 acre tract in February, 1794, and in the sequel his principals found reason to sincerely regret their connection with him. It would be unpleasant to specify details, and it is sufficient to know that Mr. Inman is not
1 Wm. Inman was allowed to hold lands in this state by an act of March 27, 1794. He was a native of Somersetshire, Eng., and in early life was a clerk of Lord Pultney. He first sailed to America, March 13, 1792, and ar- rived in June. He soon after was entrusted with the interests of certain Europeans, prominent among whom was Patrick Colquhoun, and took up his residence in Whitestown, not far from the present lunatic asylum, in Utica. He was many years resident in Oneida county, and became exten- sively concerned in land speculations in and near Utica, where he was engaged in a brewery. He was afterwards a merchant in New York, where he met with heavy reverses. About 1825 he came to Leyden, where he died Feb. 14, 1843, aged 81 years. His wife Sarah died in Leyden, July 24, 1829, aged 56 years. Their sons were William, John, Henry and Charles.
William Inman, the eldest son, resided formerly in Leyden, entered the navy Jan. 1, 1812, and became a commander May 24, 1838. He is at present (1860) in the African fleet.
John Inman was educated to the law, but turned his attention to literature, was connected with the N. Y. Mirror, and soon after, with Col. Stone, engaged as editor of the Commercial Advertiser, of which, in 1847 he became principal editor. He conducted for some time the Columbian Magazine, and died at New York, Aug. 30, 1850, aged 47 years.
Henry Inman early evinced a great talent for painting, and at the age of 15, painted his father's portrait, which is still preserved. He became one of the most eminent of historical and portrait painters, and died at New York, Jan., 1846, aged 45 years. He never resided in this county, but was an occasional visitor.
Charles Inman, a cabinet maker, died in Cincinnati.
2 Topping received a deed of 139 acres, lot 60, Oct. 28, 1795, for £128. Brayton's deed of 1004 acres, was dated July 2, 1797. Coe's deed for lot 88, 1524 acres, is dated June 12, 1795, and was given by Arthur Breese, attorney for Inman ( Oneida Deeds, iii., 39) .. Others were less fortunate, and some were required to make second payment by a transfer of the titles by Inman, before their deeds were made out or their payments completed.
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one of those to whom the town owes a grateful recollec- tion.
The purchasers were Lemuel Storrs and Joshua Stow1 of Middletown, Ct., with whom Thomas and Abel Lyman of Durham, Ct., and Silas Stow, held a small interest ; and sales were made by these, as joint proprietors, a few years. Inman reserved a few lots.2 After the division of the joint estate, Ezra Miller became an agent of Stow. Henry Champion, S. W. Dana, Zenas Parsons of Springfield, Mass.,3 and others subsequently owned portions of the town before actual settlement.
Great lot No. 7, upon Black river, containing 620 acres, was reserved for a town plot, and the first road traced from from fort Stanwix, led obliquely down to the river at this place, but it was never laid out or traveled. The water power of this point was supposed to offer a chance for important manufactories. Storrs and Stow owed a large sum to the Connecticut school fund, and an act was passed for receiving lands in this town for security. C. C. Brod- head of Utica, was appointed appraiser, and the price set upon them, being considered too high, they long remained unsold, and finally proved a heavy loss to the fund for which they were pledged. In 1835 an act was passed by that state, providing for the conveyance of lands in this state, and they have since been sold.
Settlement was first made in this town and county by William Topping,4 who emigrated from Meriden, Ct., early in 1794, with an ox team and his household, consisting of his wife, a son aged seven years, and a girl aged five years. They were two weeks in reaching Whitestown, and turning northward into the wilderness, pursued their course through tangled underbrush and around fallen logs, to the far off tract where they hoped to find a home. The wife assisted in driving the team, while the husband went on before, with axe in hand, to clear the way. After laying by one day to nurse a sick child, they at length reached lot 60 and
1 Storrs died in Middletown city, and Stow died in Middlefield, about five miles from Middletown, Oct. 9, 1842, aged 81. He was many years post master at Middletown, and had been chief judge of the Middlesex county county court, state senator, &c.
2 Among these were lots 3, 4, 5 and 6, sold to John I. Glover of New York ; 78, 79, sold to Hugh White of Whitestown ; 91, 92, sold to David Lyman of Middletown, and perhaps others.
3 Mr. Parsons owned lots 104, 105, 112, 113, 119, which were sold by Jona- than Collins. He is said to have been killed by the Indians upon the Ohio river.
4 Wm. Topping died Sept. 17, 1840, aged 76 years.
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selected a spot for shelter. They arrived late in April, and built a bark shanty by the side of a large log, with poles for the sides and a blanket for the door.
This pioneer home was on the east road, a little N. E. of Sugar river, where the road rises from the river flat, on land now owned by Robert Harvey and P. Owens. His neighbors to the south were many miles distant, and none were nearer than Canada to the north. Jared, his brother, came on in June to assist in building a log hut, and the first cabin was hardly finished when Wm. Dustin, Asa Lord,1 Bela Butterfield and others, came to settle in town. It is believed no families wintered here in 1794-5, besides Top- ping and Butterfield.2
In 1795, Allen Augur, and families named Olmstead, Adams, Bingham, Hinman, Miller and perhaps others came, and in 1796, David Brainerd Miller, Peter W. Aldrich, Eber Kelsey, Brainerd Coe and others. A road warrant dated May 23, 1797, has upon it the following names of tax payers in Dist. No. 5, viz : Asa Lord, Ezra E. C. Rice, Bela Hub- bard, Wm. Topping, Rodolphe Tillier, Jonathan Boardman, David B. Miller,3 David Miller,4 Calvin Miller, Jared Top- ping, Ezra Rice, Asahel Hough,5 Chandler Otis, Amos Miller, Brainerd Coe, Eben Wheeler, Asa Brayton, Elisha Randall, Paul Green, John Worden, Daniel Topping, John Barns, Ephraim Town, Joseph Buttolf, Jonathan Wheeler, Asher Holdridge, Edmund Newell, Jerden Ingham, Moses Warren, Thomas Stone, Eliasheb Adams, Lemuel Storrs, Nathaniel Dustin, Abel Lyman, Peter W. Aldrich, Samuel Douglass,6 John Allen, and 54 others in what is now Boon- ville.
The first birth in town was that of Jonathan, son of Wm. Topping, who died, aged 30 years. The birth occurred in June 1796.
The first death of an adult person in town was that of
1 Mr. Lord was born in Franklin, Ct., Oct. 6, 1767. He arrived here im- mediately after Topping, and built the first log house in the county, on Ley- den hill. He was brother of Thomas and Rufus L. Lord of New York, Eleazer Lord of Piermont, and Gurdon Lord of Leyden. He went to St. Lawrence county and was drowned April 9, 1818, with five others, at Madrid, N. Y., while attempting to cross his mill pond.
2 Mr. B. sold to the Talcotts and removed about six years after.
3 Died, March 19, 1833, aged 82 years.
4 Died, Feb. 8, 1859, aged 84 years.
5Sold to N. Merriam, and removed to Martinsburgh.
6 Died Feb. 6, 1856, aged 83 years.
e
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Calvin, son of David B. Miller, March 23, 1797, at the age of 21 years.1
A man named Brayton was accidentally killed by a tree early in 1797 or 8. This was the first fatal accident known to have occurred in the county.
The first saw mill in the county was built in 1795, at Talcottville, by Bela Butterfield, a few rods below the present grist mill, but it went off in the next spring flood. In 1798, he sold to the Talcott families2 from Middletown, Ct., who became prominent settlers in town, but adopted a policy adverse to the building up of a village at the point where natural advantages greatly favored. It is said they refused to sell village lots to mechanics, and retained the water power on Sugar river, although parties offered to invest liberally in manufactures. Bela Hubbard, husband of Stow's sister, removed in 1795, but did not long remain in town. The first framed building after the saw mill, was a barn built by David B. Miller in April, 1798; and the next, a house by Lemuel Storrs, the same year. The latter is still standing and is the oldest in the country. In 1803, the Talcotts built the second grist mill in town. The pre- sent stone mill at Talcottville, was built about 1832-3. The river has here a fall of nearly 100 feet within a quarter of a mile.
Many of the early settlers of Leyden were from Haddam, Middlefield and Middletown,3 Ct. An advertisement in the " Western Centinel" of Whitesboro, dated 1797, and signed by Lemuel Storrs, records the fact that there were at that time 40 actual settlers upon Inman's triangle, and the official records of the earlier years show an unusually large number of voters, and of course of men having sufficient property to entitle them to this privilege, many of the pioneers were able to pay down for their lands, and have
1 This historical fact is recorded on his tomb stone in the old Leyden hill cemetery as follows :
" Of all the adults which in this yard do lie
I was the first eternity to try."
2 Hezekiah Talcott, father of the families of this name who settled in this town, died, March 16, 1813. His children were : Phebe, b. 1766, m. David Hall, d. Jan. 1826 : Sally, b. 1768, m. Ist. Joel Coe, 2d Parsons, d. March 20, 185 -: Elisha, b. 1770, was killed May, 1807 : Daniel, b. 1772, d. June 3, 1847 : Joel, b. 1774, d. April 16, 1813, of the prevailing epidemic : Jesse, b. 1775, d. Jan. 15, 1846 : Johnson, b. Sept. 6, 1778, d. Feb. 17, 1850 ; Parsons, b. 1780, d. Jan. 16, 1849 ; and Lucy, b. 1782, m. Ithamer Whetmore, d. March, 1852. Elisha and Daniel were men with families when they settled.
3 The families of Merwin, Northum, Algur, Thomas, Cone, &c., were from Haddam, those of Coe, Talcott, Brainerd, Smith, Stimson, Starr, &c., from Middlefield.
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a surplus to enable them to begin settlement free from debt. In 1799, the number of senatorial voters was 57, and in 1800 it was 79, including of course the territory now known as Boonville. In 1798 the number of persons liable to serve as jurors was 14, in 1802, 61, and in 1805, 64.
In the winter of 1799-1800, a funeral service was held at Talcottville upon receiving news of the death of Washing- ton. We are not informed who delivered the oration, but think it probable that Stephen Butler might have been designated. He was at about this time a teacher in town, and in former years had been one of Washington's life guard. He removed to Ohio many years after.
The first grist mill in this town, and the second one in the county, was built on the Black river, at Port Leyden, in 1799, and got in operation the next year, by Peter W. Aldrich and Eber Kelsey, millwrights,1 from Killingworth, Ct. They came on to explore in the fall of 1796, selected a site and purchased two lots, extending from the river to near Leyden hill. In the spring of 1797 they removed their families, and during this season put up a frame for a saw mill which was swept off by the next spring flood and lodged on the rocks below. In 1798 the frame was again set up, and the saw mill got in operation, and in 1800 the first rude grist mill was prepared to relieve the early set- tlers from long tedious journeys to Whitestown in the dry season, and to Constableville at the more favored periods of the year. When first got in operation this mill was but partly enclosed, and its bolt was turned for some time by hand. It stood west of the river, a little below the present bridge. Aldrich sold his share to Jonathan Collins, Oct. 25, 1802. The saw mill was burned in Feb., 1802, but rebuilt by K. & C., and both mills were afterwards burned.
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