A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time, Part 16

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 16


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35


Mr. Low having confirmed the title and caused the sur- vey of this town, appointed Silas Stow, a young man


1 Mr. McDowell was an Irishman of good education and social manners. He removed from Lowville to Waddington, St. Lawrence co., where by the failure of D. A. Ogden, he was deprived of a farm, which had been mostly paid for in surveying. He afterwards taught school many years in Madrid and Ogdensburglı.


2 She was Mrs. Peter Van Atter. Jacob Van Atter was an ensign in the battle of Oriskany, and an early settler. His wife died, aged 100 years.


139


Lowville.


twenty-four years of age, who had previously been em- ployed in the settlement of Leyden, as his agent, and 1797 the lands were opened for sale. A strong tide of emigra- tion was then setting from New England, and the central and western parts of this state were being explored by small parties in quest of new homes. One of these companies from Westfield, Mass., consisting of Enoch Lee, Russell Pond, Ehud Stephens1 and Jonathan Rogers, was returning from a tour to the Genesee country, where it was found sickly. At Whitesboro they met Mr. Charles C. Brodhead, who had but recently been employed in surveying lands on the Black river. He turned their attention to that region, and crossing the Mohawk, set them on a line of marked trees that led to the future homes of three of their number. Mr. Stow,2 the agent, was then stopping in Leyden, but spent much of his time upon number 11, and from him


1 Ehud Stephens was a grandson of Thomas Stevens, who was born Dec., 1692, emigrated to America, and died at or near Newgate, Ct., March 20, 1752. His sons were born as follows : Thomas, Nov. 20, 1723, (d. Oct. 17, 1783) ; Solomon, Feb. 17, 1725 ; Jonathan, March 15, 1734 (died in childhood), and Rufus, Feb. 17, 1740, who accompanied his son to Lowville and died June 26, 1816. The children of Rufus Stephens were,


Ehud, b. Feb. 17, 1771, d. at Copenhagen Aug. 21, 1852. His son Apollos has been many years a merchant at Copenhagen. W. Hudson Stephens, son of Apollos, is a lawyer at Lowville. Harvey Stephens, son of Ehud, was a merchant at Martinsburgh and an agent of the Pierrepont estate. His family reside at that place.


Truman, b. Oct. 20, 1782, resides in Lowville. Settled in June, 1802. Ira, b. Nov. 29, 1777, d. at Lowville June 21, 1852. Settled in 1801. Rufus, b. Nov. 20, 1779, resides in Lowville. Settled in June, 1802 and Apollos, who died in infancy. His daughters were,


Ruth, married Levi Adams of Martinsburgh.


Electa, married Preserved Finch of Turin.


Paulina, married Heman Stickney of Lowville, and afterwards of Turin.


Each of the above named, except Jonathan (son of Thomas) and Apollos, became heads of families, and their descendants are numerous.


Ehud Stephens married Mercy, a daughter of Jonathan Rogers of Branford, Ct., who became the mother of the first white children born in Lowville and Martinsburgh. She was born in Sept. 28, 1769, and died May 31, 1849. Mr. Stephens was appointed sheriff in 1808 and 1820, holding the office, in all, about three years.


2 Silas Stow was born in Middlefield, Ct., Dec. 21, 1773, and was the youngest of a family of eight children. His three older brothers, Elihu, Obed and Joshua, were all in the revolution, and his father, a zealous patriot, ren- dered all the material aid that could be spared from his farm, and from prin- ciple, received continental money at par for everything he had to sell for the army. He was a farmer in very moderate circumstances. His wife was a woman of remarkable energy and devotion to the interests of her family. Mr. Stow was often heard to speak of her with tenderness and respect, and to her were her children largely indebted for whatever distinction they afterwards acquired. He received only a common school education, and his further acquirements were due to his mother's care and his own enthusiasm. He studied law at Middletown, but before settling in practice, became concerned in the agency of Leyden, and 1797 was appointed by Low agent for his towns on the Black


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140


Louville.


Stephens took the first contract in this town, June 2, 1797, for lot 38, at $3 per acre. Rogers, Pond,1 Daniel Kelley, Moses Waters, and perhaps others, selected land during the summer and fall of 1797, began slight clearings and put up one or two rude shanties, a little south of the lower mill, for the families that were to come on in the following year.


Early in 1798 the first families of this town left their homes in Westfield, Mass., and by slow stages, found their way to the last clearing in Turin. At the High Falls they borrowed a pit saw of the French settlers, and with the aid of such tools as they had, undertook to build a boat of suf- ficient size to transport their families and goods to their destination. This craft was finished in about two weeks, and ready to launch as soon as the river opened. It was flat-bottomed, about 25 feet long by 7 wide, and might have had a capacity of two tons. It was probably the first ves- sel larger than a log canoe that had floated on Black river, and may have been regarded by its non-professional boat builders, as a model of its kind.


The ice broke up on the river on the 8th of April, and on the 10th, they launched their boat, loaded it with farm- ing utensils, bedding, grain and provisions until its sides were scarcely two inches above the water, placed upon it their families, and cast off upon the swolen river, on an un- tried and somewhat perilous voyage. The passengers upon


river tract. He came on with the first settlers, and on the 26th of July, 1801, he married Mary Ruggles of Boston, a sister of Gen. Geo. D. Ruggles, for- merly of this town. He was appointed a judge of Oneida county, Jan. 28, 1801, and was elected to the twelfth congress (1811-13) from the tenth dis- trict, by the Federal party. Following the principles they advocated, he spoke and voted against the declaration of war with Great Britain. In 1814-15 he held the office of sheriff, and from 1815 to 1823, that of first judge of Lewis county. Although educated to the law, he never practiced at the bar, but was regarded as a sound and judicious lawyer, and a man of great native talent. He was succeeded in the agency by Miller, in 1802, and an unfortunate land purchase in Malta (Lorraine) resulted in a pecuniary disaster from which he never recovered. He died January 19, 1827, at the house of Lemuel Wood, aged 54 years. He left three sons, all natives of this town, of whom Alexander W. Stow died at Milwaukie, Sept. 14, 1854, chief justice of Wisconsin. He resided many years in Rochester, from whence, in 1841, he removed to the state which conferred upon him its highest judicial trnst. Marcellus K. Stow resides at Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin, where he is engaged in merchandise. Horatio J. Stow was educated to the law and resided many years at Buffalo, where he held the office of recorder. In 1846 he was elected to the constitutional convention, and in 1857, to the State Senate, in which office he died, at Clifton Springs, Feb. 19, 1859. During several of his later years, he had resided at Lewiston and was extensively engaged in farming. He was a man of brilliant talent and much influence.


1 Mr. P. never became a settler in town. This location was bought by one Washburn.


141


Lowville.


this trial trip, were Jonathan Rogers,1 and his children Bela, Polly and Isaac ; Ehud Stephens, his wife Mercy, and children Clarissa, Apollos and Harvey ; Jesse Wilcox, Phile- mon Hoadley, Zebulon Rogers and Elijah and Justus Woolworth.2


The craft was towed into the stream by some Frenchmen but was soon caught in a current that drew it slowly around towards the falls, against the best effort that those assisting could make, when to save themselves, they cast off the line and rowed toward their own side of the river. Four of the men seized their oars, and by hard rowing got within reach of the bottom, when B. Rogers and J. Woolworth, jumped out and swam ashore with a rope, by which the craft was towed down below the eddy, and then rowed across to the French houses opposite. A part of the load was here taken off, and they again started a little after noon. Running down upon the swolen current they arrived just before sunset, at the end of their voyage, as far up the Lowville creek as they could push the boat, and not far from the residence of the late Luke Wilder.


The day was delightfully serene, and they were borne rapidly and pleasantly along, with no effort except to keep their craft in the middle of the stream and no danger but from overhanging trees, by one of which, Clarrissa Stephens was swept off the boat, but soon rescued. They landed upon a tree that had fallen across the creek and prevented further progress, but were yet half a mile distant from the shanty where they were to spend the night. B. Rogers and J. Woolworth started with a gun to look up the spot, and after some time lost in finding a marked line, the rest followed on with such burdens as they could conveniently carry, and which would be most needed for present comfort. Meanwhile it grew dark, and the travelers could no longer see their route, but those who had gone on before, had


1 Jonathan Rogers, was a son of Jonathan, who was born Dec. 12, 1715, and died at Westfield March, 1805. His family consisted of,


Eli, b. Nov. 14, 1740, settled in Martinsburgh in 1802, where he died. Lydia, b. June 1, 1747, maried Frisbie.


Mary, b. Feb. 22, 1753, m. Philemon Hoadley of Turin. Jonathan, b. March 11, 1756, m. Mercy Rogers.


Abigal, b. Nov. 9, 1758, m. Samuel Danks. Mercy, m. Ehud Stephens.


Capt. J. Rogers, died in Lowville, April 16, 1841. He was by trade a blacksmith, but in this town chiefly devoted himself to inn keeping and afterwards to farming. He was an exemplary member of the Presbyterian church, and in the various relations of life was highly useful and generally esteemed.


2 As related by Jesse Wilcox, August, 1859.


142


Louville.


kindled a pile of dry brush and logs, and by the sound of a horn, and the gleam of the cheerful fire, they were led to the rude but welcome shelter. A hearty supper was eaten with relish, and such as were entitled to hospitalities of the roof slept under it, while the rest made a couch of hem- lock boughs, and lay down upon it.


Their provisions and furniture were backed up the next day. They had left a number of cattle in Turin to browse in the woods, but finding the spring farther advanced here, and the leeks and wild plants up fresh and green, while the snow still lay in the woods near the falls, some of the num- ber returned in two or three days, and drove their stock down through the woods to Lowville. Two or three trips of the boat, brought the balance of their goods, when the craft was lent and kept running a long time after in trans- porting the family and goods of other settlers in this and the following seasons. Hoadley and the Woolworths had settled in Turin, whither they returned. Wilcox began clearing in June, upon the place he has ever since owned on Stow's square. Mrs. J. Rogers came on the next week, and during the summer quite a number of families found their way into town, took up land, and began improve- ments.1


The usual landing place of those who came by water, was at Hulbert's afterwards Spafford's landing, at the spot where the road from Lowville to Watson, first strikes the river.2


The land books of Mr. Low, show that the following per- sons took up farms in this town during the first four years of its settlement :


1 An early incident is related upon good authority, as having been observed with wonder. Rogers brought on a pair of fowls the first season, old Logan and his mate, and in due course of time, a tender brood of chickens claimed a parent's care. The hen was killed by a hawk, when, with half reasoning instinct, Logan, perhaps thinking these the last of his race, assumed the nurse's care, clucked the half-orphan young around him, fed, guarded and sheltered them with the tenderness of a mother, and reared them to maturity.


2 Col. John Spafford, from whom this landing was named, was a native of Ct. and one of the first settlers of Tinmouth, Vt. During the revolution he took an active part at the head of a company of militia. At the taking of Ticonderoga in 1775, under Allen and Arnold, he assisted with his company, and was directed to join Col. Warner, in his attempt upon Crown Point. He reached that important place before the latter, and received himself the sword of the acting commandant, which remained with his family at the time of his death. He died, March 24, 1823, at the age of 71 years. His son Horatio Gates Spafford was author of the first gazetteer of New York .- Black River Gazette.


143


Lowville.


In 1798, James Bailey,1 Jehoida and Nathan Page, Hul- bert and Cooley, Wm. Darrow,2 and Moses Coffeen.3


In 1799, Adam F. and Jacob Snell, Benjamin Hillman, Jacob Eblie,4 James Craig, John Shull,5 Jeremy Rogers, John Bush, Daniel Porter, Geo. Bradford, Zadock Bush, Asa Newton, James Parsons, Richard Livingston,6 Zeboim Carter,7 Noah Durrin,8 Ebenezer Hill, Samuel Van Atta, James and Garret Boshart,9 Wm. and Benjamin Ford, John Kitts, Hooper Boohall, Philes and Kitts, Fisk and Searl, and James Cadwell.


In 1800, Reuben Putney, Luther Washburn, Aaron Coles, David Cobb, Nathaniel Durham, Pardon Lanpher10 and Francis Murphy.


In 1801, Joseph Newton, Benj. Rice, Jesse Benjamin, Elijah Parks, Z. Plank, E. Newton, David Rice, David Wil- bur,11 Jabez Puffer, Samuel and John Bailey, Joseph Pur- rinton, Nathan Rowlee, Hezekiah Wheeler, Levi Bickford, Joseph Malby, Eliphaz Searle, Calvin Merrill, A. D. Wil- liams, Benj. Davenport, Daniel Porter, A. and A. Sigourney, Mather Bosworth,12 Loomis J. Danks, Edward Shepherd, Zuriel Waterman, Amasa Hitchcock, Ozen Bush, Simeon Babcock, Thadeus Smith, Elijah Baldwin, Jonathan Hut- chinson, Erastus Hoskins, Robert Barnett,13 Jesse Hitch-


1 From Lebanon, Ct., and father of Daniel S. Bailey. He settled on Stow's square, and was an early innkeeper. Dr. Ira Adams afterwards owned his place.


2 Dr. Darrow from Hebron, N. Y., was the first physician in the north part of the county, and settled on Stow's square. He was in assembly in 1812, and died, Jan. 8, 1815, aged 44 years.


3 Bought on the East road. Sold in 1804, and bought 300 acres on the west road from whence he removed to Jefferson co. His brothers Henry, David and William, were pioneers in that county.


4 Died, Dec. 15, 1857, aged 82 years.


5 Died, March 27, 1827, aged 82 years. 6 From Johnstown.


7 From Westfield, Mass. He served as colonel in the war of 1812-15, and died in this town April 22, 1853, aged 81 years.


8 The Rev. Noah Durrin, died, Jan. 21, 1853, aged 78 years. He was by trade a millwright.


9 G. Boshart, died, May 4, 1845, aged 76 years. He removed from the Mohawk settlements with several German families among whom were Shull, Eblie, Snell, Herring, Van Atta, &c., and settled on the hill side, a little north of Lowville village. His smooth, ample and neatly fenced fields, were long the model for whoever might be emulous of success in farming.


10 Mr. L. removed from Westerly, R. I., in 1797, to Whitestown, and in March, 1800, came to Lowville, where he died Feb. 27, 1827, aged 82 years. The road on which he settled, between the Number Three and West Roads, is still often called from him Lanpher street.


11 From Worthington, Mass. Died Dec. 27, 1829, aged 60.


12 From Westmoreland. Died May 17, 1850, aged 84 years. Constant Bos- worth died June 21, 1826, aged 80 years.


13 Died Aug. 13, 1828, aged 67 years.


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Lowville.


cock1, Kent and Bull, John Delap, Nathaniel Prentice and Lewis Gosard.


The first deed to actual settlers was issued April 12, 1798, to Daniel Kelley for lot 37, of 250 acres for $650, on the same day that the deed of Stow's square was given. As an interesting subject for comparison the following list of deeds given during the years 1800-1-2, is given :


Name.


Date.


Lot.


Acres.


Price.


John Schull, ..


June 30, 1800.


18


150


$450.00


Benjamin Hillman,.


July 1, do


38


300


1,029.00


Wm. Darrow,


Aug. 20, do


704


266.37


Jonathan Rogers,


April 20, 1801.


29


4124


1,238.25


James Bailey,


do


do


10


101


345.10


John Bush,.


do


do


14


79


237.00


Ebenezer Hill,


do


do


13


101


353.50


Adam F. Snell


do


do


23


100


325.00


Jacob Snell,


do


do


23


100


300.00


Elijah Baldwin,


Aug. 20, 1802


36


1274


381.75


Samuel Van Atta,.


do


do


22


129


387.00


Noah Durrin,


do


do


39


1014


332.50


Ehud Stephens


do


do


38


239


690.00


Hooper Boonall.


do


do


9


259


971.25


Mather Bosworth,


do


do


9


187}


628.12


Zuriel Waterman.


do


do


..


4


2814


984.37


In 1803 the following persons received deeds: Zadock Bush, 1032, David Porter, 104, Simeon Babcock, 154}, Silas Weller, 51, Joseph Newton, 102, and Jesse Hitchcock, 50.


Mr. Stow hired a small piece, cut off and a shanty built in 1797, and a log house, opposite the bridge, at the lower mill, in 1798. In the summer and fall of 1802 he built a mansion, still standing and familiar to many of our readers, on a beautifully chosen spot, a short distance south of Low- ville village, and now owned by Charles D. Morse.


Daniel Kelley2 built a saw mill in 1798 on the south side of


From Lanesboro, Mass. Died May 25, 1853, aged 73 years.


2 Daniel Kelley was born in Norwich, Ct., Nov. 27, 1755, married Jemima Stow, a sister of Judge Stow of Middletown, June 28, 1787, and removed from Middletown in 1798 to Lowville. He was appointed first county judge, and in the fall of 1814 removed to Cleveland, O., where he held the offices of post master and county treasurer. He died Aug. 7, 1831, in his 76th year. His wife was born Dec. 23, 1763, and died Sept. 14, 1815. She evinced in a strong degree, the mental vigor and the enterprise which belong to the Stow family, and for many years was an intelligent nurse and skillful midwife in Lowville, freely bestowing her time and services upon the sick.


Datus Kelley is a wealthy proprietor upon Kelley's Island, lake Erie. Alfred Kelley died at Columbus, O., Dec. 2, 1859, aged 70 years. He settled in the profession of the law at Cleveland in 1810, wastwenty-two years in the Ohio legislature, was the author of its canal and railroad laws and influential in the public councils to a degree never surpassed in that state. He was acting canal commissioner while the canals were building and afterwards was president of three important railroads at the same time. Irad and Thomas


145


Lowville.


the creek, in Lowville village, just below the present bridge, and his first log hut built the same year, stood against a huge boulder, adjacent and directly opposite the bridge, as now built. A grist mill was raised the next year, with the aid of settlers summoned from all the country around, and got in operation Sept. 22, 1799. Its stones were dressed from a boulder of gneiss rock by James Parker, the well known mill-stone maker of Watertown, and the gearing was done by Noah Durrin and Ebenezer Hill, millwrights. It is noted by Mr. Stow that this mill, on the 24th of Octo- ber, about a month after its completion, had ground two bushels of wheat well, in seventeen minutes. Previous to this, milling had been obtained at Whitestown and some- times in Turin, the boys being generally detailed for this service. A day was usually consumed in going to Turin and returning, and the sun never went down on their way home, if the young pioneers could prevent it by a forced march through the obscure bridle path. The lower mill in Lowville was built by Stow about 1810. In 1803 or 1804, John and Ozem Bush built a saw mill on Sulphur Spring creek, near the Number Three Road, which they sold to Solomon King, who erected the first grist mill at that place. Mr. Kelley's mills, the erection of an inn by Jonathan Rogers, and a store by Fortunatus Eager,1 determined the location of Lowville village, which sprung up mostly on the farm of Rogers, who cleared the site of its native growth of timber.


The first framed building in the village, was the house of Capt. Rogers, and the second was Eager's store. The second inn was built about 1805 by Preserved Finch in the upper part of the village, and was kept by Daniel Gould, and afterwards by M. W. Welles.2


M. Kelley resides at Cleveland, where they are prominent citizens. The latter is president of the Merchants' Bank, and has been for several years in the Ohio Legislature. We find the following incident of his life in the diary of an early settler : May 20, 1799 .- " At Kelley's, his child Thomas fell into his saw mill pond, and lay there as near as we could judge, at least a quarter of an hour. Every appearance of life and heat was gone. After much pains we restored him to life. He lay floating on the pond."


1 Mr. Eager was from Lunenburg, Vt., and came the second or third year of the settlement. After trading about three years, he became a partner of Wm. Card, and for several years he carried on the manufacture of potash quite extensively, thus aiding the settlers to means for paying for their lands. He went to Canada, near Brockville, in 1809, where he died. Mr. Card died at Greenbush.


2 Major Melancthon Woolsey Welles was born in Stamford, Ct., Dec. 6, 1770, was some years a merchant at Albany, and removed from Lanesboro, Mass., in 1807. In 1809 he came to Lowville where he resided till his death, Feb.


S


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146


Louville.


The first birth in town was that of Harriet, daughter of Ehud Stephens, and afterwards wife of Dr. James M. Sturde- vant, which occurred Feb. 24, 1799. The first male born in town was Samuel, son of Jonathan Rogers, June 21, 1800.


The first death is believed to have been that of a child of one Cooley, but the first of an adult, was that of Aaron Hovey, a young unmarried man from Johnstown. He had taken up a lot on the east road, but was then at work clear- ing land in the upper part of the village, near the present residence of Wm. Root Adams. He was thoughtless and profane, and a little before, upon receiving some slight injury, had intimated that he would soon have a settlement with his maker. He went out on a sabbath morning to cut down a tree, foolishly placing a round stone in the notch, as an experiment, to roll off the trunk from the stump. He was struck and killed by the tree, and was, it is believed, the first person buried in the old grave yard, then a lonely spot in the woods upon the east road below the village.


A few straggling families of St. Regis Indians, occasion- ally stopped a short time to hunt in the vicinity of the early settlers. One of these savages named " Captain Joe," had brutally whipped his squaw one evening in a drunken fit. She escaped to Capt. Rogers' house for protection, and was sent up a ladder into the garret by Mrs. Rogers, who had then no other company but two of her children. The ladder was scarcely taken down and hid, before Joe came reeling along in quest of his victim, and was the first time deceived and sent away. He soon, however, returned with a torch, following a little dog, who was good on the track, and by snuffing and barking soon convinced his master that the object of his pursuit was in the garret. The Indian sprang up and caught hold of a beam, when the woman and her children seized him by his legs and brought him pros- trate to the ground. They held him until the neighbors could be rallied by a conch-shell to their aid, and Joe was deprived of further power to injure until sober and peni- tent.


On another occasion, a camp of some twenty Indians, on the spot now occupied by Morris Moore, became boisterous from drink, and a party came to Rogers' house, at which


27, 1857, aged 86 years. Mr. Welles was a son of the Rev. Noah Welles, and a descendant of Thomas Welles, whose son was governer of Connecticut in 1655. He was related to the late Commodore Woolsey of Utica, and well known to the citizens of the county. From near the time of his removal to about 1830, he kept an inn at Lowville village. His dwelling was built at the time when it was hoped that the old academic building might become a court house.


147


Lowville.


no man was present but Eli Kellogg his son-in-law. The Indians were extremely drunk and boisterous, when upon refusing to leave, they were knocked down with a club by the man, and dragged out by the women.


In these primitive times, wheeled vehicles were little known, and had they been owned, could hardly have been used without roads. If a party was to go on a visit to some distant cabin, a rude sled drawn by oxen, and cushioned with a few bundles of straw, afforded a slow, but safe and easy mode of conveyance, nor was the guest less welcome to the coarse fare and rustic hospitality of the bark roofed hovel. Distinctions founded upon the possession of a few more of the conveniences of life than one's neighbors were unknown, and the privations of the present, were relieved by bright anticipations of the future.


In the second summer of the settlement, Capt. Rogers went to the salt springs, now Syracuse, for salt, of which he procured a load, and brought it to near Dexter by water from whence it was drawn to Lowville on a dray made of a crotched limb of a tree. Fish and game were easily pro- cured, and about 1805, two men from Lowville went over to Crystal creek, caught each a hundred pounds of fish and returned the same day. Sixteen years after, an enormous moose was shot in this town, by a lad twelve years of age. His skin was prepared, and exhibited more than thirty years in the Albany museum.




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