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 27
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Europe continuing to draw supplies of provisions from this country, raised the price of wheat here to two dollars per bushel, and even higher, which induced Mr. Constable to establisli a flouring mill. For this purpose he pur- chased the confiscated estate of Philips manor, at Yonkers, nineteen miles from New York, consisting of 320 acres. Here he resided and built a large mill, which he continued in operation for many years. He sold this estate for $65,000 and bought a country seat at Bloomingdale, six miles from New York. His residence in the city was first in Great Dock street, afterwards in Wall street, till 1797, when he sold to the bank of New York for $27,000 for their banking house. He then leased the dwelling of the Hon. Rufus King in Broadway, where the Astor House has been built.
Mr. Constable at an early day liad had his attention turned to land specu- lation. His first purchases were in Ohio, associated with companies, who with military protection, commenced settlements, mainly of French settlers, on the Muskingum and the Scioto. As the British still retained their outposts, which they did not fiually surrender till ten years after the peace, they insti- gated the Indians to harass these settlers. Besides these lands he made ex- tensive purchases in Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia. Mr. Constable was in- terested in the grant of two millions of acres made by the state of Massachu- setts in the Genesee country, which was sold to Mr. Bingham. He, in 1787, associated with Alexander Macomb, with whom he had been intimate since boyhood, in tlie purchase of the 640,000 acres on the St. Lawrence river called the Ten Townships. His share of this purchase was Madrid, Potsdam, and the half of Louisville, and the half of Stockholm, in all 192,000 acres. In the year 1791 he associated with Alexander Macomb and Daniel McCormick
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from his father, townships 3 and 4, of the four towns, sub- ject to the contract with Shaler, and a bond to Daniel McCormick. He died May 28, 1821.
The elegant mansion erected by Mr. Constable in 1819, a
in the purchase from the state of New York of the great tract known as Ma- comb's purchase, estimated to contain four millions of acres, being one tenth of the state of New York, and comprising the whole of the present counties of Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Franklin, with parts of Oswego and Herkimer. In this purchase, each of these gentlemen was jointly interested one-third, but the contract with the Commissioners of the Land Office was made in the name of Macomb, and the first patent taken out in his name, while the remainder of the tract was patented in the name of Daniel McCor- mick. The price paid was eiglit pence per acre, whichi at that time was deem- ed very advantageous to the state, as Massachusetts had sold at that price two millions of acres of land in the Genesee country, which was deemed far su- perior in quality to this land. The state was also really the gainer, in conse- quence of the stimulus given thereby to land speculation, which enabled the commissioners of the land office to sell the remaining unappropriated lands at advanced prices. The clause inserted in the patents, requiring settlements to be made within a specified time, had been usual in all grants previously made by the Provincial government and by the land office. It had, however, never been fulfilled and never enforced. When in 1791 the law granting power to the commissioners of the land office " to sell the waste and unappropriated lands of the state " was under discussion, Mr. Macomb (a member of the Legislature) had this clause, by an unanimous vote, stricken out. It was inserted in the patents by inadvertence, and when attention was drawn to it by foreign purchasers, Mr. Macomb procured a certificate of the nullity of the clause.
Immediately after the contract was made with the land office, Mr. Consta- ble embarked for Europe to sell, where he was joined by his family. He remained till the fall of 1795 and had two children born in Europe. He left his commercial house in charge of his brother James, whom he took into partnership, having dissolved his connection with the Messrs. Morris. In 1792 the patent for Great Tracts 4, 5 and 6, containing 1,920,000 acres, was taken out, and the title immediately transferred to Mr. Constable, who, with the aid of his agents, Col. Samuel Ward and Col. William S. Smith, succeed- ing in selling the whole, in large tracts, to Messrs. Inman, Chassanis, Anger- steen, the Antwerp Company and Thomas Boylston, at prices varying from two to four shillings per acre.
The surveys which were not completed till after these sales were made, located the Black river further north than it was supposed to be. A tract was sold to Thomas Boylston, bounded by the Black river on the north and by the line of the patent on the south as four hundred thousand acres more or less. The subsequent surveys showed this tract to be valuable, and to con- tain 817,155 acres ; whereupon Mr. Constable repurchased it at an advance of £60,000 sterling, and then sold the northern part of it, containing 305,000 acres, for one dollar per acre to Messrs. Low, Henderson, Harrison and Hoff- man. This tract is now called the eleven Black river towns.
The remainder of the Boylston tract, containing 512,155 acres, Mr. Con- stable retained for himself, having bought out the interests of his associates in it. It was subdivided into townships, called the Thirteen Towns, which, with the town of Ellisburgh, and Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Turin, called Constable's Four Towns, constituted the whole of it.
If the surveys of the 640,000 acres of ten townships, and the great tracts of No. 1, 2, and 3, containing 1,800,000 acres, could bave then been obtained, Mr. Constable would have succeeded in selling the whole in Europe. The St. Regis Indians, instigated by the Governor of Canada, Lord Dorchester, drove off the surveyors, and finally did not cease their opposition, till the
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little east of Constableville, has since remained the home- stead of the family. This seat for quiet seclusion, elegant surroundings and classic beauty, is not surpassed by any in northern New York. The management of the landed
Jay treaty, after which the British posts at Oswego and Oswegatchie were given up.
On his return to America, Mr. Constable exerted himself to make improve- ments in roads, so as to open his lands for settlement. He also took an active interest in forming a water communication between the Hudson and lake Ontario, by improving the navigation of the Mohawk river and Wood creek. The company formed for the purpose was called the Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company. This company, after succeeding in conveying boats of ten tons from Schenectady to lake Ontario, with one portage, was bought out by the state, when it was determined to construct the Erie canal. The first township sold was Ellisburgh, which subsequently reverted. Afterwards Nos. 3 and 4, now Turin, were placed in the hands of Mr. Shaler of Middle- town, as we have already noticed.
The next township sold was No. 5, to Walter Martin. For this township there were many competitors ; but Mr. Constable made it an invariable rule, not to sell but on receiving one-quarter of the payment in money. If he had departed from this determination, he might then have sold all his town- ships at two dollars per acre, so great was then the rage for land speculation and so scarce was money. The only other township sold was No. 12, called Redfield, which was sold for two dollars per acre. The consequence of the European war was then severely felt in our commercial community, from the the course taken by belligerents in seizing our vessels. France, dissatisfied with an act of neutrality, and under a disorganized government, made seizures of our vessels under various pretexts. The spoliations thus made would have been paid to our merchants by France, but unfortunately for the claimants, they were assumed by our own government, which, to the disgrace of the country, has withheld payment to this day. Among the refugees from France, driven to this country in 1797, were the Duke of Orleans and his brothers Monpensier, and Beaujoli. The duke brought a letter of credit from Gouverneur Morris on Mr. Constable, for one thousand dollars. This money, with interest, was repaid by Louis Phillippe to the son of Mr. Morris.
The patents of Great Tracts Nos. 1, 2, and 3, were not obtained till 1798. Mr. Macomb had failed in 1793, for one million of dollars, in consequence of a wild speculation in stocks, with Col. William Duer and Isaac Whippo. He thereupon assigned his third interest in these tracts to certain creditors, and conveyed his contract with the Land office to Daniel McCormick, who took out the patents in his name, and made a partition with Mr. Constable for his one third interest. On his second visit to Europe, Mr. Constable narrowly escaped being taken by a privateer. He succeeded in France in making some large sales of land to Mr. Le Ray, Mr. Parish and to Neckar. The commer- cial distress that prevailed in England prevented any success in that country. It was in Paris that he first became acquainted with Mr. Pierrepont, who in 1802 became his son in law.
Hearing that his brother James had involved his commercial house by en- dorsements, Mr. Constable returned to New York in 1801. Though under no legal obligation to do so, he paid these large obligations, which consumed most of his personal property. The scattering lots in townships Nos. 1 and 13 in Lewis co., were given to some of the holders of these obligations. His health, which had always been delicate, was much impaired by this misfor- tune. He endeavored to visit his lands, but after going to Rome, he found the road could not be traveled except on horse-back, which he was unable to do. He thus never saw an acre of his extensive possesions in this county. He appointed Mr. Benjamin Wright his general land agent. Mr. Wright, who resided at Rome, had been previously employed by Mr. Constable in F*
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interests remaining with this family, chiefly devolved upou his son John Constable, whose indulgence towards settlers, and whose urbane manners, have rendered him deservedly popular in the community where he resides.
surveys for the improvement of Wood creek, when he was interested in the Inland Lock Navigation company. He had also been his principal surveyor in subdividing Macomb's purchase into townships and lots. He continued his valuable agency for the family, till his services were required by the state in the construction of the Erie canal. Under the agency of Benjamin Wright, Nathaniel Shaler, and Isaac W. Bostwick, the sale and settlement of this land progressed satisfactorily.
Mr. Constable died 22d of May, 1803, leaving a widow and seven children. As in questions of title in this county, the names of his heirs are often re- quired, we will add a list of them.
Anna Maria, born 1783, died 1859. She married Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, who died 1838.
Eweretta, born 1784, died 1830. Married James McVickar who died 1835. William, born 1786, died 1821. Married Eliza McVickar.
John, born 1788, resides in Philadelphia. He married Susan Livingston, and afterwards his present wife, Alida Kane.
Harriet, born 1794, married James Duane, who died 1859. She continues to reside in Duane, Franklin county.
Emily, born 1795, died 1844. Married Dr. Samuel W. Moore, who died 1854.
Matilda, born 1797, married Edward McVickar, and resides at Constable- ville, and New York city.
The executors under the will, were James Constable, H. B. Pierrepont and John Mc Vickar. The first two gentlemen made persevering efforts to open roads and induce settlement We give elsewhere some interesting extracts from the diaries of Mr. Constable, from 1803 to 1806. He died in 1807, and Mr. McVickar died 1812. Mr. Pierrepont continued his labors till the settlement of the estate in 1819, when he purchased the remaining interest of the heirs of Mr. Constable. The lands in Lewis county, he became possessed of, were townships Nos. 1 and 2, West Turin, 3 Montague, 4 Martinsburgh, with part of No. 5, and No. 8 and 13 Osceola, and parts of Denmark and Harrisburgh ; comprising one hundred and fifty thousand acres. On the death of Mr. Pierrepont, in 1838, these lands were subdivided among his heirs.
In concluding our notice of Mr. Constable, which we have somewhat ex- tended, from the connection which his history necessarily has with the history of Lewis county, we will add a delineation of his appearance and character as portrayed by that venerable and distinguished jurist, the Hon. Ogden Ed- wards :
William Constable was truly one of nature's noblemen. He was a man of sound comprehension and fruitful mind, of high-toned feelings and vivid imagination. He saw clearly, felt keenly and expressed himself pungently. He was endowed with all the qualities necessary to constitute an orator ; and was, in truth, the most eloquent man in conversation I ever heard. So im- pressed was I by his eloquence, even at the early age of sixteen, that I asked my father if he did not think that Mr. Constable was very eloquent in con- versation. To which he cooly replied " That he was the most eloquent man in conversation that he had ever heard." Such were his powers, and such the charms of his conversation, that wherever he went he was the king of the company. I first saw him in 1796, at a dinner party. Among the distinguished persons present were General Hamilton, Colonel Burr and Volney. Yet, even in such company, all eyes and ears were turned to him, and he appeared to be the master spirit. He was a man of a princely dispo- sition. Every thing with him was upon a lofty scale. Whatever was laud-
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George Davis of Bellville, N. J., formerly a sea captain, in 1817, purchased a large tract of wild land from James Mc Vickar, and several improved farms, and came to reside at Constableville. His maritime associations had deprived
able insured his commendation ; what was reprehensible, his fiery indigna- tion.
It is a Spanish proverb, " Tell me who your company is, and I will tell you who you are." Testing him by this rule, he must have been truly great, for his most intimate associates were Jay and Hamilton, and Robert Morris, and the other master spirits of the time. Even in early life he was thrown into the society of the distinguished men of the revolution, being an aid to the great and good Lafayette.
His appearance strikingly indicated his character, his countenance beamed with intelligence and expressed every emotion. So striking was his appear- ance that I heard a very sensible man say, "That although he was not acquainted with Mr. Constable, yet, such was his appearance, that he felt as though he should be pleased to pass his days in his company." He lived in splendid style and his house was the resort of the master spirits of the day. The last time I saw him was in 1802, at Lebanon Springs, the summer before he died. Though in broken health, his spirits were superior to his infirmi- ties. Although more than half a century has since elapsed, yet so striking and so interesting were his characteristics, and so deep the impression they made on me that I retain a vivid recollection of them to this day. I may say in the words of the poet :
And that the elements were so happily blended in him That nature might have stood up and said to all the world " This was a man."
Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont of Brooklyn, was known in Lewis county, through his extensive Janded possessions in the county, and the intercourse, in con- sequence, he had with the inhabitants. He was born at New Haven, Con- necticut, 3d Nov., 1768, and was descended from the Rev. James Pierrepont, the first minister settled in that colony after its establishment. It is worthy of note that the town plat apportioned to him in 1684, has ever since belong- ed to the family, and been occupied by them. It has thus never been sold since it was ceeded by the aborigines. The immediate ancestor of the Rev. James Pierrepont, was John Pierrepont, who belonged to the family of Holme Pierrepont, in Nottinghamshire, which family was descended from Robert de Pierrepont of Normandy. John came to America about the year 1640, with his younger brother Robert, as tradition says, merely to visit the country, but married and settled near Boston, where he purchased in 1656, three hun- dred acres, now the site of the town of Roxbury. The family name being French, became Anglicized in this country, and was spelt Pierpont. The correct spelling has been resumed by this branch of the family.
The subject of this memoir displayed at an early age an enterprising active spirit. While at college he became dissatisfied with the study of Latin and Greek, and the prospect of a professional life. He proposed to his father if he would permit him to leave his studies, he would provide for himself, and not receive a share of his estate. His father consented, and he fulfilled his promise to him, and thereafter provided for himself. He first entered the office of his uncle, Mr. Isaac Beers, at New Haven, to obtain a knowledge of business. In 1790 he went to New York and engaged in the custom house, with the view of obtaining a better knowledge of commercial business. The next year he associated himself with Messrs. Watson and Greenleaf, and act- ed with them in Philadelphia in the purchase of national debt, in which he realized a small fortune. In 1793 he formed a partnership with his cousin
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him of the ability or the inclination to assume that social position, or to enjoy the rural independence and happiness which one differently reared might have attained. He be- came involved in losses, his health failed, he went to sea,
William Leffingwell and established in New York, the house of Leffingwell and Pierrepont.
France being then in revolution, neglected agriculture, and derived large supplies of provisions from America. Mr. Pierrepont went to France to at- tend the shipments of his firm. The seizures of his vessels by England, then at war with France, so embarrassed the trade that he abandoned it, and in 1795, purchased a fine ship named the Confederacy, on which he made a trading voyage to India and China, acting as his own supercargo. On his re- turn voyage, his ship with a valuable cargo was seized by a French privateer, and condemned and sold, contrary to the laws of nations and our treaty stip- ulations. He remained in France making reclamations against that govern- ment, with a good prospect of recovering the value of his property, when a treaty was made between the two countries, by the terms of which our gov- ernment agreed to assume the claims of its citizens against France, and France agreed to assume the claims of its own citizens against the United States. To the disgrace of the government of the United States, these claims, among other similar claims known as " claims for French spoliations prior to 1800," though brought constantly before congress, have never been paid. Twenty-one re- ports have been made in their favor, and the bill has twice been passed and been vetoed. The best men of this country have admitted their justice and advocated them.
Mr. Pierrepont was in Paris during the most bloody days of the revolution, and saw Robespierre beheaded. He was detained in England also by the legal steps necessary to obtain his insurance, part of which he recovered. Though war prevailed, his character as a neutral enabled him to travel be- tween England and France. Our country being represented in those countries by able men, as well in as out of the diplomatic circle, he enjoyed their society and cemented friendships which lasted during life. That with Mr. Constable was one, and also that with Robert Fulton, in compliment to whom Mr. Pierrepont named a son Robert Fulton, who died in infancy. After an absence of seven years Mr. Pierrepont returned to New York. He married in 1802, Anna Maria, eldest daughter of William Constable. After his marriage, wishing to engage in some business of less hazard than foreign trade, he traveled through New England to examine its manufacturing establishments, and finding distilling profitable he in 1802 purchased at Brooklyn a brewery belonging to Philip Livingston, and turned it into a manufactory of gin which attained a high reputation, and was very profitable as it was at that time the only manufactory of the kind in the state. He purchased also a country seat on Brooklyn heights, which afterwards became his permanent residence. He was at that time one of only twenty-six freeholders, who owned the village of Brooklyn, now a city the third in population in the United States. When the profits of his manufactory were diminished by competition Mr. Pierrepont abandoned it, and thereafter gave his attention exclusively to the management of his extensive landed estate in northern New York and his real estate at Brooklyn. He purchased in 1806 the town of Pierrepont and subsequently half of Stockholm in St. Lawrence county. He made large additions to his landed estate in the five northern counties by purchases from the heirs of Wm. Constable and others, and became the owner of nearly half a million of acres of land, one hundred and fifty thou- sand acres of which were in this county. He made annual visits to this county to direct the making of roads and other improvements to facilitate settlements, and spent large sums on turnpike roads, aiding in constructing, among others, the St. Lawrence turnpike, of which he was president, and
Engravedby J.C.Buttre
Painted by HInman.
HIJA . B . PIERREPONT.
OF BROOKLYN, L.I.
Engraved for the History of Jefferson County by Franklin B. Hough
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and died off the coast of South America. His son is said to have paid the penalty decreed by the law of nations against pirates.
The Welsh settlers on the hills west of Turin, mostly settled under Capt. Davis.
The post office of Constableville, was established Jan., 1826, with Seth Miller, jr.,1 as postmaster. The receipts of the first quarter were $4.12, and in the first three years averaged $4.01. They began to increase rapidly Jan., 1829, when they had more than quadrupled. The quarter ending March, 1853, gave $65.12, and the whole period of Col. Miller's term, ending Sept., 1853 (excepting from Jan., '45, to May '49), gave a total of $3,744.45 received from postage.
which extended from the Black river to Franklin county a distance of seventy miles. He was also one of the principal proprietors of the turnpike from Rome to Constableville, and was interested in the Albany and Schenectady rail road, which was the first constructed in the state of New York.
His first visit to this county was in 1803, with Mr. James Constable. It was then an almost unbroken forest, and he was obliged to travel on horse- back. He had the gratification to witness its gradual settlement and improve- ment, much of which was the result of his own exertions, seconded by his agents, Mr. Bostwick, Mr. Harvey Stephens, Mr. Diodate Pease, and Mr. David Stiles and others. In the treatment of settlers Mr. Pierrepont was uniformly kind and lenient, extending his indulgence in the collection of their indebted- ness, much to his own inconvenience. He surrendered the care and manage- ment of his lands in Lewis county for five years previous to his death, and by the provisions of his will, to his son Henry E. Pierrepont, who continued during twenty years in their active management, till the year 1853, when they were partitioned among the members of the family.
Mr. Pierrepont died 11th August, 1838, leaving a widow, two sons and eight daughters. His widow died in 1859. We add a list of the children of Mr. Pierrepont, to whom his possessions in this county have descended.
William Constable Pierrepont, residing at Pierrepont Manor, Jeff. Co.
Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, residing at Brooklyn.
Anna Constable Pierrepont who died in 1839, leaving a son, G. Hubert Van Wagenen.
Emily Constable Pierrepont, who married Joseph A. Perry.
Frances Matilda Pierrepont, who married Rev. Frederick S. Wiley. Mary Montague Pierrepont, who died in 1853.
Harriet Constable Pierrepont, who married Edgar J. Barton. She died 18 Maria Theresa Pierrepont, who married Joseph S. Bicknell.
Julia Josephine Pierrepont, who married John Constable of Constableville. Ellen A. Pierrepont, who married Dr. James M. Minor.
1 Col. Miller began trade in 1819, and has since been steadily and success- fully engaged in business, presenting the longest course of continuous mer- cantile employment in the county. In the various commercial crises which have happened, he has not been compelled for a day to suspend business or stop payment; an exemption which can be said of but few merchants of equal business in this section of the state. This success has been due to a discriminating judgment, and strict attention to business, qualities which in every pursuit, ensure their appropriate reward. Col. Miller was many years a partner of James C. Duff. He has been influential in public affairs, and a prominent political leader in the Whig and Republican school.
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