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 9
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The elder Le Ray spent the best years of his life in pro- moting the settlement of his lands in Jefferson and Lewis counties, and in 1832 returned to France. In 1836, he made his last visit to the country, spending the summer there. Upon his return home he continued to reside with his daughter and two sisters, spending his time partly in
1 In 1856, upon the death of the head of an old French family, the heirs found the title papers of several shares in the Compagnie de New York, au- thenticated by Chassanis and his colleagues, and wrote to the governor of New York for information as to how to come in possession of the estate, which they doubtless imagined had accumulated enormously by lapse of time, allowing even a moderate per cent. of increase.
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Paris, and partly in the country, or in traveling. He died Dec. 31, 1840, aged 80 years.1
Great Tract Number Four .- On the 12th of April, 1793, Constable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis who held a preemptive claim, this tract of 450,950 acres for 300,000 florins ($125,356) to Charles J. Michael De Wolf of Antwerp. The town of Diana lies wholly in this tract which also embraces a large portion of Jefferson co. De Wolf published in Dutch, a plan of settlement under a company of which he was to be the president. Its affairs were to be managed by himself and four directors whose names were to be made known at the proper time. The capital was fixed at 1,200,000 florins current money, to be disposed of a follows :
First. 800,000F for the payment of the 400,000 acres for which good titles will be given and of which copies will be kept at the office of the president and all other papers in rela- tion to this negotiation will be kept there also.
Secondly. 400,000F will be invested by the said five directors in such stocks as they may deem advisable for the best interests of the negotiators, and in case they deem it necessary to send emigrants there, or to clear some of these lands, or make other expenses for the improvement of the same, or if they can not pay the yearly dividends the said directors may sell or use so much of the said stock as is necessary to cover the expenses.
Thirdly. The interest which may accrue on the said 400,000F shall be for the benefit of the negotiators.
As it was evident that the negotiations would be bene- ficial to its stockholders, the directors were to issue with each share of 1,000 guilders each, three coupons as a divi- dend, each of 50 guilders payable in 1794, 1795 and 1796. The tract was to be surveyed into 400 acre lots.
It was evident that this scheme was only a trap, and as such it served its end, for De Wolf soon sold for 680,000 florins to a company of large and small capitalists of Ant- werp, who organized the "Antwerp Company." The several schemes which were devised by these people for improving their lands belong rather to Jefferson county.
In January, 1800, Gouverneur Morris received a trust deed of half of the tract and on the next day James D. Le Ray received a like deed for the other half.2 Morris and
1 A biographical notice and portrait of Le Ray are contained in the History of Jefferson Co., p. 441, 447.
2 These conveyances were made by James Constable, under powers from his brother, dated Nov. 16, 1798. Regr's. office, N. Y., Ivi., 169. See Deeds, Oneida Co., B., 612, E. 307.
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Le Ray exchanged releases Aug. 15, 1802,1 and the former June 15, 1809, conveyed 326 lots of 143,440 acres to Moss Kent who conveyed the same to Le Ray June 24, 1817.2 The operations of the Antwerp company like those of its neighbor were a failure, and Le Ray ultimately purchased the most if not all of the rights of the individual share- holders in Europe. Not the slightest settlement had been undertaken by the company before Le Ray's connection with the title.
A large part of Diana, with portions of Jefferson county adjoining, were conveyed to Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king of Spain and brother of the illustrious Napoleon, under circum- stances which are thus related by Mr. Vincent Le Ray :
"Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont was at his estate in Tourraine in 1815, when he heard of Joseph Bonaparte's arrival at Blois. He had known this prince before his great elevation and was his guest at Mortefontaine when the treaty of Sept. 30, 1800, between the U. S. and France was signed there, but he had ceased meeting him afterwards. Seeing however that misfor- tune had assailed the prince, he remembered the man and hastened to Blois. The prince having invited Mr. L. to dinner, said suddenly to him: "well, I remember you spoke to me formerly of your great possession in the United States. If you have them still, I should like very much to have some in ex- change for a part of that silver I have there in those wagons, and which may be pillaged any moment. Take four or five hundred thousand francs and give the equivalent in land." Mr. Le Ray objected that it was impossible to make a bargain where one party alone knew what he was about. 'Oh!' said the prince, 'I know you well and I rely more on your word than my own judgment.' Still Mr. Le Ray would not be satis- fied by this flattering assurance, and a long discussion followed, which was terminated by the following propositions immediately assented to by the prince. Mr. L. would receive 400,000 francs and would give the prince a letter for Mr. L.'s son then on the lands instructing him to convey a certain designated tract, if, after having visited the country (whither he was then going), the prince confirmed the transaction, otherwise the money was to be refunded."
The purchaser, who in the United States assumed the title of the Count de Survilliers, in closing the bargain, is understood to have made payment in certain diamonds brought from Spain, and in real estate. A trust deed with covenant and warranty, was passed Dec. 21, 1818, to Peter S. Duponceau, the confidential agent of the count, for
1 Deeds, Jefferson Co., A. 358. Deeds, Oneida Co., X, 464.
2 Deeds, Jefferson Co., K., 279.
₹
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150,260 acres, excepting lands not exceeding 32,260 acres, conveyed or contracted to actual settlers.1 This was re- corded with a defeasance appended, in which it is declared a security for $ 120,000, and it provided for an auction sale of lands to meet this obligation. The tract conveyed by this instrument included the greater part of Diana, two tiers of lots on the S. E. side of Antwerp, the whole of Wilna and Philadelphia, a small piece south of Black river at the Great bend, a tract four lots wide and seven long, from Le Ray, and nine lots from the easterly range in The- resa.
Diamonds having fallen to half their former price, the fact was made a subject of complaint, and in 1820, the count agreed to accept 26,840 acres for the nominal sum of $40,260. These lands lay in the most distant por- tions of No. IV, and Mr. Le Ray, in a letter to 'one of the Antwerp company, dated April 9, 1821, complimented the count upon his taste in selecting a "tract abounding with picturesque landscapes, whose remote and extensive forests affording retreat to game, would enable him to establish a great hunting ground ; qualities of soil, and fitness for settlers were only secondary considerations. * *
* He regrets, notwithstanding, that thus far, he has been unable to find among the 26,000 acres of land, a pla- teau of 200 acres to build his house upon, but he intends keeping up his researches this summer." The attempt of Joseph Bonaparte to establish himself in Diana, is elsewhere noticed. By an act of March 31, 1825, he was authorized to hold lands in this state, without bis promising or expect- ing to become a citizen. In his memorial he alludes to the liberality of other states, especially Pennsylvania, in allow- ing aliens to hold lands, "and not being of the number of those who would wish to abandon this land of hospitality, where the best rights of man prevail, but nevertheless bound to his own country by ties which misfortune renders more sacred," he solicited the privilege of holding titles in his own name.2
Duponceau executed to Joseph Bonaparte July 31, 1825, a deed of all the rights he had before held in trust.3 In 1835, John Lafarge bought for $80,000 the remaining inte- rests of Count Survilliers in Lewis and Jefferson counties,4 and attempted more active measures for settling these lands.
1 Mortgages, Jefferson Co., A, 626 ; Deeds N, 1.
2 This memorial is preserved in Assembly papers xii, 37, 41, Sec. office, - and is given in full in the Hist. of Jeff. Co., p. 566.
3 Deeds, Jefferson co., N, 181 ; Lewis co., I, 16.
4 Deeds, Jefferson co., U, 2, 43.
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The hard reputation he had acquired in the sale of Penet's square, and the severe measures he had adopted in ejecting squatters and delinquents, however prejudiced the minds of settlers to such an extent that but few in this county ventured to commit themselves to his "tender mercies." La Farge had been a merchant at Havre, and afterwards re- sided in New Orleans. While in France he purchased the title to much of Penet's square, and in 1824 came to reside upon it. In about 1838, he removed to New York, where he became concerned in extensive pecuniary operations on his own account, and as agent of Louis Phillippe, who, while king of the French, invested large amounts of funds in American stocks. A magnificent hotel on Broadway, N. Y., was named from its owner, the La Farge house. The La Farge fire insurance company was also named from him. He died two or three years since in New York.
On the 3d of June, 1825, William and Gerardus Post, for $17,000, purchased 11,888 acres (out of which 3,503 acres were excepted) in the present towns of Wilna and Diana, portions of which have since been conveyed to T. S. Ham- mond of Carthage.1
The Swiss company that made the first investment at Alpina, received July 28, 1846, a conveyance from La Farge of a tract embracing two ranges of lots in Antwerp, and 122 lots in Diana,2 and the whole of La Farge's interest has since been sold in this county. The principal owners of the unimproved lands of his tract in Diana, are L. Paddock of Watertown, and David C. Judson of Ogdensburgh. Their agent is Joseph Pahud3 of Harrisville.
A considerable part of Diana and the adjoining parts of Antwerp are still a wilderness, but the demand for lumber and bark recently created, will before long lead to the clearing up of these lands.
1 Deeds, Jefferson co., X, 108; mortgages B. 3, p. 311.
2 Deeds, Jefferson co., 81, p. 532.
3 Pronounced Pi-u.
J
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CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF TOWNS.
The county of Lewis upon its organization embraced five towns, viz : Leyden, Turin, Martinsburgh, Lowville and Harrisburgh. The present number is seventeen and their names and dates of erection are as follows :
CROGHAN, .1841.
MARTINSBURGH, 1803.
DENMARK, .1807.
MONTAGUE,. ... 1850.
DIANA,. .1830.
NEW BREMEN,. . 1848.
GREIG,. 1828.
OSCEOLA, 1844.
HARRISBURGH, .. 1803.
PINCKNEY, .1808.
HIGHMARKET, .. 1852.
TURIN, ...
.1800.
LEWIS, . 1852.
WATSON,. .. .1821.
LEYDEN, 1797.
WEST TURIN, . . 1830.
LOWVILLE, . 1800.
CROGHAN.
This town was formed from Watson and Diana, April 5, 1841, and named in honor of George Croghan, whose military services had then been recently brought to public notice in the presidential campaign resulting in Harrison's election.1 The name of Tippecanoe had been proposed, and that of New France had been applied to the bill as passed in the senate, but on its third reading in the lower house, the present name was substituted. New Bremen was taken off in part, in 1848. An unsuccessful effort was made in 1859, to procure a division of this town into two. The first town meeting was ordered to be held at the house of John C. Fox, before Willard Barrett, Lodowick Snyder, and Joseph Hamen.
1 Croghan was a native of Locust Grove near the falls of the Ohio, where he was born Nov. 15, 1791. His father was Major Wm. Croghan, an Irishman who had rendered efficient service in the revolution, and his mother was sister of William Clark, who with Capt. Lewis explored the Missouri country in 1805-7. In 1810, Croghan graduated at William and Mary's college, and began the study of law ; but the war soon opened a more inviting field of enterprise, and in the battle of Tippecanoe, and the sieges of fort Meigs and fort Stephenson, he won the applause of the Union. He rose from the rank of captain to that of inspector general ; and in 1825 he received from congress a gold medal for his brilliant military services. He died at New Orleans, January 8, 1849. His name was pronounced Craw-an, although that of the town, is uniformly spoken Cro-gan.
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Supervisors .- 1841, Benj. R. Ellis; 1842-4, Bornt Nellis ; 1845-50, Darius G. Bent ; 1851-60, Patrick Sweetman.
Clerks .- 1841-3, Abraham Fox ; 1844-6, Joseph Hamen ; 1847-8, Joseph Virkler; 1849, Foster L. Cunningham ; 1850, Hartwell F. Bent; 1851-4, Joseph Rofinot ; 1855, Joseph Catillaz ; 1856, J. Rofinot ; 1857-9, Augustus Valin.
Bounties for the destruction of wild animals have been voted as follows : For wolves $15 in 1841, $10 in 1845, and $5 in 1842, 6. For panthers, $10 in 1841, 5, 6, and $5 in 1842. For bears, $5 in 1841. In 1856, the town meet- ings of this town and New Bremen were held in the same house, the town line passing through near the middle.
In this town, the Company of New York had intended to lay out a city by the name of Castorville, on the north side of the Beaver river, half a mile above the head of navigation, and at the lowest water power on that stream.1 The details of this plan have been already stated, but it is believed the city was never surveyed into lots, further than as a part of the Castorland tract. The reservation amount- ed to 663 acres, and upon it was built about 1798, the first saw mill east of Black river. From this mill the first lum- ber used by the settlers at Lowville, was obtained. The mill stood on the site of the upper part of Lefever's tan- nery, but its last vestige had disappeared long before the modern occupation of this site. Tillier made a clearing at the head of navigation, on Beaver river, four miles from its mouth, and a few log huts were erected. The only access to and from this place, was by river navigation. A few French emigrants settled on the banks of the Black river ; among whom were, it is believed, J. T. Devouassoux, A. Tassart, Louis Frangois de Saint Michel, and perhaps others. Mr. D. was a retired officer, who owned a good lot on the river, and had built a log house a few feet from the water, on a beautiful flat piece of ground, which he hoped before long to see changed to a smooth verdant lawn. One day as he was sitting by the door in his morning gown and slippers, Mr. Le Ray came along, on his way down the river, to visit his lands. After the usual salutations and a little general conversation, the visitor asked Mr. D. whether he was not afraid the water would reach his house in the spring ? This was a new idea to the old soldier, and he was asked to explain. "Well," said Mr. L., " this river does not, by any means, cause such ravages as most rivers
1 The steamers Lawrence and Norcross each ascended the stream to this point, and canal boats are loaded within half a mile of the tannery, on the lowest fall in Beaver river.
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do in snowy countries, but it does overflow its banks in very low grounds. I think I even saw some marks left by it on some trees near your house, and according to them, you would have been about two feet under water in your house next spring !"
At these words our Frenchman felt as perhaps he had never felt before the enemy. " But," resumed Mr. L., after giving him time to compose himself, " have you not on your lot some higher ground ?" "Indeed, sir, I can not say." "Why, have you not explored your lands before building ?" " Indeed, no : I thought I could not possibly find a better spot than the banks of this beautiful river. I like fishing. Here I am near my field of operations." Mr. L. could not see without apprehension such apathy and levity, for know- ing well that Mr. D. was not an exception among his coun- trymen, he read in his fate that of many others. He persuaded Mr. D. to take a little walk upon his lot, and in a few minutes they found a beautiful building spot on a rising ground.1 We are not informed precisely upon which side of Beaver river this location was, and it may have been in the town of New Bremen.
Saint Michel arrived in New York in November, 1798, and undertook the improvement of a tract of 1200 acres, owned by three daughters of Mr. Lambot, and from them named Sistersfield. The agreement was made with Patrick Blake, husband of one of the sisters, and the owner of 200 acres of the tract. The two other sisters were named Renée Jeane Louise, and Reine Marguerite Lambot. Blake returned to Europe in 1802. Saint Michel had seen better days in France, and is believed to have held an office under Louis XVI., the unfortunate royal victim of the French revolution. His household affairs were managed by a daughter who had been tenderly reared at the schools in Paris, but who applied herself to the duties of her father's home with a cheerfulness that did much to lighten the gloom of solitude and lessen the sadness of both. About 1803, as Gouverneur Morris, Nicholas Low and one or two other landholders, had met at Brownville, Saint Michel came down with Richard Coxe to see them and enjoy the luxury of a conversation with some one who could speak his native language with fluency. The meeting is described by an eye witness as affording a scene worthy of a painter. Their visitor was a tall, thin man, with a keen and intelli- gent eye, and a vivacity peculiar to the French character.
1 Related by Vincent Le Ray, Esq., in a letter to the author.
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The eagerness with which he grasped the hand of the dig- nified Morris, and the satisfaction he evinced, was as interesting to the spectators as it was gratifying to the parties.1 Saint Michel in dress and manners, indicated that he had been bred in polished society. He was a man of fervent piety and deep thought. His daughter married Louis Marselle, and adopted with grace the coarse fare and rustic accommodations of a new country, without a murmur. Her father moved to a farm a little south of Deer River village, where he died. Upon the death of her husband she married Louis de Zotelle, who, in the summer of 1838, was supposed to have died ; preparations were made for the burial, and a premature notice of the death was printed in the Northern Journal. In a few days he called upon the editor to request that no notice be again printed unless he informed in person. He died " in good faith," about 1854, but in the absence of the authentic notice promised, we are unable to give the date. Still further down, and just be- yond the border of the county, Jean Baptiste Bossuot, settled at the present village of Carthage, where he held an acre of ground under a verbal agreement with Sauvage, its owner, and kept a ferry and tavern. Other men would have made an independent fortune out of the opportunities which his location offered, but the bridge destroyed his occupation the village of Carthage which sprung up around "the meagre field of his slothful farming," failed to enrich its tenant, and he died a few years ago at an advanced age, leaving a world that was getting along without him !
A few miles from the last, on the north bounds of Castor- land, lived a man whose name is familiar to the visitors of Mont Blanc, as that of a family of one of the best guides to that mountain. Mr. Balmat's descendants still reside in the town of Fowler, St. Lawrence county. A neighbor of his, Mr. Carret, a man of good education, would have fared better had he been brought up on a farm. His eldest son, James, a youth of bright natural talents, was obliged to seek service, and while tending ferry at the Long falls, fell under the notice of Le Ray, who received him into his office, and found him so very useful that he took him to Europe. While transacting some business with Joseph Bonaparte, the latter formed so favorable an impression of the young man, that he prevailed upon Le Ray to allow him to become his secretary, and he afterwards appointed him his general land agent. He subsequently returned to France, and settled near Lyons,
·
'1 Related by Mrs. B. Skinner, sister of Maj. Gen. Brown.
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where he now resides. The three last named settlers located in what is now Jefferson county.
The little improvents made by the French were soon aban- doned, as the would-be pioneers became disheartened and moved away to older colonies or returned to France.
There was scarcely a perceptible progress in settlement during the first twenty-five years after the French removed. Their clearings grew up with brambles, and their rude cabins rotted down, leaving but slight traces of their indus- try, and few evidences that this region had been traversed by civilized man.
In 1824, Thomas W. Bent, from Watson, took up a farm on the ridge between the Oswegatchie and Indian rivers, about fifteen miles from neighbors, at what is still the frontier clearing in this quarter, and known as Bent's Settlement. The post office of Indian River is a mile and a half south of this place.
In 1830, P. Somerville Stewart, now Le Ray's agent at Carthage, removed to Belfort, on Beaver river ; built a saw mill and store, brought in settlers, and two or three years after erected a grist mill. A fire occurred May 30, 1831, from a fallow, which consumed the only two buildings then finished. A post office named Monterey, was established here some years after, but the route has been changed, and the office discontinued. A large tannery has been recently built at this place, by Wm. H. Pier.
About 1830, an immigration began from Europe, and has since continued, mainly through the exertions of agents employed by Le Ray, and the representations sent home by those who had taken up land and settled. The first of these was John Keefer. In the winter of 1848-49, a census taken in this town and New Bremen, showed 247 European families, of 1,275 persons, classified as follows :
From France,. ... 190 families, of 987 persons. 66 Germany, .. 46 66 230 66 Switzerland, 11 58 66
Their religious belief was found to be :
Catholic, 150 families of 787 persons.
Protestant, 57 66 297 66
Muscovite, . 39 66 189
Their residence in America had been, 1 family 21 years : 3, 19 : 5,18 : 17, 17: 6, 16: 10, 15: 21, 14: 4, 12, 9, 10 : 16,9: 49, 8 : 14, 7: 6, 6 : 9, 5: 2, 4: 6, 3: 24, 2: 35, 1: and 10 less than 1 year. They owned or occupied 12,413 acres, of which 4,338 were fenced and improved, and 500
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partly cleared. They owned 59 horses, 388 sheep, 513 swine and 1,256 horned cattle, and their produce the year previous had been 2,770 bushels of wheat, 4,430 of corn, 7,513 of rye, 3,127 of buckwheat, 10,640 of oats, and 33,339 of potatoes, 1,447 tons of hay, 17,068 pounds of butter ex- clusive of that used in families, and 27,925 pounds of maple sugar.
From a pamphlet issued in 1858, it appears that there were then over 500 European families, numbering 3,000 persons, upon Le Ray's lands, the greater part in this town and New Bremen. They were chiefly from the east of France, and the adjacent parts of Germany and Switzerland.
In a list of settlers numbering over three hundred names, the departments of Moselle, Meurthe, Lower Rhine, Upper Saone and Doubs in France, had furnished 154, Prussia 56, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz 4, Hesse Darmstadt 5, Kur Hessen 14, Holstein and Lauenburg 3, Bavaria 8, Saxony and Saxe-Weimar 7, Baden 9, Wurtem- berg 10, and Switzerland 36. In 1849 this town had a population of 1,168, of whom 646 were Americans and Irish, and 522 French, German and Swiss.
Mr. Le Ray employs as his sole agent in France, for the procuring of emigrants, M. Vanderest of Dunkirk, and has issued several circulars, maps and other publications in French and German, with the view of calling favorable notice to his lands. The terms advertised in Europe are, one-fifth payment at the end of one year after the selection of lands by the purchasers, and four-fifths in six years in equal annual installments, with interest. The amount offered in the two counties is 80,000 acres. M. Vanderest gives a contract, binding Le Ray to sell a tract of land to be selected within fifteen days or later after their arrival in New York, at a price varying from three to six dollars per acre, according to location, excepting lands near villages and water falls, and such as have timber con- venient for sawing or manufacture, and engaging the emi- grant to remove within three months to New York, and from thence, by way of Watertown, to Carthage. This instrument, drawn up with due formality, includes the names of all persons, old and young, belonging to the emi- grating company, and is evidently intended to keep those removing, out of the hands of emigrant runners interested in other localities, until they may have an opportunity of visiting the lands and selecting for themselves.
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