USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 2
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 2
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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 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
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INTRODUCTION.
ing effects; and hence the minor details of a settlement, may possess in reality more importance than was attached to them at the time of their occurrence. To borrow the figure of Macauley, " the sources of the noblest rivers, that spread fertility over continents and bear richly laden fleets to the sea, are to be sought in wild and barren mountain tracts, in- correctly laid down in maps, and rarely visited by travelers." To extend this figure we may add, that the slightest causes may give direction to the mountain rill, and thus influence the course of the river, and the con- sequent fertility of the country which it irrigates. The origin of our va- rious institutions, literary, civil, religious, and social, are especially sus- ceptible of receiving their future direction from causes operating at the time of origin; and hence arises the importance of knowing these data, to be able to appreciate in its various bearings existing relations and agencies.
If this had been done in times past, an explanation would have been afforded of many events which otherwise appear obscure. The unap- preciated facts of the present, are too apt to pass unrecorded and un- heeded, until at some future time, their value becomes known in their want. The probabilities of the future, both with individuals and com- munities, are derived from the past. By comparing existing facts or cir- cumstances, with similar ones that preceded them, of which the results are known, we infer the probable effects that will ensue in the case be- fore us. To enable us to do this successfully, the past must be known, and thus history becomes our index to the future. By it we are enabled to shun the errors of others by knowing the consequences which ensue from given causes, and to gain those ends in which others have failed, by profiting from their experience. The duties of the historian have been beautifully summed up by another, in the following language: " To gather from still living witnesses, and preserve for the future annal- ist, the important record of the teeming and romantic past; to seize while yet warm and glowing, and inscribe upon the page which shall be sought hereafter, the bright visions of song, and fair images of story, that gild the gloom and lighten the sorrows of the ever present; to search all his- tory with a careful eye; sound all philosophy with a careful hand; ques- tion all experience with a fearless tongue, and thence draw lessons to fit us for, and light to guide us through, the shadowy but imknown future."
It has been our endeavor in the following pages, to act with strict im- partiality in relation to local interests and natural advantages; to avoid any appearance that would lead to the suspicion that we wished to pro- mote any sectional or local interest, or advance the personal sectarian or political measures of any person or class of persons.
xiii
INTRODUCTION.
Many subjects have been passed with a brief notice, that but from want of space, would have been more fully discussed, and numerous documents and data having a direct relation to the history of Northern New York, have been for the same reason entirely omitted. To this class belongs much relating to the events of the war, consisting of original letters, official despatches, and verbal statements; but perhaps enough will be found to satisfy the reader that with whatever merit or wisdom the measures of that period were planned, their execution was attempted in a manner that shows either an incapacity or disinclination on the part of the commanding officers for their successful accomplishment. The latter has been often suggested, but this question belongs not to our inquiries.
In coming down to a still more recent period, and giving the details of a movement which threatened to disturb the peace of the country, a difficulty was felt in 'relating the events of the affair from the different and often conflicting statements of the cotemporary press, and the ver- bal accounts of parties who acted with, or who discouraged the affairs. In our relation of these events, by being limited to an account of a few of the many acts that make up the history of the Patriot war, an oppor- tunity was not afforded for exhibiting the movement in the light that would enable one to form a just estimate of its merits, and perhaps the time has not yet elapsed, when a candid opinion could be safely ex- pressed, without encroaching upon the reputation of some of the agi- tators and promoters of the scheme still living. The blood of the be- trayed and unfortunate youths who fell at the wind mill at Prescott, and who suffered the death penalty in consequence of that affair, is upon the hands of those who incited them to the enterprise, but from which they kept themselves aloof. The tragic issue of this melancholy affair, like other and more recent ones of a similar class on the southern border of the Union, should serve as a warning beacon to guard against any move- ment having for its object, the forcing of our institutions upon a people who manifest no wish to receive them, but who, as in the above instan- ces, evinced a spirit of resistance, and a vindictiveness, which proved the sincerity of their feeling.
It would have been pleasant, to liave been able to extend the last chapter of the work, and especially to relate with greater detail the me- talic and mineral resources of these counties, which deservedly enjoy a high reputation for their extent and value, and which have only begun to be developed. An enumeration of localities where metalic ores have been found, or indications observed that lead to the belief of their ex- istence, would show that they are widely scattered over the primitive
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INTRODUCTION.
region, and will without doubt hereafter form a branch of industry of great prominence. This remark is especially applicable to the ores of iron. Of the minerals interesting to the man of science, and of no practical use, few sections afford so great a variety, or those of more elegance, than the western part of St. Lawrence county, and particularly the towns of Rossie, Gouverneur, Fowler, Edwards, and Hermon. A brief enumeration of these, with the towns in which they occur, is only given. To have specified the particular locality of each, would have been tedious, except to the collector.
In the chapter of biographical notices, disappointment in not receiving materials where they were expected and had been promised, has de- prived us of the ability of inserting several, that would have made a de- sirable acquisition in the history of Northern New York, from the pro- minent and active part they took in its settlement, and in the title and transfer of lands, before purchased by actual settlers. This branch of history is one of great importance, because the duty of the annalist is to a great degree but to record the acts of men, and the consequences growing out from them.
In collecting the details of the settlements of several towns, a consid- erable amount of materials were procured, which have not been used, consisting mostly of the names and short memoranda of the early set- tlers, and lists of those who first formed religious societies.
There will probably be found some errors in what is given, as from necessity the statements were often drawn from memory, and hence liable to uncertainty. Written memoranda, and records made at the time of occurrence, are in all cases to be preferred to the memory, how- ever definite this latter may be, and this remark is equally applicable to every department of history.
In a few instances, we met with those who have habitually made a record of passing events, and thus were able to fix with much definite- ness, the dates and circumstances of events which otherwise would have been obscure. This practice has in it that obvious utility and conve- nience, that commends itself to general adoption, and these memorials of the past lose none of their interest from age, but rather acquire new value in proportion as the event becomes distant.
The reliance to be placed upon oral evidence depends upon so many contingencies, that it possesses every degree of probability, from absolute certainty to indefinite fable. The greater part of the following work re- lates to a period within the memory of those living, or of the generation immediately preceding the present. Of the occurrences half a century ago, the surviving witnesses who then knew most of them, have become
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INTRODUCTION.
enfeebled by age, and those whose memories are most sound, were then young, so that between the extremes of youth and age, verbal accounts have begun to lose their reliability, and a few years longer would place them wholly beyond our reach. Traditions extending back through more than two generations, may as a general rule, be rejected by the historian as idle tales, and more liable to mislead than instruct.
This work is submitted to the public with a consciousness of its im- perfections, and a desire that the reader will regard with indulgence, the errors and the faults which the greatest vigilance could not wholly ex- clude. If it shall but serve to awaken an interest in the community to which it applies, and lead to the preservation of the data which make up the materials for history ; if it serves to impart an interest to locali- ties, by their associations with the events of the olden time, and espe- cially if it serve, though but in an humble degree, to attract notice to the resources and the advantages which they possess, our object will have been attained. If it had been possible to have rendered it uniform and alike minute in the details, it should have been done; but from the omission of facts, of which no record remain, many links in the chain of events have been irrecoverably lost. Had this labor been attempted twenty years ago, it would have been possible to have rendered the early details more perfect. At an equal period in the future, much that is here related, would have passed beyond recovery.
-
HISTORY
OF
ST. LAWRENCE AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
CHAPTER I.
ABORIGINAL, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH HISTORY.
EAR where the Oswegatchie river mingles its waters with the St. Lawrence, in the village of Ogdensburgh, may be seen the traces of a broken wall, the foundations of an edifice erected more than a century since by the Sulpitians, for the purpose of attaching to the interests of the French, who were then the masters of Canada, such of the Iroquois confederacy or Six Nations of Indians, as might be induced to conform to their reli- gion, and espouse their cause .*
* Several years since, the corner stone of the buildings represented at the head of this chap- ter was obtained in demolishing the walls. It is still preserved with much care by Mr. Louis Hasbrouck, of the village of Ogdensburgh, and bears the following inscription :
In nomine + Dei omnipotentis Huic habitationi initia dedit Frans. Picquet 1849
Translated, this reads as follows " Francis Picquet laid the foundation of this habitation, in the name of the Almighty God, in 1749."
18
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
These buildings, or others erected on their site, were subsequently and for many years occupied by a British garrison, and within the memory of those yet living, as a court-house, jail, store, dwelling. and barracks for troops; and with them commences the earliest authentic history we pos- sess of St. Lawrence county.
The Aboriginal inhabitants of the country, have left a few traces of their occupancy, in the remains of several ancient trench enclosures and paintings, of which we will give as full an account as can at present be obtained. In the adjoining county of Jefferson, not less than fifteen trench enclosures have been observed; how many more may have been levelled by the plow without exciting a suspicion of their true nature, can not be known. In St. Lawrence county, at least six are known to have existed, and perhaps more, besides localities which appear to have been a most favorite haunt of the red man, as evinced by the remains of his rude implements and ornaments scattered through the soil. It may be well to remark, that the observation made by De Witt Clinton,* that none of these remains occur below the level of the lake ridges, fails to be sustained in the instances which occur in St. Lawrence, and in seve- ral which occur in Jefferson counties. He attempted by this argument to prove the recent subsidence of the great lakes, and the modern origin of the Lake Ridges, which form so striking a feature connected with the geological structure of their borders.
Nothing is more common than to find along the lands that skirt the fertile meadow bottoms which form the shores of several of the tributa- ries of the St. Lawrence, the broken remains of rude pottery, seldom sufficiently entire to enable one to determine the original form, and usually sculptured or rather impressed while in a soft and yielding state with various fanciful figures, always differing from each other in fragments belonging to different utensils, but possessing a general resemblance, which is often much like that of the annexed figure. The cut here insert_ ed represents an entire vessel of earthen ware dug up many years since in Jefferson county.
Not unfrequently a rude resemblance to the human face is noticed on these fragments. The material of this terra cotta, or baked earth, is usually clay and coarse sand, generally well tempered and baked.
Stone gouges for tapping maple trees ; stone chisels for skinning deer ;
* See the memoir of Mr. Clinton on this subject, read before the " Literary and Philosophical Society of New York," and published in a pamphlet form at Albany, in 1818.
19
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
arrowheads of flint, jasper, chalcedony, shale and other stone; amulets and beads of steatite, and other personal ornaments; implements of bone apparently used as needles, and as tools for marking impressions upon the pottery; and fragments of bones and broken shells, the remains of ancient feasts, indicate in broken and disconnected but intelligible lan- guage the pursuits of our predecessors upon our soil.
We will here mention those places where rude traces of embankments indicate the site of ancient strong-holds, illy adapted to the purposes of modern defense, but admirably fitted for resisting the modes of attack as then practised. As a general rule, those points were chosen which afforded naturally a protection upon one or more sides, as the bank of a stream, or the brow of a hill, leaving only defenses to be erected on the unprotected sides. The traces observed usually consisted, when first noticed, of a mound or bank of earth, surrounded by a ditch of propor- tionate extent, which evidently furnished the materials for the bank. There is reason to believe that the bank originally formed the foot of a palisade of timber, set upright in the ground, which, having entirely decayed, has left nothing but the earth remaining. In a few of the trench enclosures of western New York, the evidences of this are not wanting, for the holes which were left by the decaying of the pickets may still be traced. This is especially true of a work near Geneva, in Ontario county, which formed the last stronghold of the Senecas in the expedition of General Sullivan during the revolutionary war, and which owes its preservation entirely to the circumstance that the premises were expressly reserved at the time of the cession of their lands to the state, with the explicit understanding that it should never be brought under cultivation. " Here," said they, " sleep our fathers, and they can not rest well if they hear the plow of the white man above them."
In the town of Macomb, St. Lawrence county, are found the traces of three trench enclosures, and several places where beds of ashes mark the site of ancient hearths; the habitations and defences of a race, of whose period or history we have nothing to conjecture. One of these was on the farm of William Houghton, on the bank of Birch creek, and enclosed the premises now.used as a mill-yard. It was somewhat in the form of a semicircle, the two ends resting on the creek, and might have enclosed half an acre. Every trace of the work has been long since erased by cultivation ; but the line which formed the bank, and the space within and without, still occasionally afford fragments of pottery, ashes, shells, and stone implements. Great numbers of these have been picked up and carried off by the curious; and among other articles, numbers of stone and earthen-ware pipes, with a short clumsy stem two or three
20
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
inches long, and a heavy massive bowl with a small cavity, have been found. On an adjoining hill, now partly occupied by an orchard, traces of an ancient work formerly existed, but this has also been obliterated. This locality is the one mentioned in most state gazetteers as occurring on the premises of Captain Washburn in Gouverneur (the former occu- pant of the farm when the adjacent country formed a part of that town); but the statement that "traces of rude sculpture exist within the enclo- sure," which has been often copied, is incorrect.
In the pond adjoining, there was found, many years since, a skeleton, said to have been of great size.
About half a mile northeast of this, is the trace of another enclosure, on the farms of William P. Houghton and Josiah Sweet; but the outlines are so indistinct, that they could not be traced with any degree of cer- tainty. From what little remains, it appears to have consisted of a deep ditch, outside of a high bank; and it is said to have been irregularly semi-oval, with passages or gateways where the work was interrupted; and that its ends came up to a small stream, the present outlet of a ta- marack swamp, but the former site of a beaver meadow. The evidences of the latter were found in digging a ditch for drainage some time since, when the sticks still bearing the marks of the teeth of beavers were found several feet below the surface.
This trench and bank could, at the author's visit, be traced about 160 paces, which appeared to be about half of its original circuit. Its longest direction was from N.N.E. to S.S.W. Numerous fire beds occurred within it, and in one instance a quantity of ashes and charcoal was found five feet below the surface.
In a field a few rods distant, in the direction of the work last described, the vestiges which abound in the soil seem to indicate that there was once an Indian village on the site.
On the premises of the St. Lawrence Lead Mining Company, and the farm of Robert Wilson, about three-fourths of a mile from the first de- scribed spot, is still another trace, which can still be easily made out, as the premises have never been plowed. In this instance the work was crescent-shaped, the open side being protected by a low ledge of lime- stone rock, and a branch which led down to a small stream, which may have served as a covered way to allow the inmates of the stockade to have access to the water. Not having been cultivated, the soil of this locality has not hitherto furnished any relics of interest, although it can scarcely fail to do so when plowed.
This is the only work of the three in the town of Macomb, which can still be seen entire.
21
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
On the farm of Henry E. Holbrook, in the northeastern part of Pots- dam, on or near mile lot No. 10, was a remarkable trench enclosure in early times, but which is now entirely destroyed, except a very small portion in the public highway. It is on the road between Norfolk village and Raquetteville, west of the river, and half a mile from the railroad bridge at the latter place; and is situated on an elevated ridge of drift, in a commanding position, and at a point which affords a fine prospect of the surrounding country. The form of this work was said to have been semicircular, the open side resting on a swamp to the west, and several spaces or gateways are said to have occurred at irregular intervals. The ditch, which was exterior to the bank, appears to have furnished the earth for the bank, which was on the inside of the trench, and enclosed about two acres. Pine stumps still stand on the bank, four feet in diameter, which must have grown since the place was occupied, as beds of ashes have been found under their roots, mingled with broken earthen, flint arrows, and other relics of the builders. Within and without, scattered at irregular intervals, were found fireplaces, with charcoal, ashes, fresh- water shells, bones, and broken pottery, which differed in no respect from that found in other trench enclosures in the state. On an island in the vicinity, Indian graves were found.
In the town of Massena, about half a mile west of Raquette river bridge, and on the western declivity of a slope near the summit of a dividing ridge which separates this river from Grass river, and in an open field which has long been cleared but never plowed, are plainly to be traced the outlines of a work which differs considerably from any above described, and which is by far the best preserved. Its form is irregular, being somewhat shaped like an ox-bow, with its open side towards Ra- quette river, and with numerous spaces or openings more especially on the southern side. The open side is in part protected by a ditch, which is not connected with the main work, being separated from it by a con- siderable interval on each side. The relics furnished by the soil in this vicinity do not differ essentially from those of other places, being mostly of earthen-ware and stone.
The summit of the ridge at this place commands an extensive and delightful prospect, and this vicinity must have formed a favorite haunt for the rude Indians who once made it their home. At no great distance on either side was a river abounding in fish, and affording a long naviga- tion with an occasional carrying place, by which they could penetrate far into the interior; while a few miles below them, the mighty St. Lawrence, with its bays and islands, afforded equal facilities for hunting, and equal prospects for repaying the labors of the chase and the hazards of the fisheries.
22
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
If the intervening woods were cleared away, the locality in Potsdam, some eighteen or twenty miles distant, could be seen from this place; and perhaps the two may have been occupied by parties of the same tribe, who could exchange signals by night, as the fires gleaming upon one summit might be easily distinguished from the other.
The description of this enclosure, published in the third annual report of the Regents of the University on the condition of the State Cabinet is somewhat erroneous, as neither of the two works last mentioned are furnished with bastions and angles; and accordingly the inferences there drawn, that it must belong to a different historical period, are without foundation. The stumps of immense trees, standing on the bank and in the ditch, indicate at least an ante-Columnbian age, and probably many centuries have elapsed since these stations have witnessed the events for which they were formed. Within this enclosure are one or two slight emineuces, which may in their day have been sufficiently high to over- look the pickets by which they were probably surrounded.
In the town of Massena, not far from this work, there was found seve- ral years since, a pipe, formed of whitish steatite, or soapstone, having on its bowl and stem curiously wrought, the figure of a serpent, with its head rising a little above the level of the bowl. The figure of the serpent has been used by savages of all nations, apparently without the know- ledge of each other, and this has given rise to the opinion that it origin- ated in some religious notion, and that it is symbolical of some idea inhe- rent in the human inind. The Egyptians represented the recurring cycle of the year, by a serpent with its tail in its mouth, and among the mounds of the south-west there is one which, when traced in its immense pro- portions along the ground, represents an enormous serpent. In the in- stance of the pipe found in Massena, there might, or might not, have been something more than the amusement of a leisure hour on its formation.
A semicircular trench, and bank, formerly existed in the town of Oswe- gatchie, near its western edge, and on the farm now owned by Benjamin Pope. A small portion of the present highway passes over it, at the only part which is now visible, cultivation having obliterated every trace of it elsewhere. It was somewhat semicircular, and no natural barrier can be noticed as forming, with the aid of the bank and ditch, a complete enclosure.
In this respect it differs from others, but we are not to infer from the non-existence of the bank that no defensive work existed. The outline of this bank may be traced in the spring by the unusual verdure of the grass along its line, and similar spots indicate the sites of fire places, both within and without. An unusual abundance of stone and earthen- ware fragments occurred here in former times.
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