USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 33
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 33
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gain the island, jumped overboard with his setting pole, and lodged on a rock where he could maintain himself but with great difficulty, while the boat was swept down, and broken among the rapids below. Mr. Church procured a rope and swam over to the island, where making one end fast to a tree, he let himself down stream till he could get the other end into the hands of the one in peril, who was thus rescued from what appeared to be certain destruction.
In 1802, the town began to settle rapidly, and among others, Peter R. Leonard, Moses Leonard, Thomas D. Olin, Chester Dewey, Lebeus Johnson, and five sons, James Parkil, Daniel Walker, Nathan Walker, - Kingsbury, most of them with families, and from Vermont, immi- grated. The first school was taught in 1804, by William Barker; and religious meetings began to be held the same year. The second death was that of one Osgood, who was killed in 1803, about three miles south of Foote's, by the fall of a tree. The first birth in town, was a daughter of L. Johnson, in 1803; and the first male born in town, is said to have been a son of P. R. Leonard, in 1803.
Before the war, a forge was built on the east side of the river by Mr. Foote, and run upon bog ores from the north part of the town. The extravagant price of iron at that period, justified an expense for its re- duction, that would be now wholly inadmissible. A dam was built at the village soon after the mill, but the bridge not till after the war. The west side of the river long continued to be the principal seat of business. A Mr. Farwell is said to have been the first settler east of the river, where the most of the village of Canton is now located.
In 1831, (April 9,) the legislature voted a tax of $1,800 on the town, for a bridge at the village, namning Jno. Day, Isaac Heaton, and Thomas H. Conkey, commissioners for its erection, with power to anticipate by a loan, the fund to be raised. This bridge was destroyed by a freshet in June, 1843. It was soon rebuilt, and in 1852, again rebuilt.
The first inn in Canton, was opened by Mr. Foote, soon after he be- came established, and for several years the town settled very fast. In the south part of the town, in the vicinity of South Canton, Benjamin Rose, of Dorsett, Vt., began in 1806, and soon after, Ward Squires, Abner Wells, and John Rose. The village of Canton began to grow rapidly after the location of the court house, in 1828, and its central location, in the midst of a highly cultivated region and fine water power, give it much importance. A destructive fire occurred here on the 4th of Octo- ber, 1843.
The village of Canton was incorporated May 14, 1845. Its bounds were made to include the jail limits, as they then existed, excepting thereout the bridge across Grass river. The officers of the village were
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to be five trustees, two of whom shall be inhabitants of the two school districts on the east side of the river, and the fifth to reside on the west side of the river, with three assessors, one treasurer, one clerk, and one collector, who were to be elected on the first Monday of May of each year. The president of the board of trustees was to be chosen by them- selves, out of their number, soon after each annual election. The powers of the trustees extended to those subjects which relate to the internal go- vernments of a village, including the organization and supervision of a fire department, the care of roads and public squares, &c., coupled with the power of enforcing their regulations by fines within certain limita- tions fixed by statute. The following is a list of the trustees which have been elected annually in the village of Canton, since its organization. The persons elected as president are given in italics :
1846, Prosper Barrows, Benjamin Squire, Nathan Pratt, Barzillai Hod- skin, and Nathaniel Hodskin.
1847, Ebenezer Miner, Daniel Mack, Elias G. Page, Harry Smith, Or- ville Page.
1848, Ebenezer Miner, B. Hodskin, Calvin Williams, Harry Smith, Prosper Barrows.
1849, P. Barrows, S. J. Bingham, Harvey M. Childs, H. Smith, Paul Boynton.
1850, E. Miner, Darius Clark, A. R. Kipp, O. Page, Nathaniel Hodskin. 1851, Wm. Blanchard, Theodore Caldwell, Vincent Coan, Martin Thatcher, P. Boynton.
1852, Benjamin Squire, Luman Moody, Clapp Bailey, O. Page, L. B. Storrs.
By an act passed April 21, 1846, the board of supervisors were di- rected to levy a tax of $333-33 annually, for three years, in Canton, for the erection of a town house in that village, to be paid to Benjamin Squire and Cyrus Abernethy, who were named in the act as commissioners to expend the above sum for this purpose. The supervisor of the town is ex-officio the trustee of the house, and has control of the same. The town house was accordingly erected, and stands fronting a public square before the county buildings, and near the academy.
On the 11th of April, 1832, the Canton Social Library was incorpo- rated; Darius Clark, Moses Whitcomb, Wm. Perry, Jr., Lyman Langdon, Win. F. Cahoon, Elias C. Page, and Benjamin Walker, being first trustees. Like most other library associations this is believed to have become extinct since the formation of school district libraries.
On both sides of Grass river, but mostly on the west bank, and near the north part of the town, is the village of Morley, which name it re- ceived in 1835 from the family name of the Harrison relatives. It was formerly called Long Rapids, and first began to be settled in the spring of 1810, by S. Foote, of Canton, who built a saw mill here. In 1811, a
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second saw mill, and in 1815 a wooden grist mill, were built, the latter by Christopher Wilson. Mr. F. sold his interest in 1812. The sum of $150 was in 1817 voted for a bridge at this place. The present stone mill was built for Mr. Harrison, the proprietor. It is a place of consider- able business, having two saw mills (one a gang mill of 32 saws), four shingle machines, a sash factory, tannery, two wagon shops, a tavern, three stores, and about fifty or sixty families. A plank road from Can- ton to the Northern Rail Road passes through the village.
Near the north-west corner of the town, on the Oswegatchie river, and 11 miles distant from Ogdensburgh, with which place it communi- cates by plank road, is the village of Rensselaer Falls, which began in 1839, by the erection of a forge, by Tate, Chafee & Co. It first had the name of Tateville, from Robert Tate, of the above firm, but it has been more generally known as Canton Falls, until the recent establish- ment of a post office. The forge was west of the river, and at first had three fires, and was worked on specular ore from Hermon, and bog ores from Lisbon. A saw mill was built in 1839 by Mr. Van Rensselaer, the proprietor, and in 1846 the present stone grist mill. This village has been surveyed into lots, and the Oswegatchie, which here has a fall of about six feet, gives it an abundant water power. A congregational church was formed here in 1842, and a society in 1847, who erected a church edifice in 1848. The Rev. - Parsons, and Rev. Goreham Cross, have been employed here. A cemetery association at this place was incorporated April 15, 1852, with Jacob Shull, B. Morrison, Augus- tus Johnson, A. G. Pierce, G. W. Cooper, and Caleb S. Johnson, trustees.
Near this village the Natural canal, which forms so striking a feature of the country, joins the Oswegatchie. It was originally open both at this and Grass river, and navigable for small boats, and became the high- way to mill by the pioneers. This channel is six miles long, and from 5 to 10 and even 25 rods wide, with a descent of three feet towards the Oswegatchie. It runs through an alluvial flat, of about 4500 acres, covered by a forest of black ash and soft maple, which has hitherto been too wet to cultivate, but is now in process of reclaiming. The outlet on the Oswegatchie has been closed, and a canal cut along the bank to be- low the dam, by which the water is expected to be lowered about four feet. It has cost about $6000. The outlet on Grass river has long since been closed. This channel is known on some maps, and among the in- habitants, as Indian creek.
In 1816, an act of 1807, relating to the gospel and school lots of central New York, was extended to this county, and authorized the supervisor, and two commissioners, chosen at a town meeting, to lease them for a term not
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1
over 21 years, and to apply the proceeds to the support of the gospel or schools, or both, as the town miglit vote. On the 21st of March, 1823, a law was passed allowing three trustees to be chosen, with powers similar to those of the town of Madrid previously created.
About a mile below the High falls on Grass river, near the south part of Canton, where that river issues from a romantic rocky ravine, its channel broken by rapids, and its banks discolored by reddish and yel- low stains from the efflorescence of iron pyrites, which here form an im- portant constituent of the rock, stand the remains of a manufactory of copperas and alum, which have for many years been going to ruin. This manufactory was commenced in the year 1832, by S. & H. Foote, of Canton, who on the following summer were joined by G. W. Shep- ard, and J. C. Bush, of Ogdensburgh, the premises having been leased for ten years for the purpose. During the first year, but little was done, but getting the works in order, and erecting suitable fixtures for the manufacture. In the summers of 1833-4-5, and a part of 1836, from sixty to eighty hands were employed, but the enterprise being found one that did not remunerate it was abandoned. The process of the manu- facture depends upon chemical principles and was as follows. The rock abounding in iron pyrites, (sulphuret of iron) was first dug and broken by hand, a process easily effected, from the tender and porous texture of the mineral. A clay bed having been prepared on the ground, and a quanty of wood first laid, it was covered with the pulver- ized stone and ignited. When once fairly on fire, it would burn of itself, from the great percentage of sulphur in the mineral, and it needed no further care than to throw on new ore, with water, to reduce the pile to a smouldering heap, charged with the saline substances sought, which were lixiviated by the application of water; the ley collected and boiled in a large leaden tank, ten or twelve feet square, and two feet deep, and when sufficiently concentrated pumped into vats and allowed to crystal- ize on racks hung in them for the purpose. After the first crop of crystals of copperas was obtained, the residual liquor was again boiled with the addition of certain proportions of potash, and the second time set to crystalize, when alum was obtained. The proportions obtained were three parts of copperas to one of alum.
The fumes which arose from the burning and smouuldering heaps were very disagreeable, and so noxious that a great number of trees in the vicinity were destroyed by those poisonous emanations. More than a thousand tons of copperas, and a third as much of alum, were made here while the works were in operation. Most of it found its way to the New York market. Unlimited quantities of iron pyrites, exist at this
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place which may hereafter offer inducements for the renewal of this manufacture, or the making of soda ash, should facilities for transporta- tion to market be increased, or cheaper and more efficient methods of manufacture be discovered.
Religious Societies .- The earliest religious organization in town was by the Presbyterians, who united under the Rev. Amos Pettingill, in 1807. He was a missionary, sent by the New Hampshire Missionary Society, and was instrumental in forming several of the churches of this order in the county, for which reason a brief biographical notice may be appropriate. Mr. P. was born at Salem, N. H., Aug. 9, 1780, and in 1798, he entered Atkinson Academy, and afterwards Harvard College, as a charity student, where he graduated in 1805. In June, 1806, he was appointed a missionary to travel through the new settlements, be- tween Lakes Champlain and Ontario, and spent sixteen weeks on this service, 'which by reason of the fewness of the inhabitants, the badness of the roads and the frequent want of comfortable lodgings, involved hardships little less than perilous.'* In December he was ordained as an evangelist, and employed by the Missionary Society, of Mass., and he the next year returned to his former labors, and in 1807, was installed over a church in Champlain, where he continued till after the war. He subsequently preached in several places, and died Aug. 19, 1830. In forming the Canton church, he was assisted by the Rev. Ebenezer Hib- bard, of Vt. It consisted of the following persons: George Foote, John Richardson, Weltha Foote, Betsy Donegly, M. Conkey, Jane Ross, and P. Richardson. They were only occasionally supplied by the minis- try until 1823, when the Rev. Hiram S. Johnson, became pastor, who remained until 1837, when he was dismissed from ill health, and in Feb. 1839, the Rev. Roswell Pettibonet was installed, who still remains the pastor. The First Presbyterian . Society in the town of Canton, was incorporated, July 22, 1825, Elias C. Page, Silas Wright, Jr., Joseph Barnes, Henry Foot, Wm. Richardson, and Eden Ray, being the first trustees.
The church has received more than 300 members, but from deaths and removals, they number at present, but 183. In 1826 or 7, the pub- BEF lic square in front of the church and parsonage, here represented, was presented to the town, by Silas Wright, HOFEM and Joseph Barnes. The Presbyterian Church and Parsonage, Canton. church in the census of 1850, is reported capable of seating 1200, and worth $6,500. It is built of Potsdam sandstone, and is quite ornamental to the village.
The First Congregational Society in the town of Canton, was incor-
* Memoir of Amos Pettingill, from which these facts are derived.
[ We are indebted to Mr. P. for the above date.
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porated Jan. 16, 1815. Geo. Foote, Hosea Catlin, and Hubbard Clark, trustees. The First Methodist Society in the town of Canton, was in- corporated, Nov. 3, 1819; Jesse Barnes, Hugh Montgomery, Isaac Bull, Jeduthan Farwell, Wm. Perry, and Wm. Richardson, trustees. As a farther account of the denomination will be given by itself, further no- tices, except the dates of incorporation will be omitted. The Frst Bap- tist Evangelical Society, of Canton, was incorporated Dec. 10, 1823; R. Bacheller, 'T. D. Olin, and Jno' Paul, trustees. Members of this order had associated as early as 1814-15, under the Rev. Ruppe Batchelor, from Addison, Vt., and in June 1817, formed a church of 12 members. Mr. B. was ordained in 1818, and in 1819, Justin Olin and Joseph Olin, were appointed deacons. Meetings were first held in the north part of the town, and afterwards at the village. Eld. Richard Palmer succeeded as pastor, in 1825, Eld. Joel Peck, in 1831, and subsequently Henry Greene, O. Scott, Clement Havens, Silas Pratt, George Lile, and in Jan. 1842, L. D. Ford. After about two and a half years, Cha's Nickols, succeeded who remained two years. On the 8th of Dec. 1847, Eld. John Wilder, succeeded, from whom these dates are derived. For several years from 1831, a branch existed in the south part of the town, which has since been united with the main body. About 1830, this society united with the Universalists, in building the brick church, and in 1848 they built a separate church on an adjoining lot, at a cost of $1-200, which was dedi- cated by a sermon from Eld. Joseph Sawyer, Feb. 8, 1849. In a revival that soon followed, about forty members were added; the present num- ber is 130. The First Calvanistic Congregational Society, of Canton, was incorporated Sept. 15, 1823, Jeduthan Farwell, Wm. Hatch, Luther Brown, and Samuel Clark, trustees.
The First Universalist Society, in the town of Canton, was incorpo- rated March 10, 1836; Lemuel Buck, Joseph Ames, 2d, and Minot Jeni- son, trustees. This society has an elegant brick church, fronting the pub- lic square, which in the census of 1850, is reported capable of seating 1000 persons, and worth $5.000. This society has a church organiza- tion, and numbers about 300. The next society incorporated in town, was Grace Church, in the town of Canton, Aug. 22, 1836. Richard N. Harrison, Roswell Green, Wardens; John D. Burns, Darius Clark, Elam Russ, Harry Foote, Lyman Ellsworth, Thos. Viner, Chauncy Foote, and Henry Van Rensselaer, Vestrymen. A church was built in 1841-2, and consecrated Sept. 3, 1842, by the Bishop T .Onderdonk. At its organi- zation it numbered 19, and at present it has fifty members. The clergy- men employed here have been, Richard Bury (1836), Wm. Tutham, Johnson A. Brayton, Thos. P. Tyler, F. J. Hawley, Wm. G. French, Minot M. Wells, and Abel Ogden, now presiding. Richard F. Harrison, present clerk.
The First Methodist and Free-Will Baptist Union Society, of the village of Morley, was incorporated Feb. 1, 1842; Wm F. Hollenbeck, Henry Wells, Stephen D. Arnold, Thomas G. Meredith and Wesley Byington, trustees. The First Wesleyan Methodist Society, of the village of Morley, was incorporated, Sept. 23, 1843; D. Clemens, Joel Seger, Zelotus Whitney, John Allen, Win. Allen, Thomas Buffam, trust- ees. This society has a church which in the census of 1850, is report- ed $1,000. The first Congregational Society of Canton Falls, was incorporated July 19, 1847, John Shull, Jun., Win. Hanna, Theophilus T. Rathbone, trustees. This society has erected a church.
COLTON,
Was erected from Parishville, April 12, 1843, embracing townships
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10, 7, 4, and 1. The first town meeting was directed to be held at the inn nearest the post office in Matildavale. This act took effect on the 1st of February, 1844. Pain Converse was appointed to preside at the first town meeting. By an act of the board of supervisors passed November 18, 1851, that part of the town of Parishville, known as Mile Squares, number one, six, and twelve, and all that part of Mile Square lot number two, west of Raquette river, was taken from that town and annexed to Colton. This act was to take effect on the Ist of February, following.
The town of Colton was erected in compliance with a petition from the town of Parishville, which at the town meeting of 1843, voted for the formation of a new town, by the name of Springfield. The present name is derived from the middle name of Jesse C. Higley, an inhabit. ant. A post office by the name of Matildaville, had been previously established, but this was soon changed to agree with that of the town.
Memoranda from records .- The first set of town officers elected, were, Pain Converse, supervisor; James H. Bridge, clerk; Zina Hepburn, Silas Hawley, Hiram Pierce, justices; Silas Hawley, Jessey C. Higley, inspectors of elections ; J. C. Higley, James S. Ellis, Clark D. Norris, assessors ; J. C. Higley, sup. schools ; Israel C. Draper, Phineas Hepburn, Henry Gibbins, com. of highways; Zina Hepburn, Hiram Pierce, over= seers of poor ; Hiram Leonard, collector and constable ; Wait Perry, sealer of weights and measures.
- In 1844, the poor moneys, from Parishville, voted for the support of schools. In 1848, voted against a division of the county.
Supervisors : 1844, Pain Converse; 1845-7, James S. Ellis; 1848-9, James H. Bridge; 1850-1, Silas Hawley; 1852, Lorenzo Chamberlain.
The first settlement in this town was made in March, 1824, by Abel Brown, and his son James Brown, and were very soon succeeded by Asahel Lyman and Wm. Bullard, who commenced their improvements a short distance south of the present village. In 1825, Horace Garfield, from Potsdam, erected a saw mill, and in 1828, Samuel Partridge built a forge of two fires on the right bank of the Raquette river, near the head of the falls. It was kept in operation until about 1840, and was run upon magnetic ores chiefly. Some bog ores were used, but the adventure was considered rather as an experiment, and proving unprofitable, was abandoned. A starch factory was built here in 1844, and continued a few years, making about thirty-five tons, annually, from potatoes. In 1828, a grist mill was built by Jonathan Culver. The recent impulse which has been given to the lumbering business, by the completion of the northern rail road, which has given new value to the immense forest which covers the southern part of the county, has created at the village of Colton, a lumbering interest of much importance, and more than
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doubled the size of the place within two years. About 1850, A. M. Adsit & Co., erected in the east bank of the river, a gaug mill, of about 70 saws, which, working day and night, manufacture 35,000 feet of boards, daily, and in 1852, Messrs. Pratt, Bacheller & Co., erected on the opposite bank, a similar mill of 60 saws. In 1852, E. H. Southworth, built a gang mill, on the west bank, two miles above.
The logs which supply these mills and several others below, come down the Raquette, in the spring floods, from the remote recesses of the forest, on the south border of the county, and from Franklin, Hamilton and Essex counties. So long as this supply lasts, the village of Colton will possess importance, and when it is gone, the superior water power, " and vicinity of iron ores, and fuel, may, if properly employed, make it a manufacturing place of considerable consequence. The river at the village plunges down a steep declivity, to the depth of about sixty feet, and it is said to have a fall of three hundred feet, within two miles. The wildness and grandeur of these rapids, when the river is swolen by the melting of snow, can not be sufficiently admired.
The first school in town, was taught in the summer of 1826, by Miss - - Young. The first death, was a child of James Brown, in 1829. The first religious meetings were held by the Christian sect, at the house of Mr. Lyman. There are at present, two religious organizations in town ; the Methodist and Universalist, each of which were in 1852, engaged in erecting a church.
DE KALB.
This town, embracing the original township of ten miles square, was erected from Oswegatchie, by the same act which formed Stockholm from Massena, and Potsdam from Madrid, by an act which finally passed the council of revision, February 21, 1806.
The first town meeting was, by the provisions of the statute, to be held at the hotel, in said town. The limits of De Kalb have been twice curtailed. In 1825, Depeyster was formed out of all that part of the town lying north of Beaver creek, and in 1830, a strip one mile wide, and six long, lying in the southeast corner, adjoining the township of Fitz Will- iam, was annexed to Depau, afterwards Hermon.
De Kalb derives its name from an illustrious personage of revolution- ary memory.
" The Baron De Kalb, knight of the royal military order of merit, was a native of Alsace (a German province ceded to France), and was edu- cated in the art of war in the French army. He was connected with the quarter-master general's department, and his experience in the duties of that station rendered his services very valuable to the American army. Toward the close of the Seven Years' War, he was dispatched to the British colonies in America, as a secret agent of the French government.
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He traveled in disguise; yet on one occasion, he was so strongly sus- pected, that he was arrested as a suspicious person. Nothing being found to confirm the suspicion, he was released, and soon afterward returned to Europe. De Kalb came to America again, in the spring of 1777, with La Fayettee and other foreign officers, and was one of the party who accompanied the marquis in his overland journey, from South Carolina to Philadelphia. Holding the office of brigadier in the French service, and coming highly recommended, Congress commissioned him a major general on the fifteenth of September, 1777. He immediately joined the main army under Washington, and was active in the events which preceded the encampment of the troops at Valley Forge. He was afterward in command at Elizabethtown and Amboy, in New Jersey ; and while at Morristown in the spring of 1780, was placed at the head of the Maryland division. With these, and the Continental troops of Delaware, he marched southward in April, to reinforce General Lincoln, but was too late to afford him aid at Charleston. Gates succeeded Lincoln in the command of the Southern army, and reached De Kalb's camp, on the Deep river, on the 28th of July, 1780. In the battle near Camdem, which soon followed, De Kalb, while trying to rally the scat- tered Americans, fell, pierced with eleven wounds. He died at Camden three days afterwards, and was buried there. An ornamental tree was placed at the head of his grave, and that was the only token of its place until a few years since, when the citizens of Camden erected over it an elegant marble monument. The corner stone was laid by La Fay- ette in 1825. It is upon the green, in front of the Presbyterian church, on De Kalb street. The large base, forming two steps, is of granite ; the whole monument is about fifteen feet in height."
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