A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time, Part 37

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1853
Publisher: Albany, N.Y. : Little & Co.
Number of Pages: 750

USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 37
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 37

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

Rev. James Murdock, 1820-25; Rev. Richard C. Hand, 1825-33; Rev. Jonathan Hovey, 1833-34; Rev. Robert F. Lawrence, 1835-38; Rev. Simeon Bicknell, 1838-42; Rev. B. B. Beckwith, 1843, till the present time. The first church edifice was erected in 1820, and completed in 1824. Cost $1,400.

The present meeting house was completed at a cost of $3,500, and de- dicated in August, 1844. It is represented on the right in our engraving of Gouverneur village.

The author is indebted to Harvey D. Smith, Esq., the clerk of this so- ciety, for the foregoing facts.

A Congregational Church was formed in February, 1843, and on the 21st of March, a society was incorporated as the Second Congregational Church of Gouverneur. Rockwell Barnes, Nathan W. Smith and John Leach, being the trustees.

Being disappointed in not receiving materials which had been expected, we are unable to give that particular account of this and other societies, in this and other towns, which was desirable.

The first Universalist Society of Gouverneur and Hailesboro, was in= corporated Jan. 7, 1849, with James Sherwin, Francis Farmer, Hall Tuttle, I. P. Smith, Addison Giles and Sanford Betts, as trustees.

HAMMOND

Was formed from Rossie and Morristown, March 30, 1827, to take effect on the 1st of May following. Its line on the side of Morristown, was changed May 2, 1837; a corner south of Black lake, was on the 11th of April, 1842, attached to Macomb; and the line bordering Rossie, which at first ran parallel with the original line of Somerville, one and a half miles southeast of it, was on the 7th of Feb., 1844, changed to its present course from the corner of the old township, to the head of Mile bay.

Supervisors .- 1827-8, Sylvester Butrick; 1829-31, Roswell Ryon ; 1832, Allen Cook; 1833, Orrin Brown; 1834-5, Loren Bailey; 1836-7, George C. Daniels; 1838, Orrin Brown ; 1839-40, Enoch Taylor; 1841, Ebenezer N. Demick; 1842, Orville E. Wightman; 1843, E. N. Demick; 1844-7, Wm. H. Wright; 1848-9, Henry Zoller; 1850, Sidney S. Wait; 1851, Josiah Zoller; 1852, Abel P. Morse.

In 1831, the town voted to petition that the interest of the poor fund might be applied to the support of schools.

Sevanno

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

The town derives its name from Ahijah Hammond, of New York, who owned the township previous to the purchase of David Parish. He was a brother-in-law of David A. Ogden, and a merchant and speculator of New York, and at one time had in conjunction with others, a scheme of purchasing the vacant lands then existing above the settled parts of New York, but which now lie in the heart of the city. In the revolutionary war he held a commission as captain of artillery. He never visited his northern purchases, and took no further interest in them than as a sub- ject for speculation. David Parish purchased of Hammond and wife, 28,871 acres Sept. 12, 1814. Slight beginnings had been made previous- ly, but no titles of land passed to actual settlers until July, 1818, when Win. Wiley took the first contract. Loren Bailey went into town as an agent, on the 31st of July, 1818, and it then began to settle rapidly. Mr. B. continued the agent till his death, when the office was removed to Rossie. The first actual resident in town is said to have been one Wm. McNeill, from Vermont, who had been in town several years previous to 1812. He attempted no clearing, lived a hermit's life, subsisted by liunt- ing and fishing, and dwelt in a niche in the rocks, at Chippewa bay. The first clearing was commenced in the summer of 1812, by Will.am Wiley, from Vermont, at the present village of Hammond Corners. In 1813, - Barker, from Rossie, settled a mile south of the Corners, and . opened a tavern. At this time the Ogdensburgh turnpike was laid through the town, and worked in this and the next year.

In the summer of 1814, an attempt was made by a party of fifty or sixty Canadians, under Duncan Fraser, to abduct one or two refugees who had taken up their abode in town, and had rendered themselves obnoxious to their former Canadian neighbors, by repeated depredations committed in revenge for real or supposed injuries. The party landed very early in the morning at Chippewa bay, and proceeded in quest of their object, but missed their path, which delayed their arrival till sun- rise, at the inn of Mr. Barker, where the principal object of their search was sleeping. Alarmed by the family, this person fled half dressed to the woods, narrowly escaping the shower of balls aimed at him. The house was ransacked in vain for papers, and the party returned home disappointed in their pursuit.

The greater part of the town of Hammond, west of the village, and in the direction of Chippewa bay, was settled by Scotch emigrants, in 1818, 1819, and 1821. These families came over singly, and without any par- ticular destination, and meeting the agents of Mr. Parish, were induced to locate on his tract, where they, or their immediate descendants, mostly continue to reside. The following persons located in 1818: John and

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David Gregor, John Baird, Peter Allen, John Hill and James Hill, of whom all but the two latter, were married. A Mr. Cowan, one of their number, was killed in the following winter by the fall of a tree, and Mr. Parish, with characteristic liberality, paid the expenses of his widow's return to Scotland. In 1819, Thomas Caswell, Wm. Nickol, James Rogers, Robert Morris, Robert and Andrew Shields, John Mercer, Thomas Dodds, and Wm. Burke, an Englishman, came into the settle- ment; and in 1821, John Brown. Several of the latter were single men, and none of them past the middle of life, and the evidences of prosperity which meet the eye of the traveler, sufficiently prove that they have suc- cessfully encountered the hardships of a new settlement

A few years later, others were induced to emigrate through the repre- sentations of those already located. To those of the first and second . year, who required it, Mr. Parish extended a similar credit with that of his settlers in Rossie.

The first school in the Scotch settlement, if not in town, was taught by Dr. James Scott, of Lisbon, in the winter of 1819-20. Mir. Bailey, the agent, settled at Chippewa bay, three and a half miles from the Corners. Abram Cooper soon after commenced improvements at this place, which at present although but a small settlement, forms an im- portant port for the export of iron from Rossie, and lumber and produce from the surrounding country. A steam saw mill was erected here about 1844, by James E. Lyon.

Oak Point is a small village and landing, at the point where the origi- nal line of Hague and Hammond touched the river. George Elliot first commenced a settlement here, and was succeeded by - Cowan, in 1824, who opened a small grocery store. Earl Atwood, Abram Schermer- horn, from Trenton, N. Y .; - Matthews, and a few others, came soon after. In 1825, a wharf was built on a small island in the channel com- municating with the shore by a bridge; and in 1838, this was rebuilt. A post office was established in 1840, and a custom house has existed for many years. The deputy collectors have been J. G. McCormick, Benjamin Franklin, and Amos Webster. The duties in 1850 were $2,461-31, and in 1851, $2,191.64, mostly on cattle, sheep and horses. This office had previously been located at the Corners, where Sylvester Butrick and Arnold Smith had held it. A light house was erected on Cross-Over island a short distance above, in 1847. The river steam boats formerly landed here regularly, but this practice has been for some time discontinued.

The south part of the town, on the military road, was first settled about 1819, by Samuel Webster and William Tappan, of Vermont. Jonathan

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

Ring, of Herkimer county, settled in the following year, and commenced keeping an inn. The military road from Sackett's Harbor to Hammond, had been cut through shortly before the war, but from disuse, had be- come impassable. It was reopened in 1823, by a company of about twenty-five soldiers from Sackett's Harbor, who volunteered for the ser- vice, and drew extra pay for their labor. They were under the direction of Capt. Wilkie, and afterwards of Capt. Ransom. The road was laid out as a highway, one or two years after, and has continued one of the principal thoroughfares from Watertown to Ogdensburgh. The South Hammond post office was established in 1833, Mr. King being post- master. The office has continued in the care of him and his son, Henry King, until the present time. The hotel at South Hammond was erected in the summer of 1848. There is no village in this vicinity.

On the 19th of April, 1834, Loren Bailey, Azariah Walton and Elbridge G. Merrick were appointed commissioners to open a road from the line of Clayton and Lyme, to a road leading from Chippewa bay to Osdensburgh. This road was through the villages of French Creek and Alexandria Bay to Hammond. The lands adjacent were taxed to build it.

Opposite to the town of Hammond, in the channel of the St. Law- rence, lay the last of the Thousand Islands, a most beautiful and romantic group, which seldom fails to elicit the admiration of the tra- veler, as he threads bis course among them. They commence near the outlet of Lake Ontario, and extend along the entire river front of Jeffer- son county, and consist principally of gneis rock, which rises from the green limpid waters of the great river, in an infinite variety of pleasing forins and groups; most of them still covered with the primitive forests, with here and there a clearing, and a curling spire of smoke rising among the trees, which indicates the site of the home of some secluded settler. The larger islands are mostly under a fine state of cultivation, and possess a fertile soil, and some of them have interesting mineral localities. The singularly romantic beauty of this group, struck in a most forcible manner the attention of the early French voyageurs, who dwelt upon the lovely spectacle which they presented, and described in language that would apply to the dream of a romance, the picturesque forms that every where rose above the water, and were reflected from its placid surface. Nor are they destitute of incident, which gives addi- tional interest to the association, and the events of the early French and Indian wars of the revolution, of the war of 1812-15, and of the patriot war, so called, of a still recent period, give a charm to numerous locali- ties, which few, who delight in the association of the incidents of former

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times, with present appearance, will fail to appreciate. Among the objects most likely to attract the notice of the traveler, as he passes the South channel, from Clayton to Cape Vincent, is a group of chimneys, which looms up from an elevated plain, at the head of Carlton island, and are the remains of a fortress that the French erected in early times, for the protection of their trade and travel, to more remote stations in the west. Indian Hut island, in Chippewa bay, is supposed to derive its name from the residence of the Quaker Indian, alluded to on page 44 of this work.

Religious Societies .- The first Presbyterian union society, in the town of Hammond, was incorporated December 14, 1827, with Luther Lan- phear, James Hills and Walter Wilson, trustees. A church had been formed shortly before, by the Rev. Hiram S. Johnson, of 12 members, which was under the St. Lawrence Presbytery, and the pastoral care of Joseph Taylor. From sickness and other causes, this organization was lost. The present Presbyterian society, belonging to the Ogdensburgh Presbytery, is a separate church. They have a stone meeting house in Hammond Corners, and for several years have been under the pastoral care of the Rev. John McGregor. The first society of the M. E. church of Hammond, was incorporated September 29, 1832. Rev. Joel J. Emms, William S. Wait, Alonzo D. Carter, William Brown and Abel Franklin, trustees. A Free Will Baptist church was formed April 6, 1843, by Elder Samuel B. Padin, who preached two years. It was com- posed of 14 males and 13 females, most of whom reside in the south part of the town. They have formed no legal society, and have no house of worship. Trinity church, in the towns of Hammond and Rossie, was incorporated December 16, 1846. Henry W. Chapman and A. P. Morse, wardens; William B. Bostwick, Phirenda Butterfield, William Laidlaw, Sophereth Ophir, William Welch, Robert Morris, John Burrows, and James Hill, vestrymen. This society has never erected a church.

HERMON.

This town was formed from Edwards and De Kalb, under the name of DEPEAU, April 17, 1830. It received this name from Francis Depeau, of New York, who was also extensively concerned in the French pur- chase, in Jefferson county. He was interested in the middle third, which had passed from McCormick to George Lewis, July 12, 1804, who sold to John and Curtis Bolton, August 1, 1823. The latter sold to Depeau, June 6, 1828, and the latter May 3, 1830, conveyed to Sarah, wife of John Bolton. It originally embraced the township of Fitz William, or No. 4, and a strip, 1 mile by 6, from the southeast side of De Kalb. The board of supervisors have recently attached a part to Edwards, as stated in the preceeding pages. In a short time the inhabitants found it a source of annoyance, to have a name so near like Depeauville, in Jeffer- son county, to which their mails often went, and they procured a change of name on the 28th of February, 1834, to HERMON. A post office had

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

been formed December 20, 1828, of this name, which was taken from the scriptures.

The first town meeting was held at the house of Nathaniel Kent, at which the following were elected :

William Teall, supervisor; Benjamin Healy, clerk ; Wilkes Richardson, Isaac C. Pool, Silas Williams, assessors; Simeon Peterson, Jesse Wor- den, Shubael Parker, commissioners of highways; Wilkes Richardson, Robert Gotham, Heury Tanner, commissioners of schools; Benjamin Healy, Aaron Teall, C. D. Morehouse, inspectors of schools ; Martin L. Cook, John Matoon, overseers of poor ; Charles D. Redfield, collector ; Ariel Wrisley, Charles C. Redfield, constables.

Supervisors .- 1830-2. William Teall ; 1833. Renben L. Willson ; 1834-6, Harry Tanner; 1837, Silas Williams; 1838 9, Henry P. Cook; 1840, Nathaniel Kent; 1841-2, H. P. Cooke; 1843-7, Silas Williams; 1848-51, Seymour Thatcher; 1852, David W. Weeks.

The first settlement in this town was begun by James Taylor, several years before the war, in the western part of the township of Fitz William, and near the line of Gouverneur. George Davis, James Farr, Philemon Stewart, Ariel Inman and Rufus Hopkins had settled in the town pre- vious to 1812. Those who located on township No. 4, did so withont previously making an arrangement with an agent, as none had been then appointed. David McCollom, from Rutland county, Vt., but then from Canada, canie in 1812; Roger Story, in 1813; German Souther- land, in 1816. The first saw mill was erected, in 1818, on Elm creek, in the present village of Hermon, by Milton Johnson, from Russell The first death in the town was that of Thomas Farr. In 1819, a grist mill and distillery were erected, in what is now the village of Hermon. by Milton Johnson. The latter was kept up till 1832 or 1833. The first religious meetings in town were held in 1811, by the Rev. Mr. Wright, a missionary from Massachusetts. The first schools were kept in the house of David McCollom, near the village of Hermon, in winters of 1817-18, by William D. Moore; and 1818-19, by Wesley McCollom. The first road opened through the town, was from De Kalb to Russell, during the war. The next was from the present village of Hermon, to De Kalb, in 1818. The settlers suffered rather more than the usual share of distress from the famine which ensued from the cold season of 1816. During the war, the settlement of the town was checked, and numbers left the country, from fear of Indian incursions. In 1822, 3, 4, 5, the town set- tled quite rapidly, and during the latter year, the numbers of settlers increased more rapidly than in any other. The second mill in town was built on Elm creek, one mile above the present village of Hermon, by Abram Fisk. In the following year, Amos Marsh bought the premises and erected a grist mill. From him the settlement in this vicinity was

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named Marshville. William Teall opened a store in 1823, in the north- ern edge of the town, and soon after William Martin commenced the first mercantile business in the village of Hermon. This place on Lay's map of 1817, is named Eastburnville, which it never bore among the inhabitants. The village of Hermon is a thriving and growing place, and has a direct plank road communication with Ogdensburgh, Canton, &c., and the Potsdam and Watertown rail road will pass between it and De Kalb.

The county records show the incorporation of the cemetery associa- tions in this town, viz:

The Marshville Cemetry Association .- March 11, 1850, Edmund Allen, Sen., Martin McCollom, Clarke Maine, Ralph Fisher, Isaac C. Sherwin, Thomas Campb II, trustees.

Hermon Hill Burying Ground Association .- January 18, 1851, Peter Clintsman, Calvin Rhodes, P. D. Miller, Chester Winslow, J. B. Miller, R. M. Hall, trustees.

Religious Societies .- The Methodist, Baptist, Christian and Presbyterian sects, have or have had organization in town. In 1826, Elder James Spooner, formed a small church of the Christian order, which once had 70 but now only 30 members. Eller J. Starkey, has the pastoral care at present, and for the past twenty years, has filled the office.

The First Baptist Society of the town of Hermon, was incorporated Dec. 3, 1845. Horatio Marsh, Daniel V. Babcock, Edward Maddock, Win. E. Tanner, Thedorus Frisby and Orle Gibbins, trustees.

The First Society of the Methodist Church, in the town of Hermon, was incorporated November 1, 1847. Samuel I. Bingham, Seymour Thatcher, Joseph H. Beard, Lorenzo H. Sheldon. Orin Nichols, Timothy B. Hatch and Daniel Mcintyre, trustees. These societies each erected in Hermon village, in 1848, a church edifice, costing about $1400 each The Methodist church is furnished with a fine toned bell.

HOPKINTON

Was erected March 2, 1805, from Massena, and included Islington and Catharineville, and so much of Chesterfield as was annexed to the town of Massena. The first town meeting was to be held at the house of Eliakim Seeley. All the remainder of Massena in the second tract, without the bounds above mentioned, were annexed to Hopkinton, which was declared to be a part of St. Lawrence county. By the erection of Lawrence and Parishville, it has been reduced to its present limits, which alone are sufficient for a small county, although the settled part is a strip scarcely four miles wide across the north end. It embraces the most of 14, and the whole of 15, 12, 8, 9, 5, 6, 2, 3, of the second tract of the Great purchase. The town was named in compliment to Judge Hopkins, the first settler, and a man of much prominence in the early history of the county. A biographical notice will be given in this work. The title to No. 14, passed from McCormick to Macomb, June 24, 1801, by a deed

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

for 23,886 acres, and a part (7,675 acres,) from A. Macomb to A. M. Jr., January 1, 1808.

At the town meeting held March 4, 1806, Roswell Hopkins was elected supervisor ; Henry Mclaughlin, clerk; Amasa Blanchard, Joseph Arm- strong, Reuben Post, assessors ; A. Blanchard, Seth Abbot, overseers of poor ; Abraham Sheldon, constable and collector ; A. Sheldon, R. Post, H. McLaughlin, commissioners of highways; Eli Squier, Oliver Sheldon, A. Blanchard, fence viewers ; Oliver Sheldon, pound keeper.

Supervisors .- 1806, R. Hopkins; 1807, Benjamin W. Hopkins; 1808, Henry Mclaughlin; 1809, R. Hopkins; 1810, B. W. Hopkins; 1811, J. R. Hopkins; 1820-2, Thadeus Laughlin ; 1823-6, Jonah Sanford; 1827-9, Isaac R. Hopkins; 1830-2, Joseph Durfey; 1833, I. R. Hopkins; 1834-5, T. Laughlin; 1836, Phineas Durfey; 1837, Eliakim Seeley; 1838, T. Laughlin ; 1839, I. R. Hopkins ; 1840-1, Clark S. Chittenden ; 1842-4, Elias Post; 1845, Gideon Sprague; 1846-7, Clark S. Chittenden; 1848-9, E. Post; 1850-1, C. S. Chittenden ; 1852, Joseph B. Durfey.

Memoranda from the Records .- 1806. A committe appointed to decide upon a lawful fence, and report rules for the range of domestic ani- mals. 1807, wolf bounty, $10. 1808, Henry Mc. Laughlin, Amasa Blanchard and Seth Abbott, appointed to prescribe rules for regulating the manner in which inoculation for the small pox shall be administered in town. $60 voted to buy a set of statute laws and blank books. At an adjourned meeting in March, $100 voted for destroying wolves, $5 bounty offered; $250 voted for the poor.

1809. $100 for the poor, and various sums often larger in following years. Wolf bounty $5.

1810. Bounty on wolves, $10, and $100 to destroy these animals. At a special meeting in June, $500 previously appropriated to bridges, given to the St. Lawrence Turnpike Co., on condition that the road be located in a certain route.

1811. At a special meeting the legislature petitioned to tax the town to aid the North West Bay road. Also, to petition for a lottery to raise the sum of $10,000} to repair this road; also, to pray for exemption from ser- vice on juries, during four years. $100 voted to encourage the destruc- tion of wolves, and $5, "to be paid out of the above sum, for each wolf's scalp, capable of doing mischief." The same bounties in 1812-13-14-15. In 1816, $50 raised for wolf bounties, and a bounty of $10; with $5 " for every wolf's whelp scalped and destroyed in town."

1817. $10 wolf bounties ; 75 cents for two bounties and $10 appropriated for this business. $50 to pay T. Meacham, for killing 2 panthers.

1818. $10 voted to pay for the destruction of every catamount in the town.

1819. Five hog constables elected; $20 panther bounty; $10 wolf bounty ; $1 fox bounty.

1820. $10 wolf bounty ; $15 panther bounty ; $1 per hundred for the de- destruction of mice, $25 said to be paid for the latter.

1321. Bounties offered as follows; wolves $5; wolf whelps, $2-50; panthers, $15; their young, $7.50; foxes, $2; young foxes, $1.

1824. $10 wolf bounties, and $5 for wolf whelps.

1825. $5 for wolves, and half this sum for their young.

1835. Three hog constables elected.

In May, 1802, Roswell Hopkins, of Vergennes, Vt., having bought a part of Islington, of Hammond, came into town to make a settlement

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accompanied by Samuel Goodale, B. W. Hopkins, his son, Jared Dewey, Eliphalet Branch and Joel Goodale.

In June, having made arrangements for clearing land, Mr. H. started to return to Vermont, on horseback, by a line of marked trees, and in ford- ing the St. Regis river, which was swollen by heavy rains, his house was partly thrown over by the violence of the current, and his portmanteau, containing in one end the provisions for his journey, and in the other, several hundred dollars in specie, were swept down stream, and lost. At the approach of winter, the party returned to Vermont. In March, 1803, Judge Hopkins, Abraham Sheldon, Eli and Ashbel Squire, moved their families into town. The first birth occurred in December, 1803, in the family of Mr. Sheldon. In this season, the first grist mill was erected by Mr. Hopkins, on Lyd brook, near the present village of Hopkinton. During the first year, and until the mill was built, the settlers were obliged to go to the Long Saut, on the Canadian shore, to mill. In addi- tion to the foregoing, Thomas Remington, Gaius Sheldon, Reuben Post, Eliakim Seeley, Henry McLaughlin. Thadeus Mclaughlin, Horace Train, Jasper Armstrong and Seth Abbott, came in 1804 and 1805, many of them with families, and from this time the settlement grew rapidly. The fol- lowing interesting account was published in the Northern Cabinet, Sept. 3, 1845, and is understood to have been writien by Elisha Risden, a pioneer settler and surveyor:

" The first settlers of Islington, now Hopkinton, came by the way of French Mills to St. Regis, and thence up the St. Regis river to Stock- holm, and thus to their destination. Previous to 1805, the main road from the east into St. Lawrence county, passed through Chateaugay to Malone, Bangor, Moira, and Chesterfield (now Lawrence) to Stockholm, and thence to Potsdam, and on to a few new settlements beyond. A road had been opened on the western side of the St. Regis river, be- tween Islington and Stockholm and another road from Islington, leading north east, crossed the St. Regis river, and intersected the road from Malone to Stockholm, half a mile west of Deer river. These roads were laid down with little regularity along the most favorable ground, were without bridges or causeways, and mostly impassable, except when bridged by the ice in the winter. In March 1805, there were no settle- ments between Islington and Deer river, nor between Deer river and Stockholm. Between Deer river and Malone a few scattered beginnings had been made. At the date above mentioned, several families moving into the county, had reached Deer river, where they were obliged to en- camp, as the ice had broken up, and the river was impassable for teams. Hearing the condition of these families, Dr. Pettibone, of Stockholm, sent a message to Roswell Hopkins, Esq., of Islington, inviting the young men of that settlement, to meet those from Stockholm, at the river, and erect a bridge. The request was immediately circulated, and although at 10 o'clock at night, they mustered their forces and started on the ex- pedition. The St. Regis river had first to be crossed, as the ice bridge had been broken up, and this was effected by wading on horseback at

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A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time, Part 37

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885 Publication date: 1853 Publisher: Albany, N.Y. : Little & Co. Number of Pages: 750

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1853
Publisher: Albany, N.Y. : Little & Co.
Number of Pages: 750