A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time, Part 50

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 50
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 50

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).

A Universalist society was formed April 16, 1842, with Allen Chaney, Wm. Gardner and O. S. Cummings, trustees, and reorganized Sept. 26, 1842, and April 15, 1843.

The Roman Catholic church of Ogdensburgh and its vicinity, incor- porated November 29, 1848; James Kennaday, Daniel Burns, James Mc Nulty, John Feelyard and Mitchel Lequin, trustees. During the summer of 1852, a large stone church, 60 by 100 feet, has been built, by Rev. James Mackey.

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

PARISHVILLE

Was formed from Hopkinton, March 18, 1814, and at first embraced Sherwood, Harewood, Granshue, Matildavale, Wick, Cookham and the west third of Catharineville. The first town meeting was directed to be held at the house of Thomas C. Colbun. The poor masters of the two towns were directed to meet and divide any moneys in the hands of the poor masters of Hopkinton.

It at present embraces Cookham (29,541 acres), and 7,971 acres of the west part of Catharineville. Wick, or No. 11, tract 2, is annexed. The first town officers were as follows:

Daniel W. Church, supervisor ; Abijah Abbott, clerk; Stephen Good- man, Ira Ransom and Daniel Rockwell, assessors ; Ephraim Smith, col- lector ; Jonathan M. Derbey and Stephen Paddock, poor masters; Abel Brown, Peter Mahew and Elisha Brooks, com'rs of highways ; Ephraim Smith and Matthew Wallace, constables; Peter Mayhew, Abel Brown and Elisha Brooks, fence viewers; Russell Foot, pound keeper; Abel Brown, Peter Mayhew and Foster Brownell, overseers of highways.

Supervisors .- 1814, Daniel W. Church; 1815, Abijah Abbott; 1816-20, Daniel Hoard; 1822, William Allen; 1823, Daniel Hoard; 1824-31, Wm. Allen; 1832-4, John Brownell; 1835-7, William Allen; 1838-9, John Hoit; 1840-1, John Brownell; 1842-44, Ethan H. Pease; 1845-7, Sylva- nus B. Merrill; 1848-9, Erastus D. Brooks; 1850-1, Nathan Christy ; 1852, William F. Gurley.

Notes from the Town Records .- 1814-15-16-$5 dollars for wolves and panthers, with half this for the young of these animals. 1818, $10 of- fered for panthers. 1820, $15 offered for panthers, killed in town, to be proved by producing the head, with the skin and ears thereon, and by making oath to the same. $0.50 bounty for foxes and $0.25 for young foxes. 1821, $15 bounty offered for old panthers, and $7.50 for their young. $1 fox bounty, and half that sum for their young. 1826. Voted in favor of a division of county, and the formation of a new one. 1827, this action again taken, and William Allen, and Daniel Hamlin, were ap- pointed a committee to represent the wislies of the town in a petition to the legislature. 1846. $600 voted to build or furnish a town house in the village of Parishville, to be raised in the years 1847-48, and ap- pointed William Allen, D. S. Stevens, and E. D. Brooks, a committee to petition the legislature for the powers necessary for raising the tax. 'This measure was not carried into effect. 1850. The town voted against reviving the distinction between the town and county poor.

This town derives its name from David Parish, who, Dec. 2, 1808, bought the town of J. D. Le Ray de Chaumont .* The latter had pur- chased of the heirs of Wm. Constable, July 24, 1804.}

The first settlement was made under the direction of Daniel Hoard, as agent of Mr. David Parish. Mr. Hoard was a young man, a native of Springfield, Vermont, who with his brother Silvius Hoard, had been

* Clerk's office, b. 3. deeds, p 180. t Ib. b. 2, p. 105.

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brought to the notice of Mr. Parish, by Gen. Lewis R. Morris, of Springfield, who had been interested in the lands afterwards purchased in St. Lawrence `and Jefferson counties. Both brothers were employed as agents ; the first at Parishville, and the latter at Antwerp. Mr. Hoard in the fall of 1809, surveyed and cut a road from Potsdam line to the site of Parishville village, In April 1810, he returned with Luke Brown, Isaac Tower, and Hart- well Shattuck, from Springfield, Vermont, and Levi Sawyer, from Massachusetts. These were employed during the summer, in clearing lands, and during the season, they chopped about seventy acres, and cleared forty on the site of Parishville village. A Mr. Whitmore and wife came into town this summer, to board the men engaged in clearing lands, and this woman was the first who ever came into town to reside. A line of road through to the Black river had been marked previous to this year. The route led several miles further south than the St. Lawrence turnpike was afterwards made, and passed through the township of Matildavale, now Colton. During the summer and fall of 1810, a saw mill was built by two brothers from Oneida county, by the name of Barnes. It was got in operation the same season, and used during the winter. Towards spring, the family which had first moved in went away. Soon after (March 31, 1811) Luke Brown and family moved into town, and this was the first permanent family in Parishville. He settled about two and a half miles from the line of Potsdam, on a farm he had previously purchased, and commenced improvements upon. Ira Col- lins, Reuben Thomas, George A. Flower, Joel Hawkins, William Thomas, Richard Newton, Abijah Abbot, - Champlin, and -- Dag- get, several of these men with families, came in and settled soon after, During the year 1811, the turnpike from the Black river settlements was cut through the town; a grist mill was built by Daniel W. Church, for Mr. Parish, and a distillery was erected and inclosed by Mr. Hoard the same season. The latter was the property of the agent, and remained such as long as he resided in town. It has been worked, with a few in- terruptions, nearly every year since. It was not got in operation till the spring of 1812. During the summer of 1812, a large tavern stand was erected by Mr. Church, for the proprietor of the town, costing $12.000, and during this season the place received large accessions of inhabit- ants, many of whom fled from Ogdensburgh, and other places on the St. Lawrence, from the danger they apprehended from the war. This morbid growth gave business and life to the settlement, which has never since been equalled; and for a time the village and surrounding country increased in population and improvements, as if by magic. A forge was built and run at an early day at its place. In 1813, this prosperity con-

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tinued, and extensive buildings and improvements were undertaken. During this season a building was erected at the expense of Mr. Parish for public purposes, and which has since been usually known as the academy, for which use it was originally designed. It has since been used as a town hall, school house, and place for public and religious meetings. It is a one story wooden building with single room. The first birth in the town of Parishville, was in the family of Luke Brown, in the spring of 1812. The first school was taught by Miss Harriet Bronson, in the summer of 1813, in the barn of Daniel Hoard. A school house was erected very soon after. Religious meetings were oc- casionally held in 1812-13, and subsequently by traveling preachers, but the first stated ministry was established by the Methodists in July 1818, at the house of Mr. L. Brown. Baptist meetings were first held by an Elder Johnson, from Jefferson county.

An affair occurred in this town, in the fall of 1812, which created much excitement at the time. A desperate character by the name of B --- , living in the edge of Stockholm, had been charged with a crime which carried him to jail in Ogdensburgh, in the month of June of that year. While undergoing his trial, and afterwards, he threat- ened vengeance against the neighborhood where the crime was commit- ted, and against a Mrs. Miller in particular, who had been the principal witness against him. Shortly after his imprisonment, he succeeded in breaking jail, and was not seen for some time, till early in the morning, on Monday, October 23d, he was seen to cross the bridge over Raquette river, near the line of Pierrepont. On Wednesday morning, following, Mrs. Miller was left by her husband in the act of rising from bed, while he went some distance from home to get fire at a neighbor's. On hisie- turn she was not in the house, and her shoes and parts of her clothing being left he supposed that she was not far distant. Nothing more was seen of her, and her absence during the day, became a subject of anxiety, which increased till the whole country, far and near was rallied, and a general search begun, which continued several days, and at length given up in despair of finding any trace of the absent one.

On Friday night several houses and barns in the vicinity, were burned, evidently by an incendiary, and on Saturday morning following, the jail bird was seen to recross the bridge, of Raquette river. Suspicion rested on B-, who was followed up and arrested at Carthage, having in his possession a stolen rifle. Nothing but suspicion resting upon him, in re- lation to the abduction and arson, he was tried for the theft, and sent to states prison, where he died. On the following spring, a woman's head, was found some distance from a headless body, in the woods about three miles above the village of Parishville, which were identified as those of Mrs. Miller, who in all probability had been brutally murdered from a fiendish revenge, by the ruffian who had afterwards set fire. to his own house, and another which sheltered his wife and children.

Parishville was surveyed by Joseph Crary, in the fall of 1809. The village was surveyed into a plat, by Sewall Raymond, in 1812. It is located on St. Regis river, at a point where that river is crossed by the old St.

Painted. b, Linman

HEZ .B .THEREPORT.

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Lawrence turnpike. The river here affords a considerable amount of water power. The channel is pressed into a narrow gorge scarcely ten feet wide and the river descends about 125 feet in the distance of a mile. Wick, is owned by Dr. Samuel W. Moore, of New York whose wife is Emily, a daughter of Wm. Constable. There are in this township, three school houses, several mills and about 100 families.

Religious Societies .- A Congregational church was formed Aug. 7, 1823, by a council consisting of the Rev. Messrs. M. Parmelee of Stock- holm, Rev. Oliver Eastman of Parishville, Mr. Custant Southworth, licentiate of Canton, R. Pettibone, do. of Hopkinton, Mr. Henry Winches- ter, delegate from Madrid, and Dea. Sam'l P. Reynolds of Potsdam. It began with 11 members. C. Eastman, Moses Ordway, Tertius Reynolds, Wm. K. Talbot, Bliss Burnap, Geo. P. Everest, Milton Bradley, Enos Wood, and Bliss Burnap have been employed; those in italics having been settled as pastors. Whole number admitted up to Sept. 20, 1852, 224; of whom 90 now belong to the church. The stone church in Parishville was built in 1834, at a cost of $3000. A society was incorporated April 23, 1827, with Noran Rockwell, James Hardy, and George A. Flower, trustees.

A Baptist church was formed in October, 1823, of about 13 members, present number, 172. A society was formed April 5, 1831, with Graton Brand, Seymour Flower, and David Burdit, trustees; they have a com- modious church, costing about $1950. The pastors have been the Rev. Messrs. Solomon Johnson, - Rhodes, B. N. Leach, J. H. Greene, G. Brand, L. T. Ford, and O. W. Moxley. The last named commenced his services with this church in May, 1840, and continued them until May, 1844, when he moved to Madrid, and labored with the Baptist church there until March, 1848, when he returned to Parishville, where he still continues; and has labored longer with this church than any other minister, since its organization. They have during the intervals been supplied by the Revs. Henry Greene and W. H. Rice.

A Methodist society was formed March 10, 1828, with Luke Brown, Francis Goodale, Nathan Christy, Levi Fuller and Isaac Russell, trustees. It was reorganized Aug. 23, 1833, and Oct. . 26, 1846. A chapel was built in 1846-7, worth $1000. A Wesleyan Methodist society was in- corporated Dec. 6, 1843, with Luke Brown, Walter W. Bloss and Leavitt Hatch, trustees.

PIERREPONT,

Was erected from Russell and Potsdam, April 15, 1818, including the townships of Emilyville, Chaumont, Clifton Clare, and so much of Dewitt as would lie east of a continuation of the west line of said town- ships to the rear line of Canton. The first town meeting was directed to be held at the house of Cyrus Grannis. The towns of Emilyville and Chaumont have been annexed to Fine, in the formation of that town, The poor moneys were to be equitably divided between the towns. The portion of Dewitt included in this town, was by an act of 1807, annexed to Potsdam. This portion comprises almost the entire settled part of the town. A small part on the west belongs to the Harri- son estate, and the remainder to that of the late Hezekiah Beers

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

Pierrepont, by the agents of whom it has been principally settled, and from whom it derives its name .*

First Town Ofirers .- Cyrus Grannis, supervisor; Andrew A. Cramp- ton, clerk ; Wm. Yale, Elisha Woodruff, Gardner Cox, assessors ; Peter R. Leonard, Joseph Dorothy, poor masters ; Flavius J. Curtis, Ezra Crarey, Samuel Belding, commissioners of roads ; Richard Weller, constable and collector ; Seth Hale, overseer of highways ; F. J. Curtis, Ebenezer Tupper, Gardner Cox, commissioners of schools ; Cyrus Grannis, Win. Yale, A. A. Crampton, inspectors of schools ; Joseph Dorothy, Seth Hale, F. J. Curtis, Henry Axtell, fence viewers ; E. Tupper, P. R. Leonard, pound keepers.

Supervisors .- 1819, Cyrus Grannis; 1820-1, John Axtell; 1822-3, Ezra Crarey ; 1824-9, Benjamin Squire; 1829, Aug. 22, Gardner Cox to fill vacancy ; 1830-2, G. Cox ; 1833-8, Samuel Northrup; 1839, Paine Con- verse; 1840, G. Cox; 1841-2, Andrew A. Crampton; 1843-4, Joshua Manley; 1845, Orin A. Howard; 1846-7, J. Manley, 1848-9, Truman Sınith; 1850-1, Asa W. Briggs; 1852, Peter F. Ryerson.

Notes from the Town Records .- 1819. At the first town meeting, $30 raised for the support of schools, and $100 for the poor. Similar appro- priations were voted nearly every year for many years. The poor funds having accrued to a considerable amount, the town, at their town meet- ing in 1829, appointed a committee of three to draft a petition to the legislature, praying for the privilege of applying this to the support of schools. Benjamin Squire, Zuriel Waterman, and Samuel Northrup, were appointed on this committee. An act was accordingly passed April 29, 1829, making it the duty of the overseers of the poor, to pay over the funds in their hands to the commissioners of common schools, to be in- vested for the benefit of schools. The present amount of the school fund is $575-62, secured by bond and mortgage. In 1822, $1 bounty was offered for foxes and $5 for wolves and panthers. In 1825, 50 cents for foxes and $5 for wolves.

From the field notes of Benjamin Wright, made on the first survey of township number three, now Pierrepont, the following traditionary re- cord is taken: " The Indians tell of a silver mine near the falls on Grass river, which was worked a little about 1776, but was stopped by an order of government soon after it was begun." In township No. 3 it is said: " The Indian line of navigation from Lake Champlain, or from St. Regis to Black river, or Lake Ontario, lies through this town by way of Fall river."

The first settler in the town of Pierrepont was Flavius J. Curtis, who located near the line of Canton about 1806-7. The town however did not begin to settle rapidly until the opening of the St. Lawrence turn- pike through it in 1811-12. Davis Dunton, Peter R. Leonard, Joseph Mathers, Ebenezer Tupper, Clark Hutchins, Zuriel Waterman, Foster Shaw, Henry Axtell, Alanson Woodruff, and others, settled about 1812. Religious meetings were held by the Rev. A. Baldwin, an Episcopal

* See note E. of this work.

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clergyman, in 1816. Nathan Crarey taught the first school in 1815-16. Cyrus Grannis is said to have opened the first inn near the centre of the town, on the turnpike, and Mr. Tupper at the point where this road crosses Raquette river.

Near the northeast corner of the town of Pierrepont, on Raquette river, is the little village of East Pierrepont or Core's Mills. The first settlement at this place was commenced by Gardner Cox, from Barnard, Vermont, who in 1817, purchased a small tract of land, including the water privilege, and in the fall of that year, in company with John P. Dimick, from the same place, who had purchased a piece of land ad- joining, he commenced a clearing. These two persons shantied together several weeks, and cut over some twenty acres of land. They returned to Vermont in the winter. On the 9th of March, 1818, Benjamin Cox, who had become concerned with his brother in the purchase, moved in with his family, and this was the first family that settled in this part of the town. The three persons here mentioned remained during the sum- mer, and in the fall of that year got out the frame of a saw mill. A dam and saw mill was built in the summer of 1819, John and Joseph Goulding, of Potsdam, being the millwrights. From 1818 to 1822, the surrounding country on both sides of the river, as far up as the turn- pike, was settled mostly by people from Vermont, many of whom were induced to remove and locate through the recommendations of Mr. Cox. In 1822 Mr. Cox erected a grist mill with a single run of rock stones, to which a second was added two years after. This mill was of wood, and in 1836 was replaced by the present stone mill. A bridge was built across the river at this place in 1828. . In 1845, a starch factory was erected by Mr. Gardner Cox, and has been in operation every year since, manufacturing about thirty tons annually. It is contemplated to erect fixtures for the manufacture of corn starch. During the present year (1852), a gang mill is in process of erectien, by Ralph, Clark & Dorn- bery, who have for several years been concerned in the McIntyre iron works, in Essex county, and who own extensive tracts of timber in that county which they propose to take to this place by the natural water commu- nications of the interior. Cold river, which flows through this tract, is a tributary of Raquette river, and forms a part of that wonderful sys- tem of waters in the interior of the southern wilderness, which ren- ders access to market for the timber with which it is covered, easy. The mill at East Pierrepont is to have fifty saws, but is built of such dimensions as to receive double that number. Schools have existed at this settlement since 1822. No religious societies at present exist here, as from the vicinity to Potsdam (about four miles), the inhabitants have

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been associated with the several religious denominations of that place. In 1846, a large school house, built with reference to its being used as a place of worship, was erected, and is occasionally used by the several orders for that purpose. East Pierrepont affords the only valuable water privilege in town. The village is mostly on the east side of the river, and contains, about forty families, a store, and the usual variety of mechanics.

In the summer of 1799, Judge Raymond, and others, engaged in sur- veying into townships the great northern purchase, had a provision camp near the village of East Pierrepont. An incident is related concerning this encampment, worthy of record. Some of his men, wearied with the labors of the survey, which was protracted till late in the season, be- came anxious to return home, and finally refusing to listen to reason or argument, became mutinous, and resolved to leave, with or without per- mission, and so declared their intention. The route they proposed to take, was through the southern forest, and their guide, the compass of Mr. Raymond. Hearing of this intention, the latter, having exhausted his patience in attempting to dissuade, resorted to another expedient, and privately stole out of the camp on the evening previous to the day ap- pointed for their departure, and hid his compass. When the mutineers had made all their arrangements and were prepared to start, inquiry was made for the compass, but it could not be found. Mr. Raymond, having in this manner gained control over his men, succeeded at length in con- vincing them that it was their interest to continue the survey until it was completed, and then return home honorably; and having obtained from each a promise of obedience, the instrument was produced and the labors continued till completed.

From observations continued annually for more than thirty years, upon the height of the spring flood of the Raquette at Coxe's mills, in Pierre- pont, by the owner, it has been noticed, that with but few exceptions, the highest water occurred on the last week in April. One of these excep- tions was in July, 1830, when a memorable freshet prevailed throughout all the rivers of Northern New York and portions of the New England states. It was produced by heavy and protracted rains. The water at this place was then about three and a half feet above ordinary summer level on the dam, while the ordinary depth in spring floods does not ex- ceed two and a half feet.

The citizens of Pierrepont at their annual town meeting in 1846, voted to choose a committee from different parts of the town, to draw a plan for a town house, aad purchase a site for the same, and to erect the said house and have it finished at a cost of not to exceed $500, before the first of October, 1847, and also to petition the legislature for powers for

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this purpose. Joshua Manley, Nathan Crarey, Jun., Henry Gleason, Mer- ritt Howard, Chileab Billings, Lucius Palmer, and Christopher W. Leon- ard, were appointed on this committee. An act was accordingly passed on the 27th of April, 1847, directing the board of supervisors of St. Lawrence county to levy the sum of $800 for the above purpose, and appointing the three first named on the committee to superintend its erection. The supervisor, town clerk, and superintendent of schools, are by virtue of office trustees of the town house. A town hall, of neat and ample proportions, was built the same year, near where the Canton and Colton road crosses the old turnpike. This edifice serves the pur- pose of a church, there being no meeting house erected expressly for the purpose in town.

A part of the township of Clare was formerly owned by Madam De Stael, the accomplished French authoress, and virulent enemy of Napo- leon. She invested her money in these lands at the recommendation of Gouverneur Morris, with whom she was personally acquainted. On the 7th October, 1806, he wrote to her as follows:

"It has occurred to me that you would do well to purchase the re- mainder of the township of Clare. It lies next to that of Ballybeen [Russell], which is rapidly increasing in population. Thus in time a revenue will be drawn from it, inconsiderable indeed at first, but subse- quently of great importance. Now such a provision for a son, is of more value than thrice the amount of money. The one directs to industry and economy, the other excites to dissipation unless indolence is allowed to exercise its ennervating power. It would perhaps be possible to pur- chase the remainder of Clare at the rate of one dollar an acre. It cer- tainly would not be necessary to go higher than two dollars."

On the partition of lands between McCormick and others, 15,200 acres were conveyed to Herman Le Roy and Wm. Bayard, in trust for this lady. They were subsequently conveyed to Theodosius O. Fowler, and in 1846, purchased by S. Pratt and John L. Russell, upon directions to sell by Duc de Broglie and Ada Holstein de Stael, his wife, the only surviving child of Madame de Stael. In 1847, a question of alienage of Dutchess De Broglie, and of the operation of the New York statute of trusts, having arisen, the legislature, by separate acts, confirmed the title of Russell and Pratt to the Clare lands, and of Livingston to the Clifton lands, similarly circumstanced.

Religious Societies .- The Methodists have a society at East Pierrepont, which was incorporated Jan. 3, 1844, with Gardner Cox, Nathan Christy, Levi Fuller, John Hicks, and Harry Train, trustees. A Free Will Bap- tist church was organized by Elder S. W. Lewis, in September, 1850, of seventeen members. Present number twenty-five, who have employed Elder Wmn. Whitfield, pastor.

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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE

PITCAIRN

Was erected from Fowler, March 29, 1836, and made to include town- ship No. 11, or Portaferry, excepting a triangular tract on the west cor_ ner, which was retained by Fowler. The first town meeting was direct- ed to be held at the house of David Brown.

At the first town meeting, the following officers were elected: John Sloper, supervisor ; Stephen Seabury, clerk; Levi W. Gleason, Silvester Bacon, Aaron Geer, justices ; Almond Howard, Samuel Gustin, Robert Leach, assessors ; John Williams, George P. Burdick, Levi W. Gleason, commissioners of highways ; Constant Wells, Jonathan Paine, Elijah Ander- son, commissioners of common schools ; Silvester Bacon, J. Paine, David Brown, inspectors of schools ; Almond Howard, George P. Burdick, over- seers of the poor ; Matthew M. Geer, collector ; M. M. Geer, Constant Wells, constables.

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A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time, Part 50

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