USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 63
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 63
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The Jeffersonian, is the title of a new democratic paper, recently es- tablished at Malone, in Jan. 1853. No particulars could be procured in time for our use in the work.
HISTORY OF ACADEMIES.
The St. Lawrence Academy owes its origin to the spirited efforts of Ben- jamin Raymond, who in 1810 erected, at his own expense, a building for public purposes, and in the spring of 1812, employed Rev. James John- son, of Lynn, Mass., a graduate of Harvard college, as a teacher and clergyman, entirely at his own cost. In December, 1812, a subscription was started to raise $5,000, in shares of $10 each, and Mr. Raymond headed the list by signing 100 shares, including the lot and building he had erected. Liberty Knowles, Azel Lyman, Samuel Pease, Robert McChesney, Benj. Burton, Anthony Y. Elderkin, Joseph P. Reynolds, Wm. Smith, James Johnson, Reuel Taylor, Pierce Shepard, Lemuel Pinney, John Burroughs, Sewall Raymond, David Parish, and Jacob Redington, each took ten shares. Eighteen others took shares of less number, making an aggregate of 312 shares.
In January, 1813, a petition for incorporation was presented, but this being lost or mislaid, on the 4th of April, 1816, a petition was again pre- sented, and was successful. In this it is stated, that a lot near the centre of the village had been conditionally pledged to the trustees, on which was a building 36 feet by 24, having at one end a porch, with a belfry and cupola, and that there had been expended upon said building more than $700. A resolution of the town meeting was forwarded, praying that the lands in town reserved for literary purposes might be conveyed to the academy as a permanent fund. Benjamin Raymond, Liberty Knowles, Pierce Shepard, Azel Lyman, Joseph P. Reynolds, Sewall Ray- mond, Robert McChesney, David Parish, Nathan Ford, Louis Hasbrouck, Roswell Hopkins, Russell Attwater, and Ebenezer Hulburd, were re- commended as trustees, and the name suggested for the institution was
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Ad. Hoffmann Se Allergen
Et. Lawrence Academy and public square ir the village of Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y.
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the St. Lawrence Academy. This led to an act of incorporation with the above names as trustees, and a grant of the literature lot, which was never to be sold, but leased. It was found impossible to effect this, because land could be bought on reasonable terms, and none but loose and irresponsible characters could be found willing to become tenants, subject to an annual tribute. The trustees were accord- ingly, by an act of April 5, 1828, authorized to sell the lot, in whole or in part, and convey in fee simple, or otherwise, the lot of land previously granted, and invest the avails in a permanent fund, the annual income of which should be applied to the payment of the wages of tutors in the academy, and for no other purpose.
At the first meeting of the trustees, Sept. 17, 1816, it was resolved, " that the senior trustee and clerk, be directed to lease the land granted by the legislature, in lots not exceeding sixty acres each, for any term of time not exceeding fourteen years, for an annual rent of one peck of wheat per acre, after the first two years, payable at the village in this town on the first day of February, in each year. A preceptor was to be employed for one year, commencing on the first Monday in October next, on a salary of $420, and the prices of tuition were fixed at the fol- lowing rates, viz: "Reading and writing, $2.50; English grammar, cyphering, mathematics, and book-keeping, $3; dead languages, $3.50; logic, rhetoric, composition, moral philosophy, natural philosophy, and French language, $4." On the 30th of Sept., 1816, a code of by-laws was adopted, which among other things provided, that none should be admitted as students who could not stand in a class and read in plain English readings; and that application for admission should be made in writing. Stated attendance at the church where the preceptor worshiped was required, unless a desire was expressed in writing by the parents or guardians of students, if minors, or by the students themselves, if 21 years of age, for the privilege of attending elsewhere. Strict observ- ance of the Sabbath day and evening, and of Saturday evening, was en- joined, and strict morality was required.
On the 24th of April, 1818, a seal was adopted having for its device a pair of globes, and the inscription "St. Lawrence Academy, 1816," around them. Nahan Nixon, from Middlebury college, was employed by the trustees as the first preceptor in the fall term of 1816, and remained one year. At this period the trustees were unable to secure the services of any teacher whom they considered fitted for the station, and two years elapsed without a school being maintained. In the fall of 1819, the ser- vices of Levi S. Ives, now the Episcopal bishop of North Carolina, were secured, and he remained two years. On the 28th of January, 1822, the trustees petitioned the legislature, praying for the additional grant of the literature lots of Louisville and Stockholm, but failed.
In the fall of 1821, Charles Orvis, a graduate of Hamilton college, and at present a physician in Martinsburgh, Lewis county, was employed for one year, when the Rev. Daniel Banks succeeded and remained till his death in August, 1827. On the 25th of April, 1825, the first action was taken towards erecting a new building, and through the efforts of the Hon. Silas Wright in the senate, and the members from our two counties, procured a law April 9, 1825, requiring $2,500 to be raised by the sale of reserved literature lots, for the academy, on condition that a brick or stone edifice, worth at least $3,000 be first erected on ground owned by the trustees. The thanks of the board were tendered to Messrs. Wright, Vanden Heuvel, and Hascall, for their efforts in procuring this aid; and proposals were advertised for erecting a stone edifice to be 68 by 36 feet,
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
four stories high including the basement. The contract was taken by Samnel Partridge, to be built under the direction and subject to the ac- ceptance of L. Knowles, J. C. Smith and J. P. Reynolds. It is the one on the north side of the Presbyterian church, and fronting on the public square. The site of the St. Lawrence academy forms a part of a plat given the town by the proprietors for that purpose, and held in trust by the commissioners of highways. The latter were empowered by an act of April 20, 1825, to convey such portion as they might deem necessary, as a site for the erection of academic buildings. The corner stone of the new edifice was laid with masonic ceremonies, by Harmony lodge, on the 1st of June, 1825. Present, the trustees of the academy and seve- ral clergymen from the neighboring towns, and a large concourse of spectators. Prayer by the Rev. Mr. Pettibone, of Hopkinton, now of Canton. There was deposited under the stone a leaden box inclosing a glass jar, corked and sealed, containing several manuscripts, pamphlets and papers, among which was a copy of the Hartford Courant, containing the "stamp act," and Washington's farewell address, and also a silver plate, on which was neatly engraved the following inscription :
" Town of Potsdam, county of St. Lawrence, state of New York. Settlement of this town commenced by Benjamin Raymond, Esq., from Mass., A. D. 1803. St. Lawrence Academy chartered by the state through his influence, A. D. 1816. Present trustees, Liberty Knowles, Pierce Shepard, Azel Lyman, Joseph P. Reynolds, Sewall Raymond, David Parish, Roswell Hopkins, Ebenezer Hulburd, Samuel Partridge, Horace Allen, John C. Smith, John Fine, J. A. Vanden Heuvel. Rev. Daniel Banks, principal; Mr. Noah Cushman, assistant. This edifice erected A. D. 1825; expense, $4,000. Alanson Fisher, mason; Grey C. Noble, joiner. This village contains 400 inhabitants; the whole town 2,700. De Witt Clinton, governor of the state. 'In prosperitate litera- turarum, salutein reipublica consistere.' . June 1, 1825. J. Davidson, engraver."
An appropriate address was delivered by the Rev. James McAuley, of Ogdensburgh. Last prayer by Rev, Roswell Pettibone, of Hopkinton. Ceremony completed by sacred music, by a large choir of singers, ac- companied by the Potsdam band.
Mr. Banks's place was filled till the close of 1827, by Joseph Hopkins, who had been previously employed as an assistant. In the early part of 1828, Mr. Asa Brainerd, from Danville, Vt., a graduate of the university of Vermont, was employed, and continued to fill the post of preceptor until 1847. He is now at the head of a female seminary in Norwalk, Ohio. Wm. H. Parker, who for eight or ten years had been professor of languages in the academy, was appointed principal, and held that office two years, when he was succeeded by Wm. F. Bascom, the pre- sent principal. At an early period a teacher's class was formed for pre- paring instructors for common schools.
In 1835, this academy was selected by the Regents of the University for the establishment of a teacher's department in the 4th senate district, and the trustees took measures to provide facilities for it, by increasing the number of teachers, and the erection of the stone building south of the church. In their official report of 1837, the regents specially com- mended this academy for its success in forming a teacher's department, and referred to it as an evidence of the utility of the plan. The town at their annual meeting in 1835, adopted a petition for a law authorizing a tax upon the town of $500, in each of the years 1836 and '7, for the pur- pose of erecting an additional academic building, to accommodate the
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prospective wants of this department. An act was accordingly passed, authorizing this tax, and in 1836, the academic building south of the church was erected. It is four stories high, 76 by 36 feet, having in the lower story, a lecture room 32 by 39 feet; a recitation room 23} feet ; an apparatus room 23 by 183 feet; a fire-proof laboratory 16 by 9} feet; and another room of the same size. The other stories were mostly de- voted to rooms for students. The cost of this was reported $5,200, to pay which the tax of $1,000 and a subscription of $1,605, mostly among the trustees, was applied. The expenses thus incurred hung as a heavy burden upon the trustees until 1849, when an appropriation of $2,000 was received from the state treasury, by which it has been mostly re- lieved from debt. The teachers' department has been eminently useful, having furnished during the last twenty-five years, on an average of 100 teachers annually for common schools. A professorship of mathematics, and another of languages were instituted in 1835, with the view of in- creasing the facilities of this department.
The Gouverneur Wesleyan. Seminary, resulted from a movement began March 31, 1826, on which date a subscription was drawn up for procuring funds to build a second story to the brick school house (then erecting) for academical purposes, and to be under the control of the subscribers. Every $10 entitled to one vote. By this means $540 or 54 shares were raised, and in November of that year, it was resolved that the new insti- tution should bear the name of the Gouverneur Union Academy, to be controlled by three trustees elected on the first Tuesday of October, an- nually. This measure was not effected without considerable opposition from several inhabitants, who professed a strong attachment to the com- mon schools, and attributed to academies an aristocratic tendency subver- sive of the general good. Some of these opposers have lived long enough to be ashamed of their conduct. The room was completed in 1827, and a school opened by a Mr. Ruger, a brother of the mathematician. He was succeeded by a Mr. Morgan. On the 25th of April, 1828, this academy was incorporated by the legislature under the name of the Gouverneur High School. John Spencer, Aaron Rowley, David Barrell, Harvey D. Smith, Josiah Waid, Alba Smith, Almond Z. Madison, Robert Conant and Joel Keyes, and their associates, were by this act incorporated as a body politic for the purposes of academical education, with a capital limited at $20,000 in shares of $10 each, which were to be deemed per- sonal property. The institution was to be governed by nine trustees, chosen annually on the first Monday of September, and the persons named in the act were to be considered trustees until others were elected. In the autumn of the same year Isaac Green was employed as a teacher, with whatever salary might accrue from tuitions, and-a free use of the school room in the brick school house was granted for the first term. On the 19th of February, 1829, the trustees made a formal application to the Regents of the University for a participation in the benefits of the litera- ture fund, subject to their visitation. This request was accepted, and bears date from the time of application. The premises in the brick building being found inadequate to the wants of the school, efforts were made in the summer of 1830, to erect a new building on a scale commen- surate with the prospective requirements of the institution. On the 6th of September in that year, 275} shares, $2,755, had been subscribed for this purpose, and it was resolved to undertake a new building. The trustees at this period received proposals from Mr. Joseph Hopkins, a graduate of Hamilton College, who had previously been engaged as a teacher at Potsdam, in which this gentleman offered to subscribe $800 to
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
the stock of the institution, on condition that apartments for a family should be comprised in the plan, and that he should have the control of the school. His plan was to construct three long one story buildings, with a colonnade on each side, and so placed as to form three sides of an open court or square. A plan proposed by Mr. Philip Kearney, with modifications, was adopted. This consisted of a main building 30 by 40 feet, two stories high, the lower of 12 the upper of 10 feet. On each side was a wing 28 feet square, two stories high, with eight study rooms each. In consequence of the change of plan, $400 of Mr. Hopkin's subscrip- tion was relinquished. At this time the trustees possessed but barely enough funds to erect the walls and roof, but trusting in the sentiment in the motto of their seal,* that "brighter hours will come" they expended their money for these purposes, relying upon the generosity of the community for the means to finish their academy. In March, 1832, the trustees pe- titioned for $1000 from the literature fund of the state, but failed to re- ceive it.W. In April, 1835 the building was completed, and the academy Group assistant went into operation under the charge of Mr. Hopkins, who undertook it teacher in Eng. defet. two years for the tuition money that might accrue, and the literature money that was received from the regents. In March, 1837, this gentleman resigned, and the trustees on the 29th of that month, entered into a compact with individuals representing the Methodist Episcopal denomination to the following effect:
from May 11833 John Loveys, Wm. C. Mason, J T. Peck, C. W. Leet and R. Reynolds, tollway 1.18% acting as a committee appointed by a convention of ministers of the . Potsdam district, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, undertook the pa- tronage and general care of the school, and engaged to provide the means to pay off a mortgage then existing upon the property, and em- ploy one or more agents to solicit donations for its better endowment, and to engage as speedily as possible, three competent and faithful teachers; and that the institution should be open to students of any and all.religious tenets, without preference. The school was to remain strictly a literary institution.
Kino finecofitnes
Lewis B. Parsons, Sylvanus Cone, Charles Goodrich, Harvey D. Smith and Ira A. Van Duzee, trustees, agreed that at least 100 shares of stock should be transferred conditionally to persons authorized to receive it in trust for the Methodist denomination, that Methodists might subscribe to any amount within the limits of their charter, and that the chapel might be used as a place of stated worship on the sabbath and for quarterly meetings, when not interfering with the regular exercises of the school. The trustees agreed that until a new election the present board would appoint such principal and assistant teachers as the committee should designate. It was stipulated that the bell should not be included in the property conveyed, as it had been procured by general subscription, and did not belong to the trustees. This compact was unanimously con- firmed by the stockholders on the same day. The Black river confer- ence, under whose care the academy thus came, has never formally sanc- tioned it, so as to become liable for its, debts, although it has been cus- tomary to appoint preceptors and a board of visitors annually. They have claimed it in their list of seminaries.
The Rev. Jesse T. Peck (now president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.,) was appointed the first principal under the new regulations, and the institution had become quite prosperous when the building was accident
* Their seal adopted about this time, had for its device a lantern, with the above words around it.
sh
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MISS E. W. WRIGHT DEL.
Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, with Baptist Church, School House and Presbyterian Church, Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y.
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ally burned on the night of the 1st day of January, 1839. By this acci- dent most of their apparatus and a valuable cabinet of minerals was de- stroyed, but that which was regretted more than any other article, was their silver-toned bell, which is still spoken of as having been one of the clearest sounding and most excellent of its kind. At that time it was the only one in the place. The institution was at this time heavily in debt, and this catastrophe left their finances in a most deplorable condition. To enhance this, an insurance of $1,800 in the Jefferson County Mutual Company, was repudiated by some technical quibble, which led to fruit- less litigation on the part of the trustees, and loss of reputation on that - of the company. Their remaining resources were $500 insurance in New York; proceeds of subscription due in 1838-9, $1000; ditto, 1840, $800; ditto, 1841, $800. Their debts amounted to $4000. In conse- quence of the fire, the inhabitants at the ensuing town meeting, instructed the trustees to petition the legislature for a loan of $2000, to be refunded by a tax within four years. A very full attendance and only five or six votes in the negative, bespeak the interest which the citizens felt in this measure. This loan was accordingly procured at the following session: new subscriptions of $1000 in each of the years 1840 and 1841, were collected, and the trustees proceeded the same year to erect and finish the present edifice, which is herewith represented. Edwin Dodge, Wm. E. Sterling, Jesse T. Peck and Harvey D. Smith, were the building com- - mittee.
Meanwhile, the school was not allowed to be interrupted, but temporary rooms were fitted up and occupied till the building was completely fin- ished. The contemplated cost was $4000, but before finished it amounted to $5,500. On the 25th of April, 1840, the name was changed by the legislature to its present one. Mr. Peck resigned in December, 1840, and was succeeded by Loren B. Knox, who was principal till July, 1842, when the Rev. A. W. Cummings, was elected. He remained till July, 1844, when the Rev. J. W. Armstrong, succeeded. This gentleman continued to discharge the duties of principal with much success until the summer of 1850, when he resigned, and Mr. W. W. Clark, was ap- pointed to that office. The academy was long oppressed by debts, which impaired its usefulness and embarrassed the trustees until 1851, when an appropriation of $2000 was obtained from the state, with which they re- moved all incumbrances, and it now enjoys exemption from this evil. This debt arose in part from the fire and in part from the supposed mis- conduct of a fiscal agent. Its present facilities for imparting a thorough classical and practical education, are superior, and the quiet, moral and intelligent community in which it is located, render it peculiarly worthy of patronage. It is enjoying a good degree of prosperity.
The Canton Academy, originated from a subscription circulated in the spring of 1831, in which 25 citizens of that town, pledged themselves to pay $1250, towards erecting a suitable building for an academic school. These subscribers met on the 16th of May, 1831, and adopted articles of association in the preamble of which are set forth the advantages of education, and the necessity of a literary institution among them. They provided that a building should be erected two stories high, with a cupola and belfry, and not less than 30 by 50 feet. The subscribers were to appoint a chairman and clerk, to hold their office during the pleasure of the appointing power. Meetings to be legal must be held by adjournment, or by written notice left at the residence (if in Canton), of subscribers, indicating the time, place and objects of meeting. The proposed building was to be owned in shares of $50 each, and every
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
share was to entitle to one vote. A building committee was to be appointed as soon as practicable, who were to solicit donations, and col- lect subscriptions, and to expend them on the proposed building, being required to render an exact account of their receipts and disbursements. To become a partner to the compact, a person was to subscribe his name and give his note to one of the building committee, in substance as follows, viz: "Five dollars payable in the month of August next, and the remainder in two annual installments payable in cattle, on or before the first day of October, or grain, on or before the first day of February following." These articles were to continue in force until the school should be incorporated, and for this, application was immediately to be made, by a committee of three, to be named at the next ineeting of the subscribers. No subscription was binding until the sum of $1,200 was signed, and the site selected for the building.
Joseph Ames 2d, Isaac C. Paige and Wm. Noble, were appointed a building committee, and the present site opposite the county buildings was presented to the subscribers by David C. Judson, for that purpose. At the same meetings, Hiram S. Johnson, Silas Baldwin, Jun., and Minet Jenison, were appointed to solicit an incorporation from the board of regents, but the amount of property necessary for this was increased about this time, so as to put it beyond their present means to gain this object. On the 8th of May, 1835, an act was passed by the legislature, authorizing a tax of $500 upon the town of Canton, for a classical school, upon condition that an equal sum should be raised by subscrip- tion, which tax when collected should be paid over to the trustees of the gospel and school lot, to be safely invested, and the income to be paid annually for the support of the academy. A competent school must be maintained at least eight months in the year, to entitle it to the avails of this fund. The requisite sum was accordingly raised, and invested on bond and mortgage. On the 9th of April, 1837, another act was passed, authorizing a tax upon the town, of $500 annually, for three years, on similar conditions as the previous tax, and the requisite additional sum was subscribed.
An act of incorporation was passed, April 24, 1837, appointing Silas Wright, Jun., Minet Jenison, Thomas N. Conkey, Chauncey Foote, Thomas D. Olin, Richard N. Harrison, Daniel Mack, Joseph Ames 2d, Simeon D. Moody, Darius Clark, Henry Barber, and Amos G. Smith, trustees with the usual powers. Although a charter was not obtained until 1837, a good classical school had been sustained since 1831, under. the charge of Messrs. Lockwood, Seymour and Barrett, successively, the latter having charge at the date of incorporation.
In 1839, the trustees purchased a lot of Mr. Judson, adjoining the one already in their possession, and erected a building upon it, to be occu -- pied, a part of it by the female department of the academy, and a part, as a boarding house. After its completion, it was so occupied, until it was burned in Nov. 1844. During the summer of 1845, the building first erected was thoroughly repaired, and an addition made to it, for the accommodation of the female department, which is found to be a much more convenient arrangement than the previous one. This the trustees were enabled to do without incurring any liabilities, and they feel a satisfaction in still being able to say, that the academy is entirely free from debt. The cost of the buildings in their present condition is not far from $3,000. The presidents of the board of trustees, have been Silas Wright, Minet Jenison, and Thomas H. Conkey. The principals employed since the incorporation of the academy, have been George H.
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