USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > A history of the town of Queensbury, in the state of New York : with biographical sketches of many of its distinguished men, and some account of the aborigines of northern New York > Part 40
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
3 This statement is given on the authority of the late Ransom Jenkins, Esq.
383
TOWN RECORDS.
8 voted. Benjamin Wing, Poundkeeper.
9 voted. Abraham Wing, and Ichabod Merritt, Overseers of the Poor.
10 voted. Benjamin Wing and Phineas Babcock, Fence Viewers."
Asaph Putnam, a new comer this year, lived in a small log dwelling near the residence of the late Roger Haviland, facing the head of South street on the road to the big dam. It will be seen that in 1767, the names of Jeffrey Cowper and Caleb Powel are dropped, and Benjamin Wing, the eldest son of Ab- raham Wing, is elected poundkeeper and fence viewer. Phineas Babcock is also elected another fence viewer. The other offi- cers nearly as before.
This year the functions of the N. Y. assembly were suspended by act of parliament, in consequence of the refusal of that body to endorse the celebrated Mutiny Act. The temper of this patriotic body, already inflamed by the passage of the stamp act, as well as other obnoxious legislation, was not yet subdued to the point of cringing suppliance to tyranny, that in later years, made it the tool of parliamentary power.
To sustain the foregoing act, Gen. Gage, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America, proceeded to place the fortresses at the head of Lake George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point in repair and supply them with suitable garrisons and muniments of war. If the peace loving Quakers of Queens- bury had been at all disposed to revolt, they must have been con- siderably overawed by these military preparations.
The exact period of the erection of the grist mill 1 at the falls is not with certainty now known, but until its erection, the
1 The following article of agreement found among the Wing MSS., was entered into between Abraham Wing of Queensbury and Daniel Jones of Fort Edward in 1770. It incidentally mentions the existence of a grist mill and saw mill at that date, and makes provision for the erection of a Dutch saw mill.
" Articles of agreement indented and made this eleventh day of Oct., in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy, between Daniel Jones of Fort Edward, in the county of Albany of the one part, and Abraham Wing of Queensbury in the same county of the other part, as follows :
" Whereas, the said Daniel Jones and Abraham Wing, are this day become joint owners and proprietors of a certain fall or stream of water and a saw mill with ten acres, two quarters and fifteen rods of ground adjoining the same with their appurtenances by deeds between them this day executed; and, whereas it is pro- posed that the said Daniel Jones shall erect and build another saw mill little be- low the said saw mill there already standing, for the joint use and benefit of them the said Daniel Jones and Abraham Wing their executors, adm'rs and assigns.
384
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
inhabitants of this as well as Bradshaw's township were depend- ent upon the mills at Stillwater for their supply of flour, the place being accessible partly by boat and partly by the old mili- tary road constructed ten or twelve years before.
A few slight changes occurred from year to year in the choice of subordinate town officers, and with the gain in the population there was a corresponding increase in the number of officials.
In the year 1769 Samuel Brownson 1 was elected as one of the fence viewers. In 1770 Job Wright was elected to several offi- ces and Ebenezer Fuller chosen poundkeeper. The names of
"Now it is therefore covenanted and agreed between the said parties in manner following, and Imprimis. The said Daniel Jones doth hereby covenant promise and agree that he or his assigns shall and within the space of three months next after the date hereof in a good and workmanlike manner, well and substantially erect and build, or cause to be erected, built, set up and finished one saw mill called a Dutch saw mill (betweeen the said above mentioned saw mill and the grist mill of the said Abraham Wing) according to the draft or plan or scheme hereunto annexed and the said Daniel Jones does hereby covenant and agree to compose the said saw mill with wood, timber, boards, and other utensils at his own proper cost, charge and expense.
" Secondly. The said parties do covenant and agree that when the said saw mill is once built and completed, that such saw mill with all its appurtenances shall be, and must be for the joint use and benefit of both the said parties, their execu- tors, administrators and assigns in like manner and on the same way as they now do use possess and enjoy the said saw mill already erected and standing as before mentioned.
"Thirdly. And the said parties do hereby further covenant and agree that they themselves and their executors, adm'rs, and assigns shall and will from time to time and at all times hold and keep or cause to be holden and kept in good, pro- per and sufficient repair the said two saw mills with their sluices, dam, and ap- purtenances at their equal and joint costs and expense.
" Fourthly. The said Daniel Jones doth hereby covenant and agree that the said two saw mills shall not by his means or by the means or procurement of his exe- cutors, adm'rs, or assigns take away or consume so much water of the said stream as to prevent or hinder the grist mill of the said Abraham Wing from going and grinding. Lastly. For the true performance of all and every the said covenants and articles, the said parties do hereby bind themselves to the other each their exe- cutors, adm'rs and assigns in the penalty of the sum of one thousand pounds law- ful money of New York. In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands and seals the year first above written.
DANIEL JONES, [L.s.]
ABRAHAM WING. [L.s.]
Sealed and delivered in presence of us Chris. Yates,
John Glen.
The saw mill to be built in consequence of the foregoing agreement is to be forty-seven feet in length, eighteen feet in width, and to go with fourteen saws.
1 It would appear from the following documents, occurring in the Wing MSS., that Brownson was a partner of Wing, and also very probably manager and over
385
SUBDIVISION OF ALBANY COUNTY.
Benajah Putnam and Samuel Brownson were dropped. In 1771 Daniel Jones, who married a daughter of Abraham Wing and was a brother of David Jones to whom the celebrated Jane McCrea was affianced, was elected poundkeeper. He afterwards, during the revolutionary struggle, espoused the English cause and went to Canada. Benjamin Hix or Hicks, another son-in- law of Abraham Wing was this year elected as one of the as- sessors.
In 1772 Nehemiah Seelye was elected one of the assessors. His residence it is stated was on the site of the old Cornell place,1 at the junction of the East line and the Sandy Hill roads. He was the ancestor of the Seelye families now residing in the north part of the town.
At this election Ichabod Merritt and Jacob Hix were chosen firemen, which may with great propriety be looked upon as the first organization of a fire department in this town.
During this year, Albany county was subdivided; that por- tion which included all the colonial settlements to the west and south-west of Schenectady was set off under the name of Tryon county, so named in honor of William Tryon, then go- vernor of the province. Charlotte county was set off the 12th of March, 1772, and embraced all the territory now comprised in Washington, Warren, Essex and Clinton counties in New York, and part of Bennington, Rutland, Addison, Chittenden and Franklin counties, Vermont.2 It was so named in honor
seer of the mills. This paper also determines the existence of a grist mill here at that early date.
" Queensbury the 4th day of February, 1771. We the subscribers have this day settled all our accounts on book excepting the saw mill and grist mill affairs and there remains due to Abraham Wing to balance book account, nine pounds, fifteen shillings York currency as witness our hands."
SAMUEL BROWNSON, ABRAHAM WING.
Witness Asaph Putnam, Job Wright.
1 One of the Montee brothers has recently erected a fine residence on this site.
2 Its more strictly defined boundaries (vide Thompson's Vermont, part II, p. 20), were as follows: North by the Canada line. East by the western boundaries of Gloucester and Cumberland counties (which followed mainly the trend of the summit ridge of the Green mountains); to the north line of Sunderland and Arlington, Vt., and thence following the Battenkill to its confluence with the Hudson river. The latter stream constituted its western boundary to its source, and thence due north to the Canada border, the place of beginning.
49
.
386
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
of the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, the consort of King George the III.
A considerable strife ensued for the location of the county seat. Lord Dunmore, who was interested in a tract on the east side of Lake Champlain in the vicinity of Crown Point, offered to erect the public buildings free of cost to the county, if the legis- lature should pay him the compliment of fixing upon his land for the court house to stand upon. A strongly signed petition from the inhabitants of Socialborough (now Clarendon, Vt.), and vicinity urged its claims for this distinction.
But the strongest, and most energetic effort was made in behalf of the large and prosperous settlement of Skenesborough, (now Whitehall), at the head of Lake Champlain. One appli- cation to Gov. De Lancey for this purpose, in which it provided that Major Skene (a) should furnish in fee simple a tract of ground for public use was accompanied by the names of 281
(a) PHILIP SKENE was the grandson of John Skene, of Halyards, in Fifeshire, Scotland, and a descendant of the famous William Wallace. He entered the army in 1739, in which year he served in the expedition against Portobello, and in 1741, was at the taking of Carthagena.
He fought in the celebrated battle of Fontenoy, in 1745, in that of Culloden, the following year, and in 1747, was present at the battle of Laffeldt, under the Duke of Cumberland. He came to America in 1756, and on the 2d of February, 1757, was promoted to a company in the 27th or Inniskillen Regiment of foot, which formed part of the force under Lord Loudon's command that year ; was next en- gaged under Lord Howe, at the unfortunate attack on Ticonderoga, in July, 1758, on which occasion he was wounded, and was appointed, on the 31st of July, 1759, major of brigade by General Amherst. In October following, was left in charge of Crown Point, the works of which he had orders to strengthen. His position at Crown Point made him familiar with the surrounding country, and encouraged by General Amherst, he projected a settlement at Wood creek, and South bay, at the head of Lake Champlain, and in the promotion of that design, soon after settled about thirty families there ; in 1762, he was ordered on the expedition against Martinico and Havana, and was one of the first to enter the breach on the storming of Moro Castle.
On his return to New York, in 1763, he renewed his efforts to complete his settle- ment at Wood creek ; went to England ; obtained a royal order for a con- siderable tract of land at that place, for which a patent was granted March, 1765, and it was formed into a township under the name of Skenesborough. His regi- ment having been ordered to Ireland, Major Skene exchanged into the 10th foot in May, 1768, so as to remain in America ; but he did not continue long in the army, for he sold out in December of the following year, and in 1770, estab- lished his residence at Skenesborough, now Whitehall, Washington county. Here he erected forges for smelting iron, mills for sawing timber, and opened a road to Salem and Bennington, which was afterwards known as Skene's road. His plans were interrupted by the Revolution. In June, 1775, he was arrested at Philadelphia, and brought to New York, and thence taken to Hartford. He was
387
CHARLOTTE COUNTY.
male petitioners, 71 of whom were tenants on Major Skene's estate. 1
On the 18th of March, 1772, an act passed the legislative council " to enable the inhabitants of the county of Charlotte to raise and defray the public and necessary charges of the said county, and to choose county officers." 2
On the 8th of September, 1773, an ordinance was issued by the governor with the advice of the council, " establishing a court of common pleas, and a court of general sessions of the peace to be held annually in the county of Charlotte, at the house of Patrick Smith, Esquire, near Fort Edward, on the third Tuesday in the months of October and May.3
The first court in the county was held at the house of Patrick Smith, in the village of Fort Edward, October 19th, 1773. The presiding judges were William Duer and Philip Schuyler, both of whom espoused the cause of liberty in the revolutionary struggle and held conspicuous positions in the councils of the young nation. The county clerk was Daniel McCrea, a son of liberty, and a brother of Jane McCrea, whose name inspired many a heart and arm in the war so soon approaching. The assistant justices were Patrick Smith, Ebenezer Clark, Alexander McNaughton and John Marsh. The following is a list of grand jurymen : Archibald Campbell, Michael Huffnail,4 Robert Gordon, Albert Baker, Daniel Watkins, Joseph McCracken,
allowed to reside on parole at Middletown, Connecticut ; but in May, of the follow- ing year, on refusing to renew his parole was committed to prison. He was finally exchanged in October, 1776, when he was conveyed to the city of New York, . whence he sailed in the beginning of 1777, for England. He volunteered to ac- company Burgoyne the same year, and in August was ordered to attend Lieut. Col. Baume, in his secret expedition, which met a disastrous defeat at Bennington, at the hands of General Stark, on the 16th of that month. In this campaign Col. Skene had his horse twice shot under him, and was afterwards taken prisoner with Burgoyne's army. In 1779, he was attainted and his property confiscated by the legislature of New York. After the war Colonel Skene, 'tis said, came to this country during Governor Clinton's administration and tried to recover his pro- perty, but not succeeding went back to England where he lived in retirement, and died on the 9th of October, 1810, at an advanced age at Addersy Lodge, near Stoke Goldington Bucks. In the obituary notice he is styled : " formerly lieutenant go- vernor of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and surveyor of his Majesty's Woods and Forests, bordering on Lake Champlain."- Compiled from Gentleman's Magazine.
Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. IV, p. 818.
2 Journal of the Legislative Council of New York, vol. II, p. 1841.
8 Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. Iv, p. 846.
4 Michael Huffnagle. A partner of Albert Baker, in the mills at Baker's falls, Sandy Hill. He afterwards, in the revolutionary war became a tory, and went to Canada.
388
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
Joshua Conkey, Jeremiah Burrows, Levi Stockwell, Levi Crocker, Moses Martin, Alexander Gilchrist and Daniel Smith.1
Gen. Sir Wm. Johnson, Bart., reports this year to the secre- tary of state, that the militia of Charlotte county are as yet unorganized, and Gov. Tryon states in another official report that the county remains unrepresented in the colonial assembly. It is believed that Fort Edward remained the recognized county seat until after the Revolution. An old building now standing near the burial ground, at the lower part of that village, was, in the early part of the war the frequent scene of exciting dis- cussion by the committee of safety, and the noisy demonstra- tions of the young partisans of the new republic.
In 1773 the town records of Queensbury exhibit the following addition to the list of officers, viz: David Buck, constable, and Benedict Brown, overseer of the poor. Benedict Brown, the ancestor of the Brown family or rather families of this town, probably emigrated with his family the previous season and commenced the first settlement at the outlet of the Long pond at the place now called the Butternut flats. The Long pond was then frequently called the French pond, and mills were built on its outlet at a very early period. Not far from this time also the Harrises and Braytons settled near the southern part of Fort Anne, then called the artillery patent, or the township of Westfield, which also included that portion of the town of Queensbury now known as Harrisena. Nehemiah Seelye is supposed to be a relative of Benj. Seelye, one of the proprietors. In the year 1774 the name of Zachariah Butler appears on the town records as being elected to the office of pathmaster. From him the name of Butler's brook is said to be derived. During the Revolution he became a tory, buried his property in the vicinity of the brook and fled to Canada. After the termination of the war he returned and reclaimed his effects. During this early period of the settlement of the town, while the greater part of the township was yet an unbroken forest the inhabitants often experienced the greatest difficulty in obtaining a sufficient stock of food not only for themselves but for their cattle. They depended mainly for their supplies of hay from two large beaver meadows, one situated upon the Five-mile run, which thence obtained the name of the Meadow run, a portion of which is now visible from the plank road ; and the other, upon the out-
1 Corey's Gazetteer of Washington County, pp. 1 and 2.
389
JOTTINGS OF EARY TIMES.
let of the Big Cedar swamp on the east side of the town that ran through great lot No. 3 which was owned by Reed Ferriss, and the stream, in consequence, came to be called Reed's Meadow creek. This stream runs south-east through Moss street, re- ceives as tribute the drainage of the great Kingsbury swamp and empties into the Hudson at Fort Edward, where it is called Fort Edward creek.
Before the settlement of the country a frequently followed trail of the Indians was a portage of less than a mile in length between this stream near Moss street, and Wood creek leading past Fort Anne, the remainder of the route being made in their canoes. At this time, and long afterwards, the volume of this stream was such that saw mills were erected upon it at different points, but the clearing up of the adjacent lands has diminished it to an insignificant rivulet.
Several small Indian settlements, each occupied by a few families, who resorted here annually during the summer and autumn months for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and occa- sionally in the winter, for trapping, existed at Harrisena, Dun- ham's bay, at the outlet of the Long pond, at the Big bend, and at the foot of the Palmertown mountain on the south side of the river. They still claimed these woods and plains as their hunting grounds, and traditions are preserved in the Brown, Goss, Odell, and Moon families, of the amicable relations sub- sisting between these nomadic children of the forest, and the early settlers of the town, and the frequent interchange of courtesies and kindness between them.
In the course of the first ten years after the commencement of the settlement, besides the mills, and other improvements already named, there were nearly, if not quite two dozen of narrow, blackened fallows, and scarred, stump dotted clearings, each containing its log house, and humble betterments. Among these, of whose location we have been certified, are the Benny Wing place, on the site of the Platt farm house, and that of William Wing at the Geer place.1 There were also three or four rough, corduroyed, wilderness roads, one leading to the Ridge, another toward Dunham's bay, one across by the Outlet, from the upper picket fort to Harrisena, and thence on to Fort Ann, the old grass grown military highway from Fort Edward to the head of the lake, which has been so often mentioned,
1 From the late Mrs. Alfred Ferriss.
390
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
and a cross road extending along the north line of the town plot. Besides these were a bridle path through the plains to the Big bend, and the old, deeply trodden Indian trail, opening to the ford at the Morgan place, and leading along the east side of the town, connecting Wood creek to the outlet of the Big Cedar swamp. This carrying place was called in the aboriginal tongue by the euphonious name Kingiaquahtonec.
At a very early period in the annals of the township, and it is believed anterior to the Revolution, a log dwelling of con- siderable dimensions was erected on or near the site of the store now owned and occupied by D. H. Cowles & Co., on the corner of Ridge and Warren. streets.
This was originally occupied by Abraham Wing, for the purpose of a store and inn, where the few straggling way- farers which the love for adventure, the hunt for game and peltry, or traffic with the natives, may have drawn from the more civilized regions at the south found such accommoda- tions for man and beast, as a new, and sparsely settled, but always hospitable neighborhood could afford. Many years since, it was observed that a particular place on the side walk between Cowles's corner and the Traphagan block, became dry after a storm, or during the mud and frosts of the spring season, sooner than elsewhere. Digging down upon this spot, when the store was rebuilt about the year 1853, revealed the existence of an old well, the mouth of which, six inches below the surface, was covered by a flat stone, and the well itself thoroughly walled from the bottom. Recalled to mind by some of the oldest in- habitants, it was spoken of, as having been used for the accom- modation of the early settlers at the Corners, and as having fur- nished very clear, pure, and cold water.
Here according to the Wing papers, hundreds of pounds worth of liquor of various kinds were brought from Albany, Montreal, and on one occasion from Nova Scotia. Here the Jessups, Hugh Munro, Capt. Bradshaw and the neighbors with but few exceptions, held high revel and ran up bar bills of lusty proportions.1 And hence from the location of this tavern the little settlement soon became known, in addition to its pro- per name of Queensbury patent, and its foster name of Wing's Falls, as Wing's Corners, and finally as The Corners.
1 Here too, according to the tradition of the Wing family, was held the entertain- ment and revel which resulted in the loss of the children's birthright, the name of the place, of which an account is given in the previous chapter.
391
JOTTINGS OF EARLY TIMES.
These improvements comprised the external evidences of human occupation. The rest of the town remained one expanse of wilderness, save where its grave monotony was broken by its many streams and ponds.
The deer, moose, and elk still trooped in throngs through the forest glades, and wolves and catamounts still made night hideous with their startling howls and half human cry.
It is related that one of the early settlers, with great care, cost, and trouble drove hither a small flock of sheep, and for security placed them over night in a log pen near his dwelling. The wolves contrived to force their heads through the crevices between the logs, and killed all but two of the inoffensive and helpless prisoners.
The remaining two, my informant quaintly remarked, " were killed the next day to save them." Sheep culture in those days, needed something more than the stimulus of an agricultural society and show, with its prizes and commendations, to en- courage the introduction of rare and costly breeds !
During one winter of extreme severity, the snow being so deep that the cattle could not as usual be driven to the swamps to browse, the settlers were obliged to feed them with salted fish, trout and suckers, which had been caught in the fall and with which all of the streams about here then abounded. About this time a plan was concerted and a petition sent to England to erect all of the northern portion of New York and the western part of Vermont, or the Hampshire grants 1 as they were then called, into a separate jurisdiction or province, of which Philip K. Skene 2 was to be the governor, and Skenes- boro, now Whitehall, was to be the seat of government. What might have been the ultimate result of this well laid scheme can not now be easily predicted, as the breaking out of the re- volutionary war and the capture of Skene himself two years subsequently, put a summary end to his ambitious machinations. His property and estates were confiscated at the close of the war.
1 The claim of New Hampshire it is understood, extended to the head of Lake George, and included the eastern half of the town of Queensbury, although so far as known no patents were issued, or any territorial jurisdiction assumed .- Letter to the author' from Judge Hay.
2 " In 1761, Philip Skene, an English major under half pay, who had been with " Amherst in 1759, established a large colony near the mouth of Wood creek. In the autumn he accompanied an expedition against Havana, and on his return, in 1763, found the settlement reduced to fifteen persons. He immediately set about re-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.