USA > New York > Oneida County > Steuben > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 17
USA > New York > Oneida County > Remsen > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 17
USA > New York > Oneida County > Trenton > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 17
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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
Being remote from any considerable stream or body of water, the youth of the locality were deprived of the healthful and pleasurable recreations that a river or a lake affords. Their only aquatic diversions therefore were confined to disporting in the "swim-
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ming holes," where the boys of each generation from the earliest settlement to comparatively recent years, we believe, enjoyed this sport; and carried away with them on occasion, to be borne in patient and silent suffering, the cross of a sun-blistered back, sometimes as a penalty they believed for disobedience. But each summer the dog-star in attendance on the sun in his daily circuit appeared all too soon, and with the arrival of dog-days, the pastime of swimming ceased for the season; for to indulge in the sport after this period was popularly believed to be conducive to fevers and other maladies.
In reference to the most popular "swimming holes," of which there were three-all of them in Cincinnati creek-two are allied with circumstances of early historic interest. One was located a quarter of a mile " north of the village, and was known among the boys as the "Upper Swimming Hole;" another was about the same distance south of the village, and was called 'ne "Baptising Hole," from the fact that immersions were solemnized there as early as 1806, and it served this purpose at intervals as late as 1858, though other places in the stream equally suitable were sometimes chosen for these ceremonies; and the third was the "John Mac Swimming Hole," a mile south of town and just below the bridge, on the lower road leading to Prospect. At this place John MacDonald, the earliest stone-cutter to locate hereabout, quarried from the bed of the stream the hearth-stones and chimney-jambs for the first houses built in the village and vicinity, and also cut out material for tomb- stones, which he carved to mark the last resting places of a number of the pioneers and early settlers. Con- sequently there was left in the bed of the creek whence this material was taken a cavity of considerable depth,
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though of no great area; and here the more venture- some boys dived off the rocks above into the dark, cool waters, glorying in the achievement which made them akin to heroes in the eyes of their more youth- ful or less courageous companions.
GUNPOWDER PLOT
Back in the '40s there came to Remsen a practic- ing veterinary, claiming he was what in our day might be styled a "specialist" in the treatment of "ring bone" in horses, and hence soon was dubbed the "Ring Doctor." However, evidently believing that he saw an opportunity for an easier and more rapid manner of acquiring money than by his alleged profession, and his cupidity getting the better of the little moral sense he possessed, he conceived the idea of establish- ing a resort that this community would not tolerate, and forthwith began the erection of a house for this purpose.
Rumors of his nefarious design began to be whis- pered about, and several of the foremost men of the place determined to thwart the scheme. For this purpose a plan was formulated by them that might properly be termed "a gunpowder plot." The truth of the rumors circulated was verified, soon after the building the "doctor" had erected was completed. A merchant of the village contributed gunpowder, which was placed under the unoccupied house at night, and a certain blacksmith applied a lighted fuse. While the fire was slowly eating its way toward the gunpowder, some of the men engaged in the plot-about twenty in number-hurried to the "doctor's" lodging place, some hundred rods or more away, and roused him from his slumbers in time to see his house and hopes vanish in a flash more brilliant than had ever illumined
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the picture of his dreams, and to hear the falling tim- bers of his new building sound the knell of his vile project. He immediately left for parts unknown, never to return.
FIRES AND FIREMEN
The Peter Becker Inn, later conducted by William Platt, was burned previous to the year 1800, and doubtless was the first building consumed by fire here. The next building destroyed was before 1820, also an inn or tavern, kept by Joseph Halstead and located a little south of the Steuben road corner. In March, 1840, the Phelps saw-mill was consumed, and in January, 1848, the dwelling and blacksmith shop of Hugh Thomas was burned, together with another blacksmith shop, which stood south of that owned By Mr. Thomas. The upper tavern was destroyed by fire in the winter of 1857-1858, and about a year later the residence of Mrs. William Evans, north of the Phelps property was burned. The building which had once been the fulling and cloth-dressing mill owned by John G. Jones, just south of the village on the bank of the creek, was burned about 1860. In November, 1866, the hotel barns and sheds of Jacob Lewis were burned, also a house which adjoined the barns on the south. On January 17, 1867, the stone store, two framed stores, and an adjoining dwelling were burned. About 1869 or 1870, the blacksmith shop of Rowland Anthony, at the south end of the village was burned. A year or two later, what had been the Beecher tannery, afterwards converted into a cheese factory, was in this manner destroyed. The first depot of the Utica & Black River railroad, built about 1855, was consumed by fire in the '70s, or thereabout. In May, 1892, the Baptist church, which
Mon
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stood on Maple street, was burned, together with a dwelling adjoining on the south. A house built by Benjamin Beynon, of Alder Creek, as a home for his aged mother, located near the railroad in the south part of the village, was destroyed by fire.
A fire company was organized July 19, 1845, and the village trustees appointed the following as fire- men: George P. Bridgeman, Morgan Owen, John Edmunds, Owen E. Jones, William L. Williams, Wil- liam E. Lewis, Thomas Jones, Edward James, Henry Crosby, Griffith J. Griffiths, Isaac W. Roberts, Delos Beaurhyte, A. H. Doty, Francis Prindle and Seth Wells, Jr., who were ordered "to appear in uniform adopted by themselves." It was called "Engine Company No. 1." Isaac W. Roberts was chosen fore- man, and a uniforn consisting of red coat, black trou- sers, and black tarpaulin hat was adopted. On the same date also, a Hook and Ladder Company was organized, with nine members, John T. Griffiths, fore- man. A small hand-engine was procured from New York, and the village rejoiced in the possession of an efficient fire-company.
CASUALTIES
An itinerant shoemaker named Yates, who lived north of the village, was asphyxiated by the fumes from burning charcoal, while working at his trade in the home of one Thomas Williams, in Remsen town- ship, October 21, 1840. The weather being cold, a pan filled with live charcoal was placed near him where he was at work, for the purpose of warming the room.
Humphrey H. Humphreys, a lad of eighteen, son of William and Catherine Humphreys, while at work in the Steam Mill in Remsen village, was caught in the machinery and killed, November 30, 1850.
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About 1866 or 1867, Margaret Davis, a little girl about ten years of age, while walking with school companions on the railroad bridge which crosses the creek below the village, stepped to the edge of the structure to look over, lost her balance, and fell twenty- seven feet to the rocky bed of the creek and was in- stantly killed.
The first case of drowning of which we have any knowledge, occurred in 1823 or 1824. The victim was Mrs. Yates, wife of the shoemaker Yates before mentioned. She strayed from the road at night into the Platt mill-pond, about opposite Hemen Ferry's store, which stood just north of the present Dynes Hotel. There were no buildings at that time so far down on the east side of the street. A little son of Griffith Jones (Farm), about 1835, was drowned in the Cincinnati about a mile and a half south of Rem- sen, at the John MacDonald quarrying place. A lad named George Turner, son of a cabinet-maker who lived at the north end of the village, ran from his home to the Platt mill-pond, and while over heated plunged in the pond to bathe. He was taken with cramps and drowned. A little son of Dr. George P. Bridge- man was drowned in 1843, by falling into the creek a few rods north of the bridge leading to the site of the old Baptist church. About 1856 or 1857, Michael Stanton, an Irishman, who came here during the building of the Black River railroad, was drowned in a cattle-guard on the railroad, while returning at night to his home on the road leading from the Phelps saw-mill to Steuben. Henry Tyler, eleven years old, son of Sylvester Tyler, who had supervision of the Remsen Mills about 1859-1860, was drowned June 28, 1860, while bathing in the upper mill-pond, near the depot. Whitfield Jones, a young son of William
-
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Jones, of French Road, was drowned while bathing, near East Steuben station, about 1869.
REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONERS
The following revolutionary pensioners on the government rolls, reported as living in Remsen in 1840, were Stephen Manchester, aged seventy-eight, residing with his son, Nathaniel; Amy Green, aged eighty, at the home of her son Eleazer Green; John Stebbins, aged eighty, at the home of his son, John Stebbins, Jr., and Enoch Hall, aged seventy-five. Reported as living in Steuben was Nathaniel Ames, aged seventy-eight; and in Trenton township, Wil- liam Platt, aged eighty-one, who resided with Cyrus Cook; and Joseph Halstead, aged eighty years.
MISCELLANEOUS
Between the years 1835 and 1840, there came to Remsen a stranger named Percy, who posed as a world- wide traveler and explorer of extensive and blood- curdling experiences, claiming he had discovered within the wilds of Patagonia a tribe of Indians speak- ing a language that was unmistakably Welsh. His statements were so plausible that many were beguiled by his smooth tongue into believing that these Indians were really descendants of the "lost tribes" of Wales, who in 1170 came over with the Welsh prince, Madoc ab Owen Gwnydd, whom some historians have set up as a rival to Christopher Columbus for the honor of discovering America. Percy gave public addresses in the churches, and many contributed to a fund he was raising for the ostensible purpose of Christianiz- ing and educating these long lost brethren. After departing with the money he had collected, he failed
:
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to report progress in his noble and "self-sacrificing" work, nor indeed was he ever after heard from.
A miller named Leach, employed by William and John Platt, claimed to be a "seer," or was what in these days would be called a clairvoyant. He as- sumed to tell where buried treasure might be found, and thus aroused the curiosity and cupidity of a few, William Platt among the number. His assertions of ability to locate hidden pots of gold and silver gained such credence as to induce some to follow his direc- tions, and a few of his dupes went so far as St. Lawrence county in search of the hoards supposed to have been hidden in various parts of that section during the war of 1812. On one occasion an excavation north of Remsen village was made, near a large boulder on what was formerly known as the Hough farm.
In January, 1840, was issued here the first number of the Welsh religious magazine, "Y Cenhadwr;" and about this time Robert Evans started in the book- binding business, both having quarters in the Stone- store building.
The year 1806 was memorable and long referred to as "the year of the great eclipse, (y mlwydd yr eclipse mawr"), which phenomenon occurred in the forenoon of June 16, at which time stars were easily discernible, fowls went to roost, and twilight shadows covered the earth. The settlers were wont to declare that owing to that event, the succeeding summers until 1813 were cold and of shorter duration.
SECRET SOCIETIES
The only facts we have been able to gather concern- ing the early institution of a lodge of Free Masons in these townships, have been obtained from the min- utes of the Grand Lodge, from which the following
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extracts are made, though no record of officers or charter members could be found :-
"March 3, 1808 .- A petition from a number of brethren to hold a Lodge at Trenton, in Oneida County, by the name of Rising Sun, recom- mended by Amicable Lodge in Whitestown, and certain objections thereto by the Worship- ful Brother Lize, was read and referred to the Officers of the Grand Lodge to grant a war- rant if they see proper.
"June 7, 1810 .- A dispensation heretofore issued by the M. W. Grand Master to the brethren, who by their petition presented to the Grand Lodge on the third of March, 1808, prayed for a warrant to hold a Lodge by the name of Rising Sun at Trenton, Oneida County, and which was referred to the Grand Officers, was returned having expired, with the proceedings under the same, and the application for a war- rant renewed, but the Grand Lodge being in- formed that the same objections to granting a warrant still existed that did at first, it was ordered that the reference before made be continued to the Grand Officers.
"Dec. 2, 1812 .- Resolved, That the application presented on the third day of March, 1808, for a warrant to hold a Lodge in the town of Tren- ton, County of Oneida, by the name of Rising Sun Lodge, be granted, it appearing that the objections then made had since been removed. "March 9, 1821 .- An application from Rising Sun Lodge No. 228 for leave to change its place of meeting from the Town of Trenton in the county of Oneida, to the Town of Remsen, in the same county, was read and leave granted, upon the Lodge providing a recommendation from the Lodge nearest the place of removal."
Thus Rising Sun Lodge was chartered November 26, 1813, and removed to Remsen in 1821. When
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the question of building an academy in Remsen was determined, the lodge volunteered to contribute a certain portion of the expense, on condition that they be allowed the use of the upper story of the building for lodge purposes. This proposition was accepted, and for several years they occupied those rooms.
It is related that a certain man living some distance north of the village, once applied for membership. The committee reported favorably on the case, the application was voted upon, the applicant accepted and duly notified to present himself for initiation at the regular lodge meeting. A little before sun-down of the following lodge-night, a woman living at the north end of the village chanced to send her little boy to a neighbor to borrow a gridiron. On his way home the youngster met some other little boys whom he joined in some juvenile game, in the meantime rest- ing the gridiron against the Academy steps, which also led to the Masonic lodge rooms. A little later the candidate in question came riding leisurely into the village on horseback. Gazing with awe toward the "hall of mysteries" where he was so soon to be initiated into the wonders of the ancient craft, his eye lighted on the gridiron. Abruptly stopping his horse, he gazed at it for a moment as though doubting his sight, then hastily turned about and rode home. Afterward, he confided to his 'friends the sight he had witnessed, declaring that the worst things he had "ever hearn tell about the doin's of the Masons" he believed to be true.
After the mysterious disappearance of William Mor- gan, who purported to reveal the secrets of some of the degrees of Masonry, in a book sold broadcast throughout the land, the feeling against the order became very bitter, and the excitement intense. This
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community shared it in common with the whole coun- try, and threats of violence and the destruction of the lodge's property were openly made. Some mem- ber spirited away much of the paraphernalia of the lodge, secreting it in the attic of 'Squire Jenks Jen- kins' home, at Prospect, Mr. Jenkins being master of the lodge at that time. Later, when "Mason and Anti-Mason" became a political issue, the spirit of lawlessness could not restrain itself, and revealed its animosity by breaking the windows of the lodge and dismantling its rooms. This lodge never met openly again, though they continued to meet surreptitiously at rare intervals.
Remsen Lodge, No. 677, F. & A. M., was organized in 1867, under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of the state. The first meeting was held October 19, 1867, and the lodge was instituted under a charter dated August 13, 1868. It was removed to Trenton in 1883.
A lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was organized here in 1852, under the title of "Remsen Lodge, No. 422." A dispensation was issued by the standing committee December 8, 1851, and confirmed by the Grand Lodge of Northern New York, August 17, 1852. The charter applicants were Dr. J. W. Price, George P. Bridgeman, J. J. Kaulback, John R. Jones and Joseph H. Montague. The lodge was instituted January 12, 1852, by District Deputy Grand Master, J. B. Cushman. At the August ses- sion, in 1858, the District Deputy Grand Master re- ported that Remsen Lodge had surrendered its char- ter during that year.
The Order of Rechabites was a temperance organiz- ation, which flourished throughout the country to a great extent about 1850, and later. Their efforts re-
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sulted in much good to the cause they advocated. A Tent of over one hundred members was reported in 'Remsen, in 1850.
The first lodge of the Order of Good Templars was organized here about 1865; but, after a few years, it ceased to hold regular meetings. On January 11, 1876, a new lodge of Good Templars was organized, with twenty members, known as "Remsen Lodge, No. 462."
The first lodge of Free Masons frequently celebrated St. John's Day, the members meeting at the hotel and marching in regalia, accompanied by their wives and sweethearts, to the old school-house at the upper end of the village, where services appropriate to the occasion were held. There was later a St. David's Society, which on the day of their patron saint were wont to parade, decked with regalia and the emblem of Wales, to hold a special meeting in honor of the saint. A notable gathering of this society was held here on March 1, 1840.
CHAPTER XI
FAMILY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
THE REMSEN FAMILY, whose original cognomen was Van der Beeck, dates back to a remote period in Ger- many and the Netherlands. The arms they bore were granted them in 1162, by Emperor Frederick Barbarosa, and indicate reputation gained in the knight service, etc. Certain waved lines across the shield represent a brook, and denote the origin of the family name, the words Van der Beeck signifying "of the brook."
The progenitor of the family in America, Rem Jansen Van der Beeck, emigrated to this country in the infancy of its colonization, and was the an- cestor of all the Remsens in the United States. The early records are not agreed as to the place from which he came-one stating it to have been Javeren, in West- phalia, and another Coeverden, in Overyssel, about seventy-five miles southwest of the former town. After his arrival here he married, in 1652, Janetie (born August 18, 1629), daughter of Joris Jansen de Rapalie; and having resided some years at Albany, where he and his wife were identified with one of the early churches, he settled at Wallabout, L. I., and obtained either by patent or purchase a farm which long after continued in the family. Rem Jansen en- joyed a respectable standing in Brooklyn, and was a magistrate during the second Dutch administration. He died in 1681, his widow surviving him many years.
Of this lady a curious record is made, that when she was a child a squaw took her across from Gover-
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nor's Island to Long Island in a tub, so narrow then was Buttermilk Channel. Rem Jansen was the fa- ther of fifteen children-all present at his funeral, tradition says, and all of whom married. The sons finally dropped the name Van der Beeck, adopting Remsen as their family name.
No family has given more, or as many, merchants to the City of New York. There were three Henry Remsens in New York who were eminent as mer- chants. The first Henry (or Hendrick), was born in 1708. His father was Rem Jansen, born in 1685. The latter was a son of Rem, whose father was also Rem, and he was called Rem's son Rem, and finally became Rem Remsen, by adding to the name Rem the last syllable of the name Jansen. Thus we have the origin of the name after which our township and village are called.
The first Rem Jansen Van der Beeck came out from Holland, in 1642. After a residence in Albany, as before stated, he returned to Brooklyn.
The above mentioned Henry, or Hendrick Remsen, born in 1708, was the father of Henry, the original proprietor of Remsenburgh Patent. The latter was born April 5, 1736, married Cornelia Dickerson, De- cember 28, 1761; was a merchant of prominence in New York, and, in 1768, "Henry Remsen, Jr., & Co." are reported to have done a very heavy business there. Their store was in Hanover Square, though at that early period no buildings of New York were numbered. This house did a very heavy importing business, and like all the firms at that period, their stock of goods was very miscellaneous. The original Henry Remsen was a leading Whig at the opening of the revolution, and of all the Knickerbocker families of New York none was more worthily conspicuous than his.
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Henry Remsen II, the first proprietor of this town- ship, was the father of nine children who reached maturity, only one of whom married, Henry III, to whom was left, or at least upon whom devolved, the business of selling and leasing the Remsenburgh Pat- ent after his father's death. He was a distinguished banker and at one time was private secretary to Pres- ident Jefferson. It was proverbial in after years that he was exceedingly polite and also scrupulously honest, insomuch that the penny postages on his private mail received at the bank he reimbursed from his own funds. He erected and occupied until his death a large double house of brick, on the corner of Cherry and Clinton streets, in Brooklyn.
The original proprietor of the township, or Henry Remsen II, was one of the Committee of One Hun- dred, of which Isaac Low was chairman, in 1774. He became chairman of another great meeting of im- porters of goods from Great Britain. They met October 13, to take into consideration the dissatis- faction that had appeared in New York city upon the great advance in prices of divers articles, some of them the real necessaries of life. These importers declared that :-
"We are determined so far as in us lies, to preserve the peace of the city; we think it necessary, in order to remove the cause of any future murmurings to make the following declaration: We will not, from the ap- prehension of a non-importing agreement, put any unreasonable advance upon our goods, and, where such an agreement shall have taken place, we will continue to sell them at a moderate profit and no more; that we will do our utmost to discourage all engrossers or persons who buy up goods with a view of creating an artificial scarcity, thereby to obtain a more plausible pretext for enhancing the price; that
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if any retailer should, by any contrary conduct, en- deavor to defeat these, our good intentions, we will as one man decline dealing with him.
Signed, Henry Remsen."
At the same time Mr. Remsen was importing and selling at his store in Hanover Square every kind of goods; thus the above resolution would affect him as seriously as any doing business in New York at that time. Aside from the Remsenburgh Patent, he owned saw-mills and fifteen hundred acres of land at Toms River, N. J. In addition to the care of his vast landed estate, Mr. Remsen had time to attend to his com- mercial business, for he advertises that "all persons who owe his late firm of Henry Remsen & Co., should call and pay Henry Remsen, to save trouble," and that he "will take pot or pearl-ashes for such debts." He also was connected with the Continental Congress, and afterward, in 1786, secretary to John Jay, when the latter was Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Old Congress. He died March 13, 1792, before any permanent settlement had been made upon his patent, or about the time that Barnabas Mitchell located here.
Henry Remsen III, who had the management of this part of his father's estate, was born November 7, 1762. In 1792 he took a situation as teller in the United States Branch Bank, in New York city. On August 20, 1808, he married Elizabeth De Peyster. He was at that time a gay old bachelor of forty-five. Just previous to this event he was elected president of the bank, in place of Daniel Ludlow, resigned, and continued in the presidency until 1826. He died in Brooklyn, February 18, 1843. Three sons, Henry R., William and Robert G., and two daughters sur- vived him.
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