USA > New York > Essex County > Westport > Bessboro: A history of Westport, Essex Co., N.Y. > Part 21
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
13. That the Ballance due of ten Dollars-Raised in 1815 for the Purchase of Town Books Being three Dollars & thirty four cents, now in the bands of Enos Lovelaud. Esqr., be applied for the purchase of three Locks for Elec- tion Boxes, and residue (if any) to the support of the Poor.
On the night of January 15, 1817, occurred a great domestic calamity, and one which occasioned much ex- citement in the village. It was the burning of the house at Basin Harbor. The first house stood, like the present one, in full sight across the water, and I suppose no member of the household of John Hal- stead ever rose in the morning without turning a first outward look toward the old home. To the oldest son, whose birth place it had been, it was almost more a home than his father's house, and during the war which was only three years in the past his most vivid experiences had been connected with it. There Commodore Mac- donough and bis officers had sat in the parlor on the second floor, with their wine glasses and tobacco, while the great kitchen below was filled with sailors drinking their ale, and the boyish lieutenant had been proud to
308
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
drink with the other officers, and to feel himself a part of it all-that potent esprit du corps seen nowhere else as it is seen in army life. And now instead of the friendly glitter of windows in the morning sun, he saw a column of smoke rising from roofless and blackened walls, and knew that the house had burned in the night. It was only four miles away, but the lake had frozen thinly over the day before, making a sheet of ice through which it was impossible to force a boat, while it was not considered strong enough to bear the weight of a man. But the occasion was desperate, and young Hal- stead, accompanied by another man, (Jacob Pardee, I think.) put on his skates and started out. They agreed to keep a long distance apart, since ice which will bear the weight of one may not bear the weight of two, and each promised that if one broke in the other should not stop nor go near him, but keep skating for dear life, as the only safety lay in swift motion. The ice bent under them like leather, but they went like the wind and got across in safety. Half way over the ice was covered with ashes and cinders blown from the ruins of the burned house, and as he skated Halstead saw festing past him a charred leaf of the great family Bible, which he had turned at his grandmother's knee. The house and its contents were a complete loss, the family barely escaping with their lives. Many an heir- loom went up in smoke that night, and many a record which has never been replaced. The present house was built upon the old foundation the following sum- mer, very like it in general features, and with a great
:
309
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
chimney and fireplaces which have since been removed.
The next July President James Monroe went through the lake, taking the steamboat at Whitehall and arriv- ing at Plattsburgh on Saturday, July 27, at noon. The steamboat must have been the Phenix, Capt. Jahaziel Sherman, the second steamboat on the lake, built at Vergennes in 1815. Her name was prophetic, as she was burned about two years after she carried the Presi- dent.
1818.
Town Meeting opened agreeable to adjournment at the school house in District No. 3 in said town on the 7th day of April, 1818.
1. Voted John Lobdell. Supervisor.
2. Bouton Lobdell, Town Clerk.
3. Enos Loveland, Gideon Hammond, George H. An- drews. Assessors.
4. Levi Frisbie, Collector.
5. Enos Loveland. Joseph Stacey, Overseers of the Poor.
6. John Lobdell, Gideon Hammond, Timothy Shelden, Com. of Highways.
7. Bouton Lobdell, Diodoras Holcomb, Samuel Cook, Jr., Com. of Common Schools.
8. Alexander Spencer, John Lobdell, John Westou, Daniel W. Sturtevant, Timothy Shelden, Enos Loveland, Inspectors of Common Schools.
9. Walter .W. Kellogg, Levi Frisbie, Charles Fisher. Constables.
10. Rinothy Shelden, Joseph Stacey, George B. Reyu- olds, Calvin Angier, Samuel Storrs, Platt R. Halstead. Fence Viewers and Pound Masters.
11. Jesse Jones, John Sharman, James W. Call. John Ferris, Jr., Amos Culver, Elijah Angier, Jesse Braman, Augustus Hill, John Kingsley, Isaac Kuapp, Joseph Storrs, Eli Ferris, John Chaudler, Cyrus Richards, Joseph Stacey, Jr., Overseers of Highways.
12. That Fence Viewers and Pound Masters have sev- enty cents per day.
1
-
310
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
-
13. To raise double the sum allowed for the support of common schools.
** 14. To raise one hundred dollars for the support of the
poor.
15. Town Meeting adjourned to the school house in Dist. No. 3 in said Town on the first Tuesday in April, 1819.
The "school house in District No. 3" was at North- west Bay, and stood on the south side of the bridge, on the place where Low Fuller's house now stands. It was the largest public building then in town, and was used not only for town meeting, but for the Sunday services and business meetings of both churches.
Nothing more tiresome can be conceived than the literary style of the descriptions of the highway dis- tricts in the town book, but many interesting facts can be gleaned from them nevertheless. This year we find mention of "Braman's Mill," which seems to have been called "Coats' Mill" in 1815, for no reason that I can discover. The place is called invariably Braman's Mills after this until 1822, when we find "Wadham's and Braman's Forge," and shortly afterward Wadham's Mills, a name which still endures.
We find also "Braynard's barn" and "Braynard's Forge" as landmarks this year, and "Hatch's wharf," the first mention of a wharf in the records, though we believe it to have been built some years before this time.
In July of 1818, the body of General Richard Mont- gomery, who was killed at the attack upon Quebec, on the last day of the year 1775, and who was buried near the ramparts of that city, was carried from Quebec to
311
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
New York, and given its final burial in St. Paul's churchyard. Says Watson, "The remains of Mont- gomery were borne through the country, accompanied by every exhibition of love and reverence." The fu- neral train passed up the lake on the Phenix, draped with the trappings of woe and the insignia of the state, with flags floating at half mast, as we now see the line boat on similar occasions. Forty-three years had passed since Montgomery and his army went down the lake to Canada, and at that time there was no village in Northwest Bay, and no eye save that of deer or wolf. glancing out of the thicket, to see the advance of the army. A few souls there were at the Raymond settle- ment, to be driven away the next year, never to return. Now the Champlain valley had changed marvelously, with farms and villages, and a pushing, fearless life of industry on both land and water.
This year four Westport men received the appoint- ment of Justice of the Peace: Bouton Lobdell, Enos Loveland, John Lobdell and Gideon Hammond. Jus- tices were not yet elected, but appointed by the Coun- cil of Appointment sitting at Albany.
Isaac Stone came from Cavendish, Vt., and settled on the lake road, on Bessboro, on the farm so long owned by his son Granville, and which has been only recently sold out of the family. On this farm is the stoue quarry.
1819.
Town Meeting opened agreeable to adjournment at the
312
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
school house in District No. 3 in the Said Town ou the 6th day of April, 1819.
1. Voted John Lobdell, Supervisor.
2. Ebenezer Newell, Town Clerk.
3. Gideon Hammond, Enos Loveland, George H. An- drews. Assessors.
4. Levi Frisbie, Collector.
5. Enos Loveland, Joseph Stacey, Overseers of the Poor.
6. Joel Burrows, Timothy Shelden, Jesse Braman, Com. Highways.
7. Samuel Cook, Jr., Diodorus Holcomb, Charles B. Hatch, Com. of Schools.
8. Epos Loveland. John Lobdell, Gideon Hammond, Alexander Spencer, Elijah Storrs, Joel Burrows, Inspec- tors of Schools.
9. Levi Frisbie, Walter W. Kellogg, Charles Fisher, Tillinghast Cole. Coustables.
10. Timothy Shelden. Ira Henderson, Caleb P. Cole. Elijah Dunton, Samuel Storrs, Joel Finney, Norton Noble, Elijah Storrs, Daniel Wright, Joel Burrows, Fence View- ers.
11. Charles Hatch, Pound Master.
12. Daniel P. Lock, Charles Wood, Elijab Dunton. Til- lingbast Cole, Charles Hatch. Henry Thatcher, Daniel Wright, Joseph Hardy, Samuel Denton. Samuel Storrs. John Daniels, 3rd, Johnson Hill, Lyman Smith, Jobb Chandler, Harvey Stone, John Shearman, Jr., Overseers Highways.
Voted to raise ten dollars to build a pound thirty feet square, six feet high, to be paid to Charles Hatch, Esqr .. he finding ground to Sett said pound on, with a good door and lock.
To raise double the sum for the use of schools that we receive from the state.
To raise one hundred and fifty dollars for the support of the poor.
That the overseers of the poor be authorized to bire a bouse for the benefit of the poor.
It will have been observed that the sum raised yearly for the support of the poor steadily increased, from twenty dollars in 1815 to one hundred and fifty in 1819
313
-
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
showing a large increase of population. At this time each town assumed the entire care of its paupers, the first move toward adopting the plan of county support of the poor being made in 1818, and the county house built in 1833.
This year Ezra Carter Gross was our Representative in Congress. He was the young lawyer associated with William Ray in the editorship of the Reveille in 1812, and his daughter afterward taught in the Academy here.
This year the old system of making the fence view- ers also pound masters with the duty of keeping stray animals in their own barnyards until reclaimed by their owners, was changed, and one pound master ap- pointed for the whole town. The pound was to be built at Northwest Bay, which shows the relative importance of that place at this time. That the village was grow- ing rapidly is also shown by the fact that in this year the northern part of it was mapped into streets and lots.
When Charles Hatch came in 1802 he settled just outside the limits of the Ananias map, drawn to facili- tate the sale of John Halstead's land. Some time af- terward he bought the corner lot at the top of the lake hill, and there built the first store, which was for a long time the only one in the township. His dealings pros- pered, and in seventeen years' time he had become pos- sessed of the greater part of the land north of the territory of the Ananias map, and seeing that there was a demand for village lots, he employed Diadorus Hol- comb, who seems to have added to his medical educa- tion a knowledge of surveying, to map out the laud.
1 314
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
The map which was drawn has passed through many hands, and has had one or two thrilling escapes from destruction, but is still preserved entire, and an exact copy now hangs in the village Library. The original map was drawn with a quill pen on heavy paper, and backed with cloth. It is made in two parts, called Map No. 1 and Map No. 2, the first extending from Wash- ington street to the brook, and the second from the brook to the north line of the lot upon which stood the old Richards House, now burned. At the right of the map is the following description.
At the request of Charles Hatch, Esqr., I have surveyed or laid out. cornered and numbered, on the west side of Lake Champlain, adjoining North West Bay, in the Town of West Port, County of Essex and State of New York. the lots of land and streets herein laid down and marked. agreeable to Mao Number First and Second.
The courses of the lots are known by the courses of the streets thereon written. Washington Street, Main Street. Pleasant street and North Street are sixty-six feet wide. Water Street, Charles Street and East Street are thirty- three feet wide. Each lot not otherwise described is a regular oblong square. being fifty feet in front and rear and one hundred feet deep. Those lots which vary are marked in feet on the line thus varying. Each lot is cor- nered with a red cedar stake.
Those lots ou Map No. Ist east of Main Street are cor nered or numbered on the south west corner. Those lots on Map No. 2nd west of East Street are numbered on the north west corner. Those east of East Street are num- bered ou the south east corner.
Being fifty-eight lots on Map No. Ist. thirty-two on Map No. 2nd. amounting to ninety lots in all. Both Maps are laid to a scale of eighty feet to an inch.
Performed August 25tb, 1819. by Diodorus Holcomb. Surveyor.
Here we have four new streets named. Pleasant. North, Charles and East, and ou the map itself we find
315
:
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
Mill Street, running from the bridge to the "old stone mill," which was perhaps the New Stone Mill that year, though Heury Holcomb thought that he could remember before it was built, and as he was only three years old when the map was drawn, it would be reas- onable to date its erection no earlier than 1825. It was a grist mill, as the mill stones still in situ will prove, and boats loaded and discharged their freight at the wharf below it, the ruins of which can still be seen at low water. The roof and chimney of the mill did not fall in until the summer of 1900.
If the mill was not built in 1819, it is plain from the name and direction of Mill street that Squire Hatch had already planned it. He had also laid out a tier of lots between Water street and the lake, which can have had no value except as possible places to build wharves. Another new street was laid out, named Charles street, undoubtedly in honor of Charles Hatch himself, run- ning east and west just south of the M. E. church, I should think, and up the hill past Mr. Andrew Daniels, which was never opened. Another street whose name is entirely strange to the present generation was East street, which ran along the western bank of the brook toward its mouth, turning in at the west of the bridge. When the map was drawn, this street gave access to a mill which stood on the bank of the brook below the bridge.
Pleasant and North are two of our principal streets now, one running to the west and the other to the north from the bridge. Since the building of the railroad
.
1
316
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
Pleasant street has come to be spoken of as "Depot street," but surely it is a pity not to use the old names, since they are all such good ones. As a matter of fact, I suppose there are hardly ton people in town who know the location of Washington or of Pleasant street, or can tell when they were named, or by whom, -- per- adventure there may not be five to whom the informa- tion to be obtained from this old map will not be en- tirely new.
Judge Hatch (he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1814) seems to have owned all tho land of this map with the exception of three large lots. One of these, lying just south of the bridge, on the east side of Main street, is marked "Wm. S. McLoud's Lot," and then across it in another hand is written "Porter Lot." On North street, where the Richards House afterward stood, is "Ira Henderson's Lot," and along the brook above the bridge, where most of the mills stood at that time, lie "B. Merrick's Lots." This must mean that Barnabas Myrick had already bought land here. He was at this time a young man of twenty-four. He afterward built the large white house on North street, with its pillared porch in two stories, looking toward the lake, and he owned and operated a saw mill, tannery and ashery at Northwest Bay, as well as forges on the Black river and at Wadhams.
As we have seen, three streets named on these old maps are not now in existence, except that part of Wa- ter street which extends north from the steamboat wharf. It is evident that these earliest map makers
317
HISTORY OF WSETPORT
believed that the future growth of the village would be . much closer to the water's edge than was actually the case, and sites for wharves were more highly valued than has since been justified by the development of the town.
Liberty street was not opened until 1836, nor the short street which connects it with Washington. The street which runs west from the old Douglass wharf, now owned by D. F. Payne, was not opened until after 1825, and the streets north and west from the Marks cottage still later. None of these later streets has ever received a name, except the one opened in 1889, at the same time of the opening of Oklahoma Territory to white settlement, which was therefore popularly desig- uated as Oklahoma, and is still known by that name. A committee of citizens to choose suitable names for the streets opened since the making of Hatch's map, would do a public service for which future generations might well thank them, provided that the names se- lected were appropriate, pleasing in sound, not too commou, and, if possible, suggestive of persons or events influential in Westport history.
No map of the village seems to have been drawn from 1819 to 1876, when the large atlas of Essex county was published by O. W. Gray & Son, Phila. The latter shows the village as it was just before the fire of 1876, and is consequently of the greatest value.
1820.
Town meeting held at the school house in District No. 3. April 4.
318
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
Charles Hatch, Supervisor.
Ebenezer Newell. Clerk
John Lobdell, Gideon Hammond, Joseph Stacey. Asses- sors.
Levi Frisbie, Collector.
Enos Loveland and Joseph Stacey, Poormasters.
Joel Burroughs, Jesse Braman, Timothy Sheldon, Com- misioners of Highways.
Diadorus Holcomb, Charles B. Hateb. Platt R. Halstead, Commissioners of Common Schools.
Leman Bradley, Harry Stone. Joel Burroughs. Inspec- tors of Schools.
Levi Frisbie, Rufus Ashley, Walter W. Kellogg, Cousta- bles.
Joel Burroughs, Jesse Braman. Charles Hatch. James Coll, Joseph Stacey. Platt Sheldon, Enos Loveland, Samuel Storrs, Fence Viewers.
Charles B. Hatch, Pound Master.
Overseers of Highways. -- Appollos Williams. Platt Shel- don. Isaac Stone, Jesse Mooers. Asa Lyon. Samuel Chan- dler. Henry Royce. Francis Hardy. William Storrs, John Lobdell. John Chamberlain, Walter W. Kellogg, Enos Loveland, Gideon Hammond, Harry Stoue. Abel Culver.
Survey of the Alteration in the road leading from Coll's . Mills to the Ferry, the Alteration beginning nearly op- posite the House now occupied by Daniel Johnson. (Sur- vevor's directions) -until it intersects the old road again near the top of the bill east of Odle's Bay.
This year a beginning was made at recording in the town book the earmarks used by the farmers as a means of identifying their cattle and sheep. The most that the farmers of those days could do was to fence their cleared and plowed land, while their pastures stretched unfenced as far as the forest itself extended. Young cattle and sheep were often turned out in the spring and left to roam all summer in this common pasturage. In the fall the farmer drove in all his stock, and in order to separate his own from his neighbors,
319
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
distinguishing marks were necessary. In the west of - to-day the cow boys brand their stock, but in the east- ern colonies "earmarks" made with a sharp knife, were used, and it was common to record them in the town books. Perhaps the custom was becoming obsolete, for only one ear-mark is here recorded, though a large space was left at the back of the book. This was "Eli- jah Angier's Mark, A Cross of the Left Ear."
In this year, 1820, there were large additions to both churches, and a general revival, followed by years of in- creased prosperity. The presiding elder of the Ticon- deroga Cireuit was then John B. Stratton, and James Lovel, preacher. In the history of the . M. E. Church, prepared by the Rev. J. E. Bowen, to which I am eu- tirely indebted for facts concerning this church, men- tion is made of these names added in 1820: Sally Fris- bie, (daughter of Levi Frisbie,) Mrs. James Mclntyre, Joshua, Susan and Kate Smith, and Nathaniel Allen and wife, the last two received by letter. In the Bap- tist church the preacher was Elder John S. Carter, from Addison, Vt., who was the first settled pastor of the church. The year before, the Baptist church had voted to build a parsonage, and this year a committee was appointed to carry on the work, Edward Cole, Dia- dorus Holcomb and Enos Loveland. Thus it is prob- able that at this time the house was built which served as the Baptist parsonage until about twenty five years ago. It stands on Main street and is now owned by Mrs. Marian Sherman. Both churches still held public service in the school house.
320
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
The year of 1820 was welcomed by a New Year's Ball "at Esquire Newell's," which means at the house of Ebenezer Newell, who was a Justice of the Peace, and who lived on Pleasant street. That it was quite a social event is shown by the fact that a number of church members were present, their action sternly deprecated by the ascetic New England religious sen- timent, with its horror of dancing, which was rapidly rising with the increaseof church influence in the place.
Settlers were coming in all the time from the New England states. In 1820 John Hodgkins came from Charleston, N. H., and settled on the Boquet in the southeast corner of Lewis, just across the town line. His wife was Diantha Prouty, and they had six chil- dren, John F., Lavina, Richard M., Edmond O., Lewis W., and Samuel. Edmond O. Hodgkins was deacon and trustee of the Congregational church at Wadhams for years, Three of his sons, Samuel H., Frank, and Ezra K., are now prominent business men in West- port, Samuel H. Hodgkins being the present supervisor.
There is a reminder of the social condition of the times in the fact that in 1820 Commodore Barron shot Commodore Decatur in a duel. Duelling was still sa- credly observed among officers of the army and navy, and was not unknown among civilians.
1821.
Town meeting held in the school house.
Gideon Hammond, Supervisor. Ebenezer Newell, Town clerk.
Timothy Sheldon, John Lobdell and Calvin Augier, As- ROSSOrs.
321
. HISTORY OF WESTPORT
Levi Frisbie, Collector.
Charles Hatch and Caleb P. Cole, Poor Masters.
Joel Burrows, Jesse Braman and Charles Fisher, High- way Commissioners.
Enos Loveland, Charles B. Hatch and Ira Henderson, School Commissioners.
Leman Bradley, Platt R. Halstead and Asa Lyon, School Inspectors.
Levi Frisbie, Walter W. Kellogg, Platt R. Halstead, Di- adorus Holcomb and Rufus Ashley, Constables.
Fence Viewers .-- Joe! Burrows, Jesse Braman, Charles Hatch, James W. Coll, Joseph Stacy, Platt Sheldon, Enos Loveland and Samuel Storrs.
Overseers of Highways .- Joseph Ormsby. Timothy Shel- don, Crosby Mckenzie, Asa Loveland, Caleb P. Cole, Asabel Lyon, Luther Angier, Daniel Wright, Norton Noble. Lewis Sawyer, Jacob Mathews, John Lobdell, Ab- ner Fish, Abraham Nichols, Jobn Chandler, Henry Stone, John Piue.
Charles B. Hatch. Pound Keeper.
Voted that the Overseers of the Poor be authorized to hire a House for their Poor the Ensuing year.
In the road surveys there is mentioned a road which ran "from Braman's to Winslow's Mills." Road district No. 5 is extended "south on the state road to the south line of Halstead's lot."
In 1821 our Member of Assembly was Ebenezer Douglass of Ticonderoga, who afterward came to West- port. Our Representative in Congress was again Ezra C. Gross.
This year we have the first positive information in regard to a post office here, though it is not likely that this was its first establishment. In those days of high postage and small population, the duties of a postmas- ter were by no means arduous. It was very common for the country store keeper to receive the appointment hence there is reason to believe that Charles Hatch first held this office. Tradition also suggests the name
322
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
.
of Samuel Cook. This paper, found among the effects of Mr. Peter Ferris, settles the point, for this year at least, of the man who carried the mail.
"I, John Ferris, Jr., of the town of Westport and state of New York, do swear that I will faithfully per- form all the duties required of me, and abstain from everything forbidden by the law in relation to the es- tablishment of Post Offices and Post Roads within the United States.
"I do solemnly swear that I will support the Consti- tution of the United States.
Signed JOHN FERRIS, JR.
Sworn and subscribed before me this
day of January, 1821.
DIADORUS HOLCOMB,
Justice of the Peace.
John Ferris lived at the turn of the road as you go down to the ferry at Barber's Point, and I have no doubt that he brought the mail on horseback from Vergennes, crossing on this ferry.
March 3, 1821, Platt Rogers Halstead received the appointment of Commissioner of Deeds, and was also made Loau Commissioner.
In 1821 Jason Dunster came to the village at the Falls, then called Braman's Mills. The Dunsters come of the very best American ancestry, being descended directly from that Henry Dunster who came from Eng- land to Massachusetts in 1640, and was immediately chosen as the first President of Harvard College, then in its very beginnings. President Dunster was selected
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.