USA > New York > Lewis County > Gazetteer and business directory of Lewis county, N.Y., for 1872-73 > Part 21
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The M. E. Church was organized May 12, 1854, by Thomas D. Sleeper, with thirty-two members. The church edifice will seat 300 persons. It was erected in 1854, at a cost of $1,600. Rer. Thomas D. Sleeper was the first pastor ; Rev. -- Hitch- cock is the present one. There are eighteen members. The Church property is valued at $2,500.t
WEST TURIN was formed from Turin, March 25, 1830. 1. Osceola was taken off Feb. 28, 1844 ; Montagne, Nov.
* Information furnished by Daniel s. Androwe.
+ Information furnished by George W. Puller.
* The town originally andraced Townships Nos. 1 and 2, and parts of 3 and 4 of Constable's Four Towhy, and a part of A ala the whole of 8, 9 and 13 of the Boylston Tract. I now contains only parts of # and 4 of the former tract.
The first town nice to; was held at the hole of Philip Snyder. April 20, 1850, and the following named officers were elected : Martin Hart, Supervisor ; Seth Miller Jr.,
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153
WEST TURIN.
14, 1850; and High Market and a part of Lewis, Nov. 11, 1852. It is an interior town, lying near the south border of the County, and upon the west bank of Black River. It con- tains 23,387 acres. Its surface inclines to the east, and rises in successive terraces from the intervale of Black River to the hills 800 feet above. It is watered by Sugar River, which flows east through the center of the town, and numerous smaller streams. The soil is a deep, fertile loam in the river valley, and a slaty loam on the west hills.
In 1810 the town had a population of 2,111, all of whom were white, 1,741, native and 370, foreign.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 18:1, 'the town contained eleven school districts and employed eleven teachers. The number of children of school age was 585; the number attending school, 424; the average. attendance. 221; the amount expended for school purposes, 84,873.71; and the value of school houses and sites, $8,570.
The Utica & Black River R. R. passes through the east part along the valley of the river.
CONSTABLEVILLE,* (p.v. ) located on Sugar River, near the center of the east border, contains five churches, (Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist and Welsh,) a Union school, hotel, eight stores, a bank, three blacksmith shops, three wagon shops,t a cheese factory.f two pump factories.§ five shoe shops, two harness shops, two tailor shops, two jewelry stores, the Steam Mill Co.'s sash and blind factory, a cabinet shop, two tin shops, a photograph gallery, a barber shop and had, in 1870, 712 inhabitants. |
COLLINSVILLE,E (p. v.) located in the east part, one and one-half miles west of the river, contains two churches, (Union
Town Clerk : Seth Miller and Aaron Foster, Overseers of the Poor ; F. E. Taylor. Uriel Hooker and Zens- Allen, Assessors ; Nathaniel Wood, Peter Rea and John Whittlezey. Commissioners of Highways ; Edwin Miller, Collector ; Edwin Miller, Jesse Miller and E. W. Hoyt. Constables ; Homer Collins. Zenas Allen and Seth Miller Jr .. Commission- ers of Common Schools ; Edmund Baldwin, Albern Forter and Wm. R. Wadsworth In- spectors of Common Schools ; Anthony W. Collins and Carlos P. Scovil, Justica of the Peace ; and Seth Miller, Sealer of Weights and Measures.
* Named from Win. Constable, son of the original proprietor.
+ Messrs, Traxel & Miller are doing quite an extensive wagon and blacksmithing business, which gives employment to five meu.
* This factory, of which S. T. Miller is proprietor, is capable of using the milk of 1.000 cows. It gives employment to four persons and produces 159,000 lbs. of cheese per annum. James H. Smith has been the manufacturer for the past ten years.
$ Mesare. Eames & Bridgman give employment to eight men in the manufacture of pumps. wood piping, Capron's patout roofn,, and lumber, planed and matched. They Use a fifteen horse power engine and manufacture 2.000 pumps per annum.
! A very destructive fre occurred here Ang. 3, 1870. It originated in Eames & Br:dama ", pump factory, which, together with the Union church, Barrett'e hotel and Ryel's cabinet shop, were consumed. The pump factory was rebuilt and in operation Within sixty days after the fire.
" It received its name from Homer Collins, an early settler.
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154
WEST TURIN.
and Welsh) two groceries, a cheese factory,* and several dwellings. It was a place of some note previous to the con- struction of the U. & B. R. R. R., which has diverted its business to other localities. At the annual town meeting in 1812 an appropriation of $1,000 was made, and was supplemented by an equal sum raised by subscription, for the grading of the Collinsville hills. The work is being vigorously prosecuted and promises a decided improvement.
LYONS FALLSt (p. o.) is situated at the confluence of Black and Moose rivers and is a station on the U. & B. R. R. R., being distant from the southern terminus of that road about forty-four and one-half miles. It is the northern terminus of the Black River Canal, which connects the navigable waters of Black River with the Erie Canal at Rome. The falls at this place, formerly known as High Falls, afford an excellent water power, but capital and enterprise are wonderfully tardy in its improvement and utilization. The water plunges with im- mense force over a ledge of gneiss rock, having a fall of 63 feet. Only during the freshets, however, does it exhibit its full wildness and grandeur. At other times the water is mostly confined within the narrow channels it has worn in the rocks.
MOHAWK HILL (p. o.) is a hamlet in the south part .;
Settlement' was commenced in 1196, by Nathaniel Shaler. who sent a man the previous year to explore the lands. Mr. Shaler was from Middletown. Conn. He purchased of Win. Constable. Dec. 29, 1795. an undivided half of Townships Nos. 3 and 4, of Constable's Four Towns, at $2 per acre, and was made the agent for the sale of the remainder, receiving as compensa- tion one-half of the amount of sales in excess of the above price. He built a house at Constableville, where, for several years, he was accustomed to spend a part of his summers, but he never removed his family here. The pioneer settler was John Ives, who came with his family in April, 1796. Mr. Ives was a native of Meriden. Conn., but resided at New Hartford about a year previous to his removal to this town. Late in the day on which he arrived he felled a large elin tree, and beside it he constructed a rude shelter of bark, which formed their dwelling
* Markham's che se factory gives employment to three persons, uses the milk of 40 cow. and manufactures about laune the. of cheese per annum.
+ It derives it- name from the lite Lyman R. Lyou.
: There is another cheese factory in the town, located one and one-half miles west of Con stableville, and owned by the MeDonald Bros., which gives employment to two persons. is capable of using the mnik of 300 cows and maunfactures 85,000 lbs. of Cheese per annom.
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WEST TURIN.
155
until a log cabin was built. His place of settlement consisted of 400 acres, which he had previously selected while his family remained a few days at Turin ; and to reach it he was obliged to convey his family and goods across swelled streams upon fallen trees. During the summer a saw mill was built by about twenty young men employed by Shaler and got in operation in the fall. Many came in during the summer from Conn. and selected farms, but most of them returned in the fall. Among these were Joshua Rockwell, Levi Ives, (brother of John Ives) Nathan Coe, (from Middlefield) Elisha Scovill, (from Meriden.) Daniel Higby, Levi Hough, (from Meriden.) William Hub- bard. James Miller and Ebenezer Allen. But two families. says Dr. Hough, remained in town during the first winter, which was unusual in intensity of cold and depth of snow. Mr. Ives, he says, had occasion to go to Conn., and left his family with a supply of wood and provisions, sufficient to last until his return. During his six weeks absence snow fell to the depth of five feet, cutting off their communication with the world. Their solitude was relieved at length by a young man named Caleb Rockwell, who reached the cabin on snow shoes, and a few days after by the latter's sister. Mr. Ives returned soon after with several new settlers, and soon after his return, the roof of the cabin was crushed in by the snow, but the strong beams of the garret prevented their being buried in its ruins. Gideon Shepard and Elisha Crofoot, we are advised, came in 1796. The former came from Westfield, Mass., in company with his brother, Winthrop Shepard, who settled in Turin and held the rank of Major during the war of 1812 ; the latter was a native of Berlin, Conn., but came here from Middletown, in the same State. He returned to Conn. in the fall and came here with his family the next spring, and settled at Crofoot Hill. James Crofoot, who was then ten years old, says they came from Whitestown with an ox team, and when they arrived at Sugar River, at Talcottville, which was very much swelled, they possessed no better facilities for crossing it than was afforded by a large tree which had been felled across the stream, and which was submerged a foot below the surface. Mr. Cro- foot and his eldest son carried the family and goods over this perilous bridge. The sled was floated across and the oxen swam the watery barrier, being guided by means of a bed cord attached to their horns. Having safely crossed the stream a fire was kindled, their clothes dried and a meal, for which their arduous labors had engendered a peculiar relish, was prepared and eat. The nearest grist mill was at Whitestown, a distance of forty miles, and James Crofoot, when only eleven years old performed this journey, being guided by marked trees. Jon-
156
WEST TURIN.
athan Collins, Seth Miller, Reuben Scovil, Aaron Parsons, Willard Allen. James T. Ward, Philemon Hoadley, William and Abner Rice, Elder Stephen Parsons, Jesse Miller, Wm. Daniels, and Ebenezer and Elijah Wadsworth came during the summer of 1796. Collins came from Meriden, Conn. ; Seth Miller, from Canaan, Conn. ; and Hoadley, from Westfield, Mass. Collins was a native of Wallingford, Conn., and a Revolutionary hero. He experienced difficulties in crossing Sugar River similar to those encounterel by Crofoot. Mr. Collins possessed consider- able means on his arrival, which enabled him to select a valu- able site for a farm, and to cultivate it without that laborious exertion which attends pioneer life when the products of the farm afford the only means of subsistence. He was early selected as a magistrate and judge, and from 1809 to 1815 be was First Judge of the County. He was chosen a presi- dential elector in 1820. Few citizens have enjoyed a greater degree of public confidence and evinced a more sterling integrity, sound judgment, and scrupulous regard for the public welfare, in the discharge of the trusts reposed in them. Seth Miller settled a little west of Constableville, where he died Feb. 20, 1855, aged 75 years. ITe was father of Sylvester Miller, a physician of Lowville. A grist mill, the first in the County, was erected on Sngar River, during the second season, by Mr. Shaler, which tended vastly to alleviate the hardships of the pioneers and those who succeeded them. Shaler employed James T. Ward to induce settlements in this town, and through his or their joint exertions a class of citizens, of whose equal few new localities can boast, came in and took up farms, to which, as they generally possessed considerable means, they soon acquired titles. Owing to their easy circumstances the early settlers in this locality cannot be said to have suffered the extreme rigors which usually attend pioneer life. After two or three years little discomfort aside from that which inferior roads and inalequate means of transportation involve was experienced. Prominent among those who settled at an early day were Aaron Foster, who settled near the State road in 1799; Ebenezer Baldwin, who settled in the north part of the town, between Turin and Collinsville; Cephas Clark, who came from Granby, Conn., in 1801, and settled on the road between Turin and Constableville ; James and Levi Miller, who were Methodist ministers, the latter of whom moved some years after to Louisville, N. Y., where he died ; Elisha Cone, who came here in 1798, and was the first tanner in Turin ; Dr. Horatio G. Hongh, who came here about the beginning of the present. century, who was the first physician in the County and who, in 1805, removed to Martinsburgh, in the history of which
157
WEST TURIN.
town fuller mention of him is made; Roswell Woodruff, who came from Berlin, Conn., and settled near Collinsville, and who, in 1804, exchanged his place with Coxe for 400 acres in Jefferson county ; Richard Coxe, who removed from the Dela- ware in New Jersey, in 1800, to supersede Rodolphe Tillier in the Castorland agency, in which capacity he managed for some time the store established by the French Company under Oboussier, who was the first County Clerk, and who traded several years on the hill, a little west of Collinsville, where he built a stylish curb-roofed house and store; Wm. Coleman, who settled on the Rees place, east of Collinsville, and went to the Western Reserve six years after; Josiah P. Raymond, who accompanied Coxe in 1800, and was clerk in the French Com- pany's store ; John Markham and Heman Murrin, who came from Middletown, Conn., about 1800, and the former of whom settled on the farm now owned by his son Joseph D. Markham ; Newton Clark, who came from Granby, Conn., in 1802, who is now 84 years old and retains his mental faculties, and whose father died in this town at the advanced age of 90 years; and Calvin Lyman, who came from Middletown, Conn., at an early day, and settled on the farm on which he now resides, aged 84 years. The first framed house, it is said, was built by William Hubbard. Richard Rockwell, son of Joshua Rockwell, was the first child born in the town, and Julia Ives, daughter of John Ives, was the second. A young man named Coe was brought to Shaler's house in the second summer of settlement to be nursed, and he died. His death was probably the first in the town. In 1799 a sickly season occurred, and two men named Platt died of a putrid fever. About thirty persons who attended them also died with it. A school house was built at Constableville in 1798, and the first school was taught by Miss Dorothy Wadsworth. The summer of 1803 was an extremely dry season, and there was not sufficient water to run the mills which had been erected. Seventeen men employed by Shaler, reluctant to go to Whitestown with their grists and still more so to go without flour, mounted the wheel attached to the grist mill by turns, tread-mill fashion, and by this means ground sufficient flour for present use. William Constable Jr., son of the proprietor of Constable's Four Towns, settled in this town in June, 1810, at Constableville, and from him that village derives its name. He first occupied the house built by Shaler, and in 1819 he erected, a little east of Constableville, an elegant mansion, which has since been the family home- stead. " This seat," says Dr. Hough, "for quiet seclusion, elegant surroundings and classic beanty, is not surpassed by any in Northern New York." Upon John Constable, says the
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158
WEST TURIN.
same anthor, chiefly devolved the management of the landed interests remaining with this family, and his indulgence toward settlers and urbane manners have rendered him deservedly popular in the community where he resides.
Religious services were conducted the first summer of the settlement of the town, (1796) by the holding of regular prayer meetings. Revs. Hart and Robinson, missionaries from Connecticut, held meetings at an early day. The first Church was organized by Rev. Stephen Parsons, from Middletown, Conn., in 1803, in which year a revival added many converts to the Baptists.
St. Paul's Church, (Episcopal) at Constableville, was organized April 7, 1817, by Bishop Hobart. Their first church edifice* was erected in 1817-18, and the present one in 1836. The first pastor was Rev. Joshua M. Rogers, whose ministrations the society enjoyed seventeen years ; the present one is Rev. G. W. Porter. The society numbers about 100 members. Its Church property is valued at $5,000.t
This town took a nobly conspicuous part in aiding the sup- pression of the Rebellion.t
* This was the first house of worship erected in the town, and the first of this de- nomination north of the Mohawk.
+ Information furnished by John Constable and G. W. Porter.
# The following is a list of the names of soldiers from this town, who were killed, or died in the service :
Samuel M. Pbunh, private Co. 0 57th Regt , died of typhoid fever, at regimental hos- pital, Alexandria, Va., Feb. 25, 1862.
Theodore Shultz, private Co. C. 57th Regt., was killed near Richmond, Va., June 27, 1862.
Martin Oberiter, Jr., private Co. F. 14th Regt., was killed in the Seven Days' battle before Richmond, Va., July 2. 1502, and was buried on the field.
Henry Crofoot, private Co. C. 5 th Regt., a good and brave soldier, who, after partici- pating in fourteen battles, was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and was buried where he fell.
Walter Strickland, Corporal Co. K. 5th Ragt., died of typhoid fever, near Washing- ton, D. C .. Dec. 5, 1962, and his remain- were brought home and buried at Turin.
Edwin Morris, private Co. C. 57th Regt., died March 12, 1862, at Washington, D. C., where he was buried.
Theodore .V. Taylor, private Co. C. 57th Rert., was killed in the Battle of the Wilder- ness, May 5, 1864, and was buried where he fell.
Newcomb P. Mumford, private Co. F. INith Regt .. died of typhoid fever, at Columbia Hospital, Dec. 20. 1-64, and hi- remisties Were interred in High Market.
Lewis L. Thompson, private Co. B. 97th Regt., died of typhoid fever, at Smoketown hospital, Md., Nov. 16. 18 /2, and has remain- were brought home.
Patrick Loftis, private Co. K. 5th Regt., was taken prisoner ant kept as auch about five months, when he was exchanged, came home on furlough in feeble health, and died April 6, 1-65.
Jo'n Purey, private Co. B. 1kh Regt., came home on sick furlough in October, 1864, and died Feb. 2. 1:65.
John Hanley, private Co. 11. 6th Rugt .. was mortally wounded, and died near Alexan- dria, Va., in July, 1464, and wa- baried there.
Elward F. Highy, private t'n. H. 14th Bert .. died at home, Sept. 2, 1864.
Bryan R. Colline, private, died at Harrison's Landing, Va., July 15, 1862, and his re- mains were brought house.
Edwin R. Duff. of Co. B 59th Rest., died Oct. 15, 1863, from a wound received at Bris oe, Va., where he was buried.
George W. Bennett, private Co. G. 14th Regt., died of typhoid fever, Ang. 17, 1861, at Fairfax Seminary hospital, and was buried at Alexandria, Va.
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WEST TURIN.
The M. E. Church, at Constableville, is believed to have been organized about 1828, by Rev. B. G. Paddock, its first pastor, with twenty members. This society united with the Baptists and Presbyterians, in the erection of a Union meeting house, in 1836, and worshiped in this until 1860, when the present house, which will seat 300 persons, was erected at a cost of 82,000. The present number of members is forty-five. The pastor is Rev. B. F. Wood. The Church property is valued at 83,000 .*
St. Mary's Church, (Catholic) at Constableville, was organized with 780 members, by Rev. Wm. Howard, its first pastor, in 1845, in which year, its house of worship, which will seat 600 persons, was erected at a cost of 82.000. The present number of members is 750; and the present pastor, Rev. Eugene Carroll, our informant. The Church property is valued at $4,000.
The United Evangelical Church, of West Turin, was organized bv Rev. Joseph Hartmann, its first pastor, in 1849. The church will seat 200 persons, but we are not advised in what year it was erected. The society embraces 85 families. Rev. Theodore Cludius, our informant, is the pastor.
The Ebenezer Church, (M. E.) was organized with forty mem- bers. by James Crofoot, in 1849. The church editice was erected the same year, at a cost of $1,200, and will seat 250 persons. It is located two miles west of Constableville. The first pastor was Rev. D. Ferguson ; the present one is Rev. B. F. Wood. The Church property is valued at $2,500.
The First Baptist Church of Constableville and Turin, was organized with eight members, Oet. 9, 1869, by Rev. Milton E. Fish, its first and present pastor, to whom we are indebted for information relative to it. The society erected a church at Constableville in the summer of 1871, at an estimated cost of $4.500. It will seat 250 persons. It was dedicated March 7, 18:2. There are twenty-one members. The Church property is valued at 85,000.
* Information furnished by Henry Bennett.
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160
CENSUS REPORT.
POPULATION OF LEWIS COUNTY.
Census Returns for 1860, 1865 and 1870, showing the Increase and Decrease in the last decade.
TOWNS.
1860.
1865.
1870.
Increase. Decrease.
Rate per cent. in- crease or decrease.
Croghan .
2035
2146
2133
398
20 -*
Denmark.
2559
2222
2109
450
18-
Diana.
1183
1645
1778
295
20-
Greig.
1733
1946
2638
905
52+
Harrisburgh
1338
1238
1090
24S
19-
Highmarket
1170
1130
1051
119
10+
Lewis
1407
1259
1252
155
11+
Leyden
1859
1828
2048
189
10+
Lowville.
2313
2514
2805
432
18+
Martinsburgh.
2855
2180
2282
573
20+
Montague.
107
643
718
11
2-
New Bremen
1780
1966
1908
122
2-
Osceola.
595
712
688
93
16-
Pinckney
1393
1291
1149
244
18-
Turin ..
1849
1683
1493
356
19+
Watson.
1028
949
1146
118
12-
West Turin
2410
2128
2111
299
12+
Totals.
28580
21840
28699
119
.4 +
*As it is not convenient to give the decimal expressing the exact rate per cent., when the remaining fraction is less than one-half, we have made use of the + sign to indicate that the true rate per cent. is greater than that expressed ; and when the remaining fraction is greater than one-half, one has been added to the integer, and the - sign used to indicate that the true rate per cent. is less than the number by which it is expressed.
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161
CENSUS REPORT.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS From Census of 1865.
TOWNE.
Winter Wheat,
busbels harvested
bushels harvested
bushels, harvested
bushels harvested
pounds harvested
pounds harvested
bashele harvested
number of, 1865.
pounds medo
Horses,
Sheep,
1865.
Crogban
15
13418
1500
26289
50
71
1265
91097.
292
1118
Denmark
190
17025
4.62
26753
300
3377
3218
150034
626
1535
Diana
23
3971
2600
18158
10
672
62700
212
1368
Greig.
5728
29701
15226
363
63435
316
$35
Harrisburgh
3
17238
593
20533
600
2500
157651}
415
958
Highmarker.
9133
22411
5
1548
96630
60
1209
Lewis
3706
S5
13760
030
10
773
46547
124
5;1
Leyden
16535
1933!
21441
30
9961
2558
100878
882
527
Lowville.
14SSI
14594
37111
213-13
64065
48 12
2666
85485;
422
3-2
Martinsburgh
716
28251
3290
32548
4500:
979
4107
172917
674
1274
Montague.
1717
$997
480
53325;
111
318
New Bremen
17037|
2259
21305
203
1452
94004
801
876
Osceola
2 258
375
10:251
100
2.50
3×4
33515;
109
480
Pinckney
11953
1 .11
176001
10
1949
111703
395
1900
Turin.
97
12045
3274
15390
3513
2490
122136!
3:57
630
Watson.
6192
11339
S0
300
311
761
52663,
223
914.
West Turin
40
23 139
1545
257051
1463
3090
169510
4.12
1095
Totale
2572 2019351
31718 325823
410 69895: 19148
50639|1663950
5-1911
14839
1861.
Hops,
1864.
Apples,
1864.
Milch Cows,
Butter,
1864.
two years old and over. 1565.
number shorn,
1864.
1861.
Indian Corn.
1864.
Potatoes,
1861.
Tobacco,
ADDITIONAL STATISTICS FROM CENSUS OF 1870.
In addition to the above extract a we give the following totals for the Counties, as per returns for the several heads mentioned :
Cash Value of Farms. $15, 181,008; of Farming Implements. $557,501 ; Wages Paid, (in- cluding value of board,) $371,372; Value of all Farmi Productions, (including betterments aud additions to stock.) $3.537.797; Value of all Live Stock, 82.633,206; Value of Home Manufactures, $19,891; Value of Animals Slaughtered or soll for Slaughter, $256,902; Tons of Hay Produced, 104,653; Rye, burtele harvested. 9,516; Burley, bushels har- vested, 69,-28; Buckicheat, bushele harvested, 15,055; Wool, pound# shorn, 32,631 ; Cheese, pounds made. 977.547; Mops, pounds harvested, 272,815; Maple sugar, pounds made, 451,326 ; Honey, pounds gathered, 7,331 ; Volue of Orchard Products, $28.946 ; Value of Market Garden Prod.ets, $4,496 ; Value of Forest Products, $Is8 852; Working, Oren, number of, 1,120; other Cattle, number of, 9,745; Sheep, un iber of, 8,554 Swine, number of, 3,979.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTICES.
PUBLISHER'S NOTICES.
The Port Leyden Enterprise, 1 published at Port Leyden, by Goodenough & Orvi-, is comparatively a new candidate for public favor. Its publication was com- menced scarcely a year ago, since which time it has been steadily gaining favor and increasing its list of patrons. We besprak for it an honorable and prosperous career. Job Printing of all descriptions is executed at this office on the most liberal terms. Card on page 236.
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