USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Gazetteer and business directory of St. Lawrence County, N.Y. for 1873-4 > Part 11
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The Meteorological Register was commenced at Ogdensburg by J. H. Coffin, while principal of the Academy, Jan. 1, 1839. It was a monthly quarto sheet, devoted to scientific inquiries, and although it was ably edited, it lived only four issues.
The Daily Sentinel was started at Ogdensburg, by S. Foote, April 14, 1848, and published five months. It was the first daily paper attempted in the county.
The Ogdensburgh Forum was begun by A. Tyler, as a Whig organ, April 24, 1848, and discontinued in February, 1851.
The St. Lawrence Budget, a semi-monthly advertising sheet, was issued from the office of the Daily Sentinel in 1850-1.
The Daily Morning News was started at Ogdensburg, in March, 1852, by Wm. N. Oswell, with Fayette Robinson as editor.
The Weekly News was commenced by Wm. N. Oswell in September, 1852, and was issued in large size from the office of the Daily Morning News. It was soon after temporarily suspended, but was again issued in reduced size as a daily. Both it and its contemporary, issued from the same office, were discontinued the following December.
The Ogdensburgh Daily Times was begun Oct. 18, 1852, by Wm. Yeaton and Warren Dow, and was issued at the Republican office, but after one or two issues its publication was arrested by a disastrous fire.
The St. Lawrence American was begun at Ogdensburg, March 1, 1855, by Wm. Yeaton and E. M. Holbrook, and was published three years.
The Potsdam Gazette was begun Jan. 13, 1816, by Frederick C. Powell. It was issued weekly, and was discontinued in April, 1823.
The Potsdam American was begun in January, 1829, by Frederick C. Powell, and was issued from the press used for the Gazette. It was neu-
75
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Previous to the settlement of the country embraced in and adjacent to this county it was the scene of many warlike and commercial expeditions which characterizes the history of the valley of the St. Lawrence the first three centuries of its Euro- pean discovery and occupancy, and the indefinite period of its
tral in politics. It was subsequently published by Powell & Reddington until April, 1829, when it was discontinued.
The Herald was revived from the American in May, 1829, by Elias Wil- liams, and was issued weekly from the same press as an anti-masonic paper until August.
The Day Star, a semi-monthly, was published at Potsdam six months in 1827, by Jonathan Wallace, in advocacy of Universalism, and was united with the Gospel Advocate of Utica.
The Patriot, a weekly anti-masonic journal, was published at Potsdam, on the Herald press, by Wm. Hughes. It was begun in April, 1830, and issued one year.
The Philomathean, a literary magazine, was started in the spring of 1849, by the Philomathean Society of the St. Lawrence Academy, at Pots- dam, and a few numbers were issued.
The Elementary Republican was begun at Potsdam, in 1852, and a few numbers were issued from the Journal office.
The St. Lawrence Democrat, a Whig paper owned by several individuals, was begun at Canton, in September, 1840, and published by Edgar A. Bar- ber. It was discontinued in April, 1842.
The Northern Telegraph, a Whig organ, was started at Canton, in July, 1832, by C. C. Bill, who, after publishing it a short time, sold it to Orlando Squires, by whom its name was changed to The Canton Democrat, under which title it was printed a short time.
The Luminary of the North was commenced at Canton in July, 1834, and published a short time.
The Engineer was published at Canton in 1844, by Charles Boynton.
The Inquirer and Tariff Advocate was commenced at Canton, April 11, 1844, by Chas. Boynton, and was issued from the office of The Northern Cabinet. It was a campaign paper, published in the interest of the Whig party, and was discontinued the following November.
The Canton Weekly Citizen was commenced 'Jan. 1, 1852, by J. S. Sar- geant, and continued four weeks.
The True Democrat was started at Madrid, in May, 1850, by. M. F. Wil- son and O. L. Ray, as a Democratic paper. At the end of ten months it was purchased by Mr. Ray, and changed from a Democratic to an inde- pendent journal. At the beginning of the second year its name was changed to the Columbian Independent, and at the end of the same year it was moved to Canton and its name changed to the Canton Independent. It was soon after discontinued.
The Northern New Yorker, a weekly independent paper, was started at Gouverneur, April 26, 1849, by W. M. Goodrich and M. F. Wilson, with Charles Anthony as editor. At the end of the first volume it passed into the hands of N. J. Bruett, who enlarged it and published twelve numbers.
The St. Lawrence Advertiser, a very small sheet, was issued from the same office five weeks, after the former was discontinued, and the office was then removed to Potsdam.
The Labourer was started at Gouverneur in July, 1852, by Martin Mitchell, and was issued weekly. Subsequently, in the same year, it be- came the organ of the Free Soilers in Northern New York, and was suc- ceeded in 1853, by the St. Lawrence Free Press, published by J. J. Emmes. It was afterward published by G. K. Lyman, and in the fall of 1854, was removed to Ogdensburg and united with the Sentinel.
The True Advance (weekly) was started at Ogdensburg by Hopkins and Kitteridge, in the spring of 1862, and published about one year.
The Northern Monitor (weekly) was started by Gardner B. Chapin, June 11, 1870, and was continued about six months.
76
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Indian occupancy anterior to that time. The warlike exploits and predatory excursions of the Adirondac and Iroquois In- dians in their strife for supremacy were superceded by the little less ferocious struggles of their more civilized European sup- planters, and this region of country was not unfrequently the vantage ground of the contending armies .* The north bank of the St. Lawrence appears to have offered stronger induce- ments to settlers than the south, for it was settled long previous to the latter. North of the St. Lawrence the French held sway, while on the south the British established their claims. To the jealousy which has so long characterized the intercourse of these two nations is due mainly the establishment of a fort and mission on the site of Ogdensburg, at which point the first settlement of the county was made. As early as 1721 Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit, who, at the instance of the King of France, undertook a journey to Canada in 1720-21, pointed to La Galette, (supposed to be near the site of Johnstown, Canada,) as an eligible site for the location of a fort, and which he viewed as being far preferable to Kingston, where a fort had been established. The establishment of forts and missions had for its object the securing of the Indian fur trade, the winning of the confidence of the Indians and the acquisition of territory, at a time when the boundary lines between the two countries were undefined. The effort to diffuse among the Indians the Catholic religion was ever a prominent motive of the French, and many of the Iroquois were induced to emigrate to Canada and connect themselves with the missions established there. The success of missions in other localities led to the establish- ment of a fort and mission (the former ever seems to have been indispensable to the latter,) at the mouth of Oswegatchie river, by Abbe Francois Picquet,t in 1749, which he called La Pre-
* Evidences of Indian occupancy are found in the trench inclosures, rude paintings, fragments of pottery and implements of the chase and feast. No less than six trenches in St. Lawrence county are known to have existed, and it is probable that others were effaced by the plow with- out exciting a suspicion of their true nature. About these are beds of ashes which mark the site of ancient hearths. Stone gouges and chisels; arrowheads of flint, jasper, chalcedony, shale and other stone: amulets and beads of steatite, and other personal ornaments; implements of bone; and pottery, whose designs imply various uses, are disclosed by the plow in various localities, especially in the valleys of streams tributary to the St. Lawrence. In the town of Massena was found, many years ago, a pipe, formed of whitish steatite, having the figure of a serpent curiously wrought upon the stem and bowl, with the head projecting slightly above the latter. Pipes of different descriptions have been found in considerable numbers in Macomb .- Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties.
+ Francois Picquet, Doctor of the Sorbonne, King's Missionary and Pre- fect Apostolic to Canada, was born at Bourg in Bresse, Dec. 6, 1708. At the age of seventeen he successfully commenced the functions of a mis-
77
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
sentation. Picquet left Quebec in company with twenty-five French, and four Iroquois Indians Sept. 30, 1748,* entrusted with the selection of a site for the establishment of a fort and mission. That sagacity which rendered his whole career con- spicuously successful enabled him to discern with a view un- obscured by the dissenting opinions of French officers and interpreters the important commercial and military advantages which the locality selected by him offered not only, but also as a mission for the Christianizing of the Indian. Its central posi- tion with reference to the British posts at Oswego and on Lake George, and its being at the foot of sloop navigation on the St. Lawrence, gave it an importance in the former sense; and its position near the mouth of a river by which the Mohawks reached the St. Lawrence, and the facility of communication with the other tribes of Iroquois thus afforded gave it an im- portance in the latter sense. The land was described as "the finest in Canada"; the oak timber abundant and the trees of prodigious size ; and the harbor capacious and safe. M. Pic- quet established himself upon the bank of the Oswegatchie, and with such energy did his party engage in the labor of clear- ing the timber and erecting buildings that by the 20th of October following a palisade fort, a house, barn, stable, redout and oven were built.t The fort was supplied with "seven
sionary in his own country, and at twenty he received, by a flattering ex- ception, at the hands of the Bishop of Sinope, permission to preach in all the parishes of Bresse and Franche-Comte, which depended on his dio- cese. By advice of the Archbishop of Lyons he relinquished his desire to go to Rome and studied theology with the Congregation of St. Sulpice at Paris. The direction of the new converts was proposed to him, but his zeal induced him to seek a wider field, which he sought in 1733 in the Missions of North America, where he remained thirty years, and where his constitution, debilitated by labor, acquired a force and vigor which secured for him a robust health to the end of his life. During his mission service he displayed such zeal and devotion to the interests of the religion he espoused as to receive the title of the "Apostle of the Iroquois." The affection which his converts displayed for him was little less than devo- tion. He early acquired a confidence which it was the duty of his whole subsequent life to strengthen. His devotion to the Catholic Church did not, however, render him unmindful of his duties to his country. In the wars of 1742 and 1754 between England and France, which he early fore- saw, he rendered such efficient service to the French arms through his wise counsels and with the aid of the Indians at his mission at La Pre- sentation as won for him the highest encomiums. The latter part of his life was spent in France, where he died from a hernia which had long afflicted him, at Verjon, July 15, 1781.
* Doc. Hist. State of New York, vol. 1, p. 423.
+ The corner stone of these buildings, which were connected, was many years since rescued from their ruins and was carefully preserved by Mr. Louis Hasbrouck of Ogdensburg. It is now in position over the door of the State arsenal, and bears this inscription :
"In nomine t Dei omnipotentis Huic habitationi initia dedit Frans. Picquet 1749,"
which, translated, means "Francis Picquet laid the foundation of this habitation, in the name of Almighty God, in 1749."
78
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
small stone guns and eleven four to six pounders." In 1751 he erected a saw mill and the same year the Canadian government granted him a tract of land bordering each bank of the Oswe- gatchie for its accommodation. The growth of the village was rapid. From the six families at first under his care the num- ber had increased the next year to eighty-seven, and to 396 the year following, the whole number connected with his colony the latter year being estimated at 3,000. In June, 1751, he made a voyage around Lake Ontario with a view to attracting other Indian families to the new settlement. His progress was marked by flattering ovations at the Indian villages and French establishments, and his return was welcomed with an affection which children manifest for a father. In 1753 he repaired to France to give an account of his labors and solicit aid for his colony. He took with him three natives, who, he reasoned, · would awaken an interest in the success of his mission and the solicitude for whose welfare might serve to control the latter during his absence. He returned to La Presentation in com- pany with two missionaries at the close of April, 1754. The three natives were favorably impressed with the kind treatment they received in France, which produced also a salutary influ- ence upon the other Indians, in making still stronger the ties which bound them to that nation and preparing them for the struggle which was so soon after precipitated. The efforts of the French to establish a mission at Ogdensburg were watched with jealous apprehension by the British, and this and other encroachments upon territory which the adherents of Great Britain believed to be under the jurisdiction of that government led to the war of 1754, which resulted in the termination of French rule in Canada. So persistent were the French in pushing their claims south of the Canadian border and so great was their success in alluring the Iroquois of Central New York to their missions* the British government was constrained to oppose these aggressions by armed force. Efforts were not spared by either government to gain the confidence and aid of the Iroquois, and each strove to prejudice them against its rival. Upon the opening of the war Picquet with his numerous warriors entered into the con- test with that ardor which characterized his participation in the preceding war, when at the head of the mission of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and "thought only of giving fresh proofs of their fidelity and valor " to the King of France.
* Col. Johnson, in a letter to the Board of Trade, Aug. 28, 1756, com- plained that members of the Onondagas and Oneidas had been debauched and gone to live at the French settlement at " Swegatchie."-Doc. Hist. Vol. I. p. 427.
79
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
To him the generals were indebted for the destruction of all the forts on the Mohawk and Oswego rivers. His Indians distin- guished themselves especially at Fort George, where they alone, with their bark canoes, destroyed the English fleet commanded by Capt. Beccan, who, with several others, was made prisoner .* La Presentation now became the scene of active military opera- tions. The war parties which departed and returned continu- ally filled the Mission with prisoners, so that their number frequently exceeded that of the warriors. Several expeditions of which he was the principal author secured the promotion of officers entrusted with their execution. Hedistinguished him- self particularly at Saratoga, Lake Champlain, Crown Point, the Cascades, Ticonderoga, Oswego, Mohawk River and Isle au Galop. The posts he established protected the colony during the entire war. M. du Quesne said that the Abbe Picquet was worth ten regiments. But the valor of the French was unequal to the superior numbers of the not less valorous Britons. The des- truction of the French fortress at Quebec by the British under Gen. Wolfe, and the death of the Marquis of Montcalm Sept. 13, 1759, effectually crushed the power of the French in Canada. The interior French posts only remained and to com- plete the conquest three expeditions were fitted out early in the season of 1760. One of these ascended the St. Lawrence from Quebec, another proceeded toward Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, and the third, under Sir Jeffery Amherst, left New York May 3d, and proceeded by way of the Hudson, Mohawk and Oswego, and down the St. Lawrence toward Montreal, the objective point of the three expeditions. La Presentation was reached by the advance of this expedition Aug. 13th and the fort was surprised, captured and dismantled the 17th. t Eight days later witnessed the capitulation of Fort Levi, and with it ended the French dominion in St. Lawrence county. The British army was delayed at La Presentation by the pres- ence of an armed French vessel, and Col. Williamson was deputed to take it or compel it to retire. On the 17th of August Col. Williamson advanced to the attack with row-gallies, well manned. The enemy opened a heavy fire which did not, however, dampen the ardor of the assailants, who returned the fire with such resolution and bravery that, after a contest of almost four hours, the French vessel struck her colors. She mounted ten twelve-pounders, and had on board one hundred
* Doc. Hist., Vol. 1, p, 438, and Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, p. 78.
+ The History of the Late War in America by Thos. Mante, an extract from which appears in Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, p. 90. In the same work is an extract from the Annual Register for 1760, in which the date is stated as the 27th.
1
80
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
men, twelve of whom were killed or wounded. David Hum- phrey in commenting upon this action and that before Fort Levi ascribes to the inimitable Gen. Putnam, who accompanied this expedition, and who displayed such distinguished bravery during the Revolutionary war, the chief credit for successes which there crowned the British arms. His account, however, carries with it an air of improbability which makes it unworthy of credibility ; and the hero he lauds needs not the fulsome flat- tery of fiction to add luster to his career. With the fall of Quebec, M. Picquet saw the end of French rule in Canada, and on the 8th of May, 1760, he terminated his long and laborious mission, with the advice and consent of the General, the Bishop and Intendant, by retreating from the post he estab- lished and fostered. "He passed to Michilimachina between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ; proceeded thus by way of Upper Canada to the Illinois country and Louisiana, and sojourned twenty-two months at New Orleans. On his return to France he spent many years in Paris." As might be expected from his active, partisan career, he was no less execrated by the British than revered by the French. The post at Ogdensburg was subsequently occupied by a small guard of British troops, and held until surrendered in accordance with the stipulations of Jay's treaty in 1796, to Judge Ford, who received it for the proprietors. During its occupation by the British, the crest of the hill on the west side of the Oswegatchie, between King and Main streets, was used as a cemetery, and at an early day several head-stones marked the places where British soldiers were buried. Little is known of the history of this place during that period. In 1776, three regiments of ministerial troops arrived here, where they were joined by Tories and In- dians commanded by Col. Johnson, who it was expected, were to embark immediately on board of two armed vessels, bateaux and canoes, and proceed to Oswego, where they would be joined by Col. Butler, with all the Indians under his command, like- wise by Col. Caldwell, with what regulars could be spared from Niagara. They intended repairing the fort at Oswego, in or- der that they might hold a treaty with the Indians, and be able
to defend themselves against any attack. In April, 1779, Lieuts. McClellan and Hardenburgh, of the Revolutionary army, were dispatched from Fort Schuyler to surprise the British garrison at Oswegatchie, but the object was defeated in consequence of the imprudent exchange of shots with strag- gling Indians with whom they met, and by whom the alarm was given. Whether the ulterior object of the expedition was to capture the garrison at Oswegatchie; to convey to the Ca- nadians a letter written by a French general (probably Lafay-
81
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
ette) the previous autumn, in which it was successful; or to divert the friendly Oneidas from the contemplated attack upon Onondaga by Col. Van Schaick, and prevent an alarm being given by them, is uncertain. It returned to Fort Schuyler the 30th of the same month.
The Oswegatchies continued to reside at Ogdensburg after its capture by the English, to whom they transferred their allegiance, and with whom they are believed to have acted during the Revolution. Like those at other missions, these Indians became contaminated by the corrupt practices of the garrison, and they gradually dwindled to insignificant num- bers. In 1763 they numbered only eighty,* and in 1813 their houses numbered twenty-three.t They were driven from Johns- town in 1793, by the British, who established them in a village at Indian Point, in the town of Lisbon, about three miles be- low Ogdensburg, where they were when the present settle- ment commenced, and were removed from there by the government of New York about 1806 or "7 upon complaint of the inhabitants. From that period they had no tribal habita- tion, and became scattered among the surrounding tribes, some going to Onondaga and others to St. Regis, at both of which places reservations and Indian villages still exist. Possessing no habitation they soon lost their tribal distinction.
This county lies almost wholly within Macomb's Purchaset
* Doc. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 27. + Spafford's Gazetteer of New York, p. 225.
# The patent for the tract of land known as Macomb's Purchase was is- sued Jan. 10, 1792, to Alex. Macomb. The tract was subdivided into six great lots, No. I., lying in Franklin county, Nos. II. and III., in St. Law- rence, No. IV., in Lewis, Herkimer and Jefferson, No. V., in Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego, and No. VI., in Lewis and Oswego. The division line between Nos. V. and VI. was never surveyed, though theoretically this line, as indicated on Chas. C. Brodhead's map of Macomb's Purchase, starts from near the south-west corner of the purchase, and passes at an angle of fifteen degrees north of a horizontal base line, just north of the east bend in Black River, between the towns of Martinsburgh and Watson in Lewis county.
We extract from Doc. Hist., Vol. III, p. 1070, a tabular statement of the contents of this tract :
" No. 1 contains.
821,819 [acres]
2
.6
.553,020
66
3
.458,228
-
4
5 | Wm. Inman's, 1st Tract 26,250
6 ( Wm. Inman's, 2nd Tract. 74,400
66
Thos. Boylston's Tract. 817,155
66
Peter Chassanis' Tract .220,500
James Watson's Tract. 61.433
66
66
1,409,738
3,693,755
" Deduct Six Miles Square to be laid out at St. Regis for the
23,040 66
66 Indians.
Acres 3,670,715."
The price paid was eight pence per acre.
.
66
. 450,950
John Julius Angerstein 210,000
82
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
and the tract known as the Ten Towns,* and embraces great lots Nos. II. and III.+ of that purchase, the Ten Towns, grants to Jeremiah Van Resselaer and others in the present town of Massena, and the islands in the St. Lawrence.}
The settlement of the county was retarded somewhat by the occupation of the fort at Ogdensburg by the British, who sought to hold it after the Revolution and to justify themselves by the pretext that it was necessary for the protection of their fur trade. The conflicting claims arising from Canadians who had leased large tracts of land from the Oswegatchies, the pre- tended owners, also tended in a measure toward the same re- sult. It was commenced at Ogdensburg in 1796, by Nathan Ford, agent of Samuel Ogden, the proprietor. As the valley of the St. Lawrence was well and favorably known, others soon came in and settled in localities adjacent to the river. Emi- gration was again diverted by the war of 1812, to whose rigors the northern frontier was so much exposed, that few who had not already established themselves there cared then to do so, and many who had, left the border towns. The number of inhab- itants in the county at that time was about 8,000,§ and as they were thinly scattered over nearly the whole of the territory now occupied, they experienced the danger and anxiety which com- parative isolation involves. The danger, however, was less real
* The Ten Towns were offered for sale under the provisions of an act . passed May 5, 1786. Reservations of two lots for gospel and schools were made in each town, and it was provided that numbers four and eight, or Madrid and Oswegatchie should be sold in mile squares, in order that per- sons possessing limited means might have opportunity to purchase. This commendable provision was, however, defeated in a great measure; for Macomb acquired title to most of this tract, either by direct purchase, or through the instrumentality of persons who purchased in his interest and subsequently made transfers to him. The names of these towns, as estab- lished by the commissioners of the land office, are here given in the order in which they were numbered: Louisville, Stockholm, Potsdam, Madrid, Lisbon, Canton, DeKalb, Oswegatchie, Hague and Cambray. Allbut the last two are still retained.
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