USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Gazetteer and business directory of St. Lawrence County, N.Y. for 1873-4 > Part 19
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The First Free Will Baptist Church was organized with eight members, in July, 1838, by Revs. David Colby and Benj. Bundy, but did not erect a church edifice until 1867. The house will seat 300 persons. The first pastor was Rev. Samuel Hart; the present one is Rev. Ezra B. Fuller. There are thirty members. The church property is valued at $2,700.+
The Lawrenceville Baptist Church was organized with seven members Nov. 19, 1840, in which year its first house of worship was erected. It was re-organized May 14, 1842. Rev. Silas Pratt was the first pastor; Rev. G. N. Harmon is the present one. The present house of worship, which will seat 275 persons was erected in 1867, at a cost of $4,000. The Church prop- erty is valued at $4,500 .¿
The Nicholville Universalist Society was organized about 1840. The church edifice, which is the one first erected, but in what year we are not advised, was built at a cost of $800, and will seat 200 persons. There are fifty members, who are under the spiritual tutelage of Prof. J. S. Lee. The Church property is valued at $1,000.
The Hopkinton Free Will Baptist Church was organized with eleven members by Rev. John Sweet, in 1842, and its house of worship, which
* Information furnished by Jeremiah Bailey, Clerk.
+ Information furnished by Horace Rowell, Clerk.
# Information furnished by Peabody Newland.
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will seat 300 persons, was erected in 1845, at a cost of $1,000. The first pastor was Rev. John Sweet; the present one is Rev. Richard Parks. The Society numbers 68 members. The Church property is valued at $2,500 .*
LISBON{ was formed March 6, 1801,1 Madrid and Oswegatchie were erected from it March 3, 1802, and Canton, March 28, 1805. It lies upon the St. Lawrence, about the center of the north-west border of the county, and contains 66,893 acres. It includes Gallop,§ Chimney, | and a few smaller islands in the St. Lawrence. Its surface is level or gently rolling. It is watered by Lisbon Creek and Great and Little Sucker and Brandy brooks and several smaller streams. It is underlaid by calciferous limestone. The soil is a light, but fertile loam.
The population of the town in 1870 was 4,475, of whom 3,335 were native, 1,140, foreign and all, white. ' It is the fourth town in the county with regard to population.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, it contained thirty- one school districts and employed thirty-one teachers. The number of children of school age was 1,584; the number attending school, 1,245; the average attendance, 628; the amount expended for school purposes, $7,308.78; and the value of school houses and sites, $15,000.
The Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain R. R. crosses the town a little north of the center.
* Information furnished by Reuben Wells.
+ The town originally embraced all the territory known as the Ten Townships, and when first severed was annexed to Clinton county. Its connection with that county was severed the following year, upon the erection of St. Lawrence county. (See page 61.) It contains Township No. 5, or Lisbon, of the Ten Townships.
The first town officers were: Alex. J. Turner, Supervisor; John Tib- bets, Town Clerk; John Tibbets, Jr., Benj. Stewart, Joseph Edsall, Seth Raney and Wm. Shaw, Assessors; Calvin Hubbard, Jacob Redington, Benj. Stewart, Wesson Briggs and Jacob Pohlman, Commissioners of Highways; Peter Sharp, Joseph Furman and John Thurber, Constables; Peter Sharp, Collector; Uri Barber, Benj, Bartlett and John Lyon, Poor- masters; Samuel Allen, Benj. Galloway, Wm. Shaw, Benj. A. Stewart, Joseph Edsall, Reuben Fields, Adam Milyer and Joseph Thurber, Path- masters; Uri Barber, Geo. Hilman, John Tibbets, Jr., Asa Furman and John Sharp, Fence Viewers; Benj. Stewart and Reuben Fields, Pound Keepers; and Alex. J. Turner, John Tibbets, Jr. and Benj. A. Stewart, Trustees of the Glebe.
§ Pronounced Gal-loo.
Il This island was called by the Indians Oraconenton, and by the French Isle Royal. Its present name is derived from the ruins of Fort Levi, which was reduced by the British army under Lord Amherst in 1760. It is low and irregular in shape, and was wholly inclosed by the fort, whose contour was made to conform with that of the island. Upon it and the adjacent shores have been found great numbers of iron and other metallic relics, including tomahawks, hoes, axes, picks and gate hangings, which, from their resemblance to similar relics found at the French establish- ments at Onondaga and other places, indicate the French and Indian occupancy of these localities.
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LISBON CENTER, (p. v.) situated a little north of the center, on the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain R. R., contains one church, (United Presbyterian,) a hotel, two stores, four black- smith shops, two carriage shops, one harness shop, a shoe shop, a tailor's shop and fifteen to twenty dwellings.
FLACKVILLE,* (p. o.) situated in the south-west part, seven miles south-east of Ogdensburg, contains two churches, two groceries, a wagon shop, blacksmith shop, shoe shop and a few dwellings.
LISBON,t (p. o.) situated on the St. Lawrence, seven and one- half miles below Ogdensburg, is a hamlet containing two churches and a few farm buildings.
Previous to the settlement of this town by the whites it was the home of the Oswegatchie Indians after the defeat of the French and the occupation of Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburg) by the English. These Indians occupied a village consisting of twenty-three houses, on Indian Point, three miles below Ogdensburg, when the white settlers came in, and continued to reside there until about 1806 or "7, when they were removed. by order of the government, on complaint of the inhabitants. ] While here they were under the direction of Joseph Reoam, a Frenchman, who spoke their dialect, and is said to have married an Indian woman. "Their village," says Dr. Hough, " is described by one who saw it in 1802, as consisting of a street, running parallel with the river, with the houses ranged in regular manner on each side of it, all uniformly built, with their ends to the street, sharp roofed, shingled with pointed shingles, and with glass windows. Every house was built for two families, had two doors in front, and a double fire place, and single chimney in the center, with a partition equally di- viding the interior. In 1802 there were about 24 families." " These Indians were accustomed to spend most of their sum- mers on Black Lake, in hunting and fishing, returning to their cabins for the winter. They used bark canoes, which they carried around rapids and across portages, with perfect ease."
The first settlement by the whites was made in 1799, about two miles below the village of Lisbon, by Andrew O'Neal,§
* Named from John P. Flack, the first postmaster.
+ This place was originally known as Red Mills-a name it derived from the color of the grist and saw mill erected here for the proprietor, Stephen Van Rensselaer, by Daniel W. Church, in 1804. The mill was 50 by 70 feet, three stories high, and was the first erected in the town. It has long since been superseded. It also, at a subsequent period, bore the name of Gallopville, from the island by that name, opposite which it is situated.
* See page 81.
§ Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties. French, in his Gazetteer of the State of New York, which evinces that care and ability
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a native of Ireland, who crossed the river from Canada, where he had been residing. He employed men from Canada to build him a house. Alex. J. Turner, from Salem, Washington county, whence many of the early settlers came, came in early in February, 1800, as agent of the proprietors, and settled on an eminence half a mile west of Lisbon, he having taken up the first three river lots, adjoining Tibbit's tract, which lies upon the river, in the west angle. He came by way of Lake Champlain, and continued as agent until 1805, when he was succeeded by Louis Hasbrouck of Ogdensburg. At his death, in March, 1806, he was judge of the court of common pleas, and formed one of the bench at its first organization. Peter Sharp and Peter Henion, Germans, from Schoharie, came in 1800, and took up farms and erected houses near Lisbon. The same year John Tibbits, from Troy, came in company with his son, John Jr., and son-in-law, Wesson Briggs, and settled upon the tract which bears his name .* They came by way of the Mohawk from Schenectady to Indian Creek, where they crossed to the Oswego River, and proceeded thence to Lake Ontario, and down the lake and the St. Lawrence to their destination. Matthew Perkins, from Becket, Mass., and Hezekiah Pierce, who were connected with Tibbits' family, came in 1801. The daughter of John Tibbits Jr., (now Mrs. Amos Bacon of Ogdens- burg,) who was born in September, 1800, was the first white child born in the county. The first male child born in town was in the family of Wesson Briggs, and his brother still living upon the premises occupied by his father. The house of Wesson Smith was burned by the Indians. Reuben Turner, a Revolu- tionary soldier, Wm. Shaw, Lemuel Hoskins, Wm. Lyttle, James Aikens and Benj. Steward, mostly from Vermont, came in 1801. These were joined the next year by John, Samuel, Wm. and James Lyttle, (sons of the Wm. Lyttle previously mentioned,) Richard and John Flack, -- Crosset, Isaac and Elihu Gray, John McCrea and sons, (John Jr., Samuel and Alex.,) and others. A large number settled during the four succeeding years, among whom were Robert Livingston, who held the office of county judge from 1810 to '29, and Dr. Joseph W. Smith, a native of Cheshire, Mass., who settled here in 1803, and was the first physician in the county. He remained two years, and subsequently resided in Ogdensburg, where he
in its compilation which constitutes it a good authority, says Wm. O'Neal was the first settler. Discrepancies of this character are almost unavoid- able when, as in the present case, the only source of information is the recollection of early settlers.
* This tract contained 9,600 acres and was purchased by John Tibbits of Alex. Macomb, Feb. 22, 1789, for £860 New York currency.
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was also the first physician. During the epidemic which pre- vailed in 1813 great numbers died, and Lisbon is said to have suffered more severely from its ravages than any other town in the county. A season of much suffering occurred in 1816 and '17, in consequence of cold summers, which resulted in short crops and a scarcity of provisions.
In 1813 a detachment of dragoons from a company of about sixty, who were stationed at the house of Peter Wells, about five miles in the interior, were surprised by a party of about two hundred Canadians, at the inn of a Mr. Scott, at Lisbon, where they were staying for the night. One of their number was killed, another wounded and afterwards brutally stabbed, until he was believed to be dead, though he subsequently re- covered, and two others, together with Scott and his son, and all the horses that could be found, were taken to Canada.
The United Presbyterian Church, at Lisbon Center, was organized in 1804, and erected its house of worship, which will seat 250 persons, in 1856. There are 130 members, who are under the pastoral care of Rev. John Harper, our informant .*
The Episcopal Methodist Church, at Lisbon, (Red Mills) was organized with fifteen members in 1805. The church edifice was erected in 1862, at a cost of $650, and will seat 200 persons. The Society numbers one hundred members. The pastor is Rev. Geo. Hastings. The Church property is valued at $1,200.+
The M. E. Church, at Flackville, was organized with six members, by Squire Chase, in 1831. The house in which it worships was erected in 1850, at a cost of $2,000. It will seat 200 persons. The first pastor was Rev. John Cise : the present one is Rev. Geo. Hastings. There are seventy-one members. The Church property is valued at $2,500 .;
The Covenanters Society, near Flackville, was organized with forty members, by Rev. J. Fisher, in 1840, in which year was erected, at a cost of $600, the house in which they worship, which will seat 168 persons. The membership has increased to seventy-two. The first pastor was Rev. John Middleton; the present one is Rev. Wm. McFarland. The Church property is valued at $1,500.§
The First Congregational Church was organized with fifty-two members, in 1842, by Rev. Lewis A. Weeks. The church, which is located on lot 5, Range 1, and will seat 500 persons, was erected in 1844, at a cost of $1.200. Rev. Wm. L. Buffit was the first pastor. Rev. Rodney C. Day is the present one. There are 160 members. The Church property is valued at $3,500.|
The First Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized with one hundred members, by Rev. Lyndon King, its first pastor, in 1843, in which year was erected, at a cost of $800, the house of worship, which will seat 350 persons. The number of members has decreased to seventy. Their pastor is Rev. John Quay. The Church property is valued at $3,000. The meeting house is located on lot 3, range 2.T
* The records of this Society are lost, hence the date of organization is uncertain. It is very probable this is the "First Associate Reformed Church," incorporated Nov. 15, 1802, which Dr. Hough mentions in his History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties.
+ Information furnished by Wm. Briggs.
¿ Information furnished by J. G. Stocking.
§ Information furnished by John C. Glass.
| Information furnished by Wm. Briggs.
T Information furnished by Alfred Akin.
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St. Luke's Church, (Episcopal) at Lisbon, was organized Oct. 12, 1837, and erected its house of worship, which will seat 200 persons, in 1856, at a cost of $3,500. There are twenty members. The pastor is Rev. J. H. Tyng. The Church property is valued at $4,000 .*
LOUISVILLE, was formed from Massena, April 5, 1810. It lies upon the St. Lawrence in the north part of the county, and contains 33,569 acres. A part of Norfolk was taken off April 9, 1823, and a part of that town was re-annexed April 3, 1844. The surface is level, or moderately uneven, and is watered by Grass River, which flows through the central part of the town, nearly parallel with the St. Lawrence. The soil is a fertile loam underlaid by calciferous sandstone. The town embraces several islands in the St. Lawrence, the princi- pal of which are Croilst and Goose Neck.
The population of the town in 1870 was 2132, of whom 1556 were native, 576, foreign and all, except one, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained fourteen school districts and employed fourteen teachers. The number of children of school age was 773; the number attending school, 611; the average attendance, 292; the amount expended for school purposes, $3,026.20 ; and the value of school houses and sites, $3,765.
LOUISVILLE,§ (p. v.) on Grass River, seven miles above Massena, is centrally located, and contains two churches, one hotel, two stores, two shoe shops, one harness shop, two black-
* Information furnished by J. P. Ames.
+ This town originally embraced Township No. 1, or Louisville of the Ten Townships, and was ten miles square. It now embraces about half of that township.
¿ This island is variously named upon Burr's map the Upper Long Saut; by the French, Isle au Chamailles; by the Indians, Tsiiowenokwakarate; and by the present settlers Baxters, Stacys and Croils, from the names of successive owners. Previous to the establishment of the boundary line in 1818, this island was considered as British territory, and under this supposition, in 1812, Asa Baxter, who then owned it, was drafted into the British army, and upon his refusing to serve it was confiscated. Mr. Baxter deserted the army and took refuge in Vermont, where he remained until the close of the war, when he returned with his family to the island, and was immediately arrrested as a deserter and confined in jail at Cornwall, where he remained from April 1814, till the following August. He again escaped the officers while being taken to Kingston for trial. After an understanding was arrived at between the two governments respecting the jurisdiction of the island Mr. Baxter delivered himself up for trial at Cornwall, but as the court had no juris- diction over him he was released, and he again removed his family to the island and lived there several years. He was dispossessed by the purchase of the islands in the St. Lawrence by Judge Ogden, owing to a misunder- standing between the land commissioners and the surveyor general, but a recompense was subsequently made.
§ Locally known as Millerville, from Rev. Levi Miller, of Turin, who came as agent for James McVicker, the proprietor, in March, 1823, and settled there.
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smith shops, one carriage shop,* a paint shop, saw, grist and shingle mills,t a cabinet shop, thirty-one dwellings and 160 inhabitants. The water power here is somewhat improved.
LOUISVILLE LANDING, (p. o.) on the St. Lawrence, is a port of entry and contains two stores, a shoe shop, about a dozen buildings and forty inhabitants.
CHASES MILLLS (p. v.) is located on Grass River, which fur- nishes an excellent water privilege, on the line of Waddington. The business importance of this place dates from 1867, in which year L. E. Barnett, a young man, broke ground for the first store and erected a fine brick building, which is surpassed by few if any in this section, but which, at the time elicited the jeers of the people of the surrounding country, who pre- dicted that the enterprise would add one more to the catalogue of brilliant failures. The building is now occupied by his suc- cessors, E. L. Lockwood & Co., who are doing a thriving business. This innovation upon the lethargic state of this locality and the rights of its inhabitants to repose in quiet seclusion was immediately followed by changes in property ownership, which conduced to a healthy business growth and infused a spirit of enterprise and activity. The village now contains a church, hotel, two stores, grist,} saw,§ and shingleil mills, (one each) one harness, one paint, two blacksmith, one cabinet, one wheelwright and two shoe shops, one cloak and dress making and two millinery establishments, a boat build- ing establishment, 180 buildings and 280 inhabitants. Its water power is only partially improved.
The first settlement was made by Nahum Wilson, from Peru, Clinton county, but immediately from Canada, where he resided one year, who came with his family April 15, 1800, and settled on the lot next east of the one now occupied by his grandson, Jeremiah Wilson. He was accompanied by Aaron Allen, and two sons of the latter. Allen moved in his family the following winter. Each immediately commenced clearing. They raised a crop of corn, and in the fall sowed wheat. Mr. Allen and Samuel Warner Wilson, son of Nahum, cut the first tree for a
* Sullivan's carriage factory gives employment to seven men in the manufacture of twenty wagons and twelve sleighs per annum.
+ The shingle mill is owned by Wm. Miller and is capable of sawing 4,000,000 shingles per annum.
¿ This mill contains three runs of stones, capable of grinding 300 bushels per day, and is owned by G. W. Doud.
§ Tuttle's (W. W.) saw and planing mill contains one four feet circular saw, capable of sawing 2,000,000 feet of lumber per annum. Ten thousand feet of lumber can be planed per day.
Il This mill, of which R. C. Allen is proprietor, is capable of making 1,400,000 shingles per year.
J
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clearing. They built the first house on the place now occupied by John Whalen. Samuel Wilson was a soldier in the war of 1812. He acted as pilot on the Salmon and St. Lawrence rivers, and carried ammunition to the troops engaged in the battle of Chrystlers field. John Wilson was the next settler. He came from Vermont in the spring of 1801. Lyman Bost- wick, Elisha W. Barber and several brothers, Griffin Place,
Bradford, Alex. Loughrey, Charles Whelan, Jube Day and Jeremiah Wood soon followed. The first birth was that of Nahum Wilson, Jr., in the family of Nahum Wilson, the pioneer settler. There is much discrepancy relative to the first death .* Col. N. Stone came from Massachusetts with his family about 1805, and settled upon the farm now occupied by his son, I. G. Stone, about three miles west of the landing. They came with horse teams. The cabin in which they lived several years was constructed of logs, with a floor made of split basswood logs, and was inclosed with long pieces split from
straight grained logs. Mr. Stone says the principal means by which the inhabitants gained a livelihood was by burning " black salts," for which they found a ready market at Fort Covington, where it was exchanged for flour, pork, &c. Spaf- ford, in his Gazetteer of New York, says of the inhabitants of this town: "They neglect their farms for the forests." Elijah Cooper came from New Hampshire about this time (1805) and settled on the St. Lawrence, near Douglass Bay. He came through the wilderness on foot. He fled during the wat to the east of Lake Champlain, carrying his son Crawford in his arms. Salisbury Barrett, who is now living upon the St. Lawrence, came with his father from Vermont in 1817. They came with horse teams and brought with them horses and cattle. The first settlement at Louisville Landing was made by one Shirley, from New Hampshire, in 1806, and from this time until checked by the war, it increased rapidly. In 1805, Asa Day built a mill on Grass River, a mile below Louisville, but abandoned it on the approach of the war, and never
* Mr. Robert Loughrey, who moved into the town with his father, from Canada, in 1811, and is still residing on the St. Lawrence, two miles west of Douglass Bay, says the first death was that of Wm. Tuttle, who died about 1800; Mr. Jeremiah Wilson, grandson of the pioneer, Nahum Wil- son, believes that the death of "Ethan Allen," Sr., about 1804, was the first, (he also assigns the date of the first birth to the year 1805;) and Dr. Hough says the first death was that of Philo Barber, in 1801 or '2.
A similar discrepancy exists also relative to the first marriage. Mrs. Polly Shoen, (daughter of Asa Baxter, to whom we have previously allu- ded, in connection with Croils Island,) now living on the St. Lawrence, about seven miles west of Louisville Landing, says the first marriage.was contracted about 1809, by Sylvester Drake and Lucinda Cole, (she says also that the first death was that of Moore, who died of small pox ;) and Robt. Loughrey, above referred to, says the first marriage was contracted by Joel Case and Miss Lucy Haws, in 1819.
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returned. On the night of the 6th of January, 1806, Dr. Barber and Mr. Chapman of Madrid, and Messrs. Alexander and Powell of this town, were drowned while attempting to cross the St. Lawrence in a log canoe. The river was rendered rough by a strong east wind which had blown during the day, and it is supposed they were upset by a large dog that was in the canoe with them. Their cries were heard on either shore as they were carried down the river with the current, but the darkness of the night prevented the discovery of their perilous condition. An incident connected with this distressing event is worthy of especial mention in that it illustrates an instance of unheeded premonition of danger, which, as is too frequently the case, was too unimpressive to avert the sad accident.
"As one of the number was about leaving home, a little daughter, who evinced great fondness for her father, came to him in a manner unusually affectionate, tenderly embraced and kissed him, and exacted of him a promise, that he would certainly return before night. She seemed to have a distinctive foreboding of evil; and by the artless innocence of child-like entreaty, endeavored to prevent it."*
The father of Christopher Powers, who (Christopher) is now living about one-half mile north of Louisville, moved his family from Brooklyn to Turin, Lewis county, in 1818, at the instance of Wm. Constable. Atthe expiration of four years he removed to this town, his effects being drawn by two yokes of oxen, through a country without roads, and settled upon the farm now occupied by his son, Christopher. The following year (1823,) Rev. Levi Miller, also from Turin, came as agent for McVicker and located at Louisville, where Oliver Ames had previously made a small clearing. A saw mill was also com- menced for him in 1820, but was abandoned unfinished. These settlers immediately commenced to get out material for the mill, the ruins of which are now visible. A bridge was soon after built by the proprietor across the river at this place, and was presented to the town in 1823. The present bridge rests on the same foundations. Benjamin and Peter Powers, brothers of Christopher, were drowned while endeavoring to save a quantity of logs from being swept away by the flood caused by the breaking up of the ice in February, 1823. The country was then so sparsely settled that people came from Madrid to join in the search for the bodies, which were found after being twenty-six days in the water, and were interred on the homestead farm. The first inn in town was kept by Nahum Wilson. The first school was taught by Elisha Barber, about 1808. The first school in the vicinity of Louisville was taught by Levi Miller.
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