USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Gazetteer and business directory of St. Lawrence County, N.Y. for 1873-4 > Part 23
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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
HEUVELTON* (p. v.) is situated on the Oswegatchie, in the east part of the town, and is a station on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R. R., by which it is distant seven and one- fourth miles south-east of Ogdensburg. It contains three churches, . (M. E., Presb. and Universalist,) a school, hotel, eight stores, two tanneries, two flouring mills, a planing mill, steam saw mill, three blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, two cooper shops, three harness shops, telegraph and express offices and about 400 inhabitants. The Oswegatchie furnishes a fine water-power here.
The settlement of the town by the French, who established a mission at Ogdensburg, and the occupancy of the fort at that place by the English after the conquest of Canada, have already been detailed in the history of the county. Its real progress dates from the present settlements, which were com- menced in 1796, by Nathan Ford,t as agent of Samuel Ogden,
* At the time it was surveyed and the village plat laid out, it received the name of Fordsburgh, in honor of Nathan Ford, the first agent under Ogden. It was also known at an early day as East Branch, from its loca- tion on the east branch of the Oswegatchie. It subsequently received the name of Heuvel, in compliment to Jacob A. Vanden Heuvel, who pur- chased a large tract of land, including the site of the village, and in 1820 commenced the erection of a grist mill, and other improvements, and in January, 1832, the name was further changed by the addition of the last syllable.
+ Nathan Ford was born at Morristown, N. J., Dec. 8. 1763. His parents died when he was very young, and left him to the care of his paternal grandfather, with whose family he was brought up and received a common
178
OSWEGATCHIE.
the proprietor. Mr. Ford arrived at Ogdensburg Aug. 11, 1796, and was accompanied by Richard Fitz Randolph, a clerk, Thomas Lee, a carpenter, John Lyon and family, and a few boatmen from Schenectady, from which place he started July 22, 1796, with two boats heavily laden with goods for the colony he was about to establish, one of which he purchased and the other he hired. On the 25th, while ascending the Mohawk, the boat he hired, which was managed by hired boat- men, was swept down by the current at "Caty's rift," (prob- ably in the vicinity of Fonda,) and striking against a rock was submerged four or five inches below the surface of the water. The goods were saturated and some of them spoiled, and the boat, when raised, was found to be unfit for immediate service and was returned to Schenectady and another obtained. The goods were unpacked and dried and such as were not too much damaged to be of service were repacked, when the party resumed their journey and reached their destination without further accident. Upon his arrival Mr. Ford took posession of the old barracks and fort, then but recently vacated by the British soldiers, and opened a store in the sergeant's room. Mr. Lyon's family established themselves in the mill house, and the barracks adjoining the store were occupied by the family of a Mr. Tuttle, who had been left to care for the premises during the absence of Mr. Ford, who visited the place the previous year to take formal possession in the name of the proprietors. For several years previous to the advent of Mr. Ford, and while fort Oswegatchie was in possession of the English, parties from Canada had settled along the river upon tracts held under titles derived from the Oswegatchie Indians, the pretended owners of large tracts of land south of the St. Lawrence. A dam and saw mill had been built upon the Oswegatchie at its mouth by Capt. Verneuil Lorimier, a French officer, who had been in command of Fort La Presenta- tion, and large quantities of valuable timber had been cut
school education. At the early age of seventeen he solicited an appoint- ment in the Continental army, and received that of assistant deputy quarter master general, whose duties he discharged with fidelity and ability during the memorable winter in which the American army lay encamped on the hills back of Morristown. During this period he gained the acquaintance and confidence of parties interested in land speculations in Northern New York, by whom he was sent in 1794 and '95 to explore their purchases and to examine and report upon certain islands near Kingston, which they proposed to purchase upon speculation. He pos- sessed an indomitable energy, keen perception, decision of character, and , much natural talent-characteristics which eminently qualified him for the arduous labors incident to the settlement of a new country. He held for many years the office of First Judge and discharged its duties with the same promptness and good judgment which marked his whole life and rendered his services especially valuable to the county. He died of consumption in April, 1829.
179
OSWEGATCHIE.
along the St. Lawrence and the interior rivers capable of float- ing logs to that river. Other parties from the north side of the river, who made no pretensions to claims from any source, were long accustomed to cut timber from this tract. This vast depletion of the valuable forests naturally excited the apprehensions of Samuel Ogden, and in 1793 it became the subject of correspondence between that gentleman, Governor Clinton and the Canadian authorities ; but as the boundary line between the two countries was then in dispute, the attainment of justice was a slow and tedious process. This question, which had deterred Ogden from commencing the settlement of his purchase, was settled by the ratification of Jay's treaty in February, 1796, and Ogden concluded that an immediate settlement would prove more effective in preventing future encroachments than recourse to the cumbrous machinery of the courts and the tardy aid derived through diplomatic cor- respondence. The main obstacle to the prosecution of this plan was removed by the surrender of the fort by the British in accordance with the provisions of the treaty. Much difficulty was at first experienced in dispossessing these fradu- lent claimants and allaying the prejudice which their animosity aroused, but the genius of Mr. Ford proved equal to the machi- nations of his enemies, and he generally profited by their efforts to circumvent him. Some, however, when convinced of the illegality of their claims, purchased the tracts to which they laid claim and retained peaceable possession of their improve- ments. The dam and mill erected by Lorimier had dilapidated from disuse and want of care when Ford arrived, but in a letter dated Aug. 16, 1796, his widow presented a claim to the latter for these improvements and for half a mile on each side of the river, from its mouth to its source .* This claim was backed by a legal demand upon Mr. Ford, but she soon concluded that it would be impolitic to press the claim when Mr. Ford's attitude in the premises was learned, and she subsequently rested the case upon the generosity of those she sought to intimidate. This claim was liquidated Sept. 26, 1798, by the purchase from Mrs. Lorimier and her son, of the unex- pired term of their lease, which was continued in force "so long as wood shall grow and water run." The consideration was £62 10s. Canada currency .; A Major Watson, who had made
* In Catharine Lorimier's letter this river is designated as Black River, which at an early day was supposed to empty into the St. Lawrence instead of Lake Ontario. On Southier's map of 1779 it is represented as flowing into the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg. This misapprehension . proved a fruitful source of annoyance to the surveyors and proprietors of the south part of the great purchase, as sales were made before this erroneous impression was removed.
+ Lorimier received a verbal lease from the Indians for "half a mile on
180
OSWEGATCHIE.
sales of lands to settlers under Indian titles, was arrested and, after trial and conviction for violation of the statute which pro- hibits dealing with the Indians for their lands, was confined in the county jail at Rome. After a year's confinement he was re- leased upon signing a release and quit claim and surrendering the papers upon which he based his claim. The treatment of Watson discouraged others from pressing their claims.
Mr. Ford immediately upon his arrival commenced the work of improvement. He crossed the St. Lawrence and purchased three yokes of oxen, four milch cows and some seed for planting. He hired about forty men and commenced building a dam and saw mill. Many persons on the north side were anxious to take up lands and settle them, but Mr. Ford was not then em- powered to make sales and deferred such applicants, as settle- ments could not be begun until after a survey was made. Jo- seph Edsall arrived in a few days with a corps of assistants to survey the town. He brought with him a small bag of orchard grass seed, one-half of which was for Ford and the other half for a Mr. Farrand, on the Canada shore. On the approach of winter Mr. Ford repaired to New Jersey and did not return to the infant colony until August 9, 1797. He was authorized to make sales to those desiring to settle, July 11, 1797, and he was then able to encourage applicants having that object in view. A grist mill was commenced this year, and was located below the dam to enable vessels to run up to it for the purpose of loading and unloading. A large number of persons were em- ployed, and, as appears from a letter addressed to S. Ogden, dated Sept. 13, 1797, Mr. Ford had forty-five, besides a number of women and children, to pay and provide for. The difficulty of communicating with his principal at that early day and the consequent delay in the transmission of funds for conducting the business, frequently placed Mr. Ford under very embarrass- ing circumstances, as the slightest cause of disaffection among his employes by reason of his temporary inability to pay them promptly was magnified by his enemies who availed themselves of every opportunity to prejudice their minds against him. For the same reason he was frequently obliged to purchase supplies at a great disadvantage, as those who knew his circumstances
each side of the small river called Black River, and up to Black lake, for the yearly rent of one hundred silver dollars, or money equivalent there- to," in 1785, which, after his death, was confirmed to his wife and son, June 1, 1795. Whatever right the Indians may have possessed to the lands its transfer to the whites was invalidated by the provision of the first con- stitution of the State, adopted April 20, 1777,
"That no purchases or contracts for the sale of lands, made since the fourteenth day of October, 1775, or which may hereafter be made, with or of the said Indians, within the limits of this State, shall be binding on the said Indians, or deemed valid, unless made under the authority, and with the consent of the Legislature of the State."
180-1
OSWEGATCHIE.
turned them to their own profit. The saw mill was finished and in the autumn of 1797, a raft containing 2800 boards was sent down the St. Lawrence. The grist mill was raised in Oc- tober of the same year, and the stones he proposed to have brought in sections to avoid the expense of taking them up the rapids of the St. Lawrence whole. Mr. Ford early pointed out the necessity of opening a road which would put them in com- munication with the settlements upon the Mohawk, both as a means of diverting the tide of emigration from the Genesee country into this new channel, and to enable the settlers upon the north bank of the St. Lawrence, (many of whom were Ger- mans from the Mohawk settlements,) to trade among their for- mer neighbors and at Albany, where many expressed a willing- ness to go in preference to Montreal. In a letter to S. Ogden, dated Dec. 17, 1797, Mr. Ford speaks of a party of " Yankees," (four in number, of whom Mr. Thurber was "the leading charac- ter,") who were going the following day to view the lands in the vicinity of Heuvelton, and to whom he proposed to sell adjoining tracts of one hundred acres each at ten shillings per acre, for the purpose of starting a settlement in that locality. The Mr. Thurber here referred to is doubtless Capt. Joseph Thurber, from Augusta, Canada, but a native of New York, who settled the next year in the vicinity of Black Lake, who was accom- panied by his sons, Kelsey T. and John K. Thurber, the former of whom settled upon the farm where his widow, Catharine Thurber, still resides. Mrs. Thurber . came with her husband up the Oswegatchie, in a canoe, and was the first white woman in the Black Lake settlement. On the 11th of April, 1873, she will have reached the venerable old age of one hundred years. It has been her privilege to witness the gradual trans- formation of the forests which marked the entire productive part of the county into fertile farms and prosperous villages ; and to look through the long vista of years, fraught with events which mark a century unparalleled in history. In 1798, writes Mr. Ford, Oct. 24th of that year, eight or ten farms had been sold; and the grist mill was completed and the first grinding done Dec. 1st of the same year. A second saw mill was built in 1799. In 1800 a fulling mill was got in operation and kettles for making potash were brought on at great expense. In the fall of this year Mr. Ford had the pleasure of a visit from Gouverneur Morris, who was on a tour of inspection through his northern lands, and he thus alludes to it in a letter to Mr. Ogden : " I have done all I could to add to his accom- modation, but that has been so trifling it scarce deserves a name, for there was no accommodation which he had not with him. He travels in the style of an eastern prince." Judge K 2
180-1I
OSWEGATCHIE.
Thomas J. Davies, a native of Washington, Conn., settled in 1800, on the north side of Black Lake, upon the farm now oc- cupied by the family of his son, John F. Davies, who is now seventy-seven years of age .* In the summer of 1801, Edsall surveyed a road which was designed to be run to the High Falls upon Black River, (now known as Lyons Falls) in Lewis county, but the route south of the Ox Bow was found to be impracticable, owing to the swampy nature of the ground, which rendered its immediate settlement impossible. The result of this survey also deterred for a time the prosecution of a plan for opening a road to Schroon Lake, in the direction of Albany. Edsall also contracted to continue the road from Louisville to the Oswegatchie, and arrangements were made for extending it to the Low Falls, (now Carthage) in Jefferson county. The road to the Black River was so far cleared of underbrush during the fall, that it was resolved to attempt its passage with a sleigh as soon as the snow permitted. Late this season a vessel containing 120 barrels of salt arrived from Oswego, and the event was recorded as a memorable one. The population of the Ten Townships had increased to such an extent that the necessity for the erection of a separate county was felt, and in March, 1802, this was accomplished. It is natural that Ogdensburg should be selected at that time as the county seat, but the project of establishing it there was not consummated without opposition, and, as appears from the correspondence between Ford and Ogden, grave apprehensions were entertained at that early day that the wish of the opposition would prevail. It was to the interest of Ogden to have it continued there, and as the erection of a new court house and jail was then a mooted question, and the imposition of a tax for that purpose was to be avoided, owing to its tendency to dis- courage settlements and to crystallize opposition to the perma- nent location of the county seat at Ogdensburg, Ford proposed to erect a court house and jail, he and Ogden contributing $1,000, and that those interested should contribute as many bushels of wheat as they thought proper, delivered at the mill, one-third in February of each of three succeeding years, a propo- sition, which, with some opposition, was accepted. Vig- orous efforts were made to collect materials for the court house that year ; and the road before alluded to was so far completed that a wagon (the first) from the Mohawk River came through to Ogdensburg. The bridge at Heuvelton was finished shortly previous, and stood about thirty rods above
* Charles Davies, the mathematician, who is now Prof. of Mathematics at Fishkill, N. Y., Judge Henry E. Davies and General Thomas A. Davies of New York, are brothers of John F. Davies.
180-III
OSWEGATCHIE.
the present bridge in that village .* Amasa Pierce, who is still living, and David Chapin settled in the town this year, and Horace Havens in 1803. The lumber trade, though a preca- rious one, was continued, and on the 10th of July, 1804, Mr. Ford wrote that a raft with " flour, potash, pearl barley, boards and plank" had been sent the previous day to Montreal, to which place the settlers along the river resorted for a market. In this year a tannery was started, a distillery got in operation, with a still of 150 gallons and a rectifier of fifty gallons, which had previously been sent for from Albany, the court-house and jail completed, and provision made for a road from the Long Falls on Black River to the mills of Nathan Ford, by a law passed April 9, 1804, appropriating $12,000 for the purpose, and creating a lottery for raising that sum. The road was to be six rods wide, and Nathan Ford, Alex. J. Turner and Joseph Edsall were appointed commissioners for constructing it. It was laid out in the summer of 1805, and David Seymour,t of Springfield, Vt., employed to superintend the business under the direction of the commission. The settlements up to this time progressed but slowly, owing partly to the complete ab- sorption of Mr. Ford's time in other matters, and the strenuous efforts of those interested in lands in the eastern part of the county, to effect their settlement. Many emigrants from the New England States, who designed to settle under the agency of Mr. Ford, and who came by the route generally pursued by those who made their exodus from that section, were induced to settle upon the lands through which they passed, which were equally fertile, and offered at much lower figures. In 1804 there were but four families living in the village of Ogdens- burg, viz .: Dr. Davis, Geo. Davis, who kept an inn, Slosson and D. Chapin. The facilities which the store kept by Judge Ford afforded for trade were occasionally supple- mented by Durham boats from Utica, in which goods were displayed for sale. In this year Louis Hasbrouck,t the first
* This bridge was swept off by a freshet, and was replaced by another in 1805.
+ Mr. Seymour was grandfather of G. D. and I. L. Seymour, of Ogdens- burg, and his death, which occurred in 1806, was the first in Heuvelton. He was drowned while engaged in erecting a bridge.
¿ Louis Hasbrouck was born at New Paltz, Ulster Co., April 22, 1777, and descended from a family of Huguenots, who fled from the persecu- tions to which the French protestants .were subjected in the sixteenth century. He received a collegiate education at Princeton; graduated there Sept. 25, 1797; and studied law in New York with Josiah Ogden Hoffman and Cadwallader Colden. In August, 1801, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, and the following September, in the Court of Common Pleas of Ulster Co. While at Albany, when admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, he met with Judge Ford, who induced him to settle at Ogdensburg, and procured him the appointment of county
180-IV
OSWEGATCHIE.
county clerk, moved his family into the village. In 1808; David Parish," who first visited the town in the fall of that year, purchased the unsold portions of the village plat, and ac- tive measures were at once taken to develope its commercial facilities. In this year a bridge was erected in Ogdensburg at a cost of $1,500. In the fall of 1808, J. Rosseel & Co., sus- tained by the capital of Mr. Parish, brought in $40,000 worth of goods and opened a temporary store until a permanent one could be erected,t and on the 10th of November of that
clerk of St. Lawrence Co., March 10, 1802. He came by horseback through the Mohawk and Black River countries to Ogdensburg in June, and offici- ated at the first court held in the old barracks in that month. He re- turned in October for the winter, and the following year he spent only the summer at this place. He erected a house here, and in 1804 removed his family into it. He pursued his profession until his death, Aug. 20, 1834, with the exception of the two years immediately preceding that event, during which he served as State senator.
* David Parish was the second son of John Parish, an English gentle- man and resident of Hamburgh, at which place he was the first U. S. Consul. He was educated as a banker, the business pursued by his father. During the wars between England and France, shortly previous to the war of 1812, he was employed by Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, with his headquarters in Philadelphia, to facilitate the transfer of a large amount of credits from the Spanish colonies in Mexico to Europe, by shipping their equivalents in colonial produce under the American flag to neutral parts in the latter country. While engaged in this business he was brought in contact with the leading financiers of Philadelphia, among whom were Robert and Gouverneur Morris, the Ogdens and LeRay de Chaumont, who were interested in lands in Northern New York, and by whom he was induced to listen to overtures on the subject of purchases. He employed Joseph Rosseel, then a young man, to explore the country and report its value, and subsequently purchased extensive tracts in Rossie, Antwerp, Hopkinton, Parishville and Ogdensburg, and others at a later period. The vast resources at his command enabled him to infuse much activity into the project of settling and improving the lands em- braced in his purchases and developing their mineral resources. In 1810 he erected a large stone store and dwelling. in Ogdensburg, and in 1813 he commenced the construction of a blast furnace at Rossie. These improve- ments engaged his attention until 1816, when he' returned to Europe, where, through the influence of Count Metternich, an Austrian Minister, he was induced to form an alliance with an insolvent firm, of whose coll- dition he was unaware, and whose profligacy and corruption soon involved them in irretrievable ruin. A large portion of his European estates was sacrificed to satisfy the creditors of this house, and his business in America which had hitherto been managed by himself and . brother, George Parish, was assumed by the latter. A special act of the Legisla- ture empowered him to hold and convey real estate, but did not confer upon him the full right of citizenship. Mr. Parish possessed culture and an estimable character, and was highly revered by those who experienced his genial influence.
+ Joseph Rosseel, of this firm, was a native of Ghent, Belgium, who came to America at the age of 25, with letters from Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, introducing him to Mr. Parish and several commercial houses, ostensibly with a view of extending his commercial knowledge, but in reality to avoid the military conscriptions of Napoleon. He arrived in Baltimore in August, 1807, and resided a year in Philadelphia. In the summer of 1808 he visited the lands in Northern New York which Mr. Parish contemplated purchasing, in the employ of that gentleman. In September he met D. Parish and G. Morris, and was strongly urged by the
180-v
OSWEGATCHIE.
year Jonathan Brown and Selick Howe, of New York, com- menced the building of two schooners, under the same auspices. They were named the Collector and Experiment, and were built during that winter and the following summer. The Experi- ment was launched July 4, 1809, and formed a part of the celebration of that day, and the Collector in the latter part of the same summer. A third schooner, the Genesee Packet, was launched in 1810, and on the 5th of July of that year Mr. Rosseel wrote to his patron: "We have renounced the project of building boats, since with them we could not enter into competition with the Kingstonians, in the line of transporting produce down the St. Lawrence, a rivalship which we are solicitous to maintain, though we work for glory; we therefore have resolved to combine building arks." The commerce prospered for a season, "and the vessels belonging to the port of Ogdensburg," says Dr. Hough, " became the carriers on the lake, and at the breaking out of the war it was growing more rapidly than any port on the lake." Early in 1809 Mr. Ros- seel procured about forty Canadians from Montreal to work by the month, and on the 7th of May the stone building at the wharf was commenced, under the direction of D. W. Church, and in June, Mr. David, Parish's brick house.
The difficulties which preceded the war of 1812 very sensibly affected the interests of this county and especially of this town. Its settlement was disturbed, its growth arrested and its com- merce paralyzed by the embargo of 1809. The effect produced upon the settlers by this impending calamity is thus tersely described in a letter written by Judge Ford Aug. 18, 1807, and addressed to S. Ogden :
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.