USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Gazetteer and business directory of St. Lawrence County, N.Y. for 1873-4 > Part 25
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PARISHVILLE, (p. v.) situated on the St. Regis River, in the north-east part. contains three churches, (Baptist, M. E. and Presbyterian,) four stores, a flouring mill, an eave spout manu- factory, a starch factory, saw mill, butter tub factory, black- smith shops, &c., and had in -1870, 312 inhabitants. The river at this point falls about 125 feet within one mile and affords an abundant water power. A short distance below the bridge on the principal street in the village, the river is contracted by its rocky banks into a deep and narrow channel, not more than ten feet wide, and plunges twenty-five feet into a narrow gorge worn in the primitive rock, through which its dark and turbulent . waters rush to a broad and placid basin below.
Magnetic iron ore has been found a mile west of the village.
The Parishville Co-operative Union was organized April 6, 1871, with a capital of $7,000. It consists of twenty-seven members, and its affairs are managed by seven directors, a president, vice-president and secretary. Its business, that of general merchants, is large and increasing, and is so conducted as to win public approval and patronage.
Amber Lodge of Free Masons, No. 395, was organized with seven members, June 25, 1856, (Masonic year 5856,) and at present has sixty members .*
A lodge of Good Templars was organized with forty-six members, June 26, 1867. It now has 160 members and meets Friday night of each week.
PARISHVILLE CENTER (p. o.) is a hamlet in the north part, six miles south of Potsdam.
Settlement was commenced under Daniel Hoard, a native of Springfield, Vt., as agent for David Parish, who purchased the town from J. D. Le Ray de Chaumont, Dec. 2, 1808. In the fall of 1809 Mr. Hoard surveyed and cut a road from the line of Potsdam to the site of the village of Parishville, and in April, 1810, he came in company with Luke Brown, Isaac Tower and Hartwell Shattuck from Spring- field, Vt., and Levi Sawyer from Massachusetts, and chopped about seventy acres and cleared forty on the site of the village. A Mr. Whitmore and wife came to board the choppers during the summer, and this lady was
* Its first officers were Levit Hatch, Master; Samuel T. Lincoln, Sen. Warden; and E. C. Culver, Jun. Warden.
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the first woman who came into the town to reside. They returned towards spring. A saw mill was built and got in operation this season by two brothers named Barnes from Oneida county, and was used during the winter. Luke Brown moved his family into the town March 31, 1811, and settled two and one-half miles from the line of Potsdam, on a farm he had previously purchased and improved. This was the first family to make a permanent settlement in the town. J. Foster Brownell, Richard Newton, Ira Collins, Joel Hawkins, Wm. Thomas, Peter Gilbert, Reuben Thomas, Abijah Abbott, George A. Flower, Champlin and Daggett, several of them with families, came in soon after. During this year a turnpike from the Black River country was opened through the town ; a grist mill was built by Daniel W. Church for the proprietor; and a distillery was erected by Daniel Hoard, which was got in operation the following year. In the summer of. 1812 Mr. Church also erected for Mr. Parish, a tavern which cost $12,000. It is still standing, in good repair, and is the only hotel ever built in Parishville. In this year the first birth in the town occurred, (Parish Brown) in the family of Luke Brown. Asa Newton was born the same day as Parish Brown. In 1812 the town sustained an abnormal growth in consequence of the war. Many fled from the frontier settlements and sought a more secure retreat in the interior towns. This influx of settlers produced a transitory business activity, and during this and the following year extensive improvements were made and projected, which subsequent events did not warrant. The first school was taught in the summer of 1813, by Miss Harriet Bronson, in the barn of Daniel Hoard. Dr. Francis Parker, who came from Peru, Clinton Co., in July, 1819, was the first phy- sician in town. He was a native of Vermont.
A horrible tragedy occurred in this town on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 25,. 1812. A Mrs. Miller, while in the act of rising from bed, was left by her husband, who went to a neigh- bor's some distance from home to get fire. On his return his wife's absence from the house attracted his attention, but as portions of her clothing were there he concluded she was not far distant. Her protracted absence however alarmed him and a search, which became general, was instituted and continued several days, but without revealing any trace of the missing woman. This mystery was supplemented the following Friday night by another, as several houses and barns were burned in such a manner that the origin of the fire could only be attributed to an incendiary. Among the barns burned was one owned by Daniel Herrington, which was used by many who did not possess that accommodation to store their grain. The follow-
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ing spring Wolcott Moss, while engaged in logging near the St. Regis, about four miles above Parishville, gained the sum- mit of a large bowlder to obtain a more extended view of the surrounding country and to better enable him to discover the cattle which he had turned out to browse. His attention was attracted by some clothing which he discovered in a fissure in the rock. He cut a pole, with a hook at one end, and reaching into the crevice, which was about two feet wide and ten feet deep, withdrew the clothing, which, to his surprise, con- tained a human skull. Other human remains were also discovered, which, upon examination, were recognized as those of Mrs. Miller. Suspicion pointed strongly to a desperate character living near the line of Stockholm, who in June, 1812, had been convicted of a crime, mainly upon the evidence of Mrs. Miller, and confined in the Ogdensburg jail, as the author of this crime. He threatened vengeance upon the community which witnessed his guilt and especially upon the victim of this atrocity. He was seen to cross the bridge over Racket river near the line of Pierrepont on the Monday preceding the day on which the event above narrated transpired, and to recross it the following Saturday. He was followed and arrested at Carthage, having in his possession a stolen rifle, for which, as the evidence of his complicity in the crime of murder was only circumstantial and insufficient to convict him, he was tried, convicted of theft and sent to State prison, where he died.
Religious meetings were held as early as 1812, and subsequently by traveling preachers, but the first stated ministry was established by the Wesleyan Methodists in July, 1818, at the house of L. Brown. The Bap- tists also held religious services at an early day. They were conducted by an Elder Johnson from Jefferson county.
The Congregational Church was organized Aug. 7, 1823, with eleven members, by a council consisting of delegates from several towns in the county, and erected a stone edifice in 1834, at a cost of $3,000.
The Baptist Church was organized with about thirteen members, in October, 1823 .*
The Methodist Church was organized March 10, 1828, and reorganized Aug. 23, 1833, and again Oct. 26, 1846. A church edifice worth $1,000 was built in 1846-7.
The Free Will Baptist Church was organized with twenty-six members Sept. 4, 1859, by Rev. Benj. Bundy, the first pastor. Their house of worship is situated in the south-west part of the town; will seat 275 persons; and was erected in 1859, at a cost of $2,000. The present number of members is forty-two. The pastor is Rev. Geo. Chappell. The Church property is valued at $3,000.
* A few years after the erection of this church a fire, originating from a brush heap upon a farm about a mile south of Parishville village, commu- nicated with the intervening woods under the influence of a strong south wind which prevailed at the time, and spread rapidly in the direction of the village. This building was soon in flames. Great exertion was made to save the church and prevent the spreading of the fire, but in vain. In a short time the Baptist church and the sheds attached to both churches were on fire, and all were burned to the ground.
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PIERREPONT.
PIERREPONT* was formed from Russell, April 15, 1818.+ A part of Fine was taken off March 27, 1844, and Clifton was erected from it April 21, 1868. It is an interior town, lying south of the center, and contains 65,285 acres. The surface is much broken. The principal streams are Racket River, which crosses the north-east corner, and the two north- erly branches of Grass River, which cross the south part in a westerly direction. The soil is well adapted to grazing. Mag- netic ore and other valuable minerals are found in considerable quantities. A company, composed of Messrs. Wm. N. James and H. D. Butler of Colton, and Samuel Elliott of Pierrepont, has been organized to develope a bed of magnetic iron ore dis- covered about two and one-half miles south-west of Colton village.
The population of the town in 1870 was 2,391, of whom 2,127 were native, 264, foreign and all, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained twenty school districts and employed twenty teachers. The
* Named from Hezekiah B. Pierrepont, who was largely interested in lands in Macomb's Purchase, including most of this town. Mr. Pierrepont was born of English parentage, at New Haven, Conn., Nov. 3, 1768. He entered college, but his physical activity rendered the prospect of a pro- fessional life distasteful to him and he left it without graduating. Being desirous of acquiring a knowledge of business he entered the office of his uncle, Isaac Beers, (from whom he derived his middle name,) who was an importer of books, and remained there until 1790, when he accepted an appointment in the custom house at New York. The next year he became the agent of Messrs. Watson & Greenleaf in Philadelphia, where he amassed considerable wealth, and in 1793, he formed a partnership with Wm. Leffingwell and established in business in New York. He repaired to France to superintend the shipment of provisions to that country, which was then in revolution, but the seizures by the English rendered this business so precarious that he abandoned it and made a voyage to India and China, acting as his own super-cargo. While returning with a valuable cargo his ship, the Confederacy, was taken by a French privateer and condemned and sold in France. Heremained in Europe seven years, when he returned to New York, and in 1802 he married Anna Maria, daughter of Wm. Constable, and purchased a country seat on Brooklyn Heights, which afterwards became his permanent residence. From his connection with Wm. Constable he became interested in lands in Northern New York and by various purchases he acquired title to about half a mil- lion acres. His first purchase was Pierrepont, in 1806, and from that time until his death, Aug. 11, 1838, his time was fully occupied in settling and improving his lands. The town originally embraced the townships of Clare, Clifton, Chaumont, Emilyville, and that part of Dewitt lying east of a continuation of the west line of these towns to the south line of Canton. Emilyville was taken off in the erection of Fine, and Clifton and Chaumont, in the erection of Clifton.
+ The first town meeting was held at the house of Cyrus Grannis, March 1. 1819. Cyrus Grannis was elected Supervisor; Andrew A. Crampton, Town Clerk; Wmn. Yale, Elisha Woodruff and Gardner Cox, Assessors ; Peter R. Lenoard and Joseph Dorothy, Poor Masters; Flavius J. Curtis, Ezra Crary and Samuel Belding, Commissioners of Roads; Richard Weller, Collector; Seth Hale, Overseer of Highways; Flavius J. Curtis, Ebenezer Tupper and Gardner Cox, Commissioners of Schools; Joseph Dorothy, Seth Hale, F. J. Curtis and Henry Axtell, Fence Viewers.
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PIERREPONT.
number of children of school age was 854; the number at- tending school, 694; the average attendance, 358 ; the amount expended for school purposes, $4,037.46; and the value of school houses and sites, $8,975.
PIERREPONT (p. o.) is a hamlet situated upon the hills about three miles from the line of Potsdam.
EAST PIERREPONT (Ellsworth p. o.) is a small village on Racket River, in the north-east corner of the town, and in 1870 had 179 inhabitants.
Settlement was commenced in 1806 or '7, by Flavius J. Curtis, who located near the line of Canton. It lagged, how- ever, until the opening of the St. Lawrence turnpike through the town in 1811-12. Hoyt Ferry and Joseph Shaw came in the latter year, or the year following. Henry Axtell settled in the town March 12, 1813, and in his family, the following year, was born the first child in town-Edwin Axtell. Peter R. Leonard came from Shoreham, Vt., and settled in Canton in 1806. He removed to this town in 1813. Moses Leonard settled here the same year, and Davis Dunton, Joseph Mathers, Ebenezer Tupper, Clark Hutchins, Zuriel Waterman, Foster Shaw and Alaxson Woodruff about the same time. Nathan Orary taught the first school in the winter of 1815 and '16. Samuel Curtis settled here in 1815. Gardner Cox and John P. Dimick, from Barnard, Vt., made the first settlement at East Pierrepont in 1817, and from the former it was known as Cox's Mills. They purchased small tracts adjoining each other, including the water privilege on Racket River, at this place, and for several weeks occupied the same shanty together. They cut the timber from some twenty acres and in the winter returned to Vermont. On the 9th of the following March, Benj. Cox, who was concerned with his brother in the purchase, moved in his family, and his was the first family in that part of the town. Gardner Cox and Dimick also returned and remained during the summer, and in the fall the frame for a saw mill was got out, which, with a dam, was completed in 1819. John and Joseph Goulding, of Potsdam, were the millwrights. Within four years from the advent of Mr. Cox's family several others from Vermont came in under recommendations from Mr. Cox and settled on both sides of the river. Shubael Crandall and Andrew A. Compton settled in the town in 1817. Mr. Crandall came from Royalton, Vt., with ox teams, the journey occupying fourteen days. Samuel Bancroft came from Rutland county, Vt., in the summer of 1816, and moved his family into the town in 1817. Reuben Dorothy moved in in 1818, and Asa B. Briggs, from Barnard, Vt., in 1820. In 1832
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Mr. Cox erected a grist mill with a single run of rock stones, and two years later a second run was added. In this year a school was established at East Pierrepont.
Religious services were held by Rev. A. Baldwin, an Episcopal clergy- man, in 1816, but there are those who believe that the first devotional exercises were conducted by Rev. Ezra Healy, a Methodist minister.
PITCAIRN* was formed from Fowler, March 29, 1836.+ It lies upon the south border, west of the center of the county, and contains 35,386 acres. The surface is broken by ridges, separated by swamps, lakes and fertile intervales. The soil is principally light and sandy, with a few alluvial flats along the streams, the principal of which is the west branch of the Oswegatchie. Iron and lead ores and marble occur in the town. The former has been worked and unprofitable attempts have been made to work the lead mines.
The town is sparsely settled and has no villages. Its popu- lation in 1870 was 667, of whom 635 were native, 32, foreign and all, except one, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained seven school districts and employed seven teachers. The number of children of school age was 255; the number at- tending school, 201; the average attendance, 107; the amount expended for school purposes, $1,699.95; and the value of school houses and sites, $2,912.
PITCAIRN and EAST PITCAIRN are post-offices, the former near the south line and the latter in the north-east part.
Settlement was commenced in 1823 by Constant Wells. In the fall of 1824 Nathaniel C. Scovill, Levi W. Gleason, Nathan Dickinson and Nathan, Justin, Anson, Leonard and Hubbard, sons of the latter, came in to select lands and most of them
* Named from Joseph Pitcairn, a native of Scotland, who in early life came to the United States, and subsequently for several years resided in the East Indies. He held the office of U. S. Consul at Paris, from which he was removed by Jefferson. Most of his life was spent in mercantile pursuits at Hamburgh, Germany. In 1817 he acquired the title to the unsold lands in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties of Daniel McCormick. and occupied himself in their settlement. He died in New York in June, 1844.
The town embraces the township of Portaferry, of Great Lot No. III. of Macomb's Purchase, except a small triangular portion in the west part which was retained by Fowler in the erection of the town.
+ At the first town meeting, held at the house of David Brown, John Sloper was elected Supervisor; Stephen Seabury, Town Clerk; Levi W. Gleason, Sylvester Bacon and Aaron Geer, Justices; Almond Howard, Samuel Gustin and Robert Leach, Assessors; John Williams, Geo. P. Burdick and Levi W. Gleason, Commissioners of Highways; Constant Wells, Jonathan Paine and Elijah Anderson, Commissioners of Common Schools; Sylvester Bacon, J. Paine and David Brown, Inspectors of Schools; Almond Howard and Geo. P. Burdick, Overseers of the Poor; Matthew M. Geer, Collector; M. M. Geer and Constant Wells, Constables. K 3
180-XVIII PITCAIRN-POTSDAM.
commenced the erection of log houses. In December, Justin Dickinson moved his family in, and the following February was joined by others. James Streeter* and Jonathan Paine settled in 1826. The former had previously made a clearing, which is said to have been the first made in the town. The latter was a Baptist clergyman and conducted the first religious exercises in the town. Geo. P. Burdick, Aaron Geer, Joseph and Elisha Lamphear, Samuel Augustin, Joshua Sloper, Samuel Walling and Freeman Anderson settled in 1827. Stephen Seabury came in the following year. Sylvanus Scovill, son of N. C. Scovill, was the first child born in the town, and was born in June, 1825. The first death was the wife of Daniel Wood- cock, in 1828; in which year the first school was taught by Miss L. Griffin, and the first saw mill erected by P. Jenny. The first marriage was contracted by Aaron Bingham and Miss Caroline Dickinson, in 1830.
POTSDAM, was formed from Madrid, Feb. 21, 1806.1 It is an interior town, lying north-east of the center of the county, and contains 58,659 acres. Its surface is rolling, and its soil, a deep, rich loam. It exhibits a high degree of cultiva- tion, and ranks highest in agricultural importance of all the
* It is related of James Streeter that while living in Fowler, before the settlement of this town was begun, he was deer hunting one winter, when the ground was covered with a light snow to the depth of three feet, and on arriving at Portaferry Creek he discovered the track of five panthers which had crossed the creek on the ice. These tracks led to a place em- bedded in the snow which indicated that they had spent the previous night there, and a short distance further on he overtook a large male panther which he treed and killed with a single shot. A few rods further and a young panther was treed and wounded and despatched with a second shot, and shortly after another young one was chased to a spruce tree and killed with a single shot. He cut off the heads of the three and returned with them, and the following morning, in company with another, he renewed the chase. A female panther was killed and a large male treed and with much difficulty despatched, several shots being required to complete the work. As the bounty on panthers was then $25 each, this proved a profitable day's work.
+ It embraces and retains the name of No. 3 of the Ten Townships.
# The first town meeting was held at the house of Benj. Raymond, April 4, 1806, and the following named officers were appointed : Benj. Raymond, Supervisor; Gurdon Smith, Town Clerk; Bester Pierce, David French and Gurdon Smith, Commissioners of Highways; Giles Parmele, Horace Garfield and Benj. Bailey, Assessors; Benj. Raymond, Benj. Stewart, Levi Swift, Abner Rayer, Jr., Archibald Royce and Isaac Buck, Overseers of Highways; Ansel Baily, Constable; Wm. Smith and Oliver Boyden, Pound Masters; Jabez Healy and David French, Overseers of the Poor; Levi West, Bester Pierce and Benj. Stewart, Fence Viewers. The first school officers were elected at a special meeting held at the academy Sept. 1, 1818, in pursuance of an act establishing common schools passed June 19, 1812. They were Benj. Raymond, Gurdon Smith and Howard J. Pierce, School Commissioners; and James Johnson, Liberty Knowles, Thomas Swift and Sylvester Bacon, School Inspectors.
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POTSDAM.
towns in the county. It is watered by Racket and Grass rivers and smaller streams. Racket River flows through the east part and furnishes an abundant water power. Grass River crosses the west angle and affords a limited amount of power. Its manufactures are of considerable magnitude, and its mineral interests are of immense and increasing importance. Sand- stone, of a superior quality, exists in the town in vast quantities, and has been quarried to a greater or less extent for more than fifty years. The principal quarry was opened by Solomon Parmeter on Racket River, about two and one-half miles above Potsdam village, and is now worked by D. Parmeter, son of the original proprietor. Forty men were employed in 1872, and about $50,000 worth of stone quarried. This sandstone is of a pure siliceous nature, fine grained, well solidified and extremely, hard. It resists pressure with nearly the same force as granite, and weighs 150 pounds per cubic foot. Its extreme durability, the facility with which it is worked, its great strength, the well defined outlines and smooth surface it preserves, and its freedom from that objectionable feature so common to most . sandstones, from their liability to disintegrate from exposure and tendency to nourish mossy excrescences, constitute it a valuable and desirable building stone. Being practically in- destructible by fire it is invaluable where a material capable of withstanding intense heat is required; and as a flagging stone it is unsurpassed. In color it is cherry, or pinkish red, dark and reddish brown, and white mottled with these colors. Its regular cleavage admits of its being taken from the quarry in almost any desired form from sheets half an inch thick, with almost perfect parallel planes, whose superficial area is limited only by the ability to raise and handle them, to huge blocks, four feet thick, and weighing several tons. Its excellent qualities are fast bringing it into high repute, and the rapidly increasing demand for it has induced a combination of the quarrying in- terests, a measure which was perfected during the past winter under the corporate name of the "Potsdam Sandstone Com- pany." This stone has long had a local reputation and been much used in the vicinity of the quarries. It is now being used in the new State capitol at Albany and was extensively em ployed in constructing the external arches of the government buildings at Ottawa, Canada, which have been pronounced the finest upon the American continent.
The population of the town in 1870 was 7,774, of whom 6,188 were native, 1,586, foreign, 7,763, white, 3, colored and 8, Indians. Next to Oswegatchie it is the most populous town in the county.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained
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36 school districts and employed 38 teachers. The number of children of school age was 3,021; the number attending school, 1,826 ; the average attendance, 960; the amount expended for school purposes, $11,815.15 ; and the value of school houses and sites, $18,450.
The Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain R. R. crosses the north angle of the town, and the Potsdam branch of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R. R. runs diagonally through the town.
POTSDAM,* (p. v.) incorporated March 3, 1831, is a rapidly growing village of 2,891+ inhabitants, situated on the Racket River and the branch of the R. W. & O. R. R., east of the center of the town, and distant from Canton, the county seat, by rail, ten miles. It is the seat of a State Normal and Train- ing School, and contains a National bank, with a capital of $162,000, a newspaper office,į (the Courier and Freeman,) and quite extensive and valuable manufacturing interests, princi- pally in lumber, articles from wood, leather and flour, the motor for which is furnished by the river, which is here divided by islands and broken by rapids and supplies an abundant water power. The village is supplied with water drawn from Racket River and supplied by Holly's system of water works.§
The State Normal and Training School at Potsdam was estab- lished under an act of the State Legislature, passed April 7,
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