USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Gazetteer and business directory of St. Lawrence County, N.Y. for 1873-4 > Part 27
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* " The Rossie Iron Company has taken out during the past year [1872,] 40,000 tons of ore, at a profit of $2.70 per ton." The Ogdensburg Journal, March 22, 1873.
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ROSSIE.
a compromise was subsequently effected which resulted in the organization of two companies, which were incorporated May 12, 1837, with equal capitals, privileges and limitations, styled respectively The Rossie Lead Mining Company, and The Rossie Galena Company. Both companies commenced operations upon a vein in a ridge of gneiss rock, about two miles south-west of Rossie village, and one mile west of Indian River, upon what was known as the Coal Hill Vein, and notwithstanding the vast extravagance which characterized them, the products of the mines enabled the companies to distribute large dividends. The average yield of pure lead was sixty-seven per cent. The ore was remarkably free from any foreign substance in intimate connection with it, and hence was easily reduced. Both these companies ceased working in 1840. Three other veins known as the Victoria, Union and Indian River veins were opened by Mr. Parish and worked by him. In 1852 R. P. Remington leased a portion of the premises, and a company styled the Great Northern Lead Company, of which he was a director, was incorporated under a general act of Sept. 8, 1852, with a capital of $500,000, and under a limitation of fifty years. Operations are now suspended, the last mining having been done by a com- pany of English capitalists, styled the Rossie and Canada Lead Company, formed under a special act June 1, 1856, and working under a ten year's lease. Numerous splendid minerals occurred in these mines and gave them a peculiar interest to the miner- alogist. Many fine specimens have been taken to furnish cab- inets .*
The population of the town in 1870 was 1,661, of whom 1,321 were native, 340, foreign and all, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained ten school districts and employed ten teachers. The number of children of school age was 644; the number attending school, 448; the average attendance, 198; the amount expended for school purposes, $2,208.87 ; and the value of school houses and sites, $3,640.
The Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg R. R. crosses the east corner of the town.
WEGATCHIE,} (p. v.) located on the Oswegatchie, four miles north-west of Keenes Station on the R. W. & O. R. R., in the midst of some good farming lands, is the seat of a fine water privilege, which is only partially improved, and contains a store, hotel, one wagon and two blacksmith shops, one grist
* A full list of the minerals of the county is given on page 65.
+ This place has been variously named Caledonia, Howard's Mills and Church's Mills. Wegatchie is the name of the post-office and by that name the village is becoming generally known.
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ROSSIE.
mill, two saw mills,* one cheese-box and one spoke factory, a woolen factoryt and had, in 1870, a population of 201.
ROSSIE, (p. v.) situated at the head of navigation on Indian River, which affords a good water power, and in a fine grazing country, seven miles north of Ox Bow, (Jefferson county,) is a village of about 330 inhabitants and contains two churches, (Catholic and Presbyterian,) one hotel, two stores, three shoe shops, one wagon and two blacksmith shops, one gristį mill and two saw mills, a cooper shop and a half blast furnace, owned by the Rossie Iron Company, of New York, which has facilities for manufacturing sixteen tons of pig iron per day, and connected with which is a large machine shop and foundry, with facilities for doing any kind of casting and machine work, neither of which are now in operation.
Rossie Lodge, No. 766, I. O. of G. T., was organized in December, 1868, with twenty-one members. The present number of members is 127. Meetings are held on Friday evening of each week.§
SOMERVILLE, (p. v.) situated in a good grazing country in the south-east part, two miles from Keenes Station on the R. W. & O. R. R., contains two churches, (M. E. and Universalist,) a store, hotel, shoe shop, wagon shop, two blacksmith shops and 150 inhabitants. About half a mile south-west of this village is quite an extensive cheese factory. It is owned by C. Freeman, contains fourteen presses and is capable of making about thirty-six tons of cheese per annum.
Somerville Lodge, No. 431, I. O. of G .T. was organized Oct. 17, 1867, with thirty-six members. There are now fifty members. The lodge meets every Saturday evening."
* One of these mills is owned by L. C. Bolton and combining a saw mill, shingle mill and cheese-box factory, is capable of sawing 500,000 feet. of lumber and manufacturing 1,000 cheese-boxes and 200.000 shingles per annum; the other, owned by Thomas Turnbull, also comprises a shingle mill and is capable of manufacturing 6,000 feet of lumber and 20,000 shingles per day.
+ This mill was built by Daniel Church at a cost of $14,000, in place of one built in 1836 or '7, by R. T. Church & Bro., which was used as a card- ing mill and burned in 1867. It has been leased by different parties. The lease is now held by McIntosh & Wright, who work 50,000 pounds of wool per annum.
¿ This mill is a large stone structure, with five runs of stones, and is doing a good business.
§ The first officers were Wm. Allen, W. C. T .; Mrs. Allen, W. V. T .; W. W. Leonard, Sec .; Wm. Tennant, F. S .; Mrs. Elizabeth Scott, T .; Levi Backus, M .; A. Drury. I. G .; Henry Dority, O. G .; Daniel Drury, C. ; Esther Backus, A. S .; Mary Jane Carver, D. M .; W. W. Weaver, P. W. C. T. ; George Scott, R. S .; S. B. Leonard, L. S .; Wm. Allen, L. D.
Il The first officers were P. M. Crowley, W. C. T .; Delia Freeman, W. V. T .; Rev. A. Blackman, C .; C. W. Hall, Sec .; Mrs. Emma Witt, A. S .; W. Emmons, F. S. ; Libbie Bowtell, T .; H. W. Johnson, P. W. C. T.
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ROSSIE.
SPRAGUES CORNERS (Shingle Creek p. o.) is situated in the south-east corner, near Keenes Station on the R. W. & O. R. R., and contains two churches, (M. E. and F .. W. Baptist,) two stores, one hotel, telegraph and express offices, one shoe, two wagon, two blacksmith, one paint and one cooper shops, an extensive cheese factory and about 200 inhabitants. The county line divides the village about equally, one-half lying in this, and the other in Jefferson county. Keenes iron mine lies on the edge of Jefferson county, within half a mile of this place, and is worked with profit. There are two other iron ore beds within a short distance of the place.
KEENES STATION, on the R. W. & O. R. R., on the line of Jefferson county, is chiefly noted for its iron mines.
The White Marble Lime Works, located on the old plank road, about three miles north of Ox Bow, manufacture from six to seven thousand bushels of lime per annum. This lime is said to be of a very superior quality, and held in high re- pute for making a hard finish.
There are two saw mills on Grass creek, about two and one- half miles from Rossie village, one owned by Geo. V. Webster, capable of sawing one million feet of lumber per annum, the other owned by Oliver Patterson, jr., and capable of sawing 700,000 feet of lumber per annum. Connected with the latter is a shingle mill, capable of making 400,000 shingles per an- num, and an ashery, in which two tons of potash are manufac- tured per annum.
Settlement was begun in 1807, by Joseph Teall and Reuben Streeter, the former from Fairfield and the latter from Salis- bury, Herkimer county. They contracted with Lewis R. Mor- ris, nephew of Gouverneur Morris, for a tract lying east of the Oswegatchie, and extending from the south line of Gouverneur to the county line. The first improvement was made by Reuben Streeter, about half a mile east of Wegatchie, in 1807, and in 1808 he commenced the erection of a mill on the Oswegatchie. Ambrose Simons, Oliver Malterner, Amos Keeney, jr., Samuel Bonfy, Silvius Waters, Joshua Stearns, Jerome Waldo, Geo. W. Pike, Benj. Pike, jr., Ebenezer Bemis and David Shepard, mostly from Herkimer county, visited the town in 1806, and selected lands which they purchased October 1st of that year. Dec. 2. 1808, David Parish purchased a tract of 26,804 acres, including this town, and under his liberal measures the settle- ment of the town was accelerated. In the spring of 1811, the following named persons, in addition to those previously men- tioned, were living on the tract purchased by Teall and Streeter, viz .: David Freeman, James Streeter, Diamond
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Wheeler, Eli Winchell, Simeon Stevens and John, Wheaton and Daniel Wilcox, all of' whom, except the last, had families. The apprehensions awakened by the war of 1812 determined the settlers in the south part of the town (which was then in Russell) to construct a block house on the road between Som- erville and Wegatchie, and there they sought refuge at night when their fears were aroused by alarms which were frequent and often groundless. The block house was 24 by 30 feet, and was well built of hewn timber. It stood until 1840, though it was used only in 1812. A similar one was built of round logs, near a small stream a few rods north-east of Somerville, but was occupied only a few nights. The mill erected by Reuben Streeter was burned in 1812, during the night, and the excit- able state of the public mind at that period readily induced the belief that the Indians were the authors of the act, though there was nothing to indicate that this was the fact. Subsequent events, however, removed this suspicion, and pointed to a man who lived in the edge of Gouverneur, and left the country about that time, as the author. The mill was immediately rebuilt by Mr. Parish and was owned by him until purchased by James Howard about 1817. The settlement at Rossie village was com- menced late in the summer of 1810, by seven men, under the su- perintendence of Daniel W. Church, who were sent from Ogdens- burg by David Parish, to erect mills and make arrangements for settling lands. They proceeded by bateau to the head of navigation on Indian River, with furniture and tools, accom- panied by the wife of one of the party, who cooked for them, and arrived at sunset at an island, upon which a rude shelter was constructed for the married couple by placing sails upon poles in the form of a tent, near where the foundry stands, while the others spread their blankets upon a fine flat rock around a fire they had kindled .* The following day a commo- dious hut, with two compartments, was erected, and by winter a saw mill was got in operation. They broke up camp in De- cember and abandoned further operations until spring, though parties were engaged during the winter in getting out timber, which was conveyed to Ogdensburg and used in buildings con- structed there, and in the frame of the Genesee Packet, built soon after at that port. The following summer the lumber business was prosecuted with vigor and that winter a bridge
*"The early settlers found traces which indicate that the English or French had at some time contemplated the erection of some station at Rossie. It being at the head of a navigation of 27 miles towards Fort Stanwix, rendered it important. A Durham boat laden with stone, was found sunk in the river, with every appearance of having been a long time submerged, and an excavation apparently for a cellar existed where the stone store at Rossie now stands."-Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties.
ROSSIE.
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was built. In 1813 the furnace before adverted to was com- menced under the direction of James Howard, and gave vast importance to the place. In 1818 the families of Robert Ormiston, James Dickson, Wm. Fackney, James Fairbairn, Corlan McLaren, Donald McCarrie, Thomas Elliott, James Henderson, James Douglass and Andrew Dodds, who emigrated from Scotland that year, made the first settlement between Oswegatchie and Indian rivers. They came by way of Quebec and the St. Lawrence, without any definite destination in view, and while proceeding up the river in a Durham boat, they stopped a short time at Prescott, where they were visited by an agent of David Parish and induced to cross to Ogdensburg. While the men went to view the lands in Rossie their families were liberally provided for in Ogdensburg. To assist these emigrants Mr. Parish, with his accustomed liberality, caused ten acres to be cleared, a comfortable log house to be built and a cow furnished to each family, an ox team provided for every two, and seed, wheat and provisions supplied for the first year, for which they were to pay when their farms netted them something; but owing to the high prices which then prevailed and the depreciation which followed, their debts accumulated faster than their earnings, and becoming disheartened they contemplated the abandonment of their im- provements. To avoid this Mr. Parish, with almost unparall- eled magnanimity, assembled these settlers at Rossie village in the winter of 1823-4, and having ascertained the indebtedness of each, cancelled all above $500, and thus placed them on an equality. Encouraged by this generosity they returned to their homes and worked with renewed energy. This settlement formed a nucleus for others of their countrymen, who flocked in in considerable numbers during the next twelve or fifteen years, and from whom the name of Scotch Settlement was acquired for that locality. In 1819 the families of James Ormiston, Andrew Culbertson, James Lockie, Robert Clark, John Tait, Wm. Laidlow, John Henderson, John Dodds, Andrew Fleming, David Storie and James Hobkirk ; and in 1820, the Turnbull brothers (Thomas, Michael, Adam, Andrew and William,) and John McRobbie, all Scotch emigrants, settled in this town, where many of their descendants still reside.
The first school in town was taught by a Mr. Maynard about a mile west of Somerville. The first inn at Rossie was kept by Horatio G. Berthrong. The first birth in town was that of Geo. W. Smith, a farmer now living in the north-west part of the town, who was born Nov. 27, 1813 .*
*Dr. Hough, in his History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Countics, K 4
180-XXXIV . ROSSIE-RUSSELL.
St. Patrick's Church (Catholic) was organized with twenty-five families in 1852, in which year was erected, at a cost of about $2,000, their church edifice, which will seat 200 persons. The first pastor was Rev. Michael Clark ; the present one is Rev. John McDonald. The Society consists of eighty families. Its property is valued at $2,500 .*
The First Presbyterian Church of Rossie, at Rossie village, was organ- ized with eighteen members, in October 1855, by George Lockie and R. H. King. Their house of worship was erected in 1856, at a cost of $1,600. It will seat 250 persons. The first pastor was Rev. John M. McGregor; the present one, Rev. Wm. M. Robinson. The Society numbers forty mem- bers. The Church property is valued at $2,000.+
The M. E. Church, at Rossie village, was organized with about seven- teen members, in 1868, by Rev. Lemuel Clark. The first pastor was Rev. O. F. Nicholls; the present one is Rev. H. W. Dann. The Society con- sists of about thirty members, and worships in the school-house.+
RUSSELLS was formed from Hopkinton, March 27, 1807.| Rossie was taken off Jan. 27, 1813 ; a part of Fowler, April 15, 1816 ; Pierrepont, April 15, 1818; and a part of Fine, March 27, 1814. It lies south of the center of the county and contains 56,553 acres. The surface is much broken, and much of the south part is still a wilderness. Its streams are Grass River, which flows in a circuitous course, diagonally through the town, and receives on the east line of the town its north and middle branches, and Plum and Elm creeks. Boyd Pond is a small body of water near the center of the east line. The soil is generally light and sandy, but quite fertile in the north part and in the valleys.
The population of the town in 1870 was. 2,688, of whom 2,395 were native, 293, foreign and all, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained nineteen school districts and employed twenty teachers. The number of children of school age was 955 ; the number attend- ing school, 825; the average attendance, 368; the amount expended for school purposes, $4,663.36; and the value of school houses and sites, $6,850.
and J. H. French, in his Gazetteer of the State, both state that Wm. Ros- sie Williams, who was born March 31, 1814. was the first child born in town. The above date was taken from the family record of Mr. Smith.
* Information furnished by Patrick Spratt.
+ Information furnished by Wm. W. Leonard.
# Information furnished by C. V. Wood.
§ Named from Russell Attwater, the first settler. It embraces a part of Dewitt, the whole of Ballybeen and the north half of Sarahsburgh, in Great Lot No. III. of Macomb's Purchase.
Il The first town meeting was held at the house of Reuben Ashman and the first officers elected were Russell Attwater, Supervisor; Reuben Ash- man. Clerk; Ezra Moore, Joseph Hutchinson and Philip Viall, Assessors ; Calvin Hill, Constable and Collector; John Knox and Joseph Hutchinson, Overseers of the Poor; Samuel Eaton, John Watson and John Knox, Com- missioners of Highways; John Watson and Thomas Gillmore, Fence Viewers; Azel Clark, Simeon Stiles, Elihu Morgan and Joel Clark, Overseers of Highways.
RUSSELL.
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RUSSELL (p. v.) is situated on Grass River, a little north of the center of the town, and had in 1870 a population of 335.
NORTH RUSSELL (p. o.) is situated in the north-east part, five miles north of Russell village.
MONTEREY is a hamlet on Grass River, near the east line in the south part.
Settlement was commenced under the agency of Russell Attwater, of Blanford, Mass., who in the summer of 1804 first explored the town with that view. In 1805 the town was sur- veyed into farms by Timothy Blair, also from Blanford, and in the summer of that year Mr. Attwater came in company with Nathan Knox, Heman Morgan, Elias Hayden, Loren Knox. Reuben Ashman, Jesse Bunnell, Elihu Morgan and David Knox, mostly young men, in his employ, and spent the season in opening roads, surveying, and clearing about twelve acres. They lived in a shanty and procured provisions from Canada. On the 5th of May, 1805, Nathaniel Higgins, from Blanford, Mass., came with his family, which was the first to settle in town, and commenced a clearing near the site of Russell vil- lage. He came with an ox team, the journey occupying six weeks. The first year he was obliged to carry his grists to Ogdensburg with an ox team, and one week was required to make the trip. During the first five years of their residence, says Mrs. Nathaniel Higgins, wolves and Indians were numer- ous and troublesome. The former came to the door and ate the bones she threw out. The family of Joel Clark settled in the town in the fall of 1805. They came from Granby, Mass., and Mr. Clark built the same year the first saw mill in town. It was located on Plum Creek, about half a mile above its mouth. These two families were the only ones who spent the winter of 1805-6 in town. The following April Mr. Attwater returned with many others who proposed to settle. They came by way of the Black River country and the State road to Washburn's, in Macomb, thence to Stillman
Foote's settlement in Canton, and thence to their destination-the site of Russell village. Alvin White, from Granville, Mass., lived near the south line of Canton and was the only settler on the route south of Canton village. Joseph Hutchinson, of Shoreham, Vt., Michael Coffin, from Vermont, and Philip and Sampson Viall, John Potter and John Cooper, from Willisborough, N. Y., joined them that year. Corn was planted among the logs in June, and its abundant yield created pleasing anticipations in the minds of the settlers, while the fa- vorable report of the soil's fertility influenced others to locate there, In the summer of 1806, Jacob Hutchins commenced the
180-XXXVI RUSSELL-STOCKHOLM.
construction of a log grist mill, on Van Rensselaer Creek, in Dewitt, about half a mile south of the line of Canton, which was the second mill built in town. In 1807 the families of Simeon Stiles, Elihu Phelps, Samuel Clark and several other families by the same name, John Watson, Horace Dickenson, Enos Bunnell, Luther and David Phelps and Dr. Plinny Goddard settled in the town. Dr. Goddard was from Vermont and was the first physician who located in the town.
The first birth was that of a son in the family of Reuben Ashman, in October, 1806 ; the second was that of Rachel Higgins, in the family of Nathaniel, June 22, 1807. The first marriage was contracted by Calvin Hill and Harriet Knox, in the summer of 1806, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Royal Phelps. The first death was that of Curtis, in 1807. The first school was taught by Rollin Smith in the winter of 1808-9.
In 1809 an arsenal was constructed by the State in Russell village, on a lot donated for the purpose by Russell Attwater, in conformity with an act of the Legislature passed the 24th of February of that year, authorizing the Governor to select such place in this county for its location as he deemed advisable, and to equip it with not to exceed 500 stands of arms, and suit- able and necessary ammunition and military stores. The building is constructed of stone, is 30 by 50 feet on the ground, three stories high, and was designed for use in case of an inva- sion, which the difficulties preceding the war of 1812 seemed to threaten. During the war it was guarded, and subsequently its care was entrusted to a person living in the vicinity. It was sold at auction in 1850, for $525, in pursuance of a general law, and is now used as a school house.
The first religious services were conducted by Rev. Royal Phelps, a Presbyterian missionary, at the house of Russell Attwater, in 1806. Epis- copal services were first held, by Bishop Hobart, about 1807.
STOCKHOLM was formed from Massena, Feb. 21, 1806 .* A part of Norfolk was taken off April 9, 1823, and another part was annexed to that town April 15, 1834. It is an interior town, lying in the north-east part of the county,
* The town embraces township No. 2, or Stockholm, of the Ten Towns. The first town meeting was directed to be held at the house of Dr. Lu- man Pettibone, but as the day upon which it was to have been held passed without an election, Nathan Walker, of Canton, and Gurdon Smith and Benj. Raymond, of Potsdam, magistrates, in pursuance of an act passed March 7, 1801, appointed the following-named officers : Ebene- zer Hulburd, Supervisor; Wm. Staples, Town Clerk; Stephen A. Tam- bling, Benj. Wright and Arba Woodward, Assessors; Samuel Webster, Constable and Collector; S. A. Tambling, E. Hulburd and W. Webster, Commissioners of Highways; S. A. Tambling and B. Wright, Fence Viewers; E. Hulburd, Pound Master; L. Pettibone, Overseer of High- ways.
STOCKHOLM.
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and contains 54,272 acres. It has a rolling surface, and is well watered by the St. Regis and its. eastern branch, which unite near the center of the east border, and Trout, Plum and Squeak brooks and numerous smaller streams. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, and constitutes it one of the finest agricultural towns in the county.
The population of the town in 1870 was 3,819, of whom 3,312 were native, 507 foreign and all, white.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, the town contained twenty-eight school districts and employed twenty-eight teachers. The number of children of school age was 1,347; the number attending school, 1,074; the average attendance, 531; the amount expended for school purposes, $5,548.84 ; and the value of school houses and sites, $7,425.
The Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain R. R. traverses the north part of the town.
STOCKHOLM DEPOT (p. o.) is situated near the east line, and the confluence of the St. Regis, and its east branch. It is a station on the O. & L. C. R. R., by which it is 37} miles from Ogdensburg, and contains a school-house, hotel, two stores, wagon, harness, paint and blacksmith shops, and ninety in- habitants.
EAST STOCKHOLM, (Stockholm p. o.) located in the east part, three miles south-west of Stockholm Depot, contains one church, (Cong.) a school-house, store, blacksmith and wagon shop, cooper shop and sixty-six inhabitants.
HOLMES HILL, (Stockholm Center p. o.) situated on Trout Brook, near the center of the town, contains a Baptist church, store, hotel and fifty inhabitants.
WEST STOCKHOLM, (p. o., formerly known as Bicknellville,) situated on the St. Regis, in the west part, five and one-half miles from Potsdam, contains one church (M. E.) a school- house, grist-mill, foundry and machine shop, woolen mill, pail and tub factory, starch factory, two saw mills, a shingle mill, two stores, two shoe, one tin, three blacksmith and two carriage shops, and 221 inhabitants. The St. Regis at this place affords a good water-power.
KNAPPS STATION, (North Stockholm p. o.) situated on Plum Brook and the O. & L. C. R. R., in the west angle of the town, contains two stores, a steam saw mill,* a saw and shingle mill, a blacksmith shop and about eighteen dwellings.
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