Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, N.Y. 1684-1890, Part 78

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- [from old catalog] comp; Horton, William H., [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers and binders
Number of Pages: 1384

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, N.Y. 1684-1890 > Part 78

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Black River Bending Company, located at Black River village, was started in 1860 as a manufactory of bent chair stock, which in 1885 was merged in. the present concern. In 1889 the works were enlarged by the addition of a building 130 by 30 feet, four stories high, in which a large business is con- ducted, giving employment to from 50 to 60 men.

The Wolcott Company (incorporated), at Black River village, was organ- ized in 1889, with E. R. Wolcott, president ; A. E. Cory, secretary and treasurer ; and G. H. Wolcott, superintendent. They do a general business. in building, and are dealers in lumber, sash, doors, blinds, etc. They employ Io men and do a busines of $16,000 annually.

As has been previously stated the first permanent settler in the wilderness now comprised within the limits of the town of Le Ray was Benjamin Brown, who first visited the town in the autumn of 1801. In 1803 and 1804 several other hardy pioneers arrived. Among those in 1803 were Joseph Child, with. his three sons, Daniel, Samuel, and Moses, from Pennsylvania, Thomas Ward, Daniel Coffeen, John Petty, and Robert Sixbury. The Childs settled in the southwestern part of the town, in the neighborhood which still bears their name, and Ward located between Le Raysville and Evans Mills. Coffeen settled a mile southeast of Evans Mills, but the next year removed to near Sterlingville. Sixbury was one of the surveying party who, in 1804, accom- panied Cadwallader Child to Alexandria Bay, and thence back to Great Bend. In the same year he, with John Hoover, of Herkimer County, pur- chased the improvement of D. Coffeen, when the latter moved to Philadel-

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phia. Sixbury afterwards settled on a farm two miles north of Evans Mills, where he spent a good portion of his long life. He became widely known and famed as a skilled hunter, for which his iron constitution and great powers of indurance eminently fitted him. He died in Le Ray in the fall of 1875, having passed the extreme age of 112 years. John Petty removed to Phila- delphia in 1804-05, being one of the first settlers in that town.

Guillaume Coupart, better known in Le Ray as William Cooper, or " French Cooper," was one of the comers in 1803. He was born in Nor- mandy, France, June 24, 1773, and about 20 years later fled from his native country to escape conscription. He went to Newfoundland, was there taken prisoner, and carried to Halifax, whence he escaped, and went to Connecticut, where he remained for some time. In 1798 or '99 he located in Pamelia, and in 1803 settled in Le Ray, west of the village of Le Raysville. He be- came a large land-owner, and died here January 19, 1851. In 1804 Roswell Woodruff settled at Sanford's Corners. He afterwards sold his property there and removed to New Hartford, Oneida County, where he died. Benjamin Kirkbride also settled in 1804, about a mile southeast from Evans Mills.

The first general agent from abroad, sent by Mr. Le Ray to look after his lands, was M. Pierre Joulin, the cure of Chaumont, in France, who was one of the faithful few would not take the constitutional oath, and was sent to America by Mr. Le Ray to save him from the guillotine, and to have a fair prospect for providing the means for a comfortable subsistence. After the troubles in France had subsided he returned. Moss Kent was early ap- pointed to the agency of lands, and continued in that capacity several years, living in Mr. Le Ray's family until the departure of that gentleman for Europe in 1810, when he remained with his son Vincent. When Joulin first met Kent they would have been unable to communicate had it not been that both being classical scholars, they were enabled to converse in Latin.

CHURCHES.

The First Baptist Church of Le Ray, located at Evans Mills, was organized in 1810 by John McCumber, A. Robinson, C. Wilkie, and others, and at the time of its organization consisted or 20 members. Their first pastor was John Blodget. Their house of worship is a stone building, and was erected in 1828 at a cost of $2,000. It will comfortably seat 300 persons, and is valued, including grounds and other church property, at $3,000. The church now has 26 members, and A. B. Sears is the present pastor. The Sunday- school has a membership of about 30.

The Free Methodist Church, located at Black River village, was organized December 11, 1870, by R. C. H. Southworth, with five members. Charles Southworth was the first pastor. Their house of worship, a wooden struct- ure, was built in 1873, at a cost of $1,500. It will comfortably seat about 300 persons, and is valued, including grounds and other church property, at

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$3,000. The present membership of the church is about 35, under the pas- toral charge of Rev. Orville Frink. The Sunday-school has a membership of 25 scholars and teachers. Before the church was fairly established it lost by death two of its members who contributed largely to its support. It is not in a flourishing condition financially, and is struggling hard for existence.

Black River Baptist Church, located at Black River village, in the town of Le Ray, was organized as a branch of the Watertown Baptist Church, March 26, 1878, and as an independent church May 11, 1880. Its organiza- tion was effected by Rev. James W. Putnam, the first pastor. In 1878 it had 15 members, and in 1880, 18, its present membership being 22. The present pastor is F. H. Richardson, of Great Bend. The society has no house of worship, but rents one with a capacity for seating 150 persons.

The Friends Society, at Le Raysville, was organized in 1805 by David Howland, Elihu Anthony, David Gardner, and others, and Joseph Child was the first minister. The first house of worship was erected at Philadelphia village, then a part of Le Ray, in 1811, of wood. In 1816 a stone meeting- house was erected on road 57, and the present structure, of wood. in 1876, at Le Raysville, at a cost of about $2,000. It will comfortably seat 175 per- sons, and is valued, including grounds and other church property, at $1,200. Joseph Child, the first acknowledged minister of the Le Ray monthly meet- ing, was a half-brother of Cadwallader, the grandfather of the publisher of this work. The meeting was reorganized in 1876 by Stephen Roberts, Jonathan Powell, Thomas Anthony, and others, and in 1885 the Le Ray monthly meeting became a component part of the Canada yearly meeting, having previous to that time been a part of the New York yearly meeting. The present membership is about 30, and Sarah A. Wood is the minister.

Evans Mills monthly meeting of Friends had the same organization as the Le Ray monthly meeting, about 1805, of which it was originally a part. Their present meeting-house was erected in 1816, of stone, at a cost of about $500. It will comfortably seat 200 persons, and is now valued at about $1,000. The present membership is about 45, and Warren Gardner and Margaret Wilbur are ministers. Madison S. Gardner is superintendent of the Sunday-school, which has a membership of 25.

St Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, located in the village of Evans Mills, was organized in April, 1872, by Revs. Dr. Babcock, J. Winslow, and H. V. Gardner, and at the time of its organization consisted of three com- municants, the first rector being Rev. H. V. Gardner. Their house of worship, a gothic structure of native blue and gray limestone, was built in 1880, at a cost of $4,000. It will comfortably seat 150 persons, and is valued, including grounds, etc., at $5,000. This beautiful structure, with its ivy-covered tower and beautiful interior, is the pride of the people, and a fit- ting place in which to hold the impressive services of the church. The parish numbers 34 communicants, and at present is without a rector, but one will doubtless soon be engaged. The Sunday-school connected with the church has six teachers and 30 scholars.

LORENZO SAWYER.

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The Methodist Episcopal Church at Evans Mills was organized Novem- ber 20, 1824, the first trustees being Henry Churchill, Parker Chase, John Y. Stewart, Daniel Smith, P. S. Stuart, James Ward, Wilson Pennock, Eli- jah Smith, and William Taggart. Their first house of worship, a stone build- ing, was located on the Le Raysville road, about two miles from Evans Mills. This was sold, and in 1833 the present edifice was completed at a cost of $3,000, on a lot in the village donated by Judge Evans. The present pastor is Rev. Fred W. Thompson.

The Le Ray Presbyterian Church, at Evans Mills, was organized January 13, 1814, by Rev. Nathaniel Dutton, of Champion, with 12 members. Up to 1820 there had been no stated minister, services being conducted by Dea. Ruel Kimball, who afterwards studied for the ministry and became the first regular pastor of the church. The first place of worship was at Ingerson's Corners, subsequently in the frame school-house at Evans Mills, and still later in the stone school-house at Evans Mills, located where the present school-house now stands. In 1826 a stone church was erected, which gave place to the present structure in 1869, which cost $2,600. The present pas- tor is Rev. John J. Jones.

LORENZO SAWYER.

Among the oldest and most respected members of the judiciary, in the state of California, is Hon. Lorenzo Sawyer, United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit. For the last 40 years he has occupied a prominent place either at the bar or on the bench of his adopted state. He belongs to a family of pioneers. Descended from English ancestors, who emigrated to New England about 1636, each generation of whose descendants became pioneers in the settlement of some new state further west, and himself trained amid the hardships of pioneer life, he has developed a character as firm and inflexible as the granites which environ his boyhood's home. Three of his ancestors, Thomas Sawyer, John Prescott,* and Ralph Houghton, were three of the first six successful and permanent settlers of the town of Lancaster, Mass., in 1647 ; and three of the first five Prudential Men of the town on its organization, in 1653. They and their descendants took an active part in all the Indian wars that followed ; in the French war, the war of the Revolution (during the latter of which 19 Sawyers of the Lancaster family are known to have been in active service), and in the War of 1812.

Lorenzo Sawyer was born on road 1 1 1, in Le Ray, this county, May 23, 1820. His father and grandfather were among the earliest of the pioneers, who, in the first year of the present century, occupied the wilderness in that portion of Northern New York then known as the Black River country, and scarcely

* John Prescott, father of Mary, wife of Thomas Sawyer, was the ancestor of Colonel Prescott, who commanded the Americans at Bunker Hill, Judge William Prescott, and William H. Prescott, the historian.

34*

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more accessible at that day than was California at the time of its settlement. His father, Jesse Sawyer, on February 11, 1819, married Elizabeth Goodell, also of a pioneer family, and cousin of the celebrated missionaries, William Goodell, of Constantinople, and Lucy Goodell Thurston, one of the first mis- sionaries to the Sandwich Islands ; and they celebrated their golden wedding at Belvidere, Ill., February 11, 1869. Lorenzo, the eldest of a family of six children, was born and reared on a farm till 16 years of age, attending the district school during winter, and working on the farm in summer. At an early age he enjoyed the advantage of a well-selected public library, of which he availed himself to the fullest extent compatible with his arduous daily labors-his evenings, Sundays, and spare moments being largely devoted to books. To this library, doubtless, is due the formation of those tastes which ultimately determined his choice of a profession. At 15 he attended for a short time a High school at Watertown, N. Y., called the Black River Institute. The next year he removed with his father to Pennsylvania, where he assisted in clearing up a new farm.

Having years before, while accidentally present at an important trial at Watertown, formed a determination to adopt the profession of law, which was never afterwards abandoned, with the consent of his father, but without any pecuniary aid, he at the age of 17 left home, and relying on his own resources for support entered upon a more thorough course of education, preparatory to commencing the study of law. The next eight years were devoted to preparation for the bar, at first in New York, and afterwards in Ohio. During this period he earned the means for defraying his expenses by teaching, at first in district schools, and afterwards in academies and as tutor in college. In 1840 he emigrated to Ohio, and pursued his studies, first at Western Re- serve College, and afterwards at and near Columbus. Having completed his preparatory studies he entered the law office of Hon. Gustavus Swan, the ablest land lawyer of his day in Ohio. Judge Swan retiring soon after from practice, he entered the office of Judge Noah H. Swayne, then one of Ohio's most prominent lawyers, and now a distinguished justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, under whose instruction he remained till he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio, in May, 1846. He after- wards went to Chicago, Ill., where he passed a year in the office of the late Senator McDougall, of California. Soon after this he entered into a law part- nership with the late Lieutenant-Governor Holmes, at Jefferson, Wis., where he was rapidly acquiring a lucrative practice for that region.

In the spring of 1850 Mr. Sawyer went to California, overland, with a com- pany of energetic young men from Wisconsin, and arrived in California about the middle of July, after an unprecedentedly short trip of 72 days. He wrote some very interesting sketches of the journey across the plains, which were published in the Ohio Observer, and copied from it into several other Western papers. They were used as a guide by many emigrants of the next year. After working in the mines of El Dorado County for a short time

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he entered upon the practice of law in Sacramento, but in consequence of ill health he was compelled to go to the mountains to recuperate. Accordingly he opened a law office at Nevada City, in October of that year, his law library consisting of II volumes, which he had brought across the plains. With the exception of a few months, from February to August, 1851, passed in San Francisco, during which time his office was twice burnt, he remained in Nevada City till the autumn of 1853. All this time he enjoyed a lucrative and successful practice, being employed on one side of every important case. In the autumn of 1853 he returned to San Francisco, where he has ever since resided, with the exception of a short absence in Illinois. In 1854 he was elected city attorney for the city of San Francisco, and served one term with marked success, at a time when the interests of the city involved in litigation were immense. In 1855 he was a candidate before the state convention of his party for justice of the Supreme Court, against the chief justice whose term was about to expire, and was defeated by only six votes. In the spring of 1861 he entered into a law partnership with the late General C. H. S. Williams, and in the winter of 1861-62 they determined to open a branch office in Virginia, Nev.

Mr. Sawyer went to Virginia about the first of January, to open the office and establish the business. While at Virginia, managing the affairs of the firm at that office, Governor Stanford, of California, tendered him the ap- pointment of city and county attorney of San Francisco. The appointment having been declined, Governor Edward Stanley was afterwards appointed. Soon after this Judge Alexander Campbell resigned his position as judge of the twelfth judicial district, embracing the city and county of San Francisco and county of San Mateo, whereupon the governor, by telegraph, tendered the appointment to fill the vacancy to Mr. Sawyer, who was still at Virginia. After consulting his family and friends by telegraph the appointment was accepted, and Judge Sawyer on the next morning left for San Francisco, crossing the mountains on horseback, the roads through the deep snows of that winter not having yet been opened for vehicles. He arrived home on Saturday night, and opened court in San Mateo County on the next Monday morning, June 2, 1862. After holding the office several months the satisfac- tion given was such that at the next election by the people he was unani- mously chosen to the position for a full term of six years-both political parties supporting him. Upon the reorganization of the state courts, under the amended constitution, Judge Sawyer was, in 1863, elected a justice of the Supreme Court; and upon casting lots, as required by the constitution, he drew the six years' term, during the last two years of which he was chief justice.

While he was a member of the Supreme Court, all of whose justices are justly noted for their ability, industry, and unremitting attention to business, no one of them wrote more opinions or gave more attention to the details of the business than Chief Justice Sawyer; and it may be added that the judg-

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ments of none of the judges are characterized by greater ability or more thoroughness and elaborateness of discussion than his. No other court in the United States, or elsewhere, was ever called upon to deal with so many novel, intricate, and difficult questions of law as the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia; and none more promptly, ably, and satisfactorily adjudicated the ques- tions presented. The decisions of the Supreme Court of California, rendered while Judge Sawyer occupied a seat on the bench, stand as high in the older states as those of any other state during the same period. They are often cited with the highest terms of commendation by approved law writers, and by the judges of other courts, state and national. A writer in the American Law Review, published at Boston, in noticing vol. XXXIII California Reports, in 1868, says: " The history of California is a history of marvelous phenomena and not the least is its jurisprudence. Less than 20 years ago the common law was unknown on the Pacific coast ; and to-day we find the Supreme Court of California holding it with a comprehensive grasp, and administering it with an ability decidedly superior to that shown by the tribunals of many much older communities."

It is not too much to say that Chief Justice Sawyer, by his industry, re- search, learning, and ability, contributed his full share towards placing the court in the elevated and enviable position which it occupied while he was a member of that tribunal. In 1869 Congress passed an act to amend the judicial system of the United States, by which the United States circuit courts were reorganized-the appointment of a circuit judge for each of the nine circuits being provided for. In December of that year, as the term of Chief Justice Sawyer was about to expire, President Grant nominated him under said act to the position of United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit, embracing all the Pacific states. The nomination having been con- firmed by the Senate, Judge Sawyer, early in 1870, entered upon his duties as circuit judge; and he has ever since, now more than 20 years, discharged the highly important and arduous duties of that exalted position with energy, fidelity, and marked ability, as well as acceptably to the people of the entire circuit. The judgments of Judge Sawyer as United States circuit judge, selected from his numerous decisions, and reported in the 14 volumes of Sawyer's United States Courts Reports, and his decisions as a member of the state Supreme Court, reported in the 15 volumes of California Reports, from volumes XXIV to XXXVIII inclusive, it is confidently believed will be found, upon critical examination, to compare not unfavorably with an equal number of reported decisions rendered by any contemporary judge, state or national. His reputation as an able and conscientious jurist has long since ceased to be local, and become national. Recognizing and appreciating his attainments and public services, Hamilton College, in 1877, conferred upon Judge Sawyer the honorary degree of LL. D.

In politics Mr. Sawyer was from boyhood, till it ceased to exist, an ear- nest member of the Whig party, and an ardent admirer and supporter of

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Henry Clay, and of the other great statesmen of that party. Upon the dis- solution of the Whig party he became one of the organizers of the Republi- can party in California, to which he has ever since steadfastly adhered. He attended the Chicago convention of 1860, though not as a delegate, and from the first did all in his power to secure the nomination of Mr. Lincoln for President. The character of Judge Sawyer is strongly marked. Stern and inflexible in his public acts and relations, he is devoted to all that duty, honor, and patriotism enjoin. He is, however, in private life, of the utmost gentleness, kindness, and simplicity. With strong original powers, early de- veloped by the stirring events of the pioneer life in which he was cast, he had acquired a habit of self-reliance which well fitted him for the great struggle in which the highest honors of his profession were destined to be achieved. He aimed at the right always and at all events, according to his best con- victions ; and if any questioned his judgment none could impeach his hon- esty or sincerity. Of a long-lived family, and always temperate, regular, and rigidly correct in all his habits, Judge Sawyer is still in robust health. His mental faculties are at their best, and he bids fair to adorn the bench for years to come.

In 1887 Senator Leland Stanford formed the noble design of devoting the greater part of his immense wealth to the establishing of a great university open to both sexes, and designed to promote in the best and most thorough manner the cause of liberal, moral, and practical education. To effect this he devoted an enormous estate, or several estates aggregating some 85,000 acres of the best and most improved land in California, worth millions of dollars, to founding and endowing the "Leland Stanford Junior University," so named for his only son, who first suggested such a disposition of the im- mense wealth to which he was heir. Senator Stanford selected 24 of the em- inent men of the state to act as trustees. Justice Field, of the United States Supreme Court, is one of these, as is also the subject of this sketch. At their first meeting they conferred on Judge Sawyer the high honor of presi- dent of the board, and at the laying of the corner-stone, May 14, 1887, he made the address. From the vast resources at its command, and from the broad, liberal, and enlightened views of its founders and trustees, it is confi- dently expected that the Leland Stanford Junior University will eventually become second to no institution in the land, or perhaps in the world. Judge Sawyer's legal decisions are so carefully and intelligently made that they almost invariably meet the approval of the higher court. His decision in the famous Neagle-Terry affair of 1889 is still fresh in all minds. He has the enviable reputation of unspotted integrity and great legal intelligence. In Oscar T. Schuck's Bench and Bar of California are given many anecdotes of the Judge's legal practice, which the limited space here allotted forbids us to relate.

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FAMILY SKETCHES.

Thomas Ward, of English descent, removed from New York city to Le Ray in 1803. His- son James, who was two years of age when his parents located here, married Lavina Barber, of Champion, and they had I1 children, all of whom are now living. James died September 5, 1880, and his wife December 22, 1883. The old homestead, which has been owned in the family since 1803, is now the property of Buel F. Ward.

Joseph Child came from Bucks County, Pa., to Le Ray in 1806, and located on road 79, where he took up a tract of 800 acres. He had four sons, Daniel, Samuel, Joseph, and Moses. Daniel settled on the homestead, and of his family a son, Lonis, resides in the town. Samuel settled upon, and occupied until his death, the farm now owned by his son Thomas, where he reared nine children, four of whom are living, Thomas, Eunice, Mary, in this town, and Will- iam, in Minnesota. Joseph, Jr., settled in Le Ray, and his daughter Hannah still resides here. Moses also settled on road 79 and reared five children, none of whom now live in town.

Joseph Cory came from Keene, N. H., and settled in Jefferson County in 1809 when he was 22 years old. He served in the War of 1812, and participated in the battle of Ogdens_ burg. About 1816 he married Jane McMullen, of Rodman, by whom he had seven sons snd two daughters, namely: George C., Curtis W., Sarah W., Mary, Charles B., Josiah C., Henry S., Albert P., and Daniel M. The latter was born January 7, 1828, and has been married three times. His first wife, Angeline C. Kennedy, bore him three children, viz .: Angie C. (Mrs. Holland Whitney), of Le Ray; Fred D., who married Ella L. Phelps, of Sackets Harbor; and Charles Lincoln, who married Carrie B. Clark, and now resides in Pinckney, Lewis County. For his second wife Daniel M. married Cornelia Deaker, of Ellisburgh, in 1867, and she bore him one son, Orin P. In 1872 he married Mrs. Lydia A. Sharp, of Black River, who died May 11, 1878. His son Orin P. lives at home with his father. Curtis W. Cory was born in Jefferson County, and for many years resided on the " Limekiln " farm, on road III, in this town, where he died. He married Charlotte Waters, and they had three sons and three daughters, two of whom died in infancy, and four attained mature years, viz .: Caroline, Oscar E., George F., and Emma S. Oscar E. was reared upon a farm, and was educated at the common schools. At the age of 27 years he married Anna A., daughter of Henry Sharp, of Antwerp, and they have one son and two daughters, viz .: Edith C., Frank C., and Maud E. They reside on road 111, in this town.

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Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, N.Y. 1684-1890, Part 78

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- [from old catalog] comp; Horton, William H., [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers and binders Number of Pages: 1384

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- [from old catalog] comp; Horton, William H., [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers and binders
Number of Pages: 1384