Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 27

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

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JOHN A. SHERMAN.

No other citizen of Jefferson county has ever done more to merit the good opinion and earnest regard of young men than John A. Sherman. Beginning life as a poor boy, with but few advantages, he worked his way to prominence and the highest respectability by a life of industry and integrity, and, dying, left to the Young Men's Christian Association the most conspicuous property in the city as their heritage forever-a haven where any poor boy may come and study for improve -: ment, and become a sharer in benefits Mr. Sherman's industry and perseverance con- fer upon those who come after him, and who will surely rise up and called him " blessed."

He was born in the town of Rutland, June 13, 1809, and died in Watertown, March 25, 1882. He was the oldest son of Alfred Sher- man, and a grandson of Dr. Abel Sherman, a native of Massachusetts, whose ancestors were among the early settlers of New England and of English descent. Susan Hull, his mother, was an adopted daughter of Ros- well Woodruff, who was one of the pioneers of Jefferson county. His grandfather, Dr. Abel Sherman, was a physician, and came from Massachusetts to Oneida county, in this State. His residence in Oneida county was brief, and in 1803 he removed to this county, settling in Rutland, upon 220 acres of timber land, which in time he cleared and made till- able. He was the first sheriff of the county. Alfred Sherman, father of John A., after his father's death, having inherited the farm, actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and attained a comfortable fortune. During the war of 1812, however, as contractor of the army, he lost the larger portion of his pro- perty, and, crippled for want of means, he was prevented from giving his children any

better educational advantages than those afforded by the common schools. He died in 1827,leaving John A., then only 17 years of age, to take charge of the farm and support the family, which consisted of his mother, two sisters and three brothers, and himself. Five years after his father's death he wedded Miss Julia Ann Larned, of Rutland, who survives him, at the advanced aged of 87 years. Two years later, in 1834, he purchased a dairy of about 20 cows, and thus opened the cheese business for the county. At the close of that year he sent his cheese to New York, packed in salt barrels, the shipment of which, by canal, occupied 21 days. He received six cents per pound for the cheese, and consider- ed it a very good price at that time. His was the first dairy of cheese manufactured in this county, and had much to do in hastening the growth of the dairy industry. [ See article upon cheese-making, ancient and modern.]

As soon as this interest grew to sufficient proportion to warrant it, he engaged in the pur- chase of butter and cheese for the New York market, continuing in this trade for many years. In 1839, in partnership with Henry Hopkins, of Rutland, he bought largely of cheese during the early fall of that year. With the then facilities for transportation in Jefferson county, cheese could not well be shipped until late in the fall, when the weather was cool. At the proper time he visited the city for the purpose of making sale of his cheese, but found the market so depressed that it was impossible to make any sales ex- cept at a great sacrifice, which resulted in the financial ruin of many dealers. Mr. Sherman asked his creditors for a little time to make sale of his cheese, assuring them that he would carry them through safely. They, having confidence in his wisdom and honesty,

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granted him the leniency he asked, and he at once shipped his cheese on a vessel to New Orleans, taking passage thereon himself. After a stormy voyage he arrived at his des- tination with his cargo in good order, which he disposed of to advantage, receiving pay- ment in silver. This he packed in kegs, and on his return voyage deposited it in his state- room, where he was obliged to closely guard it, with the assistance of a trusted friend, as the conduct of the captain and crew was not such as to inspire confidence. He arrived in New York during the financial troubles of 1839-40, when the banks had suspended specie payment, sold his silver for a large premium, and was enabled to pay his creditors hon- orably, dollar for dollar, and had quite a little profit for himself and partner. We mention this little episode as characteristic of his whole life, and as demonstrating his indomitable in- dustry and perseverance-always cautious, full of resources, never getting into business enterprises or entanglements from which he could not see his way out. He continued his produce business in New York, purchasing mostly from dairies and factories in Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Lewis counties, in connec- tion with his farming interests at home, until about 1851, paying for his paternal estate, which was left him badly incumbered, and adding farm to farm until 1856, when he re- tired from farming and removed to Watertown city. He was a progressive farmer, with practical ideas, and often introduced new farm implements, which tended to speed on the enlightenment and prosperity of his neigh- bors and the section in which he lived. His popularity among the farmers was such that he was almost unanimously elected to the presidency of the Jefferson County Agricul- tural Society about 1853.

Mr. Sherman was a great but unostentatious philanthropist. He was always opposed to having any of his beneficent gifts made known to the public, and endeavored to make such gifts appear like business transactions, of which he was to reap a pecuniary benefit. His liberality to the Young Men's Christian Association, which has occupied the greater

portion of the second floor of Washington Hall block since the society was formed in 1869, at a nominal and sometimes free rental, is a fair example of his munificence. A short time before his death Mr. Sherman donated to the Association this valuable property, with the provision that they pay a rent to Mrs. Sherman during her life, and to his daughter, should she survive her mother, during her life.

At the time of his death Mr. Sherman owned valuable real estate in Jefferson county, and was President of the Agricultural Insur- ance Company, one of the largest and most successful business corporations in the State, the success of which was largely promoted by his wise counsels and sound advice. He was a director in two banks and two insurance com- panies in Watertown, and always a sound, practictal adviser.

Mr. Sherman had four brothers, namely: Eli, who died in early childhood, and Hamp- ton, William, and Eli, 2d, who died in early manhood. A sister, Sylvia Orinda, died young. His nearest relatives now living are his wife, his daughter, Mrs. D. S. Marvin, and his two sisters, Mary Sherman and Mrs. Orinda Lewis, of Adrian, Mich.

The mother of Mr. Sherman was a noble woman, one of those who "in solitude, amid strange dangers and heavy toil, reared fami- lies and made homes." Her name was Susan Hull, born near New Haven, Conn., and adopted into the family of Mr. Roswell Wood- ruff; coming with him and his family into the Black River country among the earliest settlers in LeRay. There she formed the acquaintance of Alfred Sherman, and married him when of mature age, rearing a large family. To illustrate the utter wildness of the town of LeRay at that time it is related of Susan that she, with the other children, was picking wild berries in the woods near home one day and saw what they thought to be a black sheep. Trying to catch this supposed sheep they were astonished to see it climb a tree. Then they knew it was a bear. They gave up the pursuit and fled for home.

GEORGE W. WIGGINS.

Is one of the most interesting personages in Watertown, and has so slight an apprecia- tion of his own success as a business man, and is so indifferent to the approval which should follow good actions and a well-spent life, as to be an enigma to the historian. But he is one of the author's oldest and best friends, and he ventures to trespass a little upon that intimacy which has outlived years and trials, to be renewed, we hope, in a land where we shall know, even as we are known.

Mr. Wiggins, so long known in connection with the clothing trade of Northern New York, was born in Montpelier, Vt., in 1822, and came to Watertown in 1843, after serving an apprenticeship in a dry goods store in his

native State. He became a clerk in the dry goods establishment of Peck & Welch, then leading merchants. He remained in that store until 1847, when he went into partner- ship with Mr. Peter Horr, and there con- tinued until his departure for Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, where he remained two years, returning in 1851 to Watertown, and accepted a proposal from Mr. J. M. Clark, to go into partnership. In 1854, the firm of Horr, Fisk & Co., of Chicago, was organized for manufacturing wholesale clothing on an extended scale, and Mr. Wiggins was a part- ner in that house, which manufactured its clothing largely in Watertown, giving steady employment to over 600 people.

BIOGRAPHIES.

125

In 1857 Mr. Wiggins returned to Water- town, and the firm of Wiggins & Johnson was organized, and extensively patronized, During the extraordinary small money strin- gency in 1859-60, this firm issued about $50,- 000 of fractional paper money, which had an extended and wide circulation in northern New York, passing current at banks, and in all the avenues of trade, serving a very useful purpose, and doubtless considerably enlang- ing the knowledge of the firm name among the people.

tery, which he has raised from a condition of mediocrity by one improvement after another until it is now one of the most beautiful ceme- teries in the country.

After Mr. and Mrs. Cook had erected the Soldiers' Monument upon the Public Square, the grounds were left in an unsatisfactory con dition. Mr. Wiggins took up the work of their reconstruction, and the ellipsis upon which the monument stands now fittingly supplements the monument, itself.

Mr. Wiggins was married early in life to

¥GREAT WARDROBE.

Rooster Sherman's Bank -

Pay the Prover of this to

GREAT WARDROBE FRACTIONAL CURRENCY.

This fractional currency was all redeemel except about $32. a great part of which was hell as keepsakes an. I mementoes.

In 1871 Mr. Johnson retired from the frm to accept a position with the Davis sewing Machine Company, and is still its manager. though the establishment has been removed to Dayion, O. Mr. Wiggins thenceforward continued the Great Wardrobe clothing house alone until its sale to Mr. Goodale.

Since then he has given a great deal of his time to the management of Brookside Ceme-

Mies Delia Brown, whose father was one of thas band of devoted Methodist ministers who preached without pay in that early pericol, when the country was poor and sparsely ut- tled, but when the loneliness of the settlers' lives marle them particularly anxious to hear the gospel from the lips of one whom they knew and trosted. Mr. Wiggins' life has been an excepti nally happy one, and the wife of his youth is yet a sharer in his joys and sor-

ALFRED D. REMINGTON.

UNFORTUNATELY for this History, the an- thor has not been able to procure a portrait of Mr. Remington, and in so doing be able to show to posterisy the very lineaments of one of Watertown's most respected and high minded citizens, who began his business life here and has stewlily risen to the highest position in the regard of the people of Watertown.

In many particular Wr. Remington and Mr. Ge. W. Wiggins resemble each other especially in their hatred of shame and pre- tences, their unestentations habits of Ie. in the democracy of their personal intercorse

with men and in their unhesitating dlerlanatury. they are at all familiar. Though both modest and nissenming, they are men of The string-

History.

writer, that Mr. Remin yun, began business in impelled perhaps by their own Inceleme

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

into selecting a business or entering upon a career wholly unsuited to their natural capacity. Mr. Remington's head itself shows what he was made for-to design, and plan, and organize-really the highest talent a man can have. The province of such men is to tell others what to do, and their contempora- ries usually acquiesce, for they note the mas- ter mind, the moving force.

In 1853, Mr. Remington's father, one of the pioneer paper-makers of Onondaga county, N. Y., came to Watertown, at his son's invi- tation, to take a look at the wonderful water- power of Black river, where was located one of the oldest paper mills in Northern New York, but it was not able to grapple with the mighty demands then and soon after made upon that important industry, by the giant claims of the cylinder press, for even then capable mechanics had heard of Samuel Had- dock's conception of printing from a contin- uous and uncut roll of paper, afterwards de- veloped in this country by William Bullock, the York State boy who lost his life in the city of Philadelphia in the very week when his grand invention proved a complete suc- cess.

Mr. A. D. Remington, more progressive than his father, saw that the future was to make demands upon the paper men that would be hard to meet, and he proposed a new mill upon the north branch of Black river, opposite Sewall's island. His father was at last persuaded to make the venture, and his son then commenced his career in a business in which he has shown such marked ability. He is to-day regarded by paper men as one of the master spirits among them, for he has proven himself a man of many resources, fearlessly grappling with problems that might have intimidated less courageous men.

In the article which we have prepared upon the pulp industries, and printed as a part of the chapter upon the city of Watertown, the reader will be able to gain a fair understand- ing of Mr. Remington's present position in these enterprises upon Black river, which have become so remarkable as to attract ex- tended comment. His journey to distant Sweden in order to get at the "true inward- ness" of the sulphite process, is a striking but not unusual circumstance in his life, for he has a way of getting at the real foundation of anything he undertakes, and is so ready at

any time to accept suggestions from others (digesting in his own mind their value, or otherwise, as related to any plan he has in mind) that any subject he examines is pretty sure to be well sifted when he is through with it. For that reason, fellows with wildcat schemes shun him now, for they readily per- ceive the bent of his mind, and the resolution he evinces to know all there is to be found out. He does not skim, he goes down to the bottom of whatever he investigates.

Mr. Remington had the advantages of the good schools of Onondaga county in his youth, and a thorough business education before he began to make paper. His modesty at first was something of a bar to his advance- ment, but he is a close student in all that per- tains to his affairs, and his inventive mind and his power of organization have stood him in good stead during the years when the paper business was being developed to its present proportions. With his employees he is and always has been popular. They have implicit faith in his integrity, his devotion to their welfare, and every one of them under- stands that any just complaint will receive careful attention. Taking into consideration the length of time they have been in business and the extent of their operations, Mr. Reming- ton and his associates have probably paid out more money for labor than any firm ever doing business in Jefferson county. For many years his brother, Charles R., has been his able associate, looking after matters at home when the elder brother might be absent upon his long journeys. They are both com- paratively young men, with many years of work and capacity in them. Their name stands first among the paper producers upon Black river, and among the first in the whole country.

It is a source of considerable regret that men like Mr. Wiggins and Mr. Remington peremptorily decline to permit their photo- graphs to appear in this work, for they have been good friends of the writer for many years, and it would have been a great pleasure to him to have transmitted their lineaments to posterity. Such modesty appears to me to be unreasonable; but it is an honest feeling, and must therefore be respected. But the writer does not regard it as a fair discharge of the debt all good men owe to posterity.

LAND TITLES.

As the lands of Jefferson county have been the principal factor in its growth and later wealth, it is proper that we begin an import- ant part of our History by describing their chain of title through some of the conveyances which comprised the larger tracts. And to avoid any confusion of names in what follows, we insert here the original names by which the territory now called Jefferson county was designated before being set off from Oneida. The process of evolution is this : Albany

county, formed Nov. 1, 1683 ; Lyon, formed from Albany, March 12, 1772 ; Montgomery (changed from Lyon,) April 2, 1784; Herki- mer set off from Montgomery, Jan. 16, 1791; Oneida, set off from Herkimer, March 15, 1798, and Jefferson, formed from Oneida, March 28, 1805. This statement must be borne in mind as the historical student inves- tigates these land titles.

Our main dependence in getting at these varied chains of title will be Dr. Hough,

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LAND TITLES.

whose history, printed in 1854, evidenced an extended examination of the land records of Oneida county as well as the miscellaneous conveyances of an older date on file in the de- partments at Albany. At best, the attempt to describe lands by the surveyor's formula of so many chains, at such a distance from a fixed object, bearing so many degrees north or south, east or west, must ever create an unsatisfactory confusion in the reader's mind; but that appears to have been the plan adopt- ed at an early day, and must necessarily be followed in all future descriptions of these lands.

In the first place the title to all the lands in this northern part of the State of New York became vested in the State by various treaties with the Indian tribes, that from time to time ceded all their rights of ownership to the lands over which they roamed or had acquir - ed by conquest from weaker tribes. None of these conveyances from the Indians come within 150 years of our own time (1894), and this general statement appears to us fully as satisfactory to the general reader as to wade through the rigmarole of smoking pipes of peace and handing over belts of wampum, so laboriously gone through with by those Indians when they signed a treaty.

The office of Land Commissioner was created in New York State in 1786, and they were clothed with discretionary powers in sell- ing any unappropriated lands of the State. The manner in which they exercised the trust reposed in them was made a subject of grave censure, because they sold State lands at eight pence an acre, for which the actual settler, seeking a home in the wilderness, within two or three years was charged $2.75 to $8.00 per acre. On the 22d of June, 1791, Alexander Macomb, of the city of New York, acting as the agent of a company said to consist of himself, Daniel McCormick, and Wm. Constable, all of New York, applied for the purchase of a tract of land since known as Macomb's pur- chase, embracing the greater part of Franklin, the whole of St. Lawrence, excepting the " ten towns" and Massena, the whole of Jefferson (excepting Penet's square and Tibbet's Point), the whole of Lewis, and a part of Oswego counties. This proposition includes the islands in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, fronting the tract, and excepted five per cent for roads, and all Jakes of greater area than 1000 acres. The proposed price was eight pence per acre. One-sixth part was payable in one year, and the residue in five equal annual instalments. If one-sixth were secured by satisfactory bonds, and paid, and another sixth in like manner secured, Macomb was to receive a patent for a sixth part, in a square, in one of the corners of the tract, and the same rule was to be observed throughout until the whole was paid. Carlton, or Buck's Island, and the Long Sault Island, were expressly re- served to the State. This proposition was ac- cepted, and the surveyor-general was directed to survey the tract at the expense of Macomb. On the 10th of January, 1792, he reported that the conditions had been complied with,

and on that day a patent was issued to Ma- comb, for 1,920,000 acres, reserving 800 acres to be located by the surveyor-general. This included the whole of the tract not in the pre- sent counties of Franklin and St. Lawrence. An uncertainty existing in relation to the islands in the St. Lawrence, these were pat- ented after the national boundary had been determined, and to other parties. The reser- vation stipulated to Penet, was confirmed by the following proceedings of the land commis- sioners :

At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York, held at the secretary's office in the city of New York on Saturday the 8th day of August, 1789. Present, His Excellency, George Clinton, esquire, Governor, Lewis A. Scott, Esquire, Secretary, Richard Varick, Esquire, Attorney General, and Gerardus Bancker, Treasurer.

Resolved, That the surveyor-general be directed to lay out for Peter Penet, and at his expense, the lands ceded by the Oneida Nation to the people of this State, by their deed of cession dated the 22d day of September last. lying to the northward of Oneida Lake, a trace of ten miles square, wherever he shall elect the same; and further, that he lay out for John Francis Pearche, and at his expense, a tract of land stipulated by the said deed of cession to be granted to him." &c., referring to a tract two miles square in Oneida county .- Land Office Minutes, Vol. 2, p. 56.

On the 19th of Nov., 1789, the following action was taken : "The Surveyor-General, agreeable to an order of this Board, of the 8th of August last, having made a return of survey for Peter Penet, of a tract of ten miles square, as elected by John Duncan, his agent (of the lands ceded by the Oneida Nation of Indians to the people of this State, by their deed of cession, dated the 22d day of Sept., 1788), lying to the northward of Oneida Lake, as by the said return of survey filed in the secretary's office, will more fully appear. And the said John Duncan, having as agent as aforesaid, made application to the Board for letters patent for the. same, Resolved, therefore, that the Secretary do prepare letters patent to the said Peter Penet, for the said tract of ten miles square, accord- ingly, and lay them before the Board for their ap- probation .- Land Office Minutes, vol. 2, p. 80.

Peter Penet, by an instrument dated Jan. 23, 1729, made John Duncan his attorney, and the latter received, Nov. 19, 1789, a patent for a tract ten miles square, which, on the 13th of July, 1790, he conveyed for the nominal sum of five shillings, to James Watson and James Greenleaf of New York. February 26, 1795, Watson released to Greenleaf his half of the tract for £1,000; the latter having, Sept. 4, 1797, conveyed by deed the 64,000 acres to Simon Desjardines, for £19,400. Desjardines conveyed to Nicholas Olive, of New York, January 29, 1796, and the latter to Herman LeRoy, William Bayard and Jas. McEvers, 44,000 acres of this tract, in trust as joint tenants for certain heirs, of whom Mallett Prevost was entitled to 8,000 acres; John Lewis Grenus to 12,000 acres; Henry Finguerlin, jr., 8,000 acres. At the time of this conveyance Olive held these lands in trust, and 16,000 acres in his own right. A deed of partition between the proprietors was executed May 17, 1802, according to a divis- ion by ballot, as follows : N. Olive, 16,000 ; J. L. Grenus, 1,200; H. Finguerlin, jr., 8,000; A. M. Prevost. 8,000 acres ; making 44,000 acres. which, with 8,000 to Louis Le Guen, and 12,000 to John Wilkes, previously conveyed by Olive, made 64,000 acres on the whole tract. After the deed of partition, and on the 11th of June, 1802, the proprietors

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released to one another, the quantity allotted to each, as follows: John Wilkes and Louis LeGuen, to LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers, of 44,000 acres ; L., B .. and M., and Louis Le Guen, to John Wilkes, of 12,000; and L., B., & M., and J. Wilkes to L. LeGuen, of 8,000 acres.

Nicholas Olive, in his will, made his wife and Henry Cheriot his executors, and his widow afterwards married Simon Louis Pierre, Marquis de Cubieres of Paris, who, with his wife, May 9, 1818, appointed LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers to convey to Provost Grenus and Finguerlin, their several shares. The latter, May 20, 1817, directed LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers to convey to Joseph Russell and John LaFarge. LeRoy and Bayard deeded to John, Henry and Edmund Wilkes, 16,000 acres, September 23, 1818, and the latter to John LaFarge, April 14, 1823, having received, May 9, 1818, from the Mar- quis de Cubieres and wife, a power of attor- ney for the purpose. LeRoy and Bayard conveyed 12,000 acres, November 23, 1818, and to Russell and LaFarge, 8,000 acres, September 23, 1818. Joseph Russell released his half of these 8,000 acres, December 12, 1818, John Wilkes to Charles Wilkes, Jan. 1, 1818, sold 8,000 acres, and the latter the same to LaFarge, June 3, 1825. By these conveyances Mr. LaFarge became the owner of the greater part of Penet Square; but he allowed the lands to be sold for taxes, and his claims were subsequently confirmed by a comptroller's deed from William L. Marcy, May 13, 1828.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 27

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094