Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 28

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

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 > Part 28

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On the 23d of November, 1819, Francis De- pau bought 15 lots (21 to 25, 41 to 45, 56 to 60) for $12,000, excepting parts sold to Samuel Ruggles.

Returning to the facts concerning Macomb's purchase, the lands contracted to him was es- timated to contain, after deducting five per cent., 3,670,715 acres, and was divided into five tracts. Tract No. I. contained 821,819 acres, and is wholly in Franklin county. No. II. embraced 553,020 acres, or the present towns of Parishville, Colton, Hopkinton, Lawrence, Brasher, and a small part of Mas- sena, in St. Lawrence county. No. III. the remainder of St. Lawrence county, south and west of the ten towns, or 458,222 acres. No. IV. contained 450,950 acres in Jefferson county, it being, with the exception of Penet's Square and Tibbet's Point, all of that county north of a line drawn from the south-west corner of St. Lawrence county, north 87º west, to Lake Ontario. No. V. (26,250 acres) and No. VI. (74,400), formed the rest of the purchase ; the division line between which numbers was never surveyed. Soon after perfecting his title to a portion of his tract, Macomb employed William Constable (who is said to have been with Daniel McCormick, the principal proprietor), as his agent to sell lands in Europe ; and, on the 6th of June, 1792, he released, and October 3, 1792, con- veyed to him the whole of tracts IV. V. and VI. for £50,000. Macomb had become in- volved in speculations, by which he lost his

property, and was lodged in jail; and his name does not subsequently appear in the transfers of land. He had been a fur trader in Detroit, afterwards became a merchant and capitalist in New York, and was the father of the late General Macomb, of the war of 1812.

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT.

The first direct measure taken for the ac- tual settlement of the section of the State em- braced in Jefferson county, was in 1792. On the 31st of August, William Constable, then in Europe, executed a deed to Peter Chassanis, of Paris, for 630,000 acres south of Great Lot No. IV. which now constitutes a part of Jef- ferson and Lewis counties. A tract in Ley- den, previously conveyed to Patrick Colqu- houn and William Inman, was excepted. Chassanais acted as the "agent for the associ- ated purchasers of lands in Montgomery county," and the lands were to be by him held in trust for the use of the said William Con- stable, and disposed of by sections of 100 acres each, at the rate of $1.50 per acre ; in which said conveyance it is declared that the said Chassanis should account for the pro- ceeds of the sales to Constable, according to the terms of an agreement between them, ex- cepting one-tenth thereof. The State reser- vations for roads, etc., were stipulated. A deed for 625,000 acres having been made from Constable to Chassanis, and delivered as an escrow to René Lambot, to take effect on the payment of £52,000, it was agreed that the price for this land should be one shilling per acre. Constable bound himself to procure a perfect title, to be authenticated and de- posited with the Consul General of France in Philadelphia ; and Chassanis agreed that the moneys received by Lambot should be remit- ted to Ransom, Moreland & Hammersley, in London, as received, subject to Constable's order, on presenting the certificate of Charles Texier, consul, of his having procured a clear title. If the sales shall not have amounted to £62,750, the balance should be paid in six, nine and twelve months, in bills, upon Lon- don. Constable granted for one month, the right of pre-emption to Tract No. IV. at the rate of one shilling sterling, payable in three, six and nine months from the date of the deed, as above.

The agreement of Constable and Chassanis, of August 30, 1792, was canceled, and the tract reconveyed March 25, 1793, in conse- quence of the amount falling short, upon sur- vey, far beyond the expectation of all parties. On the 12th of April, 1793, Constable con- veyed 210,000 acres, by deed, for £25,000, to Chassanis, since known as the Chassanis Tract, Castorland, or The French Company's Land, bounded North by No. IV. of Ma- comb's Purchase, south and west by Black river, and east by a line running north nine miles, from a point near the High Falls, and thence northeasterly on such a course as might include 210,000 acres.

On the 11th of April, 1797, Chassanis ap- pointed Rodolph Tillier, "Member of the Sovereign Council of Berne," his attorney,

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LAND TITLES.

"to direct and administer the properties and affairs concerning Castorland, to follow all which relates to the surveying and subdivid- ing of this domain, as well as to its improve- ment, clearing and amelioration ; to make the useful establishments ; make all bargains with settlers, artists and workmen ; make all payments and receipts, give and take re- ceipts ; pass all title of property, to the profit of those who will have acquired lands form- ing part of Castorland ; to put, or have them put in possession of the said lands ; sell of these lands to the amount of 10,000 acres, either paid down for or on credit, but in small parcels of a hundred or two hundred acres at most." In case of death, Nicholas Olive was to succeed him. On the 18th of February, 1797, a new agreement was made between Constable and Tillier conveying the Castor- land tract to Chassanis, after the survey of William Cockburn & Son, of Poughkeepsie, in 1799, and giving with greater detail the bounds of the tract. The former conveyances made the north and east bank of the river the boundary, but in this the centre of the chan- nel was agreed upon. On the 6th of March, 1800, Constable deeded to Chassanis, for one dollar, a tract of 30,000 acres in the eastern corner of Tract No. IV. which was after- wards subdivided into 27 lots, and conveyed to James LeRay. Cockburn's survey divided the purchase into six very unequal tracts, formed by the intersection of the principal lines and the river. The tract was subdivided by Charles C. Brodhead and assistants. John Cantine, Philip R. Freys, Peter Pharoux and Benoni Newman, were among his surveyors. In dividing the tract, the line running north from the High Falls, was assumed as the cardinal line, from which ranges were counted east and west. An east and west line cross- ing the other nine miles from the Falls, was fixed as a second cardinal, from which ranges were reckoned north and south. The ranges extended to 19 east, 51 west, 27 north, and about 9 south; and the lots included 450 acres each, except those on the margin. These were again subdivided into 9 square lots, of 50 acres each, which were numbered from 1 to 4,828. This system of numbering has since been observed in designating the location of lands.

Mr. Brodhead was a native of Pennsylvania, and had held the rank of captain in the Revo- lution. He was employed by Tillier, through the influence of Edward Livingston and Dr. Oliver, and while performing the survey, en- countered many hardships. An obituary notice published soon after his death, which occurred in 1853, at Utica, contains the fol- lowing :

"In running the great lines of division, his party had crossed the Black river several times, the men and instruments being ferried across. On one occas- ion when they had approached the river, having journeyed through the woods without noting their route by the compass, they arrived at a part of the bank which they recognized, and knew to be a safe place of passing. Making a raft of logs, they started from the bank, and began to pole across. When in the midst of the current their poles failed to reach the bottom, and simultaneous with this discovery,

the noise of the waters below them revealed the hor- rid fact that they had mistaken their ferrying place, and were at the head and rapidly approaching the Great Falls of the river, the passage of which threat- ened all but certain death. Instantly Mr. Brodhead ordered every man who could swim to make for the shore, and he prepared to swim for his own life. But the piteous appeals of Mr. Pharoux, a young French- man. of the party, who could not swim, arrested him, and he determined to remain with him to assist him, if possible, in the awful passage of the falls. Hastily directing his men to grasp firmly to the logs of the raft, giving similar directions to Mr. Pharoux, he then laid himself down by the side of his friend. The raft passed the dreadful falls and was dashed to pieces. Mr. Pharoux, with several of the whites and Indians, were drowned, and Mr. Brodhead himself thrown into an eddy near the shore, whence he was drawn senseless by an Indian of the party."-[See Castorland article].

The surveyors were in their intructions di- rected to note "all kinds of timber, wild meadows, useful plants, wild fruit trees, hills, swamps, creeks and objects of interest gener- ally. " The south line of Tract No. IV. was run by John Campbell and others, in August, 1794. At a very early period, a settlement was begun by Tillier and others near the High Falls, east of the river, and several families were settled. Several extensive sales were made by Chassanis and Tillier to Frenchmen of the better class, who had held property and titles in France before the revolution. Des- jardine & Co. bought 3002 acres on Point Peninsula; Odier & Bousquet, 1500 acres on Pillar Point ; Nicholas Oliver (Dec. 17, 1807) a tract of about 4050 acres north of Black river and bay; Henry Boutin, 1000 acres around the present village of Carthage; C. C. Brod- head, 400 acres in the present town of Wilna, and others. Among these were a conveyance dated March 31, 1801, of 1,817 half acres in scattered lots to twenty or thirty French people, many of them widows of persons who had acquired an interest in the New York Company. On the 1st of May, 1798, James LeRay purchased 10,000 acres in Castorland, and Feb. 15, 1801, all his lands not previously sold. Chassanis in his early sales had reserved about 600 acres (R. 26 W. 24 and 25 N.), be- tween the present villages of Brownville and Dexter, for the City of Basle.

On the 27th of March 1800, Tillier was suc- ceeded in the agency by Gouverneur Morris, who appointed Richard Coxe, Nov. 13th, 1801, his attorney. On the 5th of Feb. 1802, Chassanis executed a trust conveyance for $1 to James D. LeRay of 220,500 acres as sur- veyed by Wm. Cockburn and Son, and by other instruments for nominal sums. The lands were mostly sold to actual settlers by Mr. LeRay as agent or principal. Chassanis died in Paris, Nov. 28, 1803. David B. Ogden, G. Morris and many others were at an early period concerned in these titles.

Macomb's Tract No. IV. was surveyed by C. C. Brodhead in 1796, assisted by Jonas Smith, Timothy Wheeler, Joshua Northrop, Elias Marvin, John Youngs, Isaac LeFever, Jacob Chambers, Elijah Blake, Samuel Tup- per, Eliakim Hammond, and Abraham B. Smede, each with a few men as assistants, and the whole having a general camp or rendezvous at Hungry Bay, on the north side

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

of Pillar Point at a place called Peck's Cove, near where the Chassanis line crosses the bay. The early settlers here found huts standing, and the remains of an old oven were visible in 1854. The journals of these surveyors show that they suffered much from sickness. Some of their supplies were derived from Canada, but the most from the Mohawk settlements. A few troops were stationed on Carlton Island, and thither some of their sick were sent. This tract, excepting the east corner, was divided into 1000 lots of 440 acres each (excepting those around the border), which were num- qered continuously. Evert VanAllen had been employed in 1795, in surveying the boundaries of tract No. IV.

A proposition was entertained from Lord Poultney, in 1792, for the purchase of a mil- lion of acres of Black River land, at a quarter of a dollar per acre, of which £5,000 were to be paid down, £20,000 in one, and the same in two years, and the remainder as soon as the surveys were made. Constable was to guar- anty against claims from the native Indians and all other parties, and to give immediate possession. The location was to be deter- mined by Col. Wm. Stephens Smith of New York. This bargain failed, and Poultney afterwards became largely concerned in lands in the Genesee country. On the 3d of Octo- ber, 1792, Jane, the wife of A. Macomb, re- leased her right to the lands previously con- veyed. On the 12th of April, 1793, Constable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis who had previously held a pre-emption claim, to Charles Michael DeWolf of the city of Antwerp, tract No. IV. for 300,000 florins, money of exchange, and in June following, of the same year, De Wolf succeeded in negotia- ting his purchase at a great advance, viz : for 680,000 florins, to a company of large and small capitalists of the city of Antwerp, who subscribed to the stock in shares of 1000 florins each, and organized under the name of the Antwerp Company. The stock was divided into 680 shares. Like most other operations of foreigners in a distant country, this com- pany eventually proved unsuccessful, and a loss to the stockholders. Gouverneur Morris become their first agent in America, and on the 2d of January, 1800, a deed of half the tract, or 220,000 acres passed to him from Constable on account of the company, for $48,889, and on the day following the other half, of equal extent, for $46,315.12 to James Donatianus LeRay de Chaumont. Tract No. IV. was found by Van Allen's survey, to con- tain 450,000 acres, including the state reser- vations. A former dced from Constable to De Wolf, was canceled upon the new one's being made. The division line between Morris's and LeRay's conveyances com- menced at the N. E. corner of Penet Square, and run on a line parallel with the county line, to the south line of No. IV. Morris took all N. E. of this, and LeRay the remainder. August 15th, 1802, a new division line was agreed upon, commencing near the S. E. cor- ner of Penet Square, running thence to the S. corner of lot 512, thence to the W. corner

of the present town of Antwerp, and along the S. W. line of that town to the S. corner of lot 337, and thence to the S. line of No. IV. A tract of 30,000 acres in the E. corner of No. IV. was not included in these conveyances, having been previously sold to Chassanis. In 1809, Morris retired from the business, his ex- penses and commissions absorbing 26,840 acres of land. On the 23d of December, 1804, he had sold for $62,000 to Lewis R. Morris, 49,280 acres in the present town of Antwerp. Mr. Morris subsequently conveyed 41 lots to Silvius Hoard in the western part of Ant- werp, adjoining Theresa, and since known as the Cooper tract. Abraham Cooper, from Trenton, N. Y., became interested in this trace in 1817. The remainder of Antwerp, excepting three ranges of lots on the S. E. side, was purchased of Morris, by David Par- ish, in 1808. The tract amounted to 29,033 acres, and has been settled under agents of the Parish estate. Moss Kent succeeded as agent of the Antwerp Company, and June 15th, 1809, the remainder of their unsold lands, 143,440 acres, were conveyed to him. He was soon succeedcd by Mr. LeRay, and September 17th, 1810, the company sold to him for 145,000 florins. money of exchange, all their interests in lands in America. The lands with Moss Kent were reconveyed to Le- Ray June 24, 1817, except 3250 acres sold to Wm. H. Harrison and T. L. Ogden in Lewis county, December 16th, 1811.

Mr. LeRay is said to have been the owner of 126 shares in the Antwerp Company, and G. Morris of 26. The former having acquired a title to No. IV. and the Chassanis tract, re- moved to LeRaysville, where he opened a land office and proceeded to sell land to actual settlers, to a very large extent. He also effected with several Europeans, sales of con- siderable tracts, among whom were to Louis Augustin De Caulincourt, duc de Vincence, October 8th, 1805, a tract of 4,840 acres near Millen's Bay, being 11 lots which were con- veyed January 28th, 1825, to Peter Francis Real, known as Count Real, chief of police under Napoleon ; to Emanuel Count De Grouchy, to General Desfurneaux and to others, considerable tracts. Several citizens of New York became afterwards concerned in these tracts, on their own account, or as agents. and extensive conveyances were made; but as many of these were trusts not expressed, and referred to considerations not explained in the instruments of conveyance, or on record, an intelligent history of them can not be at this time obtained. Among the lands conveyed were the following :

To William and Gerardus Post, June 3, 1825, for $17,000, 11,880 acres (with 3,503 acres excepted), in the present towns of Wilna and Diana; 6,500 acres were conveyed by one. and the executors of the other of these, to T. S. Hammond, of Carthage, October 2, 1837, by two deeds for 18,000. To Herman LeRoy, and Wm. Bayard, for $50,000, Feb. 9, 1820, the interest of J. LeRay, in numerous contracts to settlers on Great Tract No. IV.

To Francis Depau, for $23,280 and $15,-

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000, by two conveyances, a large tract in Alexandria, adjoining St. Lawrence county, once held by L. J. Goodale, of Carthage. To Cornelia Juhel, October 9, 1821, numerous lots.

In 1818, Joseph Bonaparte, who, in the United States, assumed the title of Count de Survilliers, was induced to enter into a bar- gain with LeRay, by which he agreed to re- ceive in trust, with a warranty, the convey- ance of 150,000 acres of land, including 74,- 624 acres of the Antwerp Company lands, to be taken in the most remote and unsettled portions, and at the same time Mr. LeRay received certain diamonds and real estate, the whole rated at $120,000, and to be refunded in 1830, unless he should agree to accept be- fore that time, the title of a part of these lands. A trust deed, with covenant and war- ranty, was accordingly passed, December 21, 1818, to Peter S. Duponceau, the confidental agent of the Count, for 150,260 acres, with the exception of such tracts not exceeding 32,260 acres as might have been conveyed or contracted to actual settlers. This deed in- cluded the greater part of Diana, two tiers of lots from the south-east side of Antwerp, the whole of Wilna and Philadelphia, a small piece south of Black river, where it makes node across the Chassanis line into No. IV. a tract of four lots wide and seven long from LeRay, and nine lots from the easterly range in Theresa. It was recorded with a defeasance appended, in which it is declared a security for $120,000 as above stated, and it provided for an auction sale of lands, to meet this obligation. Dia- monds having fallen to half their former price, the fact was made a subject of com- plaint ; and in 1820 the Count agreed to ac- cept 26,840 acres for the nominal sum of $40,- 260. These lands lay in the most remote por- tion of No. IV. and Mr. LeRay, in a letter to one of the Antwerp Company, dated April 9, 1821, complimented the Count upon his taste in selecting a " tract abounding with pictur- esque landscapes. whose remote and exten- sive forests affording retreat to game, would enable him to establish a great hunting ground ; qualities of soil, and fitness for set- tlers, were only secondary considerations. * * He regrets, notwithstanding, that thus far he has been unable to find among the 26,000 acres, a plateau of 200 acres of land to build his house upon, but he intends keeping up his researches this summer." The Count subse- quently commenced an establishment near the present village of Alpina, in Diana. where a small clearing was made, but this was soon abandoned,

On the 29th of October, 1823, LeRay con- veyed to Wm. H. Harrison, in trust for the Antwerp Company, for $50,000, two ranges of lots in Antwerp, next to Lewis county, (subject to the mortgage to Duponceau), with a large amount of lands in Lewis county. Meanwhile an act was procured, November 27, 1824, allowing Charles Joseph Xavier Knyff, Charles Joseph Geelhand Delafollie, Jean Joseph Reinier Osy, Pierre Joseph De

Caters and Jean Joseph Pinson, as trustees of the Antwerp Company, to take and hold lands, and to them Harrison conveyed the above tracts. Duponceau and Bonaparte sub- sequently released a large tract, and took a title to 81,180 acres. The history of these transactions may be traced in the recorded conveyances. James LeRay, on the 21st of December, 1823, conveyed to his son Vincent, all his lands in Jefferson county, and by a similar conveyance, his lands in Lewis county, for the benefit of his creditors.

Duponceau executed, July 16, 1825, to Joseph Bonaparte, (who, by an act of March 31, 1825, had been empowered to hold lands), a deed of all the rights he had acquired in the above conveyances. Bonaparte, by an instru- ment dated July 14, 1832, made Joseph Raphineau his attorney, to deed lands con- tracted by Joseph Boyer, his land agent. In June, 1835, he sold to John LaFarge, for $80,000, all the interest of Count Survilliers, in lands in this and Lewis counties.

It has been said with. much probability, that Count Survilliers hastened to dispose of this estate that he might be the better pre- pared to take advantage of any fortune which the revolutions of Europe might develop and the political aspect of the continent at that time apparently favored the hopes of the Bonaparte family, who had but recently regained the sceptre of France. The Count first urged the sale upon Judge Boyer, his agent, and came within a few thousand dollars of closing a bargain. Mr. LaFarge is said to have cleared a large profit in this purchase.

In October, 1824, the Antwerp Company appointed J. N. Rottiers their agent, to re- ceive and convey lands, and he was directed by parties interested in claims to commence a prosecution against LeRay, which was done. The extreme depression in the price. of land and total stop of sales which followed the completion of the Erie canal and the opening of the Western States to emigration, operated disastrously to all parties who had based their plans upon expectation of receipts from land sales ; and notwithstanding the es- tates of Mr. LeRay were both extensive and valuable, he could not at that time encounter the combination of circumstances which bore so heavily upon all landholders throughout the northern counties, and he found himself compelled to apply for the benefit of the in- solvent act, and to surrender his estates to his son, in trust for his creditors. As a justifi- cation of his course, he published for distri- bution among his foreign creditors, a state- ment, in which he vindicated in a satisfactory manner the course he had adopted, and set forth the kind and quantity of property at. his disposal, to meet his liabilities. He had at that time the following lands in this State:

In Franklin county, 30,758 acres, valued at $22,500.

In St. Lawrence county, 73,947 acres, valued at $106,000.

In Jefferson county, 143.500 acres, valued at $574,000.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

In Lewis county, 100,000 acres, valued at $133,000.

Of his Jefferson lands, one-eighth were subject to contracts of settlers, upon which were three grist mills, three saw mills, and various clearings, with buildings. At Le- Raysville were a grist mill, store houses, etc., valued at $26 000, and in Pennsylvania, Otsego county, and in France, other proper- ties of large amount. In closing up this business, a large amount of land was con- firmed to Vincent Le Ray, and the settlement of the affairs was so managed as to satisfy in full the claims of American creditors.

A considerable amount of the Antwerp Company's lands, remaining in scattered parcels, was sold in 1828, by the agents to John LaFarge, but this sale was subsequently set aside by the court of chancery, and Feb. 15, 1836, 24,230 acres, being most of the re- maining lands of the company, and situated in Theresa, Antwerp, Alexandria and Orleans, were sold to Samuel Stocking, of Utica, and Norris M. Woodruff, of Watertown, for $1 per acre. Wm. H. Harrison acted in the lat- ter sale as the agent of the company, and the tract was all sold off by the late Jason Clark, of Plessis, agent of the proprietors.

Mr. LaFarge, on the 28th of July, 1846, sold to Chas. L. Faverger, for $48.513, a tract embracing the two eastern ranges of lots in Antwerp, and 122 lots in Diana, ex- cepting parts previously conveyed, amount- ing to 48,513 acres, and a great portion has since been sold in large and small tracts to settlers. There is at this time no part of Great Tract No. IV. in this county, not under cultivation, and held as freeholds by the oc- cupants. The late Dr. John Binsse, of Pamelia, was the last agent in completing the sale of the LaFarge lands.

Wm. Constable, on the 18th of Dec., 1792, conveyed to Samuel Ward, for £100,000, 1,280,000 acres, it being the whole of Ma- comb's Purchase, in Nos. V. and VI. out of which was excepted 25,000 acres sold to Wm. Inman. Samuel Ward, Dec. 20, 1792, con- veyed to Thomas Boylston (of Boston) for £20,000, a tract, commencing at the extreme southern angle of Lewis county as now bounded ; running thence to the mouth of Salmon river, and along the lake to Black river, and up that stream to the north bounds of the present town of Leyden, and thence to the place of beginning. The course of Black river was then supposed to be nearly direct from the High Falls to the lake, and this tract was believed to contain about 400,000 acres, but when surveyed around by Wm. Cockburn & Son, 1794, it was found to include 817,155 acres ! Ward also sold 210,000 acres to John Julius Angerstein, a wealthy merchant of London, which the latter afterwards sold to Gov. John Brown, of Providence, R, I., and which has since been commonly called Brown's Tract, now known as part of the Adirondack region, but is yet largely a wilderness. He also sold 50,000 and 25,000 acres to Wm. Inman, who afterwards figured largely in the titles of Lewis county; with the exception of

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 28

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