Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 71

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 71

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Members for 1890 were Henry J. Lane, Isaac Mitchell.

Members for 1891 were Harrison Fuller, Martin L. Willard.

In 1892, by a redistricting of the State, we get but one member of Assembly. The mem- ber for 1892 was Harrison Fuller.

Member for '93 and '94 was Harrison Fuller.

FRENCH INFLUENCE

IN THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.

IT is the general supposition that we are in- debted to New England emigrants for the first attempts to settle the Black River country. This may be largely true, for the men from New England so greatly out-numbered all others, and were of such an assertive race that the casual historian might, without a strict regard to truth, give them the credit for those primal developments which, a little later, they were actually entitled to-for their "staying' and home-making qualities were, after all, what laid the solid foundation for all that has followed.

To French capital and enterprise, however, we are indebted for the earliest efforts to settle the Black River country. The noble St. Lawrence, which forms for so long a distance the northwestern border of the county, was the natural highway for such ad- venturous men as were impelled by a spirit of discovery to seek out those lands and streams which were literally a "terra incognita " before their time. As early as 1760 the French had selected a place for rendezvous on Carlton island, in plain sight from Cape Vincent, and as late as 1814 the head-board of a grave was recognizable in the abandoned fortification there, bearing the date of 1792- almost exactly a hundred years ago. But by that time the county had become attractive on its eastern and forest-environed border. Louis Chassnais, a brother-in-law of the elder LeRay, had thus early (1793) made his purchase from Constable, and through his "New York Land Co." had began to sell to actual settlers lands below the High Falls. The reader will find this discussed in the chapters upon "Land Titles" and "Castorland," the object of this sketch being more explicitly to speak of the direct influence of Frenchmen in settling Jefferson county.

The avowed object of Chassnais, in his large purchase of over 800,000 acres of land, was to furnish small farms for French refugees, who

were leaving France in large numbers, owing to the political disturbances of that time, re- sulting from the French Revolution, which near the close of the last century crimsoned Paris with the best blood of the French nation, not sparing even its king and queen. The rich knew not where to place their wealth to ad- vantage, and the middle class, who stood between the "Reds" and the titled aristocracy, felt great uncertainty as to the political changes the future might develop. Under such circumstances it was but natural that many of the more intelligent and deserving should turn their eyes towards America, where the United States had but lately fought for the independence then grudgingly ac- knowledged-to a land so full of the grandest opportunities, and eagerly solicitous for immi- grants. Many well-to-do Frenchmen came into this northern country as early as 1796, doubtless influenced by Lafayette and the Rochambeaus, who had fought for us against "perfidious Albion," making possible, by their timely assistance, the surrender at Yorktown.

Later on came into prominence that Bona- parte, who hated the Bourbons with almost demoniac fury, and drove into exile all whom he could not placate. Thus the unhappy demoralization of France and the disintegra- tion of the old regime became America's opportunity, and those elements of growth were scattered among our struggling people from which have sprung such propitious and far-reaching results. Upon the smaller theatre of this county was witnessed the moulding into common citizenship the des- cendants of Bourbon aristocracy and Na- poleonic impulsiveness-elements as far apart as the north is from the south, but which, assimilating with New England thrift and sturdy vigor, gave to the world a race such as it had never before welcomed, to aid in a national growth that has filled western Europe with astonishment.

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THE GROWTHI OF A CENTURY.

To follow out year by year this transforma- tion of Frenchmen into patriotic and aseful American citizens, and to describe those silent yet powerful processes, would call for a wider space than the pages of a history. What an amount of romance could be woven into such a narrative! How neatly could be described the social conditions, the hopes, ambitions and general tendencies which char- acterized this wholesome growth-this grad- ual giving up of a desire to return to the old home, with all its fond memories, as the new home asserted its influence upon the labor and the mind! Then ties that creep in by birth of children and the "marrying and giving in marriage," for ever thus the world moves on and nations are created. Those who have read George W. Cable's romances founded upon the advent of those exiled Acadians into Louisiana and their simple life there, will have an idea of the fine opportunity presented for some writer to combine romance with reality in depicting the condition of the French in Northern New York from 1796 to 1861-the year when our great civil war began-when two of the Orleans princes, stalwart of frame and brave of heart, heard the call of our northern bugles, and showed that France had not become indifferent to that "l'Amerique" for which her people nearly a hundred years ago had freely poured out their blood and treasure.

As France grew less and less tranquil, (for the throes of her labor were heavy and bitter for many years), and as at a later day the Orleanists in turn drove out the Bonapartists after Waterloo, some wealthy Frenchmen purchased large interests in that virgin forest which stretched from Utica to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, that miglity river whose waters were to welcome in later years the beauty and the wealth of America. Louis Chassnais was the earliest to invest a fortune in these lands. Afterwards a syndicate of Dutch capitalists also made investments, and soon these Frenchmen with the elder LeRay and the Antwerp company came to own nearly all of the lands lying between the Black and Oswegatchie rivers in Jefferson and St. Law- rence counties, then not set off from Oneida.

Nor was the French influence upon public affairs confined altogether to what was done by these rich landed proprietors. All along the St. Lawrence the French "emigres" found congenial homes and ready welcome among the early settlers, coming straight to the front in all the communities where they sojourned, and aiding matertally in the development of the county. At Cape Vincent, in particular, they were a strong contingent, and some of their descendants may yet be found there, patriotic citizens, speaking French and Eng- lish with equal facility. [See Cape Vincent.]

The pine timber upon the sandy "plains" of LeRay and Wilna was early sought after, and for a series of winters as many as 200 French Canadians, under capitalists from Montreal and Quebec, would be found felling tle tim- ber and hauling it to the banks of Indian river, whence, by the spring freshet, it would

be borne down past Theresa to Rossie and Ogdensburg, and then formed into rafts for the passage of the rapids of the St. Lawrence.

The "French Settlement," not far from Lyons' Falls, on Black river, was a rallying point for the early French arrivals. Here they came to visit, talk over old times at home, learn the news from abroad, and decide upon plans for the future.

A distinguished French resident was one of the sons of Bonaparte's great cavalry com- mander, Murat. This son built a grist mill north of Evans Mills, and that neighborhood was known in my youth as "Joachim," the baptismal name given to this young man. His stay was short and his mill a failure, for it could not run without water. and the stream on which it was built dried up as the land was cleared.

At Theresa, named after Mr. LaFarge's daughter, there are now living some of the descendants of two French families, whose lives in America admirably illustrate what I have tried to say about French influence in the early settlement of Northern New York. I refer to the Fayels and the Coopers, both of direct French descent, who have been resi- dents of, and prominently identified with the county for many years.

THE FAYELS.

The founder of the Fayel family in Ameri- ca was John Fayel, born in Basle, Switzer- land, in 1774. At 10 years of age he was left an orphan, and came to tliat Mecca of all the migrating Swiss, the grand city of Paris. Unprotected, of tender years, an orphan in a great eity, he was most fortunate to have fall- en into the hands of the good James LeRay de Chaumont, and remained a member of that nobleman's family for nearly 30 years, illustrating, by his sturdy devotion to his patron's interests, that spirit of ancient feud- alism, wholly unknown in America and now almost forgotten in Europe. He was in Paris all through the dreadful scenes of the French Revolution. He saw Louis XVI. and his beautiful queen, Marie Antoinette, as they were being returned to Paris after their futile attempt to escape. He saw Robespierre as he was paraded through the streets on his way to execution, and had previously been present near the scaffold when many of the "aristocrats" were guillotined. What he there saw of blood appears to have banished from his breast any desire to become a soldier, and when, under Napoleon's eonscrip- tion, he was drafted to join the army in Egypt, the influence of Mr. LeRay saved him from such a fate, on the ground that he was not a native nor a citizen of France. In 1805 he came to America with Mr. LeRay, and re- mained in his employ as coachman until 1820. He had the honor of driving President Mon- roe from Mr. LeRay's chateau (near LeRays- ville) to Sackets Harbor, at the conclusion of the celebrated visit the President made to his distinguished fellow-citizen.

In 1820 Mr. Fayel married Marguerite, one of the daughters of that William Cooper who

331

THE FRENCHI IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.

is mentioned below. He commenced a farm- er's life near Gilbertsville, Otsego county, N. Y., where the money he had saved and allowed to remain in the hands of Mr. LeRay, enabled him to purchase a neat farm, well stocked, and with a fine orchard. Here all his children were born, William. Joseph, John. Edwin and Sophia. In 1831, after hearing much about the Black River country, he removed to Theresa and purchased the farm so well known for 40 years as "Fayel Place," about a mile south of the village, now the property of. J. P. Douglas, Esq. Upon this valuable farm his children throve, Horace Greeley's New Yorker being their mental pabulum, the district school, their sup- posed educator, and farming their occupation. And there, too, the beloved and honored father died in 1840, after having cast his last vote for William Henry Harrison.

JOHN FAYEL.

The care of the family then devolved upon the two eldest sons, William and Josepli, with John for an active assistant. They prospered in their calling, but John liad higher am- bitions, and surprised his brothers one day by expressing a desire to emigrate west and to become a newspaper man. He brought up at Joliet, Illinois, where he became an expert practical printer inside of three years, and re- turned home. An opening was soon made for him in one of the Watertown newspaper offices, and it was not long before Ambrose W. Clark seiected him for a partner, and they resurrected the Northern New York Journal, which had become almost a menace to society under the erratic management of a Seventh Day Baptist preacher. The Jour- nal readily fell into line as a Republican ex-

ponent, after having served the old Whig party to its end, and soon became one of the leading family newspapers in Jefferson county. Col. Clark was the out-of-door partner, while Mr. Fayel attended to all the details of the office, writing the leading edi- torials and making friends on every hand. His journey to Labrador in company with the writer, was only one episode in his editorial experience, we having gone the previous summer to Pembina and to the Red River of the North, then looked upon as beyond the uttermost confines of even semi-civilization. Meeting on that journey the celebrated Chip- pewa chief, " Hole in the Day," they formed so friendly an acquaintance that when, years afterwards, they met in Washington, the stalwart chief was rejoiced to meet his " white brother."

Mr. Fayel's abilities as a newspaper man, were of a high order. But as Col. Clark came to be more of a public man, having been elected for the second time to Congress, and as Mr. Fayel's health had failed by reason of close attention to business, it was thought best to sell the Journal, and it was disposed of at a fair price.

Mr. Fayel accepted a position at Washing- ton, where he performed duty for a while, but his health becoming much broken, he came to Saratoga Springs late in the summer of 1863, and died there in the arms of his sister. If he had been spared to pursue his chosen calling with restored health, he would have reached the highest rank, for lie had talent, patience and perseverance, and was of so ami- able and kind a nature that he made friends of all who knew him. He sleeps in the vil- lage cemetery at Theresa, the scene of his boyish ambitions, wlience he sallied forth, with a stout heart, to "seek his fortune." I can but think he derived his gentle bearing and suavity of manner largely from that Marguerite Cooper, his maternal grand- mother, who traced her pedigree direct to the Bourbons of France.

Whether it was that William, the eldest son, felt spurred on by the success of his younger brother, or whether the latent news- paper ability that was born into this family, had reached a point where it had to demon- strate itself or become violent, certain it is that he, too, left the farm, and went to Lock- port. N. Y., where for several years he was connected with a daily paper as " all around" writer. But " westward " was the cry, and after marrying a good wife he dropped down upon St. Louis, where he made a most envi- able reputation through nearly 30 years' ser- vice upon the Republican, becoming the best known, most popular and most reliable news- paper writer upon that celebrated paper. He was its war correspondent, and his letters from the front were eagerly read all through the West.

This characteristic story is told of him: He was with General Curtis in the West, and the enemy were so close in front that all fires were forbidden. The General liad notified Fayel that during the night he should start a courier

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

for St. Louis, and thus he had an opportunity to get in a letter for the paper. It was dark, and no one dared have a fire or any bright light. Fayel was in a quandary, but he re- membered that near sundown they had marched past a sutler's tent, and if he could get back there he would doubtless find a candle, and, hiding its glare under a box, he could prepare his letter. Back he went, paid 10 cents for a candle, and started to walk back the two miles. The night was warm, and not to melt the candle, he had rolled it in a piece of wrapping paper, and carefully held it in his hand. Plodding back, with his mind full of his letter, on reaching camp his candle was gone, having been carried so carefully that it had slipped away, but he "had a good hold on the paper." So the Republican did not hear from him that time, as the courier was miles away at daybreak.

JOSEPH FAYEL.

A family of farmer boys, surrounded with the many disadvantages so common to nearly all this northern region 60 years ago, which turned out two able newspaper men, to say nothing of its other members, must be a family having some fibre in it quite out of the common run of farmers' sons, who usually take to mercantile or other strictly business pursuits when the farm becomes distasteful.

The departure of his brothers from the farm threw upon Joseph, the eldest brother, in- creased responsibilities and labors. After a while he sold his land and turned his atten- tion to purchasing cheese. Eventually he was drawn into general merchandise and a country trade. But it was his career as a leading politician that brought him into gen- eral notice, and made him one of the most

conspicuous men in the northern part of the county. A constant reader of Horace Gree- ley's writings, he was well prepared, at the birth of the Republican party, to give it cordial support and unwavering adhesion. His purse, his house, his teams,-and he had them all and of the best,-were ever ready at the call of his party. His efforts were marked by an enthusiasm and a devotion that were in themselves an inspiration to others. In the district sehool-house, that nursery of all that has made us great as a people, his voice was heard and his efforts honored by those who listened. The lamented George W. Flower was has constant companion and able ally on these occasions, with others who might be named. By them Theresa and Alexandria and Antwerp were aroused to such a pitch that a real pro-slavery Democrat was some- thing to be pointed at with wonder.

THE COOPER FAMILY.

The founder of this large family was Guili- aume Coupert (William Cooper) who was the first settler on the north side of Black river in Jefferson county. He was born in Nor- mandy, France, in 1773. During the French and English wars, which were fiercely waged upon these shores, notably in Nova Scotia and Lower Canada, Cooper joined a party of Frenchmen, probably on a fishing expedition, bound for Newfoundland. Unluckily, the whole crowd were captured by an English war vessel, and confined in a Nova Scotia prison. Cooper managed to escape, and worked his way southward into Connecticut, where he remained three years, but finally made a stand in what is now Pamelia town- ship, where he took up 150 acres of land. Like so many of his countrymen, he visited the celebrated French settlement upon the Black river, and at that place this roving blade probably experienced his first love romance, for there he made the acquaintance of Mrs. Marguerite Charton, an educated French widow, who had left her native country in company with her brother, a Catholic priest, to seek in America that life of freedom of opinion which had been denied so many of her countrymen at home, where the Bourbon rule had been broken and many of its adherents guillotined or driven into exile. She must have possessed an usual amount of fortitude to leave beautiful France for a land so forbidding as Northern New York must have been in 1801. Be that as it may, the sequel has shown that her trust in the God of her fathers was not in vain, and it must have been that trust and its spirit of contentment which sustained her in the long years that were to come before patient labor was to bring the rewards of comfort and satisfac- tion. Her future husband was anything but a loyalist-indeed, he hated the very name "aristocrat"-but she was a devoted mon- archist, tracing back her lineage to a noble family, and as she had been in Paris when the beautiful Marie Antoinette was guillotined, her sympathies were most deeply aroused in behalf of the ill-fated Bourbons. In later life

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THE FRENCH IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.

she could never speak of the acts she saw perpetrated in Paris in 1792 without hiding her face in her hands as she trembled with horror at the memory.

William and the fair Marguerite were mar- ried March 21, 1801, by Joel Mix, a well- known justice of the peace of that time. Like most of the better class of French, she insisted upon a legal marriage settlement, and I have been permitted to examine a certified copy of that agreement as it appears upon the records of the French consulate in New York. Re- garding it as a veritable curiosity, I venture to transcribe it almost entire:

[Record of a marriage contract placed upon the book of the French consulate in the city of New York, April 17, 1801, (in the ninth year of the French republic) by order of Simon Vinour Cherville, French commissioner.]

On this day, March 21, 1801, Guillaume Coupert, aged 28 years, living upon Black river, near Lake Ontario. county of Oneida, State of New York, of the one part, and Marguerite Charton, aged 27 years, of the other part, in the presence of Henry Boutin and other witness, have agreed to take each other for husband and wife, and to mutually unite themselves in the bonds of marriage, the same having been con- tracted in the presence of Joel Mix, a justice of the peace of that district.

The said Guillaume Coupert being of age, and hav- ing a right to dispose of what belongs to him, in consideration of the love and friendship which he has for Marguerite Charton, his future wife, gives her, for her dower right, in case he dies before her, and without children, all that he shall possess at his death, so that his parents can lay claim to nothing. That which he now possesses consists of a hundred and fifty acres of land on Black river. near Lake On- tario, county of Oneida, State of New York, and a pair of oxen. [This land is now known as the George Webb farm, in Pamelia.]

And the said Marguerite Charton gives to the said Gniliaume Coupert, in consideration of the esteem which she has for him, in case of death on her part without children, all which she shall have at the time of her death, and all that shall be used in common between them. That which she now has consists, at the time of this marriage, in her furniture, all her wearing apparel, linen, under clothes, jewels, utensils, to wit: A gift chair, five dollars [in silver]. a silver goblet of five ounces, eighteen drams weight, three matresses, six comforters, pillows and bolsters, three dozen house cloths, six dozen napkins, 13 table cloths, 12 pillow cases, four dozen chemises, nine gauze curtains, seven pairs of sheets, two dozen handkerchiefs, and underclothing, all her wearing apparel, such as petticoats, dresses, silk cloaks, etc., night dresses, snuffers, coffee mill, knives, forks, spoons, spinning wheel. 30 to 40 books, and the whole estimated at a hundred and sixty dollars.

But in case of separation for any cause which may be between the two parties, the said Guillaume Cou- pert consents to give to the said Marguerite Charton half of that which belongs to him at present upon the Black river, and to provide that there shall be two lots of 75 acres of land each, having equal portions of cultivated land and waste land, drawing by lot to whom each shall belong. in the presence of two wit- nesses chosen by the parties. She shall also share in the fruits and grains which shall be in growth, and in the buildings; also as to the animals in case of sale, the half of the sum which shall be realized from the sale shall belong to her, and in case of re-investment, she shall share as has been stated above. She shall, in addition, retain her furniture and effects at their estimated value, and the said Guillaume Coupert adopts, from the present time, the child which she has had by another alliance.

(Signed by both parties in the presence of wit- nesses.)

Then follows an official certificate by Joel Mix that he married these parties on the 21st day of March, 1801, in the presence of some dozen witnesses.

It will be noted that the fair Marguerite was not bad at a bargain, for by this contract, in case of separation, she was to have in her own

right half of all the land and its increase in cattle and produce, as well as whatever she had brought to the common stock, not relin- quishing to the recalcitrant William even the "snuffers."

For several years they improved the Pamelia farm, but it proving too small a place, and a good offer having been made for it, they pur- chased a much larger parcel of unimproved land, and permanently settled in the deeper wilderness of LeRay, almost upon the border of the "plains," then heavily timbered with primeval pine. Upon that farm they reared their numerous family: Marguerite, after- wards mother to the Fayel family; William, father of Sidney Cooper, of Watertown; Rana, who lived at Sanford Corners; Alex- ander, lately deceased, at Theresa; Edward, also of Theresa, and father of Irvin C. Cooper, the prominent cheese buyer; Victor, long a resident of LeRay, and Angelica, now Mrs. Hiram Becker, and the only survivor of these children. Each of these descendants reared families of their own, and their influ- ence upon public affairs for the past 60 years has been marked and continuous.

In delineating the experiences of these early pioneers, very much should be left to the reader's imagination. But it is well to re- member that we are dealing with what trans- pired well nigh an hundred years ago, when the frowning forests had to be pushed back to make room for the settlements, whence were to flow the civilizing influences that were to rear the State. It is easy to believe that the toil was almost incessant, the reward remote, and at times well nigh despaired of, the days of pleasuring few and far between, no news- papers and but few entertaining books, blazed paths for roads, slow oxen instead of horses, sleds instead of wagons, seed grain hard to be got, very little ready cash, with no market for surplus products. But these hardy pioneers worked patiently on, trusting largely to Providence and their own right hands. The elder Cooper trudged many times nine miles to a mill at Brownville with his grist upon his back, blazed trees his only guide, his dog for sole companionship. Think of that, ye Jefferson county farmers of this Columbian time! But these laborious lives at last found peaceful and restful ending, and Guiliaume and his faithful Marguerite sleep at last amid the later and happier scenes which they did so much to render possible. And so we say, "Peace be unto them."

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 71

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