USA > New York > Franklin County > Historical sketches of Franklin county and its several towns > Part 25
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Daniel Mitchell had a store at Thayer's Corners, which the tornado of 1856 demolished, and which was rebuilt to be " storm proof." The same building is there yet, and is occupied by Daniel Gillett.
Burke has known at least two days of great excitement - one June 30, 1856, and the other July 4, 1861. The story of each is unusual and stirring. In the afternoon of the date first stated the storm known as the Chateaugay tornado, which has never been equaled in the history of this section except by the whirlwind that tore through the wilderness in the southern part of our county in 1845, developed near the western border of the town, but did little damage west of Hawks's Hollow. An eyewitness of its origin told afterward how he saw two clouds
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forming, one in the northwest and the other in the southwest, and, rapidly converging, meet with a resultant wind which swept eastwardly to Lake Champlain, but with diminished fury after it had passed Chateaugay. It's path was narrow, but within that limit it wrought awful havoc. Fences, buildings and forests were leveled. A count made two days later showed nearly two hundred buildings between the west line of Burke and Chateaugay four corners blown down, unroofed or moved from their foundations; and this included only the structures that had been practically destroyed. From the Constable line to Burke Center the damage was less than from the latter point east, but at the Center the store of Keeler & Stewart and the school house were unroofed and several dwelling houses wrecked. Thence the wind seems to have taken its course at a higher level until it neared Thayer's Corners, where it trended lower, and the store of Daniel Mitchell was utterly destroyed and its contents scattered. Some of the goods that it had contained were found later in the town of Clinton, ten miles or more east. From Thayer's Corners on beyond Chateaugay village hardly a building escaped. The only person killed was Jeremiah Thomas at Thayer's Corners, who was struck by a timber from Daniel Mitchell's store. He had only recently sold his farm, and was about to move west.
The other day in question was when Hiram Cartwright and other sympathizers raised a secession flag at the Hollow. The flag had been painted by William Hollenbeck. The time was when the Hollow was deemed one of the hardest places in the county, and the day was doubt- less the wildest that Burke ever knew. It is said that there were two hundred men drunk there on that day, and drunk in no ordinary degree, but ravingly so. The men who were baek of the flag raising armed themselves, assembled at the foot of the pole, and declared that they would shoot any one who should attempt to haul down the flag. Word of the affair reached Malone, and a company of sober men, quite as thor- oughly in earnest as the rabble at Burke, was recruited, largely from the railroad machine shops, to go to Burke for the purpose of tearing down the rag. Time was necessarily consumed in making preparations and in waiting for the train, and in the meantime William B. Donihee, then a law student, was sent to Burke by Francis D. Flanders to warn the crowd of what was impending, and with admonition to lower the flag. By furious driving Mr. Donihee arrived in time, and just as the train pulled into the station Cartwright and his friends had felled the pole, when the flag was removed, and secreted in a drain pipe in Cart-
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wright's cellar. Any other course would undoubtedly have precipitated bloodshed. It is pleasant to be able to note that the emblem was never again displayed.
Burke has a lodge of Odd Fellows (Shiloh No. 150), organized in 1896, which has a present membership of sixty-eight. Its hall, near the railroad station, owned by the order, was burned a few months ago, but has been rebuilt on larger and better lines than the original structure.
Burke Grange, No. 932, was organized in 1902, and has nearly two hundred members. Its building, owned by the organization, is located near the railroad station.
Presbyterianism or Congregationalism in Burke was one with that of Chateaugay until 1845, when, upon the erection of Burke as a town, twenty-six members of the mother church (which had been formed in 1816) were granted letters of dismission to form a Congregational church in the new town. Previous to this separation, and, indeed, for a few years following it, the same pastor served both societies -the usual place of worship in Burke having been the Morse school house, near the Center. In 1850 work was begun upon a house of worship in the same vicinity, which was dedicated in 1853. It was the first church building in the town, and it was improved in 1860, and again in 1872. It was struck by lightning and burned June 22, 1901. A year later the present edifice, finished in natural woods and with memorial windows - a very attractive church home - had been reared in its place. The membership of the church is now about one hundred and fifty, of whom one-third are non-residents. The form of organization was changed from Congregational to Presbyterian in 1875. For a few years the old Free Will Baptist Church in North Burke has been in the possession of the Presbyterians, and services in it are held regularly by the pastor of Burke Center.
The history of early Methodism in Burke is also interwoven with that of Chateangay - Burke having been within the Chateaugay circuit or a mission for more than forty years before it became an independent charge, which status was surprisingly late as measured by the establish- ment of similar relations in other towns no more important. While there is no conclusively sure record bearing upon the point, it is believed that Methodist services were held in West Chateaugay (now Burke) in 1802 by a circuit rider, though probably there was no approach to regularity of visitation until about 1831 ; and it was not until 1869 that the place had a conference appointment of a resident preacher, who
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must have regretted the assignment, for in 1872 he (Rev. Waly P. Hall) was charged with scandalous conduct, and subjected to a most annoy- ing prosecution. The court, however, fully exonerated him. A church building near the railroad was erected in 1870, and was remodeled in 1903. From 1869 to 1885 the pastor here served the church at Bell- mont Center also, and for the past twenty-five years or such a matter has officiated at Coveytown, which has a separate church organization, incorporated in 1890.
The Baptist church was an offshoot of the society of the same denom- ination which was formed in Chateaugay in 1817, though not incor- porated until 1848. Between these dates the organization had only a languishing existence, and was without a pastor for considerable periods. In 1848 the membership in both towns was eighty-eight, two-thirds or more of whom were in Burke. These formed a new society, and in 1852 began the erection of a church edifice at Burke Center. The building burned in 1855, and was at once rebuilt of brick, though not finished until 1859. The membership showed little loss or gain for several years, but in 1864 the society reported that "as a church we are spiritually dead," and that it had had no preaching for two years. In 1867, however, there seemed to be a revival of interest and activity for two or three years, following which the number of members decreased, and twenty years later they numbered hardly more than a score. The membership when the society was strongest having been located largely in the eastern part of the town, the church building at the Center was sold in 1874 to the Roman Catholics, following which services were held for a time in Temperance Hall at Thayer's Corners. In 1877 the stone building erected by Daniel Mitchell, after the tornado, for a store was purchased, and converted into a church, finished and dedi- cated in 1879. The society having gone out of existence about 1901, the building has become a store again.
A Free Will Baptist Church was organized in 1870 in the northern part of the town, within a half a mile of the Canadian line, and Elder Richard Parks of Dickinson was its first pastor. Rev. Marshall White, since removed to Virginia, also served it for a number of years. Serv- ices were held at first in the school house, but a church building was soon erected. The society grew to a membership of about forty, but became inactive nearly thirty years ago, and finally died altogether. Its church building is now in possession of the Presbyterians, and services are held in it regularly by the pastor at Burke Center.
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The Wesleyan Methodists have had two church organiations in Burke - one joined with the Bangor and Burke circuit (which included also districts in Fort Covington, Moira and Westville), and the other the North Burke and Chateaugay Wesleyan Methodist Church. The former worshiped at first in the school house near Coveytown, but now have a little chapel of their own in the same vicinity, where Carlos Hill, a local preacher, has officiated ever since it was erected. The other Wesleyan church was about midway between Thayer's Corners and the Canadian frontier. It was built in 1875, and was blown down in 1888, when the organization was practically abandoned - its members affiliating with a society of the same denomination at Powers Court, Que.
St. George's Church (Roman Catholic) was formed in the early part of 1844 through the activities of Rev. Father De Pauw, then of Chateau- gay. The church at the Center, theretofore occupied by the Baptists, was purchased at a cost of eight hundred dollars, and was remodeled in 1898. From 1887 to 1918 Burke was combined with Constable as a mission, the rector residing at the latter place, but is now an independent charge. The church building at the Center was abandoned and demol- ished in 1906, and a fine new edifice erected at Burke proper, which was dedicated in 1907. There are one hundred and five families in the parish.
CHAPTER XI CHATEAUGAY
Chateaugay was erected as a town in Clinton county from Platts- burgh and Champlain March 15, 1799, and at first included only four townships of the old Military Tract. The name was spelled "Chat- euaga " in the act of incorporation. In 1801 the boundaries were extended by act of the Legislature to include all of the territory now comprising Constable, Fort Covington and Bombay and the northern parts of Malone, Bangor and Moira. In 1802 another change was made, by which the town came to include all of what now comprises Franklin county with the exception of the small tract annexed from St. Law- rence in 1913, and including also the town of St. Armand in Essex county. In 1805 the erection of Harison (now Malone) left Chateau- gay to include only what is now itself, two townships in Clinton county, and Burke, Bellmont, Franklin and St. Armand. In 1808 the townships in Clinton county were detached; in 1822 St. Armand was set off from Franklin county and annexed to Essex; and by the erection of Bellmont, Burke and Franklin, Chateaugay has been reduced to barely more than half a township, so that in area it is one of the smallest towns in the county.
The etymology of the name used to be stated in all soberness as " chateau " and "gay," said to signify " gay castle." There would seem at first thought to be the same sense, or lack of sense, in this as in the jocular derivation of the word horseradish from the Latin " mare " and " radix," since in each there is a combination of an English word with a foreign. But if we assume the Canadian statutory spelling of the word, viz., Chateaugai, as that which obtained in France, the alleged signification may be justified. Even then, however, it were far better to make the translation "hospitable house " or " cheerful house " than " gay castle." Concerning the local origin of the name the truth was brought out a few years ago by Miss Annie Jack, of Chateaugay Basin, Que., in a letter to the Franklin County Historical Society. More than a century and a quarter before any white person is known to have set foot in our town of Chateaugay Charles LeMoyne, the founder of the most eminent family in Canada, received a royal grant of land fronting
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two leagues on the St. Lawrence and extending back three leagues from the river, and he named this seignory Chateaugay from a place in France. Lying at the mouth of the river which now bears the same name, the name apparently attached to the stream, and, following it southward, came to be applied to the town when it was settled, and then to the lakes also. As to the proper spelling of the name, Miss Jack notes that DeSalaberry, who was said to be an excellent French scholar, wrote it "Chateaugua," while in the statutes of Canada it appears as " Chateaugai." The popular spelling in Canada would seem now to be " Chateauguay," though Miss Jack says that until half a century ago it was as we write it here. Formerly the town was sometimes called Seventh Town, because it was township number seven of the Old Military Tract.
As the geographies used to phrase it, the surface of Chateaugay is diversified. There are hills, ravines and streams, with broad reaches of almost level lands. The Chateaugay river enters the town at a point midway between its southeastern and southwestern corners, and, trend- ing westwardly, traverses almost the entire length of the town, afford- ing many good water powers along its course. For a good part of the way it flows between walls of rock, rent apart by some convulsion of nature or cut through by the ceaseless wear of water, towering in some places two hundred feet above the river's bed. A couple of miles above the village the waters fall almost perpendicularly over a cliff something like fifty feet in height, and a couple of miles below the village, until dammed for a power development, it flowed through a chasm almost rivaling that at Ausable in depth and grandeur. At one time thirty-odd years ago walks and stairways were built there, and a summer hotel erected, which attracted many visitors and had many guests until the death of R. A. Jackson, who had been the life of the enterprise, left it without a man- ager, and it also died as a resort. Other streams are: The Marble river, flowing northwestwardly through the town to a junction with the Chateaugay, a couple of miles south of the Canadian border ; the Board- man brook, having a large spring in the town as its source, and empty- ing into the Marble river ; the Alder brook, the Bailey brook, the Collins brook and other smaller brooks in various districts.
There is an intermittent spring a short distance east of the village, just north of the railroad. When in flow the discharge is considerable, but, regardless either of the time of year or of the conditions of drouth or flood, it has gone dry at intervals from time immemorial, stopping
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abruptly and completely. Then, perhaps after a few months or perhaps after a year or two, it resumes its flow, usually requiring some days to regain its natural volume.
The Rutland Railroad traverses the central part of the town from east to west. The construction of the line at this point presented a difficult and expensive problem - a fill having to be made at the Chateaugay river which required the handling of half a million cubic yards of earth and the building of a tunnel three hundred feet long and twenty-five feet wide to carry the river. This tunnel extends through solid rock, and has an arched roof of masonry. The two pieces of work consumed five months in time and a hundred and thirty thousand dollars in money.
One of the first roads into Franklin county was the old military turn- pike from Plattsburgh, which became the stage route to Ogdensburg, and which has now been transformed into a State highway. At first it led northerly from a point in the present village to Brayton Hollow, and later from near the old Roberts tavern stand (now in the town of Clinton) past the Bennett place and across the river at High Falls, and so on to a junction with the present road about two miles west of the village. It was some years later that the bridge was built at Douglass Hollow, and still later that the old covered bridge wa's erected. Besides the main State highway, another is booked for building from the village north to the international boundary, where it is to connect with the Canadian system of improved roads, and a county highway runs from the village south to Chateaugay lake.
Though Chateaugay has but little deep, rich soil, its average fer- tility is high, and the town is one of the very best agriculturally in the county. It is our largest and best potato market, the potato crop alone bringing the farmers a hundred thousand dollars in a good year, and it ranks well in dairying and cattle shipping also. Because of these and other conditions, including dairy returns, Chateaugay is, I think, as well circumstanced a town as we have; and, if the county clerk's records were examined analytically, I believe that they would show as few judgments and mortgages proportioned to the population as any town in the county.
Chateaugay is not only our oldest town as regards date of erection, but in actual settlement as well. Township number seven of the Old Military Tract was surveyed in part in 1795, and Benjamin Roberts, from Vermont, and Nathan Beman, of Plattsburgh, having been favor-
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ably impressed by the country while assisting in the survey, determined to locate the next year. A mere path had been cut through the woods from Beekmantown, and following this Mr. Roberts returned with one employee in February, 1796, to make sugar preparatory to bringing in his family later. While on the survey he had erected a rude hut, at a point between the present village and Marble river, to house the family upon its arrival. Returning to Plattsburgh in April, he started with his wife and children and Levi Trumbull, Joshua and Kincaid Cham- berlain, Ethan Roberts and Jared Munson, as employees for his new wilderness home. A yoke of oxen drawing a sled and a pair of steers were to serve them for transportation, but one of the oxen gave out at Beekmantown, and as much as possible of the party's outfit was then loaded upon the odd ox and the steers, while each of the men " backed " what he could, and, the father toting a child and the mother carrying a babe in her arms, the journey was resumed on foot. The distance remaining to be covered was twenty odd miles, and five and a half days were spent in making it. At the destination only an unroofed hut offered a shelter and a home. All of the furniture, even to the forks and plates, had to be wrought out of wood by hand, and food itself, which was principally pork and flour, could be had only from Platts- burgh except for the game that could be taken from the streams and forest. There was neither money nor means of transportation for bring- ing large supplies from Plattsburgh at any one time, and thus the one remaining ox was kept on the road almost constantly through the sum- mer, an entire week being necessary for a round trip. Nathan Beman came on and returned to Plattsburgh a number of times during the summer, but did not bring his family until autumn. Mr. Roberts moved in 1806 or before over into what is now the town of Clinton, where he kept a tavern for a number of years. Mr. Beman had as a youth guided Ethan Allen in 1775 into Fort Ticonderoga: and in a letter to the Palladium in 1835 he confirmed the popular version of the phrasing (sometimes discredited) of Allen's demand of surrender - "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Mr. Beman was sold out under foreclosure in 1811, and died in Chateaugay in 1850.
Within the three or four years following 1796 Lewis Ransom, Jacob Smith, Silas Pomeroy, Peleg Douglas, Thomas Smith, Jonathan and Ralph Shepard, Jabez Willey, Obed Rust, Justin Day, Amasa and Sebius Fairman, David Mallory, Aaron Beman, Elisha Howard, Gates
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Hoit, Samuel Stoughton, William Bailey and others arrived, so that in 1799 the population had become large enough, considering the distance to the seat of town government in Champlain, to warrant the erection of the locality into a separate town. In 1800 the inhabitants numbered 443, with an increase in 1810 to 625 notwithstanding Malone, Con- stable and Dickinson, with an aggregate population of 2,094, had been detached either directly or indirectly between the two periods. The fluctuations in the town's population have been remarkable - losses in five years having run as high as thirty-five per cent., and gains in an equal length of time having been ninety-one and once even one hundred and three per cent. The greatest percentage of loss was between 1810 and 1814, and is explicable only by removals on account of the war. In 1820 the fugitives must have returned with reinforcements, as there was a gain for this period from 407 to 828 inhabitants. The population at some other periods has been: 2,016 in 1830; 2,824 in 1840: 1,952 in 1845, when Burke with 1,285 inhabitants had been set off; 3,728 in 1850, when men at work on the then new railroad must have been counted ; 3,183 in 1860, followed by a loss of 310 during the civil war. In 1865 and in 1910 the population stood at exactly the same figure, viz., 2,840, though it had fluctuated between times a hundred or two either way. By the enumeration of 1915 the population was 2,903, of whom 112 were aliens.
The earliest settlements had been almost altogether along what was afterward the stage route, extending through the central part of the town from its eastern border through Burke (then West Chateaugay) to what is now the Malone line.
The town records for 1810 show a hundred and fifty dollars of the poor moneys was appropriated for the purchase of a merino ram for the use of the town, but if anything else of notable interest outside of the licensing of taverns and of individual effort occurred from the date of the town's first settlement down to the time of the war of 1812 I have been unable to learn the fact. Its citizenry in this period was of the same type that we have met in the sketches of other towns, and possibly averaging a bit better in native force and shrewdness. Nearly all were Vermonters, to whom a considerable body of French Canadians were added at about the time of the Papineau rebellion, in 1837 to 1840, while after the completion of the railroad in 1850 large numbers of Irish who had been employed on the work took up lands and made their homes here. If the quality of citizenship which had obtained at the
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original settlement deteriorated, the less said about it the better, except that the deterioration which I have in mind was not due either to the French or the Irish admixture. The early Irish in particular were undoubtedly rough, and dearly loved their dram and a "shindy," so that it was an unusual holiday when a dozen to a score of fights did not occur. But education and the sobriety that the church and property ownership induce have changed all this, and the Irish element has become really one of the best in the place. Not only residents of Chateaugay, but people in other places where the records of some of ('hateangay's former residents are known, will readily understand the loss in character to which I refer, and will comprehend without explana- tion why particular mention of a number of men of prominence can not well be made.
In not a few cases whole families have become extinct locally, either by death or removal. Obed Rust was the grandfather of Dr. Elisha A. Rust of Moira, and the greatgrandfather of Dr. Aloney Rust of Malone, while others of his descendants are still living in Chateaugay and Burke. Thomas Smith was the son of Jacob, who had been a revolutionary soldier, as he himself served in the war of 1812, with the rank of colonel. He was the father of Henry B., Eli B. and Elisha B., all of whom became men of affairs, and were leaders in pretty much everything in the town for a good many years. Gates Hoit was a sol- dier in the war of 1812, county clerk in 1809 to 1811 and again in 1813 to 1815, represented Clinton and Franklin counties in the Assembly in 1810, 1811, 1812 and 1818, was the right arm of Governor Tompkins here during the war of 1812, and was among the foremost in preparing Franklin county for defense in that conflict. He was also in the con- fidential service of the federal government, or, in other words, a spy ; and because of such service he claimed to have suffered financially in expenses and losses to the amount of $1,397, for which he petitioned Congress to reimburse him. Twenty years later that body did vote him three hundred dollars, but though he persisted in demanding more it was never granted - the charge having been preferred against him that he had been engaged during the war, in connection with Augustus Douglas and Samuel Percy, in smuggling cattle across the border to the enemy. Mr. Hoit's answer was that this action had been employed merely as a cover for his operations as a spy, enabling him to get into Canada and ascertain conditions there without incurring suspicion. One lot of cattle that he had started for Canada was seized south of the border by United
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