USA > New York > Franklin County > Historical sketches of Franklin county and its several towns > Part 51
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But to return to certainly established facts. In 1818 the Malone station was included in the Genesee conference, whose first appointee here was Charles Northrop. A list of his snecessors appears in the appendix, but Luther Lee calls for more than a mere mention. He served in Malone for two years (1827 and 1828). and afterward became one of the most fiery and most eloquent of abolition agitators. During his work here Malone was the center of a circuit. embracing Malone, Constable, Westville, all of the western towns of the county, parts of
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Clinton and St. Lawrence counties, and appointments in Lower Canada. One who heard Mr. Lee in Bombay at that time has written that he was a queer figure of a man -low of stature, clad in a blue coat with brass buttons, white fur hat, white necktie and other habili- ments peculiar to Methodist preachers of that age; had stiff black hair, shaggy eyebrows, a clear, piercing eye, an abbreviated upper lip which disclosed his upper teeth, a robust chin, and an eminently expressive and rather pleasing countenance. The writer adds that he was full of controversy, that " his sermon was a benediction, and my life has been better for hearing it." Ten years later this same witness heard him in a county west of Franklin on slavery, with "a cast-iron logic about him that convinced any reasonable man," and "from that hour I was an abolitionist." The witness thus quoted tells of a rumor for which he could not vouch that at eighteen years of age Mr. Lee could not read, but that, marrying a superior woman, he was inspired to study, that within three years he was licensed to exhort, and that he was soon afterward elevated to the preacher rank. Upon leaving Malone he preached in Jefferson and Lewis counties, and then devoted himself for three years to lecturing on slavery. From 1841 to 1852 he was the editor of an anti-slavery paper, and in 1844 he withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal denomination because its attitude on the abolition question was not radical enough to satisfy him, and united with the Wesleyan Methodists; but in 1867 returned to his former affiliations. Among his church stations after 1852 were Syracuse and various places in Ohio and Michigan. He was also professor of theology in Michigan Union College at one time, and from 1864 to 1867 was connected with Adrian College in Michigan.
St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church was founded September 22, 1831, through the offices of Rev. Anson B. Hard, then stationed at Plattsburgh. The services, which were the first according to the Episcopalian ritual that were ever held in the county with the exception of lay readings by Major Duane in Duane, were at the court house, and twelve persons joined in effecting the organization. A number of these were not residents of Malone, at least four of the twelve belonging in other towns, and two more were from New York, living here only temporarily. Mr. Hard continued his ministration irregularly for a time and was succeeded for two years by a resident missionary who officiated twice a month in Malone, and once each in Chateaugay and Duane - the services here having been held in the court house or in the school house at the Arsenal Green, the latter of which has now been
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converted into the Christian Science church. The first Sunday school was organized in 1834. Though not then, nor ever since, strong in numbers or in a wealthy membership, it determined in 1834 to erect a church edifice; but actually attempted nothing in that direction until 1843. The exact date of the completion of the building is not known, but certainly was not later than the autumn of 1846. For considerable periods between 1831 and 1849 the church had no rector, but with the exception of occasional intervals of vacancies has had one continuously since the latter year. Its most distinguished rector was the late Charles F. Robertson, D.D., during a part of the civil war period, who after- ward became bishop of Missouri. Agitation was begun in 1867 for the erection of a new church building, was dropped for a time, revived in 1874, and in 1884 the old building was razed and the present edifice erected - a stone structure which avoids in a measure the old dry- goods box style of architecture. It cost about $20,000, for $4,000 of which debt had to be incurred ; and as Episcopalian requirements are that the Lord must have more than an equity of redemption in a place set apart for His worship consecration had to be delayed until 1889, when the debt had been discharged. The present membership of the church is about 125.
Though the records of conveyances in the county clerk's office show only two or three Irish names among the grantees in Malone earlier than 1830, John Talbot Smith's History of the Diocese of Ogdensburg is authority for the statement that a few immigrants of that nationality were here in 1820. With very few exceptions arrivals of French were later still. The nearest Catholic church until after 1830 was at St. Regis, 26 or 28 miles distant, and it was not unusual for the more devout of Malone's residents who professed the Roman Catholic faith to walk to St. Regis and later to Hogansburgh to celebrate the festivals of Christmas and Easter. Then Father Moore of Huntingdon, Que., began coming here at infrequent intervals to say mass. and upon one occasion Father Rafferty of Plattsburgh preached at the court house. Mr. Smith fixes the time of these first services as in June, 1831, and the place at John McFarlane's home, which was near the poor house. In 1836 Malone was attached to the Hogansburgh parish, and con- tinued a part of it until 1849, when it was made an independent charge. During these thirteen years Father John MeNulty and Father James Keveney, rectors at Hogansburgh. and possibly now and then some other priest who chanced to journey through this section, held occasional services in Malone. In 1836 Father MeNulty bought a lot fronting on
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Main street, just west of Rockland, for a church, parsonage and ceme- tery, and it is remembered that graves were many in front and at each side of the old church building which stood at that point from 1837 until about 1862 or 1863. This building was an unpretentious frame structure with a capacity of perhaps a hundred and fifty worshipers. It was enlarged by Father McCabe, probably about 1850 or 1851, by adding a transept, and was unusual in appearance because of a roofless veranda or platform that reached entirely across the front and along the east side of both the main edifice and the transept. A new church was begun by Father Anthony Theves in 1862 nearly on the site of the present edifice, but though the church had increased largely in numbers from the beginning of Father MeCabe's rectorship, the members were yet generally of quite limited means, and the new building project was so ambitious in design and proportions that the work had to be arrested or a priest peculiarly adapted to its prosecution found to carry it through. Father Theves was accordingly transferred to another charge, and Father Francis Edward Van Compenholdt, known as " the church builder " because of his achievements in this line in other parishes, was assigned here. He was a Belgian, and probably because his surname was formidable to the English tongue, was always known locally as Father Francis. The work went forward energetically for a time, under Father James J. Sherry after the departure of Father Francis, but with burdensome debt piling up. until fire broke ont in the building soon after the close of services on Sunday, September 4, 1870, and the edifice was wholly destroyed. The insurance was hardly more than enough to cover the debt, so that the church had practically to start rebuilding almost as a new undertaking. the fire having wiped out the savings of years. Nevertheless courage and self-denial were equal to the emergency, and in the course of a little more than a year the exterior of a new building had been almost finished, when a high wind tore off the roof and tumbled two of the walls into ruins, causing damage to the amount of $10.000. Still undaunted, the society again undertook to build, and within a short time the work had so progressed that services could be held in the basement. But when Father Ros- siter became rector he set his face inflexibly against the contracting of further debt. and thus it was not until 1882 that the building had advanced far enough toward completion to be deemed ready for dedica- tion. In the course of a few years the debt was reduced by $25,000. and in 1905 the building was renovated and redecorated at a cost of several thousand dollars. In 1917 an organ was added at a cost of $3,500.
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The first record of the church in the county clerk's office is the deed of the lot bought by Father MeNulty, and the second (as of date July 20, 1839) a certificate that at a meeting held that day, at which Francis White and Neal McCaffrey presided, Barney Mallon, Michael Cowan and William Dorsey were elected trustees. The church was then without a distinguishing name, but the proceedings of a similar meeting held April 13, 1840, show that Barney MeGivney was warden, and that the society had been named St. Joseph Church of Malone. In 1848 the name appears in the record as the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph's at Malone.
Father Bernard E. McCabe, the first settled rector, met a tragic death November 24, 1857. The rectory was discovered to be on fire, and those who responded first to the alarm found the body of the priest on the floor of his bedroom so charred as hardly to be recognizable as that of a human being. The conjecture was that while reading in bed he had dropped asleep, and that the candle had set fire to the bedding. The fire did not extend to any other part of the house. There are no records of the church extant of date earlier than 1858, and it may be that the history of the parish for the first nine years of its life was destroyed by this fire.
Father William Rossiter became rector in 1877, having been pre- ceded for a few months by Father Patrick Ludden, who became vicar general of the diocese of Albany and then the first bishop of the diocese of Syracuse. Father Rossiter continued as rector until his death in 1908. Besides his priestly character, which commanded admiration and high respect, he had an engaging personality and was efficient as an executive. It was dne largely to his management that the church debt was greatly reduced, and the fine church building completed. and in later years improved and beautified.
Since 1849 the parishes of St. Mary's in Malone. Bangor, West Bangor, Brushton, Constable, Trout River, Chasm Falls, Burke and Chateangay have been carved directly or indirectly from St. Joseph's, and still the church embraces to-day about 325 families, or probably 1,300 or 1,400 souls, and was never stronger or more prosperous. It still carries a debt of about $8.000. Father John H. O'Rourke, a ripe scholar of superior intellectual endowment and wide information, has heen rector since 1908, and enjoys in remarkable measure the affection of his people and the kind and appreciative regard of the community generally.
The original church building was removed about 1862 or 1863 to
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face Rockland street, then only a lane, and a parochial school was opened in it by a Mr. Maguire, who is said to have been a fine scholar, but with many oddities, and not prepossessing in appearance. He was familiarly known as "Andy the Fiddler."
At about this time Father Francis bought the large stone building at the corner of Main and Fort Covington streets for a rectory, and it was occupied as such both by himself and by Father Sherry. About 1873, however, it was given over to the Sisters of Mercy for a convent school, but for lack of financial support the enterprise had to be aban- doned within a short time, when the Sisters removed to Hogansburgh, where they entered upon a similar undertaking, which they have made a great success.
In 1863 the grounds for the Fort Covington street cemetery were purchased by Father Francis.
There was occasional Universalist preaching in Malone as early as 1823 or 1824, and there is some reason for believing that a sort of organization of that denomination was formed here in 1835, though no society was actually incorporated until May 12, 1846. At this latter date a lot just west of the present Methodist Episcopal church was purchased and a church building erected upon it. The name was " The First Universalist Society of Malone, Franklin County, New York." The society was never large, and was frequently without a pastor for long periods. In 1884 the membership had become so small that serv- ices ceased to be held, and were never resumed. In 1892 the society was dissolved, and in 1894 its property was sold, with donation of the proceeds to St. Lawrence University. The building is now in part a store and in part a dwelling house.
Methodist Episcopal services were held in South Malone, now known as Chasm Falls, at least as early as 1835 by Rev. C. L. Dunning, pastor at Malone, and in 1843 Rev. Almanzo Blackman, also located in Malone, formed a class there with Sherman Stancliff as leader. Rev. Norman L. Knights, a local preacher whose home was in the vicinity, also officiated more or less often in these early years, and possibly others not now known,- the services having been held usually in a building south of the Daniel Averill (now Dr. Harwood) place, which was erected for the double use of a school and house of worship, and was known as " The Temple." But no permanent or formal organiza- tion was effected until 1849, when Rev. Alonzo Wells supplied appoint- ments and performed pastoral work at both Chasm Falls and Duane, and the next year the two were consolidated under the name of Duane
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mission, attached to the Chateaugay circuit for two years, and then united with Dickinson. From that time to the present the charge has been supplied almost continuously - at first by clergymen stationed at vicinity places, and since 1867 by pastors duly assigned and residing in the district. A log chapel eventually took the place of "The Temple," and in 1867 the latter was displaced by the present brick church. In January, 1861, "The First Methodist Episcopal Church of the Town of Duane and Township Number Nine of the Town of Malone " was incorporated. The charge now includes not only Chasm Falls and Duane, but also Owl's Head, at which latter place a church building was erected in 1898, and the combined membership at the three places considerably exceeds two hundred.
In the old days every country church was open as a matter of course for political meetings, and the writer was sent in 1872 with the late Hon. John I. Gilbert to speak at Chasm Falls. The church was crowded, and good old Sherman Stancliff -sincere and earnest in everything -served as chairman. Mr. Stancliff's belief in Republi- canism and devotion to it was as strong and ardent as in his church, and it was therefore the most natural thing, and to him altogether appropriate, to dismiss the meeting by calling upon the audience to rise and all join in singing the Doxology!
The Irish and French Roman Catholics of Malone worshiped as one people at the same altar and under a single priest until the latter part of 1868, though not with the most cordial fraternization. Indeed, the two nationalities never mingle in real amity anywhere, and here there were special underlying facts and conditions to induce more than the usual segregation and friction, for the Irish had built the church originally and had contributed far the larger part to its support, so that they regarded the French as more or less intruders, while the French (of whom then a much smaller percentage understood and spoke English than now) were not greatly attracted to the services, and came to feel that they were not welcome in the sanctuary. Of the five or six hundred families of French extraction residing in Malone fifty or sixty years ago not more than thirty or forty made even a pretence of attending church. It was in such conditions that Father John B. LeGrand came to Malone from Keeseville in the autumn of 1868, and, as he entered it himself on the record, founded the French Roman Catholic Church of Malone, thereby beginning a work of utmost value and beneficence. on the 29th day of November, 1868. His first place of residence was the brick dwelling house adjoining the old Arsenal
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Green school house, and in it he fitted up a small chapel, where and at St. Joseph's for the ensuing few months he said mass and held con- fession. In March, 1869, the old Albert Andrus homestead was pur- chased, and as soon as spring opened work was begun for the erection of a church that the French should have for their very own. A tentative organization, known as the French Roman Catholic Church of Malone, was first formed, and legal incorporation was had May 21. 1869, as "St. Mary's Church of Malone, New York," but commonly called Notre Dame, with the bishop, the vicar general, Father LeGrand, Edward Cherrier and Joseph Menard as trustees. On June 13th the corner stone was laid, with Rt. Rev. Edgar P. Wadhams, then vicar general of the diocese of Albany, and afterward bishop of the diocese of Ogdensburg, officiating. A rough floor laid on the foundations gave seating accommodations to the large assemblage that gathered for the ceremony. A procession, forming at St. Joseph's church, marched to the site of what was to become the Church of Our Lady, and so many were the participants that when the head of the line reached Arsenal Green the foot had not moved from St. Joseph's. The energy with which the work of building was prosecuted is indicated by the fact that two months later, on August 15th, service was held in the edifice, though it was of course far from finished and almost barn-like. Poor as the people were, they yet gave $3,000 for the work between August and Christmas, and $4,378 the next year, with generous contributions continued 'annually ever since. From the mere handful of the French who had formerly attended the services at St. Joseph's so great an interest was awakened that the new church came to be well filled almost every Sabbath, and though parishes at Constable and Chasm Falls were erected from St. Mary's in 1874 and 1877, respectively, St. Mary's to-day includes 1,002 families, numbering 4,428 souls, celebrates an average of sixty or seventy marriages per year. has seventy-five deaths and performs two hundred baptisms. The church building has been finished and beautified, a bell and a fine organ furnished, the Andrus dwelling house has been replaced by a commodious and modern rectory, and extensive grounds purchased for a cemetery. The church property has an estimated value of $60.000, and the debt of the organization is only $5,000 or $6,000. The parish includes all of the town of Malone except the section known as Chasm Falls and parts of the towns of Bellmont and Westville, with perhaps a few scattering families in the edge of Constable.
In 1873 a parochial school was opened in a building on Main street, opposite the Congregational church, but was continued for only a short
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time. Again, in 1891 or 1892, St. Mary's erected a fine building facing the Arsenal Green north of the railroad, with co-operation by the Sisters of Mercy, and maintained a school in it for two or three years, but the expense was more than the society could bear, and it was aban- doned in 1894. A year later the village school district bought the property, and uses it for the public schools.
While undoubtedly no small part of all this accomplishment has been wrought, as it certainly has been preserved, through the ministra- tion and management of Father Edward Blanchard, rector for the past thirty-five years until 1918, to Father LeGrand belongs the unques- tioned credit of having instituted the work and forwarded it when the field seemed barren and the difficulties insurmountable. At the time when Father LeGrand began his labors in Malone conditions among the French could hardly have been worse. True, there were a few among them who were thrifty, intelligent and of good character, but a great many were improvident, ignorant, addicted to drink, unem- ployed by choice, not amenable to religious precept, brawling and vicious. Those of this latter type who were industrious at all were content to accept menial tasks, and apparently aspired to nothing better. Their children did not attend school, and illiteracy was the rule among them. Not many owned their homes, the prevalent standard of living, including furnishings, surroundings, food and raiment, was low; and pride, ambition, moral conception and Sabbath observance seemed unknown to them. To the teachings, dominating character and influence and the tireless efforts of Father LeGrand is traceable very
largely the marvelous change that fifteen years witnessed, and which is still in process. Father LeGrand had the misfortune to incur the enmity of some of his people toward the close of his pastorate, but what- ever the merits back of this contention may have been, I believe the fact to stand unchallengeable nevertheless that no clergyman of any denomination, with the possible exception of Doctor Parmelee, ever accomplished more real good (perhaps none as much) in Malone as Father LeGrand. He deserves the lasting gratitude not merely of his own people, but of the citizenry at large. He died at Glens Falls May 18, 1891, after having been a priest for forty-four years.
Father Edward Blanchard was rector of St. Mary's from January, 1884, to December, 1917. More sociable and more tactful than Father LeGrand, but not less an earnest worker, all of the betterment won under the latter has not only been held secure, but augmented. It is widely regretted that his health compelled him to tender his resignation,
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to become effective with the close of the year 1917. However, he is to continue to make Malone his home, and expects to join in 1918 in cele- brating both the semi-centennial of his own ordination and of the founding of the church for which he has done so much. Rev. T. Campeau is his successor.
St. Helen's Church of Chasm Falls was founded by Father LeGrand in 1877, and its house of worship was built and paid for with funds which he persuaded friends in France to contribute. The first trustees were Joseph Boyea and David Boivin, and for four years Father LeGrand himself officiated as rector. There are 103 families in the parish, and for nearly all of the time since 1881 the church has had a resident rector.
There had been here and there in Malone for a long time a few disciples of Mrs. Eddy, but without any society or united association until perhaps ten or twelve years ago. They then banded together informally, and in June, 1913, incorporated legally as the "First Church of Christ, Scientist, Malone, New York," with Caroline J. Phillips, Sadie W. Lawrence, Williamine S. Childs, Helen M. Gurley and Fred F. Fisk as trustees. The organization's membership numbers fifteen or twenty, and occupies the old Arsenal Green school house under lease for a place of meeting. The attendance at the service is ordinarily between forty and fifty. Miss Clara M. Russell has established herself in town as a Christian Science practitioner.
Protracted revivals have been numerous. Besides those of compara- tively recent years, conducted by B. Fay Mills a generation ago, and by M. R. Rees in 1905 and in 1915-16- the latter continuing through five weeks, with the services held in a building erected expressly for them, and of capacity greater than that of any of the churches, and adding 250 or 300 to the membership of the Baptist, Congregational and Methodist Episcopal churches - there have been three which call for particular mention. The first, conducted by Doctor Parmelee without outside assistance, was in 1816, following a period which Rev. C. S. Richardson, pastor of the Congregational church, described in 1876 as having immediately succeeded three years during which " profaneness in vilest form was common in our streets, on the Sabbath as well as other days. Gambling and bacchanalian revel were common as never before witnessed here. Money was at one time in abundance, but by whatever means obtained, whether by honest toil or frauds or pilfering, it was often hastily wasted at the gaming table or in scenes of intem- perance." But, still following Mr. Richardson's narrative, "the very
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beginning of the year 1816 was signalized by extreme thoughtfulness on the part of all classes. Religious topics became the staple of conversa- tion. On the highway the pastor was accustomed to be met with an earnest inquiry by an apparent stranger upon some one of the funda- mental doctrines. * This was not a period of fanaticism - not a blaze of religious fervor and then a heap of mouldering embers, but the fire was kindled on the heart's altar and burned with a clear, steady glow. *
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