USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 19
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 19
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The town of Dresden is formed from parts of the six following patents : Turner's great patent, Turner's little patent, Thomas and Turner patent, Stewart patent, Lake George tract, and South Bay tract.
The pioneer settler of Dresden was Joseph Phippeny, of Connecticut, who located in 1784 at the mouth of South Bay, on a part of the Stewart tract. Among the early set-
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tlers were : Ebenezer Chapman, -- Boggs, Daniel Ruff, Roger Barrett, James Snody, Palmer Blunt, Abraham Clemons, Daty Allen, Orin Brewster, Israel Woodcock, John Bur- gess, Harvey Hulett, Amariah Toft, Elijah Nobles, Amos Slater, Welcome Hulett, Charles Nobles, John H. Waters, Isaac Hurlburt, Dr. Nathaniel Rhoads, Levi and Solomon Belden, Nathan Curtis, Jonathan McIntyre, Elnathan - Duthan, and Walter Benjamin.
Dresden Center is the only village in the town. It is a station on the New York and Canada railroad, and has a church, store, and numerous dwellings. The First Baptist church of Dresden was organized in 1823, at the house of Deacon Huntingdon, with twenty-one mem - bers from the Huntingdon, Guilford, Bosworth, Stockwell, Wetherbee, Blunt, and Barker families. The church building at Dresden Center was erected in 1850. The Dresden Center postoffice was established in 1872, with Thomas Bartholomew as postmaster.
Chubb's Dock is another station on the New York and Canada railroad, and at Bosom and Knowlton bays on Lake George popular sum- mer resorts have been established.
The first inn in the town was kept by Solo- mon Belden, the earliest store was opened by John Chubb, and the pioneer sawmill was built by Amos Collins.
An interesting cave was discovered on Spruce mountain in 1877. The only pond in the town is Long's Pond. Deer still gambol in the mountains, but wolves and bears have passed away.
TOWN OF PUTNAM.
Putnam, named for the brave Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame, who performed some of his most daring exploits on her soil, is the second of the peninsula townships of Wash- ington county. Putnam is bounded on the north by Essex county ; on the east by Lake Champlain ; on the south by Dresden, and on the west by Lake George. Putnam has an area of nineteen thousand two hundred and seventy-nine acres of land.
The tillable soil is mostly a hard gravelly loam intermixed with clay, but productive. The surface is rough and mountainous. It is divided into three ranges by the valleys of Mill and Charter brooks.
The drainage is by several small streamis into Lakes Champlain and George. In the southern part Mud pond lies three hundred feet above Lake George.
Putnam was erected from Westfield, (now Fort Ann) February 28, 1806, and at that time included the territory of the town of Dresden. The first town meeting was held at the house of James Burnet, on April 4, 1806, when John Gourly was elected supervisor ; George Willey, clerk, and Peter Hutton, collector.
The western half of the town is embraced in the Turner patent, and the eastern half is included in the Hutton's Bush patent. The eastern half was first owned by one Hodgson, and then by a firm, one of whose members, William Hutton, came from Scotland to Wash- ington county. John Williams contested Hut- ton's claim for a time. Hutton employed a lawyer named Dickenson to defend his title, and a surveyor named William Cockburn to survey and lay out the land into lots. After the survey was completed in 1801, Hutton gave the lawyer one third and the surveyor an- other third of the land for their pay.
The first settler was Joseph Haskins on lot 22, in 1782. William Hutton came on his land in 1784, and the next year George Easton came from Cambridge. Between 1789 and 1803 a large number of settlers came to Hut- ton Bush, of whom were : Robert Cummings, Alexander Corbet, Alex. Mclaughlin, James Burnet, John Gourly, Robert Patterson, Pela- tialı Bugbee, William Jones, George Willey, James McArthur, and Luther Grant. During the same period of time the following persons settled in the western or hill settlement : George Rickert, Aaron Backus, Chris. Burgess, Levi and Asahel Harrington, Abiathur and Jonas Odell, Samuel and Philo Rogers, Samuel Mc- Carl, Dyer Perry, Josiah Clark, Lemon
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Bunce, Frederick Dedrich, John and John Hale, jr., Eph. Case, Peleg Durfee, John But- terfield, and Ords B. Johnson.
Putnam is the only village in the town, and it has not attained to much size yet. Putnam academy was built in 1854, and the first prin- cipal was Joseph McKirahan.
Black Point, on Lake George, tradition says was owned by Prince Taylor or Black Prince, and that its first settlers were negroes.
Six Mile Point, on Lake Champlain, is sometimes called Negro Point, because the body of a negro was buried there.
There are two churches in the town of Put- nam.
The Free Will Baptist church of Putnam) was organized April 7, 1823, as a Baptist church, but in the same year became Free Will Baptist. The first pastor was Rev. John S. Carter, and the twenty-eight organizing members were from the Carter, Woodstock, Fish, Backus, Congdon, Shear, Bugbee, Mor- ton and Dedrich families. The present church building was erected in 1841, and repaired in 1876.
The United Presbyterian church of Putnam was organized at the house of William Hut- ton in the year 1803, with seventeen members, from the Hutton, Gourly, 'Easton, Corbet, Cummings, Willey, Robertson, Shiel and Mc- Laughlin families, which had mostly come from Scotland. The first minister was Rev. James Miller, and the third and present church edifice was built in 1857.
Within the boundaries were performed some of the most daring exploits of Putnam, who fought at Bunker Hill, of Stark who won Benmington, and of Rogers whose effort to support Royalty seemed to have cost him his personal bravery and his military genius.
"Gen. Israel Putnam was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the 7th of January, 1718. He was descended from one of the first set- tlers of that ancient New England town. His education was neglected, and he grew to man- hood with a vigorous but uncultivated mind.
He deliglited in athletic exercises, and gener- ally bore the palm among his fellows. At the age of twenty-one years he commenced the the life of a farmer, in Pomfret, Connecticut, where he 'pursued the even tenor of his way' until 1754, when he was appointed to the com- mand of a company of Connecticut troops, destined for the war with the French and In- dians on the northern frontier. He performed essential service under General Johnson at Lake George and vicinity during that cam- paign ; and the following year he had com- mand of a corps of rangers, and bore the commission of a captain in the provincial army. He had many stirring adventures in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain. In August, 1758, he was near the present White- hall, at the head of the lake, watching the movements of the enemy, and had a severe encounter with the French and Indians, in the forest. Putnam was finally made prisoner, and the savages tied him to a tree, and pre- pared to roast him alive. A shower of rain and the interposition of a French officer, saved his life, and he was taken to the headquarters of the enemy at Ticonderoga. From thence he was sent, a prisoner, to Montreal, in Can- ada, where, through the kindness of Colonel Peter Schuyler, of Albany (who was also a prisoner), he was humanely treated. The fol- lowing spring he was exchanged, and returned home. He joined the army again, soon after- ward, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He was a bold and efficient leader during the remainder of the war, and then he returned to his plow and the repose and obscurity of domestic life in rural seclusion. Colonel Put- nam was an active friend of the people when disputes with government commenced ten years before war was kindled; and when the intelligence of bloodshed at Lexington reached him, while plowing in the field, he had no political scruples to settle, but, unyoking his oxen, he started, with his gun and rusty sword, for Boston. He soon returned to Connecti- cut, raised a regiment, and hastened back to
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Cambridge, then the headquarters of a motley host that had hurried thither from the hills and valleys of New England. When, six weeks afterward, Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental army, Putnam was chosen to be one of four major- generals created on that occasion. He per- formed bravely on Bunker Hill before his com- mission reached him, and from that time, throughout the whole struggle, until the close of 1779, General Putnam was a faithful and greatly esteemed leader. His services were too numerous to be detailed here-they are all recorded in our country's annals, and re- membered by every student of our history. At West Point, on the Hudson, his military carcer was concluded. Late in 1779 he set out to visit his family in Connecticut, and on the way he suffered a partial paralysis of his system, which impaired both his mind and body. At his home in Brooklyn, Connecti- cut, he remained an invalid the remainder of his days. With Christian resignation, and the fortitude of a courageous man, he bore his afflictions for more than ten years, and then, at the close of the beautiful budding month of May (29th), 1790, the veteran hero died, at the age of seventy-two years. His memoir, prepared by Col. David Humphreys, from narratives uttered by the patriot's own lips, was first published, by order of the State So- ciety of the Cincinnati of Connecticut, in 1788, and afterward published in Humphrey's collected writings, in 1790. A neat monu- ment, bearing a suitable inscription, marks his grave in Brooklyn, Connecticut."
" Gen. John Stark was the son of a Scotch- man, and was born in Londonderry (now the city of Manchester), New Hampshire, on the 28th of August, 1728. His carly childhood was spent in the midst of the wild scenery of his birth-place, and in youth he was remark- able for expertness in trapping the beaver and otter, and in hunting the bear and dcer. Just before the breaking out of the French and In- dian war, he penetrated the forests far north-
ward, and was captured by some St. Francis Indians. He suffered dreadfully for a long time, and then was ransomed at a great price. This circumstance gave him good cause for leading a company of Rangers against these very Indians and their sometimes equally sav- age French allies, four years afterward. He became a captain, under Major Rogers, in 1756, and in that school he was taught those lessons which he practiced so usefully twenty years later.
" When intelligence reached the valleys of the North, that blood had been shed at Lexing- ton, Stark led the train-bands of his district to Cambridge, and was commissioned a colonel, with eight hundred men under his banner. With these he fought bravely in the battle of Bunker's Hill. He went to New York after the British evacuated Boston, in the spring of 1776. Then, at the head of a brigade in the northern department, under Gates, he per- formed essential service in the vicinity of Lake Champlain ; and near the close of the year, he commanded the right wing of Sullivan's col- umn in the battle at Trenton. He shared in the honors at Princeton ; but, being overlooked by congress when promotions were made, he resigned his commission and retired from the army. But when the invader approached from the North, his own State called him to the field, in command of its brave sons ; and on the Walloomscoik, a few miles from Ben- nington, he won that decisive battle which gave him world-wide renown. Then it was that he made the rough but effective speech often quoted, that indicated the alternative of death or victory. Congress was no longer tardy in acknowledging his services, for he had given that crippling blow to Burgoyne, which insured to Gates' army a comparatively easy victory. The national legislature gave him grateful thanks, and a brigadier's .commis- sion in the Continental army. He joined Gates at Saratoga, and shared in the honors of that great victory. In 1779 he was on duty on Rhode Island, and the following year he fought
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the British and Hessians at Springfield, in New Jersey. In the autumn of 1780 he was one of the board of officers that tried and con- demned the unfortunate Major Andre ; and until the last scenes of the war, he was in ac- tive service. When he sheathed his sword, he left the arena of public life forever, though he lived almost forty years afterward. General Stark died on the 8th of May, 1822, at the age of almost ninety-four years. Near his birth- place, on the east side of the Merrimac, is a granite shaft, bearing the simple inscription, MAJOR-GENERAL STARK. His eulogium is daily uttered by our free institutions - his epitaph is in the memory of his deeds."
"The French and Indian war developed much military genius among the American colonists, which was afterward brought into requisition by the demands of the revolution- ary contest. It did not always take its place on the side of republicanism, as in the case of Ruggles and many others. Major Robert Rogers, the bold commander of a corps of Rangers, and a companion-in-arms with Put- nam and Stark, was another example of de- fection to the cause of freedom in America. He was a native of Dunbarton, in New Hamp- shire, and having entered the military service in 1755, became an eminent commander of a corps which performed signal services as scouts, and executors of small but important enterprises, when not engaged with the main army. After the peace in 1763, he returned to his native place, and received the half pay of a regular British officer of his rank, until the war for Independence broke out. In 1766, he was made governor of Michillimackinac, in the far North-west, where he had confronted the confederates of Pontiac, a few years be-
fore. He was accused of a design to plunder his own fort, and was sent in irons to Mon- treal. After his release he went to England, was presented to the king, and met with royal favor ; but extravagant habits led him into debt, and he was cast into prison. He finally returned to America, and when the revolution - ary contest began, the color of his politics was doubtful. His movements, toward the close of 1775, gave reason to suspect him of being a spy ; and in June, 1776, Washington had him arrested, at South Amboy, and brought to New York, where he professed great friendship for his native country. He was re- leased on parole, by Congress, and directed to return to New Hampshire, which he did. He soon afterward boldly espoused the royal cause, raised a corps, which he called the Queen's Rangers, and was with Howe, in Westchester, previous to the battle at White Plains. He soon afterward left his corps in command of Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, and went to England. By an act of his native State, he was banished, and never returned to America. When, and where he died, is not on History's record. He was a brave soldier ; but, according to his own confession, his half- pay from the crown made him an adherent of royalty." -
The territory of Putnam is historic ground, and on her soil was the tread of the warrior, the scout and the soldier, from Champlain's attack on the Iroquois, in 1609, on her eastern lake border, until the October sun of 1777 shone down, just across her border, on the field of Saratoga, " Upon whose hoof-beaten bosom, red battle so deeply stamped his foot and made it famous forever."
HISTORICAL NOTES
. UPON THE.
Village of Glens Falls and the Town of Queensbury,
WARREN COUNTY, NEW YORK.
From a forest hamlet to the proportions of a nineteenth century city tells the story of the growth of Glens Falls, during its one hundred and thirty years of existence.
Glens Falls, once Wing's Falls, a place of nearly twelve thousand population, is situated on the Hudson river, in the town of Queens- bury, Warren county, New York.
While the town of Queensbury was largely in the Kayaderosseras patent, and some claim was laid to its territory under the Dellius pat- ent, yet it seems from the confused accounts of the early historians that the site of Glens Falls village was at the edge of the Glen pat- cnt, which is mentioned as early as 1769.
On May 29, 1762, Daniel Prindle and twenty- two others became the patentees of the town of Queensbury, six by eight miles in extent, and so named in honor of the lately wedded consort of King George III. When the town was surveycd in 1762, Abraham Wing drew lots 29, 36, and 37, on which the more thickly .settled portion of Glens Falls is situated.
In 1763 or 1765, Abraham Wing and Icha- bod Merritt commenced improvements at Glens Falls, where Wing erected at consider- able expense a saw and a grist mill. Three years later Wing was given thirty acres of un- appropriated land at the falls by the proprie- tors of the town of Queensbury for building
these mills, whose existence was an incentive to settlement in the town, as well as a source of profit to their owner.
Wing opened a store and an inn, and be- came the prominent man of the place, which was then known throughout the province as Wing's Falls. Wing, it seems, between 1765 and 1773, had Ichabod Merritt, Samnel Brown- son and Daniel Jones as partners in his mill enterprises. In 1776 irresponsible parties of Continental soldiers visited Queensbury and Wing's Falls, and carried away considerable property. A Capt. Marion Lamar's company seems to have been the worst depredators.
The next year came Burgoyne's invasion, and as General Schuyler retreated before the British he sent out detatchments of Continen- tal troops to gather up all the grain, cattle and mill irons of the surrounding country to pre- vent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. One of these detachments visited Wing's Mills and despoiled Abraham Wing of horses, cattle and sheep, to the value of nearly five hundred dollars, while they dismantled his mills of irons worth about seven hundred dollars. His losses did not stop with his cat- tle and mill irons, but included the taking of over one hundred and fifty bushels of grain and threc tons of hay.
When Burgoyne arrived at Fort Edward in
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Washington county, flying parties of Indians and tories ravaged the country and visited Wing's Mills in common with all other places in the town of Queensbury.
The Baroness Riedesel passed through the village on August 14, 1777, to join her hus- band at Fort Edward.
During 1778 requisitions for supplies were made on Wing's Mills. or Wing's Corners, as it was sometimes named, and Abraham Wing, his sons-in-law, and his neighbors never re- ceived adequate recompense from the Conti- nental authorities for their losses of this, or the preceding year.
Two years later, in 1780-called in local tra- ditions the year of the burning-Carleton made his raid into what are now Washington and Warren counties, and his tories and Indians laid waste the whole country with fire and sword. All the buildings in Queensbury were burned, and Wing's Corners, with its houses and mills, were destroyed. Before the arrival of the miscreant bands the inhabitants had fled and for fifteen months the country was waste and desolate.
A visitor to the site of Glens Falls, or Wing's Corners, in 1780, thus describes the falls : " It is not a sheet of water, as at Cohos, and at Totohaw ; the river, confined and inter- rupted in its course by different rocks, glides through the midst of them, and precipitating itself obliquely, forms several cascades. That of Cohos is more majestic. This, more terri- ble. The Mohawk river seemed to fall from its own dead weight ; that of the Hudson frets and becomes enraged; it foams and forms whirlpools, and flies like a serpent making its escape, still continuing its menaces by horri- ble hissings."
By 1783 the village was partly rebuilt, and in 1784 Abraham Haviland erected a dwelling at the corner of South and Glen streets.
Five years later, in 1788, Abraham Wing had a store and inn on the corner of Ridge and Warren streets. At this inn the choicest liquors from Albany, Montreal and Nova
Scotia were furnished, and the wealthier resi- dents and prominent men of that day often held high revel there. At one of these con- vivial entertainments in 1788, Col. John Glen proposed to pay all the expenses of a wine supper if Abraham Wing would transfer to him all claim and title to the name of the falls. For some reason unknown Wing assented, the supper was held, and while the landlord gath- ered in quite a little sum of money on the en- tertainment, Glen acted with rapidity on the proposed change of name of the place. He had bills printed, announcing the change of name from Wing's Falls to Glens Falls, and posted on every road and bridle path between Albany and Queensbury.
From that time on the village has been known as Glens Falls. The church history of Glens Falls is one of interest, and goes back over a century. Abraham Wing and his other Quaker neighbors worshiped according to their faith, but as the village grew many braved the danger of crossing the Hudson on string pieces to attend a Congregational church in Saratoga county.
The Presbyterian church of Glens Falls was originally organized December 18, 1808, with the following members : Mary Folsom, Naomi Ranger, Amy Sandford, John, Elizabeth, and Gl. Folsom, Solomon P. and Ann Goodrich, and John Moss. A church building had been commenced in 1803, but was not completed till shortly before the organization of the church. The first pastor was Rev. William Boardman, who served from 1808 to 1811. The present and third church structure was completed in 1867, at a cost of nearly thirty thousand dollars.
The Baptist church of Glens Falls was or- ganized March 11, 1834, and its first regular pastor was Elder Amos R. Wells, who served from 1839 to 1846, and secured the building of the church, which was completed in 1842, and afterward repaired in 1866.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Glens Falls was organized with twelve members in
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1824, by Rev. John Lovejoy. The first church structure was built in 1829, and the present church edifice was commenced in 1865, and completed in 1873, at a cost of over twenty- five thousand dollars.
The Episcopal church of the Messiah was organized February 10, 1840, and the first church building was erected in 1844.
Catholic and Universalist churches were started half a century ago, but of their history we have no account.
In the late civil war Glens Falls was well represented in the Union armies. Volunteers from the village served in the 91st, 93d, 96th, 115th, 118th, 125th, 126th, 153d, 156th, 169th and 192d New York volunteer regiments, and an entire Glens Falls company was recruited for a District of Columbia regiment.
The town of- Queensbury, including Glens Falls, raised over one hundred thousand dol- lars to encourage enlistments, and when the war closed there was an unexpended balance of several thousand dollars. Halsey R. Wing secured the appropriation of eight thousand dollars of this money toward the erection of the present, beautiful Soldier's Monument at Glens Falls. The contract for this monu- ment was let to R. T. Baxter, a marble manu- facturer of the village, and a public spirited citizen, who completed the great work at a loss of four thousand dollars to himself. This beautiful monument, that has been so often praised and so much admired, stands on a choice and selected spot at Glens Falls, and was dedicated on Decoration Day, 1872, when a large concourse of citizens and visitors were present. On the monument thus erected by the town of Queensbury, is inscribed the names of the following battles in which her. soldiers fought : Bull Run, Antietam, Gettys- burg, Hanover, Wilderness, South Mountain, Yorktown, Cold Harbor, Drewry's Bluff, Fair Oaks, Fort Fisher and Bermuda Hundred. A list of the names of the soldiers of the town who lost their lives from 1861 to 1865, is given on the different sides of the graceful marble 10
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shaft, and a tablet on one side is inscribed with the names of Capt. Edward Riggs and Daniel V. Brown, who perished at sea, Jan- uary 8, 1865, off the Virginia coast, while in the discharge of their duties as military agents of the town of Queensbury.
Since the late civil war, Glens Falls has grown in wealth, population and importance.
The population in 1870 was four thousand five hundred, and ten years later was reported at four thousand nine hundred. In 1890 the. population was nine thousand five hundred and nine.
Glens Falls has outstripped many of its contemporaries ; its present is full of possi- bilities, its future is one of hope. The village has water power, and is situated within reach of the coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania, and the forest region of northern New York, and manufacturing might be made the keynote of its future progress, as it is connected by canal and rail with many leading markets.
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