History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Clinton County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 40
USA > New York > Franklin County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 40

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In those days, as at present, there were "doubtful balances of rights and wrongs, and weary lawyers with endless tongues." Among the first resident Gamaliel of the law who raised their voices in Plattsburgh were Adrial Peabody, who was admitted to the bar in 1795, and Caleb Nichols and Eleazer Miller, ; who were admitted in 1796- 97. Previous to this time the business of the court had been transacted by attorneys from other sections, who trav- cled the circuit with the judges.

The first disciples of Esculapius who came to reside in the village were Doctors John Miller, Chauncey Fitch, Oliver Davidson, and Benj. J. Moocrs. Thesc were here prior to 1812.

EVENTS OF 1811-23.

From 1811 to 1823 spanned a prosperous era in the his- tory of the village. In 1811 the movement was started which resulted in the erection of the academy. The same year the Plattsburgh Republican was established. The vil- lage was incorporated in 1815, and in 1816 the little band of religious workers, who had held their first meeting as far back as 1792, dedicated their first house of worship. A bank was organized in 1817. Other evidences of a pro- gressive civilization followed, and in 1823 Plattsburgh con- tained three hundred houses, a church, a bank, the court-

# There was also another block-house in the village, which stood near the present residence of Mrs. J. D. Woodward, on Broad Street.

t See chapter on the Bar of Clinton County.

# See chapter on the Medical Society of Clinton County.

RESIDENCE OF S. F. VILAS, PLATTSBURGH, NEW YORK .

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TOWN OF PLATTSBURGH.

house, an academy, three printing-offices. a flouring-mill, two saw-mills, a fulling-mill and clothing-works, an oil-mill, two carding-machines, three tanneries, fifteen retail stores, and a distillery.

At this time Judge John Lynde was postmaster, and in the Plattsburgh Republican of April 26, 1823, is the fol- lowing notice : " We have received no mail from the South for several days. We understand that for the future it will come but once a week." The postage at that time was 25 cents per letter.

In 1835 the population had increased to 2500, and Plattsburgh was ranked among the prosperous villages of the State. There were fourteen resident lawyers, three physi- cians, and four clergymen.

Andrew Moore, Sailly & Hicks, Samuel Himnan, and D. L. Fouquet were the principal merchants who occupied the stone row at the head of Bridge Street. The south store in the brick block between Bridge Street and the pub- lic square was occupied by Heman and Cyrus Cady, and the old wooden building on the corner of River and Bridge Streets by Lawrence Myers. James Bailey and Cornelius Halsey were on the north side of Bridge Street, between River and Margaret ; Moss Kent Platt, on the corner of Bridge and Margaret ; Thomas Goldsmith, on the corner of Oak and Broad; William H. Morgan, Hugh McMurry, and Samuel Lowell, on the east side of the river ; Ephraim Buck, on Margaret ; and Paul Marshall, on River Street ; Joseph Durkee, John Archy, Asa Saunders, and Michael Kearney were proprietors of small establishments.

"There were three hotels in the village at this time, viz., the Village Hotel, kept by John Nichols, which occupied the present site of the Witherill House ; the Phoenix, John McKee, proprietor, where the Cumberland House now stands ; and Fouquet's Stage House.

Daniel Tenney was the proprietor of a hat-store on River Street, and Amos A. Prescott had a jewelry-store and book- store on Margaret Street.

In addition to the establishments mentioned above there were six tailor-shops, two bake-shops, one marble-shop, two butcher-shops, six milliners and dressmakers, five boot-and. shoe stores, five blacksmiths, four wheelwrights, three tan- ners and curriers, four saddle- and harness-makers, four head carpenters and joiners, six head masons, three painters, two butchers, two landscape- and portrait-painters, two tin- shops, and two barber-shops, " one by Doct. Thomas, who always gave his customers ' the Boston touch, sir,' and the other by Gcorge Haynes, whose name, as appears from the town records, was ' Sir George Provost."

Cumberland Ilead .- In the early history of the town, Cumberland Head occupied no inconsiderable place. Stores were established here as early as 1786-87 by Peter Sailly, John Fantfrayde, and others, this being the point where all freight intended for Plattsburgh and the surrounding coun- try was landed, as the boats for many years did not enter the bay in their passage over the lake. It was connected with Grand Isle by ferry, and was also the port of entry for the district of Champlain .*

In 1815 the old tavern at the Ransom Landing,-which which was the only landing for steamboats until 1817, --- passed into the hands of John Nichols, and he announced that he would run a stage between his house and the vil- lage " for the particular accommodation of the steamboats." This state of affairs, however, lasted but a few years later. The steamers finally entered the bay, landing at the wharf in the village. The old landing was abandoned, the mer- cantile interests, which for a time had flourished there, were removed, and Cumberland Head settled down to a quiet farming community.

On Cumberland Head, in the family burying-ground of the Hagars, is the grave of Maj. John Addams, of the Revolutionary army, who died in June, 1823, in the eighty- sixth year of his age.

In the Woolsey burying-ground is a grave upon the headstone of which is the following inscription : "Sacred to the memory of Capt. John Schenek, who died in his country's service, July 2, 1813, aged thirty-nine years. Far from his own family, his remains were deposited in the mausoleum of a friend."

Cumberland Head was called by the French Cap Scou- mouton or Scononton, derived from the Mohawk Ough- scanoantoo, signifying a deer (Palmer).

CHAPTER XXXVI.

PLATTSBURGH-(Continued).

Prominent Early Settlers-Melancton Smith-Zephaniah Platt-Pe- ter Sailly-Charles Platt-Melancton L. Woolsey-Benjamin Mooers -Thomas Treadwell-Other Pioneers-Incidents of the War of 1812-Visit of President Monroe-Interesting Proceedings-The Forest Banquet-The Cold Summer of 1816.

PROMINENT among the early settlers in Plattsburgh Old Patent were Melancton Smith, Zephaniah Platt, Peter Sailly, Charles Platt, Melancton L. Woolsey, Benjamin Mooers, and Thomas Treadwell. The two latter-Moocrs and Treadwell-located in what is now Beekmantown. (See History of Beekmantown.)

Melancton Smith was a native of Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y., born in 1744. While a boy he was placed in a re- tail store in Poughkeepsie, and resided in that town until his removal to New York, in 1784. At the early age of thirty-one he was chosen one of the delegates to represent the county of Dutchess in the first Provincial Congress of New York, which met in May, 1775, and soon became a leading and distinguished member of that body. He was one of the committee who proposed the celebrated address to the Canadians at the commencement of the Revolution- ary struggle.

June 22, 1776, Mr. Smith was appointed captain com- mandant of three companies of militia raised in Dutchess County and West Chester, and the next year was placed on the commission to prevent and subdue insurrection and dis- satisfaction in those counties. He was in the same year appointed the first sheriff of Dutchess County, which office

" This port of entry was established by Mr. Woolsoy, collector of customs, the predecessor of Mr. Peter Sailly.

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

he held for four years, and was afterwards made a judge of the Common Pleas .*

In 1778, though then a resident of the city of New York, Mr. Smith was chosen by the people of Dutchess County to the convention which met in June of that year to consider the constitution of the United States, as pre- pared by the convention at Philadelphia in May of the pre- ceding year. In the discussions and deliberations of this body he exhibited talents and information of the highest order, and was ranked as one of the ablest opponents of Hamilton and Livingston on the floor of the convention. When it was ascertained that a sufficient number of States had so decided as to render the adoption of the constitution certain, Mr. Smith gave up his objections. "This was deemed at the time," says Chancellor Kent, " a magnani- mous sacrifice of preconceived principles and party discipline for the national welfare, and the effort was the greater, in- asmuch as he had to desert his friend, Governor Clinton, who persevered to the end in his hostility to the constitu- tion."+

" Mr. Smith was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Smith, of New Jersey, who died in 1770; his sec- ond, Margaret, daughter of Richbill Motte, of Long Island, whom he married in 1771, and by whom he had four chil- dren, Richbill, Melancton, Sidney, and Phobe, all of whom afterwards resided in Plattsburgh. He died in the city of New York on the 29th of July, 1798, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.

" Melancton Smith," says Mr. Dunlap, " was a man of rough exterior, powerful in bodily appearance, and un- daunted in expressing his mind, which he did in plain lan- guage, but with a sarcasm that was cutting and a humor correct and playful." " He was," says Chancellor Kent, " very amiable in his temper and disposition, of a religious cast, and very fond of metaphysical and logical discussions, in which he was a master." In private life he was kind, affectionate, and communicative, and as benevolent as amiable; indeed, his charity knew no limits. While the army was encamped near his residence, in Dutchess County, the females of the family were constantly employed in mak- ing clothing for the soldiers. " I could only make up my bedding by stealth," Mrs. Smith afterwards used to say, "for if the judge came in and found me sewing upon a pair of sheets, he would request the cloth cut into shirts for the half-naked soldiers of Washington's army."

Zephaniah Platt was possessed of a clear, sound, and dis- criminating mind, and was classed among the first men of the State. In 1776, when forty-one years of age, he was chosen a delegate from Dutchess County to the first Pro- vincial Congress, and occupied a prominent position in that body. He was a member of the Committee of Safety, and took an active part in the convention called for forming a constitution for the State. He was for a short time com- missary for the troops under command of Brig .- Gen. Clin- ton. In June, 1777, he was appointed a judge of the Dutchess Common Pleas, and the same year was elected one of the State senators for the middle district, then composed

of the counties of Dutchess, Ulster, and Orange. He was "also a member of the State convention which assembled at Poughkeepsie, in June, 1788, to deliberate on the adoption of the constitution of the United States.

In the spring of 1777 the counties of Dutchess and West Chester were filled with disaffected persons, who, it was feared, upon the first advance of the British troops out of New York City, would attack those friendly to the Amer- ican cause. To prevent this, the Provincial Convention ap- pointed Mr. Platt and two other members of their body a committee to clear those counties of all dangerous and dis- affected persons. " You are," were the instructions to the committee, "on every occasion, by every means in your power (torture excepted), to compel the discovery and de- livery of all spies and emissaries of the enemy, whom you may have reason to believe are concealed in any part of the country through which you may make your progress, and upon due proof immediately execute them in terrorem."} The committee executed the delicate and responsible duty confided to them with firmness, and with the most impartial justice.

After the war Mr. Platt engaged largely in the purchase of military land warrants, and located them principally upon Lake Champlain. He removed from Poughkeepsie to Plattsburgh about the year 1801, where he resided until his death, in September, 1807.

Peter Sailly was a native of Lorraine, France. He first visited the United States in 1783, and made a tour of ex- ploration through the valley of the Mohawk and the country bordering on Lake Champlain. In 1785 he re- turned to France for his family, with whom he arrived at the city of New York in the summer of that year, and, having passed the winter in Albany, settled the following spring in the town of Plattsburgh. Mr. Sailly was a man of great probity, possessing strong powers of mind and a clear discernment of character. He was active, enter- prising, and firm ; a master of order and method, and scrupulously exact in his business transactions. Although educated in a foreign land, he brought to the country of his adoption a mind deeply iuibued with the principles of liberty, which he carefully cherished and enlarged in after- life. He held several offices of public trust, and to the hour of his death enjoyed the unlimited confidence of his fellow-men. In 1804 he was elected a member of Congress from the Saratoga, Clinton, and Essex districts, and by his strict attention to business and unostentatious course won the confidence of Mr. Jefferson, by whom he was soon after appointed collector of customs for the district of Champlain, an office he held through the successive admin- istrations of Madison and Monroe, until his death, in 1826, a period of over eigliteen years.

The duties of collector during a portion of this time were most delicate and responsible, as upon the revenue officers devolved the arduous and unpopular service of put- ting in execution the embargo and non-intercourse laws. In the discharge of this duty Mr. Sailly never hesitated, but upon all occasions enforced the laws with promptness and strict impartiality. Kind and affable in his intercourse

* Journal of the New York Provincial Congress.

+ Chancellor Kent, as quoted in Appendix to Thompson's History of Long Island.

¿ Journal of the New York Provincial Congress.

RESIDENCE OF S. P. BOWEN, PLATTSBURGH, N. Y.

155

TOWN OF PLATTSBURGH.

with his fellow-citizens, he wounded the feelings of none by a rough or unnecessary display of power, while his firm- ness and determination of character were too well under- stood for any one to hope by the strongest opposition to deter him from the prompt discharge of his public duties.

Charles Platt was a native of Long Island and a brother of Zephaniah Platt. He removed to Plattsburgh soon after the organization of the town, was elected its first supervisor, and for several years was town clerk. He was first judge of the Clinton Common Pleas until the year 1804, and in 1808 was appointed to the office of county clerk, which he held until 1822.

Melancton L. Woolsey was the youngest son of Melanc- ton T. Woolsey, of Long Island, and in early life had served as an offiecr in the army and as aid to Governor Clinton. He removed to Plattsburgh in 1785, was soon after appointed clerk of Clinton County, and was for sev- eral years collector of customs for the Champlain district.

Among other early settlers within the present boundaries of Plattsburgh beside those mentioned above and on pre- eeding pages were the following: Major Owls, a Mr. Roberts, Nathan Averill, grandfather of H. K. Averill, Jr .; a Samuel Norcross, who was killed Sept. 9, 1814; Capt. Sherry, who was in command of a militia company when Col. Murray burned the public building ; a Mr. Ham- mond, Mr. McIntyre, Hilliard, etc. A pioneer in the west- ern part of the town was William Gilliland.

The following are also mentioned as among the pioneers : Kinner Neweomb, Thos. Allen, John B. Hartwiek, Der- riek Webb, Jabez Pettie, Moses Soper, Lueius Reynolds, Charles McCreedy, Ichabod Truesdale, Peter Roberts, Wil- liam Campbell, Benjamin Ketchum, Benjamin Graves, John Addams, Frederick Durant, William Coe, Russell Ransom, Benjamin Mooers, William P. and Theodorus Platt, Lam- bert Hoppin, John Stevenson, Gideon Ruger, Joshua Hill- yard, Abram Webb, Benjamin Reynolds, John Roberts, Benjamin Hammond, Nathaniel Platt, Samuel Benson, Eliphalet Haskins, Joseph Ormsby, Benjamin Vaughn, John Wait, William Bailey, William Pitt Platt, Levi Platt, Joseph Inslee, Daniel Averill, Nathan Averill, Edward Antil, Simon Neweomb, Gilbert Thew, Nathaniel Z. Platt.

The first child born in this town was Ida Ostrander, Sept. 7, 1785.

The first male ehild born was Platt Newcomb, who re- ceived a gift of one hundred aeres of land in the western part of the town, where he subsequently resided.

The first marriage was that of Peter Sailly and Marianne Adelaide Grielle, June 8, 1789, and the first death that of Mrs. Sailly, first wife of Peter Sailly, Dec. 23, 1786.

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR OF 1812.

The burning of Plattsburgh by Col. Murray, and the inei- dents connected therewith, are so thoroughly detailed in the General History that no mention is needed in this con- nection. A few incidents of the battle of Plattsburgh not found in the General History will, however, be subjoined, for most of which the author is indebted to vol. viii. of Niles' Weekly Register, and to Hon. Peter Sailly Palmer.

" The wounded of both fleets and our army, the same evening, were landed at our cantonment on the island.

" The enemy was not neglected ; prompt assistance was indiscriminately rendered. Those who had but one hour previous been deadly foes now lodged by each other's side like brothers and friends, giving and receiving the tenderest words of consolation.

" It is as true that Macdonough is religious as that he is a brave man. He made a most appropriate prayer over the dead previous to their interment. The following anecdote will interest you. At the moment the British were bearing down, an officer asked permission of the commodore to issue an extra ration of grog to the men. 'No,' was the reply ; ' my men shall go cool into action, excited by no stimulus except their native valor.'

" On the 11th September, after the British column, which crossed the Saranac, had broken, and the men were making the best of their way baek, Hazen Mooers and Mr. Brooks and Stafford pursued a party of the enemy's light troops, double their number, for nearly two miles, keeping up a constant fire upon them, which they returned occasionally. At length the British party hesitated about the course they were pursuing, and our men told them they were lost and called upon them to surrender, which they consented to, after obtaining a pledge from the militiamen that they should be well treated. Scarcely had the captors made their disposition for bringing in their prize when two other British soldiers came back and commenced a fire on them, reproaching their comrades for having, five of them com- pletely equipped, surrendered to three militia riflemen. With five prisoners in custody, who might attempt to retake themselves, encumbered with the equipment of their eap- tives, and no aid within reach, our riflemen were eager only to get off with the prisoners; but the soldiers were so obstinate in the pursuit, finding no resistance, that Mr. Stafford eoneealed himself and awaited their near approach, when he gave one of the soldiers a deadly shot, and the other relinquished the pursuit. The prisoners, a corporal and four men, were brought in to Gen. Mooers.

"On the same day a few of our militia, conducted by Capt. Aiken, of Essex County, overtook a party who had Maj. Skinner, whom they had made prisoner. The party attempted to ford the river. When about half-way across, the men who held the major were shot down by his side ; one of them held so fast to his sleeve as to tear off the euff of his coat, and the current took them down the stream. Maj. Skinner, however, extricated himself and swam ashore. The residue of the party threw down their arms, and cried out, ' For God's sake spare our lives.' The firing ceased. Capt. Aiken brought in several prisoners and Maj. Skinner, whom he rescued from their hands. Maj. Skinner was previously robbed of his equipage and about $100 in money, which he did not recover.

" During the siege, Abel Chamberlin and Eli Lewis crossed the Saranae, and made an officer prisoner. He was in a house abont twenty rods from a British pieket ; they took him out of the back door, put one of their coats upon him, and piloted him through the woods to the upper bridge, and from thence to Salmon River, a distance of about twelve or fourteen miles.

"On the morning of the 9th September, two citizens of the town found a soldier of the British army asleep in his

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

tent, and made him prisoner. In coming into town they were joined by another citizen ; none of them had arms. About a quarter of a mile west of the village they met three British soldiers, armed, going on to join the army. When within a few paces of each other, the citizens sprang upon the soldiers, disarmed, and brought them in prisoners.

" In the affray, Mr. Samuel Norcross, a respectable, in- dustrious citizen, was shot through the thigh, and expired in about two hours. Shelden Durkee and Ephraim Rand were the two other citizens."

The following narrative of the death of Norcross is copied from an address delivered at Plattsburgh, Sept. 11, 1843, by A. C. Moore, Esq. :

" It was on the morning of the 12th that Shelden Durkee, Ephraim Rand, and Samuel Norcross, entirely unarmed, met three British soldiers on the retreat, and simultaneously sprang upon them and seized their guns. A most desperate personal rencounter ensued,-a struggle for life. Rand and his antagonist, equally matched in point of strength, strained every sinew for the mastery, which neither could obtain. Norcross sunk before the superior power of his adversary, who threw him on the ground and poured the blazing contents of his musket into his body, then turned from the dying Norcross and rushed upon the struggling Rand. At this critical moment Durkce, who with a con- vulsive effort had wrenched his gun from the third soldier and stretched him upon the ground, prostrated the antago- nist of Rand with its butt, and, pointing its loaded muzzle at the other soldier, compelled him to surrender. Then, leaving Rand to bind up the wounds of poor expiring Norcross, the victorious Durkee marched his three prisoners into camp."

COL. MURRAY'S RAID.

" Referring to Col. Murray's raid," says Judge Palmer, " recalls two anecdotes connected with that event. The colonel was walking up River Street with Col. Durand and Mr. William Gilliland, who were interceding for the pro- tection of the private property of the citizens. The day being very warm, Murray took off his hat, and, with his handkerchief, wiped the perspiration from his forehead. While thus engaged, a paper dropped from his hat. Gil- liland adroitly dropped his own handkerchief over the paper, and picked it up unobserved. This paper, on a sub- sequent examination, was found to contain information as to the best mode of attack on Plattsburgh, together with a map of the encampment and military works at Burlington. It was in the handwriting of one Joseph Ackley, who, about a year previous, had moved into the village from Canada, and then resided in the small white house on Oak, near the (now) corner of Couch Street. His two daugh- ters were attending school at the academy. A few days after Murray's departure, Ackley was arrested, and, on an examination before the justices of the peace, having ad- mitted that he was the author of the letter, was sent to Albany, but, no one appearing against him, he was set at liberty, and, with his family, returned to Canada. He was no doubt a British emissary, more deserving of punishment than William Baker, a sergeant of the 103d Regiment British Infantry, who was executed as a spy on the 26th of March, 1814.

" With the militia called out at the time of this raid came Capt. Sherry's company of New York State Infantry. When the captain reached the bank of the Saranac, and saw the British vessels rapidly nearing the shore, he ad- dressed his men with a few soul-inspiriting words, and, pointing to the approaching boats, ordered them to ' fight or run as occasion might require.' It was an order timely given and promptly obeyed. The men did run, and, if report is true, did not stop until they reached the south bank of the Salmon River, near the present village of Schuyler Falls. Considering that Murray had 1400 men under his command, the ' occasion' seemed to require it. An officer during the late Rebellion improved upon Capt. Sherry's order by adding, ' And as I am a little lame, I will start now.'"

VISIT OF PRESIDENT MONROE.

When, in 1817, it was announced that James Monroe, the President of the United States, would visit Plattsburgh while on a tour of inspection through the Northern States, it excited the good people of this village in a remarkable degree. A meeting was at once called, a committee of re- ception appointed, an orator chosen, and a sum of money which had been accumulated for the purpose of purchasing a fire engine was appropriated to defray the expenses of the reception.

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History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922