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 54
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 54
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Wolves, bears, and other wild animals were very numer- ous in the town until a comparatively recent period. Smith Wood, in one season, says that he caught thirty-two full- grown bears, and nearly a score of cubs.
MILITARY.
The military history of the town is quite brief. During the war of 1812 the town contained but a few settlers. Of these Apollos Austin, John and Simeon Wood, Isaac Marsh, Ezekiel Douglass, Gardner Goodspeed, and others took part in the war.
In the support of the national government in the war of 1861-65 the town was prompt and earnest. The fol- lowing list, compiled by the clerk of the town in 1865, furnishes the names of those who served in the army from the town :
Thomas Finnegan, Joseph Slater, 2d N. Y. Cav .; Curtis Esty, 14th N. Y. Art. ; Erastus W. Leavitt, Ist N. Y. Eng .; Henry C. Beach, 5th N. Y. Cav .; Eugene Orms, 14th N. Y. Art .; R. W. Carter, 5th N. Y. Cav .; Christopher Surlia, Ist N. Y. Eng. ; Chester Steel, 14th N. Y. Art. ; Anselm B. Parsons, 118th N. Y. Inf .; Duncan H. McGregor, 153d N. Y. Vols .; Lafayette Warson, 95th N. Y. Vols .; Edwin P. Palmer, Arthur Mckinney, Hiram Pettis, 14th N. Y. Art .; Seth Stark, Russell Cork, 96th N. Y. Inf .; Lewis Trombly, 16th N. Y. Inf. ; Mitchel Boree, Levi Rock, 3d N. Y. Cav. ; Jos. Peryea, 1st N. Y. Eng .; Alfred Fisher, Francis Borean, 3d N. Y. Cav .; Henry Peryea, 1st N. Y. Eng .; Xavier Bunil, 153d N. Y. Vols .; Vincent Pocket, Peter Trombly, 16th N. Y. Cav. ; Hiram Eldred, Joseph F. Baker, Samuel C. White, 91st N. Y. Vols .; Nelson Branch, 6th N. Y. H. Art .; John Hood, 153d N. Y. Vols .; George Brimble, Almon Morsh, 91st N. Y. Vols .; George Staves, Ist N. Y. Eng .; William Smith, 91st N. Y. Vols .; Albert F. Helmes, 3d N. Y. Art .; Charles Herrick, 5th N. Y. Cav .; Elijah G. Vogan, 1st N. Y. Eng .; Joseph Bunell, John Lamountain, Joseph Gardner, 153d N. Y. Vols .; Michael Kelly, D. B. Lezott, 193d N. Y. Vols. ; George Ingraham, Napoleon Darceon, Fraucis Gallarue, William Mont- gomery, Arthur Douglass, Chas. Hunter, Lewis Sherteus, James Harvey, Napoleon Durnas, Michael Baker, Oliver Bruss, Edward Denacon.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
SMITH WOOD.
Smith Wood's father, Simeon Wood, came to Clinton County, from Pittsfield, Mass., about the year 1792. He re- mained, however, but a short time, going back to Pittsfield, and from thence to Shoreham, Vt., where he remained till the year 1800, when he returned to Plattsburgh, bought a tract of land in the present town of Altona, Clinton Co., N. Y., taking up his residence there, and is believed to have been the first settler in the town.
LITTLE
SMITH WOOD.
He was twice married, his first wife being Phebe Stock- well, of Shoreham, Vt .; his second wife was Sarah Smith, of Altona, and by them he became the father of twenty- one children. Sinith Wood, the eldest child of the second marriage, is sixty-eight years of age, and was born at the old homestcad, where his entire life has been spent, principally in farming. He was married, April 4, 1847, to Maria Goodrich, youngest child of Anselm and Luna (Bosworth) Goodrich, of Chazy. Their children have been eleven in number, ten of whom are now living, namely : Luna A., Alvah A., Simeon A., S. Eugene, Elijah W., Sarah I., Clifton L., Freddie E., Frankie E., and Charles S. Mr. Wood is one of the largest land-owners in the town of Altona. In politics he is a Democrat.
DAVID BRADFORD.
David Bradford's great-grandfather, Elisha Bradford, was born in the province of Maine about the year 1705 ; married in 1730, and was the father of five children. He, his wife, and only daughter were killed by Indians; two of his sons, Cornelius and David, were carried into captivity, from which they were afterwards released ; Elisha, the youngest,
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eseaped by hiding under the bed. The depredations were committed in a very short time,-a minute and a half by an officer's wateh, an eye-witness from the fort in sight of the house, one mile away. Benjamin, another son, also at the fort, saw the attack on his father's house, but was pow- erless to render any assistance, so precipitate was the de- seent of the Indians.
Elisha Bradford, David's grandfather, was born in the provinee of Maine, Oet. 20, 1755; lived with his Unele Benjamin until his nineteenth year, when he enlisted in the Ameriean army and served during the Revolutionary war.
After the war he settled in Litehfield, Conn., and mar- ried, Aug. 10, 1786, Luey Rosseter, of that place. About this time he removed to Pittsford, Vt., bought a farm, lived there twelve or fourteen years, sold out and removed to Plattsburgh, Clinton Co., N. Y., where he bought a farm, on which he lived the remainder of his life. He died Sept. 23, 1835.
The children of Elisha and Lucy (Rosseter) Bradford were Naney, Cornelius, Joshua, Abigail, Hannah, Rachel, and Elisha, of whom Hannah, living with her husband, Jacob Beekwith, in Wisconsin, and Elisha, living on the homestead, at the age of nearly seventy-four, are the only survivors.
Cornelius Bradford was born in Pittsford, Vt., in 1793; eame with his father to Plattsburgh in 1802; was a soldier in the war of 1812-14, and participated in the battle of Plattsburgh. He was married, Jan. 1, 1816, to Miss Polly Comstock, and eommeneed life as a farmer in Beekman- town, Clinton Co. Here he remained five years, when he bought and moved on a part of his father's farm in Platts- burgh, where he lived until 1836. After various sales and purehases he finally bought and settled on a farm in Frank- lin, Franklin Co., N. Y., where he died April 20, 1874.
David Bradford's maternal grandparents, Rufus and Mrs. Comstoek, were natives of Dutehess Co., N. Y., and eame to Clinton County about the year 1800. They lived in Plattsburgh three or four years, then bought and moved on a farm in Beekmantown. Their children were David, Jonathan, Zebulon, William, Polly, Ezekiel, William (2d), Tho, Anna, Stephen, Hannah, Rufus, and Philemon.
Polly Comstock, mother of David Bradford, was born Aug. 12, 1793, and died Feb. 27, 1877. She married, at the age of twenty-three, Cornelius Bradford, of Platts- burgh, N. Y. Their children were Benjamin, David, Jonathan, Phebe Ann, Louisa Elizabeth, William, Wal- laee, and Hannah Maria.
David Bradford was born in Plattsburgh, Clinton Co., N. Y., Sept. 7, 1818. He was married, Jan. 20, 1847, to Phebe Ann Hildreth, daughter of Alva and Mary Hil- dreth, of Plattsburgh, N. Y. Their children were John De Forest (deceased ), Bently S., Mary E., and Annie L.
CHAPTER XLIV.
AUSABLE.
Geographical and Descriptive-Natural Features-Scenography -- Early Settlement-Pioneer Life-Reminiscences of Robert Elliott and Alvin Calvin-Public-Houses-Stores-Physicians-Lawyers -Roads and Railroads-Men of Prominence-Land-Patents and Civil Organization-First Town-Meeting-Officers from 1839-79- Villages and Hamlets-Keeseville-Incorporation-Newspapers- Essex County Bank-Keeseville National Bank-Masonic Lodge -Mineral Spring-Clintonville-New Sweden-Ausable-Ferrona -Birmingham-"The Union."
GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
THIS town forms the southeast corner of Clinton County, and is bounded on the north by the town of Peru, in the same county ; on the south and east by Lake Champlain and the Great Ausable River, separating it from Essex County, and on the west by the town of Black Brook, Clinton Co. Its northern and western boundaries are straight, and correspond with the eardinal points. Its southern and eastern are irregular, following the tortuous course of the river. The superficial area of the town is thirty-nine square miles, and the population, as given in the eensus of 1875, 3203,-a gain of 509 in ten years. That part of the south line of the town from Ausable River to the lake-shore is in latitude 44° 32' 30" north.
NATURAL FEATURES.
The surface of the town is quite level in the eastern part, rolling in the eentre, and hilly in the western seetion. The soil is generally a light, sandy loam, moderately fertile in the east and eentre, and nearly unfit for cultivation in the west. There are no elevations of special importance in the town ; the highest summits are 500 or 600 feet above the level of the lake. Arnold Hill, famous for its rich iron deposits, lies in the northwest corner of the town.
The principal streams are the Great Ausable River, which forms the entire southern and a portion of the eastern border, and furnishes fine water-power at different points to the town ; and the Little Ausable River, which flows, in a northeasterly course, through the western part of the town. Iron ore of an excellent quality is found in abun- dance in the town.
SCENOGRAPHY.
The town boasts some of the finest natural seenery to be found in the world,-one of the most sublime natural euri- osities, the Ausable Chasm, the favorite resort of numerous tourists, being situated in its southeastern seetion. The Great Ausable River, in its impetuous course to the lake, here breaks a passage through the solid Potsdam sandstone, towering many feet above its bed, and follows a rugged and irregular channel for a distance of nearly two miles. At several places the river is compressed to a width of less than 30 feet. The river plunges into the chasm in a succession of beautiful falls of from 60 to 80 feet in height, and strug- gles through the tortuous channel, foaming and tearing and whirling over its rocky bed as though bent on free- ing itself from the thraldom of the gigantie cliffs which overhang it. By means of artificial stairways, galleries, and bridges, erected and owned by a party of Philadelphia gen-
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
tlemen, and by boats, this stupendous work of nature may be traversed its entire length.
This freak of nature is but one of a system of rents in the earth's surface that extend over the northern portion of the State, the most noticeable of the others being at Chateau- gay Falls, on the Opalescent, and higher up on the east and west branches of the Ausable. The walls, that are now from 10 to 50 feet apart, were undoubtedly. some time united and solid ; projections on the one hand are often faced by corresponding depressions on the other ; layers of rock on one side are duplicated on the other. Professor Emmons, State geologist, found here petrified specimens of the lowest or first orders of animal life, and ripple-marks made when the rock was in its plastic state; above these, in successive layers, towers 70 feet of solid rock.
Along the entire length of the chasm occur special points of interest, to which the imagination of the tourist has given various descriptive names.
Birmingham Falls, at the opening of the chasm, has a perpendicular descent of seventy feet, and extends diago- nally across the river, almost directly facing the western shore. Horseshoe Falls is nearly opposite the entrance, their' cir- cular shape suggesting the name. Rock Island is at the side of Horseshoe Falls, and separated from the main shore by a rivulet, which forms a beautiful little cascade where it joins the main stream below. Pulpit Rock is a rocky pro- jection over the river, a hundred feet below. Split Rock is some distance down the stream. The Devil's Oven is at the right in the wall, which seems to prevent further advance. It is simply a hole in the rock, perhaps twenty feet in diameter at its mouth, and thirty feet deep. Stalactite Cave-minus the stalactites-is just above the Oven. Hell Gate is close by, through which the water dashes angrily, and then whirls quietly in the broken circle of the Devil's Punch-Bowl. Jacob's Ladder is the east buttress of the gateway, climbing heavenward in a grand sweep away from the rushing water. Mystic Gorge is nearly midway between the Oven and Hyde's Cave, and is a crevasse leading off at right angles from the main fissure towards the west, and continued on the opposite side by a similar opening. Moses is the name bestowed on a huge rock that towers up over the chasm near by. The Long Gallery extends from Mystic Gorge to stairs leading to Point of Rocks.
Hyde's Cave is one hundred and fifty feet back, and per- haps thirty above the river, -- a continuation of one of the grand side-openings of the gorge. This cave was first visited by a venturesome individual named Hyde, who, in 1871, let himself down by a rope from the rocks eighty feet above .. A few days afterwards it was reached by Rev. Mr. Moxly, who tried the dangerous experiment of scrambling from rock to rock across the rapids at a time of low water, and came near being imprisoned by a sudden rising of the river from the opening of the mill-gates above.
Bixby's Grotto, named after Dr. G. F. Bixby, of the Plattsburgh Republican, is at the extremity of a lateral opening similar to that one leading to Hyde's Cave ; it is similar, but not so large as the Oven. Smuggler's Pass is a narrow cleft directly opposite. The Post-Office is a little farther down the stream, on the level above Smuggler's
Pass Bridge, where the soft sandstone is full of openings like pigeon-holes. Farther along the galleries and stairs lead over the Hanging-Garden, and down opposite Table Rock, where they end. Here the boat-ride begins. Cathe- dral Rocks, from above, seem to close over the way. Table Rock extends well out at their base, and is approached by a shoulder from the opposite side, compressing the water in a channel little more than twelve feet across. The Sentinel stands guard at the outer corner of Cathedral Rocks. The Anvil is on Table Rock, and is well named. A niche in the rocks around at the right, facing down the stream, is the Devil's Pulpit. The Grand Flume reaches from Table Rock to the Pool. Here the water runs straight away, shut in by great walls that rise perpendicularly for a hundred feet, and so near together that the sky seems but a narrow ribbon of blue. At the Narrows the rocks are scarcely ten feet apart, and the water said to be sixty feet in depth. The High Bridge, elsewhere described, once crossed the river at this point. The Lower Gateway opens out into the Pool. The Sentry-Box is at the right,-a narrow, perpendicular cut, at right angles with the Flume. The Broken Ncedle is directly opposite on the north. The Pool is where the waters settle quietly at rest after the passage of the lower gateway, and then hasten away to the left. At this point the tourist ends his journey and climbs aloft, passing from the poetic beauties of the chasm to the stern, practical duties of every-day life. The lessons derived from such a trip are well calculated to impress one with the omnipotence of God and the insignificance of man.
EARLY SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE.
Much of interest relating to this town will be found con- sidered in connection with the settlement of the mother- town of Peru. The full history of the settlement at " The Union," which occurred early in the history of the town, is therein presented.
As early as 1765 the Ausable River had been explored from its mouth up as far as the Ausable Chasm, by William Gilliland, one of the hardy old pioncers who first effected a permanent settlement on the west shore of Lake Cham- plain. But for many years afterwards the vast resources of the beautiful valley above were unsuspected, or if sus- pected, no steps were taken towards effecting their develop- ment.
John and Jehiel Beardsley came from Massachusetts about 1794, and located east of Clintonville, on the farm now occupied by Edward Keith. Their log cabin was erected in the wilderness, near the burying-ground on the Keith farm. These were the first settlers to locate on the Ausable River. The year following, their two brothers, Beverly and Emanuel, and their father and mother came. Beverly located in Chesterfield, on the farm now owned by Blanchard Weston. Emanuel settled near Clintonville, on the farm now owned by James Sweeney. John Beardsley ultimately settled on the other side of the river, where L. D. Gay now owns. Jehiel remained at the first location. The descendants of the family are still represented in the town.
Norman Bull came soon after, and located on a small piece of ground adjoining the Beardsley tract. George
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TOWN OF AUSABLE.
Shafner (subsequently Shafer) followed soon, and loeated just above Clintonville, on the Tindall farm.
About the opening of the century James Weston, the Lothrops and Days, eame into the locality. Lothrop settled on the premises now oeeupied by the Goodrich family near Keeseville.
A man by the name of Winters, from Kentucky, located on the Hateh farm and built the first frame house in that seetion of country,-the same now oeeupied by John . F. Hateh. Josiah Fisk and a Mr. Forsyth eame into town soon after and oceupied the Hateh farm, which subsequently became the property of Judge Fisk.
John Maee, accompanied by his family, settled near the present residenee of James Maee, about 1807 or 1808.
Zimri Carpenter was among the first settlers at Clinton- ville, and now resides near Ausable Forks.
About the year 1806 or 1807, a man by the name of Thaddeus Mason built a saw-mill at the lower end of the Ausable Chasm, just above the " basin." But it would seem that he was possessed of more pluek and enterprise than wisdom, for the following spring the freshet swept every vestige of the establishment away, and no one has sinee attempted to earry out his bold design. But a little later, Capt. Jonathan Bigelow, foreseeing that the valley was destined to be settled at no distant day, eoneeived the design of erecting a saw-mill on the rapids just above the lower bridge in Keeseville, and employed a German by the name of George Shafner to blast the roeks in the river pre- paratory to ereeting a dam. This man built the first house in Keeseville,-a log hut near where the foundry now stands,-where he lived and boarded his help until the dam was completed.
Robert Hoyle, an Englishman, and John W. Anderson bought Bigelow out and built a grist-mill, and carried on a large lumber business. Hoyle sold out his interest to John Keese in 1812. Richard Keese, who lived at " The Union" in Peru, soon joined the enterprise, and made the firm of Keese, Anderson & Keese. In 1815 a rolling-mill eom- pany was organized.
The white house in which Widow Hayes now lives, on the west side of the river, was built in 1815 by Keese, Anderson & Keese. In 1815 there was a house where Dr. Tallmadge lives, owned by Briggs Sherman, and another where Richard Farrell lives, owned by Benjamin P. Beach, father of Joseph Beach.
About the same time a few farmers had made openings in the region above, on the Little Ausable, as high as where Penn village now stands, and even farther along on the western slope of that stream, to the vicinity of Arnold Hill, while on the Great Ausable River a few seattered settlers had established themselves as high up as the town of Jay. Among these was a man by the name of George Griswold, who, probably about the year 1810, erected a dam on the Ausable River at what is now known as Clintonville, where the upper dam is now located. Here he built a forge of two fires, and a grist-mill. The ore for this forge was obtained at what is known as the " Winter Ore Bed," situ- ated about a mile and a half west, from which many thou- sand tons of ore have since been raised, but which is now temporarily abandoned. This forge is believed to have been
the first ereeted on the Ausable River. He was run away with by a span of horses and killed in December, 1820.
The next aetor upon the scene at Clintonville was Sam- uel Bullen, who emigrated from New Hampshire to that locality about the year 1811 or 1812.
Fisk & Peabody bought the property next, and ran the forge a short time, and from them it passed to the old Peru Iron Company.
The first houses built in the village were a store, which is now oeeupied as a dwelling-house by Mr. Lacy, and a dwelling-house now occupied by Mr. Walker, and a dwel- ling-house near where the earpenter-shop now stands, for the first two bloomers who ever worked there,-Messrs. Snow and Spinx.
At Birmingham Falls Matthew Adgate settled as early as 1810, and lived where L. W. Page now resides. He was the owner of a patent of land there, and four or five of his sons settled around him.
James Southard entered a rolling-mill about 1816 at the same point.
James Pilling, an Englishman, eame there at quite an early day, and lived on the " Page place."
Benjamin Ketchum was in trade there quite early, and Horace Beach, a blacksmith, early plied the hammer at that point.
Along the lake a man by the name of Baker settled near the " dry mill," at an early day. The father of Benjamin Ketchum lived at Peru Landing at an early day.
In the northeast part of the town the Norton family settled early. West of them settled the Morehouse fami- lies, and west of them the Arthurs loeated.
Joseph Levarnway, a Frenchman, settled early where Peter Halleek now resides. West of him Samuel Thomas lived where G. T. Thomas lives.
William Taylor lived quite early where Fleteher Taylor lives. Robert Keese lived there before him. West of that was a farm which was eleared and for a long time occupied by William Keese, who died there a few years ago, aged eighty-nine.
Abednego Rieketson, George Everett, a drummer in the Revolution, and Edward Everett, who commanded a com- pany at the surrender of Burgoyne, lived in the same neighborhood. Richard Keese lived very early on the farm now occupied by Richard P. Keese, a grandson.
At " The Union," on the Ausable side, Edward and George Everett, the Stantons, Richard Keese, Edward Halleck, John and David Osborn, Gilbert, Garret, Theo- dore, David, and Daniel Harkness, Reuben Baker, Andrew White, John Allen and family were among the earliest settlers.
REMINISCENCES OF ROBERT ELLIOTT.
Robert Elliott, of Clintonville, when a small boy, was under the guardianship of Capt. Wright, who lived two miles south of Birmingham Falls a long time before Keese- ville was settled. The first house in Keeseville, he says, was a log shanty, built by George Shafner, a German, " from the Jerseys," who took the contract for the building of a dam for Robert Hoyle for a saw-mill on the site now occupied by the lower dam. Some time previous to that Capt. Wright had built a mill at Birmingham, where he
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
had been engaged in manufacturing lumber for the Quebec market, probably for several years; and even before that Thaddeus Mason, who afterwards had the privilege of firing a cannon-shot at the Plattsburgh Court-House while it was in the possession of the British, was fool-hardy enough to build a saw-mill at the lower end of the chasm, which, however, was swept away by the next spring's freshet. Elliott, who was a drummer-boy at the siege of Plattsburgh, recollects distinctly the time when the bridge across the Au- sable Chasm was first built, and thinks it must have been about the year 1806 or 1807. He remembers that a cedar- tree had fallen across the chasm from the west side, and that the top had lodged a short distance below the highest point, on a shelf or in a fissure, on the east side, and that a man named Capt. Jackson crossed on that tree with an ox-yoke on his shoulders to the opposite side, where were a pair of oxen, with which the string-pieces were hauled across. Capt. Wright, Mr. Manchester, and Mr. Warden helped in this work of getting the string-pieces across, which were six in number, of Norway pinc, hewed upon the upper side, and averaging about 20 inches in diameter. He thinks the plank with which they were covered were brought from Jay or Keene. There never were any rail- ings to the bridge, and the width, according to his recol- lection, was about 13 feet. Over this the main road from Wright's and Hoyle's Mills passed from Kceseville to Peru, and Elliott remembers drawing lumber to Plattsburgh over it, from Hoyle's Mill, which stood where the Kecseville grist-mill now stands.
It is reliably reported that in later years, when the planks had been removed from the fear that the timbers had be- come too weak to be safe, a man on horseback crossed the chasm on a dark, rainy night on a single timber. Mr. Elliott says that he himself traced the calk-marks made by the horse's shoe the whole length of the timber across the chasm.
REMINISCENCES OF ALVIN COLVIN.
The man who first crossed the Ausable Chasm was Capt. Samuel Jackson. " I feel sure of this, and Deacon Daniel Adgate, of Birmingham, one of the oldest settlers, fully agrees with me. My father moved to Chesterfield about 1803 ; the first time I saw the bridge across the chasin was about 1805. This bridge was built by the State a few years previously to that time,* and here the State road crossed the Ausable River when that road was first built, by way of Schroon, Elizabethtown, Poke O'Moonshine, Plattsburgh, etc. The first step towards building the bridge was to fell a tree across from the Peru side. There were a pair of oxen on Chesterfield side which were needed to haul the timbers across, but no yoke, except on the Peru side, and the question was how to get the yoke across. So Capt. Samuel Jackson, of Chesterfield, took the yoke on his back and marched across the chasm on the tree. Jack- son was captain of the militia in Chesterfield, being suc- ceeded in that office by Capt. Wright. The bridge was
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