History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

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 59
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 59

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

madge, W. B. Parkill, F. G. Parks, W. H. Cottrill, W. T. Ames, H. H. Knapp, Edward Dundas, Jr., Vestrymen.

The church is now in a prosperous condition, and has a membership of 126.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CLINTONVILLE.

Among all the sights of a decayed country village there is nonc more sad than the weather-beaten hulk once dedi- cated to the worship of God as a church.

The house of worship once occupied by the Presbyterian Church at Clintonville cannot be considered altogether a ruin, for it has passed into the hands of those who will keep it in tolerable repair. But the living body which once dwelt in it, which clustered around it, which called it home, has departed this life; and to those who remember its associations and revere its memory it is now as if the inscription Memento Mori were written high upon its front.

The Presbyterian Church at Clintonville was organized on the 26th of January, 1828, by the Rev. H. Slater, of Jay, and Rev. S. L. Crosby, of Fort Covington. The original members were 15 in number, as follows : Rev. Mr. and Mrs. A. Govan, Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Lyman, Mr. and Mrs. L. N. Ransom, Mr. and Mrs J. Armstrong, Mrs. Stark, Mrs. Betsy Hooker, Mrs. Stone, Mr. D. Hooker, Mrs. Gould, Mrs. Betsey Lyman, Mrs. Clark.

L. N. Ransom and Cornelius Lyman were elected as ruling elders. Mr. Lyman was elected deacon, and Mr. Ransom clerk. On the 27th of January the church held its first communion, when the elders elected were ordained, and the full service of the church was begun.

At the succeeding meeting of Champlain Presbytery, held in Fort Covington, the church was regularly received under care of Presbytery.

Before this date there had been occasional preaching by Rev. Mr. Lyman, and by other Presbyterian ministers in the vicinity. The meetings were held in the upper part of the Peru Iron Company's store.

After the settlement was started at New Sweden, and when the business interests began to increase there, they were accustomed to hold alternate meetings of the society at Clintonville and New Sweden, and at such points in both places as the church could provide for, previous to the crec- tion of the church edifice at Clintonville. Subscquently the minister at Clintonville held meetings at New Sweden occasionally, in the school-house.

The meeting-house was built in 1825-26, the lot upon which it stands being given for that purpose by the Peru Iron Company, as also that on which a parsonage was after- wards erected.

Unfortunately, however, for the interest of the society, there was either no formal decd to the society, or a clausc conveying only its use as long as desired for a Presbyterian church, and so after the final extinction of the church their meeting-house and parsonage, into the building of which was put so much labor and prayer, and even tears, was claimed and passed over to the possession of the Peru Iron Company, who finally sold or gave it to the Roman Catholics.

After the organization of the church, Rev. Mr. Slater, of Jay, used to preach once in four weeks. He is spoken of

as a godly man, full of love, zeal, and faith in the work of saving souls. He died some years afterwards in Jay.

Then a young man, Timothy Hopkins, from Auburn Seminary, labored with them for a while. He taught school at the same time. Here he preached his first sermon.

Rev. F. B. Reed was engaged as stated supply some time during the year 1830. His labors werc attended with suc- cess. Quite a revival was enjoyed during the years 1829 and 1830, and many were converted and united with the church at Clintonville. Among the number were Earl Pierce and wife, L. W. Pierce, and other members of the family. Mr. Reed continucd with the church for a while, but was induced to leave not long after. So much beloved, however, was he that in 1838 he was recalled and settled with them, on the salary of $400 and a parsonage. His sccond pastorate continued till the 25th of April, 1841.

In the year 1834, Rev. Marshall Shedd, who dicd a few years since at Willsborough, supplied the pulpit. After him, or from May 12, 1835, to July 8, 1838, Rev. Charles Doolittle, now living somewhere in the West, we believe.

During those years large numbers joined the church. The record shows prosperity to a marked degree, and in looking it over it seems surprising that a church once so large and strong should ever become weak and die. But with those familiar with the business history of this locality the problem is easily solved. New Sweden, from which the church membership was largely drawn, has become ex- tinct as a business centre. Clintonville, once one of the most thriving manufacturing and mercantile centres, has steadily declined, till it possesses comparatively little impor- tance outside of the business of the Peru Iron Company. The old and influential citizens that supported and gave life to the church have mostly dicd or moved away, and their descendants have sought other and more promising fields for business enterprise.

About 1839, Rev. Jedediah Burchard, the evangelist, labored some two or three weeks in Clintonville, with great success. Large numbers were converted, and united with the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. Among the number werc Messrs. J. B. Bailey and Loring Ellis, now of Plattsburgh, Calvin Durand, and other prominent business men.

In the year 1839 a church was established at Ausable Forks, and several members of the Clintonville Church were dismissed to join that.

On the 17th of August, 1841, Rev. R. T. Conant, now of Ogdensburgh, became their pastor. He remained only one year, and was succeeded by Rev. A. 'Bronson, who con- tinued three years. Mr. Bronson is remembered as a man of much theological power, ready at all times to defend the faith he professed, or to advance boldly upon all forms of what he held to be error.

From 1845 to 1848, Rev. H. Herrick was pastor. These with the previous years from the pastorate of Rev. Charles Doolittle through that of Mr. Herrick, were the strong years of the church.

Its blood was warm, its heart was true; it had zeal for the faith, and energy to pursue the good.

But business depressions occurred soon after; removals

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by and by became frequent ; and after the Rev. P. J. Myers and Rev. E. Coleman had finished their labors, the record of the First Presbyterian Church of Clintonville ends.

During its life and growth all the institutions clustering round a faithful church were maintained.

A Sunday-school was early begun, and maintained with regularity and success. There is no record of the Sunday- school to be found, but Mr. E. J. Fish, now of Kalama- zoo, Mich., was at one time superintendent ; also J. W. Flack, John Crawford, and Dr. W. V. K. McLean.

The subject of temperance seems from the record to have occupied special prominence, and we apprehend that those members who were addicted to the use of liquor must have found it hard work to keep their place in the church and continue its use. It is said that the venerable Rev. Moses Chase delivered the first temperance lecture in the village, in the year 1832.

With this church have been associated many names prominent in all the interests of the Ausable Valley. Among these may be mentioned with special interest that of Dr. W. V. K. McLean, who up the last hours of his life retained an affectionate love for the church with which he was associated during the larger part of his business life. It was with him, as with many others who had given strength, and prayer, and money, so far as they could, to this church, a sad regret that it should have been permitted to die, and its property finally pass over into the hands of another church, so entirely different in its faith.

Dr. McLean, John Fitzgerald, Jonathan McAllester, John Crawford, E. W. Parker, James W. Flack, and Dr. Ira Haywood were prominent in its history, and served as elders at different periods during its life.

But the church written dead on earth has largely been gathered on the other side. The last record here is by the hand of Deacon Crawford, August, 1855. That band of elders has been carried home,-their wives are with them, save one. The ministers who have served in that desk are most of them gone along with their congregation, and now in the graveyards of Clintonville and Ausable Forks, in other graveyards far and near, are the names of those who have once listened to the gospel within the walls of that church on the hill. " But walking in the light of God" are the sainted men and women who once gave it name, power, and repute while on earth.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF CLINTONVILLE.

The first Methodist meetings at Clintonville were held in the school-house on the hill, near the present school- house, in the year 1829, by the circuit preachers of the Jay circuit, who held service about once in four weeks.

The present society is an outgrowth of a class that met at what was called the " Fordway," below Clintonville, and which had met there at a very early day.

After the advent of the iron enterprise at Clintonville, the "Fordway" class drifted to that point.

The first Methodist preacher to settle at Clintonville was Barnes M. Hall, about the year 1833, and about that period the society was formally organized.

The meeting-house was also erected about the same time, and stood originally back of where it now stands. A base-

ment has since been put under it, and it has undergone other changes.

Some of the pastors since that time have been Rev. Messrs. - Stewart, Stephen D. Brown, - Belknap, Richard Brown, Ezra Sayre, - Witherspoon, - Mor- gan, Aaron Hall, - Perkins, - Jacobs, - Dunn, Blanchard, William Mecker, and others.

The pastors since 1871 have been : 1871-72, J. G. Gooding; 1873-74, D. N. Lewis; 1875-76, Julius H. Stewart ; 1877, C. H. Richmond; 1878, C. B. Arm- strong, the present pastor.

West Peru is connected with the church. Membership, 180, of whom 40 belong to West Peru. The Sabbath- school at Clintonville has an average attendance of 70; Superintendent, L. D. Gay.

BURIAL-PLACES.

Of these there are quite a number within the limits of the town. There are two at Clintonville, of which one is quite ancient.

The old Quaker cemetery at the Union is still discern- ible, although for many years no headstones marked the quiet and peaceful graves of a number of the earliest set- tlers of the town, whose remains are interred beneath its sod. A few humble slabs are the more recent innovations.

There are also two small cemeteries in the northwest part of the town. Another neat one is located at Birmingham, on the Clinton side of the river.

At Kceseville there are four public cemeteries, but one of which, the Irish Catholic, is on the Essex side of the river. The others are the " Old Grave-Yard," Evergreen Cemetery, and the French Catholic cemetery.

Evergreen Cemetery is by far the handsomest and most important in the town. It is beautifully laid out in lots, walks, and shady plots, and is under the control of a regu- larly organized cemetery association. Many handsome monuments and tombstones are erected there.

A walk through the " Old Burying-Ground" discloses the tombstones of many of those who were prominent in the early history of the village and locality. It is a sad re- flection on their memory that the yard is in such poor con- dition, and that a rank growth of grass, weeds, and bushes should be permitted wellnigh to conceal their last resting- places. Among the inscriptions in the yard are to be seen the following :

" Josiah Fisk, born Sept. 8, 1781, died Aug. 12, 1844."

" In memory of Elah, Jr., son of Elah and Sally Beach, who was drowned by the fall of the Suspension Bridge, Sept. 13, 1842, aged 16 years."

" In memory of John Brown, who died July 16, 1834, in the 66th year of his age."

"Olive, wife of John Brown, died Dee. 6, 1851, aged $3 years."

" In memory of Justus Jock, who was drowned in the Ausable River, Sept. 13, 1842, in tho 23d year of his ago."

FRESHET OF 1856.

A number of severe freshets have occurred in the Ausa- ble River, the most destructive of which was that known as the " great freshet of 1856." It occurred at the close of the month of September, and was occasioned not only by a heavy rain that occurred, but by the breaking away of the dam which had been erected by the State at the outlet of

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Lower Ausable Pond, for the purpose of facilitating the transmission of the large tracts of valuable lumber in that locality to the markets.

A tremendous volume of water came sweeping down the river, carrying all before it, and causing immense damage.

At Ausable Forks nine dwelling-houses were carried away, in one of which, Rogers' boarding-house, were six persons. Two of these were subsequently saved, but the rest were drowned. The Catholic church at this point was also carried away, and the immense dam completely demolished. Forty thousand bushels of coal, the aqueduct bridge and pier, a large quantity of patterns for the foun- dry, and a house in which hay was stored, were also swept away.

At Clintonville, the Peru Iron Company lost the upper dam, saw-mill, part of the nail-factory, a stave-mill, part of the rolling-mill, besides having the lower dam and a large quantity of other property destroyed.

At Keeseville the saw-mill was carried away, six water- wheels of the grist-mill, and the mill-stones. The nail-fac- tory was nearly destroyed, two gas-furnaces and forge-pipes were partly destroyed, the forge-building, bellows-house, blacksmith-shop, and rolling-mill were greatly damaged ; also a large stone machine-shop on the upper dam, which was swept away and machinery much damaged.

All the bridges on the east branch of the Ausable River, above Ausable Forks, ten in all, were carried away, and every one below, except the two at Keeseville.

The destruction on the other side of the river was cor- respondingly heavy.

One hundred and twenty-three separate claims for dam- age, amounting to considerably over $200,000, were pre- sented to the State, but the claims were disallowed, on the ground that the damage was not wholly caused by the breaking away of the dam, but largely by the unprece- dented violence of the rain.

CONFLAGRATIONS.

Keeseville has been visited by a number of serious fires, the most important and disastrous of which occurred in 1876 and 1878.

At three o'clock on the morning of March 24th of the latter year, flames were seen bursting from the carpenter- shop of Prescott & Weston, near the river, called by old residents of Keeseville the "old yellow shop," and once owned by Jesse Potter. The flames spread to the old grist- mill on the north, and on to the plaster-mill, and, rapidly extending its fiery grasp, soon enveloped building after building. It raged with great fury for many anxious hours, and, in the absence of an organized fire department, was only suppressed by the most vigorous exertions on the part of the citizens of the village. The burnt district extended, on the river, from the grist-mill on the north to William Lansing's house on the south, and the fire destroyed all the buildings on Clinton Street between the suspension bridge and Front Street, besides grain and lumber store-houses, and a dwelling-house and barn adjacent.

Among other things destroyed were the sash-, blind-, and furniture-factory of Prescott & Weston, and the brick office, machinery, and store-house, two frame furniture store-

houses and sheds, two lumber store-house sheds, paint-shop, stable, material, stock, and lumber belonging to the same firm ; the dwelling-house and furniture of Rufus Prescott ; the Methodist Episcopal church, suspension bridge, and a school-house. The total loss amounted to about $60,000, of which but half was covered by insurance.

INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS.

These are mainly of a mechanical and manufacturing character ; although a large number of the inhabitants are engaged in the cultivation of the soil, this is not the chief pursuit.

ARNOLD IRON MINE.

This prominent industry is situated about one mile from Ferrona, in this town, and is now owned and worked by the Hussey & Howe Manufacturing Company of Pitts- burgh, Pa., who own a tract of land about two miles long from east to west, and one inile wide from north to south, and includes the mine formerly known as the " Cook Ore Bed."

This mine was discovered in 1806 by Samuel Baker, who, in traveling over this tract, saw a piece of the clear, blue iron ore, which had become uncovered beneath the roots of a pine tree that had been blown over. He took it with him to Jay, where he was bound, and smelted it in a blacksmith's forge, making a small bar of iron of excellent quality. The lots were 190 and 200 of Maul's patent, con- taining about 407 acres, and the tract was owned by Judge Winters, of New York City. Baker was a poor man, and could do but little towards purchasing the land himself; so he took into his confidence John W. Southmayd, of Jay, and Dr. Eliphalet Stickney, who was boarding with Mr. Southmayd. But little was done, however, until a year later, when they disclosed the secret to Elisha Arnold, of Peru. A mutual agreement was entered into between the four to buy the land if possible, each to own one-quarter. Mr. Arnold went to New York, and the result of a long ne- gotiation was that the land was purchased of Judge Winters for $800.

The company was formed according to agreement, and operations were immediately commenced, and continued until 1812, when Baker sold out to the other three, Arnold, Stickney, and Southmayd, they and their heirs remaining in possession until March 3, 1864, when it was purchased by the present owners, C. G. Hussey and Thomas M. Howe. Up to the time of the purchase the total amount of ore raised was not far from 154,000 tons, the total value of which was about $700,000.

Since the present company came into possession the work of mining has been pushed vigorously. About sixty miners are employed, and about 1600 tons of ore are raised each month.

The mine is a fissure mine, the only one of its class which has been worked to any extent in this locality. At Port Henry and Palmer Hill the iron lies in masses, and is sep- arated by veins of rock. Here the veins are iron and the separating masses are rock. In the former the process is simply quarrying ; here it requires the nicest judgment and skill to trace the veins, look after the drainage and ventila- tion, and lay out work to the best advantage.

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There are three veins which are now being worked, the " New Blue," situated farthest east, which varies in thiek- ness from three to fourteen feet ; the " Old Blue," farthest to the west, which varies from one and a half to six feet thick; and the " Blaek," situated between the two, and of about the same thickness as the " Old Blue." The different ores have long been celebrated for their excellent quality. They are easy to reduce, the iron is tough and soft, and has nearly the same qualities as the best red specular ores of Lake Superior, and it is claimed to be the only ore known in which are united the qualities of the magnetic and spec- ular ores. It is well adapted to the manufacture of steel by the Bessemer process. Three separate analyses of the ores have been made : the first, from choice specimens, showed 67.14 per cent. of metallie iron and no sulphur, while in the other two were found 19 per cent. of sulphur, or less than one-fifth of 1 per cent., while of metallie iron there was 62.82 and 62.29 per cent. The deposit is appa- rently inexhaustible.

At Clintonville the great water-power formed by the Ausable River was occupied by forges early in the first quarter of the century.

The initial efforts made at this point have already been considered in connection with the first settlement of the village. Joshua Aiken came into possession of the prop- erty on Nov. 11, 1824, when the Peru Iron Company was organized with a capital of $200,000, and Mr. Aiken was made president, in which office he seems to have continued until. 1826.

On the 11th and 14th of July of that year we find the record of meetings of the directors or trustees of the Peru Iron Company, at which a resolution was passed " that J. Aikin and E. Williams be authorized in their joint discre- tion to contract for the purchase of any lands in which (ore) beds may have been discovered, to any amount not exceeding $1000." At the same meeting it was voted that Williams be allowed to erect a dwelling-house, either of brick or stone, at an expense not to exceed $800.

It was also resolved." that $300 be applied to paying balance due for building church, and that Messrs. Aikin and Williams receive conveyances of pews to that amount in behalf of the company."

This was a Presbyterian church, and was probably the first one built on the Ausable River. But it seems that one good act of this company only led to another, they appearing to have given the lie direct at the very start to the old proverb, " Corporations have no souls," for the next resolution authorized the appropriation of "one hundred dollars per annum towards supporting a minister of the gospel to do stated duty in the meeting-house;" and this was followed by still another, " that one hundred dollars be appropriated towards erecting a suitable building for a school-house on the ground of the company, provided the residue be first subscribed by the people of the vieinity to complete and paint; and that the president be authorized to exceute a permanent lease of sufficient ground for its erection."

From this same aneient record we get some idea of the magnitude of the establishment which had already grown up at this point.

Francis Saltus, of New York City, was president, and the names of Nathanich Behrends and Benjamin E. Swan ap- pear a year or two later, they probably having been trustees. At the same meeting in July, 1826, it was resolved that the roof of the rolling-mill and forges should be tinned, which indicates that those works had already been erected. The forges at that time stood on the site of the original one, on the east bank, which has since been washed away up nearly to a rocky bluff, so that it would seem to be impos- sible that there could ever have been room here for works of this character. An earth-slide marks the spot now, and high above on the bank are the remains of the old coal-yard, the coal having been dumped down to the forges below ; while some little distance below on the bank of the river are the remains of an ancient brick-yard.

At the same meeting Joshua Aiken, who it seems was intrusted with the chief management of the works, was "authorized to construet a bulk-head at Port Douglass, running along the shore north of the present pier at right angles with it, 200 feet in length and of sufficient width to have 4 feet of water outside of it; and also to eonstruet a shed on said bulk-head in front of the present storc-house, running out 60 feet in length parallel with the bulk-head about 18 feet in width . . . calculated as a deposit for iron."

The fact that lumbering had already begun to be carried on to a considerable extent on the river is indicated by a provision of the company for " booms to prevent the recur- rence of injury from running logs ;" while the age of the nail-factory is shown by the authorization of Mr. Aikin " to arrange with Mr. Spear for the erection of works in grist- mill now building for the manufacture of cut nails." A resolution also occurs warmly commending the plan of building the Port Kent and Hopkinton Turnpike, a work which was subsequently carried out, and which resulted in the diversion of an immense amount of traffic from what was then the " Far West," a region which extended through the wilderness even as far as Watertown.

The land was taxed on each side of this turnpike for a width of three miles, and after completion it was no uncommon thing to see a line of wagons a mile long bringing farm produce into Keescville down over the turn- pike, which passed through Clintonville and thence across the country to Franklin Falls. Plattsburgh was hardly known then as an important commereial point compared with Keeseville and Clintonville.

At this time the supply of ore seems to have been derived from the Arnold and Winter orc-beds, of which the com- pany had obtained the lease. The average wages paid to miners were about $12 per month, and on the 7th of Au- gust, 1826, a contract was made with Jacob Billings for coal at 5 cents per bushel ; one-half in goods and one-half in eash. August 22, 1826, Wheeler & Hodgson agreed to furnish the stone necessary for the foundation of the engine- house at Arnold ore-bed, the ore having probably been raised previously to this by horse-power with a " whinscy." On the 5th of October, 1826, we find that " New Stack was put in blast this day," and that " the old one continucs blowing, having commenced on the 26th of April last," or April 26, 1826. From this we Icarn when the two blast- furnaces were finished and set to running. What their

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History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 59

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