History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 103

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862


USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 103


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159



411


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


lake, it was resorted to by vessels of all descriptions. The amount owned by the government, and included in the property of the station, is between three and four acres. The officers in command here since Lieut. Brownell have been Capt. Charles T. Platt, Capt. George Sawyer, Capt. James McIntosh, Captain Josiah Tatnall, afterwards a commodore in the Confederate navy during the Rebellion, Capt. George N. IIollins, also a rebel commodore afterwards. Previous to 1860, Capt. Tatnall had been to China, and on returning, having been promoted to commodore, relieved Captain Hollins. Tatnall was a Georgian by birth, and this, with constant importuning from many of his friends, who were southern sympathizers, induced him finally to cast his fortune with the mass of secessionists. His property at Sacket's Harbor was afterwards confiscated by the gov- ernment. Tatnall is said to have been the head of a most interesting family .* Captain Hollins went from Sacket's Harbor to the Mediterranean, in command of the U. S. frigate Susquehanna, and on the breaking out of the rebel- lion resigned his command and joined the southern navy. His success (?) as commander of a flotilla of gun-boats is a matter of history. After Tatnall was here the second time the command was given to Commodore E. A. F. Lavalette, who stayed until 1862, in the fall of which year he was relieved by Commodore Theodorus Bailey, afterwards re- tired at the rank of rear-admiral. He stayed until some time in 1863, and was suceceded by Henry Metcalf, of Sacket's Harbor, who, in connection with his duties as ship-keeper, had charge of the station until July, 1866. Com. J. B. Montgomery was stationed in charge succeeding Metcalf, and stayed three years, being succeeded by Rear- Admiral J. B. Montgomery. Commodore Francis B. Ellison was here next, and stayed two years, or until 1871, and was relieved by Com. J. P. Mckinstry. The latter stayed but about three weeks, and was in turn relieved by Capt. Alex- ander C. Rhind, who was here only two weeks, after which the station was placed in charge of the present ship-keeper, Albert H. Metcalf, who has since held the position.


Commodore J. B. Montgomery received his commission as midshipman here during the War of 1812, and was soon after assigned to the fleet of Commodore O. H. Perry on Lake Erie. He was with that gallant officer during the ever-memorable battle of September 10, 1813, on Lake Erie. Montgomery also received his commission as rear- admiral at Sacket's Harbor, and was soon after placed on the retired list, being at the time in command of the station.


Master William Vaughan, during his stay here, occupied the house now occupied by Mr. Metcalf. He was " born Aug. 15, 1776, at Wilkesbarre, Pa., and in 1794 first visited Canada, while Oswego, Fort Carlton, and Oswe- gatchie were held by the British, and in crossing the lake was required to take out a British passport between Ameri- can ports. In 1797 he again returned, and soon after engaged in lake navigation. In 1812 he was employed as sailing-master, and was prominent and active in that capacity through the war. He subsequently resumed the mariner's life, and was successively master of the steamers Sophia, Ontario, Brownville, William Avery, Telegraph,


and Martha Ogden, on Lake Ontario. For many years lie resided at Sacket's Harbor, as sailing-master, under pay of government."+


The ship-keepers here have been as follows : a German named Finn, - Richardson, Joseph Fields, David Stewart, Henry Metcalf, Charles Harlow, Frank Kane, George Jones, Thomas Lindsay, Henry Metcalf a second time, and a son of the latter, Albert II. Metcalf, who has been in charge sinee the fall of 1866. He was a member of the 142d N. Y. Infantry during the Rebellion.


The only representative of the navy now at the station is Master Charles V. Morris, who is on the retired list, and has been at the place about four years. He is a grandson of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a son of General Jacob Morris, an early settler of Otsego county, and a hero of the Revolutionary War. General Morris was several years in the State senate from Otsego county, of which C. V. Morris is a native, having been born there May 4, 1802. He joined the navy January 1, 1818, and went out on the frigate Guerriere, commanded by Commodore McDonough, of Lake Cham- plain notoriety. This vessel conveyed Mr. Campbell, U. S. Minister to Russia, to that country, landing him at Cron- stadt. Mr. Morris' next trip was on the ship of the line Franklin, 86 guns. This vessel was modeled after the unfinished New Orleans, now lying at Sacket's Harbor, and was built by the same man who constructed her.t Mr. Morris served under Commodores Hull and Bainbridge, and other celebrities of the U. S. Navy, and during the late Rebellion was under Dahlgren and Farragut. Ile was em- ployed in transporting troops on the Potomac river, and during his naval service resided for twenty-six years in one house in the navy yard at Washington, D. C. He was kept in service six years after he was retired. IIis wife rendered efficient service in the hospitals at Washington during the war, and was greatly esteemed by the boys in blue. Mr. Morris was an intimate acquaintance and friend of President Lincoln, and with this acquaintance are asso- ciated many of the pleasantest memories of his life. His sister, Mary Morris, was married to Isaae Cooper, a brother of the famous author of " Leather-stocking Tales,"_James Fenimore Cooper. Both are now deceased.


No sailors or marines have been stationed here since the War of 1812. The north building, occupied by Master Morris, was erected in 1849, and the other, now occupied by Mr. Metcalf, in 1850, both under the supervision of Captain Platt, then in charge of the station. These buildings are of brick.


During the " Patriot War," two sloop-of-war batteries, 32- and 68-pounders, were stored here, and remained until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when they were removed, with the ammunition, to St. Louis, Mo. In the ordnance building there are at present stored twenty Dahlgren guns, of nine-inch calibre, and weighing 9500 pounds cach. and one 30-pounder Parrott gun. The Dahlgrens constitute a full sloop-of-war's battery, and were cast in Pittsburgh, Pa. The carriages are from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


# Tatnall ' uilt the iron fence surmounted with 2 :- pound shot.


t Hough.


# Henry Eekford.


412


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


MADISON BARRACKS.


Latitude of barracks, 43º 57' N .; longitude, 76° 15' W .; height of barometer, 262 feet above the sea; site of post, about 30 feet above Black River bay. "Excepting a short distance in front of the parade, the land overlooks the water by a perpendicular bluff of limestone. Originally a deep valley filled with cedars occupied a portion of the parade. This was filled, and the rough place in front was sloped off, and the boundary of the parade towards the water was seeured by a stone wall, brought up as high as the plane of the parade, the surface of which was allowed to slope gently from the officers' quarters towards the water. The soil of the reservation is chiefly a dark loam, resting on a stratum of fossiliferous limestone. The reservation con- tains 394 aeres, purchased in pareels at different dates as required, from July 1, 1813, to March 28, 1817.


" The reservation was inclosed by a strong stockade of pointed cedar posts in 1817. The cost of preparing the site and of ereeting the buildings was $150,000 .* The cost of the land was probably $1000. The reservation is in the form of an irregular four-sided figure, with gates for footmen and vehicles on the southern aud southwestern sides. About a third of the water-front is occupied by Fort Pike, an ordinary earth breastwork and water-battery, erected in 1812." +


The officers' and men's quarters, guard-house, and hos- pital building are substantially constructed of stone. The officers' quarters consist of two rows of buildings, each 217 by 33 feet, protected in front by a continuous portico six feet in width. The men's quarters are also two rows of buildings, running northwest, at right angles to the officers' quarters. Each row is 452 feet long and 23 feet wide. The hospital is at the northeastern limit of the reservation, about fifty feet from the water. This building is nearly square, with wings ou the north and south. The grounds comprise about three aeres. The cemetery comprises about an aere. All the graves have head-stones or boards, ex- eept a very few old ones, of which there is no history. A portion of the officers' quarters was burned in the fall of 1876, and another fire destroyed the fine quartermaster and commuissary store-house which stood at the lower side of the parade, near the water. There are several wooden build- ings within the grounds, used for storage, ete., and a few of them for dwelling purposes.


During the summer of 1815, Maj .- Gen. Jacob Brown " issued orders for the building of Madison Barracks, and placed his brother, Major Samuel Browu, A. Q. M., U.S.A., in general charge of the work, with Captain Thomas Tupper, A. Q. M., U.S.A., as his assistant." The above orders seem to have been issued by General Brown on his own responsibility, but they were afterwards approved by the authorities at Washington. The masonry work was done under contract by Orrin Ives, and the carpenter work by Joseph Kimball, Philo Johnson, and Chauncey Calhoun. The largest part of the labor on the road and buildings was performed by the 2d U. S. Infantry, then garrisoning Car- tonement Smith, on Navy point. Details of the men were


made daily, and placed under the charge of an officer who foreed their task of work with a degree of severity not practiced at this day.


" The plan of the buildings was drawn by .William Smith. Great irregularity seems to have been practiced in the expenditure of publie funds during the construction of this place by the issue of due-bills for labor, which for a long time had but little value, and in consequence great fraud was put upon some of the contractors, which was in some measure remedied by an act of Congress, passed in 1836, 'for the relief of Jesse Smith and others.' The bitter effects of these transactions are felt to this day, and while the barraeks has always been an object of pride, and an agreeable place of resort to the citizens of Jefferson County, some of them are unable to find in this sufficient compensation for their losses connected with the place.


" In the fall of 1816 the men's quarters were so far completed that five companies of the 2d Infantry moved into them from Navy point, though as yet some of the floors and portieoes were unfinished. Near the top of the side of the officers' quarters, facing the sally-port, on each side are tablets of stone, inscribed on the eastern side with ' Com- menced August 1, 1816 ; completed October, 1819 ;' on the western side, 'Erected by the 2d Infantry.'


" The 2d U. S. Infantry, whose history for twenty-three years after the close of the war with Great Britain is in- separable from that of Madison Barracks, was reorganized and filled up in 1815 at this place from volunteers, citizens, quartermaster's employees, ete., that were mustered out of service at the cessation of hostilities. The addition of these new elements to the regiment required the utmost rigor of discipline on the part of the officers to prevent outbreaks of intemperance, violence, and the dissolute habits that had been learned in the camps hereabout during the war. The moral tone of all classes along the northern frontier appears to have been much shaken by the war about this time, and among the officers difficulties often arose from slight eauses, and quite a number of duels are reported as having been fought among them at this place, during the war and soon afterwards. The first one that comes withiu the scope of this narrative was fought be- tween Dr. Burr, U.S.A., and a Lieutenant Smith, 2d Infantry. Both parties were slightly wounded, and Smith was afterwards hung in Philadelphia for killing Carson, captain of an East Indian vessel. While the malign effects of the war upon the habits and morals of both sol- diers and citizens was seen in the prevalence of intemper- ance and other irregularities, a counter-influence soon sprung into action among the officers of the 2d Infantry, for about this period they took the first steps toward re-establishing religious services and for restoring publie order, then so much needed in this community. This regiment after- wards, in the westeru country, was familiarly known as the ' praying regiment.'


" The first commanding officer of Madison Barracks was Colonel Hugh Brady, Second United States Infantry, who,


# By other authorities, $85,000.


Medical Hist. of Post.


¿ Regiment organized by Colonel Hugh Brady, who was subsc- quently assigned the command of the post at the Sault St. Mary, and died at Detroit, Mich., about 1851.


413


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


as mentioned above, moved into this place, with five com- panies of his regiment, in the fall of 1816. From this date to 1833 "no records concerning the place can be found. There is a report, however, that from 1816 to 1821 an artillery company, of which Capt. Hilerman and Lieut. Leggett were officers, occupied Fort Pike."*


While Col. Brady had command of this station, the re- mains of most of the officers who had fallen in the field, or died of sickness on the frontier, were collected and buried together within the pickets of Madison Barracks, doubtless with the intention that at a future time they should be honored with a monument.


" A temporary wooden monument of pine boards-the form, without the substance, of a testimonial to their memory, and perhaps emblematical of the empty and perishable honors which our people are too wont to bestow upon those who deserve well of their country-was placed over the spot where these remains were buried, but which, from neglect and the natural action of the elements, has tumbled down."¡ Upon the panels were the following in- scriptions :


NORTH SIDE .- " Brigadier-General L. Covington, killed, Chrysler's Field, U. C., November 11, 1913." " Lieutenant-Colonel E. Backus, Dragoons, killed at Sacket's Harbor, May 29, 1813."


EAST SIDE .- " Colonel Tuttle," " Lieutenant Colonel Dix," " Major Johnson," " Lieutenant Vandeventer."


SOUTH SIDE .- " Lieutenant-Colonel Mills, Volunteer, killed at Sacket's Harbor, May 29, 1813." " Captain A. Spencer, 29th In- fantry, aid-de-camp to Major-General Brown, killed at Lundy's Lane, July 25, 1814."


WEST SIDE .- " Brigadier-General Z. M. Pike, killed at York, U. C., April 27, 1$13." "Captain Joseph Nicholson, 14th Infantry, aid-de- camp to General Pike, killed at York, U. C., April 27, 1813."


The remains of Colonel Mills were, a number of years afterwards, removed to Albany.


" From 1816 to April, 1828, the garrison was occupied uninterruptedly by the Second Infantry, and the command- ing officers were, as far as can be learned, as follows :


" Lieut .- Col. Wm. Lawrence, from Jan. to Dec., 1524. Col. liugh Brady, December, 1824. to February, 1826. Capt. F. Staniford, February to March, 1826. Col. Ilugh Braly, Mireh to May, 1826.


Brevet Capt. James Young, May to June, 1926. Capt. J. D. Wilkins, June to .August, 1826. Brevet Major .V. S. Clark, August, 1526, to April, 1828.


" On the departure of the troops under Major Clark, the belief was entertained that there was but a remote chance that the barracks would be needed again as a military post, whereupon Captain Alden Partridge, a teacher of some note in a military school at Middletown, Connecticut, obtained the consent of Hon. l'eter B. Porter, then Sec- retary of War, for the use of the place for a term of years as a military and scientific school, which was approved by the President and afterward confirmed by a joint resolution of Congress. May 24, 1828; but nothing further was done towards carrying out the project beyond announcing the object to the citizens in the vicinity.


-. Nov. 21, 1828, the barrack- was again occupied by two companies of the Second Infantry. under Captain Wmn. Hoffman. who remained in command till April 1. 1929, when he was succeeded by


& Medical History of Pust.


+ Hough.


"Col. Hugh Brady, 2d Infantry, April 1 to May 12, 1829. Lieut .- Col. A. Cummings, 24 Infy., May 12, 1829, to May 29, 1831. Capt. (. Ransom, 24 Infantry, May 29, 1831, to Aug. 16, 1831. Capt. Win. Hoffman, 2d Infantry, August 16 to Sept. 17, 1831. Lt .- Col. A. Cummings, 24 Infy., Sept. 17, 1831, to May 20, 1832.


" The troops at the barracks being required to take part in the Black Hawk War, the place was again left unoccupied, and under the charge of Ordnance-Sergeant Gaines, till May 19, 1834.


" In the days of pipe-clayed belts, leather caps, and silvered epaulettes a certain amount of stiffness of deport- ment and martinetish regularity of condneting everything relating to military routine were regarded as essential to a true soldierly bearing, and no better sample of the severe tastes of those times in this way can be had than in the scrupulous care that was taken by the Second Infantry to keep the parade clear of grass. Every blade was remorse- lessly hunted out from between the gravel-stones of the surface by the prisoners, armed with knives, old bayonets, and shears, till there was nothing left but a glaring barren plain, upon which the footsteps of the men at drill gave out that peculiar gritty trump, tramp, tramp, so grateful to the car of a stiff-necked drill-master.


" On May 9, 1834, Lt .- Col. A. Cummings, with his adjutant, Gallagher, returned and established the head- quarters of the Second Infantry at the barracks, where it remained undisturbed till June, 1837, when the troubles on the northern frontier, familiarly known as the Patriot War, caused the withdrawal of the_troops, and the place again was left in charge of Ordnance-Sergeant Gaines till June, 1838, when it was reoccupied by a detachment of the Second Infantry. under the command of Lt .- Col. A. Cummings. August 23, 1838, Col. W. J. Worth, Eighth U. S. Infantry, assumed command of the barracks, and commenced the organization of the Eighth Infantry, author- ized by Act of Congress, July 5, 1835, and the detachment under Lt .- Col. A. Cummings took its departure for the west. This closed the service of the Second Infantry at this place.


" During the summer of 1838 the steame: Telegraph was fitted out at the barracks, and manned with one com- pany of the Eighth Infantry, and was kept cruising about the Thousand Islands, in concert with a force of British, in search of the noted Bill Johnston. who commenced his buc- cancering course on the river by leading the party of des- peradoe., dressed as Indians, that burned the steamer ,Sir Robert Peel at Ogdensburgh, on the night of May 29, 1835, from the consequences of which, however, he kept at a safe distance in a small boat. In the fall the steamer Oneida joined the Telegraph, with another company of the Eighth Infantry on board, all under Col. Worth, who laid off Wind-Mill point, during the battle at that place. November 13, 1-38. The same day Col. Worth captured the -teamer United States, the steam ferry-boat Paul Pry. and the schooners Charlotte of Ourego and Charlotte of Toronto. The schooner- were loaded with munitions of war for the patriots, and were taken to Sacket's Harbor, where they were sold at auction, with their cargoes, by the U. S. marshal. Their cargoes con-i-ted of almost a useless lot of old flint-lock gun- and pi-tols. rusty »words. and half-rotted belts and cartri lo-boxe -. gathered


414


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


up along the northern line, where many of them had been since 1776, or had seen service in 1812. The hunt for Johnston was fruitless. He always managed to escape, though often nearly within the grasp of his pursuers."


THE "QUEEN OF THE THOUSAND ISLANDS."


" During Johnston's adventures on the St. Lawrence he had a concealed den on Grindstone island, where his daugh- ter Kate, a lass about seventeen years old, was said to have kept him supplied with necessaries by stealthy trips at night from the mainland in a little skiff, which Colonel Worth captured at Ogdensburgh on his return from Wind-Mill point, above mentioned ; but, as it was of no value, and as she was quite a favorite, it was put off at French ereek, where she lived; and as this young woman was well known to the army on the northern line in her day, it may be men- tioned that her night explots among the Thousand Islands, in aid of her father and his skulking crew, were dramatized with all the effect of an extravagant romance, and played at Albany and other large cities. She visited her father at Albany while he was undergoing trial there, after his cap- ture in November, 1838,* and, on account of the sympathy felt by some of the citizens for the cause of the ' Patriots,' as well as for her adventures in their behalf, she was treated with great consideration, and entertained by a ball and other civilities. In 1870 she was living at French Creek, the wife of an ignorant cobbler ; and the ' Queen of the Thou- sand Islands' was merged into the mother of a numerous progeny.


" As Bill Johnston was elosely associated with the history of this place for a long time, it may not be altogether out of place to mention something further about him, with the view particularly to correct the erroneous notions some writers have entertained about his character for personal bravery. He was born at Three Rivers, L. C., Feb., 1782. He joined the Canadian militia in 1812, and while under- going punishment in jail for insubordination, he escaped to the United States, and served as a spy against his own countrymen, and, on account of his familiarity with the seene of the operations of the Americans in Canada, he was of considerable value in obtaining intelligence. The fellow was inspired with an implacable hatred against the British authorities for some imagined persecution at their hands, and no service was too hard for him to undertake if it promised him a chance to injure them. But the tales of his heroism and bravery that have made their way into print appear to be all idle chaff; for those who have been familiar with his whole career since 1812 pronounce him to be a braggadocio and a pretender,-a man who endeav- orcd to inspire the belief that he was a dangerous character, and whose cowardly, blustering course of life while in the United States was unrelieved by a single aet of true bravery. He had a robust frame, perfect health, and a restless dispo- sition, and, had he possessed his pretended courage, he might have realized his ideal by becoming a pirate.


" About the time Colonel Worth took command of the barracks there was some prospeet of trouble with Great Britain, and, in consequence of authority invested in him,


he added the buildings necessary to complete the garrison, and put all the others in good repair. The buildings put up at this time were the commissary and quartermaster's store-house, and the hospital, guard-house, and ordnance buildings. The total outlay was about $150,000."+


Numerous distinguished men paid visits to the place in 1838, being attracted to the northern frontier by the atti- tude of affairs with England. Among them were Major- General Macomb, commander-in-chief of the army, Gen. Winfield Scott, Gov. Marey, Gov. Wm. H. Seward, Mr. Poinsett, Secretary of War, and President Van Buren, accom- panied by his son Martin. These gentlemen were all appro- priately received by the officers of the barracks, with salutes and honors. One of these occasions of ceremony nearly proved a source of sorrow. Colonel Worth's men were very accurate and precise in drill, and he was justly proud of them, and when the President was here brought his men out and put them through the customary evolutions. To give a rounding-off touch to the exercises he ordered them to load and fire. The reviewing party stood near the sally- port, on a line with the flank of the command, and, at the discharge, a ramrod from one of the muskets flew like an arrow and struck into the ground between the President and Colonel Worth, who were conversing together.


The organization of the 8th Infantry was completed in 1840, and nine companies and the band occupied the bar- racks. Owing to excessive crowding much sickness resulted, and in the fall of 1839 there were reported by Dr. Thomas Henderson, U.S.A., 90 cases of death by remittent fever.


Colonel Worth was followed in command of the barracks by the following-named officers of his (8th) regiment :


Captain G. Wright, Aug. 28, 1836, to April 14, 1839. Captain F. Staniford, April 14 to June 26, 1839. Lieut .- Colonel N. S. Clark, June 26 to October, 1839. Colonel W. J. Worth, October to December, 1839. Lieut .- Colonel N. S. Clark, December, 1839, to January 20, 1840. Captain G. Wright, January 20 to February 2, 1840. Lieut .- Colonel N. S. Clark, February 2 to April 22, 1840. Colonel W. J. Worth, April 22 to May 2, 1840. Lieut. J. K. Smith, May 2 to September 22, 1840.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.