History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 111

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 111

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Until 1829 the church did not have its own house of worship. On December 23 of that year a society was formed, with Aaron Brown, Jr., John Fasset, Benjamin Fletcher, Jr., and James Gifford, Jr., trustees. A church was erected, in 1830, at a cost of $1200. It is a plain frame of respectable size, and was repaired in 1868.

In 1854 the society was reorganized and incorporated, under the laws of the State, as " The First Baptist Church and Society of Lorraine," and, August 22 of that year, J. F. Robinson, Jude Lamson, M. F. Cole, A. S. Gillet, Aaron Brown, and L. D. Reed elected trustees. The present board consists of Gilbert Perdy, Samuel Gardner, A. S. Gillet, B. B. Brown, Wm. R. Steele, and P. M. Brown, trustees, and J. B. Wileox, elerk.

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF LORRAINE

had its origin at an early day. About 1807 Elder Bliss settled in the town, and held occasional service, which a few years later was changed to regular preaching by himself, Elder Spear, and others. But no society was formed until Dec. 3, 1829, when a meeting was held for this purpose, and Silas Lyman, William Carruth, and Alfred Webb were elected trustees of the society which was formed. In 1830 a small frame church was erected in the southern part of the village, which was used by the society as long as it had

an existenee. The ehureh having become so feeble, owing to the removal of many of its members, serviees were dis- continued about 1850, and in 1858 the building was eon- veyed to the town for a publie hall, but with a provision that it might be used for religious meetings. Among those who had the pastoral care of the church were Reverends Higley, Moreton, and Tremaine, while among the most prominent official members were Deacons Lyman, Pitkin, and others, none of whom remain in the town.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

There were members of this faith in the town from its first settlement, and soon after had so much inereased in numbers that religious meetings were held by them in the school-houses and other suitable places. For many years the elasses were connceted with Adams and other cireuits ; but about 1853 the classes at Lorraine and Worth became a separate charge, ealled Lorraine eircuit, Isaae Hall, pastor. A board of trustees, consisting of Joseph Grimshaw, James Gifford, Daniel Caulkins, Sardis Abbey, Daniel Wise, Elijah R. Fox, and John Fasset, was selected, and measures were taken to build a church. In 1856 Joseph Grimshaw, Sar- dis Abbey, and Daniel Caulkins were appointed a building committee, and proceeded to ereet a neat frame church, sur- mounted by a spire, in the northern part of the village. The house was formally dedicated in Jan., 1858. The present trustees are J. M. Fox, B. A. Caulkins, A. Caulkins, Daniel Wise, L. C. Tabor, and Joseph Grimshaw. The fol- lowing have been pastors sinee 1855 : 1856-7, I. L. Hunt; 1858-9, William B. Joiee; 1860-1, Gideon P. Jones ; 1862-3, Samuel M. Warne; 1864-6, S. C. Goodell ; 1867, A. McLaren; 1868, W. W. Hunt; 1869-70, A. S. Barter; 1871-2, M. T. Hill; 1873-4, James Stowell ; 1875-6, N. E. Bush ; 1877, Daniel Fulford. The member- ship is 65, and Lafayette Caulkins is the class-leader.

A Sabbath-school, which was reorganized in May, 1877, is connected with the church. It has seventy-five members, and sustains a small library. John Pitkin is the superin- tendent.

SECRET ORDERS.

" Lorraine Lodge, No. 206, I. O. of O. F.," was ehar- tered Aug. 10, 1868, with the following members : L. Lan- fear, E. Gillet, E. Moore, H. L. Grimshaw, S. A. Wise, D. B. Wise, C. C. Moore. The lodge has a pleasant and neatly-furnished hall, and now numbers twenty-eight mem- bers. The present offieers are C. C. Moore, N. G .; L. Lanfear, V. G .; S. A. Wise, See'y ; and E. Gillet, Treas.

" Living Vine Grange, No. 147, P. of H.," was organized in the southern part of the town, in 1874, with eighteen charter members. It had a very flourishing eareer, reach- ing a membership of seventy. This has been diminished to thirty. The meetings are held at the grange hall, for- merly the old Union school-house. The officers are Geo. H. Hull, Master, and John Williams, Secretary.

" Lorraine Grange, No. 117, P. of H.," was chartered February 25, 1874, with thirty members and the following officers : L. H. Bishop, Master, and Z. J. Seribens, Seere- tary. The grange meets in a neat hall in Lorraine village, and has at present seventy-nine members. Z. J. Scribens is Master, and L. S. Pitkin, Seeretary.

RES. OF HENRY BAILEY, LORRAINE, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.

RES. OF DANIEL WISE, LORRAINE, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.

HENRY W. JEWETT, M.D.,

was born in the town of Rome, Oneida county, New York, on March 24, 1823. His father was a farmer, and Henry worked at home until he reached his sixteenth year. His educational acquirements up to that time were such as the district school afforded. He attended private school two years, preparatory to entering college. He commenced the study of medicine with Drs. H. H. and S. W. Pope, in the village of Rome, and graduated from the Geneva Medical College in Febru- ary 1845. He commenced the active practice of medicine at Depauville, and remained there seven years. From there he removed to Chaumont, where he has remained since 1857, following his profession. By close aud unre- mitting application he has succeeded in working up quite an extensive prac- tice. Being careful in his diagnosis, and diligent in the treatment of his patients, he has been generally very successful.

DR. H.W. JEWETT .

He lias affiliated with the Republi- cans since the organization of that party, though not taking an active part in politics farther than to use his vote and influence for proper can- didates, to the maintenance of Repub- lican principles. Hle has attended the services of the Presbyterian church, in which he has occupied the same pew since he first settled in the village. He is now a member of that church in good standing. Ilis ancestors were from Scotland,-the home of Presby- terianisi, -and located in Connecticut and Rhode Island at a very carly day.

Dr. Jewett is a gentleman widely known and very generally respected. His influence in the community is founded on principles of professional and business integrity ; and his charac- ter, after a residence of twenty years, is permanently established. He en- joys the confidence of the people gen- erally. not only as a physician, but as a citizen and neighbor.

RES. OF O. S. WILCOX, CHAUMONT, JEFFERSON Co., N. Y.

LYME.

MANY years before the settlement of northern New York, all the water within Stony island and Point Peninsula was called by the Indians " Naionre," by the French Bail de Nivernois, and by the English Hungry bay. There are records of visits made to the shore of these waters more than two hundred and fifty years ago. As early as the middle of September, 1615, was the landing of Champlain, with his savage troops, in an expedition against the Iro- quois. The army consisted of nearly two thousand red warriors, and less than twenty Frenehmen. Their canoes were left in a sheltered eove, while they pushed across the country on foot to make the attack.

About seventy years later, August, 1684, Marquis de la Barre encamped, with eighteen or twenty hundred men, a majority of whom were French soldiers, probably on Bail de Nivernois, at a place which he designated in his journal as Lu Famine. The expedition was against the same Iro- quois nations; but he lost nearly all his army by hunger and sickness, whereupon he consummated a treaty with a part of the hostile Indians, and returned at onee to New France (Canada).

In less than another generation, Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit priest, visited the French colonies in North America, under the sanction and order of the King of Franee, and wrote a letter from the Bay of Famine, dated May 16, 1721. He wrote of the " prodigious" eagles, the numerous fish, the " painted" Indians, and the trees that " reached almost to the clouds."

In 1793, Simon Desjardines and Pierre Pharoux were sent out by the Castorland company, of Franee, to explore the six hundred and twenty-five thousand aeres of land in northern New York, which had come into its possession. At New York they were joined by M. I. Brunel, the ecle- brated engineer. These three men and their assistants took a bateau at Oswego and started in search of Black river. They seem to have had some trouble in finding it, and were several days about the shores of Henderson and Chaumont bays. A full account of this exploring party will be found elsewhere.

The larger portion of the waters between Stony island and Point Peninsula washes the shores of the town of Lyme. It was erceted from Brownville on March 6, 1818, and named from old Lyme, in Connecticut. It then included all of its present territory, the town of Cape Vineent, and that portion of Penet's Square which lay west of Clayton. Cape Vineent was set off thirty-one years later. The first publie meeting of Lyme township was held in March, 1818, when Richard M. Esselstyn was chosen supervisor, and John Dayan elerk ; J. B. Esselstyn, Luther Brittin, and Benjamin Estes were made assessors ; Elnathan Judd, John

Dayan, and Joseph Rider beeame commissioners of high- ways ; John M. Tremper, Thaddeus Smith, and Eber Kel- sey were elected pound-masters and fenee-viewers. The following is a complete list of the supervisors of the town up to the present date : Richard M. Esselstyn, 1818-22; John B. Esselstyn, 1823; Willard Ainsworth, 1824; at a special meeting in September, 1824, J. B. Esselstyn ; Wil- lard Ainsworth, 1825-32; Otis P. Starkey, 1833; Jere. Carrier, 1834-35 ; Minot Ingalls, 1836; Isaae Wells, 1837 ; Philip P. Gaige, 1838; Roswell T. Lee, 1839; P. P. Gaige, 1840 ; Timothy Dewey, 1841 ; William Carlisle, 1842; Alexander Copley, 1843; W. O. Howard, 1844; Theophilus Peugnet, 1845 ; Isaae Wells, 1846-47 ; Alex. Copley, 1848; P. P. Gaige, 1849. Cape Vincent was erected from this township early in this year; Henry Cline, 1850; Alexander Copley, 1851; David Ryder, 1852; William Carlisle, 1853-54; Jacob Putnam, 1855 ; Nelson Burdiek, 1856; William Dewey, 1857; Jaeob Putnam, 1858-60; Francis C. Cline, 1861 ; Remos Wells, 1862-65; William H. Main, 1866-67; Andrew J. Dewey, 1868-73; Charles M. Empie, 1874-76. Adelbert A. Getman is the present supervisor, and John Combs the town clerk ; the justices of the peaec are (1877) George W. Rickett, Jacob Snell, Ira Inman, and Daniel C. Holbrook. The members of assembly from this assembly district, who have lived in Lyme, were John B. Esselstyn, 1822-25 ; Otis P. Starkey, 1836; Joshua Main, 1854; Isaac Wells, 1855 ; R. Francis Austin, 1856; William Dewey, 1861- 63, and also 1852; W. W. Enos, 1871.

EARLY REGULATIONS.

At the first town-meeting it was voted to divide the town into eight road distriets, to give $100 to the poor, and to forbid hogs to run at large without yokes around their neeks and rings in their noses ; if this last regulation was violated, the owner of the swine was to pay a penalty of fifty cents. Regulations were also made regarding horses and horned eattle; and the second year (1819) $40 was voted to build two pounds, one at Cape Vincent, and the other at Chaumont. It would appear, from the records, that the hog law was frequently evaded, for, in 1821, it was voted that all the porkers running at large should have " a sufficient yoke around his or her neek ;" and that the fines collected for cach violation should be paid over to the commissioners of schools. Bounties were offered for wolves and their whelps ; taxes for roads were often levied; and the poor-tax was common, $350 being voted in 1847 at a special meeting.

FIRST SETTLERS.

The first settlement was started in 1801, on the north

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

shore of Chaumont river, and a little more than two miles above the village which bears the same name. It is now designated as Old Town. The party came by the way of Oswego and the lake, and among them were Jonas Smith and Henry A. Delamater, from Ulster county, Richard M. Es- seltyn from Clavarack, then in Albany county, David Soper, T. Wheeler, James Soper, Peter Pratt, and Timothy Soper, whose names are positively known. There were some others. During the summer a small clearing was made, and two or three buildings erected ; but the location was an unhealthy one, and the next spring it was abandoned. The winter of 1801 and 1802 was spent by the settlers in the respective homes from which they had emigrated, having returned there in the fall, after their summer's elearing and building. In 1802, Mr. Delamater cleared the first land on Point Salubrious. In 1803 a part of the colony settled on the site of Chaumont village, built a saw-mill and a warehouse, and put in operation a log tavern ; several other families from Ulster county increased their number; there were also a few unmarried young men, and an occasional immigrant from Canada.

In 1805, James Horton moved the families of Daniel and John Tremper to the Chaumont settlement, and came with his own family the next year. The Trempers were tanners. A small vessel was begun this year, but never finished. Henry Thomas was keeping a store, and several mechanics were in business.

A DISHEARTENING YEAR.

Smith and Delamater, the leading spirits of the enter- prise, failed in 1806; others were discouraged by sickness ; several had died from the malarial fever that had before afflicted the settlers ; and a majority of the people decided to start onee more anew. It may be remarked here that malignant fevers prevailed very fatally in 1828, and typhoid pneumonia and diphtheria in 1875. During the space of fifteen months fifty deaths occurred within the limits of the corporation of Chaumont village at the time of the last (1875) prevalent sickness. With these exceptions, the region has been considered healthy.

Point Salubrious was scleeted as the next permanent stopping-place. James I. Horton went there in 1806, and was the first settler. A Mr. Mills was probably the second. Joseph Rider, Silas Taft, Stephen Fisher, and David Rider came not far from 1807. Harry Horton and many others were here in 1810. No village was established, however, and Chaumont continued to retain its position in this respect.

ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS.

The hardships of these pioneers werc illustrated by such incidents as the following : In the fall of 1807 a company of Point Salubrious settlers went to Sacket's Harbor to ob- tain a supply of flour for use during the winter; they probably carried the grain of their own raising. On the return trip they were wind-bound a week at the south shore of Pillar Point, with only a single day's provision. After this was exhausted they lived upon berries growing near by, and upon cakes made of flour and water, and baked on flat stones. Nothing was reported about their

beds, which were generally of secondary consideration in those days of discomfort.

On another occasion, Mr. Horton and Mr. Williams went to Brownville with two bags of grain on the back of a horse. The miller could not grind the grist until the next morning, and lest it might be delayed beyond that time by others crowding in ahead, Mr. Williams decided to remain over night. It seems to have been necessary that one of them should return home immediately with the horse. Mr. Horton returned. The next day he started back with the horse at an early hour, and reaching the neighborhood of Limerick, found Mr. W. with the two bags of flour. The grain had been ground quicker than either of them had an- tieipated, and had been brought by Mr. Williams on his back four or five miles. He would carry one a short dis- tance, set it down, and go back after the other. In this way he kept them both in sight, until met by his friend and neighbor. It was a very welcome mecting in that wild and unbroken forest.

Another fact is related concerning Mrs. James Horton, who had great difficulty one week in obtaining a fire. This was the second year of their settlement, and when Mr. Mills was the only near neighbor. Both Mr. Horton and Mr. Mills had been away from home several days, and there was no fire at either log cabin ; neither was there any flint or tinder, and matches had not been invented. What to do she did not know. At last she thought of an old clearing, and went thither with her little boy in the hope of finding a smouldering ember. Their scarch was unavailing until the little fellow crawled under a half burnt log that lay a little distance up from the ground, and shouted to his mother, "Fire ! I have found it ! Ain't you glad ?"

THE QUAKER FAMILIES.

When the War of 1812 was declared there were not fifteen families in the settlement, counting all those who lived at Chaumont village and on Point Salubrious. It should be stated that the name Salubrious was given by Mr. Le Ray, because of its healthful and pleasant location. From this point to the St. Lawrence the wilderness was unbroken. In 1818 Mr. Musgrove Evans brought a colony of Quakers from Philadelphia and its neighborhood. During the next two years occasional additions were made from the same locality. The journey, of course, was overland, and in some instances lasted more than thirty days. For a little time new activity was manifested, but the sickness already referred to destroyed the ambition of the Quakers, and they soon after sold out and moved away. Mr. Evans him- self went to the State of Michigan in 1823, and founded the town of Tecumseh. He was a surveyor, and an agent of Mr. Le Ray, in this region.

OTIIER SETTLERS.

An attempt was made in 1812, by two or three men, to settle Point Peninsula,-one of these was named Robbins. But the war interfered with the project, and it was soon abandoned. Six years later, Sebra Howard, William Wil- eox, Oliver Wilcox, and John Wileox, with their families, made a permanent settlement. These men were soon fol- lowed by Brittle Minor, Asahel Hosington, Asa Collins,

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

John Combs, and others. Jonathan Selter was on the north shore. No one was living at Three-Mile Bay, in 1823, except a man whose name is not now remembered, who stopped in a log shanty just beyond the creek, at the east of the village ; here was also a toll-gate.

Point Peninsula was nearly all taken up before the Bay was permanently oeeupied ; and so late as 1835, only John Reed, Charles Leonard, and Benjamin Estes were residing there. Daniel Borden lived about half a mile to the west of the village site, and within a distance of two miles eight families subsequently loeated by the name of Wells. Daniel J. Schuyler settled at Three-Mile Bay in 1835, and was the first merchant ; he built eighteen or twenty of the village houses. About the same time, Asa Wileox identi- fied himself with the place, and during the forty years of his residence built no less than forty-eight vessels, besides many smaller boats and fishing eraft. The Star, Wave, Banner, and other club-boats repeatedly won prizes at regattas.

THE ASIILAND FARM.

When William Dewey was a eivil engineer, subsequently in the employ of the Rome, Watertown, and Cape Vineent Railroad Companies, he purchased a thousand acres of unbroken land of Vineent Le Ray de Chaumont, and took possession with his father, Timothy Dewey; this was in 1833. The farm is not far from Three-Mile Bay, is nearly level, and one of the most fertile in Jefferson County. Forty-five years ago it was very forbidding, much of it being under water a portion of the season ; it soon aequired the name of Dewey's Swamp. The timber was chiefly ash, soft maple, elm, and oak. But Mr. Dewey gave his personal attention to the hard-looking farm, employed a large foree of laborers, expended a great amount of money in drainage, and thus brought the soil to its present rich condition. Mr. George Rieketts was Mr. Dewey's foreman for the last thirteen years of his life. The Ashland farm has recently been sold to John P. and N. E. Douglass, of New York City.

A LARGE PURCHASE.

For many years Alexander Copley was the largest land- holder in all this region of country. He came to Jefferson County in 1833, and had been here nearly fifty years when he died. On June 7, 1833, he purchased two thousand five hundred and sixty-two aeres of Vineent Le Ray de Chaumont, and three years later-October 5, 1836-the large traet of sixteen thousand nine hundred and sixty-one aeres from Gouverneur Morris. These lands lay in the towns of Clayton, Brownville, and Lyme. Afterwards he added ten thousand aeres more to his estate, the land being situated in the town of Antwerp, thus owning nearly thirty thousand aeres in all. Mr. Copley made Chaumont his home, although business often called him elsewhere; he dealt largely in stone and grain, owned a grist-mill, em- ployed vessels, was a director of the Union bank from the year of its organization till his death, February, 1871, and was also a merehant.

ANOTHER INCIDENT.

Before leaving these statements concerning the hardy pioneers of Lyme, a sad story may be related, the substance

of which is given in Dr. Hough's sketch of Clayton. In 1817, Simon and Jared White came from the vicinity of Depauville to Three-Mile Point, with the intention, proba- bly, of making a settlement. After remaining here a short time they decided to go west; they had been tres- passers in the township of Clayton, and may not have been cordially received here. The westward-bound party con- sisted of eleven persons,-the two fathers, their wives, mother, and children. The first night they put up a mile or two beyond Sacket's Harbor. They were never seen alive after leaving this spot. The men had several hundred dollars in money, and it is supposed that the dissolnte sailors and soldiers lounging about the neighborhood robbed . and murdered the whole party. The boat was found empty of household goods, and the bodies of the brothers showed unmistakable marks of violence. Search was made for the women, but they were never discovered. The children were found dead under the water.

MILITARY INTERESTS.

The first celebration of our national independence, in all this region of country, was held at Chaumont in 1802. The number in attendance was certainly more than a hun- dred persons. From Champion and Hounsfield, Watertown and Brownville, Sacket's Harbor and Cape Vincent, and other points of settlement, the forefathers and foremothers eame to do homage to the old flag and the land of the brave. Several were Revolutionary soldiers. Food and drink were plenty. Indians and squaws must also have joined the festivities. Rum and maple-sugar, shooting at a mark and wrestling, stories and songs, and fife and drum, could hardly have been wanting on this oeeasion, although there is no published report of the proceedings to guide us in making out the history of that Fourth of July.

Considerable aların was felt at Chaumont in 1812 lest the British should come, pillage their homes and burn them ; nor did they know but hostile Indians might take advantage of the war to pounee upon them and carry off their scalps. General Brown therefore advised the building of a bloek-house for defense, and this was ereeted the same year, on the north shore of the bay. Not long after, a squad of English soldiers visited the place, and promised not to destroy any property if the inhabitants would take down the block-house. This was done, and the material after- wards used on Point Salubrious, in the ereetion of a build- ing for school and religious purposes. The artillery of this block-house, or fort, consisted of an iron gun which Jouas Smith had purchased some time before for two gallons of rum. It was found on the isthmus of Point Peninsula. Afterwards this gun was taken to Sacket's Harbor, and from thenee it went to Ogdensburgh, where it was captured by the enemy. The following Revolutionary pensioners were living in the town of Lyme in 1840; the ages of each are also annexed : Samuel J. Mills, aged eighty-one ; Jacob H. Oves, eighty-three; Nieholas Smith, eighty-five ; Prudenee Hodges, seventy-three ; Lneretia Marsh, eighty- four ; and Felix Powell, seventy-seven.

THE GREAT AMERICAN REBELLION.

A full list of the names of the patriotie soldiers who

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

went from this town in defense of the nation against slavery is given in the military chapter of the county. Lyme was loyal. The citizens held public meetings from time to time during those anxious years, on Point Peninsula, Three-Mile Bay, and Chaumont, for the purpose of encouraging en- listments and raising money for her soldiers. In response to the several calls of the Government for troops, every quota was filled. A town-meeting was held in 1863, at which it was voted to borrow eight thousand two hun- dred dollars ($8200) for the purpose of paying one hundred dollars apiece to those volunteers who had enlisted from the town of Lyme since July 2, 1862. This was a just recog- nition of those men who would have served without it, and who had already smelt the powder of battle. At a special meeting of the township, held on the 15th of January, 1864, it was voted to pay each volunteer who had enlisted since October 17, 1863, the sum of three hundred and twenty-five dollars ($325). As in many other towns, some of the boys were maimed for life, some never saw home again, and others were never heard of after their last battle.

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 111

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

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