History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

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 12

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" Art. 10. All decisions and acts of the company done in France, as relates to trustees, have no need of public formality when they are legalized by the minister or other public functionary of the United States, residing in France.

" Art. 11. There shall be delivered, upon demand, a duplicate of title to the holders of certificates, containing a copy of the original, and in it shall be mentioned that it is a duplicate."

CHASSANIS TRACT-SURVEYS.

The agreement of Constable and Chassanis, of August 30, 1792, was canceled, and the tract reconveyed March 25, 1793, in consequence of the amount falling short, upon survey, far beyond the expectation of all parties. On April 12, 1793, Constable conveyed 210,000 acres, by deed, for £25,000, to Chassanis, since known as The Chussanis Tract, Custorland, or The French Company's Land, bounded north by No. IV. of Macomb's purchase, south and west by Black river, and east by a line running north, nine miles, from a point near the High falls, and thence northeasterly on such a course as might include 210,000 acres.

On April 11, 1797, Chassanis appointed Rodolph Tillier, " member of the sovereign couusel of Berne," his attorney, " to direct and administer the properties and affairs con- eerning Castorland, to follow all which relates to the sur- veying and subdividing of this domain, as well as to its improvement, clearing, and amelioration ; to make the use- · ful establishments ; make all bargains with settlers, artists, and workmen ; make all payments and .receipts ; give and take receipts ; pass all title of property, to the profit of those who will have acquired lands forming part of Castor- land; to put, or have them put in possession of the said lands ; sell of these lands to the amount of ten thousand aeres, either paid down for, or on credit, but in small par- cels of a hundred or two hundred acres at most." In case of death, Nicholas Olive was to succeed him. Ou February 18, 1797, a new agreement was made between Constable and Tillier, conveying the Castorland traet to Chassanis, after the survey of William Cockburn & Son, of Pough- keepsie, in 1799, and giving with greater detail the bounds of the tract. The former couveyances made the north and cast bank of the river the boundary, but in this the centre of the channel was agreed upon. Ou March 6, 1800, Constable deeded to Chassanis, for one dollar, a tract of 30,000 acres in the eastern corner of tract No. IV., which was afterwards subdivided into twenty-seven lots, and con- veyed to James Le Ray. Cockburn's survey divided the purchase into six very unequal traets, formel by the inter- section of the principal lines and the river. The tract was subdivided by Charles C. Brodhead and assistants, in 1794. John Cantine, Philip R. Freys, Peter Pharoux, and Benoni Newman were among his surveyors. In di- viding the tract, the line running north from the High falls was assumed as the cardinal line, from which ranges were counted east and west. An cast and west line, crossing the

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

other nine miles from the falls, was fixed as a second ear- dinal, from which ranges were reckoned north and south. The ranges extended to nineteen cast, fifty-one west, twenty- seven north, and about nine south ; and the lots ineluded 450 aeres each, exeept those on the margin. These were again subdivided into nine square lots, of fifty aeres each, which were numbered from 1 to 4828. This system of numbering has sinee been observed in designating the loca- tion of lands.

Mr. Brodhead was a native of Pennsylvania, and had held the rank of captain in the Revolution. He was em- ployed by Tillier, through the influence of Edward Liv- ingston and Dr. Oliver, and while performing the survey encountered many hardships. An obituary notiee, pub- lished soon after his death, which oeeurred within the last year, at Utiea, contains the following :

" In running the great lines of division his party had crossed the Black river several times, the men and instruments being ferried across. On one occasion, when they had approached the river, having journeyed through the woods without noting their route by the com- pass, they arrived at a part of the bank which they recognized, and knew to be a safe place of passing. Making a raft of logs, they started from the bauk and began to pole across. When iu the midst of the current their poles failed to reach the bottom, and, simultaneous with this discovery, the noise of the waters below them revealed.the horrid fact that they had mistaken their ferrying place, and were at the head and rapidly approaching the Great falls of tho river, the passage of which threatened all but certain death. Instantly Mr. B. ordered every man who could swim to make for the shore, and he pre- pared to swim for his own life. But the piteous appeals of Mr. Pharoux, a young Frenchman of the party, who could not swim, arrested him, and he determined to remain with him to assist him, if possible, in the awful passage of the falls. Hastily directing his men to grasp firmly to the logs of the raft, giving similar directions to Mr. . Pharoux, he then laid himself down by the side of his friend. The raft passed the dreadful falls and was dashed to pieces. Mr. Pha- roux, with several of the whites and Indians, was drowned, and Mr. Brodhead himself thrown into an eddy near the shore, whence he was drawn senseless by an Indian of the party.""

The surveyors were in their instructions directed to note " all kinds of timber, wild meadows, useful plants, wild fruit trees, hills, swamps, ereeks, and objects of interest generally." The south line of tract No. IV. was run by John Campbell and others, in August, 1794. At a very early period, a settlement was begun by Tillier and others near the High falls, east of the river, and several families were settled. Several extensive sales were made by Chas- sanis and Tillier to Frenchmen of the better class, who had held property and titles in France before the revolu- tion. Desjardine & Co. bought 3002 acres on Point Pen- insula; Odier & Bousquet, 1500 aeres on Pillar Point ; Nicholas Olive (December 17, 1807f), a traet of 4050 acres north of Black river and bay; Henry Boutin, 1000 acres around the pleasant village of Carthage, ¿ C. C. Brodhead, 400 acres in the present town of Wilna, and

others. Among these were a eonveyanee dated March 31, 1801, of 1817 half-aeres, in seattered lots, to twenty or thirty French people, many of them widows of persons who had acquired an interest in the New York company. On May 1, 1798, James Le Ray purchased 10,000 acres in Castorland, and February 15, 1801, all his lands not pre- viously sold. Chassanis in his early sales had reserved about 600 aeres (R. 26 W. 24 and 25 N.) between the present villages of Brownville and Dexter, for the city of Basle. The appendix of a work § printed in Paris in 1801 contains a letter .relating to this company which must have been written by one familiar with the country. The work, from which we translate, purports to have been made from an English manuscript cast ashore on the coast of Den- mark from the wreek of the ship " Morning Star," and from its ,romantic style it scareely merits notiee in history. The letter is dated September 4, 1800, and is as follows :

ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT.

" This northern part of the State of New York, which contains the three great districts known as Richland, Katarokouy, and Castor- land, is boundled on the north by the river St. Lawrence, on the west by the Ontario, on the east by the counties of Washington and Clin- ton, and Lake Champlain, and on the south by the new cantons of Oswego, Onondaga, and Herkimer, and is traversed nearly its entire length by Black river, which has forty-five to fifty miles of naviga- tion to its falls, situated a short distance from its mouth, in the bay of Niahouré, on Lake Ontario. This river receives in its course many considerable streams aud creeks, abounding in hydraulic privileges. This region is very favorably situated for access. On the one side it communicates with Canada by the St. Lawrence, with the English establishments upon the right bank of the river, as well as those from Kingston, in the bay of Katarokouy, on the other with Lake Ontario, by the bays of Niahoure and Cat Fish, and lastly with the Mohawk country, by a route just opened by Richland, Rome, and Castorville. They have surveyed another from the chief place (Castorville ?), on the first navigable waters of the Oswegatchee, at the confluence of which with the St. Lawrence, Major Ford has founded a considerable establishment. Long Lake, the waters of which are nearly parallel with the Great river, offers another route to those who wish to go to Fordsbourg and Lower Canada. With the exception of the moun- tains, the soil is deep and fertile, as may be judged by the height and variety of the trees that compose the forest. The country which borders the river from our Katarokouy to the line which separates us from Canada (the 45th. parallel), abounds in oak, a timber the more precious, as it is rare and valuable at Montreal and Quebec. In other sections we see a mixture of elins, buttonwood, sugar-maple, butter- nut, hickory, beech, water ash, and basswood. We also find hemlock, white pine, and different kinds of spruce, wild cherry, and red and white cedar. From the boughs of the spruce is made that beer so praised by Captain Cook, and known to be the best of anti-scorbutics. The sugar-maple is so common in some sections as to form a third of the trees. Not only do we derive from thence all the sugar we need, but vinegar also, of an excellent quality. As is the case in all northern countries, this is filled with woody marshes and natural meadows, in which pasturage is had in summer, and forage for win- ter. We find in many places limestone, clay, and ore of iron, very ductile, but we are still too young to think of building a furnace or large forges. It will not be so in ten years ; it is probable we shall then be in a condition to furnish to the inhabitants of Upper Canada, who, not having contracts to assure them the possession of their lands, cannot think of engaging iu such enterprises. We already begin to cultivate corn, wheat, flax, and even hemp, since it had been observed to what height it grows on laud formerly flowed by beaver dams; but it being ouly the fourth year of our settlement, the details of our progress cannot be very interesting.

¿ Voyage dans la haute Pennsylvanie, et dans l'état de New York, par un membre adoptif. de la nation Oneida. Traduit ct publié par l'auteur des Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain, 3 vols. 12mo.

# The body of this young man was afterwards found on a small island at the mouth of the river to which his name was given. Mr. J. Le Ray caused to be prepared a marble tablet to be inserted in the rocks here, with the following inscription :

"To the memory of PETER PHAROUX, this Island is Conse- crated."

Ranges N. 27, W. 42, 43, and part of 44, since called the Olive tract. Sec. Office Rec., July 16, 1813, C. to Tillier.

į April 2, 1798, 500 acres for £1000, and December 18, 1798, 500 acres. Oneida Decds, A. 2, p. 132.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" An event, as unfortunate as unexpected, has much hindered the prosperity of this colony. The death of a young man of much talent, whom the Castorland company had sent from Paris, to render a wild, and hitherto unknown couutry, fit to favor the reunion of a new-born society, to divide the lands, open roads, begin the first labors, build bridges and mills, and invent machines, where man is so rare. A victim of his zeal in taking the level of a bend of the river, he per- ished in trying to cross above the great falls. Ilis comrades, so un- fortunate as not to be able to assist him, have collected the details of this disastrous event in a paper, which I have been unable to read without emotions, and which I send.

"Our rivers ahound in fish, and our brooks in trout. I have seen two men take seventy-two in a day. Of all the colonies of beavers, which inhabited this country and raised so many daus, only a few scattering families remain. We have destroyed these communities, images of happiness, in whose,midst reigned the most perfect order, peace, and wisdom, foresight and industry. Wolves, inore eunning and warlike than the former, live at our expense, and, as yet, escape our deadly lead. It is the same with tho original elk. It is only seen in this part of the State, for our hunters will soon make it disappear, for, you know, that wherever man establishes himself the tyrant must reign alone. Among the birds, we have the pheasant, drumming partridge, wild pigeon, different kinds of ducks, geese, wild turkey, etc. Our chief place, situated on the hanks of the pretty Beaver river, and from thence so appropriately named Castorville," hegins to grow. It is still only, as you may justly think, hut a cluster of primitive dwellings, hut still it contains several families of mechanics, of which new colonies have so frequent need. Several stores, situated in favorable places, begin to have business. The Canadians, on the right bank of the river, come thither to buy the goods which they need, as well as sugar and rum, which, from the duties being less at our ports than at Quebec, are cheaper with us than with them. The vicinity of these French settlements are very useful to us, in many respects. Cattle are cheaper than with us, as well as manual labor. Such are the causes of communication between the inhabitants of the two sides, that it is impossible for the English government to prevent it.

"Our colonists are, like others, a mixture of many nations; we have some families of Scotch and Irish, but the greater numher come from the northern States, which, as yon know, is the 'officina humani generis' of this continent. Many of the settlers have already made considerahle improvements. One of these tamuilies from Philadelphia, besides a hundred acres well inclosed, has begun a manufacture of potash, where the ashes of the neighborbood are leached; another of the Quaker sect has settled on the route to Kingston, where he has already built a saw-mill, and a considerable manufactory of maple- sugar, where he made last year about sixteen quintals. The bead of this family is a model of intelligence and industry ; the goods which he brought easily procured him much labor at a good rate. He paid twelve dollars per acre for clearing his lands, and half the ashes;t besides this he furnished to the potash-makers the great iron cbal- drons and hand labor, aud retains half of the salts, the value of which, with the first crop of wheat, pays and more all the expenses of clearing, fencing, and harvesting. The average yield per acre being twenty-four to twenty-cight bushels, and the price of wheat six to eight shillings, it is easy to see that there is still a margin to cover accidents, and that the second crop is clear profit. Among these families we have some, who, driven from their country by fear and tyranny, have sought in this an asylum of peace and liberty, rather than wealth, and at least of security and of sweet repose. One of these, established on the banks of Rose creek, came from St. Do- mingo, where he owned a considerable plantation, and has evinced a degreo of perseverance worthy of admiration. One of the proprie- torsį has a daughter, as interesting by her figure as by her industry, who adds at the same time to the economy of the household the charms or rather the happiness of their life. Another yet is an offi- cer of cultivated mind, sprightly, and original; who, born in the burning climate of India, finds here his health is strengthened. He superintends the clearing of a tract of twelve hundred acres, which

two sisters, French ladies, have intrusted to him, and to which he has given the name of Sisters' Grore. IIc has already cleared more than · one hundred acres, crected a durable house, and inclosed a garden, in which he labors with assiduity, truly edifying. Ile has two Cana- dians, of whom their ancestors were originally from the same province with himself. Far from his country, the most trifling events become at times a cause of fellow feeling, of which those who have never felt it can have no idea. As for cattle, those raised that only bring nine dollars a pair at the end of the year, are worth seventy dollars when they are four years old. Fat cattle, which commonly weigh seven to nine hundred pounds, sell at the rate of five dollars per hundred. Swine, living almost always in the woods, the settler can have as many as he can fatten in the fall. It should not be omitted to give them, from time to time, an car of corn each, to attach them to the clearing, and prevent them from becoming wild, for then there is no mastering their wills, for they, pining for their wandering life, will not fatten on whatever is given them. Butter is as dear with us as in old settled countries, and sells for a shilling a pound. . We have no fear, as some think, that the vicinity of the Canadian establish- ments will withdraw our settlers. The lands in Canada are all in the hands of Government or the Seigneurs. Both give gratuitously, I admit, but they give no titles,¿ from whence numerous difficulties arise in selling and transferring. Besides they are burdened with a considerable quit rent, the fees of transfer and removal, of escheats to the domain in default of beirs, of banalité, | tithes, or reservations for religion, and reserves of mines, and oak timber, restrictions un- known in the United States, where the lands are franchises and free- holds. It is therefore probable that sensible settlers will always prefer to so precarious an advantage a sure possession which can be transferred without fees or formalities.

" This country being bounded hy the St. Lawrence and the Ontario, its population will increase more rapidly than that where men can spread themselves ad infinitum, as in certain districts of Pennsylvania, upon the Ohio, Wabash, etc. What is here called the American Katarokouy, or Tracts I., II., III., and IV. of Macomb's great pur- chase, will always be the last stage, the Ultima Thule, of this part of the State of New York, and we ourselves, the last but one round of the ladder. On this account, lands which in 1792 were valued at from two to three dollars per acre, have now become from three to four dollars.

"The banks of our great river are not the only ones where our population tends. Already those of Swan's creek begin to fill up. Were it not for the death of Mr. P. we should have been much more advanced, for it was necessary to await the arrival of another engi- neer to complete the great surveys and subdivisions. Our winters are cold, but less than those of New Hampshire, and the snows of this elimate are beneficial in preventing the frost from injuring our grass and wheat. It is truly wonderful to see with what rapidity vegetatiou is developed a few days after the suows are welted. I have placed your habitation not far from the great falls, but far enough distant not to be incommoded by the noise, or rather uproar, which they make in falling three different stages. The picturesque view of the chain of rocks over which the waters plunge ; their tumul- tuous commotion ; the natural meadows in the vicinity ; the noblo forests which bound the horizon ; the establishments on the opposite hank ; the passage of travelers who arrive at the ferry I have formed ; all contribute to render the location very interesting ; and it will become more so when cultivation, industry, and time shall bave embellished this district, still so rustic and wild, and so far from resembling the groves of Thessalia. The house is solid and commuo- dious, the garden and farm-yards well inclosed.

" I have placed a French family over the store and am well pleased with them. I think, however, they will return to France, where the new government has at length banished injustice, violence, and crime, and replaced them by the reign of reason, clemency, and law. The fishery of the great lake (Ontario), in which I am concerned, furnishes me an abundance of shad, { salmon, and herring, and more than I waut. What more can I say ? I want nothing but hands. Yon who live in a country where there are so many useless hands, and whose labors are so little productive there, why don't you send us some hundreds

# In Lewis county.

+ An acre commonly yields two bundred bushels of ashes, which are worth eight cents the bushel.

# St. Mitchel. His daughter married Marselle, and afterwards De Zotelle.

¿ This applies only to Lower Canada.

| The right of obliging a vassal to bake in one's oven and grind at his mill.

" White Fish ? F. B. H.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of those men ? The void they would occasion would be imperceptible ; here they would fill spaces that need to be animated and enlivened by their presence. What conquest would they not achieve in ten years ! . and what a difference in their lot! Soon they would become free- holders and respectable heads of families. The other day a young Frenchman, my neighbor, seven miles distant, and established some years upon the bank of the river, said to me : ' If it is happy to enjoy repose, the fruit of one's labors, and of ease after having eseapcd the perils of the revolution, how much more so to have a partner of these enjoyments ? I am expecting a friend, a brother; it is one of those blessings which nature alone can bestow, What pleasure shall I not enjoy in pointing out to him the traces of my first labors, and in making him count the successive epochs of their progress and the stages of my prosperity ! but above all to prove to him that his memory has been ever present to me. The objects which surround me, I will tell him, are witnesses to the truth of this : this hill upon the right, covered with sombre pines, is designated upon my map under the name of Hippolite's Absence, the ereek which traverses my meadow under that of Brothers' Creek, the old oak which I have left standing at the forks of the two roads, one of which leads to my house and the other to the river, Union Creek, and the place of my house Bloom- ing Slope. Soon he will arrive from St. Domingo, where Toussaint L'Ouverture has allowed him to collect some wreck of our fortune.'"

SURVEY OF GREAT TRACT NO. IV.

On March 27, 1800, Tillier was succeeded in the agency by Gouverneur Morris, who appointed Richard Coxe, Nov. 13, 1801, his attorney. Feb. 5, 1802, Chassanis executed a trust conveyance for $1 to James D. Le Ray, of 220,500 acres, as surveyed by Wm. Cockburn and Son, and by other instruments for nominal sums .* The lands were mostly sold to actual settlers by Mr. Le Ray, as agent or principal, but the details would be unintelligible without a map. Chassanis died in Paris Nov. 28, 1803. David B. Ogden, G. Morris, ; and many others were at an early period con- cerned in these titles.

Macomb's Tract No. IV. was surveyed by C. C. Brod- head in 1796, assisted by Jonas Smith, Timothy Wheeler, Joshua Northrop, Elias Marvin, John Young, Isaac Le Fever, Jacob Chambers, Elijah Blake, Samuel Tupper, Eliakim Hammond, and Abraham B. Smede, each with a few men as assistants, and the whole having a general camp or rendezvous at Hungry bay, on the north side of Pillar point, at a place called Peck's cove, near where the Chas- sanis line crosscs the bay. The early settlers here found huts standing, and the remains of an old oven are still visible. The journals of these surveyors show that they suffered much from sickness. Some of their supplies were derived from Canada, but the most from the Mohawk settle- ments. A few troops were stationed on Carlton island, and thither some of their sick were sent. This tract, excepting the east corner conveyed to Chassanis, was divided into 1000 lots of 440 acres each (excepting those around the border), which were numbered continuously. Evert Van Allen had been employed in 1795 in surveying the bound- aries of tract No. IV.

THE ANTWERP COMPANY'S PURCHASE.

A proposition was entertained from Lord Pultney, in 1792, for the purchase of a million of acres of Black river land, at a quarter of a dollar per acre, of which £5000 were to be paid down, £20,000 in one, and the same in two years, and the remainder as soon as the surveys were made.

Constable was to guaranty against claims from the native Indians, and all other parties, and to give immediate pos- session. The location was to be determined by Col. Wm. Stephens Smith, of New York. This bargain failed, and Pultney afterwards became largely concerned in lands in the Genesee country. Oct. 3, 1792, Jane, the wife of A. Macomb, released her right to the lands previously con- veyed. April 12, 1793, Constable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis, who had previously held a pre-emption claim, to Charles Michael De Wolf, of the city of Antwerp, tract No. IV., for 300,000 florins, money of exchange,} and in June following, of the same year, De Wolf succeeded in negotiating his purchase at a great advance, viz. : for 680,000 florins, to a company of large and small capitalists of the city of Antwerp, who subscribed to the stock in shares of 1000 florins each, and organized under the name of the Antwerp Company. The stock was divided into 680 shares. Like most other operations of foreigners in a distant country, this company eventually proved unsuccess- ful, and a loss to the stockholders. Gouverneur Morris be- came their first agent in America, and on Jan. 2, 1800, a decd of half the tract, or 220,000 acres, passed to him from Constable on account of the company, for $48,889, and on the day following, the other half of equal extent, for $46,- 315.12, to James Donatianus La Ray de Chaumont. Tract No. IV. was found, by Van Allen's survey, to contain 450,- 000 acres, including the State reservations. A former deed from Constable to De Wolf was canceled upon the new one's being made. The division line between Morris' and Le Ray's conveyances commenced at the northeast corner of Penet's square, and ran on a line parallel with the county line, to the south line of No. IV. Morris took all north- east of this, and Le Ray the remainder. August 15, 1802, a new division line was agreed upon, commencing near the southeast corner of Penet's square, running thence to the south corner of lot 512, thence to the west corner of the present town of Antwerp, and along the southwest line of that town to the south corner of lot 337, and thence to the south line of No. IV. A tract of 30,000 acres in the east corner of No. IV. was not included in these conveyances, having been sold to Chassanis. In 1809, Morris retired from the business, his expenses and commissions absorbing 26,840 acres of land. Dec. 23, 1804, he had sold for $62,000 to Lewis R. Morris 49,280 acres in the present town of Antwerp. Mr. Morris subsequently conveyed forty-one lots to Silvinus Hoard, in the western part of Antwerp, adjoining Theresa, and since known as the Cooper tract. Abraham Cooper, from Trenton, New York, became interested in this tract in 1817. The remainder of Antwerp, excepting three ranges of lots on the southeast side, was purchased of Morris, by David Parish, in 1808. The tract amounted to 29,033 acres, and has been settled under agents of the Parish estate. Moss Kent succeeded as agent of the Antwerp company, and June 15, 1809, the remainder of their unsold lands, 143,440 acres,§ were conveyed to hin. He was soon succeeded by Mr. Le Ray, and Sept. 17,

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 12

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