History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 126

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 126

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).

It is with much pleasure we are able to present in this work the portraits of Mr. Olney and his wife, and a fine view of their beautiful home.

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

CHAUNCEY D. HUNTINGTON.

Died in Croghan, Lewis county, N. Y., July 22, 1875, Mr. Chauncey D. Huntington, of Rutland, Jefferson County, aged sixty-nine years.

Mr. Huntington was the oldest of the third generation of Huntingtons known in the county, being the oldest son of Wm. Huntington, Jr., who emigrated with his father, Wm. Huntington, and family from New Hampshire, and settled in this then " western wilderness," in 1804, locating in Watertown, upon the farm in the eastern part of the town, subsequently known as the " Colonel Gotham farm."

The father of the subject of this imperfect sketch pur- chased and occupied the adjoining farm, now known as the " Westcott farm," upon which Chauncey was born in 1806.

He was a member of a large and highly-respected pioneer family. While Chauncey was yet young, his father changed his residence to within one mile south of Burr's Mills, in this town, where the balance of his minority was spent, acquiring his education at the district school in Burr's Mills.

His majority attained, he purchased a large farm near by, in the adjoining town of Rutland, and, on the 16th of March, 1831, married Miss Clarissa Bull, daughter of the late Johnson Bull, with whom he commenced the journey of a business life, with health, a commendable ambition, and desirable reputation for capital. Relying upon their joint industry and economy for success, both were adopted as leading characteristics of their life, and very soon their farm was paid for and a liberal surplus was laid aside to meet contingencies. Mrs. Huntington still survives him.

While occupying a prosperous and enviable position in the community of farmers of which he was a member, his health failed, and he soon found himself unable to conduct the business of his chosen occupation, and in 1852 he sold his farm and retired from labor.

For the past twenty years he has been accustomed to making, annually, from one to three excursions to the " big woods," fishing and hunting, camping out, often entirely alone, finding such action congenial and recuperative to both body and mind. On the last of these excursions he crossed life's rubicon, surrounded by his daughters, Mrs. L. D. Olney, and Mrs. T. C. Parker, with their husbands, his physician, and numerous of their resident friends, who had so often greeted his visitations.

Mr. Huntington was of that class of minds that must be known to be appreciated. All respected him; few, comparatively, knew him. He was a close student, much of his time being applied to study and investigation, espe- cially since the loss of his health; was emphatically indi- vidualized ; by nature, positive; conclusions, reached by close investigation, required demonstration for their re- moval. His religion was advertised in his life by his dealing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly, and paying twenty shillings on the pound. Although a firm believer in God and the immortality of the soul, yet he failed to be satisfied with the popular dogmas of the age, and his theory was, formerly, more nearly allied to that promulgated by Swedenborg than any other writer ; but for the past twenty years he has been a firm believer in the theology of modern spiritualists as developed in the writings of Andrew Jack- son Davis, of which he was an admirer. His religion was a reality ; to him, a certainty.

As a man, Mr. Huntington possessed sterling merit and unflinching integrity ; was upright, honest ; as a friend, true and genial ; and as husband and father, consistent, kind, and indulgent.

Funeral services were held at his late residence in Rut- land on the 24th, by Rev. Mr. Hersey, from Micah 6th chap. 8th verse, and Acts 10th chap. 34th verse,-especially appropriate, and listened to by a very large and apprecia- tive audience. S.

THE PARKINSON FAMILY.

William Parkinson emigrated originally from Vermont to Schoharic Co., N. Y., and about the year 1804 moved to Rutland, Jefferson County. He settled on a farm in what is known as the Hollow, some five miles cast of the city of Watertown. He here became engaged in farm- ing and coopering, and reared a family of seven children, named as follows: Esther, Susan, Robert, Moses, Asa, Reuben, and William, all of whom are deceased except Reuben. William Parkinson was born in 1747, and he was married to Elizabeth Poor, the widow of Peter Poor, who was killed by the Indians at an early day in the State of Maine. This old pioneer lived to the advanced age of seventy-nine years, dying in 1826. His widow died in 1842, at the age of eighty-three.

Asa, the fifth child, was born in Rutland, Vermont, Oct. 19, 1793, and was ten years of age when the family emi- grated to Jefferson County. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was at the battle of Sacket's Harbor. He was reared a farmer, and had very limited advantages for an education at that early day. In 1825 he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Dunlap, of Rutland. This union was severed by the death of his wife in 1837, leav- ing no children. On June 22, 1842, Mr. Parkinson was married to Miss Olive Knight, of New Hampshire. By this marriage there are two children, Phineas C. and James B., who, with their mother, own and occupy the old home- stead in Rutland Hollow. Asa Parkinson died May 8, 1870, at the age of seventy-six years, and his widow, who is now seventy-six years of age, is an active, intelligent old lady, and bids fair to live yet many years, the honored and revered head of the family.

Phineas C. the eldest son, was born May 22, 1844, and James B. on the 21st day of July, 1846. The brothers own and occupy the old home farm jointly, and with their mother live together in one family. They have both re- ceived a good common school and academic education, and are engaged in farming and dairying, in which they have been very successful. Phineas C. was united in marriage in December, 1869, to Miss Ida Hardy, of Rutland ; they have two children, named Grace B. and Robert A. James B. is still unmarried. Their father, Asa Parkinson, was a man of genuine piety, and was one of the pillars of the Presbyterian church of Rutland, of which he and his ex- cellent wife have been honored members all their lives. Wc take pleasure in presenting our readers this brief sketch of an old family of early settlers, and elsewhere in these pages a view of the " old home in the Hollow," with portraits of Asa Parkinson and his surviving companion.

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

PETER POHL.

The ancestors of our subject were natives of Hesse Darmstadt. His paternal grandfather died when his father was five years old. His father, Johannes, was born at the old ancestral home, in the village of Erzhausen, on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1805; was reared a farmer, which occupation he followed all his life on the old liome- farm, where he was born. At the age of twenty-four he was married to Anna M. Leiser, of the same place, by whom he became the father of Mary, Peter, Margarct, Frederick W., and Elizabeth. Of these all are living and married except Margaret, who died in 1871. They are living in Germany, except Frederick, who is a resident of the town of Pamelia, in Jefferson Co., N. Y.

Peter, the second child, was born at the old family home, in Germany, on the seventeenth day of March, 1833. He remained with his parents-attending the village school and assisting on the farm-until he was twenty-two years of age, when, fired by the ambition to get a fortune and home for himself, he cmigrated to the United States, and located at Clayton, Jefferson Co., N. Y. With the characteristic industry and economy of his people, at the end of five years' labor by the month he had accumulated enough to purchase and partly pay for a farm of 50 acres in the town of Orleans. He had, meantime, on the seventeenth day of March, 1859, married Miss Louise Baltz, a daughter of Andrew Baltz, of Orleans, who emigrated to this county in 1833, and has reared a family of six children. Mr. Pohl, after four years, sold his 50 acres in Orleans, and purchased a farm of 200 acres in the town of Clayton, where he re- sided until March, 1877, when he again sold out, and bought a farm of 290 acres in Rutland, situated seven miles east of Watertown. He has three children, named Charles F., George A., and Edwin L. The farm is fertile and produc- tive for dairy purposes, to which it is chiefly devoted, and Mr. Pohl keeps at this about 40 cows, and manufactures his own butter in his own creamery. Mr. Pohl is Repub- lican in politics, and the family are Methodists in religious faith.

We submit this brief sketch of one of the worthy adopted eitizens of Jefferson County, and, on another page, a fine view of the home and portraits of Mr. Pohl and his wife.

CHARLES C. HARDY

was the fifth son of Robert Hardy, who emigrated to Jeffer- son County and settled in the town of Watertown, near Burrville, in 1811 -- who was the second son of Thomas Hardy-(of Scotch descent), and a soldier of the Revolu- tionary war ; he fought under Stark at Bennington, under Wayne at the gallant charge of Stony Point, was with Greene in his southern campaign, and present at the surren- der of Cornwallis, which closed the war.

In 1815 he returned to his native place, Concord, N. H., and was united in marriage to Abigail Stone, with whom and his brother Phineas (whosc present place of residence is represented in this work) he returned to Jefferson County, and settled in the town of Rutland. Soon after

he purchased, in company with his brother Phineas, the homestead now occupied and owned by his son, Charles C. Phineas cleared and improved the farm, while Robert car- ried on his business of carpenter and builder quite exten- sively ; he employed many hands, and many of the old buildings now standing are monuments of his handiwork.

He carried on his business of builder until 1836, when he was crippled by the falling of a building while being raised, and thereafter turned his attention to farming. He was a devout Christian, and practiced in his every-day life what he professed in his church. To him and his faithful helpmect were born ten children, viz. : Thomas, Lovilla S., Abby, Robert C., Gustavus, Lucy A., Addison W., Charles C., J. Calvin, and Arthur L., all but the last arriving at adult age, and of whom the first three and the last one are deceased.

Charles C. resided with his father until the age of nine- teen,-working upon the farm during the summer seasons, and attending school winters, obtaining a good common edu- cation,-when he was engaged with Benjamin Gibbs, of the city of Watertown, to learn the trade followed by his father. After working two years at the bench he studied architec- tural drawing with Otis L. Wheelock. In January, 1853, he took the Nicaragua route for California, on the steam- slip " Independence," which was wrecked and burned near St. Margarite Island, and one hundred and fifty lives, out of a total of four hundred on board, were lost. Arriving in California by the whale-ship " Meteor," which took the sur- vivors off the barren island on which they were cast, he at first turned his attention to mining. Not being very suc- cessful in that undertaking, he took up the saw, the plane, and the hammer, and carried on the business successfully at the mining town of French Gulch. He subsequently obtained the situation of master mechanic and builder under the U. S. Government, at Fort Walla- Walla, Washington Territory, which position he held until his return to his native place in 1859. His father's death occurring the following year, he came into possession-by purchase-of tlie old homestead, and has since turned his attention suc- cessfully to farming,-the products of the farm being prin- cipally the dairy and maple-syrup and sugar.

The old house was burned in 1872, and in 1873 he erccted the fine residence which is represented elsewhere in the pages of this work, one of the finest in the town, show- ing the fruits of his early education as a builder and architect.

ARNOLD WEBB

is a descendant of good old English stock. His fraternal grandfather was a seafaring man in his younger days, and afterwards a soldier in the wars against the French in this country. He was in the battle when the brave General Wolfe lost his life, and afterwards was a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War, and fought all through that mem- orable struggle.

He settled in Vermont and became a farmer, rearing a large family of children. He lived to the extreme old age of ninety years, leaving to his descendants the record of a long life of noble deeds.

RESIDENCE OF A. ROSE, RUTLAND. JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.

RESIDENCE OF M. B. BODMAN, THERESA , JEFFERSON Co., N. Y.

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Jocl Webb, the father of our subject, was born in Ver- mont in 1779. He attended the common schools, and acquired a good English education. At the early age of sixteen years he left his father's home and came into the State of New York, where he worked out by the month for two years. He then went into the wilds of Lewis county, where, it is said, he chopped the first acre of forest in the town of Pinckney.

In 1804 he came into the town of Rutland, and bought of Deacon Phillips the right to 200 acres of wild land, at 50 cents per acre, which became his future home. His next move was to get a wife, which he accomplished by marry- ing Miss Amy Stanley, the daughter of one of the earliest settlers. He next erected a log house and commenced clearing his land, and from that time on until his death he was engaged in farming and rearing a family of nine chil-

dren, whose names are as follows : Harriet, Arnold, Almira, Stanley, Lucy A., Emily, Ellen, Reuben G., and Wm. P.

Arnold, the second child, who was born Jan. 4, 1808, remained at home with the parents, and at his maturity took charge of the farm and the old people. He remained single until he reached the mature age of forty-seven, when he surrendered all the privileges of bachelorhood to Miss Jane D. Henderson, of Oswego county, the daughter of one of the early settlers of that county. They have no children, but this does not seem to mar their happiness in each other's society. Mr. Webb is a stanch Democrat of the Jackson type, and has for a long time been an honored member of the Masonic order, by whom he is held in high esteem and respect. Elsewhere in the pages of this work may be found a fine view of the beautiful home residence of Mr. Webb, and portraits of his excellent wife, his father, and himself.

THERESA.

THIS town is nearly in the form of a parallelogram, with its longer lines stretching northeast and southwest. St. Lawrence county is its northeastern boundary, Le Ray township its southwestern, Orleans joins it on the west, Alexandria on the northwest, and Antwerp and Philadel- phia on the southeast.

The Indian river traverses its entire length, entering the town at its southern corner, and leaving it in the extreme northcast, whence it passes into St. Lawrence county. The northern portion of the town contains a number of beauti- ful lakes, abounding in fish. Of these, Butterfield and Mud lakes lie on the Alexandria line, and partly in that town, Grass lake is partly in St. Lawrence county, Moon lake extends from this into the town of Antwerp, while Hide, Crystal, Sixberry, Mill-site, Red, and Muskalonge lakes, and the Lake of the Woods, lie wholly in Theresa. This lake region is a paradise for the sportsman of to-day, just as it was for the red hunters and fishermen before the blight of the pale-face fell on them. The margins of these waters are nearly everywhere bound in by high, rocky shores and bold promontories, and in many places the same feature is noticeable along the Indian river. The ledge known as Bluff Rock, 4 miles below Theresa village, on the river, is from 130 to 150 fect in height, and nearly a half-mile in length ; in a great part of this distance de- scending sheer from the summit to the water's edge. There is a spot-deeply indented and shut in by the hills-just below Theresa village, on the river, known as the " Indian landing," because the red men paddled their eanoes up to this spot, at thie very foot of the falls, disembarked, and, carrying them over the rugged portage, placed them again

in the still water above the rapids, to continue their journey towards the southeast. This was their great water-way and trail. It is not very many years since there died in Le Ray an old man named Keyser, who was captured by Indians at the battle of Oriskany, now a century ago, and who recollected that on his way to Canada he passed a night of suffering, closely bound and watched by his savage captors, at this same landing-place, at the foot of the " high falls ;" then, and for many years after, an unbroken wilder- ness.

At a considerable distance below this landing-place, and on the left bank of the river, is a point known as " Bar- ret's landing," because that, during or before the War of 1812, a man of that name, living at Evans' Mills, engaged, as is supposed, in smuggling, made this the landing-place for a bateau which he had placed on the lower river, in the contraband trade, taking his goods by portage around the falls, and reloading them upon another similar boat, at a point not far above Seeber's mill ; thence to proceed up the river. There are persons yet living who have seen aud used these boats after their owner had abandoned them.

From the falls to the St. Lawrence county line, the sur- face of the country along the river is a dead level. It is also comparatively free from incqualities in the south and southwest portions. In other parts, particularly in the lake seetion, it is broken by abrupt hills and ribbed by barren and forbidding ledges. Nearly all the township was comprised in the 220,000 acre purchase of J. D. Le Ray de Chaumont from the Antwerp company, Jan. 4, 1800.

Mr. Le Ray was not slow to note and fully appreciate the material advantages offered by nature at the High Falls of

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Indian river (as the locality, now Theresa village, was then designated), and he marked it as a point for the ereetion of mills which should supply lumber and flour-two prime necessities of life-to prospective settlers upon his lands. Lumber could be produced with comparatively little delay ; he had but to build a mill and utilize a fraction of the immense water-power of the falls to change the dense pine forest, which then covered all the hills and ravines down to the river's edge, into merehantable boards, plank, and tim- ber. Accordingly, in 1810-11, a saw-mill was erected which produced large quantities of lumber, and this, in the absence of a home demand, was rafted down the river to a market at Rossie or Ogdensburgh. The opening of the War of 1812 paralyzed this traffie, and not only was the saw-mill stopped, but a great deal of lumber was left unrafted and went to decay at the mill-yard.

To produce flour was wholly a different matter. The glens and hill-sides, which were heavy with timber to sup- ply the saw, had never borne an ear of wheat or eorn; and there could be no need of nor work for a grain-mill, until great labor had been expended to clear the thiek forest, to break the soil, to sow seed, and, God willing, to gather the harvest. Such elearings Mr. Le Ray at onee proceeded to make. It was his purpose to sell and settle his lands as rapidly as possible, and by elearing and sowing grain hc would be able to furnish the means of subsistenee to pio- neers until they could produce for themselves. The largest of the elearings which he eaused to be made was about 100 acres, and laid something more than a mile above the falls, on the left bank of the river. Another, of about 40 aeres, was made on the river, a short distance below the first- named. This was eleared before the larger tract; it was the spot where the land-office was afterwards established, and where a stone house, still standing, was built by the proprietor's agent, Rotier. It was recently the property of Joseph Fayel, and is now owned by J. P. Douglass, Esq.

At the end of two years, portions of these "jobs," as they were ealled, had been seeded to grass, and he had stocked them with cattle. In 1813, his animals numbered nearly 500 sheep, about 60 horned cattle, and 20 or more horses. The War of 1812 was then in progress, and these herds were in a most exposed position to a foray by the enemy from the border. All around them was thick forest, stretching to the St. Lawrence, and in the opposite direction to the Quaker settlement, seven miles distant, which was the nearest point of communication, and this was reached only by an obscure trail through the woods. To guard these animals, Capt. John Hoover, afterwards landlord of the tavern at Evans' Mills, was garrisoned in the strong log house upon the forty-aere clearing, the forees under him consisting of his wife and John A. Evans, but with arms and ammunition enough for a force three times as large. Not only was the captain successful in saving the animals, but he actually captured, single-handed, two of a party of five of the enemy who came to reeonnoitre his position.

Sales of land in Theresa were commeneed by Mr. Le Ray in 1817. Three dollars per acre was the usual priee, and seven years' time was given for payment. The con- . tracts required the purchaser to build, within one year,

upon the premises, a log house eighteen feet square, or the equivalent of these dimensions, and to elear, within the same time, four aeres of every hundred aeres purchased ; this to be done in a thorough and proper manner. There were at first no reservations of mineral rights to the pro- prietor, but after a few years these were required to be made. During the year in which sales were commeneed by Le Ray a few settlers eame in, and a larger number arrived in the following year. In 1818, the proprietor, with a view to the building of a village at the falls, eaused a reservation to be surveyed containing 1000 aeres, the exterior lines being run, and that part of the traet lying south and west of the river in one-fourth-aere lots, by M. Evans, surveyor. The locality and prospective village was for some time known only as High Falls, but after the place became more important it was christened by Mr. Le Ray Theresa, the name of his daughter, who married the French Marquis de Gouvello, and the name of the village was given to the town, upon its ereetion.

EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS-FIRST TRADES AND PROFES- SIONS.

The first two settlers upon lands in Theresa were Colonel Sinesa Ball and James Shurtliff, both of whom eame in 1817, but it is not known which arrived earliest in the year. Mr. Shurtliff settled upon the spot where Le Ray's larger elearing had been made, now comprised in the farm of W. H. Seeber. For a short time Mr. Shurtliff kept his house as an inn, and it was the first opened in the town. After him, the farm was occupied by his son-in-law, Jesse Kelsey, and still later eame into the ownership of James Ward, of Le Ray, now of Carthage. Mr. Shurtliff died at Plessis, August 1, 1846, aged seventy-nine years.

Colonel Ball settled on the Military road, two miles west of the falls. He had served as an officer at Sacket's Har- bor in the War of 1812, and became colonel of militia. Many are still living who remember him as commanding officer at the " trainings" held on the field near Cook's tavern, in Antwerp. Afterwards his land was sold to Ed- ward Cooper, from whom it deseended to his son, Irvin C. Cooper, the present owner. Colonel Ball died near Hide lake, in Theresa, July 1, 1877, at the age of eighty-six years.

At the commencement of the year 1819 there were within the present limits of the town, in addition to the two already mentioned, the following settlers : Anson and Jeremiah Cheeseman, Mr. Moyer, Joseph Miller, Jas. Lake, Elipha- let Emery, and Zalmon Pool. Anson Cheeseman at that time was sawyer at Le Ray's mill at the falls, and lived in the " mill-house." He afterwards purchased and oeeupied a farm between the falls and the Military road, now the property of L. Salisbury. He also at one time carried on a potashery in the village. Jeremiah Cheeseman, brother of Anson, on the Alexandria road, south side, opposite estate of Timothy Wood. He is now living in Alexan- dria. Mr. Moyer settled near Shurtliff's, on land now of Alexander Cooper. Joseph Miller located on west side of Alexandria road, now Benjamin Colvin's farm. James Lake, on land afterwards owned by Charles Wilson, on the easterly side of Hide lake. Eliphalet Emery, adjoining Mr. Lake, and also on the Wilson premises, and Zalmon

Jonathan Stratton Chloe A. Stratton

RESIDENCE OF JONATHAN STRATTON, THERESA , JEFFERSON CO,N Y.

RESIDENCE OF DAVID BEARUP, THERESA, N. Y.

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 126

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