History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 129

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 129


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


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Passing over a period of twenty-five years to the present time, it is found that there are in Theresa 15 entire and joint districts ; that the total number of children on which the town draws public school money is 815, the total aver- age daily attendance being 350.714; that in the apportion- ment of school-money for the year ending Sept. 30, 1877, the town received as follows : according to number of children, $527.84; according to average daily attendance, $549.63; distriet quotas, $863.60 ; library money, $26.84; total, $1967.91.


In the distriets outside of Theresa village the average aggregate of yearly teaching is not more than 30 wecks. A few of those districts employ male teachers for the winter term, the salaries of these being $35 to $40 per month, and those of female teachers $4 to $4.50 per week. In distriet No. 7, comprising a part of the village, the teaching is about 30 weeks ; male teachers are employed in winter at $50 per month, and $6 per week to females. Number of pupils about 80. The school in distriet No. 1 (Theresa


# Elected April 18, 1870.


520


.


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


village) embraces three departments, under charge of a male principal and two female assistants. The salary of the principal has been $4 per day until the present year (1877), but is now reduced to $3. The first and second assistants receive respectively $6 and $5 per week, reduced from $7 and $8, paid in 1876. They had in some of the previous . years received $10 and $8. The usual duration of the terms has been 14 weeks, three terms in the year. The school-house in this district is a fine, large stone building, two stories in height, which was completed in 1869, at a cost of about $6000, including the large lot on which it stands, purchased from Chauncey Parkhurst, and adjoining the premises of David Bearup, Esq., on Main street. This house is the successor of the old brick school-building, built some forty years since, on a rock summit on River street, near the. Methodist church, -- the second school-house in the village. It still stands on its perch, and is owned by E. S. Stockwell.


Private schools have been taught at various times in Theresa village, the most noteworthy of which was opened in 1856, in Dresser's hall, by William T. Goodenough, and taught by him, in both the old and the present hall, for about twelve years. At one time fully 100 students were under his tuition, and his success as an educator was great.


THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THERESA


was organized at the house of Abraham Morrow May 8, 1825, Rev. Wm. B. Stowe acting as moderator. Eleven persons were present, but only nine were enrolled as mem- bers,-four males and five females.


Abraham Morrow and Sylvester Bodman were chosen elders and deacons. The following have also served the church as elders at different times since the organization : Nathan M. Flower, James Shurtliff, Anson Ranney, A. N. Brittan, Gilman Evans, B. J. Owens, Atwood Bodman, and J. S. Vanderburgh. And the following ministers, in the order named, have served as pastors or stated supplies : Revs. Wm. B. Stowe, Roswell Pettibone, Samuel F. Snow- den, L. M. Shepard, William Chittenden, Luman Wilcox, Revilo Cone, Harvey Smith, William Chittenden (a second pastorate), Chas. W. Treadwell, Samuel L. Merrill, James R. Keiser, Alexander Smith, B. Alexander Williamson, and the present supply, Rev. J. A. Canfield.


The whole number of members enrolled since the forma- tion of the church is 247, and the number now on the roll is 80.


On Dec. 22, 1835, a society (body corporate) was formed, with Anson Ranney, James Shurtliff, and Nathan M. Flower, trustees, who, in union with the Methodists, built a church costing $1800, and which was dedicated in September, 1838, Revs. R. Pettibonc, Presbyterian, and Jesse Peck, Methodist, officiating at the ceremonics. In 1849, the Methodist interest in the edifice was purchased by the Presbyterians, and it has since been their house of worship. Of the original members of the church, enrolled more than half a century since, two still remain, namely, Mrs. Lucinda Morrow, lacking but a few days of 80 years, and Mrs. Re- lief Bodman, nearly 96 years of age. They are both still able to attend divine worship, though the elder lady resides about two miles from the meeting-house.


THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.


Methodism in Theresa is half a century old, the first class being organized in 1827, by Rev. Squire Chase. Another of the early preachers who served them was Rev. Lindley T. Gibbs, then an itinerant. The organization under the statute was effected Dec. 22, 1835, with S. T. Brooks, Alexander H. Morgan, and Benjamin Barnes, trustees. Their worship was held in the school-house and in private dwellings, until 1838, when their first church edifice-built in union with the Presbyterians-was completed, at a cost of $1800, and was dedicated in September of that year, the Rev. Jesse Peck, on the part of this church, officiating at the ceremonies. In 1849 the Methodist interest in this building was sold to the Presbyterians, and a new church was built the following year at the place where Dresser's hall now is. This building, 30 by 60 feet in size, was destroyed by fire April 27, 1860. A new site was then purchased, on which the present house of worship was erected, and was dedicated in February, 1862. The present membership is 175 ; pastor, Rev. Simon P. Gray. A pros- perous Sabbath-school is connected with the church ; Charles Pool, superintendent.


Some years since a small chapel was built near the outlet of the Lake of the Woods by Methodists residing in the northern and eastern portions of the town, and in this building (now in a state of repair amounting almost to di- lapidation ) meetings are occasionally held, under preachers from the Plessis charge.


ST. JAMES' CHURCH (EPISCOPAL).


The first clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal church who ever conducted services in Theresa were Revs. Star- key, Hills, and Levi Norton. This was before the organi- zation of the parish, which was made July 16, 1848, with the following communicants, Daniel Parker, Horace Parker, Franklin Parker, E. W. Lewis, Dr. Lucius Hannahs and wife, and Percy Jarvis. The parish was admitted to union with the Diocesan Convention in the same year. In 1850, Rev. W. A. Fiske, who had held this as a mission before the organization, became rector, and through his efforts, and those of Franklin Parker, E. W. Lewis, and Horace Parker, contributions were raised towards the building of a church, and the corner-stone was laid by Rt. Rev. Bishop De Lancey, July 19, 1850. Aid was also received from Trinity church, and the edifice, a Gothic structure, after the plans of R. Upjohn, of New York, was completed at a cost of $2600, and was consecrated by Bishop De Lancey, Aug. 7, 1851. This building is their present house of worship. Its tower was demolished and the church other- wise injured in a violent gale in 1863, the repair of which damage cost the parish nearly $500. On Jan. 1, 1852, Rev. Mr. Fiske resigned the rectorate, and was succeeded in February by Rev. B. W. Whitcher, who remained until Feb. 13, 1854. Rev. Robert Horwood took charge Feb. 11, 1855, remaining until May 6, 1857, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. M. B Benton, who in turn was followed by Rev. Dennis Smith, deacon, who was ordained to the priesthood in this church by Bishop De Lancey. After a charge of two and a half years Mr. Smith resigned, and on Sept. 28, 1863, departed to a better world. He


521


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


Was interred in the Theresa cemetery, his burial-services being conducted by Rev. Theodore Babcock, D.D. Rev. John B. Linn took charge Sept. 17, 1865, and resigned in August, 1869. Rev. Francis W. Hilliard took charge May 20, 1870. In July, 1873, he was placed in charge of an associate mission, including Theresa, Redwood, Ant- werp, and Evans' Mills, and in September of the same year Rev. Hugh Bailey, deacon, became the rector's assist- ant. Mr. Hilliard resigned the rectorship in February, 1874, and Rev. John J. Andrews was placed in charge in the following May. He resigned May 2, 1875, and was succeeded by Rev. Charles A. Wenman, who served the parish for two years and five months, resigning May 1, 1877, but continuing to hold services until Oct. 1, when he was succeeded by Rev. J. Barton Finn, deacon.


THERESA CEMETERY.


At the laying out of the village, Mr. Le Ray reserved a spot, supposed to be about one acre, as a gift to the public for cemetery purposes. It was not until Feb. 7, 1833, however, that a deed of the plat was executed to John D. Davison, supervisor, by Francis Depau, attorney of Le Ray, and S. C. Kanady, general land-agent. It was surveyed by Jason Clark and found to contain 1.40 a 100 acres. The first interment in it was that of Mr. Castleman, drowned in 1821, while attempting to secure a log in the river above the falls. Soon after, in the same year, the second burial was made; that of the colored girl who perished in the fire of Stephenson's tavern.


At the first town-meeting in Theresa, May 11, 1841, it was voted " that the sum of $30 be raised for the purpose of improving the public burial-ground in the village of Theresa, and that three trustees, be appointed to take charge of said burial-ground, to expend the sum raised in the improvement and laying out in lots* the said ground, and that Jesse S. Doolittle, Nathan M. Flower, and Alex- ander Salisbury be said trustees." In 1850, $25 was voted to fence and repair the ground. In 1860, $10 was voted


to improve it, and at the annual meeting in 1863, $250 was raised " to enlarge the burying-ground," and it was accordingly enlarged by the purchase of about two acres, adjoining its westerly side, front George P. Fox. The ground is eligibly located upon a high, dry spot, command- ing a fine view of the valley of the Indian river.


The other burial grounds are comparatively little used ; the greater part of those dying in the town being interred in the cemetery at the village. The grave-yard on the river-road, near Kelsey's bridge, was taken from the Kelsey farm many years ago. Members of that family, however, and others who were residents of that vicinity, have been brought to the Theresa cemetery. The Chase burial- ground, located near the Philadelphia road, on the town- line, was taken from the original farm of Otis Alden, one of the early settlers, and one who is buried there. This is an old place of burial of the Chase family and of the neighborhood, both in Theresa and Philadelphia. There is an interment-ground, taken from the farm of Osmyn Caswell, lying on the west side of the Evans' Mills road,


near the residence of Amos Hoover. The first burial there was in 1835,-a child of Benjamin Pease.


On the west side of the Military road, near the east shore of Mud lake, and within three-fourths of a mile of Red- wood, lies the village cemetery belonging to that place ; also the cemetery of the Catholic church in Redwood ; but these, although lying just within the domain of Theresa, do not belong to her, but to the town of Alexandria. They were taken from the farm of Robert Adams.


PHYSICIANS.


The principal doctor to practice the healing art in The- resa, as a resident physician, was Dr. John D. Davison, who came from Pamelia in 1824. He died Sept. 22, 1865, aged 72 years. His two sons, James and Nathan, adopted their father's profession, and were both promising young physicians, but died early in life. Nathan survived his father, and died in 1874. Dr. James B. Carpenter located in the town in 1812, or thereabouts, and removed later to Philadelphia, being in the latter place as late as 1853. Dr. Samuel J. Gaines was a resident physician of this town in 1820, or thereabouts. Dr. Catlin was a student of Dr. Jno. D. Davison. Dr. Oliver Brewster, from Lyme to Theresa, was in company with Dr. Davison, and died in the town. Dr. Rexford Davison was a nephew and student of Dr. J. D. Davison. Dr. Lucius Ilannahs came to Theresa also from Lyme, and was in practice for many years in this town, dying here in 1876. His brother, Dr. Kilbourn Hannahs, is a physician of Watertown. Dr. J. R. Sturtevant and Dr. James E. Kelsey, students of old Dr. Davison, are at present resident physicians of Theresa. Dr. Marvin J. Hutchins, of Redwood, is also a student of the old veteran. The above, except Drs. Carpenter, James and Rexford Davison, and Hannahs, were or are members of the Jefferson County Medical Society.


The publishers are under obligations to David Bearup, Esq., Reverends J. A. Canfield, Chas. A. Wenman, and S. P. Gray, Messrs. Jesse S. Doolittle, P. D. Bullard, Geo. E. Yost, Nathaniel W. Lull, Joseph Fayel, Charles Pool, E. V. Fisher, Geo. W. Cornwell, Esq., and Wm. Dresser, Esq., for valuable assistance in the preparation of the history of Theresa.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


JONATHAN STRATTON.


The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary War, and was engaged in the battle of Bennington. Jefferson S. Stratton, the father of Jona- than, was born in Bennington in 1801, and moved to Jef- ferson County in 1832, traveling the whole distance with his horses and wagon, with his wife and six children, and settled in the town of Pamelia. In 1839 he settled in the town of Theresa, and in May, 1853, removed to Michigan, where he now resides.


Jonathan was born in 1829, and moved with his parents


# This was evidently the first laying out of the ground in lots.


522


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


to this county, where he now resides, in the town of The- resa, on the old homestead which he and his father eleared and built up, a view of which, together with the portraits of himself and wife, are found elsewhere in this work. In 1852 he married Chloe A. Wilson, of Philadelphia, Jefferson Co. The result of this union was six children, namely, Lewis WV., born April 9, 1854; Mary J., born August 29, 1855; Ruth Emma, born January 21, 1857, and died August 10, 1874; Elbie J., born April 29, 1859; Cora E., born April 14, 1867 ; and Belle C., born February 13, 1869. Mary


J. married John Timmerman December 29, 1875. Jona- than received a common-school education, and then learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade, which he followed for ten years ; sinee which time he has been engaged in farming and dairying. Mr. Stratton has always affiliated with the Dem- ocratie party. Both he and his estimable wife are eonsist- ent members of the Methodist church, of which Mr. Strat- ton has been for several years a class-leader. He has always been a strietly temperate man, and one of Theresa's most respected eitizens.


WILNA.


THE town of Wilna was formed from Le Ray and Leyden (Lewis eounty), April 2, 1813, by an act which altered the line of the two counties, and annexed a part of Lewis to Jefferson. It is situated upon Black river, in tlie extreme eastern part of the county. Its surface is broken, and is chiefly underlaid by the primary rock, which rises into low, naked ridges, and by calcareous sandstone. Upon Black river, which forms the western boundary of the town, are a series of rapids, forming an abundance of water-power at several places. The form of the town is very irregular, and its area is about equal to nine miles square. A large portion of the town is still uncultivated, and is covered with a dense growth of maple, beech, basswood, oak, hemlock, ete. The soil is a light loam, produeing the various crops of the country. The first town-meeting was held at the house of Thomas Brayton, Jr., and the poor-moneys of the three towns* were to be equally divided by the last tax list. For many years the town-meetings have been held at the "Cheekered House," four miles from Carthage village. The first town officers elected were Thomas Brayton, super- visor ; Elihu Stewart, clerk ; John B. Bossout, Caleb Fulton, and Enoch Griffin, assessors; Robert C. Hastings, collee- tor ; Henry Lewis and Alfred Freeman, overseers of the poor; Henry Lewis, Freedom Gates, and Thomas Brayton, commissioners of highways. The succession of


SUPERVISORS


has been as follows: 1814-15, Thomas Brayton ; 1816, Alfred Freeman ; 1817, Francis Lloyd, T. Brayton to fill vacancy; 1818-19, Nathan Brown; 1820-2, Thomas Bray- ton ; 1823-7, Eli West ; 1828-9, Thomas Baker; 1830-2, Eli West; 1833, Walter Nimoeks ; 1834, William Bones; 1835-6, Walter Nimocks; 1837, William Bones ; 1838, Oliver Child ; 1839, Walter Nimocks; 1840-1, Eli West ; 1842, Jonathan Wood; 1843, Walter Nimoeks; 1844,


Milton H. Carter; 1845, Charles Strong; 1846, Hiram McCollom ; 1847-9, Simeon Fulton; 1850-1, Willianı Christian; 1852-3, Horaee Hooker; 1854, Samuel Keys; 1855-56, Nelson D. Furguson ; 1857, William Chrishan ; 1858, Patriek S. Stuart; 1859, Samuel Keys; 1860-1-2-3, Charles W. Smith; 1864-5-6, William Christian; 1867, James H. Morrow; 1868, Lawrence J. Goodale; 1869, James H. Morrow ; 1870, William Christian; 1871-2, Henry W. Hammond; 1873-4, Foster Penniman; 1875- 6-7, James Galvin.


In 1815-16-17-19-20-23, was voted a wolf bounty of $5 ; in 1827-8, of $10, with $5 for wolf whelps. In 1831, the path-masters were allowed to lay out three days' labor in destroying noxious weeds. In 1846, strong resolutions were passed in favor of the Black River Canal.


SETTLEMENTS.


Settlement was eommeneed in the fall of 1794 by agents of the Castorland Company .; In 1798, Henry Boutin, who had purchased one thousand aeres of land of Rodolph Tillier, agent of the French Company, on the east side of the river, at the village of Carthage, made a considerable elearing. Jean Baptiste Bossout, a native of Franee, came from the High Falls during the same year, and after the abandonment of the elearing he remained the sole inhab- itant for several years, keeping a ferry and inn for travelers. Washington Irving made a tour to Ogdensburgh by way of the Black river in the year 1803. In volume four of his Life and Letters, written by himself, he gives a full account of this journey. After deseribing his route down the river from the High Falls, during which his party killed a deer in the river, he says :


"In the evening we arrived at B.'s, at the head of the Long Falls. A dirtier house was never seen. We dubbed it the 'Temple of Dirt,' but we contrived to have our venison cooked in a cleanly manner by Mr. Ogden's servant, and it made very fine steaks, which, after living for two days on crackers and ginger-bread, were highly acceptable.


# Wilna, Le Ray, and Leyden.


¡ For full account of this settlement, see general history.


RESIDENCE & DAIRY FARM OF F. O. SYMONDS, WILNA. N. Y.


RESIDENCE OF SIMEON FULTON, WILNA, N. Y.


523


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


" Friday, the 13th .- We prepared to leave the Temple of Dirt, and set out about sixty miles through the woods to Ogdensburgh. We ate an uneomfortable breakfast, for indeed it was impossible to relish anything in a house so completely filthy. The landlady herself was in perfect character with the house,-a little squat Frenchwoman, with a red faec, a black wool hat stuck upon her head, her hair, greasy and uneombed, hanging about her ears, and the rest of her dress and person in similar style. We were heartily glad to make our escape."


Before leaving, the young traveler wrote with a pencil over the fireplace the following memorial :


" Here sovereign Dirt ereets her sable throne, The house, the host, the hostess all her own."


Some years afterwards, Mr. Hoffman, traveling with Judge Wm. Cooper, father of the novelist, passed this way and stopped at the same house. The pencil-lines were still legible, and the judge, who had seen too much of frontier life to be over-nice about trifles, wrote underneath :


" Learn henec, young man, and teaeh it to your sons, The wisest way's to take it as it comes."


The ferry established by Mr. Bossout was kept up till the bridge was built in 1813 by Ezra Church.


The first birth in the town of Wilna was that of George Bossout, in April, 1805. The second, that of Mr. John Hewit, in September of that year. The first store was built by Mr. Quilliard in 1818 or '19, on the site of the present depot of the Utica and Black River Railroad Company.


Boutin was drowned below the village a few years after his first settlement, and J. Le Ray was appointed to ad- minister the estate, which was sold at auction, and was pur- chased by Vincent Le Ray, from whom the titles in Car- thage village and vicinity have been since derived.


EARLY MANUFACTURES.


The place which had previously been known as the Long Falls was, on the ereetion of a post-office, called Carthage. In 1806, David Coffeen built a grist-mill upon the west bank and constructed a bridge partly across the river, and this was subsequently completed by those owning the forge on the east bank. A forge was built in 1816, above the site of the furnace afterwards built, which was burned during the same year; and soon after, James Barney, Franeis Lloyd, and Nathan Brown, from Fort Ann, N. Y., having leased for ten years the water-power, with privileges of ore, coal, ete., erected a forge in the lower part of the village, which was got into successful operation, making chiefly mill-irons and anchors. This business gave the first impulse to the growth of the place, but Mr. Barney having soon afterwards died, the property reverted to Le Ray. The purchase-money for lands sold by the Antwerp Company having been invested in United States stocks, was subse- quently realized by the company in money, and May 20, 1816, loaned to Mr. Le Ray, for the purpose of building a furnace and opening a road between the furnace and the St. Lawrence, with such other improvements as might be necessary to enhance the value of their remaining lands. The Alexandria road and other communications were opened accordingly ; and in 1819 a blast-furnace was erected under the supervision of Claudius S. Quilliard. A refining-forge with two additional fires was built in 1820-1, and in the fall of


1820 the furnace was got into operation. The stack was 30 feet square at the base and 24 feet high. At first bog ore was used, which was procured from swamps in the country and from near the river in Lewis county. About 1838, specular ores from St. Lawrence county and from Antwerp and Philadelphia in this county, began to be used in the blast. The premises have been four times burned, and the accident known as " blowing up" had several times happened, being caused by the clogging up of damp, loomy ores, below which a cavity will form. When the supports below melt away the mass above falls, and the dampness in the ore being subjected to a sudden and intense heat, is changed instantly into steam and explodes with terrific violence.


This accident is known only where bog ores are used alone. Upon using rock ores the height of the furnace was inercased to 28 feet, and two tewels, or pipes for air, were used instead of one. The Kearney ore was drawn 24 miles, and cost $1.25 to $2.25 per ton on the bank, and about $3 for drawing. The ore from the Shurtliff bed in Philadelphia, seventeen miles distant, cost $1.50 to $2.00 for drawing, 50 eents for raising, and 50 cents for the ore. It was worked alone sometimes, yielded about thirty-five per cent., and made a very hard metal, known as " cold short." The Carthage furnace produced from two to three tons of iron daily from eight to ten months per year until 1846, when it was abandoned, and nothing was done until 1863, when the property was purchased by Messrs. Cole & Allen. At the time of this purchase the premises had been out of use for so long a time, and had fallen into such a state of decay, as to require rebuilding through- out. It was not until 1865 that the furnace was again in operation. In May, 1866, the dam was carried away, necessitating a stay of operations until the fall of that year.


The works remained idle until 1870, when the works were purchased by the present company, known as the " Carthage Iron Company," of which R. N. Gere is presi- dent, L. H. Mills, vice-president, and C. F. Bissill, secretary. This company have enlarged the furnace, and are manufac- turing about ten tons of iron per day. The ore used at present is taken from the Shurtliff mines, and the iron pro- dueed is mostly used in the manufacture of car-wheels.


EARLY BRIDGES.


The bridge built by Ezra Church in 1813 stood until 1829, when the bridge and turnpike were surrendered to the towns, and the piers of the old bridge were bought by the towns of Champion and Wilna. In 1829, J. C. Budd built a series of bridges from island to island below the present State dam. It soon, in consequence of the flood, became useless, and was abandoned. The upper bridge in 1829, through the influence of Dr. Eli West and others, by a contribution of $1600, was built, and lasted eleven years. A covered bridge was erected upon the same site in 1840.


The " Carthagenian Library" was formed May 12, 1818. Sylvian Bullard, David Wright, Nathan Brown, Lanis Cof- feen, Ebenezer Sabins, Seth Hooker, John Wait, Elijah Fulton, Walter Nimocks, S. E. Angelis, John Hodgkins, and John Belmot were the first trustees. The collection of this society, amounting to 500 volumes, was sold at anction June 14, 1845.




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