History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 21

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 21


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Messrs. Sacket and Wood, committee on accounts of members of the board, reported a pay-roll which was not satisfactory to their fellow-members, and their work was disallowed, and a new committee, consisting of Messrs. Davis, Wood, and Keyes, given charge of the matter, who reported an allowanee of $281, including $48 for the clerk, which was audited by the board. The total assessment of the county for 1806 amounted to $931,668.72, and the


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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


total taxation to $7230.79, the new towns having the fol- lo wing proportion to bear: Le Ray, value $233,006, taxes, $1209.77 ; Hounsfield, value, $36,942, taxes, $518.30; Henderson, value, $25,992, taxes, $393.57.


Two-fifths of the taxes were for county purposes, and the remainder for town purposes. The county taxes amounted to $2908.49, the amount of rejected taxes of 1805, $539.92, being included therein. Adding to this amount the amount due from Oneida county, and the unappropriated balance of 1805, the treasurer figured up an excess of revenue over appropriations of 1806 of $730.23 ; but rejections by the comptroller disjointed the calculations, and the treasury was again in default on payment of the drafts made on it on account of the levy of 1806.


In 1807 the assessment ran up to $1,035,693.42, and the taxes to $7811.28, the county tax being $5178.47. In 1806 the charges allowed justiees and constables for ser- vices in eriminal cases amounted to $215.79, and in 1807 to $241.26. The jailer and sheriff received $135.66 in the latter year. A fine of three dollars was levied on Silvenus Brown, a Quaker non-combatant, for refusing to do military duty, but afterwards the same was annulled, and a tax of four dollars substituted therefor. In 1808 the board adopted a set of rules for the government of its members. To enforce punctuality at the hour of adjournment (mean- ing the hour to which the board had previously adjourned) a fine of one shilling was levied on delinquents who were absent fifteen minutes after roll-call, and one shilling for every half-hour's absence after that limitation. One shil- ling also was imposed on all absentees without leave, and only fifteen minutes' absence was allowed with leave, unless by special permission of the president and on special business. Members were required to be subject to good order during the business of the board, and to " observe profound silence when called to order by the president, unless addressing the ehair," and were to speak " one at a time," and but once on a subject, unless by permission ; or in default of any or either of these requirements to pay one shilling for each offense. If any member was found making a copy of his assessment-roll at any time during the sessions of the board while the business of the board was in actual progress, the offender was fined another shilling, unless he could make it appear to the president he had no other business to attend to. The president's wateh regulated the time of the board, and the fines .assessed were to be appropriated for the ex- penses of the board. The Quaker Brown was still a source of contention on the board, though a non-resident himself, and was taxed four dollars for his principles, and a warrant ordered issued to collect the tax. The taxes fell off a little this year, notwithstanding the increase in values, the latter standing at $1,094,362.49, and the former at $7206.78, the county's portion being $4385.42.


At the October meeting, 1809, begun the third day of the month, the board convened at the court-house, but it was not suitable for its accommodation, and a eommittec appointed to procure a place for holding the session in, re- ported in favor of Judge Clark's; whereupon the clerk records the resolution of the board " to put up at Judge Clark's." The board adopted the rules of the former board, and appointed James Shurtleff "stuerd"-whatever that


might have been-of the board. "Tom," an Indian, was allowed the bounty on a " wolfe-pate" he had procured a certificate for. The fight opened on the Canada thistle at this session, by the appointment of a committee to draft a petition to the Legislature for the passage of a law for the destruction of that persistent vegetable. Jonas Smith, clerk of the board, was ordered to make maps of the several towns of the county for filing in the comptroller's office, and given one hundred dollars for the job. Another increase in values and decrease in taxation occurred this year, the assessment being returned at $1,102,785, and the tax levy placed at $5499.87, of which $2615.22 were for county uses. Jairus Rich presented a certificate for a wolf bounty on an animal killed, as alleged, in Brownsville; but the board, for some reason which does not appear on the face of the records, rejected the claim. Rich submitted the question of his claim to the inhabitants of Brownsville at the town-meeting in 1810, who voted to allow it, where- upon he brought it before the board of supervisors in Oc- tober, 1810, and they rejected the claim again, notwith- standing the instruction, and unanimously, too. Both the assessment and taxes ran up again this year, the former being returned at the sum of $1,138,204, and the tax levy being placed at $7391, the county's needs requiring $3983.71. In 1811 Antwerp sent her first supervisor to the county board-Daniel Heald. Twenty-two Quakers were 'listed, and taxed four dollars each in lieu of military service ; among them Musgrove Evans, who afterwards became a noted surveyor of the United States publie lands and specu- lator therein in Michigan. The assessment fell off mate- rially this year, the same being returned at $971,045, and the taxes amounted to $5915.69, the county's proportion being $2329.22. Antwerp's first assessment amounted to $50,431, and her first tax-bills to $215.45. In 1813 the first equalization of assessments of real estate was attempted. John Brown, of Brownsville, Lyman Ellis, of Ellisburg, and Jonathan Smiley, of Rutland, were the committee on equalization, and they reported the following schedule : In- creased, Antwerp 40 per cent., Hounsfield 25 per cent., Champion 10 per ecnt., Watertown 70 per cent., Hender- son 10 per cent. Decreased, Brownsville 25 per cent., Rodman 10 per cent. It does not appear by the record that this schedule was adopted, or any other, as a basis of equalization, but that the taxes were cast on the original amounts returned by the assessors, to wit, $3,968,417. The taxes amounted to $7113.23, of which Brownsville paid $1772, Le Ray $1021.91, and Watertown $597.05. In 1814 Wilna was first represented on the board, Thomas Brayton being her member. The assessment this year was $4,223,871, and the taxes $878,298, of which amount Wilna's proportion was figured at $174,190 in valuation, and $239.49 in taxes. In 1814 the first school-tax was levied under the aet for the distribution of the State fund, in 1813, the distribution being $789.32. The first State tax was levied in 1815, and amounted to $8651.78, the total taxes amounting to $22,036.93, the sehool-tax being $1251.27, and other town taxes $7761.55. In 1816 the first equalization of real estate assessments between the towns was effected, the same being as follows : 10 per eent. was added to those of Watertown and Adams, and the fol-


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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


lowing deductions made : Brownsville, Rodman, Champion, and Antwerp, 15 per cent., Henderson 10 per cent., Ellis- burg, Lorraine, Le Ray, and Wilna, 5 per cent., and Rut- land 2} per cent. In 1817 the personal property asssess- ment of the county was returned at $105,040, against $3,483,789 on real estate. In 1818 Lyme first had a voice in the councils of the county, and paid for the privi- lege in taxes $1191.66 on an assessment of $186,721 on real estate, and $970 on personal property. Her first super- visor was Richard M. Esselstyne. In 1820 the first and only bounty paid for the killing of a panther in Jefferson County was drawn. Pamelia came into the local legislature this year, 1820, the assessment of the town being $66,164 on real estate, and $100 on personal property, and on this valuation she paid taxes to the amount of $1122.12.


At the annual meeting in 1821 the board voted to pay no more wolf bounties after that session ; but they did " for all that," as appears by the records. In 1822, Mr. Esselstyne died, while the board was in session, of yellow fever at Utiea. At the annual meeting three new towns were represented,-Alexandria, by James Shurtleff; Or- leans, by Amos Reed ; and Philadelphia, by Alden Buck- lin. Coroner Scott "sat" on the body of John F. Wages, and desired the board to allow a bill of expenses for the " erowner's quest ;" but the board deemed the action of the coroner " extra-judicial" and needless, the said body having been drowned in full view of several persons. The total assessment of the county for 1822 was returned at $2,484,118, and the total taxes amounted to $22,629.03. Of these amounts, the new towns bore the following por- tions :


Alexandria, value real estate, $142,645 ; personal prop- erty, $405; taxes, $1430.50. Orleans, value real estate, $131,397 ; personal property, $8805; taxes, $1359.71. Philadelphia, value real estate, $49,346 ; personal property, $600; taxes, $393.04.


In 1823 thirty dollars were appropriated to assist an aged pauper to Philadelphia, "or any other place where he would be the most uulikely to return." In 1830 grand and petit jurors were first paid for their services as such. In 1833 Clayton appeared on the board in the person of her first supervisor, Hubbell Fox. The total assessment of the county amounted to $3,074,753, and the tax levy figured up $27,346.52. Clayton returned its first assess- ment at $82,136, and was laid under a contribution for her own needs and those of the general welfare, placed at $1465.79. In 1841 Theresa sent her first supervisor to the county-seat. at the annual meeting, the same being Alexander Salisbury. The assessment of the town was returned as follows: Acres assessed, 40,911; value real estate, $184,500; value personal property, $300; total, $184,800. On this valuation taxes were levied to the amount of $1049.73. In 1848 Worth was set off as a new town, and sent up Albert S. Gillett as its first super- visor. Its first assessment was returned as follows : Aeres, 26,743; value real estate, $29,994; personal property, $1000; value per acre as assessed, $1.12; taxes levied, 8377.75. In 1849 Cape Vincent came into the board, by Frederick Folger, her first supervisor, with an assessment of 33,978 acres, and a real-estate valuation of $208,285,


and $2000 on personal property, and paid taxes on the same to the amount of $2698.26. The assessed value per aere of the lands of the town averaged $6.13.


In 1875 the legislature conferred upon the boards of supervisors of the several counties in the State, save such whose limits were co-extensive only with a city in its bonndaries, increased legislative powers. Under this in- erease of power the board of supervisors of Jefferson County have enacted laws for the preservation of brook- trout and other fish in Jefferson County waters, and also establishing the salaries of the then (1876) incoming county judge and surrogate at twelve hundred and fifty dollars per annum, the same having been previously fixed at twenty-five hundred dollars per annum by the State legislature.


The bounties offered by the board of supervisors for the destruction of wolves and panthers, from 1805 to 1814, inclusive, were ten dollars per head, besides the town boun- ties, which latter varied, and eaused so much difficulty, and proved such a temptation for fraudulent practices, that in 1808 the board recommended the towns to confine their bounties to the uniform sum of five dollars.


From 1815 to 1818, inclusive, the county offered a bounty of twenty dollars, the State paying as much more a portion of the time. In 1819 the bounty was reduced to ten dollars on wolves, and in 1820 to the same amount for wolves and panthers, and half that sum for the whelps of those animals. In 1821 there was no bounty at all offered, but it was restored in 1822, and remained at ten dollars for several years, but seldom more than half a dozen sealps were taken in a year. During the continuance of the bounty there were paid, in the earlier years of the settlement of the county, the following sums on wolf-scalps by the county treasurer: 1806, $460; 1807, $390; 1808, 8470; 1810, $770; 1811, $500; 1816, $320; 1818, $460; 1819, $400; 1820, $780 on wolves and $20 on panthers ; 1821, $290 for past scalps; 1822, $50.


The chairmen of the board of supervisors have been as follows: From 1805 to 1807, Noadiah Hubbard ; 1808, Ethel Bronson ; 1809-10, Jesse Hopkins ; 1811-12, Judah Williams ; 1813, Jesse Hopkins ; 1814, Noadiah Hubbard; 1815-16, Egbert Ten Eyck ; 1817-24, General Clark Allen. Up to 1818 the officer was designated as president, but in this last-named year the name was changed to chair- man. 1825, Nathan Strong; 1826, Noadiah Hubbard ; 1827-28, Walter Cole; 1829-30, Nathan Strong; 1831, Willard Ainsworth ; 1832-33, Henry H. Coffeen ; 1834- 36, Jonathan Bigelow ; 1837, Orville Hungerford ; 1838- 39, Daniel Hall; 1840, Eli West; 1841, Daniel Hall ; 1842, Orville Ilungerford ; 1843, Joseph Graves; 1844, John Boyden; 1845, Azel W. Danforth ; 1846, Alanson Skinner; 1847, O. V. Brainard; 1848, Bernard Bagley ; 1849, Alden Adams; 1850, Henry Greene, Jr .; 1851, Hiram Dewey ; 1852, Alfred Fox; 1853-54, O. P. Star- key; 1855-56, Jason Clark ; 1857, Luke E. Frame; 1858, Luther Sampson ; 1859, A. W. Clark ; 1860, John Il. Conklin ; 1861, C. A. Benjamin ; 1862, Nathan Strong; 1863, C. W. Burdick ; 1864, J. II. Conklin ; 1865, Geo. W. Ilazelton; 1866, Dr. Charles W. Burdick ; 1867, Chas. A. Benjamin ; 1868, Geo. A. Bagley ; 1869, R. B. Biddle-


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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


com ; 1870-71, Theodore Canfield ; 1872, Royal Fuller ; 1873, Tlios. C. Chittenden ; 1874, O. D. Green ; 1875, Fred. Waddingham ; 1876, John C. Knowlton.


The clerks of the board (elected by the board) have been as follows : Zclotes Harvey, 1805-6; Jonas Smith, 1807- 15 ; Marinus W. Gilbert, 1816-23; Adriel Ely, 1824-26 ; Zenas H. Adams, 1827-31; M. W. Gilbert, 1832-37 ; J. F. Bates, 1838; Alanson P. Sigourney, 1839; Myron Beebee, 1840; M. P. Jackson, 1841; A. M. Watson, 1843; A. P. Sigourney, 1844-47 ; A. Wilson, 1848-49 ; A. B. Gilbert, 1850; A. Wilson, 1851; J. R. Bates, 1852-53; M. Beebee, 1854; Abner Smith, 1855-56; E. J. Clark, 1857 ; John A. Haddock, 1858-59 ; Levi Smith, 1860 ; Wm. S. Phelps, 1861-62; Jacob Stears, Jr., 1863-71; W. D. V. Rulison, 1872-77.


The board for the year 1877 has not, at this writing, met and organized, and will not do so until the annual meeting in November, but its constituent members are as follows :


Adams, O. D. Greene; Alexandria, A. A. Holmes ; Ant- werp, Geo. D. McAllister ; Brownville, H. H. Bininger ; Cape Vincent, L. O. Woodruff; Champion, James Ster- ling; Clayton, R. M. Esselstyn ; Ellisburg, J. P. Wodell; Henderson, John Chapman ; Hounsfield, S. M. Hodges ; Le Ray, F. E. Croissant ; Lorraine, C. C. Moore; Lyme, A. A. Getman ; Orleans, B. Everett; Pamelia, G. H Countryman ; Philadelphia, George E. Tueker; Rodman, George A. Gates ; Rutland, George Smith ; Theresa, John Parker; Watertown, C. Richardson ; City of Watertown, first ward, J. C. Streeter ; second ward, J. C. Knowlton . third ward, T. C. Chittenden ; fourth ward, C. W. Sloat ; Wilna, James Galvin ; Worth, S. B. Kellogg.


COURT-HOUSES AND JAILS.


According to the provisions of the aet establishing the county, the governor and council of appointment appointed the commissioners to select and designate the site of the court-house and jail of the county, the same being Matthew Dorr, David Rodgers, and John Van Bentheusen. "The question of location was not settled without the most active efforts being made by Brownville to secure the site; but the balance of settlement was then south of Black river, and the level lands in the north part of the county were represented to the commissioners as swampy and incapable of settlement. Jacob Brown, finding it impossible to secure this advantage to his place, next endeavored to retain it, at least, north of Black river, and offered an eligible site in the present town of Pamelia ; but in this he also failed. The influence of Henry Coffeen is said to have been especially strong with the commissioners, although he was ably seconded by others of much ability. It is said that the site was marked at some distance below the business part of the village of Watertown to conciliate those who had been disappointed in its location. A deed of the premises was presented by Henry and Amos Coffeen."* At the October meeting, 1806, of the board of supervisors, Messrs. Hinds, Salisbury, and J. Brown were appointed as a com- mittee to report the expediency of building a jail, the prob-


able cost of the same, and the most advisable method to be pursued in such a proceeding for the interest of the county. The expense of sending prisoners to Whitestown was heavy, and it was apprchended that publie officers would relue- tantly spend their time in going to and from thence. The committee reported that two-thirds of all county charges were paid by non-resident taxes, and a prospect then ex- isted that this law would be repealed. They therefore advised the immediate erection of a jail, and it was esti- mated it could be built for $4500 ; that $2500 would pro- vide one better for the interests of the county than the existing system. J. Brown and A. Sackct were appointed to draft a petition to the legislature, which procured, on February 20, a law authorizing a tax of $2500 fer erecting a court-house and jail, and February 19, 1808, a further tax of $2500 was applied for. William Smith, Gershom Tuttle, and N. Hubbard were appointed to build a jail after a plan to be approved by the board. It was to be 40 by 60 feet, built of wood, and fronting eastward, and was built in 1807-8 by Wm. Rice and Joel Mix, after the plans of Wm. Smith. It contained a jail in the first story, and stood a little south of the present jail. On January 30, 1808, the superintendents were empowered "to build a suf- ficient tower and cupola on the centre of said building, and eover the dome of said cupola with tin, and so construct the said tower and cupola that it shall be sufficiently strong and convenient so as to hang a bell, and to erect a sphere and vane, and also a suitable rod to conduct the lightning from said building." On October 5, 1808, the accounts of the court-house audited, including extra work and services of committee, amounted to $4997.58. The contractors, Mix and Rice, sued the county for " extras," but afterwards compromised, and paid the costs. Wm. Smith was directed to purchase the necessary fixtures for the court-house and jail, at an estimated cost of $262.87.


In 1807 (August 13) the jail libertiest were first estab- lished, and deserve mention from the singular manner in which they were laid out. They covered a small space around the court-house and a part of the public square, and ineluded most of the houses in the village, while between these localities, along the sides of the roads, and sometimes in the centre, were paths from four to eight feet wide, with occasional crossings, so that by carefully observing this route, turning right angles, and keeping himself in the strict ranges which the court had established, a nian might visit nearly every building in the village; but if the route was by any accident obstructed by a pile of lumber, a pool of mud, or a loaded wagon, he must pass over, or through, or under, or else expose himself to the peril of losing this prcearious freedom, by close imprisonment, and subjecting his bail to prosecution for the violation of his trust. In several instances persons were thus dealt with, where they had inadvertently turned aside from the straight and narrow path, to which the statutes of that period allowed the cred- itor to consign his unfortunate debtor. A map of these limits, prepared by Jonas Smith, who for several years had made these details a subject of daily observation from ne-


+ Privileges accorded prisoners for debt, who gave bail for the observance of the bounds of the " liberties."


# Hough.


A.G.S.DEL.


COURT HOUSE, WATERTOWN, N.Y. 1877.


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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


eessity, was prepared in July, 1811, and deposited in the elerk's office. It is interesting from its containing the names of those who then owned houses in the village, of whom there were about fifty. These limits were maintained till February 23, 1821, when an act was passed defining a rectangular area around the village as the jail limits. On Oe- tober 9, 1815, the supervisors voted a petition for a tax of $1000 to build a fire-proof clerk's office, and April 5, 1816, an act was passed accordingly, allowing a tax, not exceeding $1500, for this purpose, and Ebenezer Wood, Ethel Bron- son, and Egbert Ten Eyck were named as commissioners to build the same.


A elerk's offiee was accordingly built between the present Episcopal church and the public square, and was occupied until 1831, when, in accordance with an act passed January 26 of that year, granted on a petition of the board in 1830, a new clerk's office was built by Daniel Wardwell, Eli West, and Stephen D. Sloan, commissioners appointed by the act for the purpose, who were empowered to borrow one thousand dollars on the credit of the county, and sell the former office and lot. The new office was situated on the north side of Court street, corner of Jackson street, and was occupied until the completion of the present court- house, in 1862. In December, 1817, the court-house was injured by fire, which occasioned a meeting of the board, and five hundred dollars were voted for repairs. In 1820, Wm. Smith was given the contract to re-cover the roof of the clerk's office with tin, he agreeing to furnish an "im- proved workman in tinning roofs" for the purpose. In this year the sheriff was instructed to cause the prisoners to cleanse the cells and jail generally, and, as an inducement to them to perform the task, he was authorized to " dis- tribute among them weekly one pound of tobacco to every six prisoners."


On February 9, 1821, the court-house and jail were burned, and on the 12th the supervisors met to take into consideration the measures necessary for the occasion. A petition was forwarded for a law authorizing a tax of $8000 to rebuild the county buildings, and a loan of $6000 for the same purpose. It was resolved to build the jail separate from the court-house, and both buildings were to be of stone. Elisha Camp, Nathan Strong, and John Brown were ap- pointed commissioners to superintend the building. Pre- miums of $10 for a plan of a court-house and $15 for one of a jail were offered. An aet was aeeordiugly passed March 13, 1821, for the separate erection of these build- ings, at a cost not exceeding $8000, under the direction of Eliphalet Edmonds, Henry H. Coffeen, and Jabez Foster. The courts meanwhile were to be held at the brick academy, and criminals were to be sent to the Lewis county jail. A loan not exceeding $6000 was authorized from the State. On March 28 the board inet, and the plan for a jail offered by Wm. Smith was adopted, and a resolution was passed providing for solitary cells. The court-house was agreed to be forty-four by forty-eight feet, after a plan by J. H. Bishop. This necessity of an outlay for new buildings re- vived the question of a new site, and, among others, the citizens of Sacket's Harbor made diligent efforts by petition to secure their location, but without suceess ; and in the same season a court-house and a part of the jail were


erected, which continued to be occupied until Novem- ber, 1848, when the Hon. Jas. M. Comstock, one of the inspectors of county and State prisons, reported to the Hon. Robert Lansing, judge of the county, the entire failure of the county jail to meet the requirements of the statute in relation to the safety, health, and proper classifieation of prisoners, and expressed his belief that the arrangements required by law could not be attained without the con- struction of a new prison building. This report, approved by the judge, and certified by the clerk of the board, was laid before the supervisors, a committee appointed, who visited the jail and confirmed the report, but after repeated efforts the board failed to agree upon a resolution providing for the necessary rebuilding of the county prison. This led to the issue of a writ of mandamus by the supreme court in December, on the motion of G. C. Sherman, requiring the board of supervisors to proceed without delay to the erection of a new jail, or the repair of the one then existing. This necessity for a new prison suggested the project of the division of the county into two jury districts, and the erec- tion of two sets of buildings at other places than Water- town, and the question became, for a short time, one of considerable discussion in various sections of the county. The question was settled by the erection of an extensive addition to the jail, two stories high, and considered ade- quate for the wants of the county for some time (then) to eome, at least, if the course adopted was that recommended by the board of supervisors October 20, 1820, as set forth in the following resolution :




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