History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 57

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 57

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

AL.TT_5. 2 :_ 1

Sem A, Brown

AARON BROWN,

who died at Lorraine, May 9, 1870, aged eighty-six years, was born at Killingly, Conn., in 1784, and was son of Eben- ezer Brown, who died in 1832 at Lorraine, aged eighty-two years, and who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. From Killingly the family moved to Argyle, N. Y., and remained there a short time, and thence removed to a place on the south side of Sandy creek, now in the village of Adams, west of the railroad, in the year 1801. Aaron came there on foot, with his axe on his shoulder, which he used in clear- ing up the forest for about a year, when he sought out a new location at what is now the small village in Lorraine, and which was then a wilderness, there being less than half a dozen families in that region, which was then within the boundaries of Mexico, but soon was organized into the town of Malta, and shortly after Lorraine. Being a man of medium stature but great physical strength, unusual ac- tivity, decision, energy, and enterprise, he soon established the foundation of his future success. Commencing with removing the forest, converting the timber into ashes for sale in exchange for articles needed, clearing up the lands for agricultural uses, by perseverance and untiring industry he, as early as 1811, not only had paid for a considerable quantity of land, but had commenced the mercantile busi- ness in a small room in the house in which he lived and kept a small inn, and that business was continued by him (a part of the time jointly with his elder brother, Joel) until as late as 1825. In the mean time his labor, enter- prise, and accumulation had caused the erection of a saw- mill and grist-mill, which were long thereafter continued

by him in operation, and, indeed, almost to the time of his death were kept up through his means. At times he was operating in the early days two or three saw-mills, a grist- mill, and one, and for a time two, distilleries, and during all his life was averse to speculative investments, having invested largely in farming lands.

His school education was what he acquired in three months' attendance at common school, yet by study and experience he was enabled to write and keep his own account books, and to compute interest by mental computation with near the rapidity and as accurately as one educated to it by the books.

Frugality, energy, activity, probity, perseverance, charity, and liberality were his well-defined characteristics, and he was noted for his strictly temperate habits, never using spirituous liquor, although he, in early days, manufactured large quantities of it, and using tea and coffee only as a medicine up to the later years of his life. He, from early manhood, was a devoted and regular attendant at religious services at the Baptist church near his residence, to the construction and maintenance of which he was always much the largest contributor. No poor man left his door hungry, and a fair portion of the accumulation of his labors and enterprise was always ready to be loaned to aid the needy, for which he never charged above, and often less than, the legal rate of interest. His judgment and advice were sought by all his neighbors and acquaintances, and generally accepted, as to business affairs.

He held the offices of town clerk, commissioner of high-

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

225

ways, and justice of the peace for several years; but all parties to suits before him, under his advice, settled without trial, he generally charging no fees therein. He was also a representative from Jefferson County in the State Assembly in 1830. He was always an active supporter of the Demo- eratie party.

Whether - in the field, at the mill, or elsewhere, among the workmen, in the church, in politieal affairs, or enter- prises pertaining to the town, he was recognized by those associated with him as the leading master-mind, whose judgment, plans, or aetion, when known, were generally adopted and aequieseed in. He, with his neighbors, has- tened at earliest warning to the defense of his country at the battle of Saeket's Harbor.

February 1, 1810, he married Betsy Burpee, daughter of Ebenezer Burpee, then a resident of Jaffrey, New Hamp- shire, who was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and who removed to and died in Lorraine in 1832, aged seventy- two years ; and she is now living on the old farm, and was eighty-six years old Feb. 18, 1877.

At his death Aaron Brown left surviving three children : Mrs. A. B. Bishop, Henry M. Brown, of Lorraine, and Levi H. Brown, of the city of Watertown ; his elder son, Moses Brown, having died in Lorraine in 1853.

Aaron had four brothers : Joel, the eldest, for many years resident at Pierrepont Manor, and engaged extensively in mereantile and other business, was one of the proprietors of a line of stages running from Watertown to Salt Point (now Syracuse), Rome, and Utica, and died at Lorraine Aug. 8, 1872, aged ninety-four years and ten months; and Ebenezer, Parley, and Water; the latter, the youngest, died Dee. 25, 1875, aged seventy-three ; the other two died previously.

Seareely a man resided in that town during the half-

eentury succeeding its first settlement that did not seek and obtain cheerfully-rendered assistance of some kind by Aaron Brown.

LEVI H. BROWN

was born in Lorraine, Jefferson Co., N. Y. He worked on a farm until he was nineteen years old, then started out to obtain an education. Graduated at Union College in 1843. Read law with Judge Jones, of Schenectady, and Judge Calvin Skinner, of Adams. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in July, 1846; read and practiced law at Adams from October, 1843, to June 1, 1852, when lie removed to Watertown, where he practiced his profes- sion until the present time. From June 1, 1852, to April, 1854, lie was a member of the firm of Moore & Brown, and from May, 1854, to December, 1871, he was a member of the firm of Brown & Beach, subsequent to which he conducted the business alone until 1876, and since the latter date under the firm-name of Brown & Gipson. He has mainly devoted his time and energies to his profes- sional business, occasionally engaging in political affairs for diversion and amusement. In 1857 he was elected supervisor of the town of Watertown, over Willard Ives, and in 1876 he was mayor of the eity of Watertown, eleeted in December, 1875, over Ambrose W. Clark. He was also eleeted a director in the Jefferson County National bank, to fill a vaeaney occasioned by the death of O. V. Brainard, in January, 1867, and has been continued in that trust, and has also, for a number of years, been largely in- terested in farming interests. In 1876 he became inter- ested in the Watertown Spring-Wagon Company and the Watertown Printing Company, being president of the former and a director of the latter.

HISTORY OF THE TOWNS.

WATERTOWN.

THE history of this town is so closely intermingled with that of the adjacent city of the same name that it is some- what difficult to separate them. In this ease, as in other similar ones, the only way is to keep in mind that the terri- tory of the present town is the subjeet under consideration, and that all which has occurred outside of its present boundaries is irrelevant to our purpose. Thesc boundaries are as follows : Beginning in the middle of Black river, on the line between the old survey townships numbers 2 and 3 of the "Eleven Towns;" thence south to the southeast corner of township No. 2, six and a third miles; thence west to the southwest corner of No. 2, six and a half miles ; thenee north to the middle of Black river, seven miles ; thence easterly along the eentre of the river two and a half miles, to the city boundary ; thence southerly, westerly, and northerly along that boundary, at various angles, but in a general semicircular direction, for six and a half miles, as laid down in the history of Watertown city, to the centre of Black river, striking two and threc-fourths miles from the point of deflection ; and thence easterly along the een- tre of the river, two miles and a quarter, to the place of beginning.

The surface of this territory is moderately broken in the central and western parts, rising into hills of considerable height in the southern and eastern portions. Black river, which, as just shown, runs along the north side of the northeastern and northwestern sections of the present town, is a rapid stream, affording abundant water-power within the territory of Watertown eity, which would doubtless be utilized were it not for the superior advantages and close proximity of Watertown city. Besides this, the principal stream is a branch of Sandy ercek, which heads in Rut- land, enters Watertown about two miles south from its northeastern corner, runs southwesterly about four miles, and then passes across its southern linc into Rodman. An- other stream, called Mill creek, heads near the centre of the town, and also runs southeasterly, its waters finally making their way into Black River bay ncar Sacket's Harbor. From the western part of the city across the northwestern part of the territory under consideration, and thence south- west towards the lake, extends a narrow marsh, commonly known as the " Long Swamp."

The soil of the west part of the town is a dark loam interspersed with gravelly ridges, while in the eastern por- tion the gravel bceomes largely predominant and small bowlders are abundant. The original growth of timber in

the east was very largely sugar-maple, with smaller quantities of becch, basswood, and elm, and some pine near the river. Going westward, the maple became less abundant, and con- siderable birch was found on the low ground.

This town, together with that part of the city south of Black river, was originally township No. 2 of the " Eleven Towns." The early titles having been delineated in chap- ter four of the general history of the county, it is only necessary here to say that at the beginning of settlement it was owned, together with Adams in this county and Low- ville in Lewis county, by Nicholas Low, of the latter place, his agent being Silas Stow. The township (the present city and town) had been surveyed in 1796 by Benjamin Wright into fifty-two lots of from 400 to 625 acres each, but it was not until 1800 that its settlement was actually begun.

In March, 1800, Deacon Oliver Bartholomew, a native of Connecticut and a revolutionary soldier, who had al- ready reached the age of 42 years, made his way from Oneida county through the trackless forest, and made the first settlement in the present town of Watertown, elosc to its northwestern corner. This earliest of the town's pio- neers survived the perils and hardships of frontier life for more than half a century, dying in June, 1850, at the age of 92 years.

Up to this time township No. 2 was a part of the gigantic town of Mexico, Oneida county, which town extended from Oneida lake on the south to Black river on the north, and from the same river on the east to Lake Ontario on the west. But almost simultaneously with the advent of the first settler, namely, March 14, 1800, Watertown was formed by an act of the legislature. It comprised town- ships numbers 1, 2, and 3 of the " Eleven Towns," now known as Hounsfield, Watertown, and Rutland, and the main part of the city of Watertown. All the inhabitants (unless Deacon Bartholomew had already arrived at his destined home) were in what is now Rutland, and it was there that the first town meeting of the town of Water- town was held. The name was probably derived from Watertown, Massachusetts,-being considered especially appropriate on account of the river, which ran for near twenty miles along the then northern boundary. Owing to the destruction of the early records by fire, we cannot give the names of the first officers; but they doubtless lived in Rutland.

Bartholomew had bought his land in October previous

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

(1799), and at the same time purchases were made by Simcon and Benjamin Woodruff, E. Allen, James Rogers, and Thomas Delano. During the year 1800 the two Wood- ruffs, Jotham Ives, and perhaps others, came on and built eabins preparatory to settlement ; but the only man who remained through the winter in the present town was Dea- eon Bartholomew. The next year, Simeon and Benjamin Woodruff, with their families, their father, Jonah Woodruff, and their younger brother, Frederick, came on and located where the two first-named had built their eabin, a short dis- tanee northeast of Burrville, in what has since been known as the Woodruff neighborhood. Jotham Ives, afterwards one of the prominent men of the county, made a perma- nent location in that year, at the extreme western part of the town, in the district now called Field Settlement, as did also his brothers, Joel and Dr. Titus Ives. It is said that Jotham Ives raised the first wheat in the present town of Watertown. There were numerous other settlers during this year, for when Watertown had once been fairly discov- ered, and its advantages duly observed, it filled up with great rapidity. Among those who settled in the eastern part of town in 1801 and 1802 were William Sampson, Rev. Ebenezer Lazelle, Thomas and Job Sawyer, John Blevan, Abram Fisk, Lewis Drury, Sherebiah Fay, Aaron Bacon, Jonathan E. Miles, Jacob Stears, Seth Peck, Hen- derson Howk, Silas Howk, Job Whitney, and Caleb and Nathaniel Burnham. James Wilson settled in 1802, on " Wilson Hill," south of Burrville, eutting his own road from Adams. His son John, then an infant, so far as we ean learn, is the earliest surviving resident of the town. In the central part were Eli Rogers, Aaron Brown, Elijah Allen, James Rogers, and others; while in the west were Joseph Wadleigh, Bennett Rice, Thomas H. Biddlecom, John and Zebediah Buell, Friend Dayton, and others. We give also a further list of others who had purchased land in township No. 2 in 1800, and most of whom, though per- haps not all, located in the present town of Watertown during the years 1801-2: Silas Alden, Heman Pellit, David Bent, Luther Demming, Ira Brown, Calvin Brown, Abram Jewett, N. Jewett, Benj. Allen, James Glass, Henry Jewett, Ephraim Edwards, and John Patrick. All these purchases were made by contract, and it was not until August 20, 1802, that the first deeds in the township were given to Jotham Ives, Elijah Allen, David Bent, Ezra Parker, William Parker, Joseph Tuttle, and Joseph Moors.

Meanwhile Mr. Stow, as agent for the proprietor, sceing that the settlement was likely to be very rapid, made a con- tract with Hart Massey, under which a saw-mill and a rude grist-mill for grinding corn were to be built that season. Massey was to furnish three aeres of land and ereet the mills, while Stow was to contribute provisions, mill-stones, irons, and, in short, whatever eost money. The expenses were to be cqualized when the work was done, and the mills to be owned in partnership by Stow and Massey.

The point chosen for these important structures was on the branch of Sandy creek before named, a few rods below the somewhat celebrated cascade upon it. This caseade is just within the present town of Watertown, on its eastern edge. The stream, coming from the eastward, pours in several

separate channels over successive ledges of rock, falling some sixty feet in the course of a few rods. In high water, even at this day, these falls present an interesting view, and when the country was covered with woods the volume of the stream was such as to give promise of a valuable water- power. In this, as in many other cases, clearing up the forest dried up the water, and the more wheat there was raised the less ehanee there was for grinding it.

The saw-mill was built according to contract, and the grist-mill was completed in 1801 or 1802. These were the first mills of any description in Jefferson County south of the river, and are both still used for their original purposes. In 1802 they were sold to Captain John Burr, who, with several sons, located there at that time, and remained for many years. One of the sons, Theodore Burr, was after- wards an eminent engineer and bridge-builder. From this family the place received the name of Burrville, which it has ever sinee retained.

Going back a few months, we will narrate the first ex- citing event which occurred in the present town after its settlement. We condense it from an account published many years ago in the Watertown Jeffersonian, by the late Solon Massey, and preserved in Hough's " History of Jef- ferson County." In the autumn of 1801, Friend Dayton was keeping bachelor's hall with his brother-in-law in a log eabin on a piece of land which he had contraeted for, lying near the present road from Watertown to Brownville, on the slope of what was long known as Folts Hill. A grand squirrel-hunt was in contemplation by the dozen or so of men in the township, and one evening, just before it was to come off, Dayton took down his gun to prepare it for action. Not knowing it was loaded, he carelessly laid it across his knees with the muzzle pointing towards his brother-in-law. While manipulating the lock, he still more carelessly pulled the trigger, and was astounded by the deafening report of his gun and the cry of his friend, who fell to the floor, ex- claiming, " I am shot! I am shot !" There was no light but that from the fire-place, the men were both evidently much frightened, and, without waiting to make an exami- nation, Dayton set out at the best speed he could make through the darksome forest to seek Dr. Isaiah Massey, who had just located himself in the little settlement which has since become the city of Watertown. Mrs. Hart Massey was alone in her house, her husband, his brother the doctor, and other boarders being out in the log barn husking corn. Suddenly a man burst headlong through the door, gasping for breath, and crying out, " I have killed my brother, and want the doctor !" This abrupt statement, of which the last part was somewhat inconsistent with the first, greatly startled the matron, but she soon direeted Dayton to the barn, and herself began preparing bandages and putting up some candles. Equipped with these, besides his regular ammunition, the doetor was soon on his way on horseback towards Dayton's residenee. It was the first ease of sur- gery in Jefferson County, and the young doctor became very nervous, as he approached the place, at the idea of stumbling over a .dead man when he opened the door. He found the door fastened, but, on rapping and telling who he was, he was admitted by the wounded man, who had seeured the door lest the wolves should be attracted by the seent of his

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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

blood. The injury was found to be a flesh-wound, and under proper treatment the young man rapidly recovered ; but the affair was the most exciting event of 1801, and was long remembered by the settlers of that primitive era.

On the first day of April, 1802, the town of Rutland was formed by the legislature, reducing Watertown to the present limits of Watertown, Hounsfield, and the main part of the city.

The first minister in the town, and perhaps in the county, was Rev. Ebenezer Lazelle, who eame in 1801 or 1802, and, oddly enough as it sounds to modern ears, he owned the first distillery in town, situated at Burrville. He is supposed to have built it; at all events, he owned it in 1802.

Immigration was very rapid, and in the fall of 1802 there were about sixty families in the present town. Clearings were appearing in every direction, but the deer still bounded swiftly over the hills by day and the wolves howled dis- mally in the darksome glades by night. The latter seldom attacked mnen, but were considered dangerous if goaded by extreme hunger or excited by the smell of blood. Solon Massey also relates an account of a lively chase which came off in the western part of the town in the fall of 1802.

Jotham Ives, the first settler in what is now the Field Settlement, at that time employed an old man named Knowl- ton, who lived near the present residence of James and Isaac Brintnall (about a mile from Ives'), to help him kill his hogs. Knowlton stayed to help cut up the pork in the evening, and when lie started for home was presented with a couple of the hogs' "plucks" in addition to his pay. It was suggested that there might be danger from the wolves on account of the blood on his clothes, but he deelined an invitation to stay over night, and Mr. Ives advised him if followed to fling away the plucks for the wolves to quarrel over, and thus escape to his clearing. Sure enough, ere he had gone far he heard the sharp howl of a wolf; this was answered by another, and still another, in quick succession, and in a few moments a full band of these dismal musicians . were playing their most startling crescendoes in his rear. He quickened his pace along the dim foot-path which was the only road through the forest, still hoping that he was not the objeet of their attentions. But ere long, though the howls died away, he heard behind him the sound of pattering feet rushing over the autumn leaves with

" That long, strong gallop which can tire The hound's deep hate, the hunter's fire,"

and felt that he must put forth his best efforts. With all the agility which his age would permit, he sped onward towards home, still clinging to his two "plueks," and losing ground every moment in comparison with his fierce pur- suers. Ere he could reach the brush fenee which sur- rounded his little elearing, his enemies were close upon his heels. As a last resort, he flung down one of the plueks. For a moment or two the animals halted to snarl over the tempting morsel, and during that brief interval Mr. Knowl- ton scrambled over the fence, rushed across the few rods of open ground, and all exhausted burst in upon his startled family.

Other animals, more interesting than, if not so savage as

the wolves, were the beavers, which were common in the town at the beginning of settlement. A small brook was dammed by these industrious workers some two miles southwest of the city, the adjacent ground was overflowed and turned into a " beaver-meadow," and when a highway was laid out aeross this tract it was ealled the Beaver Meadow road, which name it has retained to the present day. The dam was just where the railroad from Watertown to Sacket's Harbor now crosses the low ground in question.

One of the earliest settlers, named Matthews, related to Mr. James Brintnall, who in turn repeated to the writer of this sketch, an aceount of his visit to the city of beavers in the day of its prosperity. Across the little creek was the dam, composed principally of logs ground down and dragged into place with immense labor by the tireless architects, filled out with moss and sticks, and finished with a heavy eoating of mud.

The meadow was broad and the water was less than a foot in depth. Above its surface rosc the mud-huts of the beavers, with no opening visible to the eye. Mr. Matthews stealthily approached, and could hear the inhabitants busy within their mansions, but an unguarded movement disclosed his presence, and the next instant lie saw them rushing away through the shallow water, without any of them hav- ing appeared above its surface. Mr. Matthews determined to investigate the mysteries of beaverdom, and accordingly took off the top of one of the huts. He found a comfortable chamber above the surface of the water, well cushioned with moss and leaves, and evidently serving as both bedroom and parlor for the beaver family. There was neither door nor window, but in the floor there was an aperture through which the occupants could pass down into the lower cham- ber. This was nearly full of water, and had an opening into the pond beneath the surface. Thus, these intelligent and industrious animals had comfortable rooms in which to dwell, and were, at the same time, safe against all ordinary assailants. Bears and wolves could not smell them through the impervious walls of their huts, and would never think of tearing off the roofs of their houses in order to destroy the occupants. If there was an alarm, the beavers could flee in an instant into the water.

But bears, wolves, deer, and beaver all fled before the swiftly-advancing tide of immigration. It is doubtful if another town in the State was settled with more rapidity than were the fertile fields of Watertown, after the work was once begun. The axes of the pioneers resounded in every direction, and the smoke of their eabins rose from every valley and hill-side. Of course the fateful dramas of birth and marriage and death were soon enacted in these lately untrodden wilds. The first birth was that of a son of Adam Bacon, at Watertown Centre. It was quite a common custom in those days for the first male child born in a town- ship to receive the name of the proprietor, and to be pre- sented with a lot of land by him. Tradition asserts that on the next visit of the proprietor of Watertown the jubi- lant father informed him that a son had been born to him (Mr. Bacon), and added, " I have named him after you." " Ah ! have you ?" replied the person thus addressed, put- ting his hand in his pocket. " Well, licre is fifty cents for him !"

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History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 57

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