History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 68

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 68

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).

The original board of trustees named in the articles of association were: Hon. Andrew Cornwall, of Alexandria Bay; Hon. Seth G. Pope, of Ogdensburgh ; S. B. Van Duzce, of Gouverneur ; John D. Ellis, of Antwerp; R. C. Collis, of Theresa ; George Gilbert, of Carthage; William S. Taylor, of Utica; Timothy Hough, of Syracuse; and Dr. J. D. Huntington, of Watertown.

The present board of trustees and officers are as follows : Rev. P. H. Fowler, D.D., of Utica, president; Hon. An- drew Cornwall, of Alexandria Bay, vice-president and treasurer ; R. C. Collis, of Theresa, secretary ; S. B. Van Duzce, of Gouverneur, Geo. Gilbert, of Carthage, Judge Phelps, of Binghamton, P. H. Agun, of Syracuse, Gen. S. D. Hungerford, of Adams, and Dr. J. D. Huntington, of Watertown. The executive committee is Messrs. Fowler, Cornwall, Collis, Hungerford, and Huntington, under whose direction the improvements on the park are being vigor- ously pushed, preparatory to the opening of the grounds and sale of lots, which is proposed to take place about the middle of May next (1878).

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA was formed at Plessis, August 11, 1821, by the Rev. Nathaniel Dutton, and consisted of the following-named members : Aaron Goddard, James Carnegie, Lydia Carne- gie, Elizabeth Carnegie, Cynthia Merrill, Polly Young, and Sally Hoadley. The Lord's Supper was first administered to this little band August 12, 1821, by the pastor. David J. Wecks and Aaron Goddard were ordained elders, the former on July 4, 1824, the latter on September 5 of the same year. The suecession of pastors and supplies of the church, from its organization to the present, has been as

follows: Revs. William B. Stowe, G. A. Boardman, John Sessions, William Chittenden, Phineas Camp, Lewis M. Shepard, L. Wilcox, Henry Smith, C. W. Treadwell, who served the church faithfully and well for twelve years, Samuel L. Merrill, Alexander Smith, Alexander B. Wil- liams, M. E. Grant, and the Rev. J. A. Canfield, the pres- ent incumbent.

Jason Clark was ordained an elder and appointed clerk of the board in 1833, and occupied those offices until his death in 1871. And we may here be allowed, with all due reverence, to remark that the admirable manner in which he kept the records of the church during the thirty-eight years of his clerkship entitles him, in our opinion, to the position of secretary to the recording angel in the eelestial mansions above.

In 1861 the society erected a fine church building of wood, with a spiral tower, at a cost of nearly $4000. The sacred edifice was dedicated to the service of Almighty God in 1862, during the pastorate of Rev. C. W. Tread- well. It is eapable of seating about 400 persons, and is perhaps the finest house of worship in the town. The present membership is 39; present elders, Egbert Ball, Benjamin Joy, Elnathan Plato, and Lyman Corlis; the latter is also elerk.

Prior to 1832 a Sunday-school was organized, of which Jason Clark was the first superintendent and remained sueh until his death, a period of nearly forty years. The pres- ent superintendent is Egbert Ball ; number of teachers, 8; scholars, 30.

The church, during its fifty-six years' existence, has experienced the usual vicissitudes and trials of the church militant. But it has never succumbed, and has always , maintained its organization despite an impoverished treas- ury or a numerically small membership. It is now eom- paratively prosperous, and bids fair to so continue.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF REDWOOD,

which is now the only Baptist church in the town of Alex- andria, was formerly known as the " Second Baptist Church of Alexandria." There was, in other days (from 1830 to about 1858), a First Baptist church located in the southwest part of the town, but it has long since disappeared. The second church was organized June 7, 1832, with eleven members, namely, James Chaffin, Lind Pieree, Isaac Leon- ard, Alvin Maxin, Daniel Leonard, Naney Cranck, Hannah Spcarback, Drusilla H. Murray, Mary Ann Lake, Anna George, and Cynthia Leonard. They had no regular place of worship from 1832 until 1856, when their present house of worship was built in the village at Redwood. They have had, sinee their organization until the present time, the ministry of seven reverend brethren as pastors, namely, Elders C. Havens, M. Wilkie, Samuel Whitney, Jesse Ager, L. Golden, G. N. Sears, and E. Edwards. L. Golden is serving this church a second time, but only temporarily. From the beginning they have had a hard struggle to main- tain their existence. Their ingatherings, as a general thing, have been a few at a time, and, in some instances, far be- tween. Their house of worship is small, the same room being used for church and Sunday-school purposes. It is 32 by 44 fcet, and will comfortably seat 200 persons. They have

HENRY S. WHITE.

HENRY S. WHITE was born in the town of Antwerp, Jefferson County, May 16, 1812. His pa- rents, like the majority of the early settlers of the county, were poor, and at an early age he was thrown upon his own resources ; when six- teen years of age he went to Pitts- ford, Vt., where he resided with a maternal uncle until he was twenty. He then was engaged by a merchant by the name of Addison Bush as clerk ; he remained with Mr. Bush one year, and then went to Shore- ham, Vt., and entered the employ of Birchard & Wright. After a short time he formed a co-partner- ship with an uncle and cousin, under the firm name of J. Simons & Co. They carried on business in general merchandise for about a year, when he was employed as superintendent of the glass-works at Lake Densmore; this position he held until 1842, when he returned to Jefferson County, and in com- pany with Joseph Butterfield pur-

H.S. WHITE.

chased the glass-works, saw-mill, and water power at Redwood. He erected a flouring and custom-mill. In 1852 the co-partnership was dis- solved, Mr. Butterfield retiring ; since that time he has been exten- sively engaged in the manufacture of lumber and flour, and in con- nection has carried on a general store ; he has also dealt extensively in pine lands and farms. In all his business enterprises, Mr. White has been successful, and is now en- joying &. well-earned competency. In 1836 he married Miss Louisa D., daughter of Mark and Ruba Has- kell, of Salisbury, Vt., formerly of New Bedford, Mass. Mrs. White was born, December 10, 1810, in Salisbury, and is still living. Mr. White has been largely identified with the interests of Redwood, has helped to construct and support the churches and schools, was in- strumental in the construction of the Black River and Morristown R. R., and was its secretary and treasurer, and is still a director.

RESIDENCE OF H.S. WHITE, ESQ., REDWOOD, TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA, JEFFERSON CO. N.Y.

CHAUNCEY WESTCOTT.

MRS.CHAUNCEY WESTCOTT.

RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH W. READE, ESQ., REDWOOD, TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.

273

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

a good parsonage located near the church, and their entire church property is worth about $4000. They are free from debt, and have a membership of 77.

The present church officers are, Harry Dillon, Jason Dil- lon, and Samuel Phillips, Deacons; Glendon S. Phillips, Church Clerk ; Philip Workman, Treasurer; Henry S. White, Cyrus Linnell, and Sidney Webster, Trustees.

The Sunday-school has always been a Union school, and was organized about the year 1835. Richard Gray and Hiram Stratton were the earliest officers of whom any record remains. The school at present has about 90 teach- ers and scholars. Cyrus Linnell is the superintendent, as- sisted by L. Johnson, and George Wilson is Secretary and Treasurer. Reports as to the prosperity of the church and Sunday-school are promising.

THE CHURCH OF THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

A Reformed Protestant Dutch church was organized at Alexandria Bay under the following circumstances. In the summer of 1846, the Rev. George W. Bethune, D.D., of Brooklyn, having occasion to spend a few days at the place, and learning that among a scattered population of 2000, on the island and main land, there was no place of worship, and few religious opportunities, except one service a month by a Methodist circuit preacher, formed the plan of organizing a church here. He called the inhabitants together and preached to them on the Sabbath, and at the close of the service he suggested to thiem the establishment of a Sabbath-school, promising them a supply of books for the purpose. The suggestion was complied with, a school opened, 40 or 50 scholars gathered into it, and it was kept up about a year. In 1847, Rev. Jerome A. Davenport was induced by Dr. Bethune to visit the place as a mission- ary, being partially supported by a few friends of the mis- sion, until, in 1850, the care was assumed by the Board of Domestie Missions of that denomination. In the fall of 1847, Mr. Davenport raised $1275 in New York, Brook- lyn, and adjacent places, and $275 from residents of the Bay. He remained three years, a considerable time abroad, soliciting aid, and in the fall of 1848 the erection of a church edifice was begun, and on the 25th of May, 1851, it was opened for worship. It is of stone, 35 by 55 feet, and has a truncated tower 60 feet high. It has a seating capacity for from 350 to 400 persons, and cost $2822, be- sides $170 for a bell. On the 1st of August, 1851, the church was regularly formed, Rev. Charles Wiley, D.D., being present as a committee representing the classis of Cayuga. It consisted of 13 members. Alva Ford and James Woodsworth were appointed elders and deacons, and the organization was named " the Church of the Thousand Islands." The sites for both the church and parsonage were donated by the heirs of Depau, and in 1852 a par- sonage was erected at a cost of $800.

August 1, 1850, Rev. Anson Du Bois was called to the pastorate of the church, and remained until May, 1854. He was succeeded in July of the same year by Rev. George Rockwell, who, after a faithful ministry of twenty-three years, was obliged to resign on account of extreme deafness. His successor was Rev. Henry D. Vriese, Jr., the present incumbent, who assumed the pastoral duties over the church

in July, 1877. The present elders are Francis Thomson and David Woodsworth ; Deacons, William Woodsworth and Isaac Everson. The membership of the church is 52; teachers and scholars in the Sunday-school, 66; Superin- tendent, Rev. Henry De Vriese, the pastor. The present condition of the church is flourishing.

ST. PETER'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHI

of Redwood was formed August 12, 1850, with Daniel Slack, A. Matthias Harrison, wardens; Richard Gray, L. W. De Zeng, Charles Clark, James Wright, and Josiah Bueklee, vestrymen. The Rev. Wm. Allen Fisk was at that time missionary ; he was succeeded by the Rev. B. W. Witcher. The last rector was the Rev. Charles A. Wen- neau. A small Gothic church edifice was erected in 1851, after the designs of R. Upjohn, of New York. The church now reports 25 families, 26 communicants. The present Wardens are M. H. Smith and A. L. White; Vestrymen, H. S. White, A. A. Holmes, J. W. Reade, W. A. Failing, and C. W. Clark.

The Sunday-school has a membership of 60 scholars and 7 teachers. The present superintendent is A. L. White.

ST. FRANCIS' ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

was organized at Redwood, about 1848. Frequent appli- cations to the pastor, Rev. M. J. Brown, and Peter Tassay, one of its earliest members, have failed to procure the neces- sary data for a complete historical sketch. Henee the omission.

PHYSICIANS.

Dr. Demton (Denton ?) located at Plessis as early as 1830. He studied with old Dr. Smith, of Evans' Mills. Dr. E. S. Carlisle, a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, is the resident physician at Plessis now. At Alexandria Bay, Drs. Charles Walton, Marvin J. Hutchins, and A. O. Blair have practiced ; the latter from 1832 to 1838, when he removed elsewhere. Don A. Walton, M.D., is the resident physician there now.

We are under special obligations to the following gentle- men for assistance rendered in the preparation of the above history of the town of Alexandria : Chauncey Westcott, the Waltons, Charles Rundlett, Lyman Carlis, James Carter, Ebenezer Campbell, Charles Crossmon, William and John Spaulsbury, A. D. Newman, W. W. Butterfield, Esq., Peter Tassay, J. W. Reade, H. S. White, John I. Iverson, and others.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

CHAUNCEY WESTCOTT

comes of Massachusetts and Rhode Island ancestry, his mother having been born in the town of Cheshire, Massa- chusetts, September 20, 1784, and his father, Henry West- cott, in Rhode Island, October 15, 1778. Henry moved with his father's family to Oneida county, New York, and

274

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

was married to Amy Dexter Cushing in 1803. He died October 24, 1855 ; his wife in October, 1870. Chauncey Westcott was born in the town of Deerfield, Oneida county, New York, December 10, 1804. In the month of January following his father moved into Jefferson County. Chauncey resided in the county until January, 1831, when he re- moved to Onondaga county, where he remained four years, retiring to Alexandria in 1835. In 1832 he was married to Miss Emeline, daughter of Isaac and Charity Everson, natives of Montgomery county, New York, who was born in the town of Manlius, Onondaga county, September 27, 1812. This marriage was blessed with two children, --- one son, Willson H., born in Cicero, Onondaga county, Novem- ber 20, 1833, married Miss Jane Thompson, in January, 1844; and one daughter, Emeline F., born in Alexandria, Jefferson County, September 12, 1835, married Charles Woodworth, in February, 1858. Both reside in the village of Alexandria Bay.

Chauncey Westeott was a poor boy, and had his own way to make in the world. As a youth he worked by the day and by the month for the farmers in the vieinity of his father's house in Watertown. After that he attended a grist- and flouring-mill for five years ; elerked in a store five years ; followed boating on the Erie canal five years ; worked at lumbering by the day and job five winters; and rafted lumber from Alexandria Bay down the St. Law- rence to Quebec three springs; kept hotel five years at Alexandria Bay. He was elected justice of the peace, and served one constitutional term to the entire satisfaction of the people. Since 1855 he has farmed principally, and specu- lated some in furs and butter until 1872, since which time he has attended to his farm exclusively. He is a gentle- man well and favorably known for honest dealings and gen- eral rectitude. An illustration of his residence can be seen on another page.

THOMAS BENTON MARSHALL.

Romeo W. Marshall, the father of the subject of this sketch, a native of Connecticut, was born in the year 1788. He moved to Herkimer, this State, in 1806, and after a few years removed to Trenton Falls, Oneida county, where he engaged in the mercantile trade. He settled in the present tewn of Alexandria in 1838, where he purchased and eleared up the farm upon which he resided till his death, in 1874, at the age of eighty-six years.

Thomas Benton Marshall, the youngest son, was born in Trenton Falls on March 25, 1834. On April 5, 1855, he was married to Sarah Jane Crabb, of the town of Le Ray. The children of their union were, Tompkins, born May 4, 1860, and Welby H., born June 14, 1867.

Mr. Marshall purchased the old homestead (one hundred and ninety acres), and is engaged in the quiet oceupation of farming. A view of his home and the portraits of him- self and his estimable wife are found elsewhere in this work. In religious faith he is a Universalist, and in polities Re- publican. Liberal, kind-hearted, and generous, he is uni- versally respected by his acquaintances, and beloved by his friends and relatives.

AZARIAH WALTON.

Azariah Walton was born in Chesterfield, N. H., August 20, 1784. His family were of English extraction. But little, however, is known of its history previous to the birth of our subject. Like most of the youth of that day, his opportunities for education were extremely limited, and his knowledge was obtained from the bitter school of experience. He early evinced a decided taste for mechanics, learned the trade of a blacksmith, and became an expert machinist. To this fact is attributable his emigration to Jefferson County previous to the War of 1812. At this time Brownville was building, and he was engaged to superintend the construe- tion of the cotton-mills at that place. He remained at Brownville until the year 1824, when he moved to Theresa, where he was engaged in merchandising until 1828, when he received the appointment of collector of customs for the port of Alexandria Bay, which office he held for nineteen years.

He became engaged in general merchandising and lum- bering, and, being a sagacious and shrewd business man, was successful. In 1845 he purchased, in company with Chesterfield Pearson, all the islands in the American channel of the St. Lawrence river from the head of Wells island to Morristown. Many of the smaller ones he sold at a nominal sum, but the major portion he was in possession of at his death, which occurred June 10, 1855. Mr. Walton was a man possessed of most of the cardinal virtues, and his social qualities were of a high order ; he possessed in an eminent degree the faculty of making every one about him as happy as himself, and it is still the delight of many who knew him intimately to relate aneedotes showing his pro- verbial good nature. May 29, 1810, he married Miss Mary Gilson, who was born November 15, 1791, by whom he had ten children, four of whom are living. All in all, Mr. Walton was a noble specimen of that race of pioneers who years ago laid the foundation for the present wealth and enterprise of Jefferson County.

PHOTO'S BY GENDRON.

T. B. MARSHALL.

MRS. T. B. MARSHALL

RES. OF T. B. MARSHALL, ALEXANDRIA, JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

LOREN STONE.

MRS. LOREN STONE.

OLD HOMESTEAD or LOREN STONE, ANTWERP. JEFFERSON Co., N. Y.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

275

KLA

A. TANNER.

SUSAN TANNER.

ANTWERP.

THE territory embraced in the town of Antwerp lies in the form of a parallelogram, of which the longer lines run about northwest and southeast. The towns of Philadelphia and Wilna join it on the southwest, and Theresa on the northwest, while its northeastern and southeastern bound- aries respectively are the counties of St. Lawrence and Lewis. Its surface, which cannot properly be termed hilly, is yet rolling and uneven, and in many parts rough, broken, and seamed by rocky ridges ; notwithstanding which blemish the soil is strong and productive.

Its principal stream is Indian river, which enters from Wilna, and, after making a bold sweep towards the northeast and passing through the principal village, flows back across the southwest line into Philadelphia. There is also the Oswegatchie river, which enters the town from the north- east, and, making a short and abrupt bend, known as the " Ox Bow," passing the village of the same name, turns sharply back into St. Lawrence county, after having re- ceived Antwerp's tribute, a small stream flowing out from her three lakes, which are Sherman's, Vrooman's, and Moon,-the last named lying on the northwestern bound- ary, and partly in the town of Theresa.

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

It is doubtful whether the honor of having made the first settlement in the territory now forming the town of Antwerp belonged to Captain William Lee or to Peter Vrooman, for it appears evident that both settled during the same year: 1803, though both were then but squatters on land which they afterwards purchased. Lee located on the State road on lot No. 657, and Vrooman built his log house at the great bend of the Oswegatchie, at a point near

the lower end of the present village of Ox Bow. Both these settlers opened their log dwellings as public-houses for the accommodation of the travelers and explorers who had already commenced to journey through that new coun- try. Mention of the existence of both these establishments as early as the year 1804 is found in the diary of James Constable, who, during the summers of 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, made extended tours through Jefferson and the adjoining counties on business, as executor of the estate of his deceased brother William, who had been an exten- sive land-owner in this region. Under date of August 25, 1804, he says :

" Pass on through No. 4 . . . 10 (ten) miles to the Long Falls (Carthage), where we breakfasted at a middling good tavern. . . . Proceed on 4 miles from the river to a log hut, then 6 miles to another, then 12 to a third, there being but three settlers on the Great Traet No. 4, unless there are some on Pennet's Square. . . . This tract be- longs to, or is under the management of, Mr. Le Ray and Mr. G. Morris, and nothing has yet been done towards settling it. The three people now on it have a verbal promise that they shall have the land at a fair price as first settlers, but they are very anxious in their inquiries after General Lewis R. Morris, who, it is understood, has undertaken the selling of 100,000 acres. . . . Sleep at Lee's tavern, 22 miles from the falls, with hard fare and poor lodgings."

From which it is apparent that his day's journey was northward from Carthage, through the present towns of Wilna and Antwerp,-finding a cabin at the end of the first four miles, then another, six miles farther on, then nothing but wilderness for a stage of twelve miles, including the present site of the village of Antwerp, until he reached Captain Lee's log tavern, which stood upon the farm now owned by Jolin Wilber, north of Antwerp village. He proceeds :

276

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" August 26 .- Pass on five miles to the Ox Bow, a remarkable bend in the cast branch of Oswegatchie river, and a fine situation for a large house. There is now a log hut," at which we breakfasted, and another in sight."

After two weeks' travel east through St. Lawrence and Franklin, he returned over the same route, and, under date of September 9, says :

"Set off from Lee's after breakfast and stop at Stearns', on No. IV., at twelve miles' distance, then ten miles more to the Black river at Long Falls."

Again passing over the place where is now Antwerp village, and never mentioning the spot, for at that time there was not so much as a pole cabin upon it.

In his tour of the next year (1805) he again traversed the same route, and thus recorded his journey from Car- tlage to the Ox Bow :

"August 16 .- Proceeded through Great Traet No. IV., and stopped at Stearns', ten miles, where we dined, and arrived at Lee's, twenty- two miles from the falls, where we passed the night, and, as the house was completely full, an uncomfortable one it was. I see no alteration in this part of the country since last year ; the road at least as bad, and no more settlers. We were told General Lewis R. Morris has been through it, and has now gone to Vermont, intending shortly to return, perhaps with his family. He has quieted Lee and other squatters, who seemed well satisfied. He is expected to build at the Ox Bow.

"August 17 .- Left Lee's very early, and came through to the Ox Bow, five miles of as bad road as we had yet traveled."

In 1806, Vrooman purchased the land on which he had squatted three years before. Captain Lee made his pur- chase in 1805. After a few years' occupation he sold out and removed to Morristown on the St. Lawrence. His successor was Mordecai F. Cook, from Pennsylvania, who continued to keep a public-housc. This became a place of some note, and being centrally located in the town, the annual clections were several times held there, those of the years 1830 and 1832 being particularly mentioned in the record as having taken place at his house. Here, too, was the place of " general training" in the old days of military enthusiasm, and the spot, near by, where the parades took place, is still known by old residents as the " training- ground." And in the times when Antwerp and the ad- joining towns were the theatre of bold smuggling opera- tions, and military guards were set over the roads leading towards the border, Cook's tavern was a rendezvous equally well known to the contrabandists and to the officers who were set to capture them. Mr. Cook remained here until his death.

Daniel Sterling; the father of James Sterling, the iron manufacturer, came to Antwerp in 1805, and settled a mile north of Indian river, where Bradford Sterling now lives.t Mary Sterling, his wife, received the first deed conveying lands in the town of Antwerp.

John Bethel, John C. Foster, Edward Foster, Hopcstill Foster, Edward Foster, Jr., Silas Ward, and Peter Raven came in 1806. In 1807 came Lyman Colburn, Asa Hunt, William Randall, Allen Thompson, and Henry Adams. In 1808, Salmon White, Clark Lewis, Amos Keith, and Thad- deus Park.

All the above settled on the old Gouverneur road to the

northcast of Danicl Sterling, and, in 1809, Caleb Cheney, Amos Streeter, and Warren Stricter located on the same road. Mrs. Nott, with her family of two sons (Moses and Reuben) and three or four daughters, also eamc about the same time; and Solomon Pepper came in 1810. Zopher Holden settled, in 1806, on Indian river, about two miles southwest of Antwerp village.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 68

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