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 77
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speeted president of the National Union Bank of Watertown, in which he had long been a large stockholder. Socially, he was one of the most genial and cordial of men. He was hospitable in his home, in his conversational powers attract- ive and entertaining. He was for many years an earnest and consistent member of the Masonic fraternity, being a member of the Watertown Chapter and Commandery and of Brownville Lodge. As showing the esteem in which he was held by his fellow-Masons, we append the following extract from the "Memorial Tribute" plaeed upon the re- eords of the Watertown Commandery, No. 11, Knights Templar :
" The members of the Commandery unite in cordial recognition of the sterling virtues of the late Sir Knight Alanson Skinner. . . . As a Sir Knight he exemplified the great Templar characteristics of charity and hospitality. . . . His unswerving integrity as a man deserved the assured sueeess that attended his efforts."
His town has had few equals and no superiors in in- tegrity and capability as representatives in the county board of supervisors. While a member of the State senate he was distinguished for his firm adherence to principle.
On the 29th of September, 1819, Mr. Skinner was united in marriage with Miss Mary Woodward. This union was blessed with four children, namely, Horaee, born September 27, 1820, now resides in Brownville; Mary, born November 22, 1822, now the wife of the Rev. Luther Riee, of Watertown ; James, born November 19, 1824, and lives in Aurora, Illinois ; William T., born December 11, 1826, and now represents the business established by his father.
On the 7th of June, 1876, Mr. Skinner died, full of years and honors. At his death he was eighty-two years of age, and he retained all liis faeulties to the last. In his death the community lost a. respected and worthy citizen ; his wife, a devoted husband ; his children, an affectionate father ; and his acquaintances, a true Christian companion and friend.
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
311
+
JAMES DOUGLASS.
MRS. JAMES DOUGLASS.
JAMES DOUGLASS
was the second of a family of nine children, and son of John Douglass, who came here with his father, Alexander Douglass, a Scotchman and lineal descendant of the Doug- lass family. He landed in America during the Revolution, on the very day, in fact, when the tea was thrown overboard in Boston harbor. He died at Albany, at an advanced age. John had just attained his majority when he arrived here, and served through the Revolutionary war, and finally sett'ed at Palatine, Montgomery county, New York, where he married Miss Martha Taylor. He died in Canada. The subject of our sketch was born at Palatine, December 13, 1791. He first married Miss Hannah Edwards, of Mont- gomery county, in July, 1815, by whom he had one son, William, who died May 15, 1875. His wife had seven brothers in the War of 1812 at one time. She died on the 3d of May, 1817. After his first wife's death he married Miss Susanna Pettit, daughter of Hermon and Martha Pettit, who settled in Watertown in the year 1801. Mrs. Douglass was born the same year, being the first birth in the town.
Mr. Douglass was a very industrious man, having ac- quired good habits from his father, with whom he lived until he was twenty-two years of age. He received but a limited education at the then inferior district schools. He -
began life as a farm laborer, and shortly after the battle of
Sacket's Harbor he came to Jefferson County, with the view of locating a farm. He worked a short time, and then returned to Montgomery county. In the year 1819 he came to Brownville, accompanied by his family. He worked a farm for two years. and then purchased the farm upon which he remained during the rest of his life.
The following is the record of the issue of his second marriage : James Chester, born March 29, 1821; he is now a prominent farmer of Brownville; married Miss Lucilda Cady, of Ellisburg. John P., born Aug. 10, 1825, a prominent merchant and speculator, and a large land owner in Jefferson County ; resides in New York city. Norval E., born Aug. 8, 1830, an extensive farmer in the town of Lyme.
By hard work and exposure to all sorts of weather Mr. Douglass contracted severe rheumatism, and was a cripple for the last thirty years of his life. He bore his infirmity with Christian resignation. He was a thrifty farmer and a close calculator, and very successful in all his operations. He was an earnest Christian, and a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which also his second wife belonged. He died May 10, 1876, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, respected by all, and very generally la- mented as a man of sterling integrity and unswerving probity.
312
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
C
ALITTLE
LITTLE
YV & White
MRS. HAZAEL S. WHITE.
HAZAEL S. WHITE.
Amid the bloom of the heather and the tassels of the broom the ancestors of the subject of the present sketch (Hazael S. White) were born. He himself was a native of Vermont, where he was born July 26, 1804, and with his parents, Solomon and Hannah (Simon) White, when but a child, came to Antwerp, Jefferson County, New York, where, about two miles from the village, the elder White purchased a small farm, being a man of very limited means.
On this farm Mrs. White, the mother, died, after which event the father removed from his farm and resided with a son in the town of Redwood, where he lived to an ad- vanced age. During the war with Great Britain in 1812- 15, Mr. White and his family, in common with many of their neighbors, endured untold hardships and privations conse- quent upon the unsettled condition of the country. Owing to the limited circumstances of his father, the younger White in his boyhood had but slight opportunities to ac- quire an education from books, and was forced to secure his knowledge in the bitter school of experience. When about twenty-four years of age he engaged in business for himself at Cape Vincent, in the line of a butcher; but the business proving unremunerative, he soon relinquished it and re- moved to Brownville, settling on Pillar Point. Here he remained about one year, when he removed to Hounsfield and engaged with Amos Catlin, in whose employ he re- mained four years. He then returned to the Point and purchased a small farm, and commenced jobbing. Dexter village was at this time just building, and he contracted for the job of quarrying the stone for the woolen factory, which was erected under the superintendency of Major Kirby. In this contract as in others Mr. White em- ployed a large number of men. At the close of the work he took a contract for grading on the Saeket's Harbor & Ellisburg railroad. Soon after he purchased a farm in Brownville, and began a successful course of agricultural operations. At the end of two years he exchanged his
farm for one now owned by his son, E. T. White, who pur- chased the same of his father two years afterwards, a view of which can be seen in another part of this work. Mr. White being now about fifty years of age, and feeling that he had secured a competency, retired from active business. One principle actuated Mr. White during his whole business career, and that was fidelity to his engagements. He was prompt and punctual in the discharge of every obligation which he contracted, and pushed his business with all the vigor of his physical strength, and managed it judiciously and economieally. In 1847 he experienced that mysterious change in his feelings that takes the thoughts away from earthly things and leads them to the heavenly. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church and became a devout and consistent member thereof, carrying into his new life the same earnest purpose and fidelity that characterized his business engagements. He died on January 17, 1873, of heart-disease, at his residence on Pillar Point.
On the 16th of September, 1829, he married Mary, daughter of John and Mary Root. They were of English parentage and birth, and settled at Pillar Point previous to the year 1812, being the third family to locate there. They purchased the farm now owned by John Lee. Mr. and Mrs. White were married at Cape Vineent. Seven chil- dren canie to gladden the home of this pair with their music and mirth, two of whom died in infancy. The others were, Elbridge, born in 1830, and at present a prominent farmer in Brownville; Edwin, born September 10, 1831 ; William Eli, born April 14, 1836 ; Edward Everett, born October 27, 1845, and now deceased; and Miranda Louesc, born April 21, 1849, also deceased. Mrs. White, an esti- mable lady, resides near the old homestead made sacred to her by many years of joy and sorrow, and is looking for- ward with joyful hope to the time when she will again meet those of her loved ones who have passed through the shadowy portals before her, and into the glorious life beyond.
FARM & RES. of E. T. WHITE, BROWNVILLE, ( PILLAR POINT ) JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
RESIDENCE Of AMOS OTIS , JR, BROWNVILLE , (PILLAR POINT), JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
RESIDENCE of WALTER ZIMMERMAN, BROWNVILLE, N.Y.
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
313
ALVIN A. GIBBS. .
The Gibbs family are of English extraction, the original ancestor having come from England about the close of the Revolutionary War and settled near Worcester, Mass. Alvin Gibbs, father of the subject of this sketch, lived in Green- edge, Hampshire county, Mass. At an early day he emi- grated to New York, settling in Otsego county ; from here he moved to the town of Hammond, St. Lawrence county, where Alvin A. was born, Sept. 16, 1822. Remaining here but a short time, he removed to the township of Watertown, where he bought a farm, upon which our sub- ject spent his boyhood days. He received a good educa- tion, graduating at the Jefferson County Institute. When fourteen years of age he learned the trade of a cloth-dresser. At twenty he left his father's home and started in life for himself, and came to Brownville, where he followed his trade until he was twenty-four years of age. Having a decided taste for merchandising, he engaged himself as clerk to a dry-goods merehant in Brownville by the name of Oliver Stevens. After completing his business educa- tion he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the clothing trade. Disposing of his stock and trade, he
went to Manstown, where he again entered the dry-goods business.
In 1858 he returned to Brownville, and in company with A. S. Lord carried on a general trade for some time. Dissolving his connection with Mr. Lord, he has continued the business until the present.
Mr. Gibbs has been called to several positions of trust, and has taken a proper interest in political matters. A sin- cere Republiean and an inveterate foe to human slavery, no man was more patriotic or more freely contributed material aid and moral support to the republic in its late struggle for life. Mr. Gibbs has been supervisor of the town of Brownville for three terms, and no better evidence is needed of his sterling worth and high social qualities than the faet that after his first election no candidate was nomi- nated against him. He has been president of the village for seven years, which position he now holds, as also that of postmaster, having been the incumbent of the latter the past seventeen years. He is a zealous and prominent mem- ber of the Episcopal church, and the records of eternity shall tell the fruits of his labor.
CAPE VINCENT.
LYME, including the territory of Cape Vincent, was erected from Brownville in 1818. Cape Vincent was.cut off from the town of Lyme on April 10, 1849. Its name was derived from its prineipal village, which, in turn, had been named from Vineent, son of Le Ray De Chaumont. The old land-office of Mr. Le Ray is still standing on Broadway, nearly opposite the residence of Mrs. Peugnet.
The first town-meeting was held at the hotel of Jacob Beringer, and the following officers were elected: Fred- crick A. Folger, supervisor ; John W. Little, town clerk ; W. H. Webb, superintendent of schools ; Jacob Beringer, Augustus Awberton, and Barney W. Payne, justices of the peace ; E. Clement, collector; John H. Lawton and A. A. Gray, assessors ; Buel Fuller, commissioner of high- ways ; Francis A. Cross, overseer of the poor. This town- meeting was held on May 15, 1849. The supervisors since that date have been Robert C. Bartlett, 1850-51 ; Charles Smith, 1852 ; Otis P. Starkey, 1853-54; Calvin Fletcher, 1855-56; William Estes, 1857; Charles Smith, 1858-61 ; William D. Fuller, 1862-63; William Van Nostrand, 1864; Geo. F. Bartlett, 1865; John H. Roseboom, 1866; Geo. F. Bartlett, 1867-68; Henry A. House, 1869; Hugh Mc- Candie, 1870-71; Henry A. House, 1872. The present (1877) supervisor is Lloyd O. Woodruff, and the present town elerk Ward E. Ingalls, who have served sinee 1873. John Armstrong, Horace F. Stoel, and Lorenzo Kelsey are assessors. William Estes, George Bartlett, Edwin Gray, and Mason B. Ladd are. justices of the peaee.
The members of Assembly when Cape Vincent was a part of Lyme were: John B. Esselstyn, 1822-25; Jere. Carrier (Alexandria), 1829 ; Otis P. Starkey, 1836. From the town of Cape Vincent have been, Charles Smith, 1853; Truman Fish, 1859 ; Albert D. Shaw, 1867. Mr. Shaw is now United States eonsul at Toronto. Sheriff, Francis A. Cross, 1861-64.
GRENADIER ISLAND.
Fox, Carlton, and Grenadier islands belong to the town- ship. Owing to the uncertainty of the boundary-line be- tween the United States and Canada, up to 1819 the islands of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence were not patented, although they were included in the great Maeomb contraet. An interesting negotiation concerning the purchase of Gren- adier island, and some others, is found in a letter written from London, under date of June 4, 1792, by Patrick Colquhoun to William Constable, who controlled the inter- est in the Macomb purchase at that time. It would seem, however, that no bargain was consummated. This was five years before any permanent settlement was made in Jeffer- son County. In 1803, Samuel English and Hezekiah Bar-
ret petitioned the legislature of New York for the grant of Grenadier island, which they evidently supposed belonged to the State, and which they proposed to settle within twelve months after such grant was made; but no good title could be given until the national boundary-line had been agreed upon. This was done in 1819; the islands were patented soon after, and by a survey made in 1823 Grenadier was put down as containing 1290 aeres. John Mitchel was probably the first settler. There is good rea- son to suppose that Basin Harbor was frequently visited by French explorers, more than a hundred years before the settlement of the county, in their journeys westward. La Salle and Count Frontenac were probably here more than one hundred and seventy-five years ago. During the ex- citements of the war of 1812 Richard M. Esselstyn sent his family around to Sacket's Harbor, and on the way the party stopped overnight at Grenadier island. This water- route was a common one from Cape Vincent to the Harbor and Watertown in those early days. But the most notiee- able event connected with Grenadier island was the disas- trous expedition of General Wilkinson, who went out from Saeket's Harbor with several thousand men, late in the fall of 1813, for the ultimate purpose of capturing Montreal. It was too late in the season for an undertaking of that character. It was nearly dark of October 26 when the army pushed out upon the lake in scores upon scores of open boats,-scows, bateaux, sail-boats, and Durham boats, with their flags flying in the breeze and their military bands thrilling the air with music and enthusiasm. The surface of the water before the fleet was like a mirror, and all along the western horizon were still seen the beautiful colors of the setting sun. . Both the heavy and light artillery were afloat, and all had orders to rendezvous at Grenadier island. Everything went prosperously until a little after midnight, when a stiff breeze arose, which increased in two hours to a gale. The October weather was true to itself; and the result was the complete wreck of the fleet and an immense loss of ammunition and supplies. It was four days before all the army that survived reached Basin Harbor. Some of the boats had been driven to Wolf island; some to Chaumont bay ; others stood off for Kingston after working out into the lake ; and the morning of the 27th revealed the shores of the islands and the mainland " strown with broken and sunken boats." On the way to Cape Vincent from Grenadier, Gen. Wilkinson encountered similar difficulties. He had a small fight with the British near Clayton. Below Ogdensburgh there was another valueless battle. And then what was left of the flotilla went into winter quarters on the banks of Salmon river. This was about the middle of November, and Montreal was not frightened. The blun-
314
DAVID C. SHULER.
MRS. DAVID C. SHULER.
RESIDENCE OF DAVID C. SHULER, CAPE VINCENT, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
SOUTH. VI
MRS. EDWIN GRAY.
STONY ISLAND,
GALLOU ISLAND.
FOX ISLAND.
RESIDENCE OF EDWIN GRAY, C
of RESIDENCE.
₱
EDWIN GRAY.
ONVINCENT, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
GRENADIER ISLAND.
SHEPARD WARREN.
MRS. SHEPARD WARREN.
RESIDENCE OF SHEPARD WARREN, CAPE VINCENT, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
315
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
ders were partially due to the weather, partially to military generals, and much more to whisky. General Wilkinson was court-martialed and removed from command.
CARLTON ISLAND.
Fox island is small and of no historical importance. Carl- ton is a little smaller than Grenadier, and one of the most beautiful of all the " thousand islands" in the St. Lawrence. According to some old land-titles, this territory was reserved by the State of New York in the cession to Alexander Macomb.
In October, 1786, Mathew Watson and William Guil- land purchased the military county warrant which had been issued to one William Richardson, a Revolutionary sergeant, and located the right on this island. If, however, Carlton island had become a part of Canadian territory, it was conditioned that another portion of land would be granted elsewhere. Watson soon after bought out the interest of Guilland. Only one of his children lived to in- herit the property, or, rather, only Margaret Watson came into final possession of it, which she disposed of to Charles Smyth. Before this sale she had married Jacob Ten Broeck. The matter of this sale and title was brought to the notice of the State legislature in 1821, when it was found that the title to the land covered by the military bounty was not good. The British held the island when Richardson sold his right, and continued to hold it till it was surrendered, at the commencement of the War of 1812. By special legislation the title was made a legal one, and on March 2, 1821, an act was passed directing a patent to be issued for the amount of land designated as the original military bounty. This was 500 acres on the west end of the island. In 1823, F. R. Hasler, who had charge of the coast-survey for many years, made a survey of Carlton island, and reported an area of 1274 aeres. Chas. Smyth purchased the remainder in 1821, and thus became pro- prictor of the whole territory. At the time of Mr. Hasler's survey there were about thirty acres of old and highly-im- proved land, which was known as the King's Garden. This garden was on the south shore, and about half-way down.
The original settlers were squatters. When Avery Smith and Abijah Lewis were here engaged in the lumber- ing business, which they commenced in 1822, the residents had become permanent, and trade was full of life. There was a post-office and a school, James Estes had a tavern, four dwelling-houses were standing around the old chim- neys, Professor Shumway was teacher and justice of the peace, David Briggs had a shoe-shop, Abijah Lewis, James Wood, and Mr. Shaw kept stores, and sometimes ten or fif- teen lumber-vessels would be anchored in the bays. At this time the population numbered one hundred and fifty or two hundred persons. The island is now divided into farms, and seven or eight families are living thereon. It is about three miles northeast of Cape Vineent village, and was the first settled territory of Jefferson County.
THE OLD FORTIFICATION.
No spot in northern New York has excited more his- torical curiosity than the head of Carlton island, on which
are now seen the conspicuous ruins of an old fort. The ruins are extensive, and are found on a rocky promontory, the southwestern face of which is fifty or sixty precipitous feet above the water. Eight of the massive stone ehim- neys are standing. Deep excavations in the rock, probably used for magazines or seeret storage, are very noticeable. The old circular well that was blasted through the rock, ten feet in diameter, and it may be sixty feet deep, always attraets attention. The fort was built on the arc of a circle, and the ditch around it is six feet deep and about twenty- two feet wide. " The covered way is twenty-four feet wide, the scarp and counterscarp vertical, the outer parapet four feet high, and the glacis is formed of material taken from the ditch. The rampart within the ditch was of earth, and is very much dilapidated,-in places is entirely obliterated. Bastions were so placed as to command the various approaches very effectually."
Pieces of wrecked vessels are distinguished, on a still day, at the bottom of the river. There is a sunken dock on the west side, and some little distance in the rear are the broken and almost obliterated graves of the soldiers' ceme- tery.
When Charles Smyth obtained possession of the island many of the burial-places were still marked by carved oaken pieces of wood, but when Dr. Hough published his " History of Jefferson County," 1854, he found only one grave that was indicated by a head-stone; on it was the following in- seription : " J. Farrar, D. 23 Fy, 1792." This has since been destroyed. Many curious military buttons, axe-heads, balls, belt-buckles, coins, and the like, have been picked up and preserved as relics. The oldest coin ever found was dated 1696. In July, 1696, Count Frontenae, when on his way to fight the Iroquois, encamped a short time on this territory. Carlton island was then called Isle aux Chev- reuils ; another French or Indian name, according to an old map in Yale College library, was Cahihouonage.
Who built the fort is a question that has not yet been fully answered. After mnch research, the conclusion has been reached that a fort was commenced by the French, and sub- sequently enlarged and made formidable by the English. Could the military records of the French and Indian War of 1756-60, and the military records of the English during the Revolutionary War, be examined, the mysterious origin of old Fort Carlton might be solved. It could hardly have been a point of much military importance previous to the French and Indian War, for a French officer (Pouchot), who kept a diary of all that he saw and did along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, does not mention any military defenses on the site of the old ruins. If a fort was commenced by the French, it was commenced very soon after the visits of this military officer. It appears from some old Paris papers, still preserved in the docu- mentary history of New York, that the governor of Canada, in 1758, had a plan in mind to build a fort at the head of this river, which had been left unprotected by the destruc- tion of Fort Frontenac. Fort Frontenac was destroyed by Colonel Bradstreet in August, 1758, and in November of the same year the governor had this plan of a new work on paper. The fort was to have magazines and barracks ; cer- tain shipwrights, whose names were given, were to be sent
316
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
up the river from Quebec ; supplies for those engaged in the work were to be obtained at Ogdensburgh ; and the ne- cessity for some fortification at the outlet of Lake Ontario was so urgently pressed that there is good reason to believe the first fort was commenced not far from 1759. This is a fair deduction, unless Frontenac stood on Carlton island, which is scarcely probable. If commenced by the French, it could not have been later than 1763, because the Do- minion of Canada passed over to Great Britain on May 10, 1763, by the treaty of Paris. Fort Carlton was certainly occupied a hundred years ago. A Canadian author makes this statement :
" It (Carlton island) was a military and naval station during the American rebellion, at which government vessels were built for navi- gating the lake, and possessed fortifications. Its name is derived from Guy Carlton, Esq."*
The building of ships indicates a post of much im- portance; and the origin of the old chimneys, the deep moat cut through the solid rock on the land side, the huge well, and other elaborate ruins now visible, will very likely be traced to the military records of the English, as indicated by the foregoing facts. In 1796, Fort Carlton was defended by a small British guard and six picces of cannon. In 1812, as soon as the news reached Cape Vincent that a second war had been declared against Great Britain by the Amer- ican Congress, Abner Hubbard, an old Revolutionary soldier, living at Millen's Bay, authorized himself and several of his neighbors to capture the post. They crossed over the river in the night, and demanded its surrender. Two women and three invalid men surrendered. The following day the fort was destroyed and the prisoners taken to Sacket's Harbor.
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