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 88
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Dr. William Frame located in Depauville in 1822, where he practiced until his death in September, 1847. He was educated in Herkimer county, New York, and commenced the practice of medieine in Russia, in that county, in 1804. His son, Luke E. Frame, M.D., now of Depauville, studied the science under his father, and graduated at the Geneva medical college in 1844, and has been in practice in his present place of residence ever since. Solomon V. Frame, M.D. (son of Luke E. Frame), now a practicing physician of Clayton, is a graduate of the Buffalo medical college, elass of 1863. Another son, Silas Wright Frame, M.D., 23
is a resident physician of Belleville, and is a graduate of Bellevue Hospital medical college, of the class of 1875.
Dr. H. A. Mellmoyl is located also at Clayton. Dr. Aaron Sumner practiced in Depauville from 1830 to 1876.
We are indebted to the following-named gentlemen for assistance in the compilation of the above history of the town of Clayton : Thomas Rees, Amos Ellis, M.D., Jerry Carter, James F. and R. G. Angel, O. W. Smith, John Johnston, A. F. Barker, James D. Gloyd, Alfred Fox, Esq., Luke E. Framne, M.D., Thomas Faire, Captain Elliott, Perry Caswell, Erastus Wright, William Baxter, E. J. Seeber, Esq., Schuyler Osborn, A. Buskirk, Richard Terry, H. E. Morse, R. M. Esselstyn, Esq., Revs. S. F. Danforth, A. W. Cady, James J. Sherry, and others.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
JOHN JOHNSTON.
Among the prominent early settlers of Jefferson County is he whose name heads this brief sketch. He was born in the village of Watertown, September 11, 1816, and has since resided in the county. In 1830 he removed to Clay- ton froin Cape Vincent, and has been a resident of the village from that time to the present. In the year 1846 he was appointed by Polk deputy collector of custoins, and was removed in 1849 by reason of the change in the ad- ministration. He was again appointed under Pierce in 1853, and continued during that and the succeeding ad- ministration of Buchanan. In 1861 he was again removed, owing to the change of the political aspect. He was elected supervisor in 1867, and served consecutively until 1871; then an interval of one year, and he was again elected, and served from '73 to '76. In 1861-64 he served as justice of the peace. All of the above offices he filled to the satisfaction of the people. In 1874 he was the Democratie candidate for member of assembly, and received a very complimentary vote in his town, though, owing to the large regular Repub- lican majority, he was defeated in the district. Mr. Johnston has always taken an active part in politics, and to no one inan does the party in his town owe as much as to him. He is an indefatigable worker, a good organizer, and a man thoroughly posted in political economy. He is an honest and upright citizen, and one who generally enjoys the con- fidence of the community in which he has so long resided. (Sce portrait on another page.)
ELLISBURG.
THIS town, embracing Minos and Henderson (No. 6, as designated on the surveyor-general's map), was erected from Mexico into a township on Feb. 22, 1803; the first town- meeting being held at the house of Lyman Ellis, at which the following town officers were chosen : Edward Boomer, supervisor ; Lyman Ellis, clerk ; Caleb Ellis and Amos B. Noyes, overseers of the poor; Jeremiah Mason, Samuel Rhodes, and Benj. Boomer, commissioners of highways ; Matthew Boomer, constable and collector ; Abiah Jenkins, constable ; John Thomas, Christopher Edmonds, and Dyer McCumber, fence-viewers; C. Ellis, Jeremiah Mascn, Timothy Harris, Benj. Boomer, D. McCumber, Joseph Holley, overseers of highways.
Supervisors .- 1803, Edward Boomer; 1804-5, Lyman Ellis; 1806, Nathaniel Wood ; 1807, L. Ellis; 1808-9, Joseph Allen ; 1810, Orimal Brewster; 1811-14, Lyman Ellis ; 1815-16, Ebenezer Wood ; 1817, L. Ellis ; 1818- 20, Pardon Earl; 1821, E. Wood; 1822-23, P. Earl ; 1824-29, Wadsworth Mayhew; 1830, Daniel Wardwell ; 1831-36, Jotham Bigelow ; 1837, Ezra Stearns ; 1838, Samuel Hackley ; 1839, E. Stearns ; 1840, Wm. C. Pierre- pont ; 1841-42, Ezra Stearns ; 1843, Wm. C. Pierrepont ; 1844, John Littlefield ; 1845, James Jones; 1846-47, Wm. C. Pierrepont ; 1848-49, John Clark ; 1850, Alvah Bull ; 1851-52, James J. Steele ; 1853-54, Alcander Dickinson ; 1855, Dexter Wilder ; 1856, E. B. Hawes ;. 1857, Andrew J. Barney ; 1858-59, Alcander Dickinson ; 1860-61, George M. Hopkinson ; 1862, Albert G. Earl ; 1863, George M. Hopkinson ; 1864-66, John B. Clark ; 1867, Albert G. Earl; 1868-69, John B. Clark; 1870- 73, William Baldwin; 1874-75, James E. Green ; 1876- 77, Isaac P. Wodell.
Wolf bounties of $2.50 in 1803; of $15 in 1807-8 ; of $10 in 1811-12. In 1804-5, " Resolved, that the method of voting shall be by each person's passing round and naming the persons he would wish to elect to fill the several offices." . In 1816 voted to build a town-house.
This town derives its name from Lyman Ellis, of Troy, who settled as a proprietor in 1797, and who afterwards for several years acted as an agent. He died in town, March 13, 1847, aged 87. His character is briefly summed up in his epitaph : " Modesty, honesty, and charity adorned his walk in life."
April 11, 1796, Marvel Ellis,* of Troy, N. Y., contracted with Wm. Constable for the purchase of this town, except- ing a marshy tract each side of Sandy creek, near the lake, which was afterwards included, and a tract of 3000 acres,
in the southwest corner, sold to Brown & Eddy. The sum of $22,111.50 was paid, and a deed given, March 22, 1797, upon which a mortgage was given back upon the balance, amounting to $98,943.45. This mortgage embarrassed the early sales, and confidence was not restored until the property had reverted to the Constable estate, some years afterwards.
The greater part of the town was surveyed by Calvin Guiteau in 1796, except the eastern part, that was sur- veyed by Nelson Doolittle, and the 3000-acre tract in 1800, by Benjamin Wright, of Rome; the latter, in 1808, sur- veyed the whole town. A proposition had been received from Moody Freeman for the purchase of the town, but a bargain was not effected. The town, including the marshes, which in dry seasons afford wild grass, but which are often flowed, contains 54,7212 acres. The field notes of Guiteau, made in 1796, contain the following memoranda :
Lot 23 (three miles above Ellis village). "About 5 chains west from the northeast corner are falls of ten or twelve fect, but not porpendicular more than four or five feet, which do not obstruct the salmon, as I found many above."
Lot 34 (next west of 23). "About 20 chains from the west line is a small fall in the creek, where the water is confined to a narrow channel and then expands out, forming a depth of ten or twelve feet of water of a smooth, rocky bottom, and filled with innumerable multitude of salmon, the clearness of the water being such that they may be seen in any part of it."
In the spring of 1797, Marvel and Lyman Ellis, brothers, and both interested in the purchase, found their way into town, the latter with the view of permanent settlement. In the fall of the same year, Caleb Ellis, having met with Lyman Ellis at Rome, was casually introduced with the expectation that a relationship existed, but none was found ; yet the interview resulted in an invitation to settle in the new town. Caleb Ellis accordingly visited the town, and selected a farın on the south branch of Sandy creek, at a place where one Waldo had the year previous erected. a hut for hunting.
Many men were employed by Lyman Ellis the same season, who had at its close built a dam and saw-mill three- fourths of a mile below the present site of Ellis village, and the mill was got in operation the same fall, but was partly swept off early the next spring by a flood. In the winter of 1797-8, Wm. Hicks, with Mr. Buller and B. Pierce, remained in town, and in the spring of 1798, Caleb Ellis and family, Robert Fulton, Elijah Richardson, Heze- kiah Pierce, Chauncey Smith, Wm. Root, Vial Salisbury, Isaac Waddle, Abram Wilcox, two men by the name of Thornton, and others, came into town with Lyman Ellis to rebuild the mill and erect a grist-mill ; but nearly all were
# Marvel Ellis died in Utica in 1806, aged 46; he removed there in 1803.
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UNION ACADEMY OF BELLEVILLE, ELLISBURG, JEFFERSON CO.,N. Y.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
taken siek, and the pioneers were reduced to great suffering from want of provisions and necessary medical attendance.
To supply the place of mills, Mr. Ellis and his settlers constructed, after models of their own device, those primi- tive mortars used from necessity in all new settlements, and made by boring and burning a cavity into the top of a hard wood stump, over which was suspended a pestle by a spring- pole. With much difficulty, during the season, the saw- mill was again fitted up and the dam rebuilt ; the iron and heavy freight, as well as the furniture of settlers, having been brought into town in open boats by way of Wood Creek and Oswego.
On the 11th of September, 1798, Marvel Ellis wrote to Constable as follows :
" We have a good dam across the creek, which has been expensive; a good saw-mill, well finished, and running, and have done consider- able towards a grist-inill. We have on the same lot a large and handsome improvement; have had a fine erop of wheat, and have vory fine corn. The people that are on the land have good improve- ments for the time, and are industrious. I inelose you an account of the small sales to the settlers, the price sold for, and what has been received, which is a small sum in proportion to what has been laid out on the laud. If people would have been satisfied of having a release from the mortgage by paying you, we should have had suf- ficient to have made the present payment now due. The remainder of the money duo from these settlers is due within a year. We wish you to give us some further indulgence, and something to convince people that you will release from the mortgage on receiving payment, which will enable us to make payments for the land, and make a large settlement soon."
Inelosed in the foregoing was the following list, with the number of acres taken up by each. Joseph Caldwell, 60 ; Wm. Hicks, 51; John G. Hayward, 150; Caleb Ellis, 126; Neal Salisbury, 100; Elijah Pettybone, 100; John Paddock, 50; Isaac Southerland, 130; Asahel Humphrey, 419 ; Elisha Phillips, 100; Levi Root, 140; Hez. Peirce, 149.
The first corn and potatoes raised in the county by the present race of settlers was by Lyman Ellis iu 1797, who also, in 1798, was probably the first to raise winter wheat.
The first death in Ellisburg was Mary, a young daughter of Caleb Ellis, and the first death of an adult was that of Samantha Howard. The first birth is said to have been that of Ontario Pierce, a son of Hezekiah Pieree, in the summer of 1798.
The winter of 1798-99 was one of remarkable severity. Snow fell on the 29th of October and lasted till the 20th of April. A settler in town (Gideon Howard) having been to Rome, was returning when the first snow fell, and was overtaken by night in the woods near Little Sandy ereck, five miles from home. In the morning the snow had fallen nearly four fect, and was so light that it was impossible to travel in it. He had only provision enough to last home without obstruction, and was detained three days, endeav- oring to struggle through, having constructed a pair of snow-shoes, which, however, were of little avail. When he reached home he was nearly exhausted from fatigne and hunger.
In the spring of 1799 the dam of Ellis was again swept off and the mill partly destroyed, when this and the frame of a grist-mill were removed to the present village above, and the latter was got in operation about 1803.
Many interesting details of the early settlement of this town and county are given in the following extraets from the diary of James, the brother of Wm. Constable, who, in 1803-6, made tours in the summer months through these northern counties on business connected with the estate of his deceased brother, of which he was one of the executors.
. .. "September 5, 1803. After traveling some miles, I had at last the gratification of seeing a settler here (in No. 10, or Sandy Creek). Three men wero cutting and buruing large piles of enormous trees. Ellis being acquainted with them, we went and stayed in their hut, which was about 12 feet square, built of logs, no chimney, and but very little furniture. There were two beds, in one of which a man aud wife slept, and in the other the other two men. One man was distant from his family 70 miles. They bad a contract from B. Wright for 500 acres at 128, being first settlers, and from their ap- pearance and character I think the land well sold, for they are the right sort to settle the country. We dined on salt pork, with good bread, butter, and chocolate, much to my satisfaction.
" We left tbem at 4 o'clock for Ellisburg, 9 miles distant, and soon after it began to rain quite hard, and continued till we got home. From the timber and appearance of this towu I thought it superior in soil to any we had passed. I had the satisfaction to find that settlers and all other people find it equal to their wishes. We retired to bed about 8 o'clock and slept well. It was my intention the next morning to have gone to see every man in the settlement, but this was unnecessary, for immediately after breakfast many of them came, and some from a considerable distance.
" September 6. Had several consultations with the settlers, who seemed well pleased with my coming, and satisfied with my explana- tions. I heard of a daughter of one of theun who had been seized with a fit and lay speechless for the preceding twenty-four hours. There was no doctor on the town, and they had to send twenty miles twice to oue who was from home. This affected me much and deter- mined me to propose cucouraging one to settle here, when I meet the Co-ex'rs. Perhaps a lot of 50 acres given to one would be well be- stowed. A parson will also soon be applied for. I find Ellis' house and mills good buildings, but unfinished, but he hopes soon to com- plete them. They aro valuable, and should be kept up. He will be useful here, and I think has some strong claims upou us, as I shall explain.
" September 7. Went after breakfast to see Lake Outario, 5 miles distant, and was much pleased with it. A steady west gale blew up the white-caps, which, contrasting with the sea-green color of the water, had a fine effect. As far as the eye could reach, and the coun- try about us either fino forests, or well cultivated. The more I see of the town the more I am satisfied of its value. ... Mr. Ellis has lived here nearly six years, and all he has received from our testator has been $221, for commission on lands sold. A lot was promised him upon condition of his coming to reside, but he never got a deed for it, though his mills were first erected there, from whence they have been sinee removed to where they now are. He now asks the ex'rs for a conveyance for the lot promised, being No. 94, and for time to pay the above balance, the security for which is ample, as his build- ings are valued at $2000 and the title to the lot they aro upon is still with the executors.
" Thero are about 40 families in the town, most of them poor, but of that description of people fit to settle a new country ; few comforts about them, and they seem to have few wants ; no liquor is to bo had, and they havo not yet begun to distil, nor are there any apples to make cider, so that their only drink is water, with which they seem content. They do not hesitate about the price of $3, but paying } down is very difficult for most of them. There are good horned eat- tlo amongst them ; the horses indifferent, but the only ones fit for a new country. They do not seem to regard distance, and go 9 or 10 miles backward and forward daily, over roads that are nearly impass- able. . ..
" September 8. Left Ellisburg at 4 r.M. for Capt. Boomer's, five miles distant, where I slept. This man owned about 100 aeres in the town, upon which ho improved about 15 acres, and the other improve- ments are, a log house, with some small buildings. He has sold the whole for $900, receiving the great part down, the remainder well se- cured. Other instances of the value they set upon small improvo- ments might be mentioned, such as another man refusing $1200 for
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
150 acres, with little more done than the above, but they will be better detailed by conversation.
" September 9. Left Boomer's to travel by the State road, which passes from Ellisburg through town 7 (Louis, now Adams), 1, 6, 7, to Redfield. . . . What I saw of No. 1 (Lorraine) is much inferior to the remainder, as Wright ealls the whole a good town, and it is set- tling fast."
The portions relating to the territory now Oswego and Lewis counties are omitted.
". . . August 21, 1804. Proceeded on to Ellisburg, and found the road from Ellisburg so extremely bad and so seldom traveled, and another route, shorter and better, presents itself, so that I have, by the advice of Mr. Wright, judged it advisable to alter to the latter ; he is accordingly authorized to give 5 or 6 lots, of 50 acres each, to settlers, entitling them to deeds, after residenee a certain time, on 10 and 11, after they have ereeted buildings and other improvements. The road will be nearly direet from Rome to Ellisburg, and about 43 miles.
" Angust 23. Went down Sandy ereek to the lake, and found the marsh covered with hay-stacks, the contents of which had grown spon- taneously, and there are many horses and eattle at pasture, which proves that this place is of consequence. Some of it is indeed very fine, and the people are very desirous of buying, but no judgment can be formed of the quantity of good and bad, and L. Ellis is therefore to send me an estimate before the price is fixed. Went to Christopher Edmonds, on the north side of the ereek. He has a fine farm and has produecd the best eorn in the town. He expects this year a yield of about 90 bushels per aere. This article is very fine throughout the place, but the wheat has been affected by the fly and rust. The estab- lishment has flourished generally; many settlers have come in sinee last year, and more are expected. There are now 60 families, and though cases of fever and ague happen near the lake, and sometimes the lake fover, yet the country is a healthy one, and the soil so good that it will settle fast.
" August 24. Left Ellisburg, with directions to Ellis to sell the re- served lots (9), proceeding through Louis No. 7 (Adams), which is good land, and will settle, nearly the whole being taken up; thenee through No. 1 (Hounsfield), formerly sold by Harrison and Hoffman to Champion and Storrs, but which now belongs to several proprietors, among the rest Messrs. Kemble and Hounsfield."
The journal of travel through towns No. 3 (Rutland), No. 4 (Champion), and St. Lawrence and Franklin counties and back is omitted. The remainder of this year's journal relates to other sections than the town of Ellisburg.
"On the way to Ellisburg found many settlers sinec last year, and the improvement considerable ; the crops of wheat excellent, and the eorn good, as they have suffered little from drought. Arrived at Ellis' at noon, to remain 2 or 3 days. The mills are in tolerably good order, but the water so low they ean griud only part of the day. Grists are brought from a great distance, and in boats from Oswego, and lower. Ellis has built a small house for himself, and a good barn. . . .
"Aug. 9. Went down to the lake, and being fine weather, were rowed down Sandy creek to the mouth. The lake is higher thau it has been for somo years, and more of the marsh is covered, which has pre- vented much hay being cut. If the waters continue to rise, which they think probable, most of the muarsh will be of no use. We re- turned from the lake, and were caught in a shower before we got to Ellis'. The first rain since leaving Schenectady. . . . A school- house is now building near Ellis' Mills, on the same lot, to be two stories high, the upper of which is to be devoted to divine service, when any minister travels that way. The town have also subseribed towards building a bridge across the creek, at the same place, and we agreed to contribute $20, as they could not raise sufficient, but they have engaged to improve the road from the bridge to the north line of No. 10. Dr. Dresser has but two patients, aud there is less sickness than at any previous year in this season."
The proprietors had adopted the practice of giving cer- tificates allowing people a certain time after exploring to
go for their families before taking contracts, but it was found that in many cases these had been transferred, and this having grown into a system of speculation, was discon- tinued, as they were given to assist the first real settlers, and their transfer operated against the interests of both land-owners and settlers. About half of No. 1 was at this time sold. A reputed locality of iron ore was visited on No. 6 (Redfield), which was thought, upon examination, to be coal, but which, from the description given, must have been the oxide of manganese.
One year afterwards (August 8, 1806), Mr. Constable, in going over this route, remarked,-
"Passed from the Long Falls to the bridge at Indian River (Antwerp village), where we spent the night. The country generally remains as last year, except at this place, where they are building a saw-mill for General Lewis R. Morris, who has gone to Vermont, bis family not having yet moved to this town." The same journal (August, 1806), speaking of the settlements in Ellisburg, says, "From Asa Brown's passed on to Andrews' settlement, on Ellisburg, through a very good road, 4 miles. He has made considerable improvement here. The saw-mill has been long in use, and has enabled them to erect frame houses, some good barns, and a large grist-mill, which is, however, not yet finished, and after dinner walked to see the lake, which, as the wind blew fresh from the west, had a very pleasing ap- pearanee. . . . Ellis rents the mills for $400 per annum, and his affairs will soon be in good order. . . . We heard with great eoneern the death of Elder Littlefield, which happened a few days before our arrival. He was a man of some consequence and mueh respected, and has left a widow and nine children. It is supposed he died intestate. . . . There have been some cases of sickness during the season, but none fatal. Dr. Draper is still on the town, and has eon- siderable practice. He will continue here, and hopes to build a house next year, when he will require a deed for the 50 acres of land to which he is entitled. I should have remarked that 180 militiamen trained here yesterday (September 2), and it is said by some that one- third were absent. If so, the population has greatly inereased."
January 22, 1803, George Tibbets and James Dole, of Troy, were appointed agents for Ellisburg, and in 1807 were paid for their services in land. In the same year, Benjamin Wright, of Rome, succeeded as general agent for the' estate, and fixed his residence at Pulaski, where he continued in the capacity of surveyor and agent until employed on the canal surveys.
No incident worthy of remark occurred until 1808, when the embargo act was passed; that led to much opposition from the Federal party in this county, and was in some places on this frontier systematically violated.
In September, 1808, an event occurred in this town that created great excitement at the time. We take it from accounts published in the Albany Gazette, Oct. 10, 1808. A party from Oswego, under Lieutenant Asa Wells, entered Sandy Creek, and after seizing a quantity of potash, under the embargo laws, proceeded to the house of Captain Fair- field, surrounded it, and seized and carried away a swivel. Mr. F. being absent, his lady made complaint to a justice, who issued a warrant. The constable was intimidated, and called upon his fellow-citizens to aid him, when about thirty men took arms and went with him, but Wells' men pre- sented bayonets, when they desisted, and twenty of the men went off. Lieutenant Wells ordered the remainder to be disarmed and bound, when they were taken, with the swivel, to Oswego. On the evening of the 25th of Septem- ber the same party returned, as reported, for the purpose of
%
" WOODVILLE CHIEF."
LADY PENDER.
RIVERSIDE
1
"RIVER SIDE" RESIDENCE OF J. F. CONVERSE, WOODVILLE TOWN OF ELLISBURG, JEFFERSON CO, N.Y.
RESIDENCE OF F. WILLIAM:
SBURG, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.
SEED BUILDINGS.
MRS. MARGARET BRODIE.
JAMES BRODIE.
" KILBIRNE MAID. "
BOUKE OF HAMILTON. " RESIDENCE OF JAMES BRODIE, ELLISBURG, JEFFERSON CO., N.Y.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.
taking the magistrate and constable who had issued the papers. A warrant against Wells and two others, for felony in breaking open a house, was issued at Sacket's Harbor, and given to Ambrose Pcase, a constable, to cxc- cute, who, after examining the law, raised the hue and cry, and assembled about 200 persons in Ellisburg, where a con- sultation of several magistrates was held, and the next day at sunrise about seventy or eighty men, armed and equipped, volunteered to aid in the arrest; but the magistrates durst not issue the order for their march, being apprehensive that some exeess or injury might be donc, and the question having been raised whether a constable had a right to de- mand aid before he had been resisted, the armed men were advised to disperse, and the civil officer requested to procced to apprehend Wells and the others, without the force of the county. This proceeding was charged by one of the political parties as an attempt of the other to resist, by force of arms, the execution of the laws, and mutual crimina- tions were exchanged with much bitterness. To justify themselves, and secure public opinion in their favor, the civil officers who had taken an interest in the matter pre- pared the following statement, which was published in the papers of the day, at Utica, Albany, and elsewhere :
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