History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 98

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 98


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392


ANSON POTTER.


ANSON POTTER (Hounsfield), an example of untiring industry, a pioneer of Hounsfield, and a present eitizen of most honorable standing. Anson Potter has demonstrated qualities of high order, and to acquire superiority in a chosen calling has put forth unremitted exertions. He was the second child in the family of John and Lydia (Holloway) Potter, and was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, March 29, 1803. His father was a farmer of limited means, and came with his family to Stowell's Corners, in the township of Hounsfield, in the year 1805; here he remained for several years, and maintained his family by working as a day-laborer. About 1808 he pur- chased fifty acres of land, which is a part of the farm now owned by his grandson, Newman H. Potter, for which he was to pay five dollars per acre; here he struggled with poverty for a number of years, for the maintenance of his family and the removal of the incumbrance upon his property was a severe task; but, being a man of indomitable will and perseverance, he overeame every obstacle, and to his first purchase added onc hundred acres, which is at this time one of the finest farms in the township. As may be supposed, our subject's advantages were limited in every particular, excepting the acquirement of a robust eonstitu- tion and a strong pair of arms with which to fight the battles ineident to the settlement of a new country. As soon as able to swing an axe he eommenecd work upon the farm, attending the district school for a few weeks in the winter ; he, however, acquired a good common school educa- tion. When about nineteen years of age he commenced business for himself by taking jobs in elearing land, and being desirous of securing some onc to share " his joys and sorrows," he made the acquaintance of Miss Abby M. Fall, whom he married September 26, 1826. Her father, Henry T. Fall, was an officer in the Revolutionary army, and served during the war; soon after peace was deelared, he settled in Litchfield county, where Mrs. Potter was born, April 11, 1802. In 1811, meeting with some re- verses in business, he emigrated to the town of Rodman ; he, however, ended his days in the town of Brownville, at the advanced age of ninety-six years.


Soon after Mr. Potter's marriage he purchased about one hundred acres of wild land on "big lot number 36,"


MRS. ANSON POTTER


town of Hounsfield, for which he was to pay five dollars per acre. His situation at this time was certainly not an enviable one, his resources being his good wife, an axe, a pair of fustian breeches, an ox team, good health, and a strong will, while his liabilities were an encumbrance of five hundred dollars upon his farm. And now commeneed the struggle for the possession of his home ; the land was heavily timbercd, and the construction of a farm was no small task ; but, by degrees, field after field was added, and industry and frugality were rewarded, and to the first purchase he added from time to time until he became the owner of over one thousand acres of fine land, seven hundred of which was in one body and lay in the town of Hounsfield. This magnificent property was acquired, not through specu- lation or heirship, but by honorable toil, and Mr. Potter's sueeess as a farmer shows what can be done by industry, cconomy, and good executive ability. He now owns a beau- tiful farm of two hundred aeres, which is a monument to his thrift and energy. This farm is probably one of the best in Jefferson County, a view of which can be seen on the next page.


Mr. and Mrs. Potter have been blessed with five ehildren, named in the order of their ages : Walter W., Newman H., Lorentine C., Lydia M., and Anson A. Walter W. is a farmer and a resident of Eaton county, Michigan ; Newman H. is one of Hounsfield's thrifty farmers, and did his country good scrviee as sergeant of Company K, 35th New York Infantry ; Anson A. is living in Brownville ; Lydia M. is the wife of Harrison E. Spalsbury, of Leonidas, Michigan; Lorentine C. is the wife of Chauveey W. Bates, of Polk City, Iowa. . No family of children were ever blessed with parents more kind or indulgent, and their parents are proud to know that they are fully appreciated. Although they have outlived their allotted time, they are still in the possession of good health and all their faculties, and are sustained by an implicit religious faith,-that of the Presbyteriau church, of which he is a " ruling elder" and a liberal patron, and at whose altar they kneel, " humble recipients of its holy symbols."


Mr. and Mrs. Potter are exemplars of "long lives well spent," and it is the wish of their many friends that many years may yet be granted them.


FARM VIEW OF ANSON POTTER , HOUNSFIELD, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.


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RESIDENCE of ANSON POTTER , BROWNVILLE, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.


RESIDENCE OF N.H. POTTER, HOUNSFIELD, JEFFERSON CO., N. Y.


393


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


does not afford the power it did ere the timber in the region was eut away and the well-springs of its existence sapped. The entire face of the country, aside from the water sur- face, was covered at its early settlement with a dense growth of heavy timber, and the pioneer, in its improvement, used his axe as the primal lever in the uplifting of his ehosen home to its present rank in a prosperous region.


Besides Mill ereek there are numerous other smaller streams, and the boundary between Hounsfield and Brown- ville is formed by Black river. The western and north- western portions have their entire front on the waters of Black River bay and Lake Ontario, with a shore line of about twelve miles.


Gull, Snake, Great and Little Galloo, and Stony islands, lying west of the town in Lake Ontario, belong to it, al- though they are nearer to Henderson. On Galloo island is a light-house. The first one was built here in 1820, and rebuilt in 1866. On what is known as Horse island, which is merely a continuation of the point west of the village of Sacket's Harbor, with but very shallow water be- tween it and the mainland, a light-house was built in 1831, and rebuilt in 1870. It is a strong brick structure. The island contains twenty-seven aeres, and is something over a mile west of the harbor.


Parts of the villages of Brownville and Dexter are in Hounsfield, and aside from these and Saeket's Harbor there are the post-offices of East Hounsfield and Stowell's Cor- ners, and the clusters of dwellings around the early-settled localities of Field's Settlement, Camp's Mills, Jewettville, and the Robbins Settlement.


.


EARLY SETTLEMENT.


The first white man who braved the dangers of the then wilderness, and swung his axe


" Amid the sea-like solitude,"


was Amos Fox, who, about 1800, located near the present " Muskalonge Burying-Ground," probably on great lot 36. He is given the eredit of having made the first improve- ments in the town, and his name appears prominently upon its early records. None of his family now live in the neighborhood, and he himself has long since elosed his life's labors and laid down to his long rest.


The arrival of settlers was quite rapid upon the nature of the country becoming known, and as early as September, 1802, a traveler reported about thirty families living in town- ship number one. Before the breaking out of the War of 1812-15 the town had become comparatively well filled. As timber was abundant, and ashes commanded a greater price than anything they could raise at the time, the manufae- ture of pot- and pearl-ashes was extensively carried on, nearly every man receiving a share of profits from the traffie in those articles.


Several years previous to the War of 1812, five brothers, Solomon, Robert, Asher, Austin, and Joshua Robbins, eame from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and located at what is now known as the Robbins Settlement, in the southwest part of the town. These men were the first settlers in that locality, and made the first improvements. There were originally seven brothers in the family, one of


whom, Levi Robbins, settled in Champion, where he is now living, having reached the age of more than ninety years. Some of the younger representatives of the family are now living at Sacket's Harbor, where R. S. Robbins, son of Solomon, lived for many years and carried on the mercantile business. Mrs. Luey Blin, also a resident of the village, is a daughter of Joshua Robbins, and to her acknowledg- ments are due for information furnished.


Elijah Field, from Woodstock, Windsor eounty, Ver- mont, located at what is known as Field's Settlement, in the spring of the year 1806, and was the first settler in the neighborhood. His son, Lebbeus, a minister of the de- nomination known as Christians, located here in the spring of 1807 with his wife and daughter. In 1816 he removed to great lot 28, where he is now living with his son Heze- kiah, at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. This latter farm was purchased by Lebbeus Field from second hands, although he made the first improvements upon it himself.


Soon after the Fields had beeomne residents of the locality they were followed by Palmer Westcott, who manufactured potash on quite an extensive seale, considering the facilities. The Ives family settled afterwards, and of all these families deseendants are now living in the township. Hon. Willard Ives, now of Watertown, has become a prominent man in the county, and the life of Rev. Lebbeus Allen, though prolonged much beyond the average period of human exist- ence, has been one of well-doing. Asahel Joiner, living west from Mr. Field's place, is also an early pioneer of Jef- ferson County, and has been a sojourner on the earth for a period of one hundred and two years, his birth dating back to the beginning of the " War for Independence."


William and Charles Green, and others of the family, came from Rhode Island, and, after stopping for some time in Rensselaer county, settled in the town of Pinekney, Lewis county, in 1812. Charles Green at one time took a contract for elearing timber in the very heart of what is now the flourishing city of Utica. William Green served in the War of 1812, probably volunteering from Lewis county. About the year 1816 his crops in that county were almost entirely destroyed by frost, and, leaving everything behind, he soon after started with his family and walked to Adams, where he resided until 1836, when he again removed and made a final settlement in Hounsfield, where his death occurred about 1866. Charles Green, who came to Adams at about the same time with William, is still living in that town, and affords another example of tenacious and hardy age, being now ninety-eight years old.


Ebenezer Allen, a native of Windsor county, Vermont, settled with his family in March, 1808, on the place now owned by his grandson, Lebbeus F. Allen, great lot 38. The family at that time consisted of himself, his wife, and ten children, of whom the oldest was twenty years and the youngest about eleven months of age. A log house was at onee ereeted upon the place and other improvements made. Mr. Allen had served five years in the Revolutionary army, and attained the rank of major, which title elung to him through life. Ilis son Leonard, father of Lebbeus F. Allen, was a soldier during the War of 1812-15, and served in the operations around Sacket's Harbor, being engaged iu


394


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


the memorable battle which took place there on May 29, 1813. He now draws a pension for his services.


Ira Inglehart, a native of Canada, removed to St. Law- rence county previous to the War of 1812, and settled near Ogdensburgh, afterwards coming to Philadelphia, Jefferson County, and next to Watertown. He served in the Amer- ican army during the war, participating in the Sacket's Harbor fight, and in the fall or winter of 1815 left Water- town and made a final settlement in school district No. 6, now called " Jericho," in Hounsfield, where he owned a fine farm. His son, C. W. Inglehart, has been a resident of the village of Sacket's Harbor for fifteen years, and over sixty years an inhabitant of the town, having come to it with his father in 1815.


In the southern portion of the town settlements were also made quite early, more especially towards the eastern boundary, in the neighborhood of Stowell's Corners. Na- than Baker was among the early comers, locating some time previous to the year 1807, near the south line of the town.


The following account of the loss of a child in the woods near the Price settlements was written by Mr. David Mer- ritt, an Englishman, who settled here in February, 1805 :


" The parents of the ehild had recently settled in the woods, half a mile from any other dwelling. It was of a Lord's-Day evening, about sunset; the father set out to visit his nearest neighbor, and, unobserved by him, his son, a child of four years, followed him. The father tarried an hour or two and returned, not having seen the little wanderer. The mother anxiously inquired for her ehild, supposing her husband had taken him with him ; their anxiety was great, and immediate, though fruitless, search was made for the little fugitive. Several of the nearest neighbors were alarmed, and the night was spent to no purpose in searching for the child. On Monday a more extensive search was made by increased numbers, but in vain; and the distressed parents were almost frantic with grief and fearful apprehensions for the child's safety.


" Another afflietive and sleepless night passed away, and the second morning beamed upon the diseonsolate family, the ehild not found, and by this time (Tuesday) reports were in eireulation of a panther's having been seen recently in the woods by some one. This circum- stanee gave a pungency to the grief and feelings of every sympa- thetic heart unknown before, and the timid and credulous were ready to abandon any further efforts to recover the child, and give the dis- tressed parents up to despair.


" It was, however, concluded to aların a still more extensive circle, and engage fresh volunteers in a work that must interest and arouse even the unfeeling on common occasions. A messenger was dis- patehed to Sacket's Harbor, a distance of six miles ; it was in itself an irresistible appeal to every feeling heart. To feel was to act.


" Messrs. Luff, Ashby, Merritt, and others immediately mounted their horses, and repaired to the scene of painful anxiety ; this was about eleven o'clock in the forenoon of Tuesday. When they arrived at the spot, the number present that had collected from all quarters was about five hundred men, and they were formed in a line, extending to the right and left of the house a mile each way, so that every foot of ground they passed in their search should come under their obser- vation. The order of the day was that no person should fire a gun, sound a horn, halloo, or make any needless noise whatever ; but, with vigilance and a sense of duty to the distressed parents, use every effort to recover the child. If the child was found alive, every person that had a gun was to fire, and every one that had a horn, to sound it ; on the contrary, if the ehild was found dead, one gun only should be fired, as a signal to the remote line to cease searching.


" In this way, in silence, they had marehed about two miles, when a distant gun sounded ; it was an anxious moment. 'Is the ehild alive?' was a thought that ran through every mind; a moment more and the hope was confirmed, for the air and forests rang with guns and horns of every deseription. The lines were immediately broken up, and each ran, anxious to see the little lost sheep. The dear little


fellow was presented to his now overjoyed parents,-a scene that overeame all present.


" When the little boy was found, he was sitting on a small mossy hillock, in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by shallow water. When the man who first approached him extended his arms and stooped to take him up, he shrunk from him and appeared frightened, and showed a disposition to get from him. But he was mueh ex- hausted, and seized eagerly an apple that was held to him. Had he not been reseued from his situation, he probably would have died at that spot."*


EAST HOUNSFIELD POST-OFFICE.


About the beginning of the War of 1812, Stephen Blan- chard, a man who is remembered by many now living, moved to this place from the State of Vermont. About 1820 he built a hotel, which is still standing as the upright part of the present " Half-way House." The locality was long known as " Blanchard's Corners," and the hotel as the " old Blanchard Stand." The building has been repaired and refitted, and is now under the management of William Warren. Blanchard never had any children of his own, and has been dead about thirty years. "Steve Blanchard" is, however, remembered as one of the old-fashioned stamp of country landlords, and the " Corners" have witnessed many a jollification at the old hotel.


In the neighborhood of 1850 a post-office was established, the first postmaster being Nelson Joncs, who held the office until the beginning of Lincoln's administration, when Mar- . vin B. Scovill was appointed. Upon the election of Gen- eral Grant to the presidency the present incumbent, William Warren, was appointed, and has held it continu- ously since. The mail was originally carried over the Watertown & Sacket's Harbor plank-road, and delivered here daily. At present it is transported by rail, and de- livered at the station three-fourths of a mile south of the office.


Mr. Warren's father, Thomas W. Warren, emigrated from St. John's, New Brunswick, about 1824-5, and settled near Blanchard's Corners, where he now resides.


A Cheese-Factory was built here in the spring of 1870, which has made a market for the surplus milk of the neighborhood, and been a source of profit for patrons and proprietors. The only article of manufacture is cheese, and from one thousand to fourteen hundred has been the annual average number. For the season of 1877 the number will reach about twelve hundred. They have brought an average price in market of about seven dollars. The build- ing is a frame structure, and stands a short distance west of the corners.


ROADS.


Among the early roads in the town were, one leading from Sacket's Harbor to Rome, Oneida county, laid out by commissioners appointed by the State, and money raised for its improvement afterwards, in 1813; a road four rods wide, authorized by an Act of the Legislature, April 8, 1808, to run from Brownville or Hounsfield and " unite with the great road leading from Rome to the River St. Lawrence, at Putnam's Ferry ;" a military road, built in 1819, from Sacket's Harbor east through Brownville, Pa- melia, Four Corners, &c., to Plattsburgh (only portions of it ever completed) ; the Oneida and Jefferson turnpike, for


# Hist. of Jeff. Co.


395


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


the construction of which a' company was incorporated April 8, 1808; the Watertown and Sacket's Harbor plank- road, built in 1847-8, and others. When the country was settled the only roads were paths through the woods, or blazes on the forest-trees to guide the traveler on his way, and it early became necessary to introduce these im- provements. The main thoroughfares were laid out liberally as to width, and much credit is deserved by the first comers to the region for their painstaking in the way of improve- ment and advancement in all things for the public good.


RAILROADS.


The Trenton & Sacket's Harbor Railroad Company was chartered May 15, 1837, and commissioners appointed to receive subscriptions for stock, but no work was ever done. May 23, 1850, the Sacket's Harbor & Ellisburg Railroad Company was organized, and after numerous drawbacks and troubles the road was finally completed to Pierrepont Manor, and opened for the regular passage of trains June 1, 1853. At the Manor it connected with the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh railway, and at the Harbor with the steamers of the Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat Company. The road continued its existence until 1862, when it was finally abandoned. The Sacket's Harbor branch of the Utica & Black River railway was completed to the village, and trains began to pass over it in the spring of 1875. It has a fair business, principally freight, and three trains daily in each direction.


CANAL.


" Abont 1823 a project was brought np for diverting a portion of the waters of the Black river from the lower pond in Watertown into Pleasant and Mill creeks, to supply a water-power to Sacket's Har- bor. The subject was referred by the legislature to the attorney- general for his opinion, who decided that private property had often been taken for private purposes; bnt from the opposition of II. Cof- feen, O. Stone, and others, throngh whose lands the canal would pass, with active influence at Brownville, the measure was then defeated. In 1825 the effort was renewed, and an act passed April 20, 1825, which authorized Joseph Kimball, Amos Catlin, and Daniel Hall, Jr., to divert the anrpIns waters of the river into Pleasant aud Stony creeks in Adams, Hounsfield, and Henderson, for hydraulic purposes ; dam- ages to be assessed by Egbert Ten Eyck, Clark Allen, and Joseph Hawkins, and road and farm bridges were to be maintained by the Company. The act was coupled with a proviso that the waters should not be taken from any dam then existing without the written consent of the owners. That provision effectually defeated the project, for it was next to impossible to comply with it. Being still determined to prosecute the matter, a meeting was called at Sacket's Harbor, February 13, 1826, at which strong resolutions, urging their necessi- ties and deprecating the proviso of the law, were passed. The annnal loss and inconvenience to farmers for waut of the privilege was esti- mated at from $10 to $50 each for those on the lake-shore and vicinity, and measures were taken to get the obnoxious restriction removed by the legislature. On the 17th of April, 1826, the act was amended ; but still the work was attended with difficulties that could not be sur- monnted. The proposition was next discussed of making the pro- posed canal navigable, which it was estimated could be done at a coat of $200,000, from Carthage to Sacket's Harbor, and that an annual revenue from tolls, amounting to $16,000, might be expected.


" An act was accordingly procured, April 15, 1828, incorporating the Jefferson County Canal Company, with a capital of $300,000, in shares of $100, in which Vincent Le Ray, Philip Schuyler, Egbert Ten Eyck, Elisha Camp, Jason Fairbanks, Levi Beebe, Arthur Bron- son, John Felt, and Joseph Kimball, were uamel the first parties. Nothing was done under this act. It being nuderstood that Mr. Elisha Camp, of Sacket's Harbor, was willing to assume, under cer- tain conditionz, the stock necessary for the construction of the work,


a meeting was held at Watertown, December 30, 1829, at which a committee of three was appointed to confer on the propriety of the course, and learn what encouragement would be afforded in aid of the work.


" By the act of April 28, 1829, a tax was imposed upon real estate within the village of Sacket's Harbor and on the mill-sites on Pleasant creek, amounting to $3000 in two years, to be assessed in proportion to the benefits received, and on the 20th of April, 1830, Elisha Camp was appointed a commissioner for this duty, in place of Danicl Hall, resigned, and the act was extended till June of that year. A canal, twenty feet wide at top and twelve at bottom, four feet deep, was made in 1830, from Huntington's Mills, two miles above the village of Watertown, to the Big Swamp, and in 1832 it was finished, sup- plying to the village of Sacket's Harbor a valuable water-power, upon which were erceted there a grist-mill, two saw-mills, plaster-mill, paper-mill, furnace, etc. The law was so framed, however, as to give rise to litigation. The greatest difficulty encountered was in main- taining the first half-mile of the ditch, which was constructed along the margin of Black river, where it was liable to be washed away on one side and filled by slides of clay and sand on the other. These difficulties finally led the work to be abandoned, after having been in use about ten years, to the pecuniary loss of all parties concerned."%


SCHOOLS.


The first school in the town was probably taught in the village of Sacket's Harbor. Outside the village the earliest school we have been able to learn anything of was taught in the winter of 1808-9, in the " Muskalonge" neighborhood. The building used was an old log dwelling, and the teacher was probably Amasa Fox. The next season (1809) a frame school-house was built,-the first in this part of the town, if not the first in all the territory included in it. It is yet standing on the farm of George Frazier, and is now occu- pied as a dwelling, after having been to some extent re- modeled and repaired.


At Blanchard's Corners, now East Hounsfield Post- Office, a log school-house was built previous to 1816, and stood a number of years. After this a frame house way built, which burned down, and a stone edifice was next erected, which was finally torn away and the present fraine school-house built west of the old site.




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