History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 24

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason
Number of Pages: 712

USA > New York > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 24

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Bounties for the destruction of wild animals have been voted as follows :-- For wolves, $15 in 1841; $10 in 1845 ; and $5 in 1842-'46. For panthers, $10 in 1841-'46 ; and $5 in 1842. For bears, $5 in 1841. In 1856, the town meetings of this town and New Bremen, were held in the same house in Croghan village, the town line passing through near the middle.

In this town, the "Company of New York," had intended to lay out a city by the name of Castorville, on the north side of the Beaver river, half a mile above the head of navigation, and at the lowest water power on that stream. The de- tails of this plan are elsewhere fully stated, but it is believed the city was never surveyed into lots, further than as a part of the Castorland Tract. The reservation amounted to 663 acres, and upon it was built, about 1798, the first saw-mill east of Black river. From this mill the first lumber used by the settlers at Lowville, was obtained. The mill stood on the site of the upper part of Lefever's tannery, but its last vestige had disappeared long before the modern

occupation of this site. Rodolph Tillier, agent of the French Company, made a clearing at the head of navigation, on Beaver river, four miles from its mouth, and a few log huts were erected. The only access to and from this place, was by river navigation .* A few French emigrants settled on the banks of the Black river, among whom were, it is believed, J. T. Devouassoux, A. Tassart, Louis Francois de Saint Michel, and per- haps others. Mr. Devouassoux was a re- tired officer, who owned a good lot on the river, and had built a log house a few feet from the water, on a beautiful flat piece of ground, which he hoped before long to see changed to a smooth verdant lawn. One day, as he was sitting by the door in his morning gown and slippers, Mr. Le Ray came along, on his way down the river, to visit his lands. After the usual salutations and a little general conversation, the visitor asked Mr. De- vouassoux whether he was not afraid the water would reach his house in the spring. This was a new idea to the old soldier, and he was asked to explain. "Well," said Mr. Le Ray, "this river does not, by any means, cause such rav- ages as most rivers do in snowy coun- tries, but it does overflow its banks in very low grounds. I think I even saw some marks left by it on some trees near your house, and according to them, you would have been about two feet un- der water in your house next spring."

At these words our Frenchman felt as perhaps he had never felt before the en- emy. " But," resumed Mr. Le Ray, after giving him time to compose himself, " have you not on your lot some higher ground ?" " Indeed, sir, I cannot say." " Why, have you not explored your lands before building ?" " Indeed, no; I

* From the absence and probable loss of the records, we cannot readily supply the list from 1860 to 1864.

* Steamers and canal boats can now ascend to the landing. and a towing-path has been constructed along the south bank. A tram road, with a small traction- engine, brings down lumber from the saw-mills to the landing, on the south bank, on the New Bremen side.

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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

thought I could not possibly find a better spot than the banks of this beautiful river. I like fishing. Here I am near my field of operations." Mr. Le Ray could not see without apprehension such apathy and levity, for knowing well that Mr. Devouassoux, was not an exception among his countrymen, he read in his fate that of many others. He persuaded Mr. Devouassoux to take a little walk upon his lot, and in a few minutes they found a beautiful building spot on a ris- ing ground .* We are not informed pre- cisely upon which side of Beaver river this location was, and it may have been in the town of New Bremen.

M. St. Michel arrived in New York in November, 1798, and undertook the im- provement of a tract of 1,200 acres owned by three daughters of Mr. Lambot, and from them named Sistersfield. The agreement was made with Patrick Blake, husband of one of the sisters, and the owner of 200 acres of the tract. The two other sisters were named Renee Jeane Louise, and Reine Marguerite Lambot. Blake returned to Europe in 1802. M. St. Michel had seen better days in France, and is believed to have held an office under Louis XVI, the unfortu- nate royal victim of the French Revolu- tion. His household affairs were managed by a daughter who had been tenderly reared at the schools in Paris, but who applied herself to the duties of her fath- er's home with a cheerfulness that did much to lighten the gloom of solitude and lessen the sadness of both. About 1803, as Gouverneur Morris, Nicholas Low and one or two other landholders, had met at Brownville, M. St. Michel came down with Richard Coxe to see them and enjoy the luxury of a conver- sation with some one who could speak his native language with fluency. The meeting was described to the author in

1853, by Mrs. Skinner, of Brownville, a sister of General Brown, who was an eye-witness, as affording a scene worthy of a painter. Their visitor was a tall, thin man, with a keen and intelligent eye, and a vivacity peculiar to the French charac- ter. The eagerness with which he grasped the hand of the dignified Morris, and the satisfaction he evinced, was as interest- ing to the spectators as it was gratify- ing to the parties. M. St. Michel in dress and manners, indicated that he had been bred in polished society. He was a man of fervent piety and deep thought. His daughter married Louis Marseille, and adopted with grace the coarse fare and rustic accommodations of a new coun- try, without a murmur .* Her father moved to a farm a little south of Deer River village, where he died. Upon the death of her husband she married Louis de Zotelle, who, in the summer of 1838, was supposed to have died. Preparations were made for the burial, and a prema- ture notice of the death was printed in the Northern Journal. In a few days he called upon the editor to request that no notice be again printed unless he be in- formed in person. He died "in good faith," about 1854, but in the absence of the authentic notice promised, we are unable to give the date. Still further down, and just beyond the border of the county, Jean Baptiste Bossuot, settled at the present village of Carthage, where he held an acre of ground under a ver- bal agreement with Sauvage, its owner, and kept a ferry and tavern. Other men would have made an independent fortune out of the opportunities which his location offered, but the bridge de- stroyed his occupation, the village of Carthage which sprung up around " the meagre field of his slothful farming,"

* Related by Vincent Le Ray, Esq., in a letter to the author.

*Louis A. Marseille, one of her sons, lived many years in Martinsburgh and Denmark, and died in the eastern part of the latter town, March 6, 1881, aged nearly eighty years. His wife Mary Ann (Babcock) died June 5, 1873, age sixty-five years.

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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CROGHAN.

failed to enrich its tenant, and he died a few years ago at an advanced age, leav- ing a world that was getting along with- out him.

This person is mentioned in many places in our account of the Castorland Colony, under the name of " Battise."

A few miles from the last, on the north bounds of Castorland, lived a man whose name is familiar to the visitors of Mont Blanc, as that of a family of one of the best guides to that mountain. A guide of this name, lost on Mont Blanc was found forty-three years afterwards, in the glazier, near this village, and his funeral was held. Mr. Balmat's descendants re- sided many years, and perhaps still live in the town of Fowler, St. Lawrence county. A neighbor of his, Mr. Carrett a man of good education, would have fared better had he been brought up on a farm. His eldest son, James, a youth of bright natural talents, was obliged to seek service, and while tending ferry at the Long Falls, fell under the notice of Le Ray, who received him into his office, and found him so very useful that he took him to Europe. While transacting some business with Joseph Bonaparte, the latter formed so favorable an im- pression of the young man, that he pre- vailed upon Le Ray to allow him to be- come his secretary, and he afterwards appointed him his general land agent. He subsequently returned to France, and settled near Lyons, where he was resid- ing twenty years ago. The three last named settlers located in what is now Jefferson county.

The little improvements made by the French were soon abandoned, as the would-be pioneers became disheartened and moved away to older colonies or re- turned to France.

There was scarcely a perceptible prog- ress in settlement during the first twenty- five years after the French removed. Their clearings and roads grew up with

brambles, and their rude cabins rotted down, leaving but slight traces of their industry, and few evidences that this re- gion had been traversed by civilized men.

In 1830, P. Somerville Stewart, for a long time Le Ray's agent at Carthage, removed to Belfort, on Beaver river; built a saw-mill and store, brought in settlers, and two or three years after erected a grist-mill. A fire occurred May 30, 1831, from a fallow, which con- sumed the only two buildings then fin- ished. A postoffice, named " Monterey," was established here some years after, but the route has been changed, and the office discontinued.

About 1830, an immigration began from Europe, and continued many years, mainly through the exertions of agents employed by Le Ray, and the represen- tations sent home by those who had taken up land and settled. The first of these was Jacob Kiefer .* In the winter of 1848-'49, a census taken in this town and New Bremen showed 247 European families of 1,275 persons, classified as follows :-

Families.

Persons.

From France

190

987

Germany

230

Switzerland.

Their religious belief was found to be :-

Families.

Persons.

Catholic.

150

787

Prostestant.

297

Muscovite.

189

Their residence in America had been, one family 21 years ; three, 19; five, 18 ; seventeen, 17; six, 16; ten, 15; twenty- one, 14; four, 12; nine, 10; sixteen, 9; forty-nine, 8 ; fourteen, 7 ; six, 6; nine, 5 ; two, 4; six, 3; twenty-four, 2; thirty- five, I ; and ten, less than I year. They owned or occupied 12,413 acres of

* Mr. Kiefer was from near Metz, then in the Depart- ment of Moselle,in France. Christian Hierschey came in September, 1831, with Joseph Kiefer. John Kiefer came in 1837 or '38.

166

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

which 4,338 were fenced and improved, and 500 partly cleared. They owned 59 horses, 388 sheep, 513 swine and 1,256 horned cattle, and their produce the year previous had been 2,770 bushels of wheat, 4,430 of corn, 7,513 of rye, 3,127 of buckwheat, 10,640 of oats, and 33,339 of potatoes, 1,447 tons of hay, 17,068 pound's of butter exclusive of that . used in families, and 27,925 pounds of maple sugar.

From a pamphlet issued in 1858, it appears that there were then over 500 European families, numbering 3,000 per- sons, upon Le Ray's lands, the greater part in this town and New Bremen. They were chiefly from the east of France, and the adjacent parts of Ger- many and Switzerland.

In a list of settlers numbering over three hundred names, the departments of Moselle, Meurthe, Lower Rhine, Up- per Saone and Doubs in France had furnished 154, Prussia 56, Mecklenburg- Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz 4, Hesse Darmstadt 5, Kur Hessen 14, Holstein and Lauenburg 3, Bavaria 8, Saxony and Saxe-Weimar 7, Baden 9, Wurtemburg 10, and Switzerland 36. In 1849, this town had a population of 1, 168, of whom 646 were Americans and Irish, and 522 French, German and Swiss.

Mr. Le Ray, employed for some years as his sole agent in France, for the pro- curing of emigrants, M. Vanderest, of Dunkirk, and issued several circulars, maps and other publications in French and German, with the view of calling favorable notice to his lands. The terms advertised in Europe were one-fifth pay- ment at the end of one year after the selection of lands by the purchasers, and four-fifths in six years in equal an- nual installments, with interest. The amount offered in the two counties was 80,000 acres. M. Vanderest gave a con- tract, binding Le Ray to sell a tract of

land to be selected within fifteen days or later after their arrival in New York, at a price varying from three to six dol- lars per acre, according to location, except lands near villages and water falls, and such as have timber conven- ient for sawing or manufacture, and engaged the emigrant to remove within three months to New York, and from thence, by way of Watertown, to Car- thage. This instrument, drawn up with due formality, included the names of all persons, old and young, belonging to the emigrating company, and was evidently intended to keep those removing, out of the hands of emigrant runners interested in other localities, until they may have an opportunity of visiting the lands and selecting for themselves.

The foreigners settling in this town, were mostly industrious, frugal, and dis- posed to avail themselves of every ad- vantage that their situation afforded. From the fact that settlements were de- layed some forty years later on the east side of the river than upon the west, the first impression from a contrast in the conditions on the two sides of the river, must have had a discour- aging effect upon immigrants, but now, since clearings and improvements have been made, the agricultural capabilities of the eastern towns, are found to be much greater than was formerly sup- posed possible. Indeed, in wet seasons like the early summer of 1882, the crops upon the eastern side of the Black river are for the most part excellent, and the large and well filled barns, show ample evidences of plenty.

The Europeans who often came in large companies, and who settled together, naturally retained for some years their native language in common use, in fam- ilies, and in religious meetings ; but most of the middle-aged, and all of the young, acquired very readily the English. The children attending the district schools,

167

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CROGHAN.

where this language alone is taught, and associating with Americans, of course soon acquired the language of the coun- try, without a trace of foreign accent, and in a few years longer, not a vestige of the French or German will be found in that part of the country.

CROGHAN VILLAGE.

This place, often known as " French Settlement," is located upon the Beaver river, partly in the town of New Bre- men, and about ten miles northeast from Lowville, with between 700 and 800 in- habitants* and a large and growing amount of business, in the way of manu- factures and local trade. Arranged al- phabetically, the business of the village, chiefly in the town of Croghan, in the summer of 1882, was as follows :-

Blacksmiths-Coenrad Hoch, Michael Magra, John Loson, Joseph Lallier, (blacksmith and wagon shop,) under- stood to be lately sold to Petzhold Bros.

Boots and Shoes-Claude Klein, Peter Shinbourne, William Wirtz.

Butchers-Frederick Housecker, Klein & Rood.

Carpenters-Nortz Bros.

Cheese Factory-Augustus Valin.

Cooper-Samuel Hartzig, Tiss.

Dress Makers-Mrs. Elizabeth Back, Nancy Snyder.

Drug Store-S. E. Simonet.

Furniture and Undertaking - Victor Valin.

Grist-Mills-Theodore Basselin, Chris- tian Yousie, Peter Shinbourne.

Harness-Maker-Joseph L. Monroe.

Hotels and Saloons-Charles E. Gard- ner, Alpheus Gasser, Henry V. Miller, John Parquet, Nicholas Parquet, (saloon). Milliners-Miss Ruth Laraway, Mrs. Garnham.

Painter-H. R. Graham.

Physicians-Dr. T. C. Francis, Dr. Murray, Dr. Henry F. Kilbourn.

Saw-mills, etc. - Christian Farney, (saw-mill, planer, lath, shingles, clap- boards, etc., using steam and water- power); Thomas C. Cadwell, (saw-mill,

veneers, sounding boards for pianos, etc., made 400,000 feet of thin maple and cherry for New York market in last year. Employs about fifteen men).

Stores-Henry Brothers ; Charles Tan- zer (hardware); Austin E. Prentice (P. O.); Anna Basselin & Son ; John Scanlan (confectionery, ice-cream, etc.) ; Hippolite Monnat ; James Garnham (hardware); Edward M. Marilley ; Ers- kine Laraway ; Samuel R. Virkler.

Tannery-Rice Brothers* (extensive establishment) ; Peter Shinbourne, (in connection with other business).

Wagon Makers-Michael Buckingham. (See Blacksmiths.)

The village has a Methodist and a Catholic church, the latter being the finest church edifice in the county.

BEAVER FALLS.

This manufacturing village upon both sides of the Beaver river, and upon the line of Croghan and New Bremen, is on the site of the prospective city of " Cas- torville," of the French pioneers, and it is to be regretted that it does not bear this name. It is the seat of the exten- sive tannery, lumber mills, and a pulp- mill. A tannery was built here in 1852, and had eighty vats, with a production of 16,000 sides of sole leather per year. It was burned December 31, 1873, but has since been re-built.

Theodore B. Basselin has two gang saw-mills on the New Bremen side, with a tramway and steam power to the land- ing.

BELFORT.

This is the oldest settlement of any note in the town, and dates from 1830, under Mr. Stewart, as agent of LeRay, as already noticed. It has a tannery,

* The census of 1880 reported 445 inhabitants.

* The tannery of Mr. Rice was built in 1857, burned September 15, 1865, and with it a large quantity of leather. It was soon afterwards re-built. It tans 35,000 sides of sole leather a year, uses 3,500 cords of hemlock bark, employs twenty-three men through the year, and fifty in the bark season. It ships 500 tons a year upon the railroad. It is known in the trade as the " Croghan Tannery."

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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

built by William H. Pier, and now owned by Samuel Branaugh, of Car- thage, a store in connection with the tannery, a grist-mill (Peter Yancey, Jr.), a saw-mill (Joseph Yancey), hotel (Louis V. Bisha), and a few dwellings. Popu- lation in 1880, 132.

On the Ist of January, 1882, a mill was put in operation for the manufacture of wood-pulp for paper, upon the Croghan side of the river, near the head of navi- gation, and at the last site of a water- power on Beaver river. It is owned by James P. Lewis, Charles Nuffer and Martin R. LeFever, under the name of the " Pulp Mill Co.," and uses Outterson & Taylor's patent mechanical process. It has seven run of stones, and employs about twenty men. It uses chiefly spruce timber, and sends off its pulp for manufacture into paper elsewhere.

There is a small Methodist church at Beaver Falls (Croghan side), two hotels, a cheese factory, and a few other small places of business.

NAUMBURG.

This is a scattered settlement along a road parallel with the river, and not far from the Parker bridge opposite Castor- land Station. It has three small church edifices, (Lutheran, Anabaptist and Meth- odist); an inn ; two stores, (Frederick Ries and Frank Ormsby) ; blacksmith, (John McFalls); wagon shop, (Seymour Hitch- cock); shoe maker, (S. H. Schorge), etc., and in the vicinity a manufactory of Limburg cheese. A short distance up the river is a saw-mill owned by Van Amber & Co.

The Parker Bridge was erected across the Black river at the State expense, under an act passed May 12, 1865, and under the direction of the Canal Board. It is directly opposite Castorland station on the U. & B. R. R. R., and just below the mouth of Beaver river.

BENT'S SETTLEMENT.

(Indian River P. O.)

This is located a little north of the town of Croghan, on a ridge between the Indian and Oswegatchie rivers, about seven and a half miles from Carthage. It was named from Thomas W. Bent, who located near here in 1824, and formed the first permanent settle- ment in the town. William Ash and Patrick Burns became residents of the town in 1826, and Patrick Clark in 1827.

JORDAN FALLS.

This is a tannery and dependency upon the west branch of the Oswegatchie river, about two and one-fourth miles east from Bent's Settlement, and ten miles from Croghan village. The estab- lishment is owned by the Rice Brothers, and was begun in 1870. It tans 70,000 sides of sole leather a year, using 7,000 cords of bark. It employs 40 men through the year, and 100 in the bark season, and ships 1,000 tons a year on the railroad.

In other parts of this town, and not in villages, there are a few mills etc. that may be mentioned. Julius Partee has a saw-mill and planer on Beaver river above Croghan. Jehiel and Joseph La- favre have a saw-mill on Balsam creek, a mile above Belfort. Erskine Laraway has a shingle and saw mill near Long Pond, in the eastern border of the town. Bisha & Yancey have also a shingle mill in the eastern part. About two miles. and one-half east from the village, An- drew Stiner has a cloth dressing and carding mill, and near by Alpheus Virk- ler has a brick yard. Christian Yonsie has a saw-mill on a pond at its outlet in- to Indian river, and Squire Wilcox has a saw-mill.

In 1881, this town near the line of Wilna, suffered from forest fires which destroyed considerable quantities of tim- ber and bark.

169

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CROGHAN.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

The Methodists have a church at Cro- ghan village, built in 1858. The society was formed Aug. 14, 1857, with William G. Dealing, Aley Thomson and Jacob House, as trustees. There is also a small Methodist church on the river road, to- wards Carthage, four miles below Naum- burg.

The "Evangelical Association of North America," have had an organization and a house of worship in Naumburg several years. It was organized in 1847, under the Rev. M. Weiscotten, and the build- ing erected the next year.

The "German Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Congregation " in Cro- ghan, was formed Sept. 15, 1847, and elected Ernest Schlieder, Christian Ray- ser, C. Frederick Bachman, Frederick Wilk, and Weiss Katlen, trustees.

A church styled the " Evangelical As- sociation," was legally formed Dec. 12, 1854, with August Stoebe, John Holler, and Jacob Rohr, trustees, and in 1857, erected a plain wood church at Beaver Falls. On the 19th of December, 1876, deeming the former minutes of 1854, to be insufficient, they re-organized under the name of the " Salem Church of the Evangelical Association of North Amer- ica, in the town of Croghan, in the county of Lewis, and State of New York," the trustees being Lewis Petsoldt, Michael Nuffer, and Edward A. Wey- meth.

A number of Anabaptist families re- side in this and the adjoining town, and of these there are two classes, one being usually termed the new, or Reformed Anabaptists. These people,locally known as " Hook and Eye Baptists," have no church edifice, worshiping after the manner of the primitive Christians, in private houses, and in all their dealings and social intercourses, are as much as possible restricted to their own circle.

The Roman Catholics have three churches in town, viz: St. Stephen's,* (near or on the line of Croghan and New Bremen in Croghan village,) St. Vincent de Paul's,t at Belfort, and St. Leonard's of Port Maurea church at Jordan Falls .;

The present church of St. Stephen's, was blessed Oct. 3, 1881, and is quite the largest and finest church edifice in the county. It is nearly on the town line, the church being in New Bremen, and the priest's house in Croghan.

The congregation was formed by Rev. Father Guth from Cape Vincent in 1835, with 125 members, and a church was put up that year. In 1842, the present " old church" was built. The parish was in charge of priests from Utica sev- eral years, and for about fifteen years the same as served at Mohawk Hill in West Turin. Father Tappert was at both, from 1850 to '53. His successors were Father Feddermann (one year) ; Herino, (O. M. C.) ; Clemens, 1858, (O. M. C.) ; Ladisclaus, (O. M. C.) 1861-'63 ; and others, here and in West Turin. Since 1863, this has been separate, and the priests have been Joseph Lessen, 1863, (an Italian, who could preach in neither English, French or German); Smitt, 1867-'68, (a secular priest); Vol- kert, (1868-Sept., 1871); Johannis Coul- lon, (March to August, 1875) ; Thomas A. Fielt, (December, 1875, to February, 1876, O. S. A.); Ferdinand Müller, (February to August, 1876, O. S. F.) ; Francis Koch, (went to Paterson, N. J., February, 1880, O. S. F.); Father Cerom, for out-missions (February, 1880, to March, 1882) ; and Gregory Schlitt, (since December, 1861, O. S. F.) There

* The first incorporation is dated March 14, 1853, the first trustees being Nicholas Gandel, Christopher Milles and V. E. Rofinot, Jr. Under its present form the corporation dates from Aug. 31, 1869, Gabriel Volkert being their pastor. Its seal adopted Dec. 13, 1878, was recorded in the office of county clerk, in " Miscellan- eous Records " ii, p, 380.

+ Incorporated Sept. I, 1869, G. Volkert (pastor,) James Conboy and J. H. Tardy, (laymen.) # Proved Aug. 31, 1878.

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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

have also been here Rev. Moritz San- der, (August, 1876, to March, 1882, O. S. F.); Leonat Malkmas, (November, 1876, to December, 1881, O. S. F.); and Camillus Mondor, (February, 1880, to March, 1882, O. S. F.)

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History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 24

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason Number of Pages: 712

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Syracuse, New York : Mason
Number of Pages: 712