History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 55

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 55

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years leased the Bush farm. At the age of twenty-six, he married Polly W. Sackett, of Lowville, Jan. 19, 1841, who was born April 13, 1819. At about this time he purchased his first land in the northern part of the town of Lowville, where he passed his life. Polly, his wife, died April 8, 1865, and on the 6th

[HARVEY WELLER.]

attained his majority. He also realized a small amount from trapping nights and mornings, after and before the hours of his labor. By these different ways, at the age of twenty-one, he found himself in possession of about one hun- dred dollars.

After his majority was attained, he leased of Mr. Bush his cloth mill, where for some time he was engaged in cloth dressing, and afterwards for several

of March, 1866, he married Mary Bene- dict, of Turin, who died June 24, 1882. Harvey Weller died March 4, 1883. His children are :- Duane, born November 28, 1842, died October 23, 1859; Jose- phine, (adopted,) born December 12, 1846, died in the fall of 1879; Emma V., died February 13, 1880 ; Amelia L., (Mrs. J. Clinton Benedict,) born January 12, 1850; Darius E., born July 28, 1858 ; Perry D .; born February 26, 1860.

422

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

DELOSS MILLS.

The father of Deloss Mills was Timo- thy, son of Frederick Mills and Roxey Stores, who was born in the parish of Wintonbury, in the State of Connecticut, December 15, 1789. On the 16th of Sep- tember, 1813, at Canajoharie, Montgom-

September 8, 1834; Dwight, born at Lowville, November 5, 1819, married Hannahrett White, of Ames, Montgom- ery county, N. Y., September 5, 1848; Jane, born at Lowville, May 27, 1821, inarried Isaac Bingham, of Lowville, July 23, 1844; Maria, born in Lowville, September 19, 1823, married Norman B.

A LITTLE

[DELOSS MILLS.]

ery county, N. Y., he was married to Catharine Taylor, daughter of Henry Taylor and Phebe Herrington, who was born at Kortright, Delaware county, N. Y., December 15, 1792. They had nine children as follows :-

Susan, born in Watson, Lewis county, October 4, 1814, married N. Hart Mor- ris, of Lowville, July 22, 1844; Roxey, born in town of Lowville, June 15, 1816, married Charles Chase, of Lowville,

Foot, of Lowville, October 31, 1848 ; Frederick, born at Lowville, August 9, 1826, died March 13, 1827; Melissa, born in Lowville, March 17, 1828, mar- ried Professor William Root Adams, of Lowville, August 17, 1852 ; Duane, born in Lowville, July 25, 1835, died March 2, 1836.

Deloss, the third child, was born in Lowville, January 8, 1818. His early life was passed upon the farm, in the

423

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LYONSDALE.

common schools and in Lowville Acad- emy, where he received his education. Like his ancestors, he followed the busi- ness of farming, in which he has been successful. He was married to Emily Storrs, of Watson, February 11th, 1845. She died on the 6th of March following, and he married Pamelia Lansing, of Ames, Montgomery county, June 6, 1849, who was born at Saratoga, May 30, 1828. Their children are :-

Harriet M., born January 11, 1851 ; Charles A., born January 2, 1854; Emily A., born July 28, 1855 ; Nellie J., born December 17, 1861.

CHAPTER XXIX.

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LYONSDALE.

THIS town was formed by the Board of Supervisors from the south part of Greig, on the 26th of November, 1873, it being all south of a line running from the Black river eastward from the north- west corner of Lot 199, eastward to Brown's Tract, and on the north line of Lot 6, to the county line. It is named from the hamlet and postoffice of Lyons- dale upon Moose river, which had been in existence for many years before, hav- ing been the residence of Caleb Lyon, first agent and principal settler of this part of the county.

Supervisors .- 1874, Eugene B. Wool- worth ; 1875, George H. Brown; 1876, Eugene B. Woolworth ; 1877-'82, G. Henry P. Gould.

Town Clerks. - 1874-'76, Miles S. Rogers. Mr. Rogers having died in March, 1876, William Seymour was ap- pointed, and has since held the office by annual election.

This is the south-eastern town in the county, lying upon the east side of the Black river. The surface is quite broken, and rises in a succession of sandy ridges and rocky ledges, into an elevated forest region that forms the western border of the great northern wilderness. Along the river and streams, there are tracts of excellent farming land, but the town as a whole may be regarded as poor for agricultural purposes. The fine water power along Moose river, and to much less extent on some other streams have, however, in recent years, attracted no- tice, and have been improved so that as a manufacturing town, it, at the present time employs more labor and capital in this line than any other town in the county. These for the most part con- sist of establishments for the manufac- ture of leather, lumber and wood-pulp for paper, which depend upon the for- est for their supplies, and which will doubtless thrive while they last.

As the streams flowing from the wil- derness, and especially the Moose river, are supplied from lakes, and come from a region covered with woodlands, they do not suffer from drouths, or sudden floods, and now since the State has made provision for retaining the winter flow for summer use, by the construction of reservoirs for equalizing the supply, these water privileges may be regarded as promising a permanent duration that may doubtless afford inducements for other investments, when the forests have ceased to afford supplies.

It is further to be considered, that since much of this forest region is suited for no other purpose than the growth of timber, it is probable that by judicious management, it may be kept in condi- tion for production to a certain extent, through an indefinite period of time.

The first location by actual settlers was made just below the High falls in 1794, by the French, and their colony

424

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

received from time to time accessions in number but not in strength. A more extended account of this colony will be given in our account of the Castorland colony. It was but a transient affair, and it may be questioned whether any num- ber of tradesmen, jewelers and barbers from Paris could form a flourishing es- tablishment in this wild wooded country, without a long previous course of mis- spent labor and fruitless expense ; for of what avail is industry when applied, as it was here, from dawn till twilight, in clearing land with a pruning hook ? or of what use was money, but to purchase provisions and other necessaries of life, which could be obtained much cheaper in cities. These tender exotics from sunny France soon found the privations of the northern wilderness beyond their capacity of endurance and quickly be- gan to drop off and return to New York, from whence numbers went back to their native country, wiser and poorer from the bitter lessons which experience had taught.

A romantic account * of this settle- ment, under date of September 9, 1800, appears in the appendix of an anonymous work published in Paris in 1801, from which we here offer several extracts :-

" An event, as unfortunate as unexpect- ed, has much hindered the prosperity of this colony. The death of a man of much talent, whom the Castorland com- pany had sent from Paris, to render a wild and hitherto unknown country fit to favor the re-union of a new-born socie- ty, to divide the lands, open roads, begin the first labors, build bridges and mills, and invent machines, where man is so rare. A victim of his zeal, in taking the level of a bend of the river, he perished in trying to cross above the great falls.

His comrades so unfortunate as not to be able to assist him, have collected the details of the disastrous event in a paper, which I have been unable to read with- out emotion and which I send .*

"Our rivers abound in fish, and our brooks in trout. I have seen two men take 72 in a day. Of all the colonies of beavers, which inhabited this country and raised so many dams, only a few scattering families remain. We have destroyed these communities, images of happiness, in whose midst reigned the most perfect order, peace and wisdom, foresight and industry. Wolves, more cunning and warlike than the former, live at our expense, and as yet escape our deadly lead. It is the same with the original elk.t It is only seen in this part of the State, and our hunters will soon make it disappear, for you know, that wherever man establishes himself, this tyrant must reign alone. Among the birds we have the pheasant, drum- ming partridge, wild pigeon, different kinds of ducks, geese, and wild turkey, etc. Our chief place, situated on the banks of the pretty Beaver river, and from thence so appropriately named Castorville, begins to grow. It is still only, as you may justly think, but a cluster of primitive dwellings, but still it contains several families of mechanics, of which new colonies have so frequent need. 'Several stores, situated in favor- able places, begin to have business. The Canadians, on the right bank of the river, come thither to buy the goods which they need, as well as sugar and rum, which, from the duties being less at our ports than at Quebec, are cheaper with us than with them. The vicinity of these French settlements is very useful to us, in many respects. Cattle are cheaper than with us, as well as manual labor. Such are the causes of communication between the inhabitants of the two sides, that it is impossible for the English gov- ernment to prevent it. Our colonists are here as elsewhere, a mixture of various nationalities. We have some Scotch

* The article is translated in full, in the Ilistory of Jefferson County, (1854,) p. 52-55. The work is of three volumes, and purported to be from a manuscript cast ashore on the coast of Denmark, from the wreck of the ship Morning Star. The authority of this letter is unknown, but that of the work is known to be J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, author of a work enti- tled " Letters from an American Cultivator."

* Referring to Pierre Pharoux, who was drowned at what is now the city of Watertown in the month of September, 1795.

+ Probably referring to the moose, as the elk, if it lived in these regions in modern times, must have dis- appeared long before this was written ; the same may be said of the wild turkey.

425

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LYONSDALE.

and Irish families, but most of them are from the northern States, which are as you know, the officina humani generis, upon this continent. Several of our settlers have already made considerable clearings. One of these families from Philadelphia, besides a hundred acres well enclosed, has built an ashery, where the ashes of the neighborhood are leached. Another of the Quaker sect, has located on the road to Katarakony [Kingston] where he has already built a saw-mill, and has quite an establish- ment for making maple-sugar. During the last year he made about 16 quintals. The head of this family is a model of in- telligence and the goods that he brought with him give the means for hiring a plenty of labor at a cheap rate. He gives $12 an acre for clearing, and half the ashes .* Besides this, he sells to the potash-makers the great iron kettles, and other fixtures, and takes half the pay in black salts. The price of this with that of the first crop of wheat, pays and more, the cost of clearing, fencing, and harvesting. The average yield of wheat is 24 to 28 bushels to the acre, worth from 6 to 8 shillings per bushel, so you can easily see there is a margin left for accidents, leaving the second crop clean profit.

" Among our families we have some, who, driven from their country by fear and tyranny, have sought in this an asylum of peace and liberty, if not wealth, and at least of security and sweet repose. One of these, established on the banks of Rose creek, came from St. Domingo, where he owned a consid- erable plantation, and has evinced a de- gree of courage and perseverance, worthy of admiration. One of the pro- prietors t has a daughter as interesting by her figure as by her industry, who adds at the same time to the economy of the household, the charms, or rather the happiness of their life. Another yet is an officer, of cultivated mind, sprightly and original; who, born in the burning climate of India, finds his health here strengthened. He superintends the clearing of a tract of 1,200 acres, which

two sisters, French ladies, have entrust- ed to him, and to which he has given the name of Sisters' Grove. He has al- ready cleared more than 100 acres, erected a durable house, and enclosed a garden in which he labors with an assi- duity, truly edifying. He has two Cana- dians, whose ancestors were originally from the same province with himself. Far from this country, the most trifling events become at times a cause of fellow feeling, of which those who have never felt it, can have no idea. As for cattle, those raised that only bring $9 a pair at the end of the year, are worth $70 when they are four years old. Fat cattle, which commonly weigh 700 to 900 lbs., sell at the rate of $5 per hundred. Of swine, living almost always in the woods, the settler can have as many as he can fatten in the fall. It should not be omit- ed to give them from time to time an ear of corn each, to attach them to the clearing, and prevent them from becom- ing wild, for then there is no mastering their wills, for they pining for their wandering life will not fatten on what- ever is given them. Butter is as dear with us as in old settled countries, and

sells for a shilling a pound. * * The banks of our great river are not the only parts where the population centers. Already those of Swan's creek begin to fill up, and had it not been for the death of Mr. Pharoux, it would ere this have been much more advanced, and we must now wait for another engineer to finish the great surveys and the subdivisions. Our winters are cold, but not so much so as those of New Hampshire, the snows moreover benefit the climate by preventing the frost from injuring the herbage and the wheat. It is truly ad- mirable to see the promptness with which vegetation comes forward, a few days after the snows are melted.

" I have placed your habitation not far from the Great Falls, but far enough distant not to be incommoded by the noise, or rather uproar which they make in falling three different stages. The picturesque view of the chain of rocks over which the waters plunge, their tu- multuous commotion, the natural mead- ows in the vicinity, the noble forests which bound the horizon, the establish- ments on the opposite bank, the passage

* Referring to Jacob Brown, afterward Major-Gener- al and Commander-in-chief of U. S. The person men- tioned first, may have been his father, Samuel Brown.

+ St. Michel, noticed in our account of Croghan.

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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

of travelers who arrive at the ferry I have formed, all contribute to render the location very interesting, and it will become more so when cultivation, industry and time shall have embellished this district, still so rustic and wild, and so far from resembling the groves of Thessalia. The house is solid and com- modious, and the garden and farm yards well enclosed.

"I have placed a French family over the store and am well pleased with them. I think, however, they will re- turn to France, where the new govern- ment has at length banished injustice, violence and crime, and replaced them by the reign of reason, clemency and law. The fishery of the great lake (Ontario) in which I am concerned, fur- nishes me an abundance of shad,* sal- mon and herring, and more than i want. What more can I say? I want nothing but hands. You who live in a country where there are so many useless hands and whose labors are so little productive there, why don't you send us some hun- dreds of those men? The void they would occasion would be imperceptible ; here they would fill spaces that need to be animated and enlivened by their presence. What conquest would they not achieve in ten years! and what a difference in their lot! Soon they would become freeholders and respecta- ble heads of families. The other day a young Frenchman, my neighbor, seven miles distant, and established some years upon the bank of the river, said to me : 'If it is happy to enjoy repose, the fruit of one's labors and ease after having escaped the perils of the Revo- lution, how much more so to have a partner of these enjoyments ? I am ex- pecting a friend, a brother ; it is one of those blessings which nature alone can bestow. What pleasure shall I not en- joy in pointing out to him the traces of my first labors and in making him count the successive epochs of their progress, and the stages of my prosperity, but above all to prove to him that his mem- ory has been ever present with me. The objects which surround me I will tell him are witnesses to the truth of this : this hill upon the right, covered with sombre pines, is designated upon my

map under the name of Hippolites' Ab- sence, the creek which traverses my meadow under that of Brothers' Creek, the old oak which I have left stand- ing at the forks of the two roads, one of which leads to my house and the other to the river, Union Oak, the place of my house Blooming Slope. Soon he will arrive from St. Domingo, where Toussaint L' Ouverture has allowed him to collect some wreck of our fortune."

This brother of Crevecœur is mention- ed in the Castorland Journal as having visited the settlement, towards the end of one of the early seasons of their colony, and perhaps at a time when the golden tints of autumn had vested the leaf-wood forest in all the splendor of the declin- ing year. He appears to have been fas- cinated with the country, and conceived the romantic idea of wintering alone in these solitudes. It took all the logic and argument they could muster, to get this idea out of his head. They repre- sented to him the fearful risks he would run, of perishing from cold, or of being buried alive in the snows, of being killed or scalped alive by hostile Indians, of being torn to pieces by bears, or of being devoured by wolves. He might be taken sick alone, and die wholly be- yond the reach of human aid or sympa- thy, or he might starve to death from the loss of his provisions, from accident or other cause. He yielded reluctantly to their advice ; but time and again, he recurred to the subject, in a manner that shows how deeply he was impressed with the romantic idea, of repeating the adventures, and of realizing the situa- tion of a Robinson Crusoe, in the wild and sombre wilderness of the Black River country.

The reminiscences of the French colony in this town have been made the subject of the following poem, written by Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale, entitled-

* Whitefish.

427

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.

LEWIS COUNTY IN THE OLDEN TIME.

In the lands of vines and olives, over three- score years ago,

Where the Bourbon Rulers perished in unutter- able woe,

Plans matured for emigration sanctioned were with revel gay,

In salons of la belle Paris, by the friends of Chassanais.

On an hundred thousand acres, never trod by feet of men,

He had mapped out farms and vineyards, roads o'er precipice and glen,

And, like scenes of an enchanter, rose a city wondrous fair,

With its colleges, its churches, and its castles in the air.

Then was struck a classic medal by this vision- ary band :

Cybele was on the silver, and beneath was Cas- torland;

The reverse a tree of maple, yielding forth its precious store,

Salve magna parens frugum was the legend that it bore.

O'er the Atlantic, up the Hudson, up the Mo- hawk's dreary wild,

With his flock came Bishop Joulin, ever gentle as a child ;

Kind words of his dispelled their sorrows and their trials by the way,

As the darkness of the morning fades before the god of day.

By la Riviere de la Famine, ocean-tired and travel-sore,

They up-reared a rustic altar, tapestried with mosses o'er ;

Crucifix they set upon it where the oak tree's shadows fell

Lightly o'er the lighted tapers, 'mid the sweet Te Deum's swell.

Never Dominus Vobiscum, falling upon human ears,

Made so many heart-strings quiver, filled so many eyes with tears.

The Good Shepherd gave his blessing-even red men gathered there,

Felt the sacrifice of Jesus in his first thanksgiv- ing prayer.

After toils and many troubles, self-exile for many years,

Long delays and sad misfortunes, men's regrets and women's tears,

Unfulfill'd the brilliant outset, broken as a chain of sand,

Were the golden expectations by Grande Rapides' promised land.

Few among this generation little care how lived or died

Those who fled from Revolution, spirits true and spirits tried ;

Or of loves and lives all ended, orbs of hope forever set-

These the poet and historian can not let the world forget.

Among the ruins of the French hous- es at the Falls, there have been found brick of a peculiar form and a light, yellow color. The Journal shows that they obtained the clay from near the river bank at some point below, but it gives no indication as to which side of the river, or in what locality.

The first crime of which we have no- tice within the limits of the county, was committed at the establishment which the French had begun on the east side of the river at the High Falls, in 1796. A man named Crocker, who had been working for them, stole a watch or two, and some small articles of value, and es- caped to the Mowhawk settlements. The Journal of the Castorland agents gives a minute account of the pursuit and the efforts made to recover the property, but we believe the thief finally escaped with his plunder.

In 1799, a white man came in at the High Falls from towards lake Cham- plain, stating that a negro in his compa- ny had died some miles back on the Beaver river road. From his having some property of the other, suspicions were raised that he had murdered him, and upon search the body was found at some distance from where it was re- ported, but so decayed that nothing could be ascertained. The fellow trav- eler was arrested, but released from want of evidence against him, and it was thought that the negro had arisen from where he had been left, and come on some distance before lying down to die.

The first permanent settlement in this town was begun in 1819, under the agency of Caleb Lyon, although im-

428

HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.

provements had been made by John H. Dickinson, several brothers named Chase, and others.

Caleb Lyon was of Scottish ancestry, who removed to Hertfordshire, England, during the troubles of the Covenanters, and from thence to New England about 1680. He was a son of a captain in the Revolution. His grandmother was a daughter of Judge Sherburne of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and his mother was Margaret Hodges of the Island of Jamaica.

The name of Caleb has been applied to the youngest son in this family through several generations. He was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1761, and removed when a child to Greenfield, Massachusetts. He entered at Harvard college, but did not gradu- ate, and removed,about 1800, to Western New York, where he settled as an agent in what is now Walworth, Wayne coun- ty. He was for several years engaged, in the winter months, in the manufac- ture of salt at Salina. He removed in 1810, to the mouth of Four Mile creek, now North Penfield, Monroe county, where he laid out a village, projected a harbor and formed a settlement, but the enterprise not succeeding, he removed to what is known as Carthage Landing, on the Genesee, below Rochester. He there purchased 1,000 acres, erected buildings, and in 1816, sold to several associations. Having been for some time an agent of the Pultney estate, and thus brought to the acquaintance of Mr. Greig, he undertook, in 1819, the agen- cy of the Brantingham Tract, in which that gentleman was concerned. In 1823, he settled at Lyonsdale, where he built a bridge in 1829, and a grist-mill in 1830 -'31. There were but one or two settlers in town when he came on as agent, He was elected to the Assembly of 1824, and took an earnest interest in the con- struction of the Black River Canal, but

died before it was assumed as a State work. He was found dead in the woods, about a mile from the Davis Bridge, September 15, 1835, having probably been stricken with apoplexy. Mr. Lyon was a frequent contributor to agricul- tural journals, especially to Fessenden's New England Farmer. His tempera- ment was ardent and poetic, and his plans of business were pursued with an energy, that allowed no common diffi- culty to prevent their accomplishment. He was the friend and correspondent of De Witt Clinton, and an enthusiastic friend of the great public improvements, brought forward under his administra- tion. Mr. Lyon married Mary, daugh- ter of Major Jean Pierre Du Pont, neph- ew and aid of Montcalm, last French commandant at Quebec. She died June II, 1869, aged 81 years.

Of his two sons, Lyman Rassaleus Lyon was born in what is now Walworth, Wayne county, in 1806, and was educated under the Rev. John Sherman, at Tren- ton, and at the Lowville Academy. From 1830 to 1835, he was Deputy Clerk in Assembly, and during several years after was employed upon government contracts, in dredging the channels of western rivers and harbors. He was sev- eral years cashier and president of the Lewis County Bank, and in 1859, was in Assembly. He died at Savannah, April 7, 1869, aged 63 years. For many years before his death, Mr. Lyon had been ex- tensively engaged in tanning, and in the management of business connected with lands, of which he owned a larger amount than any other resident pro- prietor in the county.

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History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 55

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