USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. > Part 78
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Charles Wilsey, enl. Nov. 27, 1861, 77th liegt., Co. F.
John J. Williams, enl. 1862, 77th Regt.
Melvin W. Wilson, enl. 1862, 118th Regt.
Lee Whalen, enl. Jan. 25, 1864, 13th Art.
Gardner Winney, enl. March 19, 1864, 25th Cav., Co. D.
De Witt Winney, enl. March 19, 1864, 25th Cav., Co. D.
Edwin Williams, en). May 14, 1861, 3d Regt. ; disch. for disability ; re-enl. Ang. 31, 1864, 21st Cav., and disch, May 7, 1865.
John A. Whetman, enl. March 29, 1864, 69th Regt., Co. D; disch. June 5, 1865.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
HON. GEORGE W. NEILSON.
In tracing the ancestry of George W. Neilson, we find it difficult to go back farther than to his great-grandfather, Samuel Neilson, who was an Englishman by birth, and re- sided at Elizabethtown, or Amboy, in the State of New Jersey, long anterior to the Revolution. He was a man of great resolution and perseverance, and married Mary Cour- tenay, a cousin of Lord Courtenay, well known in Revolu- tionary times, and who was born in the city of Dublin. Samuel Neilson died in 1763, leaving two sons and a daughter, of whom the youngest was John.
John Neilson, the grandfather of George W. Neilson, was born in Elizabethtown, or Amboy, in the State of New Jersey, on the 23d day of March, 1753. He lived with his grandfather, in New Jersey, until March 23, 1772, when he started out to seek his fortune, a robust youth of nineteen, with only a few shillings in his poeket and an axe on his shoulder. His wardrobe consisted of one suit of common coarse cloth, made sailor fashion, and one spare shirt. He took his way up the Hudson until he arrived at what was even then called Bemus IIeights. He roughed it in that locality for over two years, until he had accumu- lated enough money to purchase a small piece of land on Bemns Heights, on which he erected a log cabin, and en- gaged in farming. He soon after married the eldest daughter of a Mr. Quitterfield. During Burgoyne's cam- paign his house was used as quarters by the brave Gen- eral Poor and the heroic Colonel Morgan, and he took an active part in that contest. Ile was a volunteer under General Arnold at the time he went with reinforcements to the relief of Fort Stanwix ; he was a volunteer under
Governor George Clinton at the time he went north to in- tercept Sir John Johnson, and performed many important and hazardous duties ; he was with the American army at the time of its retreat from Fort Edward to Van Schaick's island; he was present at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, and remained with the army during its entire stay at Bemus Heights, where he continued to reside until the time of his decease.
Charles Neilson, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Bemus Heights, about the year 1787. He re- ceived a thorough education, gradnating at Union College, in Schenectady. Soon after leaving college he married Elizabeth Strang, danghter of William Strang, of Stillwater. He then settled down, as a farmer, near Bemus Heights, where George W. Neilson now resides. By his first wife he had seven children,-four boys and three girls,-of whom George W. was the second child. His wife died about the year 1828. Mr. Neilson continued farming near Bemus Heights for some years after the death of his first wife, when he married Elizabeth Reed for bis second wife, and in the spring of 1839 removed to his father's old farm at Bemus Heights, where he was born. He had six children by his second wife. He was a man of energy and ability, pos- sessing a rich fund of humor and a facile style of expres- sion, and wrote and published in 1844 an exhaustive treatise on Burgoyne's campaign.
George W. Neilson was born in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga County, on March 7, 1817, where he now resides. He received a common-school education, and was raised and has continued a farmer.
In November, 1837, he married Mahala Wing, daughter of Isaac Wing, of Stillwater, by whom he had one child, which died at an early age. His wife died in May, 1843.
On Nov. 30, 1843, he again married, the lady this time being Mrs. Lusina Durham, widow of Stephen Durham, of Easton, Washington Co., and daughter of Richard Hall, also of Easton. He is still living with this lady, having no children.
Mr. Neilson has had an important political career. He was a Whig until 1860, since which time he has been iden- tified with the Democratic party. In 1847 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1852 supervisor. In 1854 he was a member of Assembly from the First Saratoga district, and a member of the committee on the internal affairs of towns and eities. He was superintendent on the first sec- tion of the Champlain canal in 1870-71, and in 1876 was again eleeted supervisor. He was a member of the Assem- bly of 1877, and is a member of the present Assembly of 1878, having been elected by a large Democratie majority in a district usnally largely Republican. He is a member of the sub-committee of the whole, and of the printing com - mittee, in the present Assembly. Mr. Neilson has never sought a political nomination. They have always been pressed upon his acceptance; yet when nominated he has been uniformly successful, although he ran on every occa- sion as the candidate of the minority. He was also presi- dent of the celebration that was held at Bemus Heights, on Sept. 19, 1877, to commemorate the century-old triumphs of Burgoyne's campaign.
Although Mr. Neilson has been a farmer all of his days,
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he has found time to fill many minor offices of trust and responsibility in his locality, being frequently appointed trustee, guardian, executor, and administrator. Many per- sons look to him for sound advice and friendly counsel in their trials and difficulties. He is deservedly popular for his unobtrusive and manly course of life, and in the politi- cal campaign of 1877 carried the town of Stillwater by a majority of four hundred and thirty-seven for the Demo- cratie tieket, the usual majority being about seventy.
Although a member of the Democratic party, no man was more active and earnest in suppressing the late Rebellion.
He freely contributed his time and money in raising the necessary quota of men required from his seetion at the different stages of the war, and in every possible manner, and at any sacrifiee, performed his part as a stanch and consistent supporter of the Union cause.
It will thus be seen that the Hon. George W. Neilson combines in himself those characteristics which we would expect to find in one who has descended from such ances- try, together with those qualities of heart and soul and mind which endear him to all who know him, and make him a valuable member of society.
CHARLTON.
I .- GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
CHARLTON is the southwestern corner town of the county, and is of a triangular shape ; Galway bounds it on the north and Ballston on the east; its southern boundary is formed by an irregular line running parallel with, and four miles distant from, the Mohawk river. The town of Glenville, Schenectady county, lies between this line and the river. It contains fifteen thousand five hundred and twenty-seven acres of improved land, and four thousand seven hundred and ten of unimproved; of this last amount two thousand eight hundred and twenty acres are wood- land. The population in 1875 was one thousand five hun- dred and eighty-six.
In the revised statutes of the State this town is de- seribed, and its boundary lines defined, as follows : " The town of Charlton shall contain all that part of said county bounded westerly and southerly by the bounds of the county, easterly by Ballston, northerly by Milton and Gal- way." Charlton is entirely within the limits of Kayad- rossera patent.
II .- NATURAL FEATURES.
The surface of Charlton is undulating, with a gentle inclination toward the south. The soil is composed of a sandy, gravelly, or clayey loam, is well watered, and of ex- cellent quality. The sandy loam predominates in the south- ern part, the clayey loam in the northern and western por- tions. In the western part of the town the limestone rock crops out in several ledges, and was formerly quarried to a large extent for burning into lime and for building stone. At present nothing is being done in that business.
The principal streams are the Aalplaats creek, running across the town in a southwesterly course, and a branch of the Mourning Kill, running eastwardly into Ballston.
The forest-trees indigenous to the soil are mostly hard wood. Maple, beech, elm, and chestnut abound, and in the southern part considerable quantities of pine and hemlock.
III .- EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The history of the early settlements in Charlton is, in many respects, a very interesting one. The settlers, coming from different places, settled separately in neighborhoods, and these localities still bear the names given them at that time. From Stone's " Reminiscences of Saratoga and Balls- ton" we are led to infer that, contrary to general belief, there was a settlement made in Charlton before 1774, when the New Jersey settlers came in. He there states that Joseph Gonzalez settled in the southwestern part of the town in the year 1770. He occupied the farm on which John L. Fort now lives, and on which Wyndert Wemple settled after the Revolution. This family will be more fully
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noticed in another part of this work. John Consalus (his name was so written on the army rolls, and the orthography has been retained till now ), after his return from his captivity in Canada, settled about a mile northwest of West Charlton. His farm is now occupied by William Consalus, one of his descendants. Mrs. E. F. Bullard, of Saratoga Springs, is a granddaughter of John Consalus.
In 1773 a number of Scotch-Irish families, who had fled or been banished from Great Britain for religious opinions held by them, became desirous of colonizing in some part of the new country, hoping to better their con- dition by so doing. They sent one of their number, John Cavert, to select a proper location for their new settlement. He came up the Hudson river to Albany, and from there went to Schenectady, where he struck off into the unbroken forest to the northward. After a little prospecting, he finally settled upon a portion of land near the present Ballston line as the best suited to his purposes, and stuck a willow stick he held in his hand into the ground to mark the spot. He then returned to New Jersey, and reported the success of his researches to the waiting and eager friends who welcomed his return. The following spring Thomas Sweetman-accompanied by his wife, Sarah, and four children, the youngest but two months old, and by his brother-in-law, David Maxwell-removed from Freehold, Monmouthi Co., N. J., and came to Charlton (via Albany and Schenectady ), arriving at their new home early in May. Sweetman bought a tract of one hundred and forty-five acres of land in the southwest corner of lot 13 of the thirteenth allotment of the Kayadrossera patent, bordering on the five-thousand-acre tract. For this he paid to " Nicholas Hoffman and David Ogden, merchants, of New York," the sum of £I45. The deed, given July 2, 1774, is now in the possession of John A. Sweetman, who resides on a part of his grandfather's old homestead. It was the first deed recorded in the county clerk's office when Saratoga County was formed. The maple-tree that marked the southwest corner of this lot is still standing in the centre of the highway running east from Charlton village. It is a tree of noble proportions, but age has begun to tell upon it, and its branches begin to show the signs of decay and death. Time, the ruthless iconoclast, has set his seal upon the venerable patriarch of the forest, who has so long and valiantly withstood the furious assaults of the storm-king, and will soon remove the lingering relie of a past age from the place that has known it so long. Thus one by one the monuments of the past go down to forgetfulness and oblivion.
Thomas Sweetman and David Maxwell married sisters, Sarah and Ursula Kerr, who were descendants of Walter Kerr, who because of his religious principles (he being a
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Seoteh Covenanter), was perpetually banished from his na- tive land in 1685, during the reign of Charles II. Walter Kerr settled in Monmouth Co., N. J., and was prominent among those who erected the famous Tennent church in that eonnty. The Tennent church was the first Presbyte- rian church in New Jersey, and is still standing in its origi- nal form. One of its peculiarities is that it was all inclosed, -roof, sides, ends, cupola, and all with shingles. It has been preserved by successive coats of white paint, and is in good condition still. Into this church the wounded were carried at the battle of Monmouth, and here the British Colonel Monckton died. Michael Sweetman, father of Thomas, emigrated from Ireland, about the year 1700, on account of religious persecutions, and also settled in Mon- mouth Co., N. J.
Thomas Sweetman had a family of ten children, all of whom have passed from earth. Of his descendants bearing the same name, but one, John A. Sweetman, is now living in Charlton. His third son, Joseph, was born in New Jer- sey, in March, 1774, and came with his parents to Charlton when he was about two months old. He was baptized in the Tennent church, by Rev. William Tennent, after whom the church was named. Struggling manfully against the many obstacles in the way, he succeeded in acquiring a good edu- eation, and entered Union College, from which he graduated in 1797. This was the first graduating class of this since famous institution, and consisted of three persons, -- Joseph Sweetman, John L. Zabriskie, and Cornelius D. Schermer- horn. After a theological course, he was licensed to preach the gospel, by Albany presbytery, in 1779, being the first lieentiate of that body. He accepted a call from the " Freehold church," and was ordained and settled as pastor of that church in 1800. After nearly twenty years' ser- vice, he was compelled by ill health to relinquish his office. He continued to live in Charlton till his death, which occurred Dec. 10, 1863.
David Maxwell remained with his brother-in-law till fall, helping about the clearing of the land and building a log house and barn. He then, after purchasing two hundred and fifty acres adjoining Sweetman, on the west, returned to New Jersey after his family. He returned in the spring of 1775, and was accompanied by John Cavert, John Tay- tor, Joseph La Rue, James Valentine, William Chambers, John McKnight, and some others. He settled upon the two hundred and fifty acres he had bought, and became a successful farmer. A grandson, Walter Kerr Maxwell, is still living on the old homestead, which has never passed ont of the hands of the family.
John Taylor took up a location just west of Maxwell. lle had a family of ten children, two of whom are still living, at a very advaneed age. They are Mrs. Betsey Seeley, who resides in Niagara Co., N. Y., and Mrs. Sally Holmes, of Montgomery county. John Taylor's son, John W. Taylor, attained to a considerable degree of eminence in the arena of national polities. Elected as a member of Assembly from the then town of Hadley, in 1812, at the age of twenty-eight, he served two years in that body, and was then elected as representative in Congress, which office he held for twenty years, from 1813 to 1833. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 19th Con-
gress. He died in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 13, 1863, at the age of seventy-three years. His remains were brought to Ballston Spa, and buried there.
John Taylor lived to reach the age of eighty, and died April 26, 1829, and was buried in the church-yard of the Freehold church. On his tombstone a brief history of his life attests the purity and nobility of his character and the publie appreciation of his estimable qualities. He was re- peatedly called to official positions, and acquitted him- self in a manner to reflect great credit upon himself and honor upon his constituents. He was appointed associate judge of the court of common pleas in 1806, and held that office many years. Of his descendants living in Charlton, William L. and Richard Taylor are his grandsons.
Next west of Taylor's farm Thomas Brown owned a tract of four hundred and forty acres. He settled there some few years later, probably about the close of the Revolution. This farm was divided among his children.
Next west of him, the original settler was a man by the name of William Clarke, who came some years later.
John McKnight settled on the next farm, north of Sweetman.
John Cavert's farm was west of McKnight's and north of Maxwell's, and the homestead is now occupied by a grandson, David L. Cavert. On his return, in the spring of 1775, he found that the willow-cane he had stuck in the ground on his former visit had taken root, and was growing into a flourishing tree. In clearing the land care was taken to preserve this, a well was dug near by, and many times in after-years he was permitted to sit beneath its grateful shade while partaking of the cool and refreshing beverage furnished by " the old oaken bucket that hung in the well." He married a daughter of Thomas Sweetman while living in New Jersey, and they had a family of three children,-William, Michael, and Mary. All are dead. Michael had two sons, David L. and John M., and William had one son, James. These three grandsons all reside in Charlton.
Next north of Cavert, William Chambers settled at about the same time.
The commissioners who surveyed and distributed the lands included in the Kayadrossera patent took two tracts of land in payment for their services and expenses. Five thousand acres in Charlton, the northern boundary of which is now defined by the highway running east and west through Charlton village, was one of these traets. It was offered for sale at publie vendue, and was bought by Direk Lefferts, Cornelius Clopper, Isaae Low, and Benja- min Kissam. Low returned to England and Kissam died, and the title became vested in Lefferts and Clopper, from whom the early settlers received the title to their lands. The first settler on this tract, next to the Ballston line, was Joseph Van Kirk. Joseph La Rue, who first settled about a mile and a half northeast of Charlton village, in 1775, subsequently purchased and occupied a farm west of Van Kirk's and south of Taylor's. He came from Red Hook, N. J. The homestead is now occupied by a grand- son, Nelson W. La Ruc.
Next west of La Rue was James Bradshaw, and his farm was joined on the west by lands of Jesse Conde.
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Conde came from Schenectady in 1775. Ilis grandfather was killed by the Indians at Schenectady, in 1690, and his grandmother, with other refugees, fled to Albany for shelter and safety. The perilous journey through the dense forest in the dead of winter was performed in safety, and the fugi- tives received the needed succor and protection. Coming from Schenectady in wagons, this hardy pioneer and his companions were obliged to eut a road through the almost impassable woods. During the Revolution a party of Tories, who had encamped near Conde's about a straw-stack, were captured by a force of American soldiers who came from Schenectady, having been informed of their whereabouts by a negro employed as forager by the loyalists. Jesse Conde, of Ballston, and Jesse A. Conde and Mrs. Parthenia Dows, of Charlton, are descendants of Jesse Conde.
John Rogers settled on Aalplaats creek, and built a saw- mill there at a very early day, probably about 1778. This was the first saw-mill in the town, and one of the earliest in the county. This mill was on the site of Chondy's present mill, about one-half mile south of Charlton.
John Holmes, who was a prominent member and an elder in the Freehold church, settled on the farm now occupied by Alexander and William Pierson Crane, about three-fourths of a mile west of Charlton, in 1775. Soon after he built the first grist-mill in the town. While this mill was in process of construction the men were so busily engaged that none could be spared to go on errands. So Mrs. Ruth Holmes would take a horse with a man's saddle and a bag, ride to Schenectady, nine miles through the woods, and return after making her purchases. At one time during the Revolution a rumor was set afloat that a band of Tories and Indians were in the vicinity, with the purpose of burn- ing the settlement and killing the settlers. Mr. Hohnes removed his family to the woods, where a shelter was made by hanging blankets over the trunk of a fallen tree, and in this novel bivouac the women and children spent one day and night, while the meu remained to watch and to defend the buildings. The alarm was happily a false one, and soon the declaration of peace forever set at rest the fears of the settlers. Two of John Holmes' grandchildren, Isaac A. Smith and Mrs. Harriet E. Crothers, reside in Charl- ton.
Nathaniel and Margaret Cook, with their family of eight sons and one daughter, moved from their home in northern New Jersey, May 18, 1778, and one month after, as their record reads, they " got into ougher new house." They settled in the eastern part of the town. On another page we find the quaint record of their first seed-time, which reads, " Now sode wheat, Aug. 12, 1778;" and again, Sept. 5, 1778. Asher, the oldest son, was married before coming north, and bought one hundred aeres about two miles north of Charlton, on which farm David W. Cook, one of his grandechildren, now lives. Several other great-grandchildren of Nathaniel Cook ar living in the town.
The Scotch Street settlement was commenced about the time that Thomas Sweetman settled in the Freehold set- tlement. A number of Scotch families from the parish of Whithorn, in the shire of Galloway, in Scotland, em- barked, early in the year 1774, in a ship bound for America. Arriving in New York, they immediately started for the
new country opening up along the Mohawk river. Arriv- ing in Schenectady, they packed their effects on horses and started for their destination ria Glenville, cutting their way through the woods. These settlers located mostly in the town of Galway, but were afterwards followed by others, in 1775, who settled south of the north line of Charlton. Among these were James Bell, Mr. Mc Williams, Andrew Bell, William Gilchrist, and Robert MeKinney. Some of the Scotch Street settlers (all of whom left their homes during the Revolution, and sought safety at Schenectady or Albany) did not return after the Revolution. But these families retained their lands, and they have passed down from generation to generation till the present. After the elose of the war several other families moved into the west- ern part of the town. Among them were John Van Patten, Tunis Swart, Aaron Schermerhorn, Abram Van Epps, and Alexander Gilchrist. Representatives of nearly all of these families are now living in the town, and generally on the lands owned by their forefathers. John Anderson, who was one of the soldiers of Burgoyne's army. and included among the prisoners surrendered at Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777, and Hezekiah Watkins, a Revolutionary soldier in the pa- triot army, also settled near West Charlton.
Abraham Northrup settled about a mile south of Charlton village, in 1785. He bought two hundred acres of land, designated as lot 12 of the five-thousand-acre tract, of Direk Lefferts and Cornelius Clopper, for $250 in specie. A maple-tree which was used to mark the northwest corner of the lot is still standing. One hundred acres, on which the homestead was located, is now occupied by Hiram More- house, who received it from his father, Abillia Morehouse ; so that it has been in the possession of the family for up- wards of ninety-two years.
Phoenix Cox settled north of Charlton, near the town line, in 1786. Ile was a militiaman in New Jersey in 1776, but not in active service. He had a family of three children, who came with him. Asher, the only son who lived to maturity, succeeded his father on the farm, and in turn left it to his son, Aretas M. Cox, who now owns and occupies it.
Zopher Wieks settled two miles north of Charlton, and his farm of one hundred acres was described in the deed as " subdivision 10 of lot 1, of great lot 2, of the thirteenth allotment of the Kayadrossera patent." He had two sons, Zopher, Jr., and David. Zopher, Jr., left the farm and moved into Charlton, and started the first blacksmith-shop there. David lived on the homestead, and when he died left it in possession of his son, Thomas, who with his son, Charles T., are the present owners and tillers of the ances- tral acres.
Isaac Smith, of Lenox, Mass., settled near the south line of Charlton, near Holmes' farm. The farm he pur- chased is now owned by Mr. Hedden. Several de- scendants of Isaac Smith are living in town. Isaac A., David A., Harriet, and Edward T. Smith, of his children, are still living.
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