USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 40
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Phineas Babcock was one of the earliest immigrants to this town and it is thought accompanied Abraham Wing when he made his first settlement here. He married Patience Wing, daughter of Abraham, and raised a large family. He held most of the town offices, and that of supervisor several times. He suffered heavily from the war and received therefor little or no compensation. He resided at one period at the head of the lake. Not far from the year 1790 he removed to St. Albans, Vt., and located about a mile west of the site of that village. There he erected the first framed house in that vicinity.
" Here," to quote the language of a member of the family, "by the prac- tice of frugality, and cheered by the consolations of religion, he pleasantly passed the remainder of his days in the bosom of his devoted family, and lite- rally amidst the fragrance and beauty of surrounding shrubs and flowers planted by the hands of his affectionate companion, a woman of elevated aspi- rations, and refined taste and culture."
He died about the year 1820. His wife survived him about fifteen years. She died at the house of her son-in-law, Willard Jewell, esq., St. Albans, Vt., in the month of February, 1836, aged eighty-four years.
The name of Truelove Butler appears as having been chosen to the office of pound-keeper at the first town meeting (1766). Of him Dr. Holden says: " The only information the author has succeeded in obtaining in regard to this personage, is derived from the following, which is a copy of a paper contained in the Wing manuscripts.
"' Memorandum this Ninth day of November in the year 1769, that I Je- mima Butler widow, formerly wife to John Butler Deceased formerly both of Beekman's Precinct in Dutchess County and Province of New York Did Put and bind By Indenture our Son Truelove Butler an Apprentice to Abraham Wing him faithfully to Serve During the time the Sª Indentures specifyed which was about thirteen years and that time Being Expired ye Sª Appren- tice is free and We the Said Butlers Did take and Receive an indenture of Abraham Wing, According to Custom and form obligating the Said Wing to Preform Sundry Duties and Preformances and Payments to our Sª Son, at the
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
end of his Apprentice, which the Sd Abraham Wing has faithfully, honestly, and Compleatly fulfilled payed and don according to the Indenture, and our Satisfaction, and the Indentures which we had Being Not to be found and Lost, We the Subscribers Do By These Presents Acquit, Release and for Ever Dis- charge the Sª Abraham Wing from all agreements Promises Covenants and Payments in Sª Indenture Contained whatsoever. As Witness our hands the Day and Year above Written.
her "' JEMIMA X BUTTLER, mark.
" ' TRUELOVE BUTTLER.
"' Witnesses.
"' John Smith Jr.,
"' Aron Butteler,
"'Reed Ferriss.'"
Andrew Lewis was another of the several sons-in-law of the founder of Queensbury. He came hither from New Milford, Conn., and married Mary Wing, the youngest daughter of the family, sometime previous to the Revo- lution. He became a resident of the island at the falls, known as Wing's Isl- and. He was twice made a prisoner during the Revolution, and taken to Can- ada. On the first occasion he was one of a fishing party at the head of Lake George at the time of the capture .of Fort Anne; on the second occasion he wa's captured during Carleton's invasion and remained in Canada until the close of the war. Descendants of Mr. Lewis still live in Warren county. He held the office of constable in 1775 and down to 1780.
James Higson (spelled " Hixon " in Mr. Wing's will) came to Queensbury previous to the Revolution. His name appears in the records as having held the office of assessor for nine years between 1777 and 1800. On the 18th of January, 1777, he advertised that he had taken it upon himself to act as the " executor to the estate of Jacob Hix, [Hicks] deceased, in place of Ichabod Mer- ritt." "It is presumed from this, and other circumstances" says Dr. Holden, " that he had married a year or two previously, and perhaps longer, Content, the daughter of Abraham Wing, and the widow of said Hicks, who had died about the year 1774. Higson was taken prisoner together with Andrew Lewis, his brother-in-law, and William Robards, while hunting strayed cattle or horses near the Blind Rock at the time of Carleton's raid, in 1780. Another version of the affair states that they were preparing to go a fishing near East Creek, on Lake George, one of the number being engaged in chopping ; the noise of which attracted the enemy, and they were surprised and captured. They were all taken to Canada, and after running the gauntlet, were rescued from the savages, and confined in prison. Robards afterwards escaped. The other two remained until the close of the war, being provided for to some extent, and probably kindly treated through the influence of some of their kinsmen who
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
were refugees in Canada at that time. After his return Higson built upon and occupied the land known as the Rosa farm, about one mile north of the village on the Ridge road. On the authority of the late Mr. McDonald, Higson's wife was an intimate friend and confidant of Jane McCrea; they often ex- changed visits, and after the atrocious massacre, the Indians exhibited Jen- ny's scalp, with its long tresses of golden hair, at her father's house near the lower freight house, back of the McDonald mansion. Higson had three chil- dren, two daughters and a son John. The latter removed west. From Betsey the second child, are descended the Burnhams of this village."
William Robards, who was born in Canaan, Conn., February 10th, 1749, and married Phebe Fuller in 1774, came to Queensbury before the Revolution and probably soon after his marriage. His name appears in the records in 1786 and from 1790 to 1794, in which years he held the office of supervisor. He purchased a valuable farm on the Ridge and was a large land owner in other parts of the town. Dr. Holden writes of him as follows : " He was merchant, farmer, manufacturer and magistrate ; a man of large influence and wide pop- ularity. During the war he was twice made a prisoner and conveyed to Can- ada. The first time was in 1777 at the date of Burgoyne's advance, when, with his wife's brother, Andrew Fuller and two of Wing's sons-in-law, An- drew Lewis and James Higson, a flying party of Tories and Indians'made them prisoners, and conveyed them to Montreal, where they all had to run the gauntlet. Robards, being fleet of foot, made his escape, but was afterwards re- captured. He afterwards succeeded in escaping again from his prison house by breaking through the windows and scaling the wall, and after terrible expo- sures and sufferings reached his home. He was again made prisoner while hunting for stray horses in the neighborhood of the Blind Rock at the time of Carleton's advance and was exchanged at the end of the war." He died Au- gust, 9th, 1802, and was buried in the family burying ground by the Round Pond at the Oneida. 1
Asaph Putnam was a pioneer of Queensbury and must have immigrated very soon after Mr. Wing's advent. It is thought he was related by marriage to Mr. Wing. He held the office of town clerk from the year 1766-1777 in- clusive, and was, like most of the pioneers, a member of the Society of Friends. While he resided here he lived in a log house which faced South street, on the estate of the late Roger Haviland, near the big dam.
The preceding personal sketches embrace most of the pioneers of Queens- bury who settled here prior to the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, as far as records are now accessible. They came here and labored in the wilder- ness, hopeful and confident of the future, to build for themselves and their
1 What was known as " Oneida Village" as early as 1818, and as " The Oneida" in later years, was a settlement on the Ridge road about five miles north of Glens Falls. It derived its name from Tom Hammond, a half-breed Oneida Indian, who kept a store here prior to and during the last war with Great Britain.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
posterity homes which they believed would rapidly increase in value and ad- vance in attractiveness under the shelter of the peace then resting on the coun- try. How these illusions were disturbed we shall endeavor to describe.
Of the region of Queensbury as found by these pioneers, it may be said that it presented an undulating surface of wilderness, which was, in the lan- guage of Dr. Holden, "but slightly broken by the numerous streams and ponds within its circuit, whose volume has been greatly diminished by the clearing up of the forests and swamps from whence they derived their sup- plies.
"Three small clearings at the three picket forts previously named barely served to break the monotony of the old military road which led from near the intersection of Glen and Warren streets, in an almost direct line to the lot well known in the early part of the century as the Mallory place. The banks of the river, fringed with forest verdure, the island, the falls, then appeared in their native and undisturbed grandeur. The site of the village was broken by three deep gullies, or ravines, stretching for some distance from, and running at right angles with the river. One of these ravines now forms the principal sewer of the village, running down past the old foundry, and in that early day opening upon the river precisely at the point occupied by the Glens Falls Company's grist-mill. In the upper part of this ravine John A. Ferriss con- structed a fish pond of considerable size, which in 1802 was well stocked with trout, and was then considered one of the ornaments of the place. The sec- ond ravine may to this day be distinctly traced, commencing at Cross street and running parallel with Elm, crossing Park street, reissuing through the old Berry estate, and finding its outlet in the river just at the head of the falls. At a later period Judge Hay built a fish pond in this ravine, and Mr. Cushing erected a diminutive water power in connection with the old red market, on the old Spencer place. The third followed the course of Basin street, and af- ter effecting a junction with two small rivulets at the basin, opened on the river nearly opposite the steam saw-mill. Each of these ravines were in those pri- meval days the channels of rivulets, which, fed by springs, and supplied by the wash and drainage of the adjacent table lands, lent their constant supply to feed the waters of the Hudson."
With the exception of Jeffrey Cowper, as previously mentioned, the first settlers of Queensbury were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and after the little community was established, one of the first acts of the in- habitants was the inauguration of religious services after the simple forms of that faith. These services, it is supposed, were first held in the humble dwell- ing of the founder, Abraham Wing; later the old log Quaker church was erect- ed on the south side of Half-way Brook, on the west side of the Bay Road. Following is a copy of the first permit :-
" Minute of a monthly meeting held at Nine Partners in Dutchess county and Province of New York the 19th of the 3d month, 1767.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
" At this meeting Abraham Wing in behalf of friends at Kingsbury I and Queensbury (and by way of Oblong preparative meeting) requested liberty to hold a meeting for worship there once a week, and its allowed at present to be held each first day at twelve o'clock. And said Abraham Wing and James McKenney are appointed to have some care and oversight thereof and make re- port to this Monthly Meeting once in three months, or as often as they can, how the meeting is kept up and conducted, and what satisfaction they have in meet- ing together in that G R E A T, and necessary duty.
" True Copy,
" Pr. ZEBULON FERRIS, Clerk."
The old town records for the year 1767 bear the following record : -
" At the annual town meeting held in Queensbury on Tuesday, ye 5 day of May, 1767, for the township of Queensbury.
I voted, Abraham Wing, Moderator.
2 voted, Asaph Putnam, Town Clerk.
3 voted, Abraham Wing, Supervisor.
4 voted, Abraham Wing, and Asaph Putnam, Assessors.
5 voted, Asaph Putnam, Constable.
6 voted, Ichabod Merritt, Collector.
7 voted, Benager Putnam, Pathmaster.
8 voted, Benjamin Wing, Pound-keeper.
9 voted, Abraham Wing and Ichabod Merritt, Overseers of the Poor.
IO voted, Benjamin Wing and Phineas Babcock, Fence-viewers."
The town records of olden times contain not alone matters of importance to the historian, but many entries so quaint in themselves as to render them worthy of transcription and preservation. Under date of May 5th, 1772, we find that it was voted that "a Pound be Built about 10 rods North East from the house of Abraham Wing and to meet at the house of s'd Wing on monday the first day of June at Eight o'Clock in the fore Noon to Build said pound on the penalty of Six Shillings each man for non-appearance."
Again, in 1786, it appears that another pound was needed in another lo- cality, the entry concerning which reads: " Voted that their shall be a pound built west of the brig [bridge] over the half-way brook near the publick road on the forty acres left for such purposes to be built on Saturday the third day of June next Ensuing, each man to pay six shillings for his nun appearance on said day."
Scarcely less quaint is the following entry made in the next year : "Voted that hogs shall be Free Commoners by warein a yok the debth of the Neck
1 James Bradshaw and other petitioners for and settlers of the Kingsbury patent, were residents of New Milford, in the colony of Connecticut, whence, also, some of the patentees and first settlers of Queensbury also came. In both of these towns the Quaker element was originally very strong, and in the latter for many years predominant ; spreading hence to various parts of Warren county .- HOL- DEN'S History of Queensbury.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
above the neck and half the depth blow, and the Cross peace twice the Length of the thickness of the Neck."
In the same year it was " Voted that there be a bounty of Forty Shillings For Cilling each wolf killed in The Town of Queensbury, To be paid by the Town Treasurer if it be collected before the seting of the assessors, otherwise to be maid in a Tax."
The prevailing absence of fences and the difficulty of keeping domestic an- imals sufficiently within control to even enable their owners to recognize his own without distinguishing marks, is indicated by the numerous entries in the records describing " ear-marks," as they were generally called. There is a quaintness and flavor of unintentioned humor about some of these that is en- joyable.
In the year 1792 is noted, " Shadrack Hubble's ear-mark," which is tersely described as " a Crop in the Rite ear and a hole in the same." "David Sealye's ear mark, a Crop of the left ear and two half pennyes the under side of the same." Other marks were "a swallow fork of the right ear," " a slantin crop of the upper side of the left ear," " a double U in the end of the left ear," etc.
The same absence of fences mentioned led to the annual recording of nu- merous stray animals, a practice which came down to as late as 1850 in some parts of the town. In 1802, according to the records, there "came into the inclosure of the subscriber about the Ist of Jan. inst. a redish brindle Cow with a bell on a white spot in her pate, on her left side behind her fore shoulder is a large white spot, all her feet white, some white under her belly, about three or four years old. WM. ROBBARDS."
One more of these entries which occurs in the year 1833: "The under- signed whose place of residence is in said town has on his enclosed lands in said town, one Stray Cow, and the following is a description of the colour and marks natural and artificial of the said stray, a Red and white cow with a white spot in her fore-head and the ends of her horns sawed off, four years old.
" ISAAC FLEWELING."
In 1770 the enterprise of Abraham Wing prompted him to the erection of better facilities for sawing lumber and he entered into a contract with Daniel Jones, of Fort Edward for the erection of what they termed a Dutch saw-mill, with fourteen saws, which was the joint property of the two men. The orig- inal contract was preserved among the Wing papers. The first clause of the contract was as follows : -
" Whereas, the said Daniel Jones and Abraham Wing, are this day become joint owners and proprietors of a certain fall or stream of water and a saw mill with ten acres, two quarters and fifteen rods of ground adjoining the same with their appurtenances by deeds between them this day executed; and, whereas it is proposed that the said Daniel Jones shall erect and build another
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
saw mill little below the said saw mill there already standing, for the joint use and benefit of them the said Daniel Jones and Abraham Wing their executors, adm'rs and assigns."
Other provisions of the contract were to the effect that the parties and their assigns should " at all times hold and keep or cause to be holden and kept in good, proper and sufficient repair the said two saw mills with their sluices, dam and appartenances at their equal and joint costs and expense." The par- ties bound themselves to the fulfillment of the contract " in the penalty of the sum of one thousand pounds lawful money of New York." The saw-mill to be built was forty-seven feet in length and eighteen feet in width. The con- tract was witnessed by Chris. Yates and John Glen.
Previous to the erection of the grist-mill at the Falls (a date which is not definitely known), the settlers were forced to go to Stillwater for their grind- ing ; that place was reached partly by boat and partly by the old military road which was constructed ten or twelve years previously.
The date of erection of the first grist-mill is placed previous to 1771 by the following document, also, which indicates that Samuel Brownson was a partner to some extent in the business of Abraham Wing : -
"Queensbury the 4th day of February, 1771. We the subscribers have this day settled all our accounts on book excepting the saw mill and grist mill affairs and there remains due to Abraham Wing to balance book account, nine pounds, fifteen shillings York currency as witness our hands.
" SAMUEL BROWNSON,
" ABRAHAM WING.
"Witness
" Asaph Putnam,
"Job Wright."
Samuel Brownson, named above, must be classed with the pioneers who came to Queensbury prior to the Revolution; he held the office of fence- viewer in 1769. The changes in the town officers were for several years and down to the breaking out of the war but slight; accessions to the settlement were few and consequently the same men had to be repeatedly chosen. In 1770 Job Wright was elected to several of the offices and Ebenezer Fuller was chosen pound-keeper. In 1771 Daniel Jones, before mentioned, was made pound-keeper, and Benjamin Hix (or Hicks) was elected assessor. The next year Nehemiah Seelye was placed in this office. He was the ancestor of the Seelye families now living in this vicinity. At the same election Ichabod Mer- ritt and Jacob Hicks were chosen " firemen," - the first incident connected with the establishment of a fire department in Warren county. Just what the duties of the office were at that time, is not now known. During this year Albany county was divided. That portion embracing the settlements to the west and southwest of Schenectady was set off and called Tryon county and
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Charlotte county, set off March 12th, 1772, embraced the territory now com- prised in Washington, Warren, Essex and Clinton counties, and part of Ben- nington, Rutland, Addison, Chittenden and Franklin counties, in Vermont. This county was so named in honor of the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh- Strelitz, the consort of King George the III. Considerable strife ensued over the location of the county seat, Crown Point, Skenesborough (Whitehall), and Fort Edward contending for the honor. The latter place triumphed and on the 8th of September, 1773, an ordinance was issued by the governor with the advice of the council, " establishing a Court of Common Pleas and a Court of General Sessions of the Peace to be held annually in the county of Charlotte, at the house of Patrick Smith, Esquire, near Fort Edward, on the third Tues- day in the months of October and May." The first court in pursuance of this order was held on the 19th of October of that year, with William Duer and Philip Schuyler as presiding justices.
In the town records of 1773 we find the names of David Buck and Bene- dick Brown added to the civil list, the former as constable and the latter as overseer of the poor. Benedick Brown was the ancestor of the Brown families now living in the town and probably came hither in 1772, settling at the out- let of Long Pond, then often called French Pond ; mills were built at that point at a very early date. (See biographies of George and Daniel V. Brown, here- in.) The Harris and Brayton families came to Queensbury about this time and settled near the southern part of Fort Anne, then known as the Artillery Patent, or Westfield township, which included that portion of the town of Queensbury now known as Harrisena and embracing all that portion of the present town of Queensbury north and east of the bounds of the original pat- ent. Zachariah Butler's name appears as a pathmaster in 1774; we have al- ready referred to him and his career.
The pioneers found several small Indian settlements in this vicinity, to which a few families came during the summer and autumn months for hunting and fishing, and occasionally in winter for trapping; these settlements were at Harrisena, Dunham's Bay (at the southern extremity of Lake George), at the outlet of the Long Pond, at the Big Bend (the sweeping curve of the Hudson about three miles above Glens Falls), and at the foot of the Palmerton Mount- ain on the south side of the river. They still claimed these localities as their hunting grounds, enjoyed them without disturbance and maintained the most peaceful relations with the families of the pioneers.
At the expiration of the first decade of settlement improvement had pro- gressed to an encouraging extent; besides the mills and other industries de- scribed, twenty or more clearings had been made, each containing its humble log dwelling. Previous to settlement a frequently followed trail of the Indians was a portage of less than a mile between Fort Edward Creek near Moss street, and Wood Creek, leading past Fort Anne, the remainder of the route being
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
made by canoe. Within ten years after settlement began in Queensbury three or four corduroy wilderness roads were opened; one leading to the Ridge, an- other towards Dunham's Bay, one across by the outlet from the upper picket fort to Harrisena and thence to Fort Anne ; the old military highway from Fort Edward to the head of the lake, and a cross road along the north line of the town plot. There was also a bridle path through the plains to the Big Bend, and the old well-trodden Indian trail leading along the east side of the town and connecting Wood Creek to the outlet of the Big Cedar swamp.
It is believed, according to Dr. Holden, that anterior to the Revolution, and certainly at a very early period, a somewhat pretentious log dwelling was erected on what is now the corner of Ridge and Warren streets, in Glens Falls. This structure was originally occupied by Abraham Wing for the double pur- pose of a store and an inn, where the few adventurous spirits who were drawn hither found primitive accommodations, and the pioneers such goods as could then be had in the wilderness. Here, says Dr. Holden, "according to the Wing papers, hundreds of pounds worth of liquor of various kinds was brought from Albany, Montreal, and on one occasion from Nova Scotia. Here the Jessups, Hugh Munro, Capt. Bradshaw and the neighbors with but few ex- ceptions, held high revel and ran up bar bills of lusty proportions. And hence from the location of this tavern the little settlement soon became known, in addition to its proper name of Queeensbury Patent, and its foster name of Wing's Falls, as Wing's Corners, and finally The Corners."
The reader will be able to picture in his mind the appearance and condition of the settlement of Queensbury as it existed at the time that the country was about to be overwhelmed by the momentous outbreak of the struggle for. American liberty. The clearings, burned and blackened, dotted with stumps and surrounded with rude fences; the surrounding unbroken expanse of heavy forest, through which deer, moose, elk, wolves, lynx, panthers, wild cat and bears in great numbers roamed; the incipient efforts of the inhabitants to de- velop the resources of the locality; the meager beginnings of mercantile busi- ness ; the primitive inns - all this was but a repetition of the experiences of American pioneer settlements made just before or soon after the Revolutionary War. The settlers all suffered and enjoyed in similar ways, their enjoyment lying less in the present and its rude surroundings, than in the fond hope of future plenty and content.
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