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 42
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" One day his brother, Ezekiel Robards, then living in Queensbury, pro- posed to one of his neighbors to go up to Lake George for the purpose of fishing, and also to take a sharp look, to see if any Tories or Indians were about. While fishing near the mouth of Van Wormer's Bay, they saw a small object in the distance on the lake, which approaching them, gradually became more thoroughly defined, and, as it drewn ear, Ezekiel exclaimed, ' It's William. I know by his motions.' And so it proved. They returned together without any long delay, and, as they neared their home, Ezekiel told William to stay back in the edge of the woods, while he went forward and broke the news to his wife. The latter was carrying a plate of butter from the spring house, or out-door cellar, and as Ezekiel approached he accosted her, saying, 'Phebe, I've got good news for you, I've heard from William.' She staggered back with the shock of emotion as if she had been struck, exclaiming, 'If you have heard from him you have seen him;' and sank to the ground in a dead faint."
The Parks narrative is even more interesting, and is handed down in tradi- tions that are strongly corroborated by concurrent events, the connection of the family with the original Glen patent, and other testimony which is consid- ered by most persons conversant with the early history of the locality as quite conclusive. The account was furnished to Dr. Holden by Daniel E. Parks, of Sandy Hill, N. Y.
" There was, in the British army, a captain by the name of Daniel Parks," says the narrative, " who took an active part in quelling and keeping in sub- jection, the savage, original inhabitants of the American continent long before the Revolution, who lived and died in some one of the Southern States, prob- ably in Virginia, and who had a son by the name of Daniel Parks. The latter removed and settled in Salisbury, Conn., where he resided till within a few years of the Revolution, when he emigrated to Glens Falls, where he purchased a tract of eight hundred acres of land, situated along the south bank of the Hudson's River, and settled and built the first mills at that place. About the year 1777, while the Revolutionary War was in progress, and the country was swarming with marauding bands of savages and Tories, his house was attacked at night by a band of Tories, who demanded the keys to his desk, which con- tained his papers, etc., which the old man refused to deliver up: Thereupon one of the band clinched him, at which a scuffle ensued, which resulted in get-
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ting the old man down, when one of the party drew up and shot him. He was supposed at that time to be about seventy-five years of age, and died in de- fending himself from British aggression.
" Among the band was a man by the name of Richardson,1 who lived in that vicinity, and who had purchased of the old man a piece of land containing about one hundred acres, for which Parks held his obligation, and it is confi- dently believed that the murdering wretches were incited to the commission of this act of barbarism by a desire to get possession of Richardson's obligation, and thus leave his land free from incumbrance.
" Elisha and Isaac Parks, sons of the old man above mentioned, resided with their father, but the attack of the Tories was so sudden that they, not being near at hand, were unable to render the old man any assistance, and when they arrived they found their father dead, and his murderers apparently gone.2 Elisha, a young married man, went to the door to make a reconnais- sance, and while doing so, held a light in his hand, it being then dark. This attracted the attention of some of the Tories who were lying in ambush, and made a good mark for their rifles, which they took advantage of, and shot him through the bowels, his wife then standing beside him. Placing his hand over the wound, he at once fled down the river, to the house of his brother, Daniel Parks, who lived a mile below, and notified him of the presence of the Tories and what had happened. Daniel at once took down his gun and proposed to repair to the scene of action, but, upon the entreaties of Elisha, who repre- sented that he could not contend against so many, and would only endanger his life in a fool-hardy manner, he was prevailed upon to stay and secure his family. This was done by removing them across the river in canoes. Elisha proposed to remain at his brother's house, but Daniel would not listen to the proposition. Yielding to the entreaties of the latter, he was conveyed across the river, where they took refuge in the grist-mills3 at Sandy Hill, where he died the same night or early the following morning. His remains, and those
1 All I know of Richardson, I learned from the Parks family. He was ringleader of the Tories, who murdered the father of that family. He had some claim or title to the South Glens Falls water power, and to obtain the Parks title papers, is supposed to have been the principal purpose of the ex- pedition. Old Mr. Parks saw through a window Richardson and Ferguson (a Tory tavern keeper at the Bend) looking at the Parks papers, went into the house, and ;was immediately killed by a gun breech blow on the head .- Letter to Dr. Holden from the late Fudge Hay. In another account of the affair, it is stated that the Tory party found rest and refreshments at the house of one Ferguson, a Tory at the Bend. He had pretended to be a Whig, had attended their meetings and signed their articles of association, and up to this time was supposed to be a zealous patriot. Sending out scouts in the direc- tion of Lake George, and keeping a watchful outlook on the movements of the Parks family, the party lurked around for a week or more, until Ferguson, in the expressive language of my informant, " was eaten out of house and home. "-HOLDEN'S Queensbury, p. 425.
2 Ephraim Parks, a brother of Daniel, with his brother-in-law, Lewis Brown, lived in a double log house, situated on the cliff just above the site of the paper mill. They were made prisoners, but Brown afterwards escaped, as appears in the narrative .- Idem
3 Probably a mistake, for after diligent inquiry, the author failed to receive any evidence that a grist mill was built at Sandy Hill before the year 1795.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
of his father, were buried at Sandy Hill, on the site now covered by the Pres- byterian Church. Two rude slabs of stone, which originally marked the place of sepulture, it is said, were incorporated into the foundation of the edifice, whose fane shades the resting place of the martyrs.
" Isaac, the other son, was taken prisoner and carried to Quebec, from whence he escaped three times, and was as often retaken, and ultimately ex- changed. The third time he escaped in company with five others, who, after they had traveled through the wilderness a length of time sufficient to exhaust all of their provisions, and were in a famished condition, it was proposed to cast lots to see which should be sacrificed to serve as food for the remainder. A vote being taken, three were for, and three against the proposition, Isaac Parks being among the latter. The fugitives then separated, those voting with Parks going in one direction, and the remainder in another. The Parks party was soon visited by a dog supposed to belong to some Indians scouting near. This was killed and eaten, and they were afterwards driven to the extremity of roasting and eating their shoes. They at length became so utterly exhausted that they were unable to ascend a hill without help from each other, and when- ever an elevation interrupted their progress, they were able to surmount it only by crawling on their hands and knees.
"One day, while they were ascending a hill in this manner, they were dis- covered and retaken by a party of Indians, who displayed the usual terrific exultation on the seizure of a captive, and prepared to inflict the customary tortures and death. In some way Parks and his fellow sufferers succeeded in satisfying their captors that they were Tories and friends escaping from im- prisonment by the Whigs. Under the promise of a guinea each, the Indians were induced to escort them back to the Canada border. Crossing the St. Lawrence River they were recognized as escaped prisoners by some of the Indians there, and they would have been dispatched, but for the timely inter- ference of some British soldiers.
"We supplement this narrative with the following relation made by a grand-daughter of Albert Baker, one of the first settlers at Sandy Hill.
" At the time when the Parkses were killed, the old lady and the rest of the women, running out of the back door of their homes,1 escaped down the river, and crossing over, went directly to Albert Baker's house (near where Mr. Nel- son Wait now lives), in the dead of the night. The family were aroused by the hysteric sobs, shrieks and moans of the old lady.
1 Another account says, the women of the household at the first alarm made for the woods and escaped. They had with them a lad of thirteen or fourteen years of age, whom they bundled up with clothing to screen him from observation. On their way they were met by two or three Indians, who asked them where they were going and what they were doing with the boy.
With great readiness of mind in the terrible emergency, one of them replied, that the boy had the small-pox and they were taking him away, so that the rest of the family should not catch the disease. The Indians immediately dropped further inquiries, and hastened away from the supposed danger of infection, the entire party of fugitives, boy included, making their way to the woods and finally escap- ing to Fort Edward.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
" At this time Major Thomas Bradshaw,1 son of James Bradshaw, one of the original patentees and proprietors of the towhship of Kingsbury, had a small reserve of militia posted at Bradshaw's farm, on Wood Creek, since known as the Bond place, between Smith's Basin and Dunham's Basin, on the northern canal.
" Of the neighbors who came in as soon as the news of the massacre became known, none were found willing to go for help, until Albert Baker, jr., the narrator's father, and Rianaldo Burden Phillips, two stout, well grown lads, hardly appreciating the dangers, volunteered for the service. When they reached the Bradshaw place, they found no one, but a Tory family living in the neighborhood directed them to the barn, where they found the major alone, his militia having scattered to their homes in the vicinity, and before he could rally them together the marauders were so far away on their retreat that pursuit was useless.
"The alarm reaching Fort Edward,2 on the following morning a party was soon made up to start in pursuit of the assassins. On the way they were joined by Daniel Parks, and his brother-in-law, Lewis Brown, who, in the confusion of his capture, had managed to make his escape. On reaching the scene of the massacre, they only found the smoking embers of the mills and the old man's house. The other dwelling on the cliff above the mill was not disturbed. It is stated that the Indians and Tories tried to reach the dwelling of Andrew Lewis, son-in-law of Abraham Wing, who then lived on the island, but were prevented by the absence of any boat.
"The pursuers, taking the trail, followed the fugitives with considerable celerity, hoping to overtake them before reaching Lake Champlain, where their escape would be facilitated by canoes concealed somewhere along its shores. Hastening up the west side of the Hudson, crossing the Sacandaga at its mouth, they proceeded as far as Stony Creek, a small creek in the town of that name in the western part of Warren county. Here the fleeing party, finding they were pursued, took the bed of the stream, and made their way for many miles. The pursuers were in consequence thrown off the trail, and the chase was abandoned.
"The fruitless result of this expedition was doubtless fortunate for the few captives carried off, who were threatened with immediate death, if they were
1 Thomas Bradshaw, a son of James Bradshaw, was a major in the American service but for some reason never succeeded in obtaining a pension .- Relation of Mrs. Rachel Clary.
Among the Wing papers was found the following memorandum, without date : -
"The expenses of the men of the guard, amount to the sum of two pounds, ({2,00), for 6 eating and drinking,
"To Capt. Richardson,
THOMAS BRADSHAW, Sarg't."
2 Near the top of the hill above Fort Edward, not far from the site now occupied by the Grove House, there was a tavern kept by one Bell, a Tory. It was a place of considerable note, a favorite resort of loyalists, where many a scheme of rapine, violence and outrage was concerted and matured. - Communication of the late Judge Hay to Dr. Holden.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
overtaken by the pursuing party. The effect of this raid was to break up for the time being the settlement known as the Parks Mills. Daniel on the follow- ing morning procured a team and removed his family and such effects as could readily be transported within the protection of the military force at Fort Ed- ward, and when that post was abandoned he retreated with the American army to Bemus's Heights, where he participated in that memorable action, which resulted in the surrender of one of the largest and best appointed British armies which had yet taken the field against the rebellious colonies. After the termination of the war he returned to rebuild the house, which he occupied with his family up to the time of his death. In the lapse and changes of years a large proportion of the Glen patent passed into the hands of various descend- ants of Daniel Parks.
" Solomon Parks, then but a mere stripling, was among the militia stationed at Fort Anne under the command of Colonel Long in 1777. About two weeks prior to Burgoyne's advance, and the capture of that post, Solomon with others was detailed to escort the inhabitants of the region to a place of safety. All the horses and oxen of the neighborhood were seized upon for that purpose, and most of the women and children of the threatened frontier were removed to join their friends in Duchess county and the adjacent county in Connecticut. At a later period these flittings and returns became so frequent, that in the language of one octogenarian, whose memory reverted back to those early days, 'they had little to carry or lose.' But with all their losses and sufferings, their unconquerable energy, perseverence and love of home were sufficient to bring them back to their desolated possessions."
Queensbury was afflicted in a particularly unfortunate degree by bands of Indians and Tories, the locality seeming to be a sort of headquarters for the latter. Dr. Holden makes the statement that "there was probably nowhere in this vicinity a stronger Tory nest than that existing across the West Mount- ain, some ten miles distant from Queensbury settlement, under the favor and encouragement of the brothers, Ebenezer and Edward Jessup." They had secured patents to various tracts of land both within the present town of Lu- zerne and also the Totten and Crossfield purchase, so-called. It is stated on the authority of Butler's Hand-book of the Adirondack Railway, that Totten and Crossfield were put forward in the securing of this enormous grant, merely as a cover to the operations of Ebenezer Jessup. He came into the wilderness about the year 1770, and built a spacious log dwelling, and there until after the beginning of the Revolutionary war, he lived in comparatively opulent style for those times. It is traditionally stated that in his house numerous hospitable entertainments were given, amid the surroundings of elegant furniture and costly paintings, where tables were laden with splendid settings and rare linen. All of this interior splendor was plundered and carried off at a later date. Scat- tered through this region were many other prominent Tories, among whom are
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
mentioned John Howell, who lived up the Sacandaga River in the direction of Johnstown. Six brothers named Lovelace, descendants of Governor Lovelace, who resided at different points on the opposite side of the river, and one of whom was, in one of the late years of the war, executed as a spy by order of General Stark, after trial by drum-head court-martial. Another was Jacob Salisbury, who was captured in a cave known to this day as the Tory house. There were also several members of the Fairchild family living a few miles farther down the river. "According to the tradition, in the month of April or May, 1777, Indian runners came and notified these families of Burgoyne's in- tended approach, and probably with some suggestions in regard to their co-op- eration with certain bands of Tories gathering in the lower part of the Saratoga district."1
In any event notice of their intentions was received and a party of Whigs started in pursuit. So hot became the chase that, it is said, one of the Jessups (Edward, if either, as Ebenezer was at this time in Canada, where he was given a command in Burgoyne's army) could escape only by jumping across the river. at the Little Falls. Thence he hurried across the town of Queensbury to Skenesborough and joined Burgoyne's army at Willsborough Falls.
In the course of Burgoyne's campaign of 1777, as we have incidentally men- tioned, occurred the evacuation of Fort George and the removal of the stores ; the fort was destroyed on the 16th of July. About this time a large fortified encampment was established on the high ground now occupied by South Glens Falls village, while Colonel John Ashley was in command of a military station at the Five-mile Run in the town of Queensbury.
Previous to Burgoyne's advance it became known to the Committee of Safety that a regular system of communication was maintained between the British leaders at the North and South. It was of the utmost importance to the American cause that these dispatches should be intercepted and the system broken up. General Schuyler was, therefore, instructed to make careful in- quiry for a shrewd, intelligent and courageous man, of well-known fidelity to the cause, who would volunteer upon the dangerous duty of acting as a double spy. This resulted in the recommendation to him of Moses Harris, of Duchess county, a young man of education, resources and great personal courage. As the settlement of that portion of the present town of Queensbury known as " Harrisena " was intimately connected with this man and his descendants, it becomes us to note something of his career.2 One of the earliest settlers on
1 HOLDEN'S History of Queensbury.
2 In a foot note in his History of Queensbury, Dr. Holden writes as follows : -
Moses Harris, jr., whose name frequently appears in the town records of Queensbury after the close of the Revolutionary War, was a surveyor by profession, and a large per centage of the early road sur- veys of the town were made by him. A monument to his memory (erected by his grandson, the late John J. Harris) stands in the rural burial ground attached to the Episcopal Church at Harrisena, on which are engraved the following inscriptions : -
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the Bradshaw patent was Gilbert Harris. He owned what was familiarly known as "The Thousand Apple-tree Farm," which embraced a square mile of the fertile land in the north part of the town of Kingsbury. He was an uncom- promising royalist and an efficient secret agent of the British in obtaining and transmitting intelligence through the American lines. This man was uncle to Moses Harris. Previous to the war they had been on friendly terms. To him Moses proceeded and,1 " securing his confidence, gave him to understand that he had changed his views, that he was tired of the troubled and disturbed state of the country, and dissatisfied with the course pursued by the Whigs, and, believ- ing that the Rebellion would be crushed out sooner or later, he had about come to the conclusion to join the British army, unless some more congenial employ- ment was offered. At this stage of affairs the notorious Joseph Betteys seems to have been consulted, and to have completed the negotiations and arrange- ments by which Harris was to act as a courier in conveying dispatches between this point and Albany. He was conducted to a Tory rendezvous on the Half- way Brook, in the vicinity of the settlement now known as Tripoli,2 where, in an underground apartment, amply furnished with arms, ammunition and pro- visions, he was sworn to secrecy and fidelity, and the dispatches here concealed were delivered to him for transmission to one William Shepherd, a Tory, who occupied, by arrangement, an old tenement on the Patroon's Creek, near the old Colonie in Albany, and who in turn, was to forward them to their destina- tion for the British authorities down the river. The route pursued by Harris took him at night to the house of Fish, in Easton (the man who had recom-
West Side. MOSES HARRIS. DIED Nov. 13, 1838. /ged 89 years, II Mo's and 24 Days. North Side.
In June, 1787, I moved with two of my brothers, William and Joseph Harris, on to the John Law- rence Patten, as you may see by the records in the Living's office of the county at that age in 1786. But now I am done with this world and race, and none but God shall say, where shall be my abiding place.
South Side.
He was a man that was trne to his friends and his country. He was the man that carried the pack- age for General Schuyler and from General Schuyler to General Washington. It went, and without donbt was the instrument that pnt General Burgoyne's journey to an end. He it was that bonght the Patten 'granted to John Lawrence and others when wild; and settled the same, being two thousand acres, to the benefit of his children and grandchildren. For which I think I ought to do something to his memory. - F. F. H., Grandson.
1 From HOLDEN's Queensbury ; communicated to him (1850) by Moses Harris, a son of the spy, and supplemented by information from Judge Hay.
2 In an article written by William L. Stone, of Sandy Hill, and published in the Magazine of Amer- ican History, July 1, 1878, a slightly different version is given, but we regard Dr. Holden's as more authentic.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
mended Harris to General Schuyler), who lived about two miles from the river. Here the papers were transferred to Fish, who hastened with them to Albany, where they were submitted to General Schuyler when present, and to his pri- vate secretary when absent, by whom they were carefully opened, examined, transcribed, sealed up and returned to Harris, who then resumed his journey, and deposited the papers in Shepherd's hands, receiving at the same time his return message when there was one. Harris, in the mean time, by his uncle's advice, stopped for refreshments at a tavern in the city, where he was on the best of terms with the partisans of freedom.
"This system was followed up for several weeks, when the British leaders, finding their plans discovered and thwarted, suspicion fell upon Harris, and he was arrested at his uncle's house, taken to another of the secret rendezvous of the royalists, on an island in the big swamp east of Sandy Hill, where he was charged with his treachery and his life threatened ; but his cool self-possession never for a moment forsook him, and he succeeded in persuading them that they had done him a great injustice, after which he resumed his duties.
" On another occasion, by previous arrangement and understanding with General Schuyler for the purpose of averting suspicion, he was arrested and thrown into jail in Albany, where he remained for several days, whence by collusion with the keeper who had his private instructions, he was permitted to escape, and went to Canada, where he was handsomely rewarded and made much of by the authorities and renegade Tories.
"On this occasion he communicated false and deceptive intelligence, agreed upon in Albany, and which was near bringing him into trouble. On his return from St. Johns he was again entrusted with dispatches, which, in con- sequence of the sickness of Fish, he was obliged to take to Schuyler in person, and thence by his orders to General Washington. Whether he was dogged by spies or by reason of previous suspicions, Shepherd attempted to poison him for his defection ; and Jo. Betteys, having entrapped him, he was obliged to flee for his life. He at this time took refuge with one Dirk, or Diedrich Swart, a Whig living at Stillwater, a friend of General Schuyler, who had re- quested him to afford Harris aid and protection in case of trouble. To com- plicate his dangers at this time, Swart informed him that one Jacob Bensen, a Whig, had threatened to ' put a ball through the cussed Tory ' under the sup- position that he was a loyalist, and that he was lying in wait for him for that purpose in the adjacent woods. Another danger almost as formidable arose from competition among the Tories for the position of spy and messenger, and the enhanced pay that went with it, together with the consequence and consideration that the position gave. Among the rivals floated to the surface by the turbid current were two loyalists named Caleb Closson and Andrew Rakely living in Kingsbury, and David Higginbottom, who had been a ser- geant in the 31st British regiment. On his last excursion he was weakened by
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