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 45
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called upon William, manifesting a disposition to conciliate and make friends again. In great good humor he related several anecdotes and border adventures, until he thought his listener had reached a genial frame of mind; when, leading his way quietly and gradually to the subject, he asked William if he would not be willing to overlook the past and forgive his brother Cyrenus, if the latter would make a suitable acknowledgment and ask his forgiveness. Springing from his seat in a tempest of rage, the old scout replied with an oath: "No, he tried to kill me in cold blood, and if I ever get a chance I'll shoot him." Joseph still pressed and argued the matter until Harris's suspicions were aroused, and he exclaimed : "Joseph, Cyrenus is at your house, and if he wants to live he had better keep out of my way."
The next night Cyrenus made his escape to Canada. The popular tradition that Harris tracked him to the St. Lawrence River and shot him as he was crossing that stream, is declared by the family to be without warrant, and untrue.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
were found in a putrid condition and swarming with maggots. They also adjusted his broken arm, dressing it with splints prepared from barks of trees and bound it together with his handkerchief. The next day they constructed a raft and crossed the stream. Fortunately, Harris had a hook and a line in his pocket, and coming to a good sized brook, they encamped and caught a fine string of trout, which they cooked and ate, the first warm meal they had enjoyed since they left the island.
" Continuing their journey they came, after some days' travel, upon a small clearing and log house. One of the three went forward, after carefully and cautiously reconnoitering to see that no enemy was around, and begged of the woman of the house. She proved to be French. They were still in Canada. She gave the messenger to understand that she had no food to give, that her husband was away from home, and that their place was visited al- most daily by armed bands of Indians and Tories. A loaf of corn bread baked in the ashes was, after some search, discovered carefully hidden away, which the fugitive eagerly seized and carried to his companions. They made what haste they could to get out of the dangerous locality. After many more days' wandering they came out upon the settlements of the Lower Goos, now Bel- lows Falls, on the Connecticut River. Here the trio parted, the two Dutch- men proceeding to Cherry Valley by way of Albany, and Harris repaired to New Perth, now Salem, in Charlotte county, where his wounds were first reg- ularly and properly dressed by Dr. Williams, then member of the Colonial Legislature, and colonel of militia. His wounds were a long time in healing. After his recovery it is stated that he served as a minute man, or one of the reserve militia, until the close of the war." 1
During the two years following the occurrence of the events narrated, the history of Queensbury remains a blank, so far as local records are concerned. It was practically wiped out of existence as a settlement. Our early chapters have chronicled the public operations in this region which came down to the spring of 1783, when on the 19th of April (the day which completed the eighth year of the war), the cessation of hostilities and the triumph of the colonists was announced throughout the country. No sooner was peace restored than the proprietors of Queensbury again entered upon their duties. On Tuesday, May 6th, of that year the town meeting was held and the following officers elected :-
Moderator - Abraham Wing.
Town Clerk - Benjamin Wing.
Supervisors - Nehemiah Seelye, and Phineas Babcock.
Constables - William Robards, and David Buck.
Assessors - David Bennett, Wm. Robards, and James Higson.
Pathmasters - Benjamin Wing, and Silas Brown.
1 This narrative is given in DR. HOLDEN'S History of Queensbury, p. 485, etc.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Overseers of the Poor - Abraham Wing, and Benedick Brown.
Collector - Nehemiah Seelye.
Treasurer - Abraham Wing.
Fence Viewers - Phineas Babcock, David Bennett, and Jeremiah Briggs.
In July of this year the locality was visited by General Washington and a portion of his staff (probably on the 19th or 2Ist of the month) on their way to inspect the posts at Lake George, Ticonderoga and Crown Point. On this occasion the party halted, and calling Walter Briggs, who was at work in an adjoining field, he came and helped them to water from the upper branch of the Butler Brook.
With the advent of peace came all of the beneficent influences that soon lifted the country from the terrors and depression of a long and destructive war to the plane of prosperity - a transition that was nowhere else more wel- come than to the harrassed and distressed inhabitants of the region with which this history is most concerned.
This portion of our work may be appropriately closed with the following description of Queensbury and Glens Falls, as they appeared to the Marquis de Chastellux at the end of the year 1780: -
" On leaving the valley, and pursuing the road to Lake George, is a tolerable military position which was occupied in the war before the last ; it is a sort of entrenched camp, adapted to abatis, guarding the passage from the woods, and commanding the valley. . Arrived at the height of the cataract, it was necessary to quit our sledges and walk half a mile to the bank of the river. The snow was fifteen inches deep, which rendered this walk rather difficult, and obliged us to proceed in Indian file. In order to make a path, each of us put ourselves alternately at the head of this little col- umn, as the wild geese relieve each other to occupy the summit of the angles they form in their flight. But had our march been still more difficult, the sight of the cataract was an ample recompense. It is not a sheet of water as at Cohos, and at Totohaw; the river confined, and interrupted in its course by different rocks, glides through the midst of them, and precipitating itself ob- liquely, forms several cascades. That of Cohos is more majestic, this, more terrible; the Mohawk River seemed to fall from its own dead weight; that of the Hudson frets, and becomes enraged, it foams, and forms whirlpools, and flies like a serpent making its escape, still continuing its menaces by horrible
hissings. On their return, the party stopped again at Fort Ed- ward to warm by the fire of the officers who command the garrison. They are five in number, and have about one hundred and fifty soldiers. They are stationed in this desert for the whole winter."
Mention has been made in another chapter of the settlement of Jacob Glen on the south side of the river, where he obtained, according to traditions of the Parke family, his title of Elijah Parke, the original settler in that neighbor-
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
hood. After the Revolutionary War Glen rebuilt the mills destroyed during the struggle, manufactured lumber and passed some weeks every summer at a cottage originally built by one of the Parke family and standing on the hill overlooking the present paper-mill site. Here he lived in what was grand style for that period. It was during one of these visits, as related by Dr. Hol- den, that, " in a convivial moment, it was proposed by him to pay the expenses of a wine supper for the entertainment of a party of mutual friends if Mr. Wing would consent to transfer his claim and title to the name of the falls. Whether the old Quaker pioneer thought the project visionary and impracticable, or whatever motive may have actuated him, assent was given, the symposium was held, and the name of Glens Falls was inaugurated.1
" Mr. Glen hastened to Schenectady and ordered some hand-bills printed, announcing the change of name. These were posted in all the taverns along the highway and bridle paths from Queensbury to Albany, and the change of name was effected with a promptitude that must have been bewildering to the easy-going farmers of the town in those days. The following letter, written in elegant running hand, and still existing among the Wing MSS., is believed to determine the date of this enterprise :2-
"' Mr. Glen's compliments to Mr. Wing, and requests the favor of him to send the advertisement accompanying this by the first conveyance to his friends at Quaker Hill.
"' Mr. Glen hopes Mr. and Mrs. Wing and the family are all well.
" ' Glen's Falls, April 29th, 1788.'
"Superscribed,
'Mr. Wing, Queensbury.'"
After the Revolution .- Pioneer settlement had long been delayed in Queensbury ; but when a permanent peace was firmly established it was among the first localities to feel its effects, as shown by a gradual influx of population, increased cultivation of lands and a general aspect of thrift. A writer over the signature " Harlow" stated in the Warren Messenger, February, 1831, that " the first clearing [at Glens Falls] was limited to the hill which rises from the falls, and in the year 1783 presented only a wheat field, with a solitary smoke on its border, and two other dwellings in the vicinity of the forest. These houses were built after the architecture of the first settlers, of a few rough logs, placed one upon another, the interstices filled with straw and mix-
1 The name of the village has passed through several changes of orthography, and is found printed as "Glens," " Glenns," in each insanee both with and without the indication of the possessive case, and has finally, in recent years, settled down to the common usage adopted in this work - " Glens Falls."
2 " Colonel Johannes Glen, after whom the village was named, was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Johannes, jr., who was the son of Jacob, the eldest son of the original immigrant, and brother of Captain Johannes Glen, of Schenectady. According to Professor l'earson's record, he was born 2d of July, 1735, and baptized in Albany, where his father lived and died. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Cuyler. He was quartermaster in the French and Revolutionary Wars, stationed at Schenectady ; in 1775 bought lands on the Hudson, above Fort Edward, of Daniel Parke, which tract was afterwards ealled Glens Falls."
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ture of mud and clay. But in the year 1784 an individual by the name of Haviland [Abraham, a blacksmith by calling] erected, to use a graphical ex- pression, a small framed house, near the hotel in the upper part of the village,1 which was soon followed by that now occupied by Mr. Royal Leavins,2 com- pleted upon the model of an old-fashioned Massachusetts country house ; which two buildings were consequently the first of the kind which graced our landscape." 3
On the 26th of January, 1784, the inhabitants of Fort George were an- nexed to the Queensbury district by a vote of the inhabitants, and in the same year, by act of Legislature, the name of Charlotte county was changed to Washington county. The "inhabitants of Fort George," as appears in the New York legislative papers, are embraced in the following : -
"The Petition of Jonathan Pitcher, Gurdon Chamberlin, Wyatt Chamber- lin and Isaac Doty, residing on a tract of land at the South end of Lake George commonly called Garrison Land, humbly sheweth; That your Petitioners, some time since, being desirous to emigrate from the Old Settlements, and to fix ourselves on the Frontier of the State, did obtain, from the Surveyor Genl. of the state, leases of the Lands whereon we now reside, which Leases being only for the Term of One Year, induceth us to address Your Hon'ble Body on the Subject. Your Petitioners having removed our families to this place at great Expense from a very considerable distance, ardently wish to continue on the same, and do most humbly pray that our leases may be renewed for as long a Term of time as your Hon'ble Body shall deem most eligible; or that any other mode may be adopted, whereby your petitioners may be allowed to occupy the premises .- Lake George, De. 30, 1783."
Dr. Holden adds upon this subject : " Jonathan Pitcher then kept a sort of rude tavern at the head of the lake. Hugh McAuley was also another in- habitant of Lake George at that time. Robert Nesbit, who was in trade there for several years, did not come until June, 1785."
1 Corner of Sonth and Glen streets.
2 The dwelling lately owned and occupied by J. W. Finch.
3 The same writer continues as follows : " As early as 1786-87 the fruit of their reflections was seen, a small, rudely constructed school-honse, now the residence of Mrs. Flannagan. [Now the site of Dr. Holden, 17 Elm street].
" The village of Glens Falls was formerly known by the name of Wing's Falls, a name probably derived from Mr. Abrahanı Wing, one of the first emigrants to this place, who lived in a log building which occupied the spot of Mr. L. L. Pixley's store.
" Then followed the dams, the one above, and the other below the falls, and the mill seats afforded by them, owned and occupied by Mr. Benjamin Wing, and General (Warren) Ferriss. Only one of these dams is still remaining - that at the head of the rapids, now a bank of five feet high, and abont 600 broad, over which the river pours its waters in one unbroken sheet. An Indian, for a trifling reward, paddled his canoe to the brink of the precipice, and then shot like lightning into the gulf to disappear forever, and the same is related of many others who dared the fury of the cataract.
" But it is safe to leap from any of the rocks, at the southern point of the island or as far west as the bridge. This was fully attested by Cook, who jumped three successive times from the old king- post, into the water beneath (the gulf at the foot of the arch), and returned, exclaiming like Patch, ' There's no mistake.'"-HOLDEN's History of Queensbury, p. 498.
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
James Stevenson came into the town in 1785, when, as stated by members of his family, there were but eighteen families in the whole town. The mills had been destroyed during the war and the inhabitants were forced to go to Jessup's Falls or Fort Miller for their grinding. Joseph Varney, son of Josiah Varney (a pioneer who married a daughter of Benedick Brown), told Dr. Hol- den in 1868, that " Uncle " Silas Brown used to back grists over the mountain by a line of blazed trees, afterwards a bridle-path, to Jessup's grist-mill, in what is now Luzerne, during and after the Revolution.
About this time the first house of worship was erected in the town - con- clusive evidence that the inhabitants felt a degree of peaceful security in their homes to which they had theretofore been strangers. It was built by the So- ciety of Friends on the south side of the Half-way Brook, adjoining the west side of the road leading to Dunham's Bay. The structure was of logs and about 20 by 30 feet dimensions. It stood within the limits of a small enclosed parcel of ground, used even to the present day as a place of burial. It has been described by those remembering it, as a long, low building, roughly ceiled on the inside, divisible by a movable or sliding partition into two parts, and provided by rough benches for seating the congregation. It had two entrance doors and was lighted by small windows placed high up towards the roof. Here the first and second generations of the Friends of Queensbury met and worshiped, and in the limits of that field their remains repose without a mon- ument or mark to designate their resting place from the common earth by which they are surrounded. Here, too, was kept the first school in the town, and the first burial ground where the founders of the town were laid to rest.
Among the arrivals about the year 1785 was the Peck family, of whom Peter Peck, father of Reuben, Daniel and Edmond, was the head. They came from Litchfield, Conn. According to the family tradition they were two weeks on the way, the boys trudging along on foot, driving two yokes of oxen, with heavy, rude wagons laden with their effects, while the father rode on horseback. At that time there were only three dwellings at Glens Falls, a foot path to the Ridge and a rough wagon road up Bay street as far as the Quaker Church. Dr. Holden gives the following details of the settlement of this family : Mr. Peck purchased a large farm, or rather tract of wilderness, stretching from the Big Cedar Swamp on the east, to the road leading to Dun- ham's Bay on the west. A family named Varney then occupied a log house situated just north of the Half-way Brook, on the west side of the Bay road. Peck made it his home with these people for a short time, and was persuaded by them to build his house at a point nearly half way between the Ridge and Bay roads, they representing it, probably for the sake of having nearer neigh- bors, to be the most eligible and desirable point on his tract for that purpose. He accordingly commenced his clearing, dug a well, but finding the land too low for a dwelling, abandoned the improvement and erected a substantial log
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
house on the Ridge road, then called the new road, on the site of the brick house now owned by Mr. Amos Graves. His nearest neighbor north lived in a log house situated to the east of the old Roger Haviland farm house. The spot it occupied is now part of an open, cultivated field. There was an- other log dwelling on the ground now covered by the Reuben Numan resi- dence. There was also one or two other log houses in the neighborhood, which comprised all that portion of the then existing settlement to the south of what was subsequently designated as Sanford's Ridge. The road was then newly cut through the the forest, the stumps still remaining, with fallen trees, decayed logs and rubbish lying across. It was hardly a respectable bridle path, and the unbroken wilderness stretched away from it on either hand for miles and miles save the three orfour small clearings around the buildings above mentioned.
" During the summer of 1786 Peck, accompanied by his youngest son, Edmund, then a lad five or six years old, started on horseback for the purpose of assisting to secure the harvest of a neighbor, David Ferriss, who lived in a small house on the side-hill just south of the Half-way Brook - on the east side of the road now leading to the Oneida. At nightfall he started on his return with his little boy seated before him on the horse. The dense forest soon shut out the last faint light of day, and he was obliged to stumble for- ward in the dark as best he might, trusting mainly to the sagacity of his horse for keeping in the road. At length, in endeavoring to guide his horse around the upturned roots of a large fallen tree which obstructed the way, he found to his consternation that he had lost the path. After spending some considera- ble time in a fruitless effort to regain the road, groping his way from tree to tree in the thick darkness, the thought occurred to him that a loud outcry might arouse the family he had just left and that some one would come to his assistance with lanterns or torches. He accordingly commenced shouting at thr top of his voice, and presently fancied he heard the call returned. He called again, and the answer was repeated more distinctly. The calls and an- swers were repeated in rapid succession, until he discovered to his horror that it was no human voice which responded to his alarm, but that of the dreaded panther. With an alacrity inspired of terror, Peck dismounted, and feeling his way rapidly along, at length he came to a large tree with low branching boughs to one of which he fastened his horse, and climbing the tree, found a refuge for himself and boy, on a large projecting limb Through the entire length of that long and dreary night, the panther prowled around this retreat, at one moment threatening an attack upon the frightened horse, and at another stealthily rustling through leaves of the adjacent tree tops, awaiting an un- guarded moment to make his fearful spring. A few raps with a stout cudgel on the trunk of the tree, from time to time, served to deter the brute from making his attack, until the morning light made its most welcome appearance,
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when the ferocious monster with low growls slunk away towards the recesses of the Big Cedar Swamp. As soon as the light became distinct enough to en- able the benighted traveler to find his way, he descended from his perch, and to his great satisfaction discovered the road at no great distance, and, remount- ing the horse with his boy, soon after reached his home in safety. On his way he saw another huge panther apparently asleep in the top of a high tree, but on his return with a rifle the animal was gone. It had very probably made its way back to the big swamp, which for a long period afterward afforded a safe covert for these and other ferocious denizens of the forest."
Before tracing further the progress of settlement in the town, the following record of an election registry of 1786 will be of value in determining who were the residents of the town at that time and entitled to vote for senators and assemblymen ; the registry embraces thirty-six- voters, showing that the increase of settlement since the close of the war had been encouragingly rapid :-
" Att an Election held in Queensbury, May the 2 by an adjournment.
I786.
Candates for Sinnet.
Candates for Assemblymen.
Electors Names.
Alexr. Webster.
John Williams.
Peter B. Tearse.
Adiel Sherwood.
Albert Baker.
H Edward Savage.
Nehemiah Seelye.
Seth Sherwood.
Abrom Wing.
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William Tripp
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David Seelye
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David Bennett
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Thomas Tripp
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Elisha Folger
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Bennedick Brown
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Justice Brown
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Volentine Brown
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Ebenezar Buck.
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Howgal Brown
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Jeremiah Briggs
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Silas Brown
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James Tripp
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Jonathan Tripp
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James Stevenson
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Josi Varney.
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Hosea Howard
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James Butler
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Richard Bennet.
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William Guy
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Walter Briggs
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John Martin
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David Bennet. I
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Edward Fooller
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Nathaniel Odle.
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Nathaniel Varney
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Jonathan Hubbel
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Stephen Lapham
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Jonathan Pitcher I
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Henry Martin
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Benjamin Wing
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Phinhehas Babcock
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James Hixen I
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Stephen Howard
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Miles Washborn I
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These inhabitants, or such of them as had suffered losses during the war, pleaded their inability to pay the quit-rents and arrearages on their lands which now, through the change of government, lapsed to the State. To these the abatement and liquidation of all just indebtedness and future claims was awarded on the number of acres as given below, respectively, with the audi- tor's certificate as follows :-
" Auditor's office, New York, 10th December, 1789. I do hereby certify that I have receiv'd Sundry Certificates signed by Ebenezer Russell, Judge for Washington county setting forth that the following persons were possessed of the number of acres set opposite their respective names in a Pattent granted Daniel Prindle & others 29th May, 1762, and that on account of the war they were oblig'd to quit their Farms viz :-
ACRES.
Lot 29, Abraham Wing Junr.
150
" 29 & 32, Nath. Babcock, Willlett & Daniel Wing. 450
" 102, Asa & Parks Putnam. 250
" 31, Daniel Hull. 150
" 23 & 29, Charles Lewis 150
7, Ebenezer and Nathaniel Fuller 250
" 22 & 23, Russell Lewis. 150
" 37, Anstice & Sarah Hicks 250
Carried forward. 1800
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
ACRES.
Brought forward 1800
" 36 & 29, Mary Lewis.
160
" 103, Howgil & Timothy Brown 250
" 39, Silas Brown. 150
" 37, Truelove Butler. 150
" 77, William Roberts Junr, & Ebenr. Roberts 250
" 26 & 27, William Roberts 116
" 82 & 20, 35, 36, & 40 William Wing. 90
" 36, Andrew Lewis. 150
" 38, Benedick Brown 150
" 23, James Higson. 150
" 22, Abraham Wing 150
" 15, Benjamin & Nehemiah Wing. .250
" 2, Reed Ferriss & Caleb Powel. -250
4066
"And I further certify that the above mentioned Persons are thereby dis- charged from paying all past and future Quit Rents for the Quantity of acres set opposite their respective names amounting in the whole to four thousand and Fifty Six acres in the above Pattent.
" PETER S. CURTENIUS, State Audr."
Proceedings identical with these were entered into between the State audi- tor and the following named persons, releasing them on the number of acres attached to their names, on the 28th day of December, 1791 :-
PROFESSORS' NAMES. NO. ACRES. NO. LOTS.
Valentine Brown
150
41
Schuyler Brown
100
41
Phebe Robberds
145
26
Joseph Hepburn
150
49
Ebenezer Fuller Junr
150
50
Benjamin Fuller
100
50
Edward Fuller
125
38
Patrick Hepburn
150
48 & 57
Matthew Fuller
125
33
Justus Brown
125
39
John Akin
150
84
Albro Akin
100
84
Sarah Akin.
150
84
Thomas Worth
125
5I
Barsilla Worth
125
5I
Carried forward 1970
394
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
POSSESSORS' NAMES.
NO. ACRES.
NO. LOTS.
Brought forward
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