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 55
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The writer is permitted to make extracts from a speech delivered by Mr. M. L. Wilmarth, at a firemen's supper on New Year's eve, 1861, in which many of the following facts occur :-
The first engine house was a barn (to use a Dutchman's expression) then owned by Mr. Lewis Pixley, Bridge street, on the site now occupied by Leav- ens's livery. The second was likewise a barn, on the premises of Mrs. D. V. Brown, Elm street. The third was built expressly for an engine house, and was located on Warren street, and now used by George Champlain as a boot and shoe store. This building being entirely too small, the company was again called upon to change its quarters to Exchange street, and from thence to Church street, where the great fire of 1864 found it, and did not leave it. The first uniform consisted of a painted coat and patent leather cape hanging down over the neck and shoulders, and was one of the most contemptible things of the kind ever invented by mortal man for a fireman's rig.
By the great fire of 1864, which laid the greater part of the village in ashes, the old engine quarters were destroyed. For a year afterwards meetings were
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held here and there, and the engines were placed in horse-sheds and store- houses. In 1865 the engine-house on Ridge street was erected.
The first foreman was that estimable citizen, William Briggs, who served us four years ; second, D. G. Roberts, one year; third, Hiram Roberts, one year ; fourth, Lewis C. Hamilton, one year; fifth, G. T. Lewis, two years ; sixth, Lyman Gates, one year; seventh, William T. Morriss, three years ; eighth, M. J. Seymour, one year ; ninth, Daniel Peck, one year; tenth, B. F. Lapham, two years; eleventh, M. B. Little, one year ; twelfth, the present in- cumbent, Mr. J. H. Norriss.
The Third No. 1. - Finally, in 1862, the new " Defiance " was received from Waterford and cost $1350. Built for a prize engine, it received the well- merited encomiums bestowed upon it. At a fireman's muster at Whitehall, August 20th, 1873, this company received the first prize of $200. This com- pany was badly crippled by the enlistment of its members in the army in 1861. Moreover, the company was located in 1865 in a remote part of the village, which had the effect of diminishing its numbers. A majority of the members of this company met November 13th, 1874, and reorganized under the name of -
J. L. Cunningham, Hose Company No. 1. - The officers of this company were as follows : - Foreman, John H. Leonard; first assistant, Ed. F. Clark ; second assistant, Joseph W. Suprennant; secretary, E. T. Spencer ; treasurer, Aaron F. Pike; first pipeman, Ransom S. More; second pipeman, Hiram W. Norris ; third pipeman, Fred E. Knox; fourth pipeman, Herbert W. Austin ; first hydrantman, Charles L. Taft; second hydrantman, James W. Schermer- horn ; propertymen, Enos Traver, Albert Trew.
A new hose carriage for this company was built by Button & Son, of Wa- terford, N. Y., at a cost of $700. It was received January 20th, 1874.
The company's meeting room in the South street engine house has been newly papered and painted. It is prepared to purchase new furniture and a carpet some time during the coming winter. The organization now numbers twenty-six members. John Suprennant is foreman ; J. T. Sprague, first assist- ant; John Leonard, secretary and treasurer.
Cataract Engine Company No. 2 was organized October Ist, 1852, with William Briggs as foreman and L. C. Hamilton as first assistant. " Cataract " was sold to parties in Whitehall in 1873. A couple of months later this com- pany received "old Defiance " engine from Company No. I, and subsequently the name was changed to M. B. Little Company No. 2. John Feeney was the first foreman after this change of name, and John Morris was first assistant. In the early part of 1873 M. B. Little Hose Company was organized. An- drew Robillard is the present foreman of the Engine Company, and Daniel McCarthy holds a similar office in the Hose Company.
Jerome Lapham, Engine Company No. 3 was organized September 13th,
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
1865, with Henry Wicks as foreman and Charles Roberts as first assistant. After the introduction of the water works in 1873, this company disbanded and organized as a hose company with the same name. S. B. Whitney was the first foreman and William H. Van Cott first assistant.
In April, 1875, the James McDonald Fr. Hook and Ladder Company was organized. B. S. Cowles was the first foreman ; first and second assistants, Fred Chitty and T. S. Barnes, respectively ; secretary, Frank G. Hicks; treas- urer, C. W. Cool. On the 6th of January, 1881, the name of the organiza- tion was changed to D. J. Finch Hook and Ladder Company No. I, at which time W. F. Bentley was chosen foreman, and William Manley, assistant. The company disbanded on the 20th of April, 1882, and reorganized forthwith with W. F. Bentley, as foreman; Erving Simmons and Charles Clements as first and second assistants, respectively. The "Hook's " truck and ladders are stored in the South street engine house.
In 1879 a brick hose tower was erected in the rear of the brick engine house, which constitutes a valuable addition to the appliances of the depart- ment. Measures are in the initial stage of prosecution to procure for the use of the department a new chemical, new grenades, etc., and looking toward the completion of and embellishment of all the contrivances of the department, especially for the extinguishment of fires in the beginning of their progress.
Following is a list of the chief engineers of the department since its organ- ization, effected in 1872 : William McEchron, for one year ending 1873, D. C. Holman, Henry Nesbitt, George Conery, M. B. Little, George Conery, S. D. Kendrick, George Cokey, and the present chief, W. H. Van Cott. The present officers of the several companies are as follows : -
Hook and Ladder : Foreman, Charles H. Clark ; first assistant, C. E. Perry ; second assistant, Beecher West; secretary, Charles J. Clements ; treasurer, John E. Parry.
Lapham Hose : Foreman, W. H. Van Cott ; first assistant, George Roberts ; second assistant, James Knight; secretary and treasurer, John Wandell.
Cunningham Hose : Foreman, William O. Capron; assistant, William B. Stevens ; secretary, George H. Orton ; treasurer, George Thomas.
M. B. Little Engine: Foreman, Lewis Robillard ; first assistant, Michael Murphy ; second assistant, Patrick Cronin ; secretary, William Roach, jr .; treasurer, Louis Vancelette ; foreman hose, James Moran; assistant, Daniel Mulcahy.
In 1861 M. L. Wilmarth delivered an address (from which we have drawn liberally), in which he gave the following statement of the capital invested in. the fire department at that date : -
"In engine house, $1,800 ; in engine Defiance No. 1, $900; in engine Cat- aract No. 2, $1,200; in Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, $150; in 1, 100 feet leading hose, $1,000; cistern in front Presbyterian Church, $250 ; in three
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
large wells, $400 ; in five small wells, $200 ; in articles not enumerated, $100; making the sum total of $6,000 - a sum sufficient to purchase and stock a small farm."
A comparison of the capital invested with the value represented by the de- partment property to-day would dwarf the figures in the above extract into in- significance. The water-works alone, although utilized for various purposes now, were built with a view to subdue the fiery element, and cost about $90,- 000. A computation of the amount of water which can be thrown on a burn- ing building in a certain time to-day would show an equally ludicrous dispar- ity between what could be done in 1861 and in 1882.
The fire wardens of 1861 were superseded by the chief engineer and as- sistants in 1874, when the new village charter was adopted. William McEch- ron was chosen first chief of the department.
Water-Works. - According to the natural precepts of municipal economy, the water supply of a village or city is always intimately associated, not only with the daily duties of the housewife, but with the sterner and more impera- tive demands, in emergencies, of the fire department. Glens Falls is not ex- empt from the action of this law. Through apprehension of possible conflagra- tions it was that the water-works were ever constructed, and through the action of the same motive power have the continual improvements been superadded until the system has attained almost its maximum approximation to perfection. The primitive water-works, of course, consisted of a village well, just as the primitive fire department consisted of the men and women of the entire village, armed with buckets and home-made ladders.
The first indication discovered of a movement for the building up of a water supply system, is the publication of an item in the Glens Falls Messenger and Advertiser of the 16th of January, 1835, which read as follows : -
" A meeting of the subscribers for making a ' Village Well' is requested at Rogers & Brown's Hotel this evening, to choose a committee to superintend its construction."
On the IIth of June, 1839, at the second meeting of the first trustees of the village subsequent to its assumption of corporate privileges, it was resolved to construct one public well in front of the Glens Falls Hotel, where the public fountain now stands, and one near Allen's tavern. Furthermore, a meeting of the taxpayers was held at the former hotel, on July 20th, when an appropria- tion of $200 was voted for the purpose. From this time until 1860 the village authorities increased by annual resolutions, etc., the water supply of the place, and prosecuted the construction of cisterns, wells and culverts with aldermanic iteration. In 1861 there had been invested in a cistern "in front of the Pres- byterian Church, $250; in three large wells, $400; and in five small wells, $200." In 1864 the trustees were empowered to proceed under the act of the Legislature, passed in 1863, to take steps toward procuring pure water and to
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
petition the Legislature for an increase of the sum devoted to the construction of water-works from $30,000 to $60,000. In the following year a surveyor was appointed to ascertain the practicability of obtaining water from Half-way Brook, and $300 voted to make a similar investigation relating to Forge Pond. These ever renewed investigations indicate the state of the public feeling in the matter for years before the consummation of their projects was achieved. In January, 1866, it was voted to build nine cisterns and a reservoir in the rear of Cronkhite's store, at a cost of $2,985.00. The cisterns and the Forge Pond water-works were thereupon immediately constructed. But the system was not yet satisfactory. During all these years the village had been rapidly grow- ing in population, in the number and beauties of its buildings, and in the ex- tent and wealth of its business enterprises and public institutions. Meanwhile, while the number of inhabitants was continually on the increase, the danger from fire, the need of water for domestic purposes, and consequently the demand for a modern and improved water supply system, were increased and multiplied. The call was too imperative to be resisted. In 1871 H. M. Harris was ap- pointed a committee to investigate the Holly Water-Works system, of Peoria, Ill., another committee visited Greenfield, Mass., on a like errand, the conclu- sion from these and other reports being that a supply of water two hundred and fifty feet above Glens Falls, with pipes of proportionate size, would afford ample protection against fire.
The Glens Falls Water-Works Company was incorporated by legislative sanction May 10th, 1871, with a capital of $100,000. The first members of the company were as follows : Augustus Sherman, Enoch H. Rosekrans, Will- iam H. Rockwell, Daniel H. Cowles, L. G. McDonald, Thomas S. Coolidge, Ruliff Kipp, James Morgan, Charles M. Gilchrist, Stephen Brown, Daniel Peck, F. A. Johnson, jr., Stephen L. Goodman, George Conery, Joseph Fowler, and Martin Coffin. The first meeting of this corporation was held in July following. Action was delayed ten days after the beginning of that month to enable the citizens to organize a company, and subscriptions to the stock were obtained to the amount of $21,500. John Salter was employed as engineer at a stipulated salary of $400 a month for all help, etc. In October, however, he was super- seded by J. P. Coleman. In November Messrs. Keenan and Lapham were appointed to purchase land, water courses and rights. The work progressed without interruption, and in 1872 rules for the government of the company and the conducting of the works were adopted. At the present time the village is bountifully supplied with pure water, an ample system of mains and hydrants, and a thoroughly efficient organization.
Police. - At the time of the re-incorporation of the village (1874) it was divided into three police districts. Number one embraced all that portion west of Glen street ; number two, all of Glen street above Park, Ridge street from Glen, and all between Ridge and Glen streets; number three, all east of Glen
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and Ridge streets. On the 15th of June, 1874, a special election was ordered held on the 29th, to vote upon the question of raising the sum of $1,800 to pay a police force. The vote was in the negative ; and in the report of the board of trustees for that year it is stated that " soon after your board assumed its duties, a police force was organized and maintained until the money ran out." Upon the decision of the special election, police duty was ordered stopped and the equipments returned to the clerk. Another meeting was held on the 13th of July, at which a resolution was passed that $500 be raised for police purposes. This appears to have been a temporary arrangement on the part of the trust- ees. At the election of March 16th, 1875, it was voted that the sum of $2,200 be raised for police purposes. An effective force has been maintained ever since and now comprises four officers.
French Mountain. - This hamlet could hardly be dignified by the title of community prior to 1825. At that time there was but one tavern there, kept by Udney Buck. There were no stores. There were no factories of any kind. There was no post-office, and there were only two dwelling houses. Of these two, one was occupied by John Devine, and the other by a Mr. Pulver. Val- entine Brown, grandfather of George Brown, was the eldest of the five sons of Benedick Brown. They located between Glens Falls and French Mountain. Valentine Brown built the first saw-mill in the county north of Glens Falls. They were Quakers. There are not now many descendants of Benedick Brown in the county, though they were formerly so numerous as to furnish the name Browntown to a settlement between the outlet of Glen Lake and the vil- lage of Glens Falls. Another early settler hereabouts was one Eggleston, who lived before 1800 within a mile west of the site of French Mountain on the farm now occupied by James Hillis. Eggleston built a frame-house of very singular construction, having a chimney in the center built of 199 loads of stone, and containing a fire-place for each of the four rooms on every floor of the house. This house was torn down about 1855. Simeon Jenkins, another early settler, came before 1810 to a farm east of French Mountain. He has many descendants in town at the present day. Jacob Odell settled in the first decade of the century on a place just east of French Mountain. Descendants of his are also living in town. Indeed, his grandson, Jacob Odell, now lives on the old homestead.
The tavern kept by Udney Buck came into the possession of David Vaughn about 1831. George Brown succeeded Vaughn in 1846, and remained a fa- mous landlord until 1884, when, on his removal to Caldwell, Louis Brown (no relation), the present proprietor, became his successor. The hotel formerly, in the days of stages and tally-hos, did a great deal of business. The old building was torn down about the time the new plank road was built and the present one erected in its place. For seven years the County Fair Association held their meetings at this place. (See biography of George Brown herein).
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
All but three of the houses now standing in the village of French Mountain were erected by George Brown. He built in 1857 the store now occupied by Merritt Codner, and kept it himself until 1884. He had a tin shop in the up- per part of this building all the time he kept the store, and in connection with his dealing in general wares and merchandise kept a hardware and iron store in connection with it. His son Valentine Brown did a considerable business in the manufacture and sale of gloves in that building, too. The tannery of Pearsall, Little & Hall was erected by Brown in 1877. This company pur- chased it of him in 1882. There was a saw-mill run in connection with it. This firm now owns all the hotel and factory property formerly held by George Brown. The brush-back factory was started in 1882 by Charles Steinburgh, who used the building for the manufacture of spools. He was followed by Olef Abel, who was in turn succeeded in the summer of 1882 by the Messrs. Reed. They immediately converted the establishment into a brush-back factory.
The post-office was established here in 1852, when George Brown received the appointment as postmaster. He held the position until the winter of 1882, when he was succeeded by the present postmaster, John N. Hall.
CHURCHES.
The early religious influences of the town having been referred to in pre- vious pages of this work, it will only be necessary at this point to give the con- tinuous records of the various church organizations. For these we are again indebted largely to Dr. Holden's History of Queensbury, supplemented by statistics of the different religious societies since the production of his work.
The Orthodox Friends. - The society of Orthodox Friends is said to have organized and erected the first church building in the town, some time previous to the beginning of the present century, to which allusion has already been made. The primitive meeting-house was of logs and located on Bay Road near Half-way Brook, about one and a half miles north of the present village. After a series of years the log meeting house was abandoned and a large frame building was put up on Ridge street, about two miles north of the village. In this they conducted worship until 1875, when the present brick church was built at an expense of about $1,300.
The church is governed by thirteen elders who serve one year. No regu- lar pastor was established until about 1879, when John Henry Douglass began his ministry, which continued for two years, when David Douglass succeeded him, remaining in charge for two or three years. In November of 1884, Luke Woodard entered upon the pastorate, and at present, with Nelson Hill, con- ducts the regular meetings. The duties of sexton have been performed since about 1877 by S. I. Stone. Among the present trustees are P. T. Haviland, Harris G. Haviland, Charles Eddy and C. R. Mott. Conspicuous among the
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early members of this society was Roger Haviland, who came from Durham county. Of a large family none of the sons are residents here, although there are other branches of the family in the town. Hannah Haviland, who is about eighty-five years of age, resides with her daughter, Mrs. Calvin Mason, on Ridge street. The Dean family, consisting of Caleb, Isaiah and several other brothers were also pioneers in this faith. Miss Hannah Moser, also, who is living at the age of ninety-five, has always resided here. Her home is in Ridge street near Half-way Brook. Jonathan Potter was born in Granville, Wash- ington county, in 1814, and married to Mary Ann Haviland, a native of Queensbury, in 1842. In 1856 he moved into the town and became a resi- dent. These are mentioned merely as having been prominent in the councils of this church society.
The Baptist Church. - Quoting from Dr. Holden, we find that the Baptists " were among the earlier inhabitants of this town and have always formed a considerable element of its population. It has been impossible to obtain all the facts requisite to a complete record of their several organizations. In some instances the minutes have been destroyed by fire; in others, they have been removed beyond reach, or lost through carelessness and indifference; while, with one or two exceptions, those who could have furnished reliable informa- tion concerning the annals of this denomination, are now numbered with the dead. So far as can be ascertained, the Baptists of Queensbury are, and have been of that class, distinguished as regular, or close communion Baptists. By diligent and patient research, and investigation, we are enabled to present the following historic record concerning them. Until the year 1795, it is believed that no effort had been made to organize a church within the limits of this town.
"On the south side of the river, which was then embraced in the town of Saratoga, a society had been formed on the 19th of August, 1794, over which, according to existing records, Elder Calvin Hulbert presided as pastor for a number of years. Among its members were some residing at what is known as the Big Bend of the Hudson River, four miles west of the village of Glens Falls, and it is quite possible that some of the number were residents on the Queensbury side of the river. At the eastward a number of Baptist families were among the earliest settlers, by whom a society was organized at Kings- bury street in 1797, with Elder Ebenezer Willoughby as pastor. This was connected with the Vermont Baptist Association, formed at Manchester, Vt., 1780; and which met at Middletown, Vt., October 4th, 1797, as shown by existing printed minutes. At the northeast, in the town of Westfield, a church had been built up as early as 1789, under the pastoral care of Elder Sherman Babcock. This is now designated as the First Baptist Church of Fort Anne ; its place of meeting being at Comstock's Landing. Being thus surrounded on three sides, as it were, by Baptist influences, it is nothing surprising that the
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4
town of Queensbury should have had a plentiful leaven of that element among its inhabitants at an early day.
"From this small beginning, an outgrowth of four distinct churches has been developed in process of time, each of which have had a separate house of worship, in three distinct localities, at distances of five or six miles apart. For convenience of reference these might be classified as follows, viz .:-
" Ist, The Baptist Church of the Round Pond.
"2d, The First Queensbury, or Oneida Church.
" 3d, The Second Queensbury, or West Mountain Church.
"4th, The Baptist Church of Glens Falls."
The Baptist Church of the Round Pond. - This church was one of the first fruits of the faith in this section, and had an entirely independent existence, having no connection during its organization with any association. It was located on the south edge of the Round Pond, in a pine grove, about five miles distant from Glens Falls in a northerly direction. The structure was of logs, and during the week did duty as a school-house, on Sundays the wor- shipers meeting there for divine service. It was founded by Elder Rufus Bates, a native of Coventry, R. I., where he was born in April, 1753. He established the church and began his labors about 1794; in 1795 the church was built. In the latter year Elder Hezekiah Eastman, of Danby, Vt., made a tour doing missionary work, and visited Round Pond, performing the rites of baptism while there upon several candidates. In 1796, the church society was for- mally organized, Elders Amasa Brown, of Hartford, and Sylvanus Haynes, of Middletown, Vt., officiating in the ordination services. This church was known as " Elder Bates's Church," and during his ministry of thirty-four years he was a daily laborer for his bread, his yearly salary never exceeding, and rarely reaching the sum of $100. In the early years of his ministry his parish em- braced Harrisena, West Fort Anne, Bolton, Caldwell and Durkeetown, the total membership of which counted but a few over two hundred persons. In June, 1808, his house was burned and his aged father-in-law, Abner Goffe, perished. In this conflagration whatever records of the church had been kept were con- sumed. In 1828, at the age of seventy-five, Elder Bates retired from active ministerial duties, and passed his remaining years among his people, dying at the opening of the 1840 aged eighty-six. After his death, the church over which he had so long presided was bereft of its counsellor and head, and began to scatter, so that in a few years it ceased its existence.
From 1802 until 1816 the Baptists of Durkeetown were considered as members of the Queensbury Church, transacting church affairs within them- selves as an auxiliary, Elder Bates preaching for them occasionally, as also did Elder Clark. In 1832 they organized themselves as a church, being the first Fort Edward church.
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