Our county and its people. A descriptive work on Jefferson County, New York, Part 86

Author: Emerson, Edgar C., ed
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1368

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Our county and its people. A descriptive work on Jefferson County, New York > Part 86

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From 1821 to 1841 the school system in force in the town was that of the mother town Alexandria, and not until the year mentioned was a separate system established for Theresa. In 1842 the commissioners of common schools divided the territory into seven districts, and made provision for a school in each. In later years as the population in- creased and as the convenience of the inhabitants demanded these dis- triets have been changed, both in number and boundaries. In 1855 there were 1: districts, and 1,053 children attended school. Twenty years later there were 15 districts, and 815 children attended school. As now arranged the town comprises 15 districts, and all school prop- erty, buildings and sites, are valued at $11,810. Twenty teachers are annually employed. In the last current year the town received public moneys to the amount of $2, 313.67, and raised by tax for the support of schools the additional sum of $3,947.22.

Supervisors .- Alexander Salisbury, 1841; John D. Davison, 1842-43; Archibald Fisher, 1844-45: Jesse Kelsey, 1846; Zalmon Pool, jr., 1847-48; Anson Ranney, 1849- 50; Percival D. Bullard, 1851; Anson Ranuey, 1852-54; Franklin Parker. 1855; Jo- seph Fayel, 1856; Percival D. Bullard, 1857; Nicholas D. Yost, 1858-59; Joseph At- well, 1860. Benjamin P. Cheeseman, 1861-62; P. D. Bullard, 1863; David Bearup, 1864-20; Jason C. Morrow, 1971-12: George E. Yost, 1873-14; John Parker, 1875-77; George Kelsey, 1878-84; B. W. Chapman, 1885-87; George Kelsey, 1888-89; George E. Yost, 1$90-99.

825

THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

CHAPTER XL.

THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

In 1996 the veteran land surveyor, Benjamin Wright, laid out into townships and lots the entire Black river traet, or the eleven towns, comprising substantially all of great lots numbers five and six of the original Macomb purchase. Through various sales and transfers the title to the vast tract became vested (July 15, 1295) in Nicholas Low, William Henderson, Richard Harrison and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, who paid for the same one dollar per acre. After having thus acquired title the proprietors employed Benjamin Wright to make the survey and subdivision mentioned, and then (August 5, 1796) divided the town- ships among themselves by ballot, using the lands of Worth as " boot money " equivalent. On this division townships Nos. 2, 7 and 11, or the subsequently created towns of Watertown, Adams and Lowville, fell to Nicholas Low, under whom, through the agency of Silas Stow, M. S. Miller and 1. W. Bostwick, acting in succession, the lands were disposed of to settlers. Wright's survey showed an aggregate of 26,485 aeres of land in No. 2, which he divided into 52 lots, ranging from 450 to 625 acres each. A subsequent survey by Robert McDowell found the town to contain 26,667 acres. The lots were subdivided in 1801 by Joseph Crary, under the direction of agent Stow, who accomplished the work of settling the lands with the best pioneer element in the whole Black river country. However, before entering upon a detail of the events of this period of our history, let us briefly turn back and learn something of the previous occupants of the region and preserve for future generations the knowledge of their places of abode and also of their offensive and defensive fortifications.

Watertown presents many evidences of the aboriginal occupation, and it may truthfully be said that no other town in the state furnishes more decided proofs of the Indian occupancy and warfare. In the eastern part of the town the range of Rutland hills breaks away from the line of Black river and takes a southwesterly course toward the lake. Here, too, are the headwaters of North Sandy creek, which one 104

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

or two centuries ago was plentifully supplied with fish, while the sur- rounding forests furnished abundant game for the chase. Hunting and fishing was the chief occupation of the Indians, and it is not surprising that this locality should have been one of their favorite haunts. It was here that they erected some of their strongest defensive works, and also established their most populous temporary villages, lines of which fol- low the Rutland and Dry Hill ranges from the northeast to the south- west part of the town, and which, with like works in Rutland, on the east, and Rodman, Adams and Ellisburgh on the west, forms a contin - uous chain of defenses from the Black river to Lake Ontario.

Dwelling Joseph Gibbs

Taller

Deep

.v.

Dig

Boulder used for sharpening stone tools

To Burrville 12 mitt

In this town four distinct fortifications were found, plans of which are reproduced in this chapter (plates made in 1849 from actual sur-

827

THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

veys, and from information received from pioneers and early settlers). Perhaps the strongest and most modern of all these works was that found on the farm of the late Amby H. Gragg, about half a mile north- east of Burrville. In 1802 Rev. John Taylor made a missionary tour through this part of the state, and in visiting this fort made a plan of it, which is almost identical with that produced in this chapter. The description of this work was prepared in 1849, and is fairly descriptive of present surroundings. It is as follows:

" There is a work on lands formerly owned by William Lampson, near the residence of Joseph Gibbs (now Mrs. A. II. Gragg) one half mile east of Burrville, and about one-fourth of a mile from the Rutland town line, on lot No. 24. It is a crescent running across an elevated ridge, the steep bank of which completed the enclosure, and would have rendered it a very suitable position for defense. No graves were found and there is reason to believe it was a military work, belonging to a period long subsequent to that of many others in this section of the state. On the hillside is a spring of water, and within the enclos- ure a large boulder of gneiss which has been worn smooth and concave in places by the rubbing of stone implements. On a point of land across the deep valley was picked up a cast iron ball weighing eight ounces. Several of those have at various times been found by inhab- itants, and this leads to the conjecture that they may have a connection with the history of the work. Fragments and implements of aboriginal workmanship have been abundant. This site being on the line between Montreal and Onondaga, may we not reasonably conclude that it may have been a camp or station of the French, at the period when they occupied trading and missionary posts among the Iroquois two centuries ago? No trace of the original mound is now left. The sketch was drawn under direction of one of the early settlers, who was familiar with it when the country was first cleared." The hillside spring was dried up with the settlement of the country, and the boulder was long ago removed as an obstruction to cultivation of the soil.

The point of land occupied by this fortification was also the site of an ancient village, relies of which are yet found in considerable quantities. It was thus occupied as an Indian encampment when the pioneers came into the county.

About two miles west of Burrville, and two and one half miles south- cast of Watertown (on the farm now owned by Mrs. Truman Hunger- ford) was formerly the remains of an Indian earthwork, of which the

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

following plan and description were made in 1849: "On lot No. 29, on the farm of the late Anson Hungerford, there was formerly a trench enclosure which is now obliterated by many years' cultivation. Its place and relative position appears in the outline and sketch. It is said to have resembled the work near it. It had gateways, or intervals, at irregular distances, and was surrounded by a ditch so deep that a team could not drive across it without great difficulty."

A short distance from the above work and on the same range and lot, on lands of the late Asa Goodenough (now owned by Mrs. Marvel Bai- ley) is another trench evidently intended as a defensive work, still in perfect preservation, and the most distinct of any similar structure in northern New York. This locality is two and one-half miles southeast of Watertown, on the summit of a gradually sloping natural terrace of Trenton limestone, in the edge of an open wood, and commands an extensive and pleasant view. In 1849 elm trees three feet in diameter were found growing on the banks, while within the enclosure were found decayed remains of oak and other large trees, indicating not so much the age of the work as that the entrenchment was thrown up in the woods without removing the trees. In one place on the southwest side the bank was about six feet above the bottom of the ditch. The

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THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

accompanying diagram made at that time fairly represents this fortifi- eation as it then appeared.

Pr high

Orchard

SSpace

Gradual descent lo public road 40 rods me->

ace

ral ter

Space

Very distinct

Springs on hill side

()

The trees on the work above deseribed were cut at least thirty years ago, but the embankment ean still be traced without difficulty. An- other description of the work on the Goodenough place, written about the same time (1849), is as follows:

About two and one-half miles southeast of Watertown is a work along the the brow of the terrace facing northward, the greater part of which is covered with forest and is consequently well preserved. It is much smaller than the others, and is bounded by a series of right lines slightly rounded at the angles, which gives it something the apperance of a modern field work. The slope of terrace bank is here comparatively gentle, and there is a step or table about midway from brow to base. Here a num- ber of springs start out below the rock. Formerly the walls of the work were con- tinued down the slope toward the springs as indicated by dotted lines on the plan. They cannot be traced further than the edge of the terrace. The position of this work is remarkably fine, and was selected with taste and skill. The table land im-

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

mediately around it is hard, and the soil gravelly and dry. There seems to have been a burial place in this vicinity, and pipes and fragments of pottery are of com- mon occurrence.

Perhaps the largest fortification of the kind in northern New York (covering an area of eight acres), is that found on the farm of C. D. Morse, on Dry hill, in this town, and about five miles from the city. This work was carefully examined in 1849, when the following plan and description was prepared :

"On the brow of a terrace about two miles northeasterly from the fort on the Tal- cott farm is another work of somewhat regular figure and of larger dimensions. Most of it is now under cultivation, and the outlines are much defaced. The embankment

1:11

Area 8 + Acres .

on one side runs into forest land, where it is well preserved, measuring about three feet in height. The darker lines of engraving show what parts are distinctly marked. The dotted lines show what have been plowed down and which are no longer dis- tinguishable from the general level, except by a deeper green and more luxuriant growth of grass on the line of the ancient trench. The position of this work cor- responds very nearly with that upon the Talcott place. There is, however, no water near except a limited supply from a small spring. Nevertheless, this seems to have been the site of a very populous aboriginal town. The entire area of the work is

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THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

covered with carbonaceous matter, burnt stone, fragments of pottery, etc. Indeed, these indications are visible for some distance exterior to the walls upon the adjacent level. These artificial accumulations have rendered the soil within the enclosure ex- tremely fertile, and it sustains most luxuriant erops. Many fragments of human bones, some of them burned, have been observed by cultivation ; suggesting the pos- sibility that the ancient village may have been destroyed by enemies, and that these are the bones of its occupants who fell in defense of their kindred, and were burned in the fires that consumed their lodges. A little to the northward of the work there seems to have been an aboriginal cemetery. Here the plow frequently exposes skeletons buried according to the Indian mode, aud accompanied by various rude relics of stone and bone. Within and around the work are also found stone axes, flint arrows heads and other remains of savage art. Fragments of pottery and broken pipes of clay are, however, very abundant, of these bushels might be collected with - out much difficulty. It is doubtful if this work was intended as a temporary place of resort, but must have been occupied by a considerable population for a long time. and was undoubtedly a fortified town. There were also a number of pits, or caches,1 of the Indian occupants, of considerable size, but now mostly filled up."

Numerous evidences of former Indian villages are also found in the town, one of which, of vast extent, was on the farm of A. P. Sigourney, on lot No. 24, opposite the residence of Clark Woodruff. The village covered about four acres of land, and is described by Squier as contain - ing rude fire-places, constructed of rough stone held together, and sur- rounded with carbonaceous accumulations sometimes two feet in depth on the site of the ancient habitations. Here, too, were found relies which resembled those discovered within and around all ancient en- closures.

Traces of similar villages were found on lot No. 10, on the Butter. field farm (now owned by Valda Thomas); on a gravelly knoll on the farm of Delos Hadcock, on lot No. 17, at East Watertown; on the Dr. Gifford farm near Cold creek; on the C. G. Rexford farm on lot No. 30; on the Elmer Everett farm on lot No. 4, and on the John J. Goode- nough farm (now owned by Patrick Donahue) on lot No. 29.

Excavations made on these aboriginal sites present the same relies as were found in Rutland; broken pottery, carved pipes, bodkins, sharp- pointed bones, beads, teeth, bones of wild animals, burned and charred corn, mortars for grinding, bone needles and awls, flint arrow heads, spear-points, chisels, combs, accumulations of ashes, and numerous other evidences of the Indian occupation, and also the handicraft of the period. Skeletons were also found in some places.

Henry Woodworth, of East Watertown, has a collection comprising

1 For full description of a cache see note to history of town of Adams.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

several thousand of these implements from ancient works and villages in this town and also from Rutland. This is unquestionably one of the rarest private collections of relics to be found in this part of the state. Among the curios of his cabinet, Mr. Woodworth has several stones about the consistence of chalk, which on rubbing impart colors of various shades. These were doubtless used by the savages in pre- paring their faces for the war path or the important discussions of the council.

A bone pit,1 quite unlike the others of this region, was discovered about three miles east of Watertown. It was on the farm of T. E. Beecher, in the town of Watertown, on left side of the road leading north from his house, and just above the turn (about fifteen rods from the road) on a gradually sloping hillside. It was originally marked by a number of large stones placed over it. Upon removing the stones and excavating beneath them a pit was found about six feet square and and four feet deep, full of human bones well preserved, but in frag- ments. More than forty pairs of patellas were counted, showing that at least that number of skeletons had been deposited in the pit. It is said that when the bones were first exhumed, they exhibited marks, such as would result from the gnawing of wild animals, and from that circumstance and the fact that they were so much broken up it has been very plausibly supposed that these are the bones of some party which had been cut off by enemies, and whose remains were subse- quently collected and buried by their friends. All the bones are those of adults. Many of the fragments have been removed and scattered, but several bushels yet remain. No relics of any kind were found with them.

Passing over this period of local history, let us turn to the equally interesting subject of settlement and development by the white-faced pioneer. So far as we have any knowledge, Benjamin Wright and his party of surveyors were among the first white men to traverse and ex- plore this region. Their visit was made in 1796, and two years later Eliphalet and Christopher Edmunds came down Black river in a boat on a hunting expedition, but at the falls, within the present city limits, they unfortunately overturned their light craft and lost their guns and supplies in the water. They then left the river and went to live in the south part of the eleven towns region, where they were pioneers, and where in later years both became men of influence and prominence.

1 For full description of the origin of bone pits see note to history of town of Brownville.

838

THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

In 1800 settlement was made both within what is now the city and in the town outside. In the city chapter the names of all the pioneers and early settlers will be found, together with all obtainable incidents of pioneer life, wherefore in the present connection it is not considered necessary to repeat what has previously been stated, but rather to con- fine our narrative, except occasionally, to the settlement, growth and development of the town. In the year last mentioned Seyrel Harring- ton and Joshua Priest, who were former acquaintances of the Edmunds brothers, followed the latter into the region and made a settlement on Dry hill, in the south part of the town. In March of the same year Deaeon Oliver Bartholmew, an old Connecticut patriot of the Revolu- tion, made his way through the forests and settled on land in the north- east corner of the town, in which locality he was the pioneer, as also in later years, both in Brownville and Watertown, he was one of the most industrious and exemplary men among the settlers. Ile died in Water- town in June, 1850, aged 92 years, Deacon Bartholomew had bought his lands in 1799, during which years purchases were also made by Simeon and Benjamin Woodruff, E Allen, Silas Alden, James Rogers, Elisha Gustin and Thomas Delano, but the exact location of their lands is not known. Indeed, not all of those who are mentioned in the land books became actual settlers.

From the same source it is also learned that in 1800 agent Stow sold lands to lle- man Pettit, Thomas and John Sawyer, John Bliven, Abram Fisk, Joseph Tuttle, N. Jewett, Joseph Wadley, Jonathan Bentley, Friend Dayton, J. Sikes, S. Norris, Charles Galloway, Jonathan Talcott, Josiah Bentley, John Patrick, David Bent Luther Deming, Ephraim Edwards, Tilson Barrows, Thomas Butterfield, J. and L. Stebbins, Asaph Mather, Benj. Allen, Ebenezer Lazelle, llenry Jewett, Lewis Drury. S Fay, - Stanley. James Glass, Ira Brown, W. P. and N. Crandall, Calvin Brown, Aaron Bacon, Bennett Rice and Thomas H. Biddlecom.

Nearly all of these purchasers were born in New England, but after the close of the revolution had come to the unsettled regions of New York, taking up their abode for a time in the Mohawk Valley and the country westward; and when the fertility of the lands in this locality became known to them they were attracted thither. Many who are mentioned came in 1801 and '2, and to them numerous present resi- dents in the town can trace their ancestry. But these were not all, and while settlement on the village tract was progressing rapidly, there appears to have been a corresponding growth in the outlying regions.

The two Woodruffs (Simeon and Benjamin) came and made a begin- ning during 1800, settling just northeast of Burrville. In the Wood- 105

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

ruff family were the brothers mentioned, and also their father, Jonah, and a younger brother, Frederick. They founded the Woodruff settle- ment, and were the progenitors of one of the most substantial fami- lies in the county in later years. Jotham Ives, who came in 1800, and was followed by his brothers, Joel and Dr. Titus Ives, located in the extreme west part of the town, in what afterward became known as the Field settlement.1 Jotham Ives is said to have raised the first crop of wheat in the town. The surname has ever been preserved in local annals, and has been a synonym for integrity, capacity and moral worth. Among other early settlers in that locality were Adam Blod- gett, Samuel Bates, Mr. Spencer and Asaph Butterfield.

Between 1800 and 1804 settlement increased rapidly, and during the short period two thriving hamlets were built up within the limits of the town. Each settlement was struggling for supremacy from a busi- ness point of view, and each sought to obtain the coveted designation of county seat for the then proposed new county, although one of these places ( Burrville) made no special strife in that direction. Among the many who made settlements during the period referred to there may be recalled the names of William Sampson, Rev. Ebenezer Lazelle (founder of the Congregational church at Burrville, and for a time the owner of a distillery at the same place), Jonathan Miles, Jacob Stears, Seth Peck, Henderson and Silas Howk, Job Whitney, Caleb and Na- thaniel Burnham, all of whom, with others previously mentioned (the Sawyers, Fisk, Drury, Fay and Bacon) settled in the east part of the town. Wilson hill, south of Burrville, was settled in 1802 by James Wilson, who cut his own road from Adams. His son, John Wilson, lived to be one of the oldest men in the town. In the same general locality other early settlers were Jonathan Baker, William Huntington, John Gotham, Seth Bailey, Doris Doty, Cyrus Butterfield, Cyrenus Woodworth, Levi Cole, Samuel Thurston, Capt. Job Whitney, Anthony and Andrew Sigourney, William Fellows and possibly others.

In the central portion of the town the earliest settlers (some of whom may have been mentioned) were Eli Rogers, James Rogers, Stephen Gifford, Aaron Brown, Elijah Allen, Corlis Hinds, Reuben Scott, Ben- jamin Green and possibly others whose names are now forgotten. In the western part the settlers were Bennet Rice, Joseph Wadley,

Elijah Field was a prominent settler. In 1805 he came from Woodstock, Vt., and purchased the Buell farm near the western town line. In his family were nine sons and three daughters, nearly all of whom settled in the vicinity, hence the name Field's settlement, which extended into Hounsfield.

835

THE TOWN OF WATERTOWN.

Thomas II. Biddlecom, John and Zebediah Buell, Friend Dayton and others previously mentioned.

In the south part of the town the first settlers were Harrington and Priest, who have been mentioned, but in the course of the next few years there came to the locality several men and families who were prominent factors in local history Among these were John Babcock, John Purcell, Septimus G. Adams, Joseph Sheldon, Francis Lemmon, Jonathan E. Miles, Tilley Richardson, John Bliven, Patrick Agan and Mr. Hungerford, the father of Orville Hungerford, and others whose names are now forgotten, but who were unquestionably worthy settlers but were less prominent in town affairs and may not have remained permanently in the locality.

The first deeds to land were taken in 1802 by Jotham Ives, Elijah Allen, David Bent, Ezra and William Parker, Joseph Tuttle and Jo- seph Moore. All settlers on the land previous to that time held by contract and paid but little spot cash to the agent, for the proprietors had given a " purchase money " mortgage on all the lands of the town, and it was not until March 18, 1802, that the lien was satisfied and dis- charged of record.

Joseph Sheldon, who came to the county in 1802 with Septimus G. Adams, was one of the prominent characters in the early history of the county. He and Adams went first to examine lands in Rodman, for the sale of which Timothy Greenly was the agent, but not making a pur- chase, they came back as far as the "Gulf stream," where they made a clearing. In 1805 they sold their improvement and bought the Bab- cock and Purcell lands on Dry hill. Adams raised a family of ten or twelve children, and after a busy life as a farmer died near Burrville.

Joseph Sheldon was probably the pioncer dairyman of the county, having 40 cows as carly as 1831. His lands were extensive, and at one time he kept 1,000 sheep. He had the first horse rake in the vicinity, but perhaps the most famous of his properties was the distillery on Dry hill, on account of which that place was a much frequented resort in early times. Tradition has it that at one time there was an almost con- tinnous stream of thirsty patrons traveling up the hill to Sheldon's still, and from this fact the name of "Dry hill" was derived. Mr. Sheldon married with Hepziba Richardson, the daughter of Capt. Tilley Rich- ardson, and to them were born these children: Tilley R., Susan (Mrs. Jenks P. Thompson), Mary (Mrs. Willard L. Eddy), Harriet (Mrs. Jeremiah Beckwith), Bishop, John, Joseph and Mark Sheldon. In the

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Our county and its people. A descriptive work on Jefferson County, New York, Part 86

Author: Emerson, Edgar C., ed Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Co. Number of Pages: 1368

Author: Emerson, Edgar C., ed
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Boston] Boston History Co.
Number of Pages: 1368