USA > New York > Saratoga County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, New York > Part 15
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The district of Half Moon consisted of the territory embraced in the present towns of Halfmoon, Waterford and Clifton Park. It remained a district, with its boundaries unchanged, until well along into the nineteenth century.
The district of Saraghtoga, or, as it soon after was written, Sara- toga, embraced nearly all the remainder of the county south of the Sacandaga river, and the town of Easton, in Washington county. The district of Ball's Town was set off in 1775; the town of Easton, Wash- ington county, in 1789; a part of Greenfield in 1793, and the town of Northumberland in 1798; but at the close of the century the town of Saratoga, which was erected as such from the district of Saratoga March 7, 1788, embraced the present towns of Saratoga, Malta and Saratoga Springs.
The district of Ball's Town, which soon afterward was written Balls- town, then Ballston, was formed from Saratoga as a district April 1, 1775, and was organized as a town in 1788. Until 1792 the district, then the town, embraced the territory now known as the towns of Balls- ton, Milton, Galway and Charlton. March 7, 1792, the towns of Gal- way and Milton were erected; March 17, 1792, the town of Charlton was formed, and March 12, 1793, a part of Greenfield was taken off
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ERECTION OF THE COUNTY.
from Milton. The boundaries of Charlton were altered March 5, 1795.
Stillwater is one of the original four towns of the county, and was organized March 7, 1788, on the day on which Halfmoon, Saratoga and Ballston were erected as towns.
Greenfield was formed from the towns of Saratoga and Milton March 12, 1793. It then embraced a part of Hadley south of the Sacandaga river. Northumberland was formed from the town of Saratoga March 16, 1798. It then embraced a portion of Hadley, and the towns of Moreau and Wilton, retaining this territory until after the close of the eighteenth century. Galway, erected March 7, 1792, originally em- braced Galway, Providence and Edinburgh. Providence, which then embraced Providence and Edinburgh, was formed February 5, 1796, retaining Edinburgh until 1801. The other towns in the county were not organized until the early part of the present century, and the work of township erection was not completed until 1828, when the final organization of Clifton Park, first known as Clifton, was effected.
Several of the towns were erected before the county itself had been organized. Up to 1791 the territory now embraced within the confines of the county formed a part of Albany county, one of the original ten counties of the province of New York. February 17, 1791, the State Legislature passed an act "for apportioning the representation in the Legislature, according to the rules prescribed in the Constitution, and for other purposes." According to this law, the towns of Easton and Cambridge were annexed to Washington county, the county of Rens- selaer was created, and the county of Saratoga was set off. The law also said:
That all that part of the county of Albany, which is bounded easterly by Hudson's river and the counties of Washington and Rensselaer, southerly by the most north- erly sprout of that river and the town of Schenectady, westerly by the county of Montgomery, and northerly by the county of Washington, shall be an separate and distinct county, and be called and known by the name of Saratoga. And the bounds of the several towns in the said respective counties adjacent to and limited by the Hudson's river and Mohawk river, are hereby extended to and limited by the bounds of the said respective counties herein described, provided nevertheless that the rights and privileges heretofore granted to the corporation of the city of Albany by charter shall not be in any wise affected or abridged. And the freeholders and inhabitants of the said several counties, shall have and enjoy within the same respectively, all and every the same rights, powers and privileges as the freeholders and inhabitants of any other counties in this State and by law entitled to have and enjoy.
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be held in and for each of the said counties of Rensselaer and Saratoga respectively, a court of
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
common pleas and a court of general sessions of the peace, at such suitable and con- venient place within each of the same counties respectively, as such judges of the court of common pleas and such justices of the peace as shall be appointed for each of the same counties respectively, or a majority of them, shall respectively appoint; And that there shall be two terms of the same courts in each of the same counties respectively in the same year. .
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be law- ful to and for all courts and officers in the said counties of Rensselaer and Saratoga respectively, in all cases civil and criminal, to confine their prisoners in the gaol of the county of Albany, until gaols shall be provided in the same counties respect- ively.
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this State shall be, and is hereby divided into four great districts. The southern district to comprehend the city and county of New York, and the counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Rich- mond and Westchester; the middle district to comprehend the counties of Dutchess, Ulster and Orange; the western district to comprehend the city and county of Al- bany, and the counties of Saratoga, Montgomery and Ontario; and the eastern dis- trict to comprehend the counties of Columbia, Rensselaer, Washington and Clinton. And that the number of senators to be chosen in the said districts shall be as fol- lows: . . in the western district five. And Stephen Van Rensselaer, Peter Schuyler, Volkert P. Douw, Leonard Gansevoort and Jellis Fonda, shall be considered as senators from the said western district, and as they respectively go out of office, senators shall be chosen in the said western district in their places re- spectively.
In pursuance of this law erecting Saratoga county, Governor Clinton appointed John Thompson of Stillwater to be first judge; General James Gordon and Beriah Palmer of Ballston, Jacobus Van Schoon- hoven of Halfmoon, and Sidney Berry of Saratoga to be judges; the latter also to be surrogate; Jacob Fort, jr., of Halfmoon to be sheriff, and Dirck Swart of Stillwater to be county clerk. Thus was the organ- ization of the county of Saratoga perfected.
May 10, 1791, the first session of the Court of Common Pleas for the new county was held at the residence of Samuel Clark in the town of Stillwater, now the town of Malta. Judge Thompson presided, with the four judges named in the foregoing, and with Epenetus White, John Varnam (or Van Arnam) and Eliphalet Kellogg acting as associate justices of sessions. At the same time and place the first Court of Sessions was organized. It was presided over by Judge James Gordon, and John Varnam, Epenetus White, Eliphalet Kellogg, Richard Davis, jr., Douw J. Fonda, Elias Palmer, Nathaniel Douglas, John Ball and John Bradstreet, justices of the peace. The grand jury sworn in on that occasion consisted of Richard Davis, jr., foreman; Joshua Taylor, John Donald, Henry Davis, Hezekiah Ketchum, Seth C. Baldwin, Ezra
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FIRST COUNTY BUILDINGS.
Hallibart, John Wood, Samuel Wood, Edy Baker, Elisha Andrews, Gideon Moore, Abraham Livingston and John Bleecker. July 7 of the same year the first Circuit Court and Court of Oyer and Terminer was organized at the house of Jeremiah Rogers in Halfmoon, now Clifton Park. Chief Justice Robert Yates presided. June 4, 1792, the second term was held in the church at Stillwater. July 9, 1793, the third term was held in the Presbyterian church at Ballston.
With the organization of the courts and the beginning of official rec- ords of Saratoga county, the need for a public building became appar- ent. But it was not until the county was five years old that the first county building was completed. The first step taken toward its erec- tion was the appointment by the Legislatitre, March 26, 1794, of John Bradstreet Schuyler, Richard Davis, jr., James Emmott, John Ball and John McClelland, as commissioners for locating the county seat and building the court house and jail. The inhabitants of Ballston Centre and Milton, the two most thriving centres of population in the county besides Waterford, set up rival claims, and the contest for desig- nation as the site for the proposed buildings was great. Finally the commissioners accepted the offer of Edward A. Watrous of Ballston, who proposed to give the county a fine site on his farm, so long as the same should contain the court house and jail. Ballston was then de- clared to be the county seat, and the site of the new building became known as Court House Hill, an appellation which it has borne to this day. The commissioners made a contract with Luther Leet for the construction of the building. It was made of wood, was fifty feet square and two stories in height, with a one-story wing in the rear, and cost $6,750. It was first used by the county in May, 1796, when the courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions met therein. In 1799 a Circuit Court and Court of Oyer and Terminer was held there, Judge John Lansing presiding.1
In the meantime the first board of supervisors of Saratoga had been organized. This body met in Stillwater June 2, 1791. As there were at that time but four towns in the county, and each town was entitled to but one representative in the county legislature, the board consisted of these supervisors: Beriah Palmer, from Ballston; Elias Palmer,
1 This building was destroyed by fire March 25, 1816, when Ballston Spa was selected as the site for the new county buildings. In the old building at Court House Hill, courts were held by Judges Kent, Radcliff, Morgan Lewis, Smith Thompson, Ambrose Spencer, William W. Van Ness and Jonas Platt.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Stillwater; John B. Schuyler, Saratoga; and Benjamin Rosekrans, Halfmoon.
Pursuant to the first constitution, Samuel Clark of Stillwater was chosen as the first presidential elector from Saratoga county, in 1792, casting his ballot for George Washington. In 1800 Robert Ellis was chosen and cast his vote for Thomas Jefferson. The records do not give the name of any presidential elector from this county in 1796. At the general election in 1791 General James Gordon was elected a repre- sentative in Congress, and was re-elected in 1793, serving two terms. John Thompson, of Stillwater, first judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was elected in 1799, and served one term.
One of the earliest projected internal improvements calculated to enhance the commercial importance of Saratoga county was the plan for a canal extending north and south through the eastern part of the county, parallel with and in the channel of the Hudson river. For many years such a water highway had been under consideration. As early as 1791 Governor George Clinton, in a speech before the State Legislature, advocated canals extending from Albany north ward from the mouth of the Mohawk through the valley of that river. Again, during the legislative session of 1795, he recommended the adoption of some plan for inland navigation. Before this, February 7, 1792, General Williams of Salem, member of the Legislature from Wash- ington county, acting doubtless upon the suggestion of the gover- nor, had endeavored to secure the passage of a bill providing "for constructing and opening a canal and lock navigation in northern and western parts of the State," but nothing came of his efforts. But in 1795 two companies were organized-one for northern and one for western improvement. The former was incorporated as " The North- ern Inland Lock Navigation Company," whose avowed object was the construction of a canal with locks from the mouths of the Mohawk northward along the west bank of the Hudson around the rapids in the vicinity of Mechanicville and Stillwater. In the summer of that year surveys for the proposed work were begun, and before the year 1800 a considerable portion of the actual work had been accomplished. But the enterprise failed because of lack of funds, and the canal was abandoned. General Philip Schuyler was at the head of this company, and the ruins of the work were long known as "Schuyler's Ditch." One of the principal surveyors in the employ of the company was Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, who constructed the great Thames river tun-
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THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.
nel in London in 1825-1843. Though this enterprise met with disas- ter and caused the financial ruin of several men, it finally led to the building of the Erie and Champlain canals, which have done so much to bring prosperity to New York State, and to Saratoga county.
Early in its career, the inhabitants of the county enjoyed the advan- tages of the dissemination of news and the interchange of ideas of matters of import through the medium of a newspaper. On June 14, 1798, just one hundred years ago, the first newspaper ever published in the county made its appearance. It was printed by Increase and William Child at Court House Hill, in the town of Ballston, and was called the Saratoga Register or Farmers' Journal. The office of pub- lication was "over the store of Messrs. Robert Leonard & Co., nearly opposite the Court House," as appears from the title page of the first number of this paper.1 The Journal, as it was commonly known, sup- ported the administration of President John Adams, then the head of the Federal party.
Soon after the establishment of this newspaper the publishers of the Journal brought out the first book ever printed in this county. It bore this formidable title:
" A Plain Account of the Ordinance of Baptism; in which all the texts in the New Testament relating to it are proved, and the whole Doctrine concerning it drawn from them alone. In a Course of Letters to the Right Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hoadley, late Lord Bishop of Winchester; another of the ' Plain Account of the Lord's Sup- per ;' ye shall not add unto the word which I have commanded you, neither shall you diminish from it. First Ballston Edition. London. Printed: Ballston. Re- Printed by I. & W. Child. Sold at their Printing Office, nearly opposite the Court House. 1798."
Two years later the firm dissolved and William Child assumed sole management of the business. In that year he printed a book of two hundred and twenty two pages entitled: "A Plea for the Non-Con- formists," by Thomas Delaune. The preface was written by Rev. Elias Lee, then pastor of the Baptist church at Ballston Spa. The book was sold by subscription before printing, and at the end of the volume appeared the names of the subscribers, over one thousand in number.
The first census of Saratoga county, which includes the town of Easton, excludes portions of Hadley, Day and Edinburgh, and other-
1 This paper has undergone many changes, until it is now known as the Ballston Journal, published at Ballston Spa by C. H, Grose.
9
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
wise may be incomplete, was taken in 1790, before the organization of the county. It gives a total population of 17,077, divided among the four districts as follows: Ballston, 7,833; Halfmoon, 3,602; Saratoga, 3,071; Stillwater, 3,071. The census of 1800 shows a total population of 24,483, divided among the various towns as then established as follows: Ballston, 2,099; Charlton, 1, 746; Galway, 2,310; Greenfield, 3,073; Halfmoon, 3,851; Milton, 2,146; Northumberland, 2,007; Provi- dence, 1,888; Saratoga, 2,491; Stillwater, 2,872.
Some of the additional events of importance occurring in Saratoga county during the eighteenth century may be briefly summarized as follows: The discovery of the mineral springs of Saratoga county, which is described at length in another chapter; the founding of numerous schools and religious societies and the erection of their houses of worship, which is also described elsewhere in this volume; the development of the many fine water powers in the county and the erection of scores of saw mills, grist mills, tanneries and other indus- trial concerns; the improvement of highways and the establishment of stage lines.
Many other events of interest doubtless occurred within the limits of Saratoga county during the closing years of the eighteenth century, but historians in those days were few, and the gleaner of to-day is com- pelled to abide almost entirely by the existing records, official and pri- vate. Consequently but little else of importance concerning the pio- neers of Saratoga county, excepting the finer details of some of the transactions herein noted, probably will ever be known.
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FROM 1800-1831.
CHAPTER IX.
FROM 1800 to 1831.
History of the County from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Con- struction of the First Steam Railroad within its Borders-Wonderful Development of Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa -- Gideon Putnam and His Beneficent Labors -Early Hotels at the Springs-Some of the More Important Manufactures-Water Power of the Kayaderosseras-Churches Established in the County During this Period -- History of the Erie and Champlain Canals -- Semi-Centennial Celebrations of 1826-County Medical Society and County Bible Society-Men who Served as Officers in the Early Militia.
The history of Saratoga county during the period beginning with the opening of the present century and ending with the year 1831, when the State Legislature granted a charter to the first railroad company organized to construct a steam railroad which was to traverse the most populous portion of the county, is little else than a story of the peace- ful cultivation of the farming lands, of the development of its numer- ous fine water powers, of the establishment at many points of man- ufacturing industries which form such a potent factor in the prosperity of the county, of the development of the famous mineral springs at Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa and the erection of commodious and in some cases magnificent hotels in those villages, of the founding of churches and schools, of the improvement to the channels of com- merce by the erection of bridges and the building of turnpikes, of po- litical and territorial changes within the county-but greatest of all, of the building of the two great highways of commerce, the Erie and Champlain canals.
In the preceding chapters we have endeavored to give an accurate idea of the early settlement of the county, the establishment of some of the early industries and of the schools and religious societies which existed during the eighteenth century. In the same manner we shall now endeavor to straighten out the records of the doings of the inhab- itants of the county during the first third of the present century and show what they accomplished along the various lines of commerce and industry, of educational and spiritual advancement, in politics, in peace
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
and in war, until the arrival of the time when the entire commercial and industrial system of the community, and in fact the entire well- being of the community, were revolutionized by the introduction of steam power as a means of transportation.
Perhaps the most important commercial and industrial growth in any community in the county during the early years of the century occurred at Ballston Spa and other points near by in the town of Milton. The early development at this point was due to the splendid water power on the Kayaderosseras, which was harnessed by man several years be- fore 1800. The place also became known as a desirable one for resi- dence, not only on account of the water power furnished by the Kaya- derosseras, but on account of the mineral springs in the village and the court house, which was located at a convenient distance from the vil- lage. Several small mills and manufactories were located in and near the village very early in the century. The town of Milton, in which the principal part of the village lies, gained its name from this fact. For many years the locality about the Kayaderosseras in the southeast- ern quarter of the present town was known as Mill-town, and this name most naturally became Milton. It deserved the name, for there were dozens of mills of various kinds in the locality, as well as tanneries and shoe shops. Many of these were built during the preceding century and reference has been made to them in another chapter. The facili. ties of most of these mills were increased from time to time and new mills were erected as business warranted.
One of the most important of the early mills built on the banks of the Kayaderosseras in the village of Ballston Spa was a cotton mill erected in 1812 by Nicholas Low, Amos Olcott and others. But this industry was destined to meet an untimely end. The factory was run- ning with a full complement of hands one day about a month after it had been started, when the great "walking-beam " of the old-fashioned engine suddenly broke, almost completely wrecking the mill. So great was the damage done that the proprietors decided that they could not reconstruct the plant, and the concern was abandoned, throwing sev- eral persons out of employment. This disaster was considered quite a set back to Ballston Spa, but the enterprising inhabitants were un- daunted and in a short time had established other enterprises in its place, though the building itself remained unoccupied by any manufac . turing plant for nearly forty years. Part of the machinery was brought from Europe at great expense, but this and the labor of months was destroyed in one moment.
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BALLSTON SPA, 1800-1831.
Early in the century Ballston Spa was in its glory as a summer re- sort, its mineral springs having gained a world-wide reputation on account of their wonderful medicinal properties. The Sans Souci hotel, which stood on the north side of Front street where the Sans Souci opera house block now stands, was the most noted hotel at the Spa. In its rear was the Sans Souci spring. Some of the most noted men of the country, as well as distinguished men from abroad, were entertained at various times beneath its hospitable roof and drank of its health giving waters. Andrew Berger was one of its proprietors. The Sans Souci was for many years open in the summer season only. The Balls- ton Spa house, which stood on the west side of Milton avenue, at the corner of Washington street, where the office of the Ballston Spa Daily News is now located, was a winter hotel. It was burned in 1892. It was run in connection with the Sans Souci. The village was also well supplied with boarding houses.
Ballston Spa's first school was established about the year 1800. It was maintained for several years in the building used by the First Bap- tist society as a meeting-house. This building stood on Ballston avenue, in the eastern section of the site of the village cemetery. Early in the century-just when the removal occurred cannot be learned-the school house was abandoned and "the academy," a large, two-story structure, was erected on what is now Science street. This house probably stood on the ground now occupied by the railroad, on the east side of Science street. This school was not actually an academy, but simply a large school of two grades.1 There were also excellent private schools in the
1 This building was abandoned by the school about 1836, removed to the corner of Charlton street and Ballston avenue, and used by the Methodist congregation as a meeting-house. The latter finally sold it to the Catholic congregation. After the latter had used it as a house of worship for a few years, they sold it to private parties, who fitted it up as a dwelling. Two dis- trict school houses were built in 1836. One was located on Malta avenue, and the other on West High street, between Charlton street and Ballston avenue. These schools were succeeded by the Ballston Spa Union school system, which was organized April 17, 1870, by the election of the following board of education: President, Hiro Jones; clerk, Neil Gilmour; treasurer, John J. Lee; trustees, E. H. Chapman, Benjamin F. Baker, C. M. McClew, E. Parkinson and J. B. Cheydleur. For three years the schools were maintained in the old buildings and elsewhere. In 1873 and 1874 the brick high school building on Bath street was erected at a cost of about $23,500, and the school was opened therein September 14, 1874, by Thomas C. Bunyan, principal. It was originally arranged in three grades, but the growth of the village has caused a great increase in the school, and branches have been established several years in convenient places in the vil- lage. Arrangements are now (1898) being made for the erection of a still more commodious building. Thomas C. Bunyan remained in charge of the Union Free school as principal until 1892, when he resigned and removed to Berthoud, Col., and established the bank of Berthoud. He was succeeded as principal by H. H. Southwick, who resigned in 1897 to accept a professor- ship in the State Normal School at Plattsburgh, N. Y. Leland L. Landers became principal in 1897, but resigned in 1898, when A. A. Lavery was chosen principal. During the incumbency of
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