USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 29
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people: a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 29
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Alfred Drury, M.D., was born in Canton, May 15, 1849, and was educated at Potsdam Normal School. He taught school, while study-
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ing medicine, for about five years, and studied with Dr. A. G. Goss, of South Canton, also in the University of Vermont, graduating in 1876. Then, after practicing five years, he took a course in the University of New York, from which he graduated in 1882, and the next year came to Canton. Dr. Drury is a member of the St. Lawrence County Medi- cal Society, of which he has also been president. He took a post graduate course at Harvard College, and is considered a medical authority. In 1878 Dr. Drury married Frances A. Parmelee, and they have two chil- dren, Grace and Charles.
B. C. Cheesman, M.D., was born in Jefferson county, December 19, 1856. He studied at Adams Collegiate Institute, and at the Baltimore College of Physicians and Surgeons, and graduated in 1880. In that year he began practice in Jefferson county. He has been in Gouverneur two years. Dr. Cheesman is a member of the Jefferson County Medi- cal Society, is a Master Mason, and was formerly a Forester. His father was Clifford Cheesman, a native of the Mohawk Valley, and his mother Angeline Wheeler.
John N. Bassett, jr., M.D., was born in Canton, August 11, 1850. He was educated at the Canton Union School and the St. Lawrence University, and studied medicine with Dr. Seymour at Hermon, and in the University of New York, graduating in March, 1882; he then opened his present office in Canton, where he has ever since been actively engaged in practice. In 1882 Dr. Bassett married Lillian A. Wright, and they have one son living, Harry Wright Bassett. Dr. Bassett has been a member of the Board of Education for eleven years, and was president of the board for two years. He also served as coroner for three years. He is a member of the St. Lawrence County Medical Society.
Dr. Silas J. Bower, was born in Kalptville, Canada, March 17, 1843. His father, Joseph Bower, was a son of William Bower, a native of Scotland. The latter was a graduate of Oxford University. He studied medicine and about 1800 came to America, where he was a surgeon in the British Army, but resigned his commission, took up land in Canada, and for some time was engaged in teaching. He died at South Gore, at the age of fifty-four. Joseph Bower was born in Williamsburg, Canada, in
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
1813, and in early life was engaged in building canals. He finally entered the general mercantile business, which he followed for some time. He was coroner of Williamsburg, and was a member of the militia during the Patriot War, having been at the Battle of the Wind - mill. He married, in Kalptville, Canada, Mary A. Huntington, daughter of Silas Huntington, of Kalptville, and they had seven sons and four daughters, of whom ten grew to maturity. Mr. Bower died in Kalptville, September 7, 1870, where his wife now resides at the age of seventy-five years. Our subject, while receiving his education, assisted his father in the mercantile business. He took a medical course in the McGill University, graduating in May, 1865. He then came to Waddington and engaged in the practice of his profession, and after a year returned to Kalptville, where he remained one year and a half. Later he came again to Waddington, where he has since had a very successful practice. June 8, 1869, Dr. Bower married Frances M. Clark, daughter of William Clark, a native of New Hampshire, who came to Waddington when a young man. He was a carriage maker, and for over fifty years he was proprietor of the Clark House in Wad- dington. He died some years ago. Dr. Bower and wife have had four children : William J., a graduate of St. Lawrence University, is in an abstract office in Youngstown, Ohio; Edith C. resides at home ; Charles P. is deceased ; and Henry H. resides at home. In politics Dr. Bower is a Republican. He has been a member of the School Board, and is a member of the Waddington Lodge No. 393, F. & A. M., in which he has served as master. He attends and supports the Episcopal Church.
Ira J. Fuller, M.D., was born in West Parishville, November 13, 1857. He was the son of J. Chauncey and Chloe Fuller. He took a course of study in the Potsdam Normal School, but did not wait to graduate before entering college. He received his diploma from the University of Vermont, and in 1888 he took the degree of M.D. from the same institution. Dr. Fuller taught school six years. He was principal of the Heuvelton Union Free School two years, and also of the Rensselaer- ville Academy. Shortly after receiving his degree he commenced practice in Spragueville. In the same year he married Mary, daughter of P. H. Wheater, of Heuvelton. In politics Dr. Fuller is an active Re-
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publican, and at present is a member of the Republican County Com- mittee, and also one of its executive committee.
De Witt Clinton Douglass was born in Chateaugay, Franklin county, November 8, 1826. His father, George W., was a native of this State, and served at the battle of Plattsburg in the War of 1812. He con- ducted the mills of Chazy and Chateaugay. The mother of our subject, Patty M. Manning, was a native of Canada. De Witt C. was next to the youngest of eight children. He was educated at Malone Academy, and in 1847 entered Castleton (Vt.) Medical College, from which he graduated with the degree of M.D. in 1849. He followed the practice of his profession a short time in Northern Vermont, then returning to his home to assist his father in his increasing business. He remained in Chateaugay until 1857, and then moved to Brasher, where he owned and conducted a grist mill until 1863 During the time he and his brother, George M. Douglas, bought the Norfolk mill, and in 1863. they together bought the Horton mills and property in this village. They conducted the flour and saw-mill until 1872, when he sold the former to his brother and invested in real estate in Florida. He trans- ferred a wilderness into an orange grove, which he has divided, and, after selling two groves, now owns about thirty acres. He devotes his time to orange culture in winter and the manufacture of lumber in Madrid in summer. In politics Mr. Douglass has always been a staunch Republican, but has never been an aspirant to public office, devoting his whole time to business. He is a member of the Metho- dist Church, and has twice barely escaped with his life from the edifice. once when he fell with a staging, and again at the time of the fire. Mr Douglass married, in 1853, Alma J., daughter of John B. Jackson, a native of New Hampshire, and many years a resident of Chateaugay, Malone and Canton. He was for fourteen years wood and lumber agent for the O. & L. C. Railroad.
C. B. Hawley. M.D., was born in Millroche, Canada, while the family were temporarily living there, they being St. Lawrence county people. Jesse B., the father, was born in Kings county, but spent most of his life in the town of Madrid, St. Lawrence county. He died in Richville, aged eighty-nine years. His wife, Rebecca L. (Hitchcock) Hawley. was born in Franklin county. The grandfather, John Hawley, also
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
spent nearly all his life in Madrid. Subject was educated at the St. Lawrence University, medical department Michigan State University, and the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, where he grad- uated in 1871, since which time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in the towns of Russell, Richville and Gouverneur, com- ing to the latter place in 1888. In the fall of 1890 he was elected coroner He was appointed one of the Board of United States Exam- ining Surgeons at Ogdensburg, May, 1891, and resigned March 4, 1893. He married, December 27, 1871, Lucy, daughter of Darius and Almira (Hoard) Chapin, of Russell. They have two sons, Henry Bart- lett, student at St. Lawrence University, and Jesse B. They have also an adopted daughter, Louise Chapin Hawley.
H. K. Kerr, M.D., was born in Dundas county, Ontario, January 27, 1857. He received his literary education at the Kemptville High School and the Kingston Collegiate Institute. He studied medicine at Trinity Medical College, Toronto, and graduated in 1891 in that insti- tution, also in the University of Trinity College and the University of Toronto. He then came to Hammond and began the practice of medi- cine, in which he has been very successful. In 1886 Mr. Kerr married Miss Anna Eugenia Franklin. He is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters.
Daniel W. Finnimore, M.D., was born in Morley, December 24, 1854, a son of Joshua W. Finnimore, a native of England, born in Bristol, April 8, 1823, who came with his parents to this country. In 1832 they located at Lisbon, where William P., father of Joshua, worked at black- smithing. The family moved to Morley in 1835, where Williani P. built a shop and established a trade. In 1845 he made a venture in real estate, and kept increasing his possessions until at his death, December 24, 1891, he owned over 1,000 acres in this county. He married, in 1847, Margaret S. Glass, of Lisbon, and they had six children, four now living. Daniel W., the only son, has always made his home in this county. He was educated at Canton Academy and taught for two years, then entered the office of Drs. J. H. & C. C. Benton, at Ogdens- burg, where he read medicine for two years. During this time he attended a course of lectures at the University of Michigan in 1880-81, and his diploma and degree were received from the Fort Wayne (Ind.)
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
College of Medicine, March 1, 1883. In 1884 he was elected professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the college from which he grad- uated, and at the end of the year he resigned and commenced the prac- tice of medicine and surgery in this village. After practicing some time he took a post-graduate course at the New York Post-Graduate School, and then began practice in Potsdam, where he has ever since remained. Dr. Finnimore, in addition to his professional duties, conducts a large farm of over 200 acres, in which is also located a plant for the manu- facture of brick, tile and flower pots, where he employs about thirty hands. He has also there a large fruit and vegetable supply garden. He is also a partner in the clothing firm of C. E. Solle & Co. He married, in 1891, Ella C., daughter of Luther Everett, of Lawrence.
R. G. Feek was born in England, September 28, 1856. He received his preliminary education in the public and high schools of Kingston, Ontario, after which he attended Queen's College, Kingston, and graduated with the degree B.A. from Trinity Medical College, Toronto, Ont., in 1891. Prior to graduating in medicine he was a member of the Methodist Conference, and preached for a time, but preferring medi- cine, soon continued his studies until he graduated, since which time he has actively followed his profession. Dr. Feek married, in 1891, Naomi Plows, of Toronto. He is an active member of the Masonic fraternity, Good Templars, and Foresters, and is one of the most popular young physicians in St. Lawrence county.
Patrick Henry Shea, M.D., was born in Kenmare, ten miles from the beautiful lakes of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, October 10, 1847. Being deprived in childhood, by death, of a mother's care, he, with his father and younger brother, came to this country when only nine years of age.
His father soon married again, and his stepmother not entertaining the most ardent affection, he at the tender age of ten years, determined to make his own way in life. He labored on the farm summers, attended the common schools winters, and thus continued until January 4, 1864, when he enlisted at Watertown, N. Y., at the age of sixteen years, in the 14th Regiment New York Volunteer Heavy Artillery, being soon transferred with the rest of his company to the 13th New York Volun- teer Heavy Artillery.
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
He served in that regiment, in Company H, until the close of the war, after which he was attached to Company M, 6th New York Vol- unteer Heavy Artillery, and honorably discharged from the service at Washington, D. C., August 24. 1865.
Returning immediately to Watertown, he then, at the age of eighteen years. determined to obtain a good education, and for that purpose, entered at once the Ogdensburg Educational Institute, subsequently Canton Academy and finally Falley Seminary, at Fulton, N. Y., receiv- ing at these then noted schools a most excellent academic education. His worth and ability as a student may be appreciated when President Richmond Fiske, D.D., offered him a complimentary free scholarship in St. Lawrence University. John P. Griffin, A.M., principal of Falley Seminary, said of him, when a student in that far famed institution of learning, "I am more than pleased with him. He is one of the most faithful, diligent and well behaved students I ever knew."
He taught in the public schools for five years under a first grade cer- tificate. He began the study of medicine in 1873 with Dr. J. C. Preston, of Canton, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Vermont in 1876. He attended a post-graduate course in the following year and began the practice of medicine in Morley, in this town in 1878, and removed to Canton village in 1881, where he has been in practice ever since. He has been the county physician all the time of his practice in Canton village, except one year, and he now holds that appointment. He is one of the chartered members of the Grand Army Post at Canton, and is surgeon of the same. He married Miss Alice A. Graham, and they have one son, John Augus- tine Shea.
Dr. James S. Mckay was born July 12, 1859, in Ottawa, Canada, of Scotch Irish descent. His father was in the lumber business over forty years in Canada. Dr. Mckay was educated in the common and high schools of Ottawa. His medical education was obtained at McGill College, Montreal, and Rush College, Chicago. In 1885 he settled in Potsdam, where he has built up a very lucrative practice and made many friends. He has been connected with the Health Board work of this village and has made a special study of sanitary science.
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John B. Brooker, M. D., was born in England, June 26, 1848. He was early apprenticed to a chemist, druggist and dentist, and subse- quently took up the study of medicine at Winchester College, from which he graduated in 1869. In the fall of the same year he came to America, and after practicing eleven years in Jefferson county, came to Hammond in 1881. In 1870 he married Sarah Mitchell, who died July 26, 1878. Of her children only one is living, Mary Maggie Louise. In 1879 Dr. Brooker married his present wife, Mary (Harvey) Brooker. His father was John Brooker and his mother Annie Brooker, who died while he was yet an infant.
Don Melville Hooks, physician and surgeon was born in Constantia, Oswego county, March 29, 1868. His parents moved to Central Square when he was two years old, and there he received his education in Central Square Academy. He taught school two years and followed various other employments until the fall of 1890, when he entered the medical department of the University of the City of New York, gradu- ating April 4, 1893. May 22, 1893, he took the place of Dr. Brower in Madrid, where he is rapidly building up a practice that promises to be one of the best of the local profession. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, connected with Central Square Lodge, No. 622.
W. B Finnegan, M. D., was born in Louisville, and received his early education at Massena Academy. He studied medicine at Ann Harbor, Mich., and graduated in 1882. He began practice in Michigan but re- turned to his native county in 1884, locating in Edwardsville, where he has built up a large practice. His parents were Irish by birth, and settled in Canada, subsequently moving to Edwardsville, St. Lawrence county.
Morris Beckstead, M. D., was born in Dundee county, Ontario, May 27, 1854. He received his preliminary education in the schools of that vicinity and Morrisburg, after which he attended the Kingston Medical School, and graduated from McGill University, Montreal, in 1878, immediately thereafter commencing the practice of his profession at Crysler, Ontario, and one year later moved to Lisbon Centre, where he has since continued in active and successful practice. Dr. Beckstead is of German and English descent. His parents were New England
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
loyalists, who settled in Ontario about 1812. In 1882 the doctor mar- ried Alma Lytle, of this county, and they have two children. He is identified with the Masonic brotherhood, County Medical Association, etc., and is a very popular physician.
Cornelius A. Barnett, M. D., was born in Waddington, May 1, 1862, a son of Jeremiah, a farmer of that town, who soon after moved into the town of Potsdam with his family. Dr. Barnett was educated in the common schools and in 1883 graduated from the Potsdam State Normal School. From 1883 to 1885 he taught in the city schools of Ogdensburg, and the following two years was principal of the public schools of Tuckahoe, Westchester county. During these last two years he studied medicine with Dr. Nordquist of that place, and in 1887 he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Harbor. After two years there he went to Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating March 10, 1890. He opened practice in Potsdam the same year, where he has built up a very lucrative practice and made many friends. He married in 1887 Blanche, daughter of Robert Lowry, esq., of Ogdens- burg. She died two years later, leaving a daughter, Blanche. Dr. Barnett married again in 1892 Maud, daughter of Jacob P. Lobdell, a farmer of this town, formerly a merchant of Madrid. During his student days and since, the doctor has given a great deal of attention to the causation of disease and has done much original work along these lines. July 1, 1893, he was appointed chief divisional inspector for the State Board of Health, by Gov. Flower, which position he now fills.
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THE TOWN OF LISBON.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TOWN OF LISBON-ORGANIZED IN 1801.
T HE town of Lisbon lies on the St. Lawrence River, northwest of the center of the county. Its soil is fertile and well adapted to the growth of the various grains and fruits raised in this latitude, but more especially for grass. The surface is usually level, slightly un- dulating in places, and is watered by the ten miles of river front, and in the rear by numerous brooks, springs and creeks. The Grass River crosses the southeast corner and has numerous tributaries rising in the town. The islands in the St. Lawrence opposite the town near the American shore, such as Isle aux Galloup, the historic Chimney Island, Tick and Lalone's Islands, are parts of the town of Lisbon, which in- creases the acreage over several of the other towns of the county.
The organization of the town of Lisbon differs somewhat from that of the other towns of the county. Previous to its organization the ten townships were attached to the counties of Montgomery, Oneida and Herkimer, to which places the settlers were obliged to go to transact legal business. With a view of overcoming this difficulty and in ex- pectation of securing the county seat for the new county to be soon erected, twenty-three of the settlers presented a petition to the Legisla- ture February 9, 1801, praying that the ten townships be erected into a town named Lisbon, to be attached to Clinton county. An act con- forming to this petition was passed March 6, 1801, and the new town was attached to Clinton county. The first town meeting was held at the house of Alexander J. Turner, and the following officers elected : Alexander J. Turner, supervisor ; John Tibbets, town clerk ; John Tibbets, jr., Benjamin Stewart, Joseph Edsall, Seth Raney, Will- iam Shaw, assessors; Calvin Hubbard, Jacob Redington, Benjamin Stewart, Wesson Briggs, Jacob Pohlman, commissioners of highways ; Peter Sharp, Joseph Furman, John Thurber, constables ; Peter Sharp,
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
collector ; Uri Barber, Benjamin Bartlett, John Lyon, poor masters ; Samuel Allen, Benjamin Galloway, William Shaw, Benjamin A. Stew- art, Joseph Edsall, Reuben Fields, Adam Milyer, Joseph Thurber, pathmasters ; Uri Barber, George Hilman, John Tibbets, jr., Asa Fur- man, John Sharp, fence viewers; John Tibbets, jr., Benjaman A. Stew- art, trustees of glebe.
It will be seen that there were not sufficient men in the ten town- ships qualified to hold office, as some held from one to three offices and were scattered over the entire territory. The settlers in the various townships had to go to lisbon (Galloupville) to vote at the fall election, and the poll list shows that the firm of Ogden & Ford was considered freeholders of the value of one hundred pounds or upwards, and the re- maining settlers of the ten townships numbered just twenty- one and were assessed as renting real estate worth at least forty shillings per annum.
John Tibbets, of Troy, had purchased of Alexander Macomb, Feb- ruary 22, 1789, a tract of 9,600 acres of land lying on the St. Lawrence and near the western border above the Galloup Islands, in Lisbon, for the sum of £860 New York currency. He mortgaged the same for part payment, with the condition that no interest should be charged if kept out of the peaceable possession thereof by Indians, or by reason of any claims which the Indians might have. The records show that no interest was paid from 1791 to 1796 inclusive, for this reason.
Samuel Allen was the first to commence a settlement on the banks of the St. Lawrence river in Lisbon. He with his family and others came from Vermont. Allen settled just below the Galloup rapids, in February, 1797, but sold out in 1802 and went to Madrid.
Andrew O'Neill came from Canada, but originally from Ireland ; he crossed the St. Lawrence in October, 1799, and settled on a farm now owned by his son Andrew, about two miles below the village of Galloup- ville. The following summer Mrs. O'Neill was about to be confined, and as there were no neighbors near the place, she crossed over to Canada and stopped with her friends until her troubles were over. The town was then being surveyed for the proprietors by Reuben Sher- wood. Tibbets's tract was principally surveyed by Daniel Church. Mr. O'Neill employed men from Canada to build him a log house near
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the river side. He afterwards erected a large frame dwelling which served him during his lifetime, and which his son in after years used as a granary ; this he has carefully preserved in memory of his boyhood days.
The first birth of a white child was that of a daughter in the family of John Tibbets, September 14, 1800, and was named Dorcas. She eventually became the wife of Amos Bacon, a business man for many years in Ogdensburg. Mr. Tibbets was a descendant of the old Puri- tan stock, his ancestors having emigrated from England at a very early period.
Early in February, 1800, Alexander J. Turner, of Salem, Washing- ton county, came into the town by way of Lake Champlain and located half a mile above the Galloup Falls, on the first three river lots joining Tibbets's tract. Mr. Turner came here as agent for the land proprietors and continued in that capacity until 1805, when Louis Hasbrouck suc- ceeded him. Mr. Turner died in the following year. He was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and formed one of the bench at the first organization of the court. Peter Sharp and Peter Hinton, from Schoharie, came in 1800, took up farms and erected houses near the Galloup Falls. John Tibbets, of Troy, the land owner, came in and settled on his tract in the spring of 1800. The following year Reuben Turner, a Revolutionary soldier, William Shaw, Lemuel Hoskins, Will- iam Lyttle, James Aikins, and Matthew Steward, of Becket, Mass., Wesson Briggs and Hezekiah Pierce also came into the town and settled on farms. The three latter were connected by marriage with the family of Tibbets. John Tibbets and wife, John Tibbets, jr., and wife, and Wesson Briggs and wife, started from Schenectady up the Mohawk in an open boat, with their effects, for Tibbets's tract in Lisbon. After a voyage of thirty-five days, by way of Indian creek, Oswego River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence, they arrived safely about the Ist of June, 1800, at a point about five miles below Ogdensburg. The party at once erected a rude log cabin on lands recently owned by Deacon William Briggs, where the three families lived until better accommodations could be provided. The entire country was then an unbroken wilderness, inhabited with Indians and infested with wild beasts. They, with other families, shared the hardships and privations
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
incident to the pioneer's life. Had it not been for the kind neighbors they found in the Tory families, who settled on the opposite shore in Canada during the Revolution, and who aided them in every possible way, their sufferings would have been far greater. In 1802 the sons of William Lyttle, John, Samuel, William and James ; also Richard and John Flack, Mr. Crosset, Isaac and Elihu Grey, John McCrea and sons, John, jr., Samuel and Alexander, and several others arrived in town during the following two or three years. Among them was Robert Livingston, who held the office of county judge from 1810 to 1829. He also held the office of justice of the peace for twenty years, and was several times elected supervisor of the town. He was one of the principal supporters of the Presbyterian Church in Lisbon. He was grandfather of that famous orator and sceptic, Robert L. Ingersoll, who passed his boyhood on the banks of the St. Lawrence.
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