USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 46
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people: a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124
Trinity Church (Episcopal) -As early as 1816 the Rev. Daniel Nash, while on his missionary tour through the county, visited Pots- dam. In June, 1818, Rev. Amos G. Baldwin, who had the Waddington and Ogdensburg parishes in charge, made a tour through the several towns in the county and visited Potsdam. Rt. Rev. Dr. Hobart, bishop of the Diocese of New York, made a visit to Potsdam in Au- gust of the same year, but nothing resulted in regard to establishing services there. For many years after the church people were de- pendent for ministration on the missionaries at Waddington, held in the old academy. In the year 1831, July 15, Rev. Aaron Humphrey officiated at Potsdam. Again on the 21st of May, 1833, he held serv- ices, examined candidates, and baptized one adult. On the following Sunday the Rt. Rev. Dr. Onderdonk, Bishop of New York, held serv-
496
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
ices in the Methodist church and administered the rite of confirmation to eleven candidates. A call was extended to the Rev. Richard Bury, of Ogdensburg, on the 11th of November, 1834, who entered upon his labors soon after, and became the first rector of the parish. On the 23d of March, 1835, a parish was organized under the name of " Trinity Church," (Potsdam), and articles of incorporation were duly executed,
Stansbury Noese_ KAS
with John C. and Augustus Clarkson, wardens; David L. Clarkson, Zenas Clark, Theodore Clark, Myron C. Munson, Noble S. Elderkin, Samuel Partridge, Frederick Miller, jr., and Aaron T. Hopkins, vestry- men. The southerly half of Fall Island was offered by the proprietor for a site for a church ; the work was commenced and the corner-stone laid in June of 1835. The church was completed and consecrated on the morning of the 7th of August, 1836, by Bishop Onderdonk, and on the afternoon of the same day ten persons were confirmed. The
497
THE TOWN OF POTSDAM.
edifice and furnishing cost $5,880 ; all of this sum, except $1,500 do- nated by Trinity Church, New York, after which the plan was taken, was raised in the parish. In 1858 the interior of the church was re- modeled at a cost of $5,698. The sum of $3,000 was bequeathed to the parish by the late Augustus L Clarkson. The chapel erected in 1884 was provided for by Mrs. Elizabeth Clarkson as a memorial to her late husband, Thomas S. Clarkson. In February, 1886, the church was reconsecrated by Bishop Dr. C. Doan, after the erection of a new front to the structure. This work was the gift of Thomas S. Clarkson and his sister. The tower is a memorial to their parents. The nave window, " Christ the Light of the World," was a gift of Mrs. George H. Allan, of New York, as a memorial to her parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Hopkins.
Catholic Apostolic Church .- There are only a very few organizations of the peculiar character of this one in the United States. The sect originated in Scotland about 1830, spread to England, and in a few years men were named for office of apostle, as was believed by the Holy Ghost speaking through prophets. In time twelve such apostles were selected, and under their guidance the church has gradually in- creased, especially in the old countries. The beginning of the church in Potsdam was in 1837, when two evangelists named Card and Cuth- bert came at the invitation of David Lewis and began preaching. Since that time various persons have conducted the peculiar service, which in 1893 is under charge of W. F. G. Sealy. The membership is small.
Roman Catholic Church .- The first mass said in Potsdam was cele brated in the house of a Mr. Burk in 1832 by Father Salmon, to about a dozen people. In 1841 there were twenty-five families in that dis- trict. where Father Mackey, of Ogdensburg, said mass for a few months. He purchased a large dwelling house, where he said mass three or four times a year to about fifty persons. He blessed the house and gave it the title of St. Mary's. In 1857 Potsdam became an independent parish with Father Philip Keveny as its first pastor. Father McGlinn soon succeeded him, and erected a church in the place of the old house. Bishop McCloskey in 1859 dedicated the new building capable of hold- ing 600 persons,
63
498
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
In 1879 the Catholic population in the parish numbered 1,350 souls. Bishop Wadhams twice visited the parish and confirmed 205 persons. The Catholic spirit of the parish is very good and has never lost its tone from the beginning.
A Free-will Baptist Church was formed at West Potsdam July 4, 1841, by Elder D. F. Willis, of thirty members. This church erected a house of worship, in connection with the M. E. society, in 1842, at a cost of $600, which was dedicated October 2 of the same year. The society was incorporated June 29, 1843, with G. S. Hathaway, Horace Hathaway and B. Lane, trustees.
THE VILLAGE OF NORWOOD.
The early settlement of Raquetteville, which is now the thriving vil- lage of Norwood, has already been described. It is situated in the northeastern part of the town of Potsdam, on the Raquette River, at the junction of what was formerly the Northern Railroad (afterwards the Vermont Central) and the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Rail- road.
The building of the Northern Railroad, which ran through the north- ern part of this town, between 1847 and 1850 (see page 177) marked a new era in this section. The railroad at one point crossed the Raquette River on the farm of Benjamin G. Baldwin, and there Mr. Baldwin donated to the company fifteen acres of land with a right of way across his farm. From this action a station was founded. In 1850 Mr. Baldwin built a tavern, which was burned in March of the next year, and in 1851 two other taverns and several dwellings were erected. In 1852 a substantial dam, with a fall of eight feet, was constructed across the river, affording a valuable water power. A highway bridge was built a little below the dam. The lands were laid out into village lots and streets, houses multiplied and mills were erected. A post-office having been established in January, 1847, the village was incorporated in 1872, and the name changed to Potsdam Junction; also, in 1875, to Norwood.
In 1878 there were in the place one general store, four dry goods stores, seven groceries, two of which were large ones, two hardware stores, two drug stores, one jewelry store, one furniture store, and
499
THE TOWN OF POTSDAM.
numerous other minor places of business and shops. There was also a steam grist mill of H. S. Martin & Son, which was started in 1874, and now discontinued ; a hub factory operated by the same firm ; the flour- ing mill of Hiram Rodee, a substantial stone structure with five run of stone, run by water, built by parties in Potsdam village, has since been burned ; the Davis threshing machine factory, now discontinued ; Pearson's broom handle and hoop factory, recently burned; Beam & Waldron's tannery, built in 1877, now discontinued, and the Norwood Lumber Company.
This destructive fire alluded to occurred in 1871, which also destroyed a large portion of the business establishments of the village on the main street, which are now covered almost wholly by handsome brick structures. There are now for fighting fire three good hand engines, with two organized fire companies, hose carts and other equipments. Music Hall was erected in 1889 by the village and the town sharing equally in the expense. It is an attractive brick structure, which cost $6,500, and is used for public meetings and entertainments; for the latter purpose a stage and scenery were fitted up. The village and a small part of the town of Norfolk are embraced in the Union School District No. I. It was organized as a graded school in the spring of 1870, the school comprising four grades, academic, senior, junior and primary. The school building in use at the time the graded school was established was erected eight years earlier. This was supplanted in 1884 by a new brick structure which cost with its furnishings about $15,000. Seven teachers, including one for music, are now employed in the school, with E. F. McDonald as principal. The present officers of the village (1893) are as follows : Henry Ashley, president ; trustees, M. F. Bartlett, William Smith, T. N. Murphy ; treasurer, George F. Clark; collector, E. I. Wait; clerk, George Harris.
The manufacturing operations of Norwood are now almost wholly under control of the Norwood Manufacturing Company, which was organized in 1875. The officers are L. R. Ashley, president; H. H. Day, superintendent ; I. B. Hosley, managing trustee and superintend- ent; William McEchron and F. L. Day, the last two men being of Glens Falls. They operate what was formerly the Reynolds saw mill, built many years ago by Amos Bicknell; a structure built at the same
500
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
time for a starch factory, and afterwards changed to a shingle mill and a door and sash factory ; the mill originally built by James Morgan & Co., which passed through several ownerships to Lovelace & Fonda, who erected a steam mill and transferred the whole to the Norwood Lumber Company. All of these various properties are now in the hands of the company, which have been extensively enlarged and im- proved. Their product consists of spruce and pine lumber, which is manufactured and sold, box shooks, butter tubs, lath, shingles, doors and sash, etc. The capital of the company is $80,000.
State Bank of Norwood .- This institution was organized in 1887, with a capital of $25.000 paid up. The officers from the beginning have been as follows : president, C. P. Vedder; vice-president, L. R. Ashley ; cashier, F. L. Smith. The bank has been prosperous and now has a surplus of about $6,000, and average deposits of $125,000.
Newspaper .- The Norwood News was started in 1877 by E. D. Parker, who conducted it for about five years, when it was purchased by F. R. Smith and F. R. Martin. The paper is Republican in politics, is ably edited, and has a large circulation.
Cyclone .- A destructive wind storm passed over Norwood, coming from the southwest, about five o'clock in the afternoon of August 12, 1885. Some twenty minutes previous to its arrival, a dark blue cloud was noticed coming up from the horizon, which was preceded by an ominous calm that settled over every visible thing. The trees stood motionless, birds ceased chirping, men and women were silently hurry- ing for places of shelter, and all seemed to have a premonition of danger at hand. As the cloud drew nearer, a roaring, hissing sound was plainly heard at a distance of five or six miles, which increased to a wild crash as it struck. Hailstones as large as walnuts added to the din, while the air was filled with all kinds of missiles, such as boards, shingles, hen-coops and dirt. Persons who were caught out were dashed to the ground and pummeled along before the wind like a foot- ball. Several houses were demolished, while some others were tossed about like toys. Trees were wrenched from the ground and scattered in all directions, houses unroofed, chimneys blown off, and about every window light exposed to the storm in the village was broken. . The railroad bridge, a truss structure some 250 feet long, was lifted from its
501
THE TOWN OF POTSDAM.
foundation, wrenching it from the bed ties, and was carried some thirty or forty feet down stream and dropped into the river. Two persons were killed outright, Mrs. David Fitzgibbons and Michael McMartin, by falling timbers of a house and barn, and several others were more or less badly injured. It was estimated that $150,000 damage was done in Norwood and vicinity.
Methodist Church .- In the year 1855 the Methodist Church at Nor- wood was organized, though services had occasionally been held here in school-houses previous to that date. Various pastors served the church until 1861, when they joined with the Congregationalists in building a church. The two congregations remained in that connection for six years, when the Methodists withdrew according to the original agreement, and with the money received from the Congregationalists, and with a liberal subscription from their people, erected the present house of worship, a substantial brick building. The society a few years later built a parsonage. The church is in a prosperous condition and is under the pastoral charge of Rev. John W. Simpson, who is also pastor of a small congregation at Knapp's Station. The membership is 138, and the trustees as follows : Harris Wilbur, George W. Drew, H. L. Collins, and W. H. Wells.
First Congregational Church of Norwood .- This church was organ- ized March 4, 1858, with nineteen members, also with Norman Ashley, Robert McGill, and A. T. Holbrook as trustees, and under the pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. E. W. Plumb, of the St. Lawrence Academy, who preached about three years. The church building was erected in 1861 at a cost of $4,000, and was dedicated February 13, 1861, in connection with the Methodists. In 1868 the society bought the interest of the Methodists, and repaired the present house of worship at a cost of $1,200. The deacons of this church are O. H. Hale and George F. Clark ; the trustees, S. D. Leonard, George F. Clark and George Harris
St. Andrew's Mission (Episcopal) .- This mission was formed Febru- ary 7, 1874. Services were held for a time in the Congregational church on the first and third Sundays of the month. Since May, 1892, Rev. E. R. Earle has been the pastor. A pretty brick church has been in process of construction a number of years and is just finished in 1892- 93 ; its cost is about $5,000. The warden is M. Valley ; treasurer, J. A. Valley ; clerk, F. G. Partridge.
502
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Church of Visitation .- This Catholic church was founded about the year 1878, and is an offshoot from the church in Potsdam. The first attendant pastor was Father Walsh, and the first resident priest is Father John Fitzgerald, who is at present over the church. Under his administration the land and property has been acquired. There are about ninety- eight families in the church.
Besides these churches in the villages of Potsdam and Norwood there is a Scotch Presbyterian organization which branched from the church of that section in the town of Madrid in 1852 and built a church edifice in the following year, about two miles northwesterly from Norwood. Services have been maintained most of the time since.
Buck's Bridge .- This is a small hamlet in the western part of the town on the Grass River, and on the road leading from Madrid to Can- ton. The place derives its name from Isaac Buck, of Shoreham, Vt., who settled here about 1807. In 1809 he built a saw mill, cleared a tract of land, and about the same time opened a store. He traded some years, and from 1838 to 1848 Orrin Buck had a store Other former merchants were W. H. Wilcox, A. A. Simmons, and in 1867 Franklin Castle had a small store which was purchased in the next year by A. G. Buck, who has carried on the business ever since, and is now postmaster also. The old saw mill that has passed through the hands of various owners is now operated by James Spears, who purchased the property about two years ago.
In the year 1837 a separate Methodist charge was formed from the Canton Circuit, one of the classes being at Buck's Bridge. There had been preaching, however, at this place in still earlier years. A frame church was erected about the same time, and has in later years been extensively repaired. The membership at the present time is about sixty, and the pastor is Rev. J. R. Kay.
A house of worship was built at Buck's Bridge for the Second Ad- ventists in 1856, and preaching was kept up for a number of years with considerable regularity ; but there is no pastor at the present time and the membership is very small.
West Potsdam .- This hamlet, formerly known as " Smith's Corners," is in the northwestern part of the town, and received its former name from Gurdon Smith, the first settler. When the post-office was estab-
503
THE TOWN OF POTSDAM.
lished it was given the name of West Potsdam. Philander Simmons is the present postmaster, and has kept a store and shoe shop there for nearly forty years. The first mercantile business at this point was car- ried on by A. M. & O. N. Skeels, beginning nearly or quite sixty years ago. Nathan Crary then had a store a few years in connection with a law office ; he closed out and went to Potsdam. There is no manufac- turing here except butter and cheese, in which William H. and Au- gustus Lewis are engaged.
A small church was built at West Potsdam for the use of the Meth- odists and Free-Will Baptists in union in the year 1842. The Methodist Society was formed there in 1846, with John Wellwood, Erastus Robbins and William S. Horr, trustees. The Free Will Baptist Society was formed in 1841 by Elder D. F. Willis and thirty members. The society was incorporated June 29, 1843, with G. S. Hathaway, Horace Hathaway and B Lane, trustees. A Congregational church in West Potsdam was incorporated July 8, 1842, with David Barnum, B. Hem- ingway and Henry Dayton, trustees. About the year 1857 the church edifice which this society had erected was transferred to the Methodist Society (above described), and the old church built by the Methodists and Free-Will Baptists was abandoned. The present pastor of the Methodist church here is Rev. Robert Kay and the membership is small.
The early settlement of what has been known as Yaleville has been described. The principal business there at the present time is the grist mill operated by David Clark and owned by O. E. Martin. Mr. Martin has also established there a pulp mill, which is located on the Norfolk side of the river (see Norfolk).
504
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TOWN OF DE KALB-ORGANIZED IN 1806.
D E KALB, the eighth town erected by an act of the Legislature, passed February 21, 1806. It was one of the original ten town- ships, No. 7, of ten miles square, and formerly under the jurisdiction of Oswegatchie.
The act creating this town designated "the Cooper Hotel in said town " as the place for holding the first town meeting, and there the following officers were elected on the 18th day of March. 1806: super- visor, Isaac Stacy ; town clerk, Amos Comly ; assessors, James Burnett, John Seeley, Thomas Benedict; commissioners of highways, Potter Goff, Timothy Utley, Elias Alexander ; overseers of the poor, Eseck Whipple, Timothy Utley ; constable and collector, Elijah Farr. These officers were sworn in before James Cooper, justice of the peace.
The limits of the town have twice been curtailed : first, in 1825, when part of De Peyster was taken from it, and again in 1830, when a strip one mile wide and six long, in the southeastern corner, was annexed to what is now the town of Hermon. The town now lies toward the cen- tral part of the county, with De Peyster on the north, Canton on the east, Hermon on the south, and Macomb and Gouverneur on the west. The town was named from the celebrated Baron De Kalb, a native of Alsace, Germany, formerly a province ceded to France. He came out with Lafayette in 1777, and performed important service under General Washington in our Revolutionary War. He was killed in a battle near Camden in 1780, where a monument has been raised to his memory. The town contains 49,657 acres ; its surface, while not hilly, is much broken by ridges of gneiss and white limestone. The soil is fertile and generally under good cultivation, and the dairying interests of later years are large and prosperous. The Oswegatchie River flows in a diagonal course nearly through the center of the town ; Beaver Creek forms the boundary between De Kalb and De Peyster; Harrison's
505
THE TOWN OF DE KALB.
Creek flows across the southeastern corner, and there are other small streams. Lead ore exists in the town and some mining has been pros- ecuted in the southeastern part in past years. Pyrites and barytes are found which possess value as a product, and near Richville are now ex- tensive lime manufactories.
The territory of De Kalb was originally owned by Samuel Ogden, and by him was sold to Judge William Cooper, father of James Feni- more Cooper, the distinguished author, of Cooperstown, N. Y. In May, 1803, Judge Cooper, accompanied by thirty-four persons, mostly from the towns of Cooperstown and Richfield, in Otsego county, started to form a settlement on his purchase. A number of the party, with two wagons and spans of horses and a cart drawn by two yoke of oxen, proceeded by way of the Black River country and the old State road to the clearing of Abram Vrooman, near the site of the little village of Oxbow. There they found the roads in such a condition that it was necessary to build boats for a part of their loads, and two canoes were constructed from logs, under direction of Jehiel Dimick ; these were lashed together and loaded with part of the freight. This party con- sisted of the following: William Cooper, the proprietor, Salmon Rich, Isaac Stacy, Eseck Whipple, Richard Merrill, Elisha Cook, William Brown, Gardner Brown, William Stone, Asa Ransom, Timothy and Elijah Utley, Abner Wright, Andrew McCollom, Asa Ransom, jr., James and Elijah Farr, and the wife and sister-in law of the latter, Joseph and William Woodhouse, Dr. Robert Campbell, Ralph R. Bell, wife, sister and daughter, Elijah Stockwell, Jehiel Dimick, John Hew- lett, and William Sloan. Of these, Dimick, Rich, Bell and Hewlett came down the Oswegatchie River with the load, while the others came along the road towards Ogdensburg. Their first night was passed in a deserted shanty five miles from Oxbow, where they narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling tree which they had fired to keep off mos- quitos. On the second night they reached Bristol's tavern, half a mile north of the Corners, in the present town of De Peyster. There the women were left while the men cleared a road and bridged Beaver Creek in order to reach their future homes. This was accomplished in eight days, the distance being seven or eight miles, and the settlement was made on the banks of the Oswegatchie, just above Cooper's Falls.
64
.
506
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
Alexander McCollom, Peter Goff and Stephen Cook, of the original party, went in boats up the Mohawk River with goods which Judge Cooper had purchased in Albany with which to open a store, and they reached their destination by way of Oneida Lake, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence and the Oswegatchie, arriving with others of the party on the site of De Kalb village June 12, 1803. The usual custom of putting up log houses was begun, and the first night was passed within the walls of one without a roof. On the second day another house was built, and on the third a building for the store, all roofed with bark or boughs. Goff, Campbell and Andrew McCollom were surveyors, and soon laid out several farms. Salmon Rich took up 11,850 acres in the southern corner of the town ; Mr. Farr a large tract in the eastern part, and Stacy another tract in the northern part. A large part of these lands afterwards reverted to the heirs of Mr. Cooper. Among the names in the foregoing list of pioneers will be found many of persons and their descendants who in after years and even to the present day have been prominent in the county in various ways.
While some of the settlers proceeded with their clearings, others, in the employment of Mr. Cooper, made preparations by getting out timber, digging and blasting a canal, etc., for building a mill at the falls. This place has ever since been known as "Cooper's Falls." William Brown sowed two acres of winter wheat, and in the year 1803 the first saw mill was built. The entire town was afterwards surveyed into lots. furnishing a basis for all subsequent titles.
Three of the families mentioned and most of the men of the first party remained in the settlement during the first winter, and in the spring the families of Salmon Rich, Isaac Stacy, James Farr, Jonathan Haskins, James and Richard Merrill, Timothy Utley, and Sackett Dodge came in, and also Dr. J. Seeley, Barton Carver, Seth Alexander (the man that was drafted in the summer of 1812, see anecdote, page 140) and Elias Alexan- der, Elijah Pooler, James Burnett, Nathaniel Holt, James Cooper (a brother of the proprietor), Elisha Griffin, and others. The year 1805 saw the arrival of Philo Lord, Thomas B. Benedict, Horatio Johnson, Obadiah Johnson, Jacob Preston, William Cleghorn, Daniel Smith and his six sons (Harvey, John, Nathaniel, Daniel, Phineas and Richard), the latter family from Canada, and Solomon Pratt, and probably others.
507
THE TOWN OF DE KALB.
The following list of jurors of the town in 1806 adds a few to the foregoing names of residents, and is of interest in this connection : Joseph Anderson, Elias Alexander, Seth Alexander, Ichabod Arnold, Isaac Burnham, Thomas S. Benedict (then a merchant), James Burnett, Amos Comly, James Farr, James Farr, jr., Elisha Griffin, Potter Goff, Nathaniel Holt (a shoemaker), Levi Holt, Jonathan Haskins, Horatio G. Johnson, Obadiah Johnson, Israel Porter, Solomon Pratt (a black- smith), Solomon Rich, Isaac Stacy, Henry Smith, Nathaniel Smith, Timothy Utley, Abner Wright, Joseph Woodhouse (a carpenter), Will- iam Woodhouse and Joshua Sweet.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.