USA > New York > Essex County > Elizabethtown > Pleasant Valley : a history of Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York > Part 19
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Lucius Bishop built his hotel at New Russia in 1826. The main part 36 by 26, two stories high, had a ball room the whole length. No country tavern was considered complete without a ball room those days. This wayside inn was for several years after its erection the only painted building be- tween Split Rock Falls and Elizabethtown village.
Leander J. Lockwood served as Elizabethtown's Supervisor during 1827 and 1828.
John Sanders, Sr., moved into the Boquet Valley in 1827. He was born in New Hampshire in 1784 and married Polly Howe, soon after which he emigrated to what is now Lewis, settling on the farm to-day occupied by James Cross. To John and Polly Sanders were born twelve children, only seven of whom lived to maturity. The oldest, Louisa, married Luke Rice while the family yet lived in North Lewis. She died in the early 40s on the farm where B. F. Gilligan now lives. Polly, a young lady of 18 or 20 years, died soon after the family moved into the Boquet Valley. Sally married Alexander Roberts, father of John Sanders Roberts. She died at the home of the latter in the village of Elizabethtown in the 80s. Lovina mar- ried Stewart W. Smith about 1840 and lived and died in South Valley. Elmira, born in Lewis, April 21, 1817, married Rus- sel Abel Finney in November, 1842, and lived on Simonds Hill till April, 1868, when they moved to Postville, Ia., where he died in May, 1876. She is still living, residing with her son Solon Burroughs Finney at Fayette, Ia. Rozilla, born in Lewis in 1819, married Darius Wyman about 1847 and settled
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at Split Rock. Mr. and Mrs. Wyman moved to Ohio in 1855, settling on a farm near Cleveland, where he died in the 90s. She died only a few months ago. John H., born in Lewis in 1823, married Julia A. Clark of Westport about 1846, moved to Iowa in 1857 and died at Postville in 1897, where his widow lives with her children.
John and Polly Sanders lived some years in an old house on the east side of the Boquet River, on what is now known as the Scriver farm. After living a few years on the east side of the river Mr. Sanders built a spacious house on the west side of the stream, the house occupied for years by the Scrivers. This house was destroyed by fire October 9, 1889.
John Sanders, Sr., was an upright, industrious man and was counted the most progressive farmer in the Boquet Valley, being exceptionally up-to-date. His buildings and fences were kept in good repair and things were picked up about the premises. He died in 1864, his remains being buried in the Boquet Valley cemetery.
Deacon Levi Brown and family also came down here from Lewis in 1827. Deacon Brown at once became interested in a factory for the manufacture of axes, bush hooks, etc., which stood on the Barton Brook just about where the John Barton blacksmith-shop stands. Deacon Brown lived in a house which stood where Frank H. Durand now lives on Water Street.
In 1827 Leonard Stow became Essex County Clerk, having the Clerk's Office at his house on Water Street. The records in the Essex County Clerk's Office furnish ample proof of this fact. Leonard Stow was a brother of Gardner Stow.
A meeting of the Baptist Church was held April 10, 1828, the minutes of the meeting closing as follows : "Voted to have a special meeting a week from to-day at 1 o'clock at the Court House." On Thursday, April 27, 1828, the special meeting was held. The church met and began to "investigate the
FCO. Sy.MY
CHANCELLOR WALWORTH.
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principles of the Institution of Masonary." Then and there began the agitation which led to the calling of a council-Feb- ruary 17, 1830, being the time of its meeting-to try to settle their difficulties. The final result, according to the Rev. H. Steelman's account, was the formation of a second church, which was fellowshipped by a council of brethren from the dif- ferent churches of the Association, January 8,1834. Elder Isaac Sawyer was Moderator of the council and Franklin Stone was Clerk. No records of the first church appear after February, 1832; the second became the leading church and soon ab- sorbed the entire interest and assumed the name of the First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, N. Y. Captain John Calkin, then Surrogate of Essex County, was a bitter foe of Masonry and led the anti-Masonic fight. As a result of one Town Meet- ing, when the Masons had control, Captain John Calkin was, figuratively speaking, "run out of town." That is to say a new town line between Elizabethtown and Jay was run and the head and front of the anti-Masonic fight and some of his sympathizing neighbors found themselves over in the town of Jay. This of course put Captain John to the trouble of going over the mountain to Jay to vote but he said he was satisfied, as taxes were lower in Jay.1
In the year 1828 General George Izard, he who had led an army of 4,000 strong through Elizabethtown in the declining summer of 1814, went to his grave. To his credit be it said that he protested at the time against leaving Plattsburgh with his troops.
During this year Eli Hull of Keene, veteran of the Revolu- tion and War of 1812, died, being buried near Hull's Falls on the Ausable River, near where the sturdy military hero lived for over a quarter of a century.
1 Dr. R. J. Roscoe informs me that Captain John Calkin said to him that his taxes were lower in Jay and therefore it mattered not if he was "run out of town."
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In 1828 Leander J. Lockwood of Elizabethtown became Sheriff of Essex County.
In the fall of 1829 there came to Elizabethtown to reside a veteran Sea Captain, Jacob Allen, who came here with his family from Ticonderoga. He had come to Ticonderoga from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. His idea in getting up among the mountains was that his children would not be so liable to follow the sea. And none did but some of his grandchildren are reported to have gone that way. Jacob Allen's wife was Lucy Gallup. They had 14 children, several dying in infancy. The sons who grew up were Alva, Enos Gallup, Aaron Hall and Isaac. The daughters who grew up were Rebecca, Eliza, Ruth and Susan T.
Enos Gallup Allen, 2d son of Jacob Allen, invented the dial steam gauge and also a planer similar to the Woodward planer. He was in the secret service during the civil war, holding a Colonel's commission.
Aaron Hall Allen went to Boston, Mass., and became a mil- lionaire. He died in Germany in 1889, his body being brought home for burial in Riverside cemetery.
Rebecca Allen married Benjamin Severance and their son became one of the most noted Baptist clergymen of New Eng- land, dying a few years since in the very heyday of a promis- ing career.
Eliza Allen married Royal Chittenden, son of Uri Chit- tenden who was buried in the old cemetery. These Chittendens were of the Governor Chittenden family of Ver- mont. Royal Chittenden became a manufacturer of earthen- ware, living in the old house on "Durand Farm," using the basement of that building for his manufactory. His clay he obtained from a bed a few rods beyond the old Durand house. Royal Chittenden used to send a man out on the road to sell his earthenware, such as pots, kettles, pans, etc. Loyal Hall,
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a local wag, used to go out occasionally and would invariably come back home under the influence of too much "good cheer." Mr. Chittenden would ask Hall how he got along and the good feeling salesman would answer : "Some I sold, some I broke, some I gave away and back after more."
Royal Chittenden eventually went to California, where he is said to have accumulated considerable property.
Ruth Allen married her cousin named Gallup.
Susan T. Allen married Edgar Manly Marvin. Their children were George Fred, Edgar A., Walter M., Charles A., Lucy, Mary and Harris J.
George Fred Marvin became a photographer. He lived at Keeseville the latter part of his life and died a few years ago. His widow and daughter still live in Keeseville.
Edgar A. Marvin is married and lives in Detroit, Mich.
Walter M. Marvin married Emma Young and lives in Eliz- abethtown, being head of the business firm (furniture and un- dertaking) of W. M. Marvin & Son. The children of Walter and Emma Marvin are Fred A. Marvin, merchant, of Lewis, who married Bessie M. Brown, Edgar Manly Marvin, who mar- ried Winifred Smith and who is his father's partner in the furniture and undertaking business, Mrs. William A. Still of Roslyn, L. I., and Miss Jennie Marvin who lives at the pa- rental home.
Charles A. Marvin, a graduate of Union College, class of 1887, married Miss Grace Noxon, is a lawyer and holds a re- sponsible position in the Post Office at Ballston Spa.
Lucy Marvin married Darwin Bridges, then of Keeseville, and now lives near Alstead, N. H.
Mary Marvin married P. A. Olcott and lives at Keeseville, N. Y.
Harris J. Marvin is married and lives in Detroit, Mich.
Jacob Allen was born August 20, 1789, and in his younger
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manhood made many and long sea voyages. On his way home from one of his long voyages he was captured twice by the British in the War of 1812. He had the small pox on Mada- gascar Island and came near dying. After all these experi- ences he came up here among the mountains and started an old fashioned cabinet-shop on the Plain. The shop stood just across the street from the furniture and undertaking shop of W. M. Marvin & Son of to-day. In fact the main part of the present shop is the old shop fixed over. Jacob Allen built the spacious house to-day occupied by Edgar Manly Marvin. This house was built to take the place of one destroyed by fire in 1843. Jacob Allen died August 2, 1852. Jacob Allen's widow died April 9, 1871, aged 80 years. Their graves are in Riverside cemetery.
Henry Marvin, the father of the elder Edgar Manly Marvin mentioned, came from Connecticut to Williston, Vt. Henry Marvin was a mill-wright. He put up the Merriam Forge building on the Boquet River below Wadhams Mills.
Edgar Manly Marvin, the elder, came to Elizabethtown when a young fellow and went to work in Jacob Allen's shop and eventually not only married Mr. Allen's daughter but became sole proprietor of the shop and business, which he conducted till 1879 when he took in as partner his son Walter M. Marvin head of the present firm. Edgar Manly Marvin died in 1887 and his widow died in 1889.
Henry Marvin's other children were George, James H., Maria, Thirza, Lucia and Sarah. James H. Marvin is the only one of the children now living, his residence being in Philadelphia, Pa.
It has been said that the lumber business reached its height in Elizabethtown between 1820 and 1830. Certain it is that during the latter 20s the lumber business was prosecuted on a large scale here and if it did not bring individual wealth to all
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those who engaged in it, it furnished employment to many men. The iron interest at this time was also rapidly develop- ing, becoming a source of considerable revenue and furnishing employment to a large number of men. Saw-mills were built at almost every available point on the swift mountain streams and forges "grew up in a day," as it were. In accordance with the improved conditions brought about by the boom in the lumber and iron business the people of Elizabethtown had ad- vanced to the building of comfortable frame houses, the forerunner of the air of thrift, pride and architectural beauty which has since settled upon the place.
Alanson Mitchell served as Supervisor of Elizabethtown from 1829 to 1831, inclusive. At this time his son Jacob Mitchell had become large enough to clerk in the store and Post Office. Jacob Mitchell afterwards went to Florida, in which State he was living only a few years ago.
In the summer of 1830 Elizabethtown received a temporary set-back. Reference is here made to the great freshet, than which no more disastrous flood ever visited this section. Saw logs, trees, fences, houses and everything imaginable, except the "everlasting hills," came down Water Street. The Little Boquet, swelled to overflowing banks, swept along with the besom of destruction, striking the old Ross whiskey distillery, (then being superintended by the late David Benson, Sr., a veteran of the War of 1812) and the old grist-mill by the bridge. The distillery was ruined and the grist-mill was so badly worsted that it never ground any grain after that fatal summer day. It was afterwards made over into a store and is to-day the front part of the store of Harry H. Nichols. The red store of Ira Marks which stood just be- low the bridge by the grist-mill was carried down stream, goods, Masonic records and all. Mr. Marks went down to the city and told the people from whom he bought goods just what
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had happened, stating that he wanted some credit, for which he could give good security. When asked what security he could give, he replied : "My note, it's good." Credit was given him and he returned to Elizabethtown and arranged a new place in which to conduct mercantile business and went ahead as though nothing had happened.
Just below the Ira Marks store, on the same side the river, stood the hotel then kept by Pollaus A. Newell. The freshet struck the hotel and damaged it to such an extent that Pollaus A. Newell could not recover from the effects thereof. Public records show that sales on execution followed shortly. Pol- laus A. Newell moved to Ohio and "started again," financially speaking.
The house of Jeremiah Stone just below the hotel was sur- rounded by water and the road along in front of the Richard L. Hand premises of to-day was all washed out. In fact it was some years before the village of Elizabethtown fully re- covered from the destructive effects of the great flood of 1830.
Edmund F. Williams and Leander J. Lockwood ran the old Valley House after Pollaus A. Newell left town. They had a big hotel sign, an Indian Chief, which is well remembered by some of our older inhabitants. Eliona Marks bought the old Valley House in 1833 and began running it.
In the early 30s a cloth manufactory was in operation on Water Street, Leander J. Lockwood running it. The building in which the cloth was made stood near where E. Trudeau re- sides. There was a dam across the Little Boquet, water power being used. The entrance to this manufactory was between two small elm trees. The small elm trees of the early 30s are now giants and may be seen standing side by side, and only a few feet apart, in front of Mr. Trudeau's residence. A. McD. Finney and Dr. R. J. Roscoe remember well when this cloth
A
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factory was in operation, and when Leander J. Lockwood lived in a house which stood just above it.
From 1832 to 1834, inclusive, Charles Noble served as Su- pervisor of Elizabethtown.
In the month of April, 1831, there arrived in Elizabethtown two families, both of whom were destined to leave their names in our local geography. We refer to the arrival of the Hand and Jackson families.
Augustus Cincinnatus Hand, born in Shoreham, Vt., in 1803, and Elizabeth Seeley Northrup, his wife, after a short residence in Crown Point where Mr. Hand practiced law and where their eldest child, Clifford Augustus Hand, was born in February, 1831, came to Elizabethtown with their baby boy about the mid- dle of April, 1831, the former having recently been appointed Surrogate of Essex County by the Governor. As they drove into Elizabethtown village they came along up the river bed, as left by the freshet of 1830, and as the wagon stopped near what is now the entrance to the Richard L. Hand home on River Street, Mrs. Hand stepped out upon what was left of the sidewalk after the disastrous flood of the previous year. Mr. Hand bought and moved into the house vacated by Gard- ner Stow. This house stood just east of the entrance to the Richard L. Hand home.
Shortly after arriving in Elizabethtown Augustus C. Hand was appointed Postmaster, he was elected to Congress in 1838, State Senator in 1844 and rounded out his political career as Supreme Court Judge. In the little house to which he moved in April, 1831, were born his sons Samuel and Richard Lock- hart and his daughters Ellen and Marcia, the former becoming the first wife of Matthew Hale and the latter the first wife of Jonas Heartt, a college mate of her brother Samuel. Judge Augustus C. Hand was an enterprising resident and did all in his power to add to the attractiveness and beauty of his adopted
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town, also to improve the tone of the place socially and other- wise. In 1848 and 1849 he erected the spacious brick house to-day occupied by his only surviving son. In 1862 the Hand law office was erected, Joseph Emnott doing the mason work. Hand Avenue, the street on the east side of the Plain in the village of Elizabethtown, was named in honor of Judge Au- gustus C. Hand.1
Daniel Jackson, a native of Peru, N. Y., and a veteran of the War of 1812, and Rhoda Ann Cady, his wife, moved into Eliz- abethtown with five children. Before coming here Daniel Jackson and family had resided in the town of Ches- terfield, also at Brookfield in the town of Essex. Upon his arrival here he moved into the Theodorus Ross house south of the Court House. Julia Ann, Sarah Jane, Samuel Doty, Charlotte Elizabeth and Daniel Cady were the children Daniel Jackson and wife brought to Elizabethtown. From the Theo- dorus Ross house they moved to the Fisher house, across the street from and a little below the Dr. Alexander Morse house. While living in the Fisher house Oscar F. was born. From the Fisher house the Jackson family moved to a plastered house nearly opposite Nathan Perry's house on the Plain and there Martin Van Buren was born. Daniel Jackson next moved to the Brownson farm on the road from Fisher Bridge to Simonds Hill. It was while Daniel Jackson lived on the Brownson farm that his oldest daughter Julia Ann (born March 24, 1816, and who still lives, residing in Grangeville, Cal.,) married George Knox, who died in the west a few years ago. From the Brownson farm Daniel Jackson moved to the famous Corner House (now part of The Windsor) and in this old landmark William Wallace was born November 12, 1839. From the Corner House Daniel Jackson and his large family
1 Further matter relating to Judge Augustus C. Hand will appear in a chapter on the Bench and Bar.
ELIJAH SIMONDS, Elizabethtown's Greatest Hunter and Trapper.
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moved up on to the Captain John Calkin farm and the following spring he moved on to the Calvin Calkin farm which he had purchased and which has ever since been known in local par- lance as the Jackson farm. Moreover since the early 40s a stream passing through this farm has been known on all maps as the Jackson Brook, named in honor of the active proprietor of the place, who there toiled with his growing sons till they reached their majority and went west one after another.
Daniel Jackson was a quick, impetuous sort of a man, pos- sessed of tireless energy and generously disposed. He was formerly & Baptist. Having a brother John who became a "Mormon Elder," Daniel finally went over to the Mormons and eventually "Aunt Rhoda Ann," as Mrs. Jackson was locally known, embraced the Mormon faith. However, she afterwards repented and wrote her confession to the Elizabethtown Bap- tist Church. And it is said that Daniel Jackson himself as he approached old age gave up Mormonism, burned his papers, etc.
The entire Jackson family emigrated to Wisconsin during the years from 1846 to 1858. William Wallace, the youngest of the Jackson children, was the last to leave Elizabethtown. He married a Shores and lives at Strum, near Eau Claire, Wis., and judging from letters he writes to relatives in the old home town there remains with him a fondness for the friends and scenes of his childhood.
Daniel Jackson died in Sparta, Wis., in his 77th year. Rhoda Ann Jackson died there in her 83d year. Their remains, with those of Sarah Jane and her husband and a daughter of Samuel Doty rest in the cemetery at Sparta, Wis. Martin Van Buren died in St. Paul, Minn., while Oscar F. died in Eau Claire, Wis. Charlotte Elizabeth, widow of William Allis, and Daniel Cady live in Delta, Col.
There was great activity in Elizabethtown during the first
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few years following 1830. Two forges were built just after the freshet of 1830, one on the Black River below Brainard's Forge, by Joshua Daniels, whose wife was a Palmer. Joshua Daniels. left a large family of sons, including the following : Ira, Palmer, Nathan, Ezekiel, Charles Wesley and Andrew J., the latter being the only one now living. Andrew J. Daniels is a veteran of the civil war and a resident of Westport. The other forge built in Elizabethtown just after the freshet of 1830 was lo- cated in the Miller settlement. The Nobles are said to have furnished the money with which to erect the forge in the Mil- ler settlement. This forge stood a few rods from the present residence of William H. McDougal. The Miller Kilns, so- called, were built to furnish coal for the forge in the Miller set- tlement. The Miller Kilns stood about two miles south of the forge.
In 1832 Robert Wilson Livingston, then 22 years of age, came to Elizabethtown from Lewis where he had resided since 1817. Upon arriving here he boarded with David Russell Woodruff who lived in the house latterly known as the Judd house, just across Maple Street from where Maplewood Inn now stands.
About this time Robert Wilson Livingston's father, Dr. William Livingston, opened the first drug store ever conducted in Elizabethtown village. The stock of drugs was kept in the little building previously used by Ashley Pond for the Essex County Clerk's office. This building, it will be recalled, stood on the southwest corner of the lot on which the Lamson house now stands.
In the month of September, 1833, occurred the death of Azel Abel,1 who had served as a soldier from Massachusetts in
I In speaking of Azel Abel and family earlier in this work no mention was made of Willis Abel, a brother of Azel Abel. It was Willis Abel after whom our late townsman Willis Nichols was named, the latter being a grandson of Azel Abel.
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the American Revolution, had crossed Lake Champlain from Orwell, Vt., in 1798 and became Elizabethtown's first hotel keeper. He died in the Boquet Valley and was buried in the old cemetery. It may truthfully be added here that the name Abel has been a prominent one in the history of Elizabeth- town for 107 years.
During this period of Elizabethtown's history Captain John Lobdell was acting as Jonas Morgan's agent in Elizabethtown and Westport. Captain John Lobdell still lived up on the hill back of where Cornelius Ryan lives on the Westport turnpike to-day. In those days Captain John Lobdell kept a black- smith constantly employed. The blacksmith was of good old English stock, having come directly from England to Westport. His name was William Hooper, father of that well-known vet- eran of the civil war, Robert Hooper of Westport. The black- smith-shop stood in the "fork of the road" a few rods towards Elizabethtown from the residence of Cornelius Ryan. Jerome Theron Lobdell, only surviving son of Captain John Lobdell, a man of truth and veracity, (a true scion of a noble sire) says he remembers well when Jonas Morgan visited his father's house for the last time. It was after Captain John Lobdell had moved down off the hill to what is now Meigsville, probably along in the 40s. At that time the two men, accord- ing to the only living witness of the transaction, settled up, passed receipts, etc., and bade each other farewell, to meet on earth no more forever, as that was the last visit he of Mor- gan's Patent fame ever made to this section.
It has been stated on the pages of history that the Essex County Times was founded by Robert W. Livingston at Eliz- abethtown in 1832. However, the best evidence in the world- the bound files of the Essex County Times-exist to prove that historians have heretofore been in error concern- ing the date of the founding of this paper. The bound files
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are before the author of Pleasant Valley and show beyond the shadow of doubt that the Essex County Times was not started until the autumn of 1833, as Vol. 1, No. 1, is dated "Elizabethtown, N. Y., Wednesday, October 9, 1833." R. W. Livingston was editor, I. P. Wheeler being printer. The Essex County Times was a weekly paper. Augustus C. Hand was then Postmaster in Elizabethtown village. A list of let- ters remaining uncalled for at the Elizabethtown P. O. Oct. 1, 1833, contained the following : Ames Edward, Baldwin Rev. J. B., Brownson Jehiel C., Brown Elijah, Chase Hiram, Du- rand Milo, Eddy Joseph, Fitzgerald Joseph 2, Furness Daniel H., Higley Dudley, Jackson John (Mormon Elder), Knapp J. C., Knoll Jean, Lockwood L. J., Lewis Calvin, Lewis David, Lewis Lucy, Lobdell Silvanus, Major Hector Robert, Mitchell Alanson, Mitchell William N., Machzorda Charlotte, Newcomb Cyrenus, Nichols John, Nichols Rowland, Person Jane D., Saywood William, Sabin E. W., Stearn John, Wilson Joseph, Wilson H., Wood Plinney, Woodruff Timothy, Weiber Pries- dolph.
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