USA > New York > Essex County > Elizabethtown > Pleasant Valley : a history of Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York > Part 7
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Joseph Jenks soon took high rank in Elizabethtown. He was appointed Justice of the Peace and Assistant Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He lived about 10 years in a house
1 The rock mentioned in the deed dated nearly 104 years ago came to be the "well-known rock" in deeds of a later date. Curiously enough this "well-known rock" was swept away during the great freshet of 1856, disappearing entirely from mortal view and no trace of it has since been found.
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which stood near where David W. Dougan now lives on River Street in the village of Elizabethtown. The consideration for the property purchased by Joseph Jenks of Noah Ferris and Sarah, his wife, was $1090 and a warranty deed was given, the date of recording being June 29, 1812. Judge Joseph Jenks moved to Northwest Bay three or four years before his death, which occurred in 1815, his mortal remains being buried in what is known as the "south burying ground." His wife's name was Hannah. His daughter Mary married Ira Hen- derson, who was born near Fort Ann, Washington County, N. Y., in 1791, and came to Northwest Bay from Whitehall, N. Y., before 1815. A daughter of Ira and Mary Henderson, Mary Ann by name, married William Richards. William Richards died in 1881 but his widow still survives, being in the 89th year of her age. Mrs. Mary Ann Richards is a remarkably well informed old lady and in years gone by gave valuable as- sistance in the preparation of this work.
By reading page 65 of Deed Book A in the Essex County Clerk's office one finds that Elijah Rich sold 3 acres and 33 rods of land to Azel Abel, the date of the deed being Sept. 8, 1801. The consideration was $50, warranty, recorded Sept. 20, 1802.
Another man who came to Elizabethtown in 1801 was Amos Rice. He was born Sept. 13, 1768.
He came to Elizabethtown, cleared ground, built a house and grist-mill near the site of the present grist-mill in the extreme western part of this village. He is said to have driven the first wagon into Elizabethtown. In 1803 he brought his wife and six children to Elizabethtown to live in the wilder- ness home he had founded.
The following list of children and date of births was taken from the old family bible by permission of Mrs. E. L. Barker of Elizabethtown, a daughter of the late George Rice :
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Sally Rice, born Nov. 14, 1790. Solomon Rice, born Dec. 20, 1792. Levi Rice, born June 19, 1795. Alvah Rice, born March 30, 1798.
Clarissa Rice, born June 30, 1800. Amos L. Rice, born Jan. 28, 1802. Robards Rice, born May 24, 1804. Lorin Rice, born Nov. 23, 1807. Abigail Rice, born Dec. 7, 1811. George Rice, born Nov. 28, 1815.
In connection with the Rice family there is an interesting chapter which, while it was not enacted here in Elizabethtown, should nevertheless be recorded in a book like Pleasant Valley.
The details of that awful butchery known in American his- tory as the Wyoming Massacre are too well-known to call for repetition. Suffice to say that the quiet of that peaceful, happy valley was suddenly converted into a terrible uproar as 400 British "Tories" and several hundred Indians led by Col. John Butler entered the Wyoming Valley. The settlers who were at home made what resistance they could against over- whelming odds and were driven to the shelter of Fort Forty. Two days later they surrendered. The inhabitants generally were massacred or driven from the valley, which the Indians left a smoking solitude.
Among those who had settled in Wyoming Valley was the Rev. Eber Andrews, an Episcopalian clergyman who had been born and reared near London, England. Coming to America, he went into the wilderness, settling in the Wyoming Valley, where he farmed it week days, and preached Sundays, a com- bination common in those early times. When the Indians swooped down into the valley, the Rev. Eber Andrews, his wife Sarah and their family, including a six year old daughter- Abigail-with about 70 others made their escape. They were
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scantily clothed, had but little food and one old black horse. Two bags, one of flour, one of corn meal, some bedding, some pork and a web of cloth hastily cut out of the loom is a list of what they had. After getting across the river and up on to a hill overlooking the valley, they looked back and saw the In- dians setting fire to their houses, tearing open their feather beds and dancing about like demons.
Eventually Miss Abigail Andrews, who was born Aug. 5, 1772, grew to womanhood, being married to Amos Rice in the autumn of 1789, the ceremony being performed at Clarenden, Vermont.
Amos Rice was an honest, upright man of rough exterior, a mechanic of no mean ability, and had no use for professional men generally. A prominent Essex County lawyer, a resident of Elizabethtown, once approached the old miller with a prop- osition which carried with it a slight advantage to the pro- poser. The lawyer was as diplomatic as ever lived but he couldn't touch the old miller. Mr. Rice told the lawyer to go away and attend to his own business, his usual brusqueness marking the entire conversation.
Amos Rice died suddenly at Austin Deming's house, (now John F. Ward's) April 13, 1848, aged 79 years.
Abigail (Andrews) Rice was a resolute woman. Her reso- lution, however, was tempered with tender sensibilities. She was one of the first members of the old Elizabethtown Baptist Church and was firm in Christain faith to the day of death. She died Dec. 15, 1857, aged 85 years.
Recently the writer walked up to the old Roscoe cemetery in the town of Lewis for the purpose of visiting the last earthly resting place of Mr. and Mrs. Amos Rice. The graves are in the center of the cemetery, plainly marked by headstones and easily found.
Reuben Andrews, a brother of Abigail Andrews, lived in
ANSON FINNEY. Father of A. McD. Finney.
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Elizabethtown early in the 19th century. He was an old time clock maker. His clocks were hand made and warranted. A clock face made and hand painted by Reuben Andrews is be- fore the writer at the present time. It bears the following : By Reuben Andrews. No. 395. For Azel Abel, Elizabeth- town, April 22, 1809.
Reuben Andrews lived on the old Keene road, so-called, just west of the Cobble Hill Golf Ground, and took produce of all kinds in exchange for his clocks. It is curious to note that while the Andrews hand made clocks were common hereabouts 50 years ago, none can be found intact to-day.
Reuben Andrews moved to Wheatland, N. Y., about 1811 and died there, leaving relatives.
Lorin Rice succeeded his father in command at the grist-mill, selling out and going west in 1882. He died several years ago.
Abigail Rice, who married Roswell A. Johnson, a first cousin, a son of Rhoda Andrews, was the last of Amos Rice's children to survive, dying in 1901, in the 90th year of her age. She too was buried in the Roscoe cemetery. It might be stated here that in the summer of 1900 the writer made a trip to Moriah for the purpose of talking with Mrs. Johnson about the de- tails of the narrow escape of her mother from the Wyoming massacre. Shortly after that visit an article relating to that narrow escape appeared in the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette, which matter was reproduced in the Troy Budget.
Solomon Rice was locally known as "Sol." Rice. He was deaf and dumb. During early years, notably after the erec- tion of the Baptist Church and the placing of the large bell in the tower, it was the custom to ring the bell after a death in the community, tolling three times three for a man, three times two for a woman and three times one for a child. The bell also tol(le)d the age of the person and at the time of the funeral was tolled as the procession came to the church, also going
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from the church to the cemetery. It is related by old people that "Sol." Rice, who lived a mile away from the church bell and knew nothing about a death having occurred, would nev- ertheless weep immediately after every death in the commu- nity and invariably his weeping was followed within a few minutes by the tolling of the bell. Was this a case of mental telegraphy ?
Truman Rice, a brother of Amos Rice, lived just west of Elizabethtown village on "the old Keene road," so-called. "The old Keene road" ran diagonally across what is now the Cobble Hill Golf Ground, thence through the woods (where the old road is plainly visible to this day) and thence past the Truman Rice home and so on over the hill, coming into the present high- way leading from Elizabethtown village to Keene at a point near the residence of Wm. H. McDougal. Truman Rice was locally known as "Governor" Rice. He removed to Ohio about 1831 and one of his daughters married Governor Reuben Wood. He visited Elizabethtown with his wife and expressed himself so much pleased with the view from the eminence north- east of and overlooking the village, that it has since been uni- versally known as Wood Hill.
A son of Truman Rice, Lorenzo Rice by name, had a defec- tive eye and on account of the imperfection was locally known as "Gimlet Eye." Lorenzo Rice built a saw-mill a short dis- tance below his father's residence, on Deep Hollow Brook, which he operated only for a short time, as he found he had located on a "thunder shower" stream. After a few months, finding that he didn't have water enough for power except for a short time in the spring of the year, he took the saw-mill down and re-erected it on the Durand Brook at the falls just west of where Arthur Cauley now lives in the Boquet Valley. Traces of these two saw-mill sites are still visible on the streams mentioned, though there is only one man now living in
and for. Sr. T from Revo Dart Grism
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Elizabethtown old enough to remember when the man with the defective eye was operating upon these streams.
Lorenzo Rice sold out his land to the late Oliver Abel, Sr., in 1834, as a deed in possession of Miss Alice E. Abel attests.
Amos G. Rice, son of the late Lorin Rice, resides in Eliz- abethtown. He is a mechanic of recognized ability. Many of the old grist-mills of central Essex County have felt the force of his mechanical ability, being rejuvenated thereby.
It might be stated here that Amos Rice and Abigail An- drews bought their land of the Roscoes before mentioned.
Benjamin Payne, heretofore mentioned as a town official, is reputed to have been the first white man to settle and remain in that part of Elizabethtown which was "set off," with a strip off the town of Jay, as Keene March 19, 1808. He is said to have penetrated the wilderness by way of Northwest Bay and Pleasant Valley, following a line of marked trees through the woods, bringing his goods in a "jumper or rude vehicle con- structed of two long poles which served the purpose at once of thills, traces and wheels." It has been stated in history that Benjamin Payne died before 1800. This statement, however, cannot be true, as he was serving as one of Elizabethtown's Inspectors in 1801, as the official returns in the Essex County Clerk's office show. Betsey Payne is said to have been the first white child born in what is now the town of Keene.
Other early settlers in what is now Keene were Timothy and Nathaniel Pangborn, brothers, David Graves, Thos. Tay- lor, Gen. Reynolds, Zadock Hurd, Eli Hull and Thomas Dart, Sr.
Thomas Dart married Sarah Wilcox and originally came from the Keene, N. H., region. He is said to have been a Revolutionary soldier. The children of Thomas and Sarah Dart were as follows : Thomas Dart, Jr., who married Cynthia Griswold, their marriage being the first event of the kind to take
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place in what is now the town of Keene. Ebenezer Dart, who married a Manley and lived many years in what is now Keene. Lydia Dart, who married Major William Bailey, one of the most patriotic men who ever lived in the Ausable Valley. Ma- jor William Bailey lived on a farm at North Jay, where he died shortly after the close of the late civil war. A son, Hiram Bailey, died at Keene Valley in 1900, and another son, Thomas Bailey, died at North Jay in 1902. A daughter of Major Wil- liam Bailey, Sarah by name, married Harvey Wilcox, a first cousin, the marriage ceremony being performed by Rev. Henry Herrick of Clintonville, N. Y., in that most weird of bridal chambers -- Ausable Chasm-the certificate being dated "Table Rock, Town of Chesterfield, Essex Co., June 14, 1848." The other children of Major William Bailey were William,"Nabby" and John. .
A daughter of Thomas Dart, Sr., married an Estes and another married a Wilson and went to Pennsylvania to reside.
Roxy, who never married.
The first death in what is now Keene is reported to have been Eli Bostwick.
Zadock Hurd kept the first hotel in what is to-day known as Keene.
Of all the early settlers of that part of Elizabethtown which was destined to become part of the town of Keene, Eli Hull unquestionably had the most unique record. He was born at Killingworth, Conn., March 20, 1764, and was therefore a mere boy when the American Revolution broke out. He was bound out to learn the shoemaker's trade but felt that his apprentice- ship was irksome and ran away from his master. The fact that his only brother Joseph was then in the American army at Valley Forge led the youth in that direction. After consid- erable exertion, accompanied by the hardship incident to a
. long journey on foot at that time, he arrived at Washington's
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headquarters and offered his services. The great hearted Washington saw that the lad was fired with patriotism but could not enlist him at that time on account of his tender years. However, General Washington said to him: "I will employ you as my waiter boy and when you are old enough will enlist you." From that time to 1781 he took care of Gen- eral Washington's horse, ran on errands, etc., serving faithfully and acceptably. On January 1, 1781, he enlisted as a private in Captain Stephen Potter's Company, Colonel Heman Swift's Division, and served throughout the remainder of the Revolu- tion, doing his duty steadfastly and well. After the close of the Revolution he and his brother Joseph went to Lempster, N. H., where both married and settled as farmers.
Eli Hull married Sally Beckwith. Early in the 19th century he moved with his family to the banks of the Ausable River, settling near what is to-day known as Hull's Falls, named in honor of the Revolutionary veteran himself. It is worthy of note that Eli Hull was a participant in the War of 1812, taking part in the Battle of Plattsburgh, where three of his ten sons- Joseph, Alden and Eli B .- also served. It is also worthy of mention that Eli Hull was a pensioner, the pension being granted to him as a Connecticut veteran of the Revolution re- siding in the State of New York, under the Act of 1818. This man of remarkable record died in Keene in 1828, his mortal remains being buried in the family lot near Hull's Falls. The late Major William Henry Harrison Hull of Keene was the 9th of the 10 sons born to Eli Hull and Sally Beckwith, his wife. Major Hull died June 2, 1897. Since the death of Major Hull a Post Office-Hull's Falls -has been established in the neighborhood where Eli Hull lived and died. Otis Henry Hull, eldest son of the late Major Hull and grandson of Eli Hull, being Postmaster.
In 1801 Norman Nicholson was serving as Postmaster of
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Elizabethtown and he is said to have been the first Postmaster the town ever had. He was the father of the late George S. Nicholson, Esq., and a brother of Mary Nicholson, the wife of Dr. Alexander Morse, heretofore mentioned. Where he kept the Post Office none now living can tell. However, it is highly probable that the Post Office was then not far distant from the site of the present Post Office where a grandson of Nor- man Nicholson, John D. Nicholson, Esq., is serving as Post- master, he being the only living son of the late George S. Nicholson, Esq.
Elder Reynolds is reputed to have been pastor of the Baptist Church in Elizabethtown in 1801.
Mention of a "lake road" was made "in the town records of 1801" says Mrs. Caroline Halstead Royce in her history of Westport and of another which ran "through Ananias Rog- ers' clearing." The latter road Mrs. Royce concludes "was probably a road connecting Pleasant Valley with Northwest Bay."
At this time men of energy and capacity were wending their way into Elizabethtown, the township then extending from the shore of Lake Champlain westward to the North Elba of to- day.
In the fall of 1801 Charles Hatch, who had been located at Brookfield for eleven years, concluded to move to that part of Elizabethtown designated as Northwest Bay. Forty years after his removal to Northwest Bay he wrote, at the request of Dr. Sewall S. Cutting, then editor of the New York Re- corder, a letter descriptive of Northwest Bay as he first saw it, which has fortunately been preserved. He began :
"Dear sir :- I now, agreeable to promise, commence a sketch of the early settlement of this country, but more particularly of the town of Westport. In the spring of 1790 I moved to the settlement of Brookfield, which commenced in the spring
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of 1789, which place was then in the town of Willsboro, but now in the town of Essex. At that time all the country west of me for 100 miles was an entire wilderness. I remained in Brookfield until 1802. During that time a settlement com- menced in Pleasant Valley, now Elizabethtown, also in the several towns of Chesterfield by Isaac Wright, in Jay by Na- thaniel Malery, in Keene by Benjamin Payne, in Schroon by a Judge Pond. All commenced their improvements and pro- gressed rapidly. Our roads were all to make anew. Ihelped look out the first road that led from Brookfield to the lake, a distance of six miles. I drove the first loaded wagon from Brookfield to Pleasant Valley, a distance of eight miles.
"In the fall of 1801. I concluded to move to Westport, eight miles from my then residence, yet there was no road. I then harnessed my horses to a wagon, with four men with me, and in two days' time, with perseverance, we reached Westport, my present residence, situated ten miles west of the City of Ver- gennes, in Vermont, and being on the west side of Lake Cham- plain."
He does not mention his reason for leaving Brookfield, but to any one who knows his history it is plain that he foresaw no future for himself and his aptitude for business in a place like Brookfield, which has remained unto this day simply a stretch of farming country.
"Westport at that time was mostly a dense forest, with a few solitary settlements, without a road near the lake to Essex, the adjoining town north, and none to Crown Point, the then adjoining town south. We, of course, had no means of com- municating with our neighboring towns but by water, and that (manuscript indistinct)
* * ferry com- menced by Platt Rogers and John Halstead, another one two and one-half miles south at Barber's Point, by Hezekiah Bar- ber, which place bears his name. Still there was also a small
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improvement four miles south of the present Westport village, commenced by a man by the name of Raiment, which was the only improvement commenced before the Revolution in the present Westport. At the last mentioned place Raiment erected a small mill, but it was all demolished when I moved into this place, except a shattered old house which was occu- pied by Benjamin Andrews.
"The village of Westport is situated about nine miles north of Crown Point, on a pleasant Bay, and * * * had * * * three log houses, a saw-mill, and a few scattering log houses in the backwoods."
Watson who probably received his information from the old Squire himself, says that he found there one frame house, three log houses, a saw-mill and one barn. The frame house, and probably the barn, were John Halstead's, and the saw- mill was built by Ananias Rogers.
"The little partial improvement on the village ground was covered with dry Hemlock Trees, but the first settlers was a set of Hardy, Industrious men, and the wilderness soon became fruitful fields, and the improvements have progressed gradu- ally. The great Iron Ore Bed, formerly called the Crown Point Ore Bed, is situated in the south part of Westport, and is one of the most extensive mines of Iron in this Northern Iron region. It was discovered soon after the Revolution, and fell into the hands of Platt Rogers, who made some improve- ments in raising. He employed a number of miners. Among the miners was a respectable Englishman by the name of Walton, and some of his descendants still remain in the same neighborhood, and some occupying the same ground, and en- joy a respectable place in society."
He is mistaken in saying that the ore bed was "discovered soon after the Revolution," as its existence was well-known to Philip Skene, and we have good reason to believe that this is
ALITTLE. PHLA
GENERAL HENRY H. ROSS. Owner of the Mansion House in Elizabethtown For Years.
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why he desired the grant of the land from the king. It is an interesting fact that the Walton family of whom Judge Hatch speaks still occupy the same place, on the road between West- port and Port Henry.
"In consequence of the Iron mine above named, and many others in the neighboring towns, there are many forges erected in almost every town in the county, and many of them bring their iron into Westport for market. The early settlers suf- fered many privations, it being a time when all kinds of mer- chandise was very Dear, and no manufacturing near but what every Family did for themselves; no mills near. None knows the privations but those that tryed it, but the scene is much changed. We now find ourselves situated in a pleasant Vil- lage of about one thousand inhabitants, plentifully supplied with the necessaries of life, and many luxuries, having now a variety of factorys, among others a furnace which makes from six to nine tons of Iron per day, and another furnace at Port Henry. Of the several Iron mines in Essex Co. the following is a part ; 1st, in Westport. 2nd, in Moriah. 3rd, in Crown Point. 4th, in Elizabethtown, besides many more, almost without number."
The old Judge, or Squire, always wrote the word "iron" with a capital I and well he might, for it had a great part in build- ing up his fortune. Again, after Judge Charles Hatch got to be old he quite often gave his age under his signature, as dozens of letters still preserved bear silent but indisputable witness.
In the same year that the wordly possessions of Charles Hatch were conveyed with so much labor through the wilder- ness from Brookfield to Northwest Bay, another party made its way in the opposite direction to the falls on the Boquet. They crossed Lake Champlain, landed at Northwest Bay and
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cut a road "four miles through the pine woods." This was the Jesse Braman party and they came from Eastern Massa- chusetts. His people were early settlers in Norton, Mass. Jesse Braman's wife was Abiatha Felt and her brother Aaron Felt was also an early settler at what is now designated Wad- hams Mills. It was Aaron Felt who built the first grist-mill at the falls. His wife was Rachel Chase, a resolute woman. It has been said that she could run the mill as well as her hus- band and that when it was necessary to carry the grain to the mill, she shouldered the bag, man fashion, and went ahead as though it was her duty to do it. Aaron Felt and family moved to Pleasant Valley about 1809, but the Bramans stayed where they first settled. Jesse Braman's wife Abiatha had six chil- dren and then died. His second wife was Marcia Rose and she had seven children. Daniel W. Braman grew to be one of the substantial business men of Wadhams Mills. Horace Braman was also in business there and his son Jesse has been a practicing physician there. Jason Braman married Laura Hubble and their children were Egbert, Mary, Van Ness, George, Estella, Lucy, Henry, James and Lynn. Of the daughters, Asenath married Platt Sheldon, Martha mar- ried Henry Brownson and Helen married Thomas Felt.
In 1802 Charles Goodrich served as Elizabethtown's Super- visor, also as an Inspector. The other Inspectors in 1802 were Benjamin Payne, Enos Loveland, Noah Ferris and Sylvanus Lobdell. The reader will readily see that Benjamin Payne must have been alive as late as April 29, 1802, the date of In- spectors returns, else he could not have served as a town official at that time.
In 1802 a man named Rich built a forge on the Boquet River at a point for the past 60 years known as New Russia, the settlement having been so named by the late Col. E. F. Williams in 1845. The forge was located at or near the site
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of the forge afterwards so long run by the Putnams and was the second iron manufactory erected in Elizabethtown.
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