The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 108

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098

USA > New York > Jefferson County > The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894 > Part 108

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).

505

CHAMPION.

they baked the delicious pork and beans and many other small things. Later there came into use what was called a reflector, which proved a great convenience in baking cakes and other small things ; it was made of tin, above and below, with a sheet-iron pan. Ar- ticles to be baked were placed on the pan, and the bright tin reflected the heat from the fire before which it was placed, causing them to bake in a short time. At length cook stoves were introduced. But of these I need not write, at least for modern ones. But of one, the first introduced in my father's house, I will make mention. It was called a "cook stove;" also a "Canada stove." But, alas ! for anybody who should try to cook anything upon it. Would you have a description ? It was nothing more or less than a two-story box-stove, no heartb and no hole for a boiler. There was, to be sure, an oven over the fire chamber, of no earthly use, except to burn to a cinder everything put into it. It was a good heater, as shown by its effects on cold Sundays, when the church people came to warm. We had a serving man who rejoiced in the name of Washington, physically the size of his great prototype. He delighted in giving a warm welcome. He would pile the dry wood up to the crane in the fire-place, and fill the stove and add the fire. The first who came would naturally seek the warmest place, between the fire and the stove, and soon, to his intense amusement, they would begin to move back, to find themselves against the hot stove-literally between two fires.

"Most families had wells, with the water drawn up by a sweep. Many had only a pole with a hook on the end to hold the pail as it was let down into the well, and when filled, was lifted out by main strength, and where much water was required for domestie purposes, it was a great tax upon the strength. There were no cement cisterns for rain water. Rain water was caught in logs hollowed out, in barrels, in hogsheads, and even in wash-tubs. Very seldom a plentiful supply. No ice. There were very few con- veniences for lessening the household work. We had a washing-machine as long ago as I can remember, and when in use, it was operated generally by two men, one on each side. All the early settlers lived in log houses of one or two rooms. I can remember very few of them.

"I can remember when much business was done in Champion, and when there were three dry goods stores there and two pot- asheries, a distillery, and various other indus- tries. There were no matches in those days. They were not yet invented or if invented, not in use in the country, aud special care was required to keep the fire alive, for if it went out, it was a great trouble to re-kindle it, either by striking a flint or by rubbing pieces of wood together, or it may have been sending to a neighbor a half mile or a mile away for a few coals or a burning brand. The usual way to preserve the fire was to

carefully bury the live coals in ashes. Woe to the luckless wight who should come home late and find no coals. To light a candle under such conditions, even if there were coals, was no trifling fact, for he must open the bed carefully and abstract therefrom a coal with the tongs, and then proceed to blow with the mouth, and blow and blow again, until a flame was produced sufficient to ignite the wick of the candle. To evening meetings, to singing and spelling schools, the people carried candles, and probably there were two or three to light the school- house. Imagine its brilliancy if you can.

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS,

"They were of the simplest kind that would serve the purpose. Farm work was done by the hardest manual labor. Grains were cut with a sickle. Finally the cradle was introduced. I believe this was consid- ered a great advantage over the sickle, inas- much as the laborer was not obliged to hold or take every handful by the hand, as in us- ing the sickle. Buckwheat was pulled up by the roots, as was also flax, a very im- portant product of the fields, and a very necessary one for family use before we had much cotton cloth. Almost all the cloth for underclothing for men and boys was made in the homes of the farmers, as was also bed linen, table-cloths and towels, and sometimes pocket-handkerchiefs. Farmers wore tow frocks and pants to work in in summer. I think, perhaps, of all work the farmers dreaded most the dressing of flax, it was such dusty work. Along toward spring, after the threshing of grain by hand was done, they would perforce attack the flax ; then the days were lengthening, and the time to begin the spinning had come, and it must be done before the warm weather, which made the linen garments a necessity. I pass over a description of the various processes by which the flax and tow were prepared for spinning. The flax was spun on a little wheel, at which the operator sat, turning the wheel with her foot, whereas the tow and the wool were spun on a big wheel and the spinner walked back and forth as she drew the thread, twisted and wound it on the spindle, causing many miles of travel in the course of a day's work. Sometimes young women would change works; that is, one would take her wheel and go to a neighbor's for a day or a week, as they could agree. and in the meantime work and visit, and the next week the compliment would be returned. I wonder if the phrase "spinning yarns," thus originated. Almost every elderly ma- tron had at least one suit of linen bed-cur- tains, spun, wove and colored with her own hands; usually indigo blue and white, wove in large plaids. Home-made linen or woolen garments were manufactured in their respec- tive families. The wool spinning was done in summer, after sheep-shearing. The card- ing of the wool ready for spinning was done with hand-cards. Finally a carding machine

506

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

was invented, which made long round rolls. Those made by hand were flat. I have no means of ascertaining when the carding ma- chine was invented and brought into use.

PICKING GEESE.

" Early in the summer came the important operation of picking geese, which were kept by most families for the sake of the feathers. A hard business for the workers, and a cruel one for the poor geese, to be stripped of nearly all their feathers, and sometimes their quills, and turned out almost naked to bear the winds. The quills were used for pens for writing; there were then no others. Feather-beds were then commonly used. Much home-made linen thread was used in making garments. We could buy white cotton thread. It came in little balls, not much larger than a walnut, and was very choice. Sewing silk came in small skeins. We had imported fine linen for gents' underwear, and table and bed- linen, which was commonly called " Hol- lands " in those days. The first unbleached cotton cloth I can remember, was called " Hum Hum," and said to be of East Indian manufacture. 'Tis true we had printed cot- ton, chiefly bed-curtains, before that, which, I presume, were imported from England, but how early in the century I know not. In almost every farmer's house was to be seen a dye-pot for coloring indigo blue. This was the staple color, and it took a long time to permanently dye the articles subjected to the process, wool, yarns, etc.

VEHICLES,

" I have heard my mother say that in those early days, she never expected to live to see a four-wheeled carriage, other than the farm wagon, but I can never remember when we had not vehicles of different kinds, and among them an old-fashioned hack. This, and a similar one owned by Judge Bronson, of Rutland, were the first I can remember. I might mention in this connection, that a ball was one of the prominent features, and the winding up of all the early "cattle shows and fairs." This ball was attended by the elite of the county, the officers of the society, the farmers, their wives and daughters; and it was on the return of the young people from one of these balls, in the small hours of a dark morning, that the old hack was overturned on a steep hill and met its fate. It was never again thoroughly re- paired.

There were many very original charac- ters in Champion, both men and women, Of one I have some recollection, inasmuch as she was more nearly the embodiment of my ideas of a " witch," in personal appearance and in dress of any other person I ever met. Everybody called her "granny." A red cloth mantle was her outside garment, as she wandered over the country. She had most striking peculiarities, and was oddest of the odd, and her sayings incomparable.

Her husband was a devout man, walking in the fear of the Lord. Whether his righteous soul was vexed from day to day, I cannot say, but this I do know, that as was then customary at week-day meetings, laymen used to pray or speak. The wife was usually present at the opening of the meet- ing, but as soon as the husband arose to perform his part, she invariably arose and left the house. Why or wherefore I cannot tell. She had a daughter, her exact oppo- site in every respect, the most fastidious of all mortals. The fun-loving medical stu- dents amused themselves with her peculiar- ities. For their own diversion, and that of their young friends, they constructed a camera obscura in the office door. She could't be induced to pass there at all. She was "not going to be turned upside down by those young doctors." Her brother, a pious man. went as a missionary printer from Watertown to the Sandwich Islands, and died there soon after the first missions were established in those islands. One of the men of this original stamp had been, I pre- sume, a Revolutionary soldier, and perhaps under LaFayette, or had had something to do with, or a great admirer of him, from the fact that he named his son Marquis de LaFayette. Notwithstanding his weighty name and titles, he bore up under them, and after attaining manhood was a faithful serving man. Once upon a time a young surveyor, who had business with the old man, went to his home. Wishing to show his hospitality, he turned to his better-half and said: "Wife, either you or I must go down cellar and get some beer, and I swear I won't." Mr. Olney Pierce, one of the first settlers, built a house in Champion, which was standing until a few years since. In this lived the family mentioned, and later was occupied by the father and sisters of the Rev. William Good- ale, who for 40 years was a valued, learned and useful missionary in Turkey, and trans- lator of the Scriptures. Mr. Fayel, in one of his papers, speaks of Madame De Ferret. I knew her very well the last years of her so- journ in this country-that is, as well as I could, considering the difference in age and the awe inspired by her superior acquire- ments. She and our family occasionally ex- changed visits, and in her absence from the county she and the late Mrs. Robert Lansing corresponded. In a communication from Mr. Vincent LeRay, in 1871, he says : 'Madame la Baronne De Ferret came to America in 1816, immediately after the marriage of M. de Gouvello with my sister, and with them and my father, Madame De Ferret built her house above Great Bend, probably in 1823 or 1824.' I do not know it from herself, but I have heard that her father was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and that when it became necessary for herself and mother to quit France for political reasons, they came to this country to claim Franklin's protection ; but he being dead, they returned to France. If this be true, it must have been years

507

CHAMPION.

before coming over with Mr. LeRay's family. I have also been told that Madame De Fer- ret and Lady Hester Stanhope, the secretary and nieee of Lord Chatham, were friends in early life, but had for many years lost sight of each other, but finally, when Madame De Ferret learned where Lady Hester was, she contemplated joining her. It is needless to say she never did. I do not know in what year Madame De Ferret left this country. She died in her native France, and left a name and a memory in this county entirely irre- proachable. When in Watertown, she was often the guest of the Mortimers, a very high-toned family, one of the daughters be- coming Mrs. Ithamer B. Crawe, the distin- guished physician and botanist, who was drowned in Pereh lake, being succeeded by his son, the present able Dr. J. Mortimer Crawe, who, in turn, has also a son practic- ing medicine contemporaneous with his father. Madame De Ferret's place, on the Black River, near where the bridge named for her spans that stream, was laid out with much care and taste, a veritable flower garden around her villa, but much of her farming land was of poor quality. It is understood that she was obliged to take this land from Mr. LeRay in discharge of a debt for a large sum of money loaned him.

CLOCKS.

"I suppose we have the first clock brought into this county. Of this Iam not certain, for I do not know the year it was brought in. I have been told it was the first clock made in Utica. Previous to this time they had not felt the want of a clock, for they were in the habit of consulting the sun, moon and stars for the time of day or night, and most persons had what they called a noon mark, which indicated the hour near enough for the practical purpose of blowing the dinner horn. I have been credibly in- formed (but never saw it) that sometimes in the waning evening they would look up the broad, open chimney-mouth at the moon and stars, to ascertain the time of night, and whether bed-time had come."

The virgin soil of this town was found to yield bountifully, and return an abundant increase to the hand of the cultivator; but the uncertainty of realizing any means from the sales of produce, from the difficulty of getting to market, led to efforts for bet- ter roads and aid in opening lines of com- munieation, and it was related by' one who had shared in these privations that once on an evening, when a few neighbors had assem- hled to exchange the news, the subject was heing discussed, and one, more sanguine than the rest, hazarded the prediction that "there were those men then living who would see a weekly line of mail-stages pass through the town." This prophesy, like the dream of Oriental fable, has come and gone, for within thirty years not only weekly, but a daily mail was established, and the town has been

placed in direct communication with the out- side world by the completion of the Carthage, Watertown & Sacket's Harbor railroad. The first saw-mill in town was built by William Hadsall and John A. Eggleson, from Green- wich, New York, in 1802, on Mill Creek, near the line of Rutland, where, several years afterwards, a grist-mill was built.

The following is an authentic census of Champion in the year 1800, the heads of families and unmarried men only being named. These were free men, but at that time there were 13 persons held as slaves in that township, though their names are un- known : Daniel Coffeen, Christopher Church- man, Peter Kilner, John Jones, Joseph Martin, Moses Miller, John Ward, Asa Harris, Eli Church, Levi Barnes, Joel Mix, Michael Col- lins, Zebulon Rockwell, Constant Miller, Lewis Godard, Noadiah Hubhard, Elihu Jones, David Starr, Samuel Starr, Comfort Ward, Thomas Brooks, Reuben Roekwell, Ephriam Chamberlain, William Crowell, Fairchild Hubbard, Timothy Pool, Joseph Crany. These, with their wives and children, comprised 143 souls.

The present officers of the town of Cham- pion are as follows : Supervisor, Charles A. Beyer ; town clerk, L. E. Bossuot ; justices of the peace, O. F. Dodge, James Burhans, Edward Payne, Obed Pieree ; assessor, Em- erson Peck ; commissioner, of highways, C. A. Loomis ; overseer of the poor, O. L. Cut- ter ; collector, C. H. Clark ; eonstables, Orin Fletcher, F. H. MeNitt, E. F. Austin, Peter Clow ; game constable, Orin Fletcher ; ex- cise commissioners, Ives B. Loomis, S. E. Rice, J. I. Locklin.

One and a half miles from the present vil- lage of Champion, towards Great Bend, is a hamlet known as the " Huddle," where mills and a distillery were erected several years before the war, but they are now only a memory.

It has been intimated that Champion had been contemplated as the probable center of a new county. A special meeting was held November 13, 1804, to choose delegates to discuss this measure, and Egbert TenEyek, Olney Pearee and John Durkee were chosen by ballot for this purpose. At the same meeting the two latter were recommended for appointment as justices of the peace. Champion and Brownville were both com- petitors for the original county seat, but a compromise was finally made on Watertown.

During the year 1812 the town was visited by a fever, which baffled the skill of the phy- sicians, and proved fatal in nearly every case.

We have stated that the town was owned at the time of settlement by Henry Cham- pion, of Colehester, and Lemuel Storrs, of Middletown, Connecticut. On May 12, 1813, an instrument was executed between them, by which the latter conveyed, for $18,300, his half of the sums due for lands in this town and Houndsfield, but this conveyance not being delivered during the life-time of Storrs, was subsequently confirmed by his heirs.

508

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY

THE VILLAGE OF CHAMPION

Is situated near the center of the town, upon the main road, at the point at which it is crossed by the Great Bend and Copenhagen road. It has about 200 inhabitants, three churches, Methodist, Episcopal and Congre- gational, a hotel, one store, in which is the postoffice, a blacksmith shop, a school-house and cheese factory.

THE CHURCHES OF CHAMPION.

THE Methodists first organized a legal soci- ety December 30th, 1825, with M. Andrews, Wilson Pennock, Jason Francis, Elijah Fran- cis and Josiah Townsend, trustees. A sec- ond society was formed April 11, 1827, and a church was built two miles from Great Bend. The present church at Champion was dedi- cated in 1853, by Rev. Moses Lyon, Jesse Penfield, pastor. The present pastor is Fay- ette G. Severance. The edifice was thor- oughly repaired in 1893, during the pastor- ate of Rev. Henry Ernst, at a cost of $1,300. Present membership is 140. The church at Great Bend was built by Rev. C. E. Beebee, pastor. Both churches are neat and comfort- able and the societies in a flourishing condi- tion. Total membership 200. There are 150 members in the Sunday schools. The Ep- worth League at Champion has 70 members, and a Y. P. S. C. E. at Great Bend, has 60 members.

The first religious organization in the county is believed to have been formed in June, 1801, by the Rev. Mr. Bascomb, who was sent out on a missionary tour by the Ladies' Charitable Society of Connecticut, and on that date formed a Congregational church. The numbers that first composed it were small, and only occasional preaching was enjoyed until 1807, when the Rev. Na- thaniel Dutton was ordained. Mr. Dutton maintained for over 40 years the pastoral re- lation with the church, and became in a great degree identified with the religious move- ments, not only of the town but county, and was instrumental in effecting numerous church organizations in this section. The first trustees were Jonathan Carter, Abel Crandell, Joel Mix, Noadiah Hubbard, Joseph Paddock and John Canfield. The church has no pastor at the present time, and does not maintain regular service. The pres- ent trustees are L. W. Babcock, Fred Carter and J. Austin Hubbard.

ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, of Cham- pion, was organized by Rev. Jedediah Wins- low about 1868, with 15 members in the parish. The present church was built in 1888. Regular services are held by Rev. C. T. Raynor, rector, membership 25. The present officers are: O. W. Pierce, senior warden; Elwyn Hill, junior warden; Edwin Hubbard, Nelson Bellinger, Orin Fletcher, Allen Russell, Eugene Phillips and Augustus Babcock, vestrymen.

SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 1, of the town of Champion, is said to be the oldest in the town and in the county. It has at the pres-

ent time 20 pupils on the roll and has gradu- ated eight teachers during the past six years. The teacher is Edward Mitchell. Miss Par- nell Hubbard, of Watertown, in 1893, deeded three acres of land in trust for the town of Champion to Merritt Smith, the sole trustee of the district. This property had been form- erly given by General Champion to Noadiah Hubbard, the first supervisor of the town, for a church site, and the General promised a bell for the privilege of having his name in- scribed upon the same. It is said that 80 Mexican dollars were added in the metal to improve the sound. The church (Congrega- tional) which was dedicated December 25, 1816, was afterward taken down, being in a very bleak locality, and moved to the valley and the site abandoned for church purposes. It is intended at some future time to crect a new school house where the church stood.

GREAT BEND.

This village is situated mostly upon the south side of Black river, at the base of the peninsula formed by the Great Bend, and at the point where the Chasnais line crossed the river. Among the first settlers in this portion of the town were a large number of Martins, who come from the east, and located upon the road leading from Great Bend to Carthage, since known as Martin street ; prominent among them were Enos, Mason, Timothy, Samuel, Harry and Captain. James Colwell and Samuel Fulton located near the village about 1805.

The first white child born in this portion of the town was the wife of Elisha Barr. A bridge was built as early as 1804, but was swept away by the spring flood of 1807, which was very general in this section, and of extraordinary height. It was soon rebuilt.

In 1840 a substantial covered bridge at this place was burned, and a few weeks after an act was passed authorizing a loan of $2,500 to the town of Champion, $750 to Le- Ray, $2,000 to Wilna and $750 to Pamelia, for building bridges over Black river, among which were those at this place and Carthage. These loans were to be paid by a tax, in eight equal annual installments.

The first mill at Great Bend was built by a Mr. Tubbs, who also constructed a dam across the river in 1807 for Olney Pearce and Egbert TenEyck, who had purchased a pine lot of 100 acres in the vicinity. Henry G. Gardner subsequently became interested in the improvements, and in 1807 the mill which had been destroyed in the flood of that year, was rebuilt. In 1809 a distillery was put in operation, and in 1816 the premises were sold to Watson & Gates, who, in 1824, conveyed them to Charles E. Drake. A destructive fire occurred at Great Bend, March 5, 1840, by which all of the business portion of the vil- lage was destroyed, including the grist-mill and bridge. The loss was estimated at $20,000. The mill was immediately rebuilt on an ex- tensive scale.

509

CHAMPION.

During the high water in the spring of 1862 a crowd had collected upon the bridge, attracted by the unusual height of the river. While they were watching the flood wood and timber that were being carried over the dam, an old, deserted mill, standing a short distance above the bridge, was sud- denly loosened from its foundation and car- ried with such violence against the bridge as to sweep it from its position. The greater number of those upon the bridge succeeded in reaching the shore in time to avert the ac- cident. A son of Mr. Fox, the miller, with Charlie Lewis, a companion, were not so fortunate. Young Lewis was carried down the river for several miles, but finally suc- ceeded in reaching the shore. The Fox boy was not seen after the accident until his body was found, several weeks later, upon the bank of the river.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH at Great Bend was formed October 16, 1826, with Moses C. Merrill, Elisha Jones, Thomas Campbell, Elisha Bentley, Moses Miller, Sidney Hast- ings and James Thompson, trustees, but had no church edifice until a house of worship was erected in 1842, by the Society in North Rutland, who rehuilt at Great Bend, and formed in January of that year a society, with Cicero Potter, Miner C. Merrill, Thomas P. Francis, Daniel Potter and Henry G. Pot- ter, trustees. The church was completed and dedicated in December, 1843, at a cost of $1,400.

The society has no pastor, and maintains no regular services, but the pulpit has been supplied by theological students. The last preaching was in September, 1894, by A. C. Watkins. The present trustees are Ira Pad- dock, Leander Muzzey, Wallace Olds, D. N. Locklin, C. Speidell. O. F. Dodge, clerk. The membership is about 50.

TRINITY CHAPEL, at Great Bend, was built in 1875, through the instrumentality of Mrs. M. B. S. Clark, assisted by her friends, acting under Rev. L. R. Brewer, now Bishop of Montana. She was made deaconess of the same and had charge of the Sunday school. They have no regular rector, but during the summer months are supplied by students, and in winter by Rev. W. H. Bown, of Water- town. Mrs. Clark was a daughter of the great iron-master, James Sterling, and sister of the celebrated singer, Antoinette Ster- ling

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.

The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 108

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823- Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company Number of Pages: 1098

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098