The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 116

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

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trade until 1867. He commenced mercantile businesss in Clayton in 1870, and continued in same until the present date. He served as town clerk of the town of Clayton in 1855, and continued as such for four successive years; was elected justice of the peace in 1859, and has served as such 18 years ; elected supervisor of the town of Clayton in 1865, and served as such two terms; was elected sheriff of Jefferson county in November, 1866, and served the full term of three years. He was elected Member of Assembly from the Second District of Jefferson county in 1870. Served as a member of the Board of Education of Clayton Union Frce School 18 consecutive years, and was president of the board during that whole term of office. Was appointed one of the commissioners for dredging Chaumont Bay, by Gov. Fenton, in 1868. He married Deborah Fry, January 1, 1843, and they have three children : two daughters, Mrs. S. V. Frame, of Clayton, and Mrs. H. W. Streeter, of Rochester, N. Y., and Solon H. Johnson, the obliging post- master at Clayton.

Mr. Johnson has fully rounded out his life thus far, and received all the honors his neighbors and friends could confer upon him. A wholesome man to know.

W. H. THORPE, the intelligent jewelry dealer at Clayton, has been in business there nine years. His store is a model of neatness, and his assortment unusually fine for a country town. He came to Clayton in 1885, from Pottstown, Pa. He was a native of Havana, N. Y., and had a natural inclination towards mechanism, resulting in his hecom- ing an expert watchmaker. His square deal- ing and industry are the best guaranty of his success.

ALFRED Fox was born January 30, 1807, at Pompey Hill, Onondaga county, N. Y. He received his education at a common school; came to Jefferson county in 1832; was for years town school commissioner, or "inspector," as it was then called; was supervisor of the town for several years; was in the Legislature from the old third district of Jefferson county in 1850; was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1852; was appointed custom house officer at Cape Vincent, and held the office from 1853 to 1857. He was twice married ; for his first wife he married Miss Lucy Hawes, of Fabius, Onondaga county, N. Y., by whom he had six children, three of whom are now living. She died in May, 1841. For his second wife he married Miss Olive C. Bent, of Watertown, by whom he had five children, four of whom are now living. Mr. Fox died March 13, 1880, of pneumonia, and was followed two weeks later by his wife, she dying of the same disease.

WILLIAM Ross was born in Ireland, and married Eliza Bennett, both of Scotch descent. They came to America in 1860, and began farming near Heuvelton, St. Law- rence county. They brought four sons, John

548

THE GROWTHI OF A CENTURY.

1st, William James 2d, Thomas B. 3d, and Hugh, who died in infancy. Another child was born whom they also named Hugh, now a resident of Chicago, and soon to be admit- ted to the bar. In 1862 the father, with his sons, John, William and James, enlisted in the Union army and did valiant service. The father and John were in Company G, 142d N. Y. Vol. Infantry, under command of General Curtis. The father was in all the engagements of that regiment, until dishand- ed at Ogdensburg, in June, 1865. He is now a pensioner, residing at Potsdam, N. Y. John lost an arm at the battle of Chapin's Farm, and was discharged in 1865. He was in the battles of Petersburg, Cold Harbor, Bermuda Hundred and Chapin's Farm. James was sergeant in the 13th New York Cavalry. John is now a business man in the village of Clayton. He married Mary T. Washburn, daughter of Rev. George Wash- burn of the M. E. Church. She died in the spring of 1870, aged 19 years. In 1871 he was again married to Martha Ann Todd, of De Peyster, St. Lawrence county, and they have a family of five girls and two boys. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and has been appointed lay reader by Bishop Huntington.

GEORGE WILLOX, a citizen of Clayton, came into that town in 1892, but has been a resident of Jefferson county, except when he was in the army. He was born in 1820, in the town of Pamelia. He married Miss Louise Hunter, in 1840, and they have raised seven children. He learned to be a carpenter in Watertown with Mr. Charles E. Hubbard, working upon the O'Dougherty property in Jewettville, and other buildings. In 1862 he enlisted in Capt. Gould's company (L,) New York Heavy Artillery, and was discharged for disability, incurred in the line of his duty. He is now a pensioner.

Mr. Willox is best known in Clayton as a carriage-builder, his shop being on James street, west of State. He is a good citizen, and bears his 74 years with wonderful vigor and force, showing him to he temperate and abstemuous.

His first wife died in 1891. In 1894 he married Mrs. Mary E. Schell, of Clayton, who is sharing his earthly pilgrimage.

JOHN HENRY GRAVES came to Clayton from Ulster county, about 1843. He had married Miss Margaret R. Gibbons before he came to Clayton, and there his numerous family were horn-eight boys and one daughter. The children were: William T., Samuel G., Han- nah M., Peter H., Abram J., John H., Jr., Charles E., Alfred P., Joseph F. All of these children, who are now living, reside within three miles of Clayton. Mr. Graves, Sr., erected the first grist-mill in Clayton, just below the bridge at the mouth of French Creek. Previous to that, those who desired grinding of grain were obliged to visit Omar or Depanville. Mr. Graves died March 20, 1855. His wife died in 1893, aged 65 years. Joseph F. Graves, son of John H., has pur-

sued the calling of his father, and has con- tinued the retail store, where he resides, near the grist-mill. In 1880 he married Miss Mary Marshall, who died in 1881. He mar- ried Miss Margaret E. Baird in 1871, by whom he had one child. Mr. Graves is a useful, respected citizen, continuing along upon the same line followed by his father. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and has passed through all the chairs in that popular and meritorious organization.

JAMES A. TAYLOR, horn in Gananoque, Ontario, in 1824, is commander of Albert Dennis Post, G. A. R., at Clayton. He served in the 186th N. Y. Volunteer Infan- try, and was afterwards 1st lieutenant in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery. He came to the town of Orleans in 1836, and removed to Clayton in 1887. He has been commander of several vessels upon the river, and is a well-known and highly respected citizen. In 1850 he married Miss Julia A. Cornwall, and they have raised two daughters, one of whom is dead : the other is wife of Mr. Pierce, a real estate operator in Watertown. Capt. Taylor is a wholesome man to know, stand- ing deservedly high among his acquaint- ances, but highest among those who know him best.

AMONG the men who are hard to interview in preparing the business records of a town, we will name W. A. Wehster, who conducts, through Mr. W. A. Dygert, next to the largest lumbering and manufacturing husi- ness in Clayton. Mr. Webster hails from South Hammond, St. Lawrence county, hut

Mr. Dygert resides in Clayton. The concern employs some 25 men, many of them skilled mechanics, and the work turned out is of an excellent character. The success of such an establishment is traceable directly to the changed conditions now prevailing compared with days past, in the ereetion of dwellings, especially frame buildings. These shops make up the doors, sash, blinds, the paneling, the wainscotting. even the cor- nices, turn the newel posts and the ornaments for the balustrades; and about all the old- time " house carpenter " has to do is to put these various belongings together, joining them on to the frame and the studding, nail on the clap-boards and the shingles, and the result is a home fit to hold a king, if he chances to come that way and call. The Strough & Brooks works are conspicuous in this outfitting, as well as Mr. Webster and Mr. Dygert. Both are good concerns.

We have given as many family sketches as we have room for, and probably will be charged with more or less favoritism. It is generally the case that people who are left out of history are the ones who complain of the History's imperfections-forgetting that if they had been more communieative when approached, and manifesting more interest in the work, at the proper time, they might also have been rescued from oblivion by the printed page.

549

ELLISBURGH.

THIS town, embracing Minos and Hender- son (No. 6, as designated on the surveyor- general's map), was erected from Mexico into a township on February 22, 1803; the first town meeting being held at the house of Lyman Ellis, at which the following town officers were chosen: Edward Boomer, supervisor: Lyman Ellis, clerk; Caleb Ellis and Amos B. Noyes, overseers of the poor; Jeremiah Mason, Samuel Rhodes, and Benj. Boomer, commissioners of highways; Mat- thew Boomer. constable and collector; Abiah Jenkins, constable; John Thomas, Christopher Edmunds and Dyer McCumber, fence-viewers; C. Ellis, Jeremiah Mason, Timothy Harris, Benj. Boomer, D. McCum- ber. Joseph Holley, overseers of high ways.

SUPERVISORS.

1803, Edward Boomer; 1804-5, Lyman Ellis; 1806, Nathaniel Wood; 1807, L. Ellis; 1808-9, Joseph Allen; 1810, Orimal Brew- ster; 1811-14, Lyman Ellis; 1815-16, Ebe- nezer Wood; 1817, L. Ellis; 1818-20, Par- don Earl; 1821, E. Wood; 1822-23, P. Earl; 1824-29, Wadsworth Mayhew; 1830, Daniel Wardwell; 1831-36, Jotham Bigelow; 1837, Ezra Stearns; 1840, W. C. Pierrepont; 1841- 42, Ezra Stearns: 1843, Wm. C. Pierrepont; 1844, John Littlefield; 1845, James Jones; 1846-47, Wm. C. Pierrepont; 1848-49, John Clark; 1850, Alvah Bull; 1851-52, Jas. 1. Steel; 1853-54, Alexander Dickinson. For lists from 1854 to 1894, see pp. 337-344.

This town derives its name from Lyman Ellis, of Troy, who settled as a proprietor in 1797, and who afterwards for several years acted as an agent. He died in town, March 13, 1847, aged 87. His character is briefly summed up in his epitaph : "Mod- esty, honesty, and charity adorned his walk in life."

April 11, 1796, Marvel Ellis, of Troy, N. Y., contracted with Wm. Constable for the purchase of this town, excepting a marshy tract each side of Sandy creek, near the lake, which was afterwards included, and a tract of 3,000 acres, in the southwest cor- ner, sold to Brown & Eddy. The sum of $22,111.50 was paid, and a deed given, March 22, 1797, upon which a mortgage was given back upon the balance, amounting to $98,943.45. This mortgage embarassed the early sales, and confidence was not re- stored until the property had reverted to the Constable estate, some years after- wards.

The greater part of the town was sur- veyed by Calvin Guiteau in 1796, except the eastern part, that was surveyed by Nelson Doolittle, and the 3,000 acre-tract in 1800, by Benjamin Wright, of Rome; the latter, in 1808, surveyed the whole town. A prop- osition had been received from Moody Free- man for the purchase of the town, but a bargain was not effected. The town, in-

cluding the marshes, which in dry seasons afford wild grass, but which are often flowed, contain 54,721 acres.

In the spring of 1797, Marvel and Lyman Ellis. brothers, and both interested in the purchase, found their way into town, the lat- ter with the view of permanent settlement. In the fall of the same year, Caleb Ellis, having met with Lyman Ellis at Rome, was casually introduced with the expectation that a relationship existed, but none was found; yet the interview resulted in an invitation to settle in the new town. Caleb Ellis accord- ingly visited the town, and selected a farm on the south branch of Sandy creek, at a place where one Waldo had the year previ- ous erected a hut for hunting.

Many men were employed by Lyman Ellis the same season, who had at its close built a dam and saw-mill three-fourths of a mile be- low the present site of Ellis village, and the mill was got in operation the same fall, but was partly swept off early the next spring by a flood. In the winter of 1797-8, Wm. Hicks, with Mr. Buller and B Pierce, remained in town, and in the spring of 1798, Caleb Ellis and family, Robert Fulton, Elijah Richardson, Hezekiah Pierce, Chauncey Smith, Wm. Root, Vial Salisbury, Isaac Waddle, Abram Wilcox, two men by the name of Thornton, and others, came into town with Lyman Ellis to rebuild the mill and erect a grist-mill; but nearly all were taken sick, and the pioneers were reduced to great suffering from want of provisions and necessary medical attendance.

To supply the place of mills, Mr. Ellis and his settlers constructed, after models of their own device, those primitive mortars used from necessity in all new settlements, and made by boring and burning a cavity into the top of a hard wood stump, over which was suspended a pestle by a spring-pole. With much diffculty, during the season, the saw-mill was again fitted up and the dam re- built; the iron and heavy freight, as well as the furniture of settlers, having been brought into town in open boats by way of Wood Creek and Oswego.

The first corn and potatoes raised in the county by the present race of settlers was by Lyman Ellis in 1797, who also, in 1798, was probably the first to raise winter wheat.

The first death in Ellisburg was Mary, a young daughter of Caleb Ellis, and the first death of an adult was that of Samantha Howard. The first birth is said to have been that of Ontario Pierce, a son of Hezekiah Pierce, in the summer of 1798.

The winter of 1798-99 was one of remark- able severity. Snow fell on the 29th of Oc- tober and lasted till the 20th of April.

In the spring of 1799 the dam of Ellis was again swept off and the mill partly destroyed, when this and the frame of a grist-mill were removed to the present village above, and the latter was got in operation about 1803.

550

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

January 22, 1803, George Tibbets and James Dole, of Troy, were appointed agents for Ellisburgh, and in 1807 were paid for their services in land. In the samue year, Benja- min Wright, of Rome, succeeded as general agent for the estate, and fixed his residence at Pulaski, where he continued in the capac- ity of surveyor and agent until employed on the canal surveys.

No incident worthy of remark occurred until 1808, when the Embargo act was passed. that led to much opposition from the Federal party in this county, and was in some places on this frontier systematically violated.

In September, 1808, an event occurred in this town that created great excitement at the time. We take it from accounts pub- lished in the Albany Gazette, Oct. 10, 1808: "A party from Oswego, under Lieutenant Asa Wells, entered Sandy Creek, and after seizing a quantity of potash, under the Em- bargo laws, proceeded to the house of Cap- tain Fairfield, surrounded it, and seized and carried away a swivel. Mr. F. heing absent, his lady made complaint to a justice, who issued a warrant. The constable was intimi- dated, and called upon his fellow-citizens to aid him, when about thirty men took arms and went with him, but Wells' men pre- sented bayonets, when they desisted, and twenty of the men went off. Lieutenant Wells ordered the remainder to be disarmed and bound, when they were taken, with the swivel, to Oswego. On the evening of the 25th of September the same party returned, as reported, for the purpose of taking the magistrate and constable who had issued the papers. A warrant against Wells and two others, for felony in breaking open a house, was issued at Sackets Harbor, and given to Ambrose Pease, a constahle, to execute, who, after examining the law, raised the hue and cry, and assembled about 200 persons in Ellisburgh, where a consultation of several magistrates was held, and the next day at sunrise about seventy or eighty men, armed and equipped, volunteered to aid in the ar- rest; but the magistrates durst not issue the order for their march, being apprehensive that some excess or injury might be done, and the question having been raised whether a constable had a right to demand aid be- fore he had been resisted, the armed men were advised to disperse, and the civil officer requested to proceed to apprehend Wells and the others, without the force of the county. This proceeding was charged by one of the political parties as an attempt of the other to resist, by force of arms. the execution of the laws, and mutual criminations were ex- changed with much bitterness."

During the war of 1813, a company of Silver Grays, composed of old men and boys not liable to military duty, was formed in Wood's Settlement, but was not called to serve, except to guard the beach and mouth of Sandy creek.

In the spring of 1814 a complete victory was gained, with slight loss, by a detachment of troops guarding a quantity of military

stores from Oswego, under Lieut. Woolsey, which had entered Sandy creek, and were attacked by a detachment from the British fleet.

The aboriginal remains of Ellisburgh have given occasion for some to believe that they were concerned with buried treas- ures, and this being confirmed by the sup- posed indications of the divining-rod, led in early times to explorations for them, de- spite the guardianship of the spirits of the murdered, who, according to the most ap- proved demonologists, are ever placed sen- tries over concealed coffers. The projectors of these speculations were in some instances charged with making money out of the credulous victims of superstition, by sell- ing provisions, and, in several instances, the diggers were almost frightened out of their senses by ghosts and demons. Some were fleeced of substantial property in pur- suit of imaginary wealth, and others lost the respect of sensible men by the favor with which they regarded these follies.

In 1828 there occurred a sickness that was remarkable for its fatality, more especially in the vicinity of the lake, where scarcely a single person escaped an attack. It contin- ued through the summer months, which were remarkable for their intense heat, with copious showers, alternating with clear sky and hot sun. The lake was very high, and the marshes were flowed. The disease assumed the type of a malignant typhoid fever, and was very general, ex- tending along the entire frontier. being es- pecially severe in the vicinity of marshes and standing water.

Ellisburgh has sent a number of her peo- ple to Illinois and Wisconsin, those in the former State mostly locating near St. Charles, where they have accumulated con- siderable property, now of value, owing to its proximity to the city of Chicago, and the quality and quantity of its agricutural productions.

Rufus Richardson, one of General Wash- ington's life-guards during the Revolution, settled in the town very early. He died September 16, 1681, aged 81, and was fol- lowed by his wife, who had reached the age of 90, on June 4, 1851. Their son Freeman, now also deceased, was a soldier of 1812. The old Richardson farm is in the north- west part of the town.

The Eastman, Mason, Hossington, Wo- dell, Noble, and other familes, were among the early settlers, and some of the finest farms and best improvements in town are now owned by their descendants.

EARLY ROADS.

The first road which is described on the town records, was laid ont October 7, 1803, and is recorded as follows : "Beginning near the end of a road cut out on the Sixth Town from Levi Schofield's to Hungry Bay, and where said road interesects a division line of Great Lot 54 on said town; thence (by courses given in description) to the

551

ELLISBURGH.

south line of the town of Adams, meeting a road laid out by the commissioners of said town to the said line."

Following is the survey of a road " laid out by the commissioners of highways for the town of Ellisburgh, in said town, December 20, 1803. Beginning at the road near the house of Lyman Ellis, on the north line of lot No. 76, thence north 81 ° west along said line 164 chains and 66 links, until it inter- sects the road laid out from Christopher Edmunds' to the town of Adams."

A road was laid out May 12, 1804, sur- veyed by Lyman Ellis. "Beginning on the east line of lot No. 25 in said town, where the road that is laid out running from Jere- miah Mason's to Joseph Holley's intersects said line; thence north along said line 154 chains and 75 links, until it intersects the road leading from Asahel Hossington's up to the south side of the north branch of the Great Sandy creek, to the town of Adams, laid out by actual surveys."

Another road laid out August 30, 1804, and also surveyed by Lyman Ellis, is de- scribed as follows: "Beginning at the south end of the town of Adams, at the southeast corner of William Thomas' land, at the south end of a road laid out on the town of Adams, at a 'small beach sapling,' thence south 45° west, 5 chains, to a maple tree standing on the line of the road laid out by the commissioners of the town of Ellisburg, in the year 1803."

A road laid out June 21. 1804, surveyed by Lyman Ellis, was as follows: "Beginning on the lot No. 76, at the mouth of Bear creek, so called, thence (by bearings given) to the west line of township No. 1, 5} miles and 15 chains." Another road, laid out at the same time, is recorded as "Beginning on the ridge, so called, where the road leading from the mouth of Bear creek, so called, to the west line of township No. 1, crosses said ridge; thence (by bearings given) to the south branch of Big Sandy creek, and to the road by Mr. Isaac Burr's."

At a special town meeting, held July 24, 1813, the following named persons were chosen as the first school commissioners and inspectors for the town of Ellisburgh: Com- missioners, Oliver Scott, Elijah Woodworth, William Case: inspectors, George Andrus, Lyman Ellis, George Jenkins. Oliver Scott was released from the position of school commissioner, and Asa Averill appointed in his place. In 1813 and 1814 the town was divided into 17 school districts, and public school buildings were first erected during those years. Schools had previously been taught by subscription, in houses built in the same way, or in any buildings which could be conveniently used. The first school- house bears the date of August 9, 1805.

A grist mill was built on Sandy creek, in the upper part of the present corporation of Belleville, sonie year previous to 1820, by Abraham Miller and Rufus Mather, of Marl- borough, Wyndham county, Vermont. Not long after this, and previous to 1820, they

deeded about an acre of land to Owen How- ard, upon which he bult a chair factory, and carried on quite an extensive business for a number of years. Miller & Mather after- wards sold out to Cotton Kimball, who built the frame grist-mill. The first mill was one of the old-fashioned frame struc- tures common at that day. The dam was near the mill. Kimball removed this dam and built one about half a mile above the mill, and dug a " ditch " raceway.

THE LAKE-SHORE.

The lake-shore in this town is nearly a straight line, and is bordered by a low ridge of sand-liills, scantily covered with trees at a few points. but mostly composed of drift- ing sands. Behind this is a large marsh, that extends several miles each way from Sandy creek, in which are open ponds. These marshes are without timber, are covered with sedges, aquatic plants and wild-rice, and when the lake is low a con- siderahle portion of them may be mowed, but in high water they are mostly flowed. A large part of the marsh remains unsold, and is used as a kind of common. Where capable of tillage it is found very productive.

The lake-shore has been the scene of many wrecks since the country was settled, the first within the memory of those living, hav- ing occurred in the fall of 1800, when a small schooner from Mexico to Gananoque, Capt. Gammon, master, was lost off Little Stony creek, and all on board perished. A · boat with eight men, that was sent in search of the vessel, was also swamped, and all hands were drowned.

About 1807 a family was located by Mr. Benjamin Wright, at the mouth of Sandy creek, to afford aid to shipwrecked persons, and since that period this lonely dwelling has sheltered many a suffering sailor. who might otherwise have perished. Within the memory of the present tenant, who has occupied the premises thirty years, the fol- lowing vessels have been wrecked on this coast, and several near the house : Atlas, Asp, Huron, Fame of Genesee, Two Sisters, Victory, Hornet, Three Brothers, Medora, Burlington, Caroline, Henry Clay, Neptune, Napoleon, White Cloud and several others, names not known, of many of which the entire crews were lost, and of others a part were saved. These are but a part of the whole number that have been lost here.

In 1829 a survey of the mouth of Sandy creek was made by order of the general government, with the view of improving it for a harbor. The estimated cost of the work was $36,000, but nothing was ever done towards effecting this. A warehouse has been erected at the head of navigation, on each branch of the creek, but these are little used at present. Sandy creek is a lawful port.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 116

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