The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 146

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 146

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In 1890 Theresa had a population of 2,391- a gain of two in 10 years. The town is situa-

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ted in the third school district of Jefferson county, and in 1888 had 15 school districts, one of which was joint, in which 18 teach- ers were employed 28 weeks or more.

Theresa village was incorporated June 29, 1871, under the general act of April 20, 1870, for incorporation of villages. The first elec- tion, held July 29, resulted in the choice of George E. Yost, president; John Parker, Ambrose Walradt and Gideon Snell, Sr., trustees ; Hiram P. Salisbury, treasurer ; and Charles Fairbanks, collector. The trus- tees appointed Melvin E. Cornwell clerk. Rev. Mr. Rockwell made a survey and map of the corporation, which embraces about 1,200 acres. The village is a station on the Utica & Black River division of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad, 17 miles from Watertown, 190 from Albany and 332 from New York. It has telegraph, tele- phone and express offices, and a population of ahout 1,200. The principal manufactur- ing establishments of the village are Pool & Cheeseman's grist and saw-mill, C. Wakefield & Son's iron foundry and Snell & Make- peace's flouring and feed mill. It is one of the principal villages of the county, and is pleasantly situated at the High Falls on Indian river, which furnishes an excellent

water-power. May 11, 1859, the village was visited by a most disastrous fire. which spread devastation on both sides of the river, destroying one barn and two dwellings, two or three saw-mills, a wood-working shop, machine shop, a foundry, grist-mill and a cloth factory. The bridge was also totally destroyed. In 1863 a flood did great damage here, carrying away the upper dam, the cov- ered bridge and other property.

Soon after midnight on the morning of April 5, 1890, a more disastrous fire visited the village of Theresa, destroying more than $150,000 worth of property, including every business place in the village, with the ex- ception of the American Hotel and one sa- loon. Forty-two buildings were burned and 17 families were made homeless. [For a full description of this fire, see article later on.]

West Theresa is a small hamlet in the western part of the town. It was once con- sidered of enough importance to have a postoffice, which was established in 1848, but has long since been discontinued. Warren Parrish was the first postmaster. A post- office, known as Military Road, was estab- lished in the southeastern part of the town, near the line of LeRay, about 1840. It was in existence but a few years.

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THERESA.

PREPARED BY B. PALMER CHEESEMAN, JOS. FAYEL AND MAJ. J. A. HADDOCK.

AT an early day, Benjamin Wright, the distinguished surveyor, called the attention of Mr. LeRay to the great water power on Indian river, at the village of Theresa, where at the lower falls the water-power was a per- pendicular fall of 55 feet, and about 100 rods above, another fall of about 15 feet. These water-falls attracted Mr. LeRay as a favorable locality to commence a settlenient. In 1812 a path was cut through the wilder- ness from Evans Mills-nine miles-which would allow an-ox team with a sled to pass through, for wagons were unknown in those primitive settlements. Mr. LeRay, in the same year, cleared, under the direction of Captain John Hoover, 40 acres on the farm now owned by J. P. Douglas, about one mile from the falls. He built a log house and a frame barn. The next year he made another clearing of 100 acres, on the farm which was purchased in 1815 by James Shurtliff.

Mr LeRay also employed Musgrove Evans to survey 1,000 acres as a reservation for a village. Anson Cheeseman moved bis family into the mill house in 1815, before it was completed.

Thus was the opening made for civiliza- tion, where for years none but Indian trap- pers and hunters followed a trail along the bank of the river. There was a well-defined trail along the west bank of the river, and there was to be seen, about four miles above the village, a small cleared plot on the river

flat of a couple of acres, called the "Indian Garden," where the Indians had bivouacked and raised vegetables. Mr. Joseph Fayel well remembers spending many hours by the light of the fisherman's camp-fire, listening to the thrilling incidents of the hunter's ex- perience of old Uncle John Sixberry, who spent his whole life in hunting, trapping and fishing, and died a few years ago at the ripe old age of 104 years. He entertained an inveterate hatred of an Indian, and when talking about them, his eyes would snap and flash like fire-brands, and he would raise to his feet at the thought of the atrocities com- mitted by these savages upon his father's family. He said it was sure death for any Indian to pass in sight of the muzzle of his rifle He pointed to the spot where he bad seen an Indian in a canoe, and saw him roll over the side of his craft. No doubt the bullet from the rifle of old "Uncle Six," con- signed him to a watery grave.

Sylvester Bodman emigrated from Massa- chusetts in an ox cart and on horse-back. His noble wife rode the horse and carried the baby in a basket fastened to the saddle. The kind old lady died in 1881, at the age of 104. There are several descendants of the family yet living.

In 1823 Dr. John D. Davison settled as a practicing physician, and died in 1860. In 1825 Olney Pearce and Anson Ranney pur- chased the store of Ebenezer Lull, and

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opened a business under the name of Pearce & Ranney. In connection with the store they manufactured large quantities of pot and pearl ashes. The first school-house was built in 1818. During the years of 1822 and 1823, there was an epidemic of fever and ague, caused by the opening of the wilder- ness, and many of the settlers left their im- provements, but many remained.

During the winters of 1831 and 1832, Henry Hooper, of Quebec, would take a large lot of French Canadians to the pine plains and the country around, and during the winters would manufacture large quan- tities of pine and elm timber, and put it in the river at Hull bridge, at the bend of Indian River, and some was drawn by farm- ers and put into the river below the falls. In the spring freshets the timber was floated down the river to Ogdensburg, and there rafted to Quebec. This business was aban- doned after two years of trial.

Anson Cheeseman, the father of B. Palmer Cheeseman, our local historian, came into Theresa in the fall of 1817. The improve- ments which had been made by Mr. LeRay had developed a bridge at the lower falls. A dam and saw-mill were also constructed, and' a frame house had been enclosed, being the only one in town. Anson Cheeseman had a contract with LeRay to supply the saw-mill with logs and to saw them into merchantable lumber. The next year (1818) Benjamin Barnes came, and purchased land on the east side of the river, half a mile from the upper falls. He was a man of peculiar energy, was a licensed M. E. preacher, and had learned the trade of a mason. He at once began manufacturing brick and burning lime, prov- ing a most acceptable and valuable member of society, as he was peculiarly adapted to a new country, being able to both work and pray. In that year (1818) Mr. LeRay caused a raceway to be excavated and the founda- tion walls built for a grist-mill, and Anson Cheeseman had the contract for the work, Benjamin Barnes doing the mason work. The next year (1819) LeRay caused the mill to be built, and Noah Ashley was the first miller, and put the mill in operation. It was a great convenience to all that section and was the foundation of that material prosperity which the Indian river then and since has conferred upon the thrifty village of Theresa. In that same year (1819) LeRay caused a frame hotel to be built at the "High Falls," as the place was then denominated, the name "Indian River" having been dropped. That hotel was afterwards destroyed by fire, and in it a colored woman was cremated.

The site of this hotel was afterwards pur- chased by Gen. Archibald Fisher, and he caused a brick hotel to be built, Benjamin Barnes having the contract for the mason work, his price being $4.00 per 1,000 brick laid in the wall, he furnishing everything-a price that now appears surprisingly low, as such brick alone, as went into that hotel, would now bring $5.00 per 1,000, delivered

at the kiln. The hotel was completed in 1822, the same year that the first white child was born in the village (Mary F. Lull, who married John A. Haddock, the editor). This latter fact is challenged, however, by the statement that the honor belonged to Tammy Cheeseman, but it is probable that they were born quite close together, perhaps not 10 days apart. The first child born in the town pro- per, outside the village, was indisputably Fanny Cole, who afterwards married Jacob Ostrander.

In 1818 James Shurtliff purchased land on the east side of the river, about a mile from the river, and was elected justice of the peace. He became an elder in the Presby- terian Church. His family became a noted one in Theresa, several prominent citizens marrying his daughters, and the sons proving acceptable members of society.

Ebenezer Lull, from Butternuts, Otsego county, was the first merchant. He opened a store in 1820, afterwards taking Azariah Walton as a partner. Mr. Lull married Almira Barnes, July 21, 1821. She was the first school teacher, daughter of that Barnes who gave his name to the "Barnes Settle- ment," near Goose Bay, in Alexandria. Mr. Lull died in 1827, much lamented, for he was an enlightened, popular business man, ready to aid the deserving poor, who were strug- gling to found homes. Most of the trade of Lull & Walton was in square oak timber and staves, marketed in Montreal and Quebec. In 1821 Walton purchased five acres of land on the east side of the lower falls, with one- half of the whole water power of Indian river. In 1822 he removed his family from Brownville to Theresa, but about 1827 he re- moved permanently to Alexandria Bay, hav- ing been appointed deputy collector of cus- toms at that place, where he became finally very wealthy, and an important factor in developing the Thousand Islands.

One of the permanent improvements made by Walton at Theresa, was his excavation, in 1824, of a site for a shute and flume, by which he utilized the water pouring over the dam by diverting it to a saw-mill located in the deep gulf northeast of the falls, which mill is still continued, and some of the origi- nal timbers of that race-way and flume are yet in place and well preserved. In 1822 or 1823 Walton sold a portion of his land and a restricted interest in the water-power to Na- than M. Flower, who built a cloth-dressing and wool-carding establishment upon the extreme point of rocks adjoining the northeast bank of the High Falls, and there he estab- lished a valuable and permanent business. He was the founder of the celebrated Flower family, all of whom have justified the hon- est blood of their ancestry-one of them be- coming the popular Governor of the great State of New York, and one serving as com- mander of a gallant company in the Union army, while the remaining sons have all risen to wealth and prominence. Nathan M. Flower was for many years justice of the

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peace, and it is said that he never had one of his justice's decisions reversed on certiorari. He was a peculiarly honorable and able man, beloved by every one, and his early death was felt as a great public calamity. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, and his sons have united in erecting the present beau- tiful church edifice to the memory of their parents. It is shown in this History, as well. as the mural tablets inserted upon its interior walls.

The first blacksmith in Theresa was Curly Smith. He came in 1818, and located on the east side of the river at the lower falls, near the end of the bridge. His forge was in the open air, as we may see travelling tinkers on the continent of Europe, who work for a day and then pass on. Smith was a brother-in- law of Walton. This blacksmith afterwards built a house, but used part of his home for his smithshop. That same house was after- wards purchased by Mr. Flower, and in it he resided for many years before removing into the Flower mansion on the main street of the village.

In 1818 Jesse Doolittle also purchased land about one mile northeast of the upper falls, removing thither from Watertown. His children were: Jesse S., Jr., Richard, Molly and Mira. In 1820 Sylvester Bodman came, and he was an usually valuable addi- tion to the new town, for he was a worker. This family was well-known through all the years of their lives ; the children's names were: Martin, Miranda, Sophronia (Mrs. Da- vid J. Wager), Sylvester and Atwood, and they have all proved honorable members of society. Mrs. Bodman, Sr., lived to be 104 years old. In that same year (1820) Dudley Chapman came in. He was also a hard and persistent worker. His children were : Mary, William D. and Simeon.

Zalmon Pool came in about 1818. His children were : Charles, Zalmon, Jr., and three daughters. Sinecy Ball also came in about 1818. He had a large family. One of his grandsons is the Rev. Wilson Ball, at present pastor of the M. E. Church at The- reia. Dr. Brooks was the first physician, followed by Dr. J. D. Davison; Ebenezer Lull was the first merchant, followed by An- son Ranney ; and Henry Morey was the first hotel keeper, followed by General Fisher and parties not now remembered, until Suel Wil- son became proprietor, and he was hotel keeper for many years, followed by several short-lived proprietors, until Mr. Getman, father of the three Getman Brothers, came to the front. He, and his sons after him, proved to be the right men in the right place.

Subsequently to 1818 the town began to be settled quite rapidly. The water-power brought mechanics, while the farming lands, though broken, proved wonderfully produc- tive-henee all who came, with scarcely an exception, could always find something to do. Abraham Morrow came in about 1821. (See his biographical sketch later on.) The Dr. Brooks spoken of as the first physician, was

the grandfather of Mr. Byron A. Brooks, now of Brooklyn, N. Y., the distinguished inventor and author.

The grist-mill erected by Mr. LeRay, was by him sold in 1822 to Percival Bullard, father of one of Theresa's most honorable and useful citizens, still living, and many years a merchant, Mr. Percival D. Bullard, whose portrait and biographical sketeh are shown in another place in this history. That mill property has always been valuable, and still continues so. Many million bushels of grain, first and last, have passed through its hoppers.

The first Methodist preacher was Gardner Baker, but really the first movement towards a church sprang from the wife of Anson Cheeseman. When Mr. Baker came upon the circuit he was a young man of perhaps 18 years, without much education. His cir- cuit was from Carthage to Ogdensburg, in- cluding Potsdam, Canton and Theresa, nearly 300 miles in extent. This long route he fol- lowed on horseback once in two weeks, preaching perhaps six or eight times, in log cabins, at four-corners, or wherever he could find listeners to his method of declaring the word of God. The writer of this sketch listened to his first sermon in Theresa. After a long life, full of good works, he died at Thousand Island Park. His life was stainless. his teachings pure-pre-eminently a good and useful man.

He was followed by Rev. Squire Chase, a man of stalwart frame and untiring industry. He was 19 years of age, tall and lank and not by any means educated. But he had in him, as shown by his life-long example and influence, the making of a grand itinerant Methodist preacher. He organized into le- gal form the first Methodist Society in The- resa, with some 26 members. He preached the funeral sermon of Ebenezer Lull, an event long remembered there, from the pe- culiar pathos which surrounded his untimely death, as he was cut down in the midst of great expectations and much usefulness. His widow became one of the original mem- bers of the Methodist organization at Theresa. Squire Chase afterwards went to Africa as a missionary, became superintendent of mis- sions there, and died while on a brief visit to his native land. This sad event oceurred at Syracuse, during the session of the Con- ference in that city. Mr. Chase died at the home of Mr. Judson, where he received every possible care.

The first Presbyterian clergyman was Rev. William B. Stow, who came as a missionary, no church organization having been com- pleted. He located about a mile below Plessis, for the Plessis and Theresa churches were served by the same pastor for many years afterward, even up to 1850. He formed the church at Theresa May 8, 1825, at the house of Abraham Morrow. The number enrolled was 12, eight females and four males.

The name "Indian River," first given to Theresa, was appropriate, for it was a great

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resort for the red man, whose wigwams were in the gulf now traversed by the race-way and flume of Pool & Cheeseman's saw-mill. The high bluffs on either hand were covered with a fine evergreen growth, a great pro- tection in cold weather. When the Cheese- mans came in, white people were scarce, but the Indians were plentiful. Like their suc- cessors, the whites, they had occasional quar- rels over bad whisky, but they were in general an inoffensive lot, much given to begging pork and potatoes, their nomadic life not permitting them to stay long enough in one place to fatten pork or raise a crop. But they were good trappers, and the abuu- dance of muskrats and mink, whose skins found ready sale, kept them supplied with the necessaries of life. The Indian river, a sluggish stream below Theresa to Rossie, was the home of many fur-bearing animals, and hunting them for their skins helped to pay for many a farm in Theresa. Those were the days before the present game laws, which prohibit the poor from enjoying the good gifts of a bountiful and discriminating providence, but aims to reserve the denizens of the water and of the air for the pleasure (not the necessities) of a favored few. That wild animals were numerous, is attested by the fact that the writer remembers when he was a boy, going with some companions to the falls, and there listening to the howl- ing of wolves-a peculiar sound, hard to imitate. Those scenes have passed away. There has followed them an era, said to be more cultivated and advanced, but in which man's struggle for existence is not lessened, but seems to be increased, because the sim- ple ways of living then prevalent really left a person more freedom for thought and read- ing than now.

As an unbroked forest, Theresa was beau- tiful, along the river especially so, but clear- ing away the timber has revealed the rugged rocks, a painful but truthful illustration of the fact that our alleged advance in civiliza- tion has laid bare much that before was in- visible, and is altogether unsightly. A poor man is now not much removed from a menial-equal to his richer neighbor only when he casts a ballot. In those olden times a community of interest for protection and defense made all equal after election as well as before.

In 1828 Sylvester Bodman came to the vil- lage with his oxen and cart; when left for a while they started for home. The road then run along the edge of the gulf by the lower grist-mill. By some means or other, in going down the hill, the oxen and cart plunged down into the gulf (80 feet) to the bottom. One of the oxen was taken out alive, and one was killed. In 1845 Peter H. Ryther built a blacksmith shop and trip- hammer in the gulf. It was afterwards owned by George W. Flower, and turned into a butter-tub factory. In 1818 the old grist-mill, then owned by George Wilson, burned down on Sunday. It was re-built,

and went up in smoke in the great fire at the falls in 1859. In 1843 Anson Ranney built a grist-mill with four run of stones, at the upper falls, which was afterwards pur- chased by Snell & Makepeace, and changed into what is known as the "roller system." They are now manufacturing 15 barrels of a fine grade of flour every day. Wakefield & Son have a foundry and machine shop at the lower falls, and manufacture ploughs and hay presses and various other articles of use.

At a point on Indian River about half way between Evans Mills and Theresa, a city was founded in 1833 by Prince Achilles Murat, a son of Marshal Joachim Murat, king of Naples and Sicily. His mother was Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the great Napoleon. Prince Murat cut a big swell. He came from Bordentown, New Jersey, where he had been living with his uncle, Joseph Bonaparte. He built a saw-mill and grist-mill on a water power, and named the city Joachim, after his father. He also built a store and stuffed it full of goods bought in New York on credit, and in less than a year and a half the sheriff closed the whole thing out for the benefit of his creditors. He had with him a nicely well dressed and genteel looking young Frenchman by the name of Louis Vase for his business clerk. The Prince was slovenly in his dress, and was a great horse jockey. He could not drive to Theresa without trading horses, and he was quite a success in that direction. He rode in a ear- riage that had been used for a long time by his unele, Joseph Bonaparte. He was always ready for a horse race, and employed John Starring and uniformed him to ride his horses. He would put up a horse race about every week at Evans Mills, with the eccentric old Paine Hinds. He was sued by Daniel Hubbard before Nathan M. Flower, for the value of one sheep, worth one dollar and twenty -five cents. The Prince fled the country and went to Texas. He left many debts behind him. Among his obligations was a debt of $1,500 to his millwright, Isaac Barrett. He fought two duels in Texas, and then went to Florida, where he had a brother residing. In 1848, on the establishment of the 2d empire by his cousin, Louis Napoleon, the Prince returned to France, where he arrived on the day of the election of the Legislative Assembly. The election was postponed one week. He went to his father's native depart- ment and announced himself as a candidate. Other candidates were in the field, but the name of Murat overcame all opposition. He was elected almost unanimously. The Prince became one of the Imperial family of France, with at one time a squint at the throne of Naples. The overthrow of the empire by the German army in 1871, reduced him again to private life.

The first marked grave in the old burial ground at Theresa is that of Dr. James Brooks, with 1823 as the date of burial. But there certainly was two graves there before that, one of James Cassleman, who was

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drowned, and the other that of a negro wo- man, who was burned to death in the first hotel built by Mr. LeRay in 1819. The old burial ground was first used as a place of sepulcher under a grant of one acre by Mr. LeRay for that purpose, There have been two other additions of an acre each, ob- tained through purchase by the town, and so the legal title of the whole field remains in the town as long as the ground is used as a place of burial.

There is a new cemetery, known as "Oak Wood," and it is being cared for and adorned to a considerable extent. It was first started by a general subscription, and organized into an association under the general cemetery law of the State, the lot owners having the controlling power. The site is beautiful, the improvements elegant, particularly those of the Flower family, which comprises a granite monumental base, surmounted by a monolith column of the same material. The Yost monument is also a fine piece of work. Mr. Wm. Lambie is now president of the board of trustees, and much of the general work of improvement has been done under his direc- tion. The first president was Hon. Franklin Parker, also an excellent manager aud execu- tive officer.

During the years 1854-6 there was much discussion at Theresa relative to the proposed "Utica & Clayton Railroad." This was an expensive matter for many of the leading citizens, for all they paid in on their sub- scriptions to that road was lost when the original plan was abandoned. But in 1870 the railroad fever again broke out in Theresa, and this time the project was destined to be a success. A committe of citizens, headed by Hon. Franklin Parker, went through the town soliciting subscriptions, and they succeeded in soliciting enough taxpayers to agree to bond the town for $60,000. The legal proceedings that were necessary for the consummation of this plan having been complied with, the town was formally bonded. There were 10 or 12 years of delay and backing and filling by the " Black River & Morristown road," as well as by the "Black River & Utica road." In the mean- time, the town received no dividends from the earnings of the road ; and at last, about 1884, the town received in stock of the Black River & Utica Railroad $60,000, upon which, since 1884, the town has received an- nual interest at 6 and 7 per cent. Having pur- chased $800 additional of stock a year or two ago, its holdings are now $60,800, worth 140 cents on the dollar ; so that the town to-day, if it desired to sell its stock, could receive $84,320 for it. The town owes $53,300 on account of the original railroad indebtedness, but as an offset on this indebtedness the town has invested $11,500 in different savings banks, which, as the bonds fall due in 1900, will be available as part payment. The actual money status of the town on account of its bonded debt for building its railroad is as follows :

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 146

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