The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 147

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 147

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).

Jan. 1, 1894. Value of stock and pre- mium. $84,320

Less bonds unpaid. $53,300

Less money invested .. 11,500 41,800

Gain to the town's credit .. $42,520

Mr. P. D. Bullard has had the main labor of the details of these investments, from the start. The commissioners of the town, in connection with this railroad business, have been, from the beginning, Messrs. Percival D. Bullard, Hon, Franklin Parker and B. Palmer Cheeseman.

Jonathan Thompson started the first tan- nery in the town, on Barnes Creek, northeast of the Falls Settlement, in 1822. Nathaniel W. Lull also started one the same year, above the present railway station. Thompson after- wards moved his vats, etc., to a building at the south end of the lower bridge, where he also had a shop for the finishing of his leather. A third tannery was erected by Almond Thwing, in the ravine in the rear of the pre- sent American Hotel, and in 1860 another was built on the river above the falls and below Seeber's saw-mill.

WM. FAYEL'S REMINISCENCES.

The usual route pursued by the Indians from the St. Lawrence, was up the Oswe- gatchie in boats, through Black Lake, and by a short carrying place past the present site of Rossie, they again launched their canoes on the Indian river, and proceeding to the falls at Theresa, where another carrying place led them up the sources of the Indian river, and across to the Black river, whence they struck the Mohawk or West Canada Creek, and made their irruptions into the settlements, killing and scalping the defenceless inhabit- ants, and escaping with the plunder and such prisoners as they captured. A cove on the Indian river below Theresa falls is still called Indian landing, so known from time immemorial, and on an elevated point above the falls were old trees bearing marks made by the tomahawk, indicating a remote period at which, according to tradition, prisoners were tied and tortured. Old Sixberry, who lived to be near a hundred years old. gave his testimony to the statement, which he had heard repeated by the old Indian warriors. These trees were standing as late as 1831. Above the upper falls at that date a path was seen deeply worn by the Indians between the ledge and the water's edge, made by war and hunting parties, doubtless hundreds of years before. At the upper falls also there were seen obscure images and Indian inscriptions in the sandstone, which were destroyed in blasting for Ranney's mill.

That region was the heart of the hunting grounds of the Six Nations, and after the Revolution it was visited by hunting and trapping parties. The Indian river for 18 miles below the falls, was a sluggish stream, coursing through and overflowing extensive marshes, the home of the otter, fisher, mink and muskrat.

698

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

The channel of Black river was too swift and rocky for these fur-bearing animals, and the Indian river was the favorite resort of these trapping parties. As late as 1831, 1832 and 1833, I have seen bands of 30 or 40 of the Oneida and Brotherton tribes, packed with their traps, guns and outfit, arrive on their annual hunting and trapping expeditions. They left Oneida, following the main roads along in the month of March, when the snow was still deep, accompanied by their squaws, and all wearing white woolen blankets, the color of snow. When they struck the Mili- tary road the men would get drunk as lords at Job Armstrong's tavern, and I have seen them tumble over by the side of the road in the snow banks as helpless as sheep. I think in 1833 was the last when the Oneidas ceased visiting our section, as they were about that time removed to Green Bay by the government, and now a very small remnant of this ancient tribe are living in the Indian Territory.

Before the early mills at Watertown (1802), the nearest grist mill was at Vera Cruz, now Texas, in the township of Mexico, built by George Scriba, and so far away that the pioneers of Watertown pounded their corn for bread, Indian fashion, with a pestle in a hollow stump. When a boy I heard old Jonathan Cowan, who built the first mill in Watertown, and who in the thirties lived in Theresa, broken down with age and poverty, relate interesting particulars of the diseom- forts and privations endured by the pioneers. Mr. Cowan's family are buried in the old Trinity Church yard at Watertown, and their graves have suffered from vandalism and other neglects. He was one of three men who gave Watertown the publie square.

The first settlers on the east side of the river principally came in by the old State road via Whitestown, Boonville, Turin and the Long Falls on the Black river. In the town of LeRay the first settlers, among whom were the Ingersons, Harts, Scovills and others, came from Saratoga county. I have heard the mother of Ezra and Isaac Ingerson, who was still living at an advanced age in 1833, relate startling incidents of the old French war on Lake Champlain. She re- membered the Putnam and Rodgers rangers, and told of their exploits. Old settlers have recounted their adventures on blind roads and paths through the wilderness in search of their destination. While camped at night the wolves howled around them, and they were frightened away by hurling fire brands into the pack. They infested the log cabins of the settlers with their nocturnal howls. On one occasion a fawn that was chased by them sought shelter by rushing through the blan- ket door of Grandfather Cooper's cabin, and was saved from being devoured. Besides the dangers from wild beasts, another illustration of the privations endured by the early settlers in the "howling wilderness" was re- lated to me by Raney Cooper, of his father, William Cooper, Sr., one of the earliest

in Pamelia and LeRay. The first winter there was little or no hay or provender for cattle, which had to feed on browse. For oxen which worked, it was necessary to feed them a little hay "for the cud," and Mr. Cooper went on foot to Champion, eight miles, and brought a bundle of hay on his back over the snow and ice for his oxen. Think of that, ye farmers of 1895!

At that time, 1802-7, there were no stoek laws, and in the summer season the cattle had an unlimited range of the woods to graze. One evening the eldest daughter of Mr. Cooper, then seven years old, was sent to bring home the cows for milking. Some two or three miles from the homestead, she found the cow lying down, so that the bell could not be heard. It grew dark, and as the wolves began their howling, she dared not undertake to find her way through the woods, so she laid down beside the old cow and slept till morning. Her folks were greatly alarmed at her absence meantime, and had instituted a search.

In 1812 all the country north of the settled portions of the township of LeRay, was then an unbroken wilderness, extending down the St. Lawrence border to Ogdensburg, and nightly in imagination was heard the hostile yell of the relentless savages. Block-houses were constructed for defense and the shelter of women and children in case of threatened attack. One or two block-houses were built on West creek in the town of LeRay. When Wilkinson's army were wintering in 1814 at French Mills, after the ill-fated expedition down the St. Lawrence, the farmers of Le- Ray and Lewis county did a thriving busi- ness in transporting provisions at great ex- pense for the army from Sackets Harbor to French Mills. The weather was exceedingly cold and the snow over three feet.

In the month of February the army vaca- ted French Mills, part going to Plattsburg, and General Brown's division to Saekets Harbor. Squire James Shurtliff, of Theresa, but at that time living in LeRay, once in- formed me that he, with 300 or 400 other farmers, went in sleighs to French Mills to bring the soldiers to Sackets Harbor. The road followed was by Antwerp, Russell and Hopkinton, as there was then no passable route along the St. Lawrence ; the military road, though cut through from Sackets Har- bor to Ogdensburg before the war, was not opened and worked till 1823. Squire Shurt- liff gave me the names of all the LeRay people with him on that business. They were the pioneers of the town, in the prime of life, and most of them had belonged to the gallant militia company under Captain Ezra Ingerson, who repaired to the defense of Sackets Harbor in May, 1813. He said at French Mills the division going to Plattsburg marched on foot to guard the stores that were sent in that direction, fairly bloeking the roads. The sleighs with Brown's division were the last to leave, and the rear was threatened by British detachments from the

699

THERESA.

Canada side. Some of the teamsters were cut off, but on the whole they had rather a jolly time, and were paid $4.00 a day and rations. Thus, as Jefferson county, under the direct tax of $3,000,000 levied by the government the year before, had to pay $4,610 as her quota, many of the tax-payers got some of it back, in the way stated. It is not many years since we saw in Henry Tag- gart's and Grandfather Cooper's woods in Le- Ray, the white-oak stumps from which the timber was cut and hauled to Sackets Har- bor, to build Commodore Chauncey's ship, the Superior, and that other stupendous log- heap, the New Orleans, which was demolished a few years ago. About 1845 there lived at Evans Mills the man, then of middle age, who was, or claimed to be, the "drummer boy" who, at the battle of Sackets Harbor, rushed up to the British Acting Deputy Quartermaster-General, Captain A. Gray, after being shot, and received from the dying officer his gold watch.

To the influence of Mr. LeRay, Jefferson county is indebted for the encouragement of a considerable French emigration from time to time. A large number of dependents and overseers in charge of various enterpises and avocations came over, and in due time mar- ried and settled down as farmers and useful citizens. Most of these had served in the wars under Bonaparte. Among the number were Ross, Dominique, Bouverian, Fayel, Herbert, the Blancs and many others. The downfall of Napoleon brought over many distinguished exiles, some of whom made investments and remained permanently. Among these were Joseph Bonaparte, and subsequently Achille Murat, Joseph Boyer, John LaFarge, Mesdames Delaffolie and De- Fariette. At Cape Vincent several promi- nent officers of Napoleon's army were in- duced to settle, among them Count Real, General Roland and Louis Peugnet. A son of Mr. Peugnet is a prominent business man in St. Louis. I may just add, in this con- nection, that General Beauregard, the Con- federate general, informed me that when a young man he learned the sword exercise from Peugnet, who was a skilled master of fencing. I spent the winter of 1853 at Cape Vincent, and heard the story repeated of Count Real's floating down the river, dis- robed, lying flat on the bottom of his boat and indulging his imagination in the luxury of reading the best French novels.

That winter the town was in a flutter of expectancy over the railroad that was in pro- cess of building toward that point. A num- ber of French families also arrived that winter from Paris, who had been compelled to leave in consequence of the usurpation of Louis Napoleon. Among the number was M. Paguerre, somewhat distinguished as the secretary of the Provisional Government of February, 1848, who had been accorded a de- liberative voice in that government. He oc- cupied the famous " Cup-and-Saucer" house, where I called upon him. He was at a table

surrounded by some twenty gabbling ladies and gentlemen drinking wine. He was very polite and very obliging in giving lively ac- counts of recent transactions in the French capital, which are now of no interest.

About three miles from Cape Vincent, at Chaumont, there was a settlement of French, who, I think, were from Alsace, and came to this country about 1830. They were very devout Catholics, industrious and docile, somewhat clannish and uneducated. On their first arrival the men wore a blouse of blue cloth with collar and sleeve-cuffs em- broidered with coarse white thread. Among them were the Branchs and Votrans, whose sons, Fowfan and Pierre, worked in our parts. These people, with their shot-guns, spent their leisure time a la chasse, and did not dis- dain in bagging among the game our va- grant crows, upon which they feasted with a relish.

Another lively French settlement made about 1830, was that of the Croissant neigh- borhood, situated in LeRay, between Evans Mils and the Military road. When I first passed through it in the spring of 1831, there were many evidences of French taste seen in the wicket fences and galleries surrounding some of the residences. These people were prominent in the wars of Napoleon, and lived in the memory of the past. There was a chamberlain of the Emperor whose name has escaped me. Dominique, who was in the disastrous retreat from Moscow, was a gallant old grenadier, and loaned our folks his account of that ill-fated expedition. There was living at that time there an aged gentleman, a portrait-painter, who had been the pupil of David. The walls of his house were hung with over a hundred portraits of the Emperor and his marshals and other dig- nitaries of the empire, filling every niche in the dwelling. His venerable wife wore a black silk cap, and was equally charming and chatty with her honored consort. To find such a fine gallery of art in the woods was a surprise. I wonder what became of it and the owners? Perhaps Mr. Croissant, of LeLay, could throw some light on the sub- ject, and give a more particular account of the prominent French people of the Crois- sant settlement.

The Shauftys, who first lived in that neigh- borhood, were from Alsace, and came in 1830, passing through Paris during the three days' Revolution of that year. Their daughter, Julia, who lived with us, never tired of telling about the barricades and the scenes of blood she witnessed in the streets of Paris, and the more pleasant figure of La- Fayette on his white horse.

In the copy of Lindley Murray's English Reader, published by Knowlton & Rice, at Watertown, there was appended at the close a thrilling account of a fight with panthers by Jairus Rich, about 1824. Though the ac- count lacked the mellow ripeness of age im- parted to the Pomfret story of Putnam and the Wolf, yet being published in a school-

700

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

book, it had a wide circulation among youth- ful readers. A noted hunter was old Six- berry. He had the honor of having a beau- tiful lake near Indian river named after him. In his old age, for many years, he would haul his boat overland to Theresa falls and spend weeks fishing and trapping down Indian river, and that. too, after he lost one leg by falling into a fire. He was generally accom- panied by his sons. Enjoyment of the sport rather than profit, was his object.

Another famous Hunter was old Adams, who lived many years between Stone Mills and LaFargeville, in the town of Orleans. He had the reputation of killing more deer and bears than any other hunter in that re- gion. In 1833 Hiram Becker and Mr. Robin- son, of Watertown, had the contract of painting Mr. John LaFarge's large mansion near LaFargeville, which was afterwards turned into a Catholic seminary, and they bought out old Adams' farm and betterments. Adams, who was a live personation of Coop- er's Leather-Stocking, then moved to De- pauville.

I was present when he left with his gun on his shoulder, leaving the family to haul the goods in a sleigh. A famous potato, well- known from its productiveness, was named after him, and was called the "Adams" po- tato. He belonged to a family of hunters. One of his brothers left Kentucky in 1822 to join the revolutionists in Mexico. He was taken prisoner and died there. A number of years ago I met in St. Louis a son of the Jefferson county Adams, who came on a visit to his son, Captain Adams, who was an aid on General Curtis' staff, and he informed me that his father lived to a great age. He further told me that his father procured the seed of the Adams potato from his brother who was killed in Mexico, and carried it all the way in his pocket, in the year 1818. A son of the Adams who lost his life in Mexico died in St. Louis six years ago. He was a great hunter, and accompanied Captain Bonneville on his famous expedition in 1833.

THE MORMONS AT THERESA.

RESPONDING to an urgent request, Mr. William Fayel, of St. Louis, has furnished the following interesting article relating to the Mormon raid upon the people of Theresa and the towns adjoining. Those who have ever resided in the northern part of the county, will not need to be told who Mr. Fayel is. He was born at Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y., but his early life was passed at Theresa, to which town his father removed early in 1831. After some experi- ence with journalism at Lockport, N. Y., he removed to St. Louis, and is well known to all the older settlers there. [See details in this History relating to the Fayel and Cooper families, incorporated into the article upon "French Influence upon the Early Settle- ment of Jefferson County."]

Mr. Fayel never presents any subject that

he does not adorn. He has the distinct newspaperman's reaching out after "news," and his war correspondence, during the time he served his paper (the St. Louis Republi- can) in the field, as well as his connection afterwards with the several Indian commis- sions sent out by the government, made him well known as an able writer and a historian all through the unbounded West and South. He was an early friend and companion of that Henry M. Stanley, whose researches in the Dark Continent have made him world- famous. Mr. Fayel says :

Early in the thirties, the missionary zeal of the Mormon hierarchy at Kirtland, Ohio, was stimulated to unwonted activity through numerous revelations alleged to have been received by the prophet, Joseph Smith. In a revelation given in August, 1831, Smith himself, with Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery were commanded to go to the land of the Missouri, "even unto the borders of the Lamanites," (the native Indians), and establish the Zion. Missourians were also sent to the East and to the Southward. In a revelation given in January, 1832, a large delegation was named "to take their jour- ney into the eastern countries, going from house to house and from village to village," proclaiming the doctrines of the new faith. Among the number specially named were: Orson Hyde, Samuel H. Smith, Orson Pratt, Lyman Johnson, John Murdock, Eden Smith, Jared Carter, Sidney Gilbert, Wm. W. Phelps and Perley P. Pratt, some of whom belonged to the "high priesthood of Melchizedek" and the Aaronic or Levitical, and others to the "Order of the Seventies." Others were added to the list; some going to Albany and Boston, while towards the Northwest, the favored point and termin- ation of the pilgrimages seemed to be at Theresa.

That village was but a days' drive from Sackets Harbor, where those coming in schooners from Kirtland, on Lake Erie, were landed. It was, besides, the home of the Pattens and of Warren Parish, who soon be- came leading lights of the Mormon sect. David Patten, a swarthy champion of the faith, held a debate in defense of his religi- ous sect, with Elder Phelps, a Methodist preacher, in the old school-house at the west end of the village. Patten was voluble in argument and Scripture quotations, while Phelps indulged in a strain of ridicule, such as squinting through his fists, in imitation of Joseph Smith's peering through his " Unim and Thummin stone" while decyphering the hyeroglyphic characters of the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. Patten, known in Missouri as " Captain Fear Not," from his conceded bravery, was subse- quently engaged in battle with State troops, called out by Governor Boggs to put down the Mormon insurgents. Warren Parish, of Theresa, belonging to a respectable family, sold out his farm in the Deacon Still neigh- borhood, disposed of his stock, and joined

177

THE MILLS AND UPPER FALLS AT THERESA.

R. R. CROSSING INDIAN RIVER NEAR PHILADELPHIA. R. W. & O. R. R. SYSTEM.

702

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

the Mormons at Kirtland. He acted as clerk, in 1835, to the General Assembly of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, where the covenants of their faith were adopted by an unanimous vote. His sister married Thompson Brooks, at whose house his venerable father died, true to his early faith, in despite of the influence of his erring son. His remains were taken to his farm in Pamelia for burial, followed by a long cor- tege in sleighs, in charge of Gen. Archibald Fisher.

Before adverting to the inroad of the Mor- mon disciples into this supposed rich field for proselytism, it may be well to allude to another circumstance that possibly influenced the attention of the saints hitherward. In the winter of 1832, a hright, talented young man named Alanson Pettingell, of Otsego county, N. Y., visited Theresa, and stopped a few days with Capt. Nathaniel Lull, whose wife had boarded, while teaching school at Butternuts, at Deacon Pettingell's, the father of Alanson, and the old acquaint- ance was pleasantly renewed. Young Pettin- gell meanwhile visited Plessis, Alexandria Bay and other points, taking observations, and posting himself, particularly in regard to the religious situation. It afterwards turned out that he had joined the Mormons, and that most of his own neighbors had gone daft on the subject, but while in Theresa he made not the least avowal of his sentiments. He turned up soon afterward at Kirtland, and there is reason to believe this informa- tion obtained during his northern tour was duly appreciated and acted upon. Pettin- gell became a leading spirit among his asso- ciates, and prospered. He became president of a bank, which gathered in considerable funds, but heing unchartered, it was unable legally to collect its loans, and naturally failed. Pettingell, when the crash came, was killed during the resulting tumult. The first influx of Mormon missionaries from Kirt- land was quiet and unheralded, at least at Theresa. But their doings and the miracles alleged to have been performed, soon noised around. They talked in unknown tongues (gibberish), and claimed to heal the sick by the "laying on of hands," and even to re- store the dead to life. The people marveled, as they did of old. There are some still alive, who can recall the absurd pretensions of these impostors and the wonder excited by the miracles alleged to be witnessed by the dupes, but which happened almost invariably at a distance, in the remote settlements. Some believed, others doubted, or half be- lieved in the supposed revival of the apostolic age. Several conversions were announced. Ira Patten, a cabinet maker, was enrolled among the first converts. Among other con- verts were Uncle Jerry Cheeseman, his son Alonzo and wife, who was a Rulison, and the Cooke family, with a mother-in-law, Mrs. Robinson, recently from Massachusetts. Other and more obscure persons were added to the list. Some accessories were made in

the Parker Settlement, where several remark- able cures were reported. The case of a fever-stricken boy, Thomas Gale, who was restored by miraculous interposition, was cited as a remarkable instance in proof of supernatural power. This case, however, was too preposterous to obtain extended credit, even among the believers.

As fast as new converts were made, they were haptised in the murky waters at the Indian Landing, in the sunken gorge below the falls. The baptismal services in this re- spect did not differ materially from that of Scriptural times. Truth compels us to say that the converts were taken mostly from those belonging to the Methodist connection, as the Mormons, in common with the Methodists, held to similar ground regarding the atonement and mediation of Jesus Christ, and it therefore seemed to them only a leap forward by which they landed these misguided converts in the Mormon citadel. After the fervor of novelty had worn away, the membership of the Mormon church fell away rapidly or came to a standstill.

From time to time, fresh deputations of Missourians arrived with a view of infusing new life and enlarging the Mormon memher- ship. One day in June, about 1836, while the villagers were working on the road near the Fayel farm, an open harouche passed by, containing six spruce-looking gentlemen, wearing green goggles, one of whom was reading from an open book for the edifi- cation of his companions. They proved to he gentlemen of culture and of scholarly at- tainments, far superior to the coarse yet vigorous expounders of the faith who had preceded them. Their inquiries were answer- ed, and such information given as the case demanded, hy DeGras Salisbury, the path- master.

One of these proved to be Perley P. Pratt, the distinguished Hebrew scholar, who, many years afterwards, was assassinated in Arkansas. Under the ministry of these more crafty men, the age of miracles was relegated to the rear as a lost art, and more rational modes were used to bring Gentiles into the fold. Mormonism lagged. For several years afterward, apostles came singly instead of in crowds, to search out and stir up the faith- ful. One day a stout apostle, wearing a linen duster, was seen coming down the road. Stopping at a hospitable farm house one mile south of the village, he was given supper and a night's lodging. He said he needed rest from his spiritual lahors, and offered to chop cordwood for the Fayel boys, a labor evidently morc handy to him than chopping logic. While engaged in chopping in the woods near the rapids of Indian river, loud yells were heard and splurging in the water. A man was soon seen wading to the shore. It proved by be uncle Rube Evans, who was wrecked on a raft of saw-logs that went to pieces in the hoiling rapids. Yet this Mormon apostle had the assurance to tell uncle Rube that if he had only known of

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 147

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