The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 27

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 27

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As soon as this interest grew to sufficient proportion to warrant it, he engaged in the purchase of butter and cheese for the New York market, continuing in this trade for many years. In 1839, in partnership with Henry Hopkins, of Rutland, he bought. largely of cheese during the early fall of that year. With the then facilities for transportation in Jefferson county, cheese could not well be shipped until late in the fall, when the weather was cool. At the proper time he visited the city for the pur- pose of making sale of his cheese, but found the market so depressed that it was impossi- ble to make any sales except at a great sacrifice, which resulted in the financial

ruin of many dealers. Mr. Sherman asked his creditors for a little time to make sale of his cheese, assuring them that he would carry them through safely. They, having confidence in his wisdom and honesty, granted him the leniency he asked, and he at once shipped his cheese on a vessel to New Orleans, taking passage thereon himself. After a stormy voyage he arrived at his des- tination with his cargo in good order, which he disposed of to advantage, receiv- ing payment in silver. This he packed in kegs, and on his return voyage deposited it in his state-room, where he was obliged to closely guard it, with the assistance of a trusted friend, as the conduct of the cap- tain and crew was not such as to linspire confidence. He arrived in New York during the financial troubles of 1839-40, when the banks had suspended specie pay- ment, sold his silver for a large premium, and was enabled to pay his creditors hon- orably, dollar for dollar, and had quite a little profit for himself and partner. We mention this little episode as characteristic of his whole life, and as demonstrating his indomitable industry and perseverance- always cautious, full of resources, never getting into business enterprises or entangle- ments from which he could not see his way out. He continued his produce business in New York, purchasing mostly from dairies and factories in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis counties, in connection with his farming interests at home, until about 1851, paying for his paternal estate, which was left him badly incumbered, and adding farm to farm until 1856, when he retired from farming and removed to Watertown city. He was a progressive farmer, with practical ideas, and often introduced new farm implements, which tended to speed on the enlightenment and prosperity of his neighbors and the section in which he lived. His popularity among the farmers was such that he was almost unanimously elected to the presidency of the Jefferson County Agricultural Society about 1853.

Mr. Sherman was a great but unostenta- tious philanthropist. He was always opposed to having any of his beneficent gifts made known to the public, and endeavored to make such gifts appear like business trans- actions, of which he was to reap a pecuni- ary benefit. His liberality to the Young Men's Christian Association, which has occu- pied the greater portion of the second floor of Washington Hall block since the society . was formed in 1869, at a nominal and some- times free rental, is a fair example of his munificence. A short time before his death Mr. Sherman donated to the Association this valuable property, with the provision that they pay a rent to Mrs. Sherman during her life, and to his daughter, should she survive her mother, during her life.

At the time of his death Mr. Sherman owned valuable property in Jefferson county, and was President of the Agricul-

BIOGRAPHIES.

135

tural Insurance Company, one of the largest and most successful business corporations in the State, the success of which was largely promoted by his wise counsels and sound advice. He was a director in two banks and two insurance companies in Watertown, and always a sound, practical adviser.

Mr. Sherman had four brothers, namely: Eli, who died in early childhood, and Hampton, William, and Eli, 2d, who died in early manhood. A sister, Sylvia Orinda, died young. His nearest relatives now living are his wife, his daughter, Mrs. D. S. Mar- vin, and his two sisters, Mary Sherman and Mrs. Orinda Lewis, of Adrian, Mich.

The mother of Mr. Sherman was a noble woman, one of those who "in solitude, amid strange dangers and heavy toil, reared

families and made homes." Her name was Susan Hull, born near New Haven, Conn., and adopted into the family of Mr. Roswell Woodruff; coming with him and his family into the Black River country among the earliest settlers in LeRay. There she formed the acquantance of Alfred Sher- man, and married him when of mature age, rearing a large family. To illustrate the utter wildness of the town of LeRay at that time it is related of Susan that she, with the other children, was picking wild berries in the woods near home one day and saw what they thought to be a black sheep. Trying to catch this supposed sheep they were astonished to see it climb a tree. Then they knew it was a bear. They gave up the pursuit and fled for home.

GEORGE W. WIGGINS.

IS ONE of the most interesting personages in Watertown, and has so slight an appre- ciation of his own success as a business man, and is so indifferent to the approval which should follow good actions and a

in his native State. He became a clerk in the dry goods establishment of Peck & Welch, then leading merchants. He re- mained in that store until 1847, when he went into partnership with Mr. Peter Horr,

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well-spent life, as to be an enigma to the historian. But he is one of the author's oldest and best friends, and he ventures to trespass a little upon that intimacy which has outlived years and trials, to he renewed, we hope, in a land where we shall know even as we are known.

Mr. Wiggins, so long known in connection with the clothing trade of northern New York, was born in Montpelier, Vt., in 1822, and came to Watertown in 1843, after serv- ing an apprenticeship in a dry goods store

and thus continued until his departure for Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, where he remained two years, returning in 1851 to Watertown, and accepted a proposal from Mr. J. M. Clark to go into partnership. In 1854 the firm of Horr, Fisk & Co., of Chicago, was organized for manufacturing wholesale clothing on an extended scale, and Mr. Wiggins was a partner in that house, which manufactured its clothing largely in Watertown, giving steady em- ployment to over 600 people.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

In 1857 Mr. Wiggins returned to Water- town, and the firm of Wiggins & Johnson was organized, and extensively patronized. During the extraordinary small money stringency in 1859-60, this firm issued about $50,000 of fractional paper money, which had an extended and wide circulation in Northern New York, passing current at banks, and in all the avenues of trade, serv- ing a very useful purpose, and doubtless considerably enlarging the knowledge of the firm name among the people.

This fractional currency was all redeemed except about $32, a great part of which was held as keepsakes and mementoes.

In 1871 Mr. Johnson retired from the firm to accept a position with the Davis Sewing Machine Company, and is still its manager, though the establishment has been removed to Dayton, O. Mr. Wiggins thenceforward continued the Great Wardrobe clothing house alone until its sale to Mr. Goodale.

Since then he has given a great deal of his time to the management of Brookside Ceme-

tery, which he has raised from a condition of mediocrity by one improvement after another until it is now one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country.

After Mr. and Mrs. Cook had erected the Soldiers' Monument upon the Public Square, the grounds were left in an unsatisfactory condition. Mr. Wiggins took up the work of their reconstruction, and the ellipsis upon which the monument stands now fittingly supplements the monument itself.

Mr. Wiggins was married early in life to Miss Delia Brown, whose father was one of that band of devoted Methodist ministers who preached without pay in that early period, when the country was poor and sparsely settled, but when the loneliness of the settlers' lives made them particularly anxious to hear the gospel from the lips of one whom they knew and trusted. Mr. Wiggins' life has been an exceptionally happy one, and the wife of his youth is yet a sharer in his joys and sorrows.

ALFRED D. REMINGTON.

UNFORTUNATELY for this history the au- thor has not been able to procure a portrait of Mr. Remington, and in so doing be able to show to posterity the very lineaments of one of Watertown's most respected and high minded citizens, who began his busi- ness here and has steadily risen to the highest position in the regard of the people of Watertown.

In many particulars Mr. Remington and Mr. George W. Wiggins resemble each other, especially in their hatred of shams and pre- tences, their unostentatious habits of life, in the democracy of their personal intercourse with men, and in their unhesitating declara- tion of an opinion upon any subject with which they are at all familiar. Though both modest and unassuming, they are men of the strongest feelings, capable of a great demon- stration or a timely rebuke if such were needed, but both declined to put their faces in this History.

It is a curious fact, well remembered by the writer, that Mr. Remington began busi- ness in Watertown as a hat merchant, a striking illustration of the way men are sometimes impelled, perhaps by their own impatience, into selecting a business or en- tering upon a career wholly unsuited to their natural capacity. Mr. Remington's head itself shows what he was made for - to design, and plan, and organize - really the highest talent a man can have. The province of such men is to tell others what to do, and their contemporaries usually ac- quiesce, for they note the master mind, the moving force.

In 1853, Mr. Remington's father, one of the pioneer paper-makers of Onondaga county. N. Y., came to Watertown, at liis

son's invitation, to take a look at the wor- derful water-power of Black river, where was located one of the oldest paper mills in Northern New York, but it was not able to grapple with the mighty demands then and soon after made upon that important indus- try, by the giant claims of the cylinder press, for even then capable mechanics had heard of Samuel Haddock's conception of printing from a continuous and uncut roll of paper, afterwards developed in this country by William Bullock, the York State boy who lost his life in the city of Philadel- phia in the very week when his grand in- vention proved a complete success.

Mr. A. D. Remington, more progressive than his father, saw that the future was to make demands upon the paper men that would be hard to meet, and he proposed a new mill upon the north branch of Black river, opposite Sewall's island. His father was at last persuaded to make the venture, and his son then commenced his career in a business in which he has shown such marked ability. He is to-day regarded by paper men as one of the master spirits among them, for he has proven himself a man of many resources, fearlessly grappling with problems that might have intimidated less conrageous men.

In the article which we have prepared upon the pulp industries. and printed as a part of the chapter upon the city of Water- town, the reader will be able to gain a fair understanding of Mr. Remington's present position in these enterprises upon Black river, which have become so remarkable as to attract extended comment. His journey to distant Sweden in order to get at the "true inwardness " of the sulphite process,

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LAND TITLES.

is a striking but not unusual circumstance in his life, for he has a way of getting at the real foundation of anything he undertakes, and is so ready at any time to accept sug- gestions from others (digesting in his own mind their value, or otherwise, as related to any plan he has in mind) that any subject he examines is pretty sure to be well sifted when he is through with it. For that reason, fellows with wildcat schemes shun him now, for they readily perceive the bent of his mind, and the resolution he evinces to know all there is to be found out. He does not skin, he goes down to the bottom of whatever he investigates.

Mr. Remington had the advantages of the good schools of Onondaga county in his youth, and a thorough business education before he began to make paper. His mod- esty at first was something of a bar to his advancement, but he is a close student in all that pertains to his affairs, and his inven- tive mind and his power of organization have stood him in good stead during the years when the paper business was being developed to its present proportions. With his employees he is and always has been popular. They have implicit faith in his integrity, his devotion to their welfare, and every one of them understands that any

just complaint will receive careful atten- tion. Taking into consideration the length of time they have been in business and the extent of their operations, Mr. Remington and his associates have probably paid out more money for labor than any firm ever doing business in Jefferson county. For many years his brother, Charles R., has been his able associate, looking after matters at home when the elder brother might be absent upon his long journeys. They are both comparatively young men. with many years of work and capacity in them. Their name stands first among the paper produc- ers upon Black river, and among the first in the whole country.

It is a source of considerable regret that men like Mr. Wiggins and Mr. Remington peremptorily decline to permit their photo- graphs to appear in this work, for they have been good friends of the writer for many years, and it would have been a great pleasure to him to have transmitted their lineaments to posterity. Such modesty ap- pears to me to be unreasonable; but it is an honest feeling, and must therefore be re- spected. But the writer does not regard it as a fair discharge of the debt all good men owe to posterity. nor as rounding out the full measure of citizenship.

LAND TITLES.

AS THE lands of Jefferson county have been the principal factor in its growth and later wealth, it is proper that we begin an important part of our History by describing their chain of title through some of the con- veyances which comprised the larger tracts. And to avoid any confusion of names in what follows, we insert here the original names by which the territory now called Jefferson county was designated before be- ing set off from Oneida. The process of evolution is this : Albany county, formed Nov. 1, 1683; Lyon, formed from Albany, March 12. 1772; Montgomery (changed from Lyon), April 2, 1784; Herkimer set off from Montgomery, Jan. 16, 1791; Oneida, set off from Herkimer, March 15, 1798, and Jeffer- son, formed from Oneida, March 28, 1805. This statement must be borne in mind as the historical student investigates these land titles.

Our main dependence in getting at these varied chains of title will be Dr. Hough, wbose history, printed in 1854, evidenced an extended examination of the land rec- ords of Oneida county as well as the miscel- laneous conveyances of an older date on file in the departments at Albany. At best, the attempt to describe lands by the survey- or's formula of so many chains, at such a distance from a fixed object, bearing so many degrees north or south, east or west, must ever create an unsatisfactory con- fusion in the reader's mind: hut that ap-

pears to have been the plan adopted at an early day, and must necessarily be followed in all future descriptions of these lands.

In the first place the title to all the lands in this northern part of the State of New York became vested in the State by various treaties with the Indian tribes, that from time to time ceded all their rights of owner- ship to the lands over which they roamed or had acquired by conquest from weaker tribes. None of these conveyance from the Indians come within 150 years of our own time (1894), and this general statement ap- pears to us fully as satisfactory to the gen- eral reader as to wade through the rigma- role of smoking pipes of peace and handing over belts of wampum, so laboriously gone through with by those Indians when they signed a treaty.

The office of Land Commissioner was created in New York State in 1786, and they were clothed with discretionary powers in selling any unappropriated lands of the State. The manner in which they exercised the trust reposed in them was made a sub- ject of grave censure, because they sold State lands at eight pence an acre, for which the actual settler, seeking a home in the wilderness. within two or three years was charged $2.75 to $8.00 per acre. On the 22d of June, 1791, Alexander Macomb, of the city of New York, acting as the agent of a company said to consist of himself, Daniel McCormick, and Wm. Constable, all of New

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

York, applied for the purchase of a tract of land since known as Macomb's purchase; embracing the greater part of Franklin, the whole of St. Lawrence, excepting the " ten towns" and Massena, the whole of Jefferson (excepting Penet's square and Tibbet's Point), the whole of Lewis, and a part of Oswego counties. This proposition includes the islands in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, fronting the tract, and excepted five per cent for roads, and all lakes of greater area than 1,000 acres. The proposed price was eight pence per acre. One-sixth part was payable in one year, and the resi- due in five equal annual instalments. If one-sixth were secured by satisfactory bonds, and paid, and another sixth in like manner secured, Macomb was to receive a patent for a sixth part, in a square, in one of the corners of the tract, and the same rule was to be observed throughout until the whole was paid. Carlton, or Buck's Island, and the Long Sault Island, were ex- pressly reserved to the State. This proposi- tion was accepted, and the surveyor- general was directed to survey the tract at the expense of Macomb. On the 10th of January, 1792, he reported that the condi- tions had been complied with, and on that day a patent was issued to Macomb, for 1,920,000 acres, reserving 800 acres to be located by the surveyor-general. This in- cluded the whole of the tract not in the pre- sent counties of Franklin and St. Lawrence. An uncertainty existing in relation to the islands in the St. Lawrence, these were pat- ented after the national boundary had been determined, and to other parties. The reser- vation stipulated to Penet, was confirmed by the following proceedings of the land commissioners :

At a meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York, held at the secretary's office in the city of New York on Saturday the 8th day of August, 1789. Present. His Excellency, George Clinton, esquire, Governor. Lewis A. Scott, Esquire, Secretary, Richard Varick, Esquire, Attorney General, and Gerardus Bancker, Treasurer.

Resolved, That the surveyor-general be directed to lay out for Peter Penet, and at his expense, the lands ceded by the Oneida Nation to the people of this State, hy their deed of cession dated the 22dl day of September last, lying to the northward of Onelda Lake, a tract of ten miles square, wherever he shall select the same; and further, that he lay out for John Francis Pearche. and at his expense, a tract of land stipulated by the said deed of cession to be granted to him " &c., referring to a tract two miles square in Oneida county .- Land Office Minutes, Vol. 2, p 56.

On the 19th of Nov., 1789, the following action was taken: "The Surveyor-General, agreeable to an order of this Board, of the 8th of August last, having made a return of survey for Peter Penet, of a tract of ten miles square, as elected by John Duncan, his agent (of the lands ceded by the Oneida Nation of Indians to the people of this State, by their deed of cession, dated the 22d day of Sept., 1788), lying to the northward of Oneida Lake, as by the said return of survey filled in the secretary's office, will more fully appear. And the said John Duncan, having as agent as aforesaid, made application to the Board for letters patent for the same, Resolved, therefore, that the Secretary do prepare letters patent to the said Peter Penet. for the said tract of ten miles square, accord- ingly, and lay them before the Board for their ap- probation. - Land Office Minutes, vol. 2, p. 80.

Peter Penet, by an instrument dated Jan.

23, 1729, made John Duncan his attorney, and the latter received, Nov. 19, 1789, a pat- ent for a tract ten miles square, which, on the 13th of July, 1790, he conveyed for the nominal sum of five shillings, to James Watson and James Greenleaf of New York. February 26, 1795, Watson released to Greenleaf his half of the tract for £1,000; the latter having, Sept. 4, 1797, conveyed by deed the 64.000 acres to Simon Desjar- dines, for £19,400. Desjardines conveyed to Nicholas Olive, of New York, January 29, 1796, and the latter to Herman LeRoy, Wil- liam Bayard and Jas. McEvers, 44.000 acres of this tract, in trust as joint tenants for certain heirs, of whom Mallett Prevost was entitled to 8,000 acres; John Lewis Grenus to 12,000 acres ; Henry Finguerlin, Gr., 8,000 acres. At the time of this conveyance Olive held these lands in trust, and 16,000 acres in his own right. A deed of partition between the proprietors was executed May 17, 1802, according to a division by ballot, as follows : N. Olive, 16,000; J. L. Grenus, 1,200; H. Finguerlin, Gr., 8,000; A. M. Pre- vost, 8,000 acres; making 44,000 acres, which, with 8,000 to Louis LeGuen, and 12,000 to Jolin Wilkes, previously conveyed by Olive, made 64,000 acres on the whole tract. After the deed of partition, and on the 11th of June, 1802, the proprietors re- leased to one another, the quantity allotted to each, as follows: John Wilkes and Louis LeGuen, to LeRoy, Bayard and Mc- Evers, of 44,000 acres; L., B. and M., and Louis LeGuen. to John Wilkes, of 12,000; and L., B. & M., and J. Wilkes to L. Le- Guen, of 8,000 acres.

Nicholas Olive, in bis will, made his wife and Henry Cheriot his executors, and his widow afterwards married Simon Louis Pierre, Marquis de Cubieres of Paris, who, with his wife, May 9, 1818, appointed LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers to convey to Provost Grenus and Fingnerlin, their several sbares. The latter, May 20, 1817, directed LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers to convey to Joseph Russell and John LaFarge. LeRoy and Bayard deeded to John, Henry and Edmund Wilkes, 16,000 acres, September 23, 1818, and the latter to John LaFarge, April 14, 1823, having received, May 9, 1818, from the Marquis de Cubieres and wife, a power of attorney for the purpose. LeRoy and Bay- ard conveyed 12,000 acres, November 23,' 1818, and to Russell and LaFarge, 8,000 acres, September 23, 1818. Joseph Russell released his half of these 8,000 acres, De- cember 12, 1818, John Wilkes to Charles Wilkes, Jan. 1, 1818, sold 8,000 acres, and the latter the same to LaFarge, June 3, 1825. By these conveyances Mr. LaFarge became the owner of the greater part of Penet Square; but he allowed the lands to be sold for taxes. and his claims were subsequently confirmed by a comptroller's deed from William L. Marcy, May 13, 1828.

On the 23d of November, 1819, Francis Depeau bought 15 lots (21 to 25, 41 to 45, 56

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LAND TITLES.

to 60) for $12,000, excepting parts sold to Samuel Ruggles.

Returning to the facts concerning Ma- comb's purchase, the lands contracted to him was estimated to contain, after deduct- ing five per cent., 3,670,715 acres, and was divided into five tracts. Tract No. I. con- tained 821,819 acres, and is wholly in Franklin county. No. II embraced 553,- 020 acres, or the present towns of Parish- ville, Colton, Hopkinton, Lawrence, Brasher, and a small part of Massena, in St. Law- rence county. No. III, the remainder of St. Lawrence county, south and west of the ten towns, or 458,222 acres. No. IV con- tained 450,950 acres in Jefferson county, it being, with the exception of Penet's Square and Tibbet's Point, all of that county north of a line drawn from the south-west corner of St. Lawrence county, north 87° west, to Lake Ontario. No. V (26,250 acres) and No. VI (74,000), formed the rest of the pur- chase; the division line between which numbers was never surveyed. Soon after perfecting his title to a portion of his tract, Macomb employed William Constable (who is said to have been with Daniel McCormick, the principal proprietor), as his agent to sell lands in Europe; and, on the 6th of June, 1792, he released, and October 3, 1792, conveyed to liim the whole of tracts IV, V and VI for £50,000. Macomb had become involved in speculations, by which he lost his property, and was lodged in jail; and his name does not subsequently appear in the transfers of land. He had been a fur trader in Detroit, afterwards became a mer- chant and capitalist in New York, and was the father of the late General Macomb, of the war of 1812.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 27

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