The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 28

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 28

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FIRST ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT.

The first direct measure taken for the ac- tual settlement of the section of the State, embraced in Jefferson county, was in 1792. On the 31st of Angust, William Constable, then in Europe, executed a deed to Peter Chassanis, of Paris, for 630,000 acres south of Great Lot No. IV, which now constitutes a part of Jefferson and Lewis counties. A tract in Leyden, previously conveyed to Patrick Colquhoun and William Inman, was excepted. Chassanis acted as the "agent for the associated purchasers of lands in Montgomery county," and the lands were to be by him held in trust for the use of the said William Constable, and disposed of by sections of 100 acres each, at the rate of $1.50 per acre; in which said conveyance it is declared that the said Chassanis should account for the proceeds of the sales to Constable, according to the terms of an agreement between them, ex- cepting one-tenth thereof. The State reser- vations for roads, etc , were stipulated. A deed for 625,000 acres having been made from Constable to Chassanis, and delivered as an escrow to René Lambot, to take effect on the payment of £52,000, it was agreed

that the price for this land should be one shilling per acre. Constable bound himself to procure a perfect title, to be authenti- cated and deposited with the Consul Gen- eral of France in Philadelphia; and Chas- sanis agreed that the moneys received by Lambot should be remitted to Ransom, Moreland & Hammersley, in London, as received, subject to Constable's order, on presenting the certificate of Charles Texier, consul, of his having procured a clear title. If the sales shall not have amounted to £62,750, the balance should be paid in six, nine and twelve months, in bills, upon Lon- don. Constable granted for one month, the right of pre-emption to Tract No. IV. at the rate of one shilling sterling, payable in three, six and nine months from the date of the deed, as above.

The agreement of Constable and Chas- sanis, of August 30, 1792. was canceled, and the tract reconveyed March 25, 1793, in con- sequence of the amount falling short, upon survey, far beyond the expectation of all parties. On the 12th of April, 1793, Con- stable conveyed 210,000 acres, by deed, for £25,000, to Chassanis, since known as the Chassanis Tract. Castorland, or The French Company's Land, bounded north by No. IV of Macomb's Purchase, south and west by Black river, and east by a line running north nine miles from a point near the High Falls and thence northeasterly on such course as might include 210,000 acres.

On the 11th of April, 1797, Chassanis ap- pointed Rodolph Tillier, " Member of the Sovereign Council of Berne," his attorney, "to direct and administer the properties and affairs concerning Castorland, to follow all which relates to the surveying and subdi- viding of this domain, as well as to its im- provement, clearing and amelioration; to make the useful establishments; make all bargains with settlers, artists and workmen; make all payments and receipts, give and take receipts; pass all title of property, to the profit of those who will have acquired lands forming part of Castorland ; to put or have them put in possession of the said lands; sell of these lands to the amount of 10,000 acres, either paid down for or on credit, hut in small parcels of a hundred or two hun- dred acres at most." In case of death, Nicho- las Olive was to succeed him. On the 18th of February, 1797, a new agreement was made between Constable and Tillier, convey- ing the Castorland tract to Chassanis, after the survey of William Cockburn & Son, of Poughkeepsie, in 1799, and giving with greater detail the bounds of the tract. The former conveyances made the north and east bank of the river the boundary, but in this the center of the channel was agreed upon. On the 6th of March, 1800, Constable deeded to Chassanis, for one dollar, a tract of 30,000 acres in the eastern corner of Tract No. IV, which was afterward subdivided into 27 lots, and conveyed to James LeRay. Cockburn's survey divided the purchase into

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six very unequal tracts, formed by the in- tersection of the principal lines and the river. The tract was subdivided by Charles C. Brodhead and assistants. Jolin Cantine, Philip R. Freys, Peter Pharoux and Benoni Newman, were among his surveyors. In dividing the tract, the line running north from the High Falls was assumed as the cardinal line, from which ranges were counted east and west. An east and west line crossing the other nine miles from the Falls, was fixed as a second cardinal, from which ranges were reckoned north and south. The ranges extended to 19 east, 51 west, 27 north, and about 9 south: and the lots included 450 acres each, except those on the margin. These were again subdivided into 9 square lots, of 50 acres each, which were numbered from 1 to 4,828. This sys- tem of numbering has since been observed in designating the location of lands.

Mr. Brodhead was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and had held the rank of captain in the Revolution. He was employed by Til- lier, through the influence of Edward Liv- ingsten and Dr. Oliver, and while perform- ing the survey, encountered many hardships. An obituary notice published soon after his death, which occurred in 1853, at Utica, con- tains the following:

"In running the great lines of division, his party had crossed the Black river several times, the men and instruments being ferried across. On one occas- ion when they had approached the river, having jonrn- eyed through the woods without noting their route by the compass. they arrived at a part of the bank which they recognized, and knew to be a safe place of pass- ing. Making a raft of logs, they started from the bank. and began to pole across. When in the midst of the current their poles failed to reach the bottom, and simultaneous with this discovery, the noise of the waters below them revealed the horrid fact that they had mistaken their ferrying place, and were at the head and rapidly approaching the Great Falls of the river, the passage of which threatened all but certain death. Instantly Mr. Brodhead ordered every man who could swim to make for the shore, and he pre- pared to swim for his own life. But the piteous ap- peals of Mr. Pharoux, a young Frenchman, of the party. who could not swim, arrested him, and he de- termined to remain with him to assist him, if possible, in the awful passage of the falls. Hastily directing his men to grasp firmly to the logs of the raft, giving similar directions to Mr. Pharoux, he then laid him- self down by the side of his friend. The raft passed the dreadful falls and was dashed to pieces. Mr. Pharoux, with several of the whites and Indians, were drowned, and Mr. Brodhead himself thrown Into an eddy near the shore, whence he was drawn senseless by an Indian of the party."

The surveyors were in their instructions directed to note "all kinds of timber. wild meadows, useful plants. wild fruit trees, hills, swamps, creeks and ohjects of interest generally." The south line of Tract No. IV was run by John Campbell and others, in August, 1794. At a very early period, a settlement was begun by Tillier and others near the High Falls, east of the river, and several families were settled. Several ex- tensive sales were made by Chassanis and Tillier to Frenchmen of the better class, who had held property and titles in France be- fore the revolution. Desjardines & Co. bought 3,002 acres on Point Peninsula; Odier

& Bousquet, 1,500 acres on Pillar Point; Nicholas Oliver (Dec. 17, 1807) a tract of about 4,050 acres north of Black river and bay; Henry Boutin. 1,000 acres around the present village of Carthage; C. C. Brod- head, 400 acres in the present town of Wilna, and others. Among these was a conveyance dated March 31, 1801, of 1,817 half acres in scattered lots to twenty or thirty French people, many of them widows of persons who had acquired an interest in the New York Company. On the 1st of May, 1798, James LeRay purchased 10,000 acres in Cas- torland, and Feb. 15, 1801, all his lands not previously sold. Chassanis in his early sales had reserved about 600 acres (R. 26 W. 24 and 25 N.), between the present villages of Brownville and Dexter, for the City of Basle.

On the 27th of March, 1800, Tillier was succeeded in the agency by Gouverneur Morris, who appointed Richard Coxe, Nov. 15th, 1801, his attorney.' On the 5th of Feb., 1802, Chassanis executed a trust conveyance for $1 to James D. LeRay of 220,500 acres as surveyed by Wm. Cockburn and Son, and by other instruments for nominal sums. The lands were mostly sold to actual set- tlers by Mr. LeRay as agent or principal. Chassanis died in Paris, Nov. 28, 1803. Da- vid B. Ogden, G. Morris and many others were at an early period concerned in these titles.

Macomb's Tract No. IV was surveyed by C. C. Brodhead in 1796, assisted by Jonas Smith, Timothy Wheeler, Joshua Northrop, Elias Marvin, John Youngs. Isaac LeFever, Jacob Chambers, Elijah Blake, Samuel Tup- per, Eliakim Hammond and Abraham B. Smede, each with a few men as assistants, and the whole having a general camp or rendezvous at Hungry Bay, on the north side of Pillar Point at a place called Peck's Cove, near where the Chassanis line crosses the bay. The early settlers here found huts standing, and the remains of an old oven were visible in 1854. The journals of these surveyors show that they suffered much from sickness. Some of their supplies were derived from Canada, but the most from the Mohawk settlements. A few troops were stationed on Carleton Island, and thither some of their sick were sent. This tract, excepting the east corner, was divi- ded into 1,000 lots of 440 acres each (except- ing those around the border), which were numbered continuously. Evert Van Allen had been employed in 1795, in surveying the boundaries of tract No. IV.

A proposition was entertained from Lord Poultney, in 1792, for the purchase of a mil- lion of acres of Black River land, at a quar- ter of a dollar per acre, of which £5,000 were to be paid down, £20,000 in one, and the same in two years, and the remainder as soon as the surveys were made. Constable was to guaranty against claims from the native In- dians and all other parties, and to give im- mediate possession. The location was to be

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determined by Col. Wm. Stephens Smith of New York. This bargain failed, and Poult- nev afterwards became largely concerned in lands in the Genesee country. On the 3d of October, 1792, Jane, the wife of A. Ma- comb, released her right to the lands pre- viously conveyed. On the 12th of April, 1793, Constable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis, who had previously held a pre-emption claim, to Charles Michael DeWolf of the city of Antwerp, tract No. IV, for 300,000 florins, money of exchange, and in June following, of the same year, De Wolf succeeded in negotiating his pur- chase at a great advance, viz: for 680,000 florins, to a company of large and small capi- talists of the city of Antwerp, who sub- scribed to the stock in shares of 1,000 florins each, and organized under the name of the Antwerp Company. The stock was divided into 680 shares Like most other operations of foreigners in a distant country, this com- pany eventually proved unsuccessful, and a loss to the stockholders. Gouverneur Mor- ris became their first agent in America, and on the 2d of January, 1800, a deed of half the tract, or 220,000 acres, passed to him from Constable on account of the company, for $48,889, and on the day following the other half, of equal extent, for $46,315.12 to James Donatianus LeRay de Chaumont. Tract No. IV was found by Van Allen's sur- vey, to contain 450,000 acres, inelnding the state reservations. A former deed from Constable to De Wolf, was canceled upon the new one's being made. The division line between Morris's and LeRay's conveyances commenced at the N. E. corner of Penet Square, and run on a line parallel with the county line, to the south line of No. IV. Morris took all N. E. of this, and LeRay the remainder. August 15th, 1802, a new di- vision line was agreed upon, commencing near the S. E. corner of Penet Square, run- ning thence to the S. corner of lot 512, thence to the W. corner of the present town of Ant- werp, and along the S. W. line of that town to the S. corner of lot 337, and thence to the S. line of No. IV. A tract of 30,000 acres in the E. corner of No. IV was not included in these conveyances, having been previously sold to Chassanis. In 1809, Morris retired from the business, his expenses and com- missions absorbing 26,840 acres of land. On the 23d of December, 1804, he had sold for $62,000 to Lewis R Morris, 49,280 acres in the present town of Antwerp. Mr. Morris subsequently conveyed 41 lots to Silvius Hoard in the western part of Antwerp, ad- joining Theresa, and since known as the Cooper tract. Abraham Cooper, from Tren- ton, N. Y., became interested in this tract in 1817. The remainder of Antwerp, ex- cepting three ranges of lots on the S. E. side, was purchased of Morris, by David Parish, in 1808. The tract amounted to 29,033 acres, and has been settled under agents of the Parish estate. Moss Kent succeeded as agent of the Antwerp Company, and June

15th, 1809, the remainder of their unsold lands, 143,400 acres, was conveyed to him. He was soon succeeded by Mr. LeRay, and September 17th, 1810. the company sold to him for 145,000 florins, money of exchange, all their interests in lands in America. The lands with Moss Kent were reconveyed to LeRay, June 24, 1817, except 3,250 acres sold to Win. H. Harrison and T. L. Ogden in Lewis county, December 16th, 1811.

Mr. LeRay is said to have been the owner of 126 shares in the Antwerp Company, and G. Morris of 26. The former having ac- quired a title to No. IV and the Chassanis tract, removed to LeRaysville, where he opened a land office and proceeded to sell land to actual settlers, to a very large ex- tent. He also effected with several Euro- peans, sales of considerable tracts, among whom were to Louis Augustin De Caulin- court, due de Vincence, October 8th, 1805, a tract of 4,840 acres near Millen's Bay, being 11 lots which were conveyed January 28th, 1825, to Peter Francis Real, known as Count Real, chief of police under Napoleon; to Emanuel Count De Grouchy, to General Desfurneaux and to others, considerable tracts. Several citizens of New York be- came afterwards concerned in these tracts, on their own account or as agents, and ex- tensive conveyances were made; but as many of these were trusts not expressed, and referred to considerations not explained in the instruments of conveyance, or on rec- ord, an intelligent history of them cannot be at this time obtained. Among the lands con- veyed were the following:

To William and Gerardus Post, June 3, 1825, for $17,000, 11,880 acres (with 3,503 acres excepted), in the present towns of Wilna and Diana; 6,500 acres were conveyed by one, and the executors of the other of these, to T. S. Hammond, of Carthage, Oc- tober 2, 1837, by two deeds for $18,000. To Herman LeRoy and Wm. Bayard, for $50,- 000, Feb. 9, 1820, the interest of J. LeRay, in numerous contracts to settlers on Great Tract No. IV.

To Francis Depau, for $23,280 and $15,000, by two conveyances, a large tract in Alex- andria, adjoining St. Lawrence county, once held by L. J. Goodale, of Carthage. To Cornelia Juhel, October 9, 1821, numerous lots.

In 1818, Joseph Bonaparte, who, in the United States. assumed the title of Count de Survilliers, was induced to enter into a a bargain with LeRay, by which he agreed to receive in trust, with a warranty, the conveyance of 150,000 acres of land, in- cluding 64,624 acres of the Antwerp Com- pany lands, to be taken in the most remote and unsettled portions, and at the same time Mr. LeRay received certain diamonds and real estate. the whole rated at $120,000, and to be refunded in 1830. unless he should agree to accept before that time the title of a part of these lands. A trust deed, with covenant and warranty, was accord-

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ingly passed, December 21, 1818, to Peter S. Duponceau, the confidential agent of the Count, for 150,260 acres, with the excep- tion of such tracts not exceeding 32,260 acres as might have been conveyed or con- tracted to actual settlers. This deed in- cluded the greater part of Diana, two tiers of lots from the southeast side of Antwerp, the whole of Wilna and Philadelphia, a small piece south of Black river, where it makes a node across the Chassanis line into No. IV, a tract of four lots wide and seven long from LeRay, and nine lots from the easterly range in Theresa. It was recorded with a defeasance appended, in which it is declared a security for $120,000 as above stated, and it provided for an auction sale of lands to meet this obligation. Dia- monds having fallen to half their former price, the fact was made a subject of com- plaint; and in 1820 the Count agreed to accept 26,840 acres for the nominal sum of $40,260. These lands lay in the most remote portion of No. IV, and Mr. LeRay, in a let- ter to one of the Antwerp Company, dated April 9, 1821, complimented the Count upon his taste in selecting a "tract abounding with picturesque landscapes, whose remote and extensive forests affording retreat to game, would enable him to establish a great hunting ground: qualities of soil, and fitness for settlers, were only secondary considerations. * * He regrets, notwith- standing, that thus far he has been unable to find among the 26,000 acres, a plateau of 200 acres of land to build his house upon, but he intends keeping up his researches this summer." The Count subsequently commenced an establishment near the pres- ent village of Alpina, in Diana, where a small clearing was made, but this was soon abandoned.

On the 29th of October, 1823, LeRay con- veyed to Wm. H. Harrison, in trust for the Antwerp Company, for $50,000, in two ranges of lots in Antwerp, next to Lewis county (subject to the mortgage to Dupon- ceau), with a large amount of lands in Lewis county. Meanwhile an act was pro- cured, November 27, 1824, allowing Charles Joseph Xavier Knyff, Charles Joseph Geel- hand Delafollie, Jean Joseph Reiner Osy, Pierre Joseph De Caters and Jean Joseph Pinson, as trustees of the Antwerp Com- pany. to take and hold lands, and to them Harrison conveyed the above tracts. Du- ponceau and Bonaparte subsequently released a large tract, and took a title to 81,180 acres. The history of these transac- tions may be traced in the recorded convey- ances. James LeRay, on the 21st of December. 1823, conveyed to his son Vin- cent, all his lands in Jefferson county, and by a similar conveyance, his lands in Lewis county, for the benefit of his creditors.

Duponcean executed, July 16, 1825, to Joseph Bonaparte (who, by an act of March 31, 1825, had been empowered to hold lands), a deed of all the rights he had acquired in

the above conveyances. Bonaparte, by an instrument dated July 14, 1832, made Joseph Raphineau his attorney, to deed lands con- tracted by Joseph Boyer, his land agent. In June, 1835, he sold to John LaFarge, for $80,000. all the interest of Count Survillers, in lands in this and Lewis counties,

It has been said with much probability, that Count Survillers hastened to dispose of this estate that he might be the better pre- pared to take advantage of any fortune which the revolutions of Europe might de- velop, and the political aspect of the conti- nent at that time apparently favored the hopes of the Bonaparte family, who had but recently regained the sceptre of France. The Count first urged the sale upon Judge Boyer, his agent, and came within a few thousand dollars of closing a bargain. Mr. LaFarge is said to have cleared a large profit in this purchase.

In October, 1824, the Antwerp Company appointed J. N. Rottiers their agent, to re- ceive and convey lands, and he was directed by parties interested in claims to commence a prosecution against LeRay, which was done. The extreme depression in the price of land and total stop of sales which fol- lowed the completion of the Erie canal and the opening of the Western States to emi- gration, operated disastrously to all parties who had based their plans upon expectation of receipts from land sales; and notwith- standing the estates of Mr. LeRay were both extensive and valuable, he could not at that time encounter the combination of circumstances which bore so heavily upon all landholders throughout the northern counties, and he found himself compelled to apply for the benefit of the insolvent act, and to surrender his estates to his son, in trust for his creditors. As a justification of his course, he published for distribution among his foreign creditors, a statement, in which he vindicated in a satisfactory man- ner the course he had adopted, and set forth the kind and quantity of property at his disposal, to meet his liabilities. He had at that time the following lands in this State :

In Franklin county, 30,758 acres, valued at $22,500.

In St. Lawrence county, 73,947 acres, val- ued at $106,000.

In Jefferson county, 143,500 acres, valued at $574,000.

In Lewis county, 100,000 acres, valued at $133,000.

Of his Jefferson lands, one-eighth were subject to contracts of settlers, upon which were three grist mills, three saw mills, and various clearings, with buildings. At Le- Raysville were a grist mill. store houses, etc., valued at $26,000, and in Pennsylvania, Otsego county, and in France, other prop- erties of large amount. In closing up this business, a large amount of land was con- firmed to Vincent LeRay, and the settle- ment of the affairs was so managed as to

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satisfy in full the claims of American creditors.

A considerable amount of the Antwerp Company's lands, remaining in scattered parcels, was sold in 1828, by the agents to John LaFarge, but this sale was subse- quently set aside by the court of chancery, and February 15, 1836, 24,230 acres, being most of the remaining lands of the com- pany, and situated in Theresa, Antwerp, Alexandria and Orleans, were sold to Sam- uel Stocking, of Utica, and Norris M. Woodruff. of Watertown, for $1 per acre. Wm. H. Harrison acted in the latter sale as the agent of the company, and the tract was all sold off by the late Jason Clark, of Plessis, agent of the proprietors.

Mr. LaFarge, on the 28th of July, 1846, sold to Chas. L. Faverger, for $48,513, a tract embracing the two eastern ranges of lots in Antwerp, and 122 lots in Diana, ex- cepting parts previously conveyed, amount- ing to 48,513 acres, and a great portion has since been sold in large and small tracts to settlers. There is at this time no part of Great Tract No. IV, in this county, not under cultivation, and held as freeholds by the occupants. The late Dr. John Binsse, of Pamelia, was the last agent in complet- ing the sale of the LaFarge lands.

Wm. Constable, on the 18th of December, 1792, conveyed to Samuel Ward for £100,000, 1,280,000 acres, it being the whole of Macomb's Purchase, in Nos. V and VI, out of which was excepted 25,000 acres sold to Wm. Inman. Samuel Ward. December 20, 1792, conveyed to Thomas Boylston (of Boston), for £20,000, a tract, commencing at the extreme southern angle of Lewis oounty as now bounded; running thence to the mouth of Salmon river, and along the lake to Black river, and up that stream to the north bounds of the present town of Leyden, and thence to the place of begin- ning. The course of Black river was then supposed to be nearly direct from the High Falls to the lake, and this tract was believed to contain about 400,000 acres, but when surveyed around by Wm. Cockburn & Son, 1794, it was found to include 817,155 acres. Ward also sold 210,000 acres to John Julius Angerstein, a wealthy merchant of London, which the latter afterwards sold to Gov. John Brown, of Providence, R. I., and which has since been commonly called Brown's Tract, now known as part of the Adirondack region, but is yet largely a wilderness. He also sold 50,000 and 25,000 acres to Wm. Inman, who afterwards fig- ured largely in the titles of Lewis county; with the exception of the 685,000 acres thus conveyed, to Boylston, Angerstein and Inman, he reconveyed February 27, 1793, the remainder to Constable.

On the 21st of May, 1794, Boylston gave a deed of trust of eleven townships to George Lee, George Irving and Thomas Latham, assignees of the firm of Lane, Son & Fraser, of London, and they con-

veyed them to John Johnson Phyn, of that place (June 2, 1794), in whom, by sundry conveyances and assurances in the law, the title became vested. On the 10th of April 1795, Phyn appointed Wm. Constable his attorney, to sell and convey any or all of the Boylston tract, who accordingly sold, July 15,1795 (at $1 per acre, one-quarter down and the balance in five installments, with mortgage), to Nicholas Low, Wm. Hender- son, Richard Harrison, and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, a tract of 300,000 acres, since known as the "Black River Tract." This purchase comprised Houndsfield, Water- town, Rutland, Champion, Denmark, Hen- derson, Adams, Rodman, Pinckney, Harris- burg, and Lowville. On the 1st of April, 1796, Phyn confirmed this title. The tract was found by measurement to contain 290,376 acres, to make up which deficiency, Constable, in 1796, conveyed town No. 2 (Worth), excepting 948 acres in the south- east corner, which he reserved to himself. On the last-mentioned date, Phyn conveyed to Constable 401,000 acres, being the re- mainder of the Boylston Tract. The present town of Lorraine is in this convey- ance.

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 28

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