USA > New York > Franklin County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 19
USA > New York > Jefferson County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 19
USA > New York > Lewis County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 19
USA > New York > Oswego County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 19
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 19
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"Select schools" for girls were being announced in some of the larger villages where the daughters of the pioneers might learn a little history, geography and logic and considerable music, painting and French. Board was usually furnished at the school or nearby
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for $1.50 to $2 a week. Other prices were in proportion. A servant girl received seventy-five cents a week, a skilled workman $1.50 a day. Butter cost from eight to twelve cents a pound, potatoes sold at eighteen cents a bushel and wood at $1.50 a cord.
Men in their Sunday best wore bell-shaped beaver hats, long- tailed coats of blue or green, often with large gilt or pearl buttons, immense "stocks" and tight-fitting pantaloons. Here and there an old-fashioned man still wore the knee breeches and buckled shoes of the Revolutionary era as did the Rev. Isaac Clinton, principal of Lowville Academy, to the day of his death. The women wore close- fitting hats resembling turbans, often with long plumes, and long, golden chains, if they could afford them. The Oriental influence pre- vailed in women's apparel for the moment.
The changing fashions and customs drew comment from the con- servatives. Girls were represented as being frivolous and untrained in the domestic arts. A rhymster in an early Northern New York newspaper deplored the passing of the old regime in the following, crude verse :
"I do respect those golden days when fashion was inclined To make her vot-ries wear their coats with pocket holes behind ; Alas, they've passed with time away-those halcyon days are o'er,
And now men dote on green, frock coats, with pocket holes before.
The women, too, have taken the cue, and wear their chains of gold;
Oh, for the lads like our old dads, who lived in time of yore."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNS
THE BOOM WHICH FOLLOWED THE WAR OF 1812, DOUBLING THE POPULA- TION OF THE NORTHERN NEW YORK COUNTIES-THE OSWEGO CANAL AS AN AGENCY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OSWEGO COUNTY-WATER- TOWN AND JEFFERSON COUNTY-THE SETTLED TOWNS OF LEWIS-ST. LAWRENCE AND FRANKLIN COUNTY TOWNS.
The 1820s brought boom days to Northern New York. The whole section was growing rapidly, even though the "gazeteers" still re- ferred to the northern tier of counties as the "remote counties." Jefferson county with its rich farming lands, its water power and its rapidly growing villages profitted most from the period of pros- perity following the War of 1812, its population increasing from 15,000 in 1810 to over 34,000 in 1820. But the entire North Country shared and by 1820 the population of the five counties-Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Franklin and Oswego-aggregated 75,949, more than double that of 1810. St. Lawrence county, with a fringe of substantial settlements along the St. Lawrence river from Louis- ville to Morristown and prosperous villages developing along the St. Lawrence Turnpike in the back country, had a population of over 16,000. Lewis, with some of its settlements now a quarter of a century old, had a population of over 9,000, compared with 6,000 in 1810. The new county of Oswego had a population of 12,364.
The time has come in this history to present a picture of the Northern New York of the twenties and the thirties, county by county and town by town, not with the idea of giving a detailed his- tory of each of the individual towns, because that is beyond the scope of a work of this kind, but with the intention of presenting to the reader the North Country of that day as a traveler might have
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seen it had he rode from Constantia on the south to Malone on the north.
OSWEGO COUNTY
When Oswego county was created in 1816, it contained the fol- lowing towns: Hannibal, Scriba, New Haven, Volney, Mexico, Rich- land, Redfield, Williamstown and Constania. In 1818, Orwell was formed from Richland, including within its boundaries the present towns of Orwell and Boylston, and the towns of Oswego and Granby were formed from Hannibal. Oswego county today has twenty-two towns, those in addition to the ones listed above being: Albion, Amboy, Boylston, Hastings, Minnetto, Palermo, Parish, Sandy Creek, Schroeppel and West Monroe. In addition it has of course the cities of Oswego and Fulton.
The village of Oswego had prior to 1816 been half in Oneida county and half in Onondaga, so now it was half in the town of Oswego and half in the town of Scriba, the Oswego river being the dividing line in each case. The village was not incorporated until 1828 and the two sections, one on either side of the river and con- nected by ferry, were referred to as East Oswego and West Oswego. Oswego, however, was commercially important and already its harbor was crowded with sloops, schooners and now and then a steam boat. It was not until 1822 that the first bridge, connecting East and West Oswego was constructed. Oswego's first newspaper had been the Os- wego Gazette, established in 1817, but its life was short and soon it was succeeded by the Oswego Palladium, established in 1819, which continues to this day. Townsend, Bronson & Company and Matthew McNair were engaged in the forwarding business and the amount of commerce passing through the port of Oswego yearly increased.
Fine residences began to be erected in keeping with the impor- tance of the village. The Hugunins put up such a residence on Mo- hawk street, near the river. Judge Nathan Sage, now a permanent resident of Oswego, being both postmaster and collector of the port, also built himself a house. Dr. Coe, Assemblyman Theophilus S. Mor- gan and William Dolloway built residences on the east side. The first light house was built in 1821 on the northern side of the fort. John Grant, Jr., had just been appointed first judge of Oswego county by the Council of Appointment. Later he was to succeed
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Judge Sage as both postmaster and collector. There were probably about 500 people living in the Village of Oswego in 1820 but by 1830, the population had increased to 2,116, showing the effect of the completion of the Oswego canal. The first church, the Episco- pal church, was built in 1828, and that same year the village was incorporated with Alvin Bronson, long one of Oswego's most prom- inent citizens, the first president.
The town of Constantia had a population of only 767 in 1825. The little village of Constantia, which had its name changed from Rot- terdam about 1813, contained a few houses and the fine residence of George Scriba, the landowner, now all but bankrupt. In 1810 there were only twenty-six men in the town qualified to vote and in 1816 but sixteen votes were cast in the town for governor. It must be remembered, however, that only property owners could vote at that time.
The town of Granby, as we have seen, was organized in 1818, with Elijah Mann, Jr., as the first supervisor. A petition was im- mediately sent to the state legislature asking that the name of the town be changed to De Witt out of compliment to the surveyor gen- eral, but the petition was not allowed. Seth Camp was supervisor in 1820, but Elijah Mann, Jr., was again elected the following year. The town of Granby was originally a part of the Military Tract and Major Lawrence Van Valkenburgh was one of the first pioneers, es- tablishing the tavern which has already been referred to on a num- ber of occasions. Settlements were made in this town as early as 1792, but most of the pioneers moved to the other side of the river. A number of settlers came in about 1800, however, among them Daniel Webster, Luke Montague and Peter Hugunin, and in 1805 Barnet Mooney and Abraham Barnes. Mooney became a very prom- inent man, serving in the assembly from Onondaga county in 1809, 1810, 1812 and 1814. In 1816, when Oswego county was erected, he was made the first judge of the county.
Following the War of 1812 there was a flood of settlement. Ben- jah Bowen settled in the locality which has since been known as Bowen Corners. In 1818 Seth Williams settled in Williams Corners, later Granby Center. First settlements were made at West Granby, then Camp's Mills, in 1819. Seth Camp was the first settler. In 1820 the town contained 555 inhabitants. Oswego Falls Village was long
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known as Phillipsville from its founder, Asa Phillips. There was no religious organization in the town until 1838 when St. Luke's Epis- copal Mission was formed.
The town of Hannibal was erected in 1806 as a town of Onondaga county, and when the county of Oswego was formed in 1816, the town included all of Oswego county west of the Oswego river. In 1797 there were about fifteen residents in the district. The first town meeting was held at McNair's Tavern in Oswego village in April, 1806, and William Vaughan was elected supervisor. Barnet Mooney was supervisor in 1816. When the town of Granby was erected, his residence was in that town. Up until 1805 the family of Thomas Sprague seem to have been the only residents, but in 1805 a number of pioneers arrived including Joseph Weed, Watson Earl, Israel Messenger, George Cotton and Sterling Moore. In 1820 there were 935 inhabitants in the town. There was a school at Hannibal Center as early as 1810. The first building in the village of Hannibal was a log house erected in 1808 and kept as a tavern by Henry Jen- nings. Other houses were soon erected around the old tavern and by 1815 Hannibal Village was quite a settlement. Amos Field put up a frame hotel that year. The growth of the village was rapid and by 1829 Hannibal had two churches, Presbyterian and Baptist, two schools, a couple of lawyers and a couple of doctors. One reason for the growth of Hannibal was because it was a stopping place on the stage route between Oswego and Rochester and Oswego and Au- burn, and, as a result, drew considerable business.
Mexico, as has been stated, was the first of the towns in the pres- ent limits of Oswego county to be erected. The following towns have at various times been erected from the original town of Mexico: Camden, Vienna and Florence, Lowville, Turin, Champion, Water- town, Rutland, Hounsfield, Redfield, Ellisburg, Henderson, Lorraine, Worth, Williamstown, Amboy, Richland, Albion, Boylston, Orwell, Sandy Creek, Volney, Scriba, Shroeppel, Palmero, Constantia, Hast- ings, West Monroe, New Haven and Parish, thirty in all. In 1820 the town of Mexico had been reduced to not far from its present limits and David Burham was serving as supervisor. The first settlement in the present town of Mexico seems to have been made as early as 1795. By 1798 there seems to have been thirteen heads of family living in the present town. Silas Town, the celebrated Revolutionary
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war spy, was the first settler on the site of Mexico village, coming there about 1800 but he removed to Vera Cruz, Mr. Scriba's settle- ment on the lake shore. He died in 1806 at the home of Reuben Ham- ilton and his remains are buried on what has ever since been known as Grave Island at the mouth of Little Salmon creek. A monument was erected to his honor there in 1871. Reuben Hamilton was a prominent settler of the town at the early date. Calvin Tiffany and Phineas Davis also settled early. The first town meeting within the present limits of Mexico was held at Tiffany's log tavern and also the first meeting of the Oswego county board of supervisors. At the time of the war of 1812 Mexico village was a flourishing place with a dozen log houses and the Masonic lodge was meeting in Shubael Alfred's frame house as early as 1807. Captain Daniel Murdock erected a frame tavern in 1811 and long conducted it. By 1820 there was a store, ashery and distillery. In this town was erected the first church building in Oswego county, the little Baptist church at Colosse, finished in 1824. It was first known as the Baptist Church of Mexico and Rev. Gamaliel Barnes was the first pastor.
New Haven was taken from Mexico just before the organization of Oswego county. Sixty-five votes were cast in the first town meet- ing held in 1814, which gives some idea of the population of the town at that time. David Easton was elected supervisor and the supervi- sor in 1820 was Orris Hart. The first permanent settlements in the town appeared to have been made about 1800 and Solomon Smith is said to have built the first log house in the town limits. Captain Gardner Wyman, who commanded a militia company in the War of 1812, and Eleazer Snow were early settlers. David Easton, who later became the first supervisor, settled in 1805. Andrew Place kept an early inn. Ezra May was one of the first settlers in New Haven vil- lage and opened up a tavern there in 1810. He had been a pilot in Commodore Chauncey's fleet during the War of 1812. Anson Drake kept a store there at an early date, but in 1816 he was succeeded by Orris Hart.
Orwell was formed from Richland the year after Oswego county was erected, 1817, and at that time included of course the present town of Boylston. The first pioneers found their way to the town by following the Salmon river. John Reynolds was elected the first su- pervisor and he served for fourteen consecutive years. The first set-
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tlers seem to have come about 1806 and are said to have been Fred- erick Eastman and Jesse Merrill. Captain George W. Noyes came about 1807 and located at what is now Orwell village. Timothy Balch erected a log house in 1809 at Orwell Corners and soon was running a famous tavern. Eli Strong, who had first settled at Red- field, came to Orwell and served as postmaster of the village for twenty-four years. In 1820 the population of the town was 488. In that year there were only two or three log houses at Orwell Village and no store.
The early history of the town of Oswego is of course involved with that of Oswego village. The town was erected from Hannibal in 1818. Eleazer Perry was elected the first supervisor. Asa Rich, who settled in Fruit Valley, in 1797 was certainly the first settler. It is recorded that he formally christened the place Union Village, breaking a bottle of wine as a part of the ceremony. Other early set- tlers were Reuben Pixley, Daniel Burt, Eleazer Perry, Jacon Thorpe and Jonathan Buell. Union Village was quite a promising place in 1820, with a tannery, a tavern and a post office. At Minetto was little else than the tavern of Mrs. Petsey Pease at this date.
Redfield, as we have seen, was erected in 1800 from Mexico, and was early a town of considerable importance, due in no small meas- ure to the energy of Captain Nathan Sage, the land agent. Luke Winchell was the first supervisor of the town. Redfield village, first known as Center Square, was laid out by the proprietors as early as 1800. Soon there were two taverns, one conducted by David Butler and the other by Col. Amos Johnson. Here as we have seen was organized the first church in the county, a Presbyterian society, with Rev. Joshua Johnson, brother of the innkeeper, as the pastor. The state road from Rome to Sackets Harbor gave Redfield great im- portance and although never a large town in population it was an influential one. In 1820 there were 336 inhabitants in the town. In the early days the town of Redfield was the Democratic stronghold of the county. In 1801 Clinton, the Republican (Democratic) candi- date, received 24 votes in Redfield and Van Rensselaer, Federalist none. In 1804 Morgan Lewis received fifty votes for governor and Aaron Burr, none. In 1810 Tompkins received fifty-four votes in the town for governor and Platt, Federalist, three. And in 1813 when practically every town in the North Country went Federalist, Tomp-
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kins received fifty-seven votes and Van Rensselaer, Federalist, only two.
Richland was set off from Williamstown in 1807, then including the present towns of Sandy Creek, Orwell, Boylston, Albion and a part of Mexico. The first town meeting was held in the house of Ephraim Brewster, near Pulaski village, in 1807 and Joseph Hurd was elected the first supervisor. Simon Meacham served as supervi- sor for many years in the twenties and before. The first settlers were Nathan Tuttle and Nathan Wilcox who settled at the mouth of the Salmon river in 1801. Benjamin Winch came that same year but soon removed to the site of Pulaski where he established the first tavern there in 1806. By 1820 Pulaski was one of the most promis- ing villages in the county, its prestige increased considerably by the fact that it was a shire village and had a court house and jail. Even as early as 1812 the settlement was large enough to raise a militia company for service in the war. That is the year that John S. Davis became a resident of Pulaski. He later became the first sheriff of Oswego county, and together with Simon Meacham and Ebenezer Young constituted the building committee for the court house. The first post office was established in 1817 under the name of Richland. Hiram White was the first postmaster. The village was not incor- porated until 1832, when Abner French was elected president, but prior to that time a newspaper, the Pulaski Banner, had been estab- lished and there were several mills. The Congregationalist church, a frame structure with galleries, was erected in 1827. Before 1835 Methodist and Baptist churches had also been erected. It was some- what later than this, in fact in 1836, that the "city" of Port Ontario came into being. John L. and Asa C. Dickinson, Elias Camp and Col. Robert Nickles conceived of a scheme to build a city at the mouth of the Salmon river. The Port Ontario Company was immediately organized. The "city" was at once laid out with two public squares, one on either side of the river. For a time lots brought fabulous figures. In 1837 the village was incorporated, a company was or- ganized for constructing a canal and a newspaper was established. But the dreams of the founders was never realized. Port Ontario continues a quiet, rural hamlet to this day.
Scriba was formed from Volney in 1811, the town being named of course in honor of George Scriba, the patentee, but not without the
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opposition of a portion of the inhabitants who preferred the name Boston. Scriba had the advantage of good highways from the first and the old state road passed through there as early as 1812. The first town meeting was held in the tavern of Hiel Stone, at which Capt. Henry Potter was elected the first supervisor. Henry Everts came in 1798 and was the first settler. Other early settlers were Asabel Bush and Samuel Tiffany, William Burt, the first justice of the peace of the town, Samuel Jacks, Daniel Hall, Hiram Warner and James Church, later postmaster, justice of the peace and veteran of the war of 1812. In 1820 the town contained 741 inhabitants. The village of Scriba was early known as Scriba Corners and grew up around Major Heil Stone's brick tavern. In 1819 the first store was opened by Orrin Stone and Aaron Parkhurst and for many years it was the only one in the town outside of Oswego village. A post office was established there as early as 1813, on the old Oswego- Utica mail route, and Major Hiel Stone was the first postmaster.
The town of Volney was erected in 1806 from Mexico and at the time of its creation included the present towns of Scriba, Palermo, Volney and Schroeppel. Originally it was called Fredericksburg from George Scriba's son, but the name was changed to Volney in 1811. The first town meeting of Fredericksburg was held in the tavern of Major Lawrence Van Valkenburgh, referred to several times before, at which time Ebenezer Wright was elected supervisor. The early history of the town has already been discussed. Besides the Van Valkenburghs, John Van Buren, cousin of Martin Van Buren, John Waterhouse, Ebenezer Wells and Ebenezer Wright were early settlers. Most of the settlers of the town in the early days were scattered along the river bank, mostly below the present city of Fulton, the place being celebrated, of course, for its portage. Settlement was fairly rapid. In 1812 there were twelve buildings in what is now the city of Fulton, then being known as Oswego Falls. It was not until after the canal was built that Fulton came into its own as one of the most important places in the county. Some of the more prominent settlers of early Volney were James Lyon, mer- chant and slave-owner; Daniel Falley, who at one time owned a large part of the present city of Fulton and who was a prominent Methodist class-leader; Captain Asa Whitney, who commanded the Volney company in the War of 1812; Captain Thomas Hubbard;
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Oliver Burdick, associate justice of the court of common pleas and supervisor ; and Joseph Easton, town clerk, supervisor and justice of the peace. The first Methodist church in Oswego county was erected in this town in 1830.
The town of Williamstown was erected in 1804 from Mexico and at that time included the present towns of Richland and Amboy. Settlement was started about 1801 when Ichabod Comstock made the first clearing and Solomon Goodwin settled near him in the center of the town. Gilbert Taylor located at what was early known as "The Corners" about a mile west of the present Williamstown village. It was in this little hamlet that the first town meetings were held. Daniel Freeman kept an early store there. But Isaac Alden and Dr. Torbert built mills on the site of Williamstown village and settlers were soon attracted there. Henry Williams, who later became town clerk, supervisor, county "side" judge and member of assembly, settled about a mile south of the present village at an early date. Caleb Carr, who also later became a member of assembly, was an early settler. Samuel Freeman kept one of the first stores at "the Corners." Isaac Alden was elected the first supervisor at a town meeting held in 1805. A Congregational society with Rev. William Stone as pastor, was formed that same year. The village of Williams- town grew rapidly, largely because of the location of the mills there, and as early as 1830 had 606 residents when the population of the village of Oswego was only about 2,500. The first postoffice in the town, established in 1813, was located at "the Corners," but was soon transferred to the village of Williamstown. Settlement at Kasoag started in 1810 when William Hamilton built a saw mill and dam at this point.
Up until 1825 Oswego county was thinly populated and with few substantial settlements. Outside of commerce at Oswego and Oswego Falls there was little business in the county excepting agri- culture. Oswego, Oswego Falls, Mexico, Pulaski, Williamstown, Colosse, Hannibal and Little Constantia-these were the leading settlements and most of them were scarcely more than hamlets. It was the building of the Oswego canal which brought prosperity and importance to Oswego county, as we will see later. Then the golden age started which brought wealth to the county and made Oswego the first city in all Northern New York.
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JEFFERSON COUNTY
In 1820 there were fifteen towns in Jefferson county. The oldest towns were Champion and Watertown, both of which had been taken from Mexico in 1800. Then there was Adams, taken from Mexico in 1802; Antwerp, taken from LeRay in 1810; Brownville, taken from Leyden in 1802; Ellisburgh, taken from Mexico in 1803; Hen- derson, taken from Ellisburgh in 1806; Hounsfield, taken from Water- town in 1806; LeRay, taken from Brownville in 1806; Lorraine, erected as the town of Malta from Mexico in 1804; Lyme, taken from Brownville in 1818; Pamelia, taken from Brownville in 1819; Rod- man, erected as Harison from Adams in 1804; Rutland, taken from Watertown in 1802; Wilna, taken from LeRay and Leyden in 1813. Three other towns were erected in 1821, Orleans from Brownville, Philadelphia from LeRay, and Alexandria from Brownville and Le- Ray. Clayton was not created from Orleans and Lyme until 1833, Theresa from Alexandria until 1841, Worth from Lorraine until 1848 and Cape Vincent from Lyme until 1849.
Watertown in the twenties was the largest village in the entire North Country. A village census taken about 1820 showed there were 1,220 residents, some 149 houses, 36 shops, fifteen stores, a number of mills, a cotton factory and a woolen factory, four chair factories, a tin factory, a state arsenal, three school houses and five taverns. Moreover three churches were soon to be erected, first the Presbyterian church, on the site of the present First Presbyterian church, where for many years the Rev. George Boardman held forth to the satisfaction of his parishioners, then the little stone meeting house of the Methodists on Arsenal street, and finally the Univer- salist church on Public Square, then known as The Mall, where the Rev. Pitt Morse long held sway. Over on the north side of the river was Williamstown, not yet a part of Watertown, where there were 157 inhabitants at the time of which we are speaking. Watertown was a straggling place, built around the Mall, a muddy, hilly "square." There were a few fine stone houses on Washington, Fac- tory and Court street, then known as State street, but most of the houses were low, unpainted, one-story places, and a zig-zag rail fence lined the southern side of Arsenal street. But Watertown was even then an important place. There wasn't a street light in town of
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