USA > New York > Franklin County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 22
USA > New York > Jefferson County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 22
USA > New York > Lewis County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 22
USA > New York > Oswego County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 22
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 22
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The early history of Colton is embraced in that of the town of Parishville from which it was created in 1843. Parishville, it will be recalled, was formed from Hopkinton in 1814 and is of course named from David Parish, the great landed proprietor. Daniel Hoard was Mr. Parish's agent in this locality and he cut a road from the Pots- dam town line to the site of Parishville. Other early settlers were Luke Brown, Isaac Tower, Levi Sawyer and Hartwell Shattuck. During the War of 1812 Parishville experienced a considerable growth, many residents of the border towns taking up their resi- dence there as being more remote from Canada. In 1812 a large tavern was built in the village which became one of the best known in St. Lawrence county. Located at a point where the St. Lawrence Turnpike crossed the St. Regis river it is not surprising that Parish-
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ville was a busy place in the early days, especially as Mr. Parish spent considerable money there in improvements.
Pierpont, or as it formerly was spelled Pierrepont, was named from Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont, the early owner. The town was erected in 1818 from both Russell and Potsdam. The first settler is said to have been Flavius J. Curtis in 1806 but settlement did not start in earnest until the St. Lawrence Turnpike was opened.
Potsdam early became one of the most important towns in the county. Its settlement by Benjamin Raymond has already been touched upon. Mr. Raymond came in 1803, following the water route from Rome. Christopher Wilson bought a 140-acre tract in the southwestern part of the town in 1803, paying $10 down. The land sold for $2.50 an acre in 1803 but by 1806 was selling for $4 an acre. William Bullock and his associate bought a huge tract of 2,467 acres of land in the town in 1804 for $8,300 and established what was known as The Union, a communistic experiment. There was a union store, a union school house, a union blacksmith shop and a union' church. The experiment of common ownership of the land was not successful and the men all took private titles to their land in 1810. A saw mill was built on the site of the village of Potsdam in 1803 and a grist mill the year after. Mr. Raymond proved to be an espe- cially able agent, disposing of some forty-one square miles of land in small tracts at a total price of $125,000. When it is appreciated that David M. Clarkson and Garrett Van Horne, the proprietors, bought some eighty square miles for $50,000 it will be seen that Mr. Raymond's transactions were profitable ones for the owners. It was Mr. Raymond who laid out the village of Potsdam with its wide streets, who served as first supervisor of the town and who was responsible for the founding of the famous St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam, a complete account of which is given in the chapter on academies later in this book.
Most of the early settlers of Potsdam came from Vermont. Lib- erty Knowles was a prominent settler and became one of the best known men in St. Lawrence county. He married a sister of Judge Raymond and in 1811 built the first two-story house in the village on the present Market street. Sewall Raymond, brother of the judge,
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was also an early settler and in 1813 built a two-story house on Elm street, still occupied by his descendants. In later years came Gen. E. A. Merritt, who became collector of the Port of New York and consul general to London. Herman LeRoy, landed proprietor, moved to the village and left his name in Le Roy street. The Clarksons also moved to the village and built there three mansions in the midst of their great estate overlooking the river.
An interesting incident in the history of Potsdam is the socalled Lyman Exodus. In 1803 one Azel Lyman, a prosperous tanner of Potsdam, became convinced that he ought to devote the rest of his life to Sunday school work. He sold his stone house and his business and together with his four brothers and others, numbering in all fifty-two persons, set out for Illinois in covered wagons. For nine weeks they journeyed until they finally arrived at their destination, being assigned thirty-five counties in the Southern part of Illinois where they established Sunday schools. It is also interesting to note that Frank B. Kellogg, former secretary of state, was born at Crary Mills in the town of Potsdam.
Rossie, erected from Russell during the War of 1812, is named from Rossie Castle in Scotland, seat of the Parishes, who owned a large part of the town. Parish bought the town from Gouverneur Morris and James D. Le Ray in 1808 and settlement started about that time. The furnace established at Rossie by Mr. Parish and which was in operation during the War of 1812 gave importance to the town and attracted the attention of President Monroe during his tour of Northern New York in 1817.
The town of Russell is named from Russell Attwater, perhaps its most prominent early resident. Mr. Attwater bought a large tract of land in 1798 and the first settlements were made in 1805. Early settlers were Timothy Blair, Nathan Knox, Heman Morgan, Elias Hayden, Alvin White, Deacon Joseph Hutchinson and Jacob Hutch- ins. The village of Russell came into prominence in 1809 through the erection of a state arsenal there, a massive, stone building, three stories high, surrounded by a high, stone wall. During the war of 1812 the arsenal brought Russell considerable importance and when the St. Lawrence Turnpike was constructed through the village, bringing a steady stream of travelers, its prosperity increased.
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Stockholm, which was formed from Massena in 1806, was first settled in 1802, the settlers coming by way of the Chateaugay woods and the St. Regis. Early settlers were Ebenezer Hulburd, Dr. Lyman Pettibone, Isaac Kelsey, William Staples and Benjamin Wright, to name only a few.
The town of DeKalb, organized the same year as Stockholm, was named from the Baron DeKalb. Judge William Cooper, father of J. Fenimore Cooper, the novelist, purchased the town from Samuel Ogden and in 1803 led a large group there and made a settlement just above Cooper's Falls. Salmon Rich was a prominent early set- tler, buying some 11,850 acres in the southern corner of the town. He has given his name to Richville, originally known as Rich's settlement.
De Peyster, established in 1825 from Oswegatchie and DeKalb, was named for Frederick De Peyster, who owned large tracts of land in Northern New York. Smith Stilwell, a prominent early settler, was the first supervisor. Samuel Bristol was the earliest settler within the limits of the town establishing Bristol's Tavern on the Oswegatchie road. Captain Rufus Washburn was another early set- tler but soon removed to Macomb.
Edwards, organized in 1827 from Fowler, originally included Hermon. It was named from Edward McCormick, a brother of Daniel, the Northern New York landowner. Joseph Pitcairn was Mr. McCormick's agent and had much to do with the early settlement of the town. Asa Brayton is supposed to have been the first settler, coming in with his family in 1812. With the building of the St. Lawrence Turnpike many settlers came in to locate. A number of Scotch emigrants settled in the town in 1817 and proved to be a thrifty and superior class of settlers. Pitcairn, which was under the same management, was erected from Fowler later in 1836. The town was of course named from Joseph Pitcairn, who was Mr. McCormick's agent. Pitcairn had been in the diplomatic service of the United States, but being a Federalist, had been removed by President Jefferson. He erected a fine stone mansion in the village of Helena in Brasher.
Fowler was formed from Rossie and Russell in 1816. As originally created the town included much of the towns of Edwards
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and Pitcairn. Theodosius Fowler was the owner until 1821 when he conveyed to his son, T. O. Fowler. The town was named after Theo- dosius Fowler who had had a spectacular career as an officer in the Continental army during the Revolution. Captain Fowler was the first supervisor. The first settlement in the town was made by Gen. James Haile of Fairfield who made his purchase from Richard Town- send, the agent for Fowler. He established himself on the site of the present village of Hailesboro.
Gouverneur, usually referred to prior to the War of 1812 as Cambray, was from the first one of the more important of the back towns. When it was formed from Oswegatchie in 1810 it contained 223 inhabitants. Richard Townsend, agent for the Fowler and Gouverneur Morris, was the first supervisor and continued to be a prominent resident of Gouverneur for many years. Gouverneur was named from Gouverneur Morris who owned most of the town. Mr. Morris employed Dr. Richard Townsend of Hartford, New York, as a land agent and Dr. Townsend with several men came through the forests from Lake George guided by a compass. In 1805 and 1806 settlement was started. A road was cut through to Richville and soon there was communication with Antwerp. In the meantime Gouverneur Morris, himself, had come on to settle on his lands at Natural Dam and a stone house was built for him but the proprietor spent only a few weeks on his possessions. The population of the town was about 300 in 1812. During the war there was the usual alarm and two blockhouses were erected but there was no occasion for their use. Among some of the earlier settlers were Joseph Waid, who later became sheriff of the county, James Thompson, William Colton, John Hoyt, Harvey Black, Caleb Drake, Benjamin Clark, . Alfred Cole, Ephriam Case, Williard Smith and Colburn Barrell. In 1813 came Simeon Hazzleton who later became a prominent resident of Fowler and in 1817 the two Van Buren brothers, Harmon and Thomas, to be joined three years later by their brother, Peter, long remembered as a tavern keeper. Dr. Spencer proved a good agent. Gouverneur became an important village. In 1829 Edwin Dodge, a young lawyer who had studied in the office of Micah Sterling at Watertown and married his daughter, was engaged as agent and removed to Gouverneur where he won prominence in business and politics.
POST OFFICE, OGDENSBURG, N. Y.
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STATE ARMORY, OGDENSBURG, N. Y.
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The early history of Hammond is identified with that of Rossie and Morristown. The town was erected from these two towns in 1827. The first real settlement was made about 1818 and William Wiley is said to have made the first land contract. Mr. Parish opened a land office at Chippewa and installed Loren Bailey there as his agent. A number of Scotch families settled near Hammond village. The principal growth came between 1830 and 1835 when the town showed a gain in population of seventy-three per cent. Many Scotch families continued to come into the town and settle and today the descendants of these families make up a big majority of the residents of Hammond. The first postoffice in the town was established in Hammond village in 1824, Arnold Smith being the postmaster. His salary, the first year of his term was a little over $15.
Hopkinton, erected in 1805 from Massena, was another of the St. Lawrence county towns which benefitted greatly from the con- struction of the St. Lawrence turnpike. Judge Roswell Hopkins, who owned much of the town, was an early and influential settler. The first settlement was made in 1803 when Judge Hopkins, Abra- ham Sheldon, Eli and Ashbel Squire moved into the locality to be followed within a year or so by Thomas Remington, Gaius Sheldon, Reuben Post, Horace Train, Seth Abbott and others. The village of Hopkinton, as we have seen in another chapter, became a well known stopping place for the traveler on the St. Lawrence Turnpike. It was a typical New England village and if not as hustling at Parish- ville and Russell nevertheless was an important place in those early days.
Lawrence was erected from Hopkinton and Brasher in 1828 and its early history is identical with that of those two towns. Louis- ville, originally a part of Massena, was first settled in 1800 by one Nahum Wilson and Aaron Allen. The earliest settlement at Louis- ville Landing was made about 1806. Norfolk was first settled about 1809 or 1810, Erastus Hall being probably the first settler. The first settlement in Norfolk village was made in 1816 by Judge Russell Attwater of Russell.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LANDED GENTRY AND THEIR HOMES
THE GREAT LANDED ESTATES IN THE NORTH AND THE SYSTEM OF BEN- EVOLENT FEUDALISM WHICH RESULTED-CHURCHES OF THE LANDED GENTRY-THE OGDENS, THE CONSTABLES, THE PARISHES AND THE HOGANS-HOW THE LANDOWNERS CONTROLLED THE POLITICS OF THE NORTH COUNTRY.
The period immediately following the War of 1812 witnessed the building of the massive, Georgian houses which one still finds in many a quaint, North Country village. Manor houses they were, wherein lived the lords of great estates which extended up hill and down dale and included village and town and farm. The aristocracy of the early republic was one deeply rooted in the soil. It was a wealth represented by great, landed possessions. The gentleman of the America of the early days of the nineteenth century might have his house on Wall street, his pew in Trinity Church, his store on lower Broadway and his ships sailing the Seven Seas, but like his ancestors in England he must possess as well vast estates where he could ride far and wide among his tenants.
So men of this class bought largely of "wild lands" in Northern New York and some of their estates included many square miles of virgin forests and stumpy fields. But they often included villages as well. Thus David Parish owned Ogdensburg and Parishville and Rossie. The Ogdens owned the village of Hamilton, later Wadding- ton; William Henderson, the town of Henderson, Jefferson county ; and Augustus Sacket a large part of the town of Hounsfield in the same county. Michael Hogan owned the township of Bombay in Franklin county and named it after his wife's residence in India. The possessions of James D. LeRay de Chaumont were so broad that he left his family names all over Jefferson county. Cape Vincent is
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named from a son, Alexandria Bay from another son, Theresa from his only daughter, Chaumont after the family home in France and Plessis, according to one story, after his dog.
True it was that the tenants of these early land barons were given an opportunity to buy their farms. But money was scarce and the pioneers in most instances desperately poor. Many years of hard labor confronted them before they could hope to free their lands of debts and in the meantime they must ask, time and time again, in- dulgence from the owner or his agent. It is not strange therefore that the politics of the tenant were usually those of the proprietor and his agent, and almost invariably the landowners in Northern New York were Federalists. When there was an office to be filled it was the land agent who filled it until later when the sons of the proprietor came north to live on their estates and to represent their tenants on the bench and in the halls of the legislature, and even then when there was an appointment to be made it was the landed proprietor with his immense political influence who saw to it that the Council of Appointment named the right man.
In a few instances the proprietors, themselves, came north to live on their estates, as for example David A. Ogden, Augustus Sacket, David Parish, George Scriba, Nicholas I. Roosevelt and James D. LeRay. But in more cases it was the sons of the landowners, born to the purple and delighting in the thought of broad acres where they could ride to the hounds as had their sires of old, who moved north and built the big, stone manor houses which today may be seen all through the North Country. Here like the country gentry of England they could lord it over their tenants, contribute generously to the neighborhood enterprises and dictate the politics of the countryside. And like true English gentlemen they must have their Episcopal church, each with thick walls and glebe. So the Constables built St. Paul's in Constableville, the first Episcopal Church north of the Mohawk; The Ogdens, St. Paul's in Hamilton, the first church struc- ture in St. Lawrence county ; and the Clarksons, Trinity, in Potsdam, named after the mother parish where the Clarksons had served as vestrymen. Old Trinity, incidentally, contributed largely to the building of Trinity in Potsdam. The Harisons, descendants of the comptroller of old Trinity, built another Trinity at their country seat at Morley, and the same year that the son of Nicholas Low
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arrived to make his residence in Lowville, still another Trinity was started there. At his country seat at New Rotterdam, now Con- stantia, George Scriba, who owned all of the present Oswego county east of the Oswego river, built one more Trinity, one of the earliest, if not the earliest, Episcopal churches in Oswego county.
THE OGDENS AT WADDINGTON
St. Paul's at Hamilton, now Waddington, was typical of these early North Country Episcopal churches. Judge David A. Ogden had come north to his "wild lands" soon after the tragic death of his law partner and close personal friend, Alexander Hamilton. But Gouverneur Ogden and his family did not come to Hamilton until 1810. This Mrs. Gouveneur Ogden kept a diary which is to this day a very human and readable document. Charlotte Seton Ogden was of tender breeding, the daughter of William Seton, the banker. She and Gouverneur Ogden, who was related to the Morrises, the Hoff- mans and half the aristocracy of New York, had been married in St. Paul's Church in New York in 1806. They first went to live at 24 Greenwich street in New York's most fashionable residential district, not far from the Battery, but when the yellow fever epidemic swept New York we find them going to Greenwich Village to escape the plague.
To the little frontier village of Hamilton came this young couple with their two children to take up their residence in a house known as The Elms. Soon, however, they built their own mansion, Ellerslie, on a hill overlooking the river. Into this house, the ruins of which still stand, they moved in 1819 and here five of their children were born. This was the year after St. Paul's was built, so sturdily that it stands to this day with never a sag in its thick walls. Modeled after St. Paul's in New York, which the Ogdens knew so well, it was, and if it lacked the high spire, at least it had the same Norman windows, and in the chancel windows the Dove and the Chalice and the Alpha and the Omega, even as in the mother church in New York. To this day the ancient, heavy-patterned key is left hanging con- veniently in a neighboring doorway so all who desire may enter the silent interior of the church where are the old, square, high-backed pews, constructed so painstakingly by master craftsmen in the days when the North Country was young. With the possible exception of
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Christ's Church, Sackets Harbor, St. Paul's at Waddington is the finest example of early church architecture to be found anywhere in Northern New York.
The first rector of old St. Paul's was the Rev. Amos G. Baldwin. Writes Mrs. Gouverneur Ogden in her diary: "Mr. Baldwin drank tea and spent the evening with us. He is quite musical and facetious, rather fond of mimicking Connecticut Psalm-singers." Probably he confined this wit to the safe confines of the Ogden mansion. The Presbyterian tenants of the Ogdens might be perfectly content to attend their Episcopal Church but probably would not take kindly to ridicule from the jolly rector. And then came the time when the church was rapidly nearing completion and the vestry must needs be summoned to meet in front of the great fireplace at Ellerslie. Writes Mrs. Ogden on this occasion: "The vestry held their meeting at our house and drank a bottle of gin and a bottle of wine." A thirsty vestry, surely, but they were accomplishing great things even if Mr. Ogden's wine cellar was suffering.
St. Paul's was ready for dedication. Bishop Hobart came north to officiate. In the great mansion built by David A. Ogden on Ogden Island they will point out today a room, still called the "bishop's room," with windows looking out on the wide expanse of the St. Lawrence, where Bishop Hobart was entertained on this eventful occasion. Five hundred were present at the dedication, Mrs. Ogden records, which means that everyone within driving distance of Ham- ilton must have turned out. It was in every sense of the word an Ogden church. David A. Ogden was both a warden and treasurer. Gouverneur Ogden was the other warden and William H. Vining, nephew of Mrs. Gouverneur Ogden, the clerk. Mrs. Gouverneur Ogden was in the choir and later, when the church had an organ, was organist as well. "Sat in the gallery with the fluters," she writes. "We sang 'Devizes,' 'Ashley' and 'Denmark'." And later : "Rode to church to practice on the organ."
Look over the vestry lists of any of these early Episcopal churches in Northern New York if one would see the influence of the landed proprietors. Richard N. Harison was warden of Grace Church, Canton, and Henry Van Rensselaer, son of the Patroon, a vestryman. George Parish, the landowner, and David Ford, brother of the judge, were vestrymen of St. John's Church, Ogdensburg. John C. Clark-
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son and August L. Clarkson were wardens of Trinity Church, Pots- dam, and David L. Clarkson, one of the vestrymen. Elisha Camp, land agent for Augustus Sacket, was a warden of Christ's Church, Sackets Harbor, the first Episcopal Church to be erected in Jefferson county. Nicholas I. Roosevelt and Frederick W. Scriba were wardens of Trinity Church, Constantia, and both George Scriba and George Scriba, Jr., were vestrymen.
A species of feudalism it certainly was, even though the landed proprietors had difficulty in persuading their New England tenants to attend their Episcopal churches. And yet the coming of the pro- prietors and their sons to the north was a most fortunate thing for the section. Leadership and money and culture were furnished at a time when the North Country needed all three badly, leadership to represent the pioneers of the north on the bench and in the legislature, money to build roads and grist mills and churches and culture to temper the crude provincialism of the tenants. And the landowners left something more in Northern New York than their family names. The blood of the Constables, the Ogdens, the Van Rensselaers and the Pierreponts, the Harisons, the Clarksons and the McVickars, is still to be found in the north, no unimportant heritage for any community.
These men who made huge land purchases in the Northern New York of the early nineteenth century were no insignificant figures in the United States of their day. They were the friends of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. They repre- sented the aristocracy of the infant republic. They were merchants and lawyers and statesmen, members of the Chamber of Commerce and Trinity Church, organizers of the Society of Cincinnati, sub- scribers to Columbia College and stalwarts of the Federalist party. They might have been patriots in the Revolution like the Ogdens and the Clarksons, or Tories like the Harisons, but they all believed in the rule of the rich, the well-born and the able and had a common distrust of the people. "Give the votes to the people who have no property," Gouverneur Morris, who owned many wide acres in the North Country, warned the convention of 1787, "and they will sell them to the rich who will be able to buy them."
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THE CONSTABLES AND CONSTABLE HALL
Consider the Constables, who at one time owned a large part of Northern New York. William Constable had served in the Revolu- tion as an aide-de-camp of the great LaFayette and one of the most treasured possessions in the great Constable mansion in Lewis county to this day is a faded letter from the French patriot to the elder Constable. William Constable organized a company in which both Robert and Gouverneur Morris were interested, a company not only involved in land speculation but which sent ships to sail the seven seas. Constable's wife was a close friend of Mrs. George Washing- ton, or "Lady" Washington, if one follows the custom of the time. Their home was in Wall street until they sold it to the Bank of New York and moved to the dwelling house of Rufus King on the site of the old Astor House, and their country seat was at Bloomingdale, six miles from the New York of that day. The Constable children mar- ried into the Mc Vickar, the Livingston, the Duane and the Pierrepont families, and several of them came to Northern New York to reside.
James Constable, brother of William, made extensive tours of the family possessions in the North Country, riding hundreds of miles along forest trail, from clearing to clearing and from settlement to settlement. William Constable, Jr., who married Eliza McVickar, came to Lewis county to reside and at the present Constableville, early in the nineteenth century, he built the manor house of the Con- stables, known then as now as Constable Hall, a great high-columed mansion of gray stone, looking down from an eminence upon the broad reaches of the Black river valley with the blue peaks of the Adirondacks in the distance. Nine years it took to build this house and a Constable still resides there. One may drive into the sleepy, little village of Constableville and see it as it stands today, white pillared in the midst of attractive grounds, great stone gate posts standing sentinel at the entrance to the estate. Everything is remi- nescent of another day. Square, glass lanterns, each holding three candles, stand on the lintel posts, while an American eagle is perched over the door.
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