Lyme, Jefferson, NY ALHN

Early Settlers, Part II

EARLY SETTLERS, PART I

The first settlement was started in 1801, on the north shore of the Chaumont river, and a little more than two miles above the village which bears the same name. It is now designated as Old Town. The party came by the way of Oswego and the lake, and among hem were Jonas Smith and Henry A. Delamater, from Ulster county, Richard M. Esselstyn from Clavarack, then in Albany county, David Soper, T. Wheeler, James Soper, Peter Pratt, and Timothy Soper, whose names are positively known. There were some others. During the summer a small clearing was made, and two or three buildings erected, but the location was an unhealthy one, and the next spring, it was abandoned. The winter of 1801 and 1802 was spent by the settlers in the respective homes from which they had emigrated, having returned there in the fall, after their summer’s clearing and building. In 1802, Mr. Delamater cleared the first land on Point Salubrious. In 1803 a part of the colony settled on the site of Chaumont village, built a saw-mill and a warehouse, and put in operation a log tavern; several other families from Ulster county increased their number; there were also a few unmarried young men, and an occasional immigrant from Canada.

In 1805, James Horton moved the families of Daniel and John Tremper to the Chaumont settlement, and came with his own family the next year. The Trempers were tanners. A small vessel was begun this year, but never finished. Henry Thomas was keeping a store, and several mechanics were in business.

THE ASHLAND FARM

When William Dewey was a civil engineer, subsequently in the employ of the Rome, Watertown, and Cape Vincent Railroad Companies, he purchased a thousand acres of unbroken land of Vincent Le Ray de Chaumont, and took possession with his father, Timothy Dewey; this was in 1833. The farm is not far from Three-Mile Bay, is nearly level, and one of the most fertile in Jefferson County. Forty-five years ago it was very forbidding, much of it being under water a portion of he season; it soon acquired the name of Dewey’s Swamp. The timber was chiefly ash, soft maple, elm, and oak. But Mr. Dewey gave his personal attention to the hard-looking farm, employed a large force of laborers, expended a great amount of money in drainage, and this brought the soil to its present rich condition: Mr. George Ricketts was Mr.Dewey’s foreman for the last thirteen years of his life. The Ashland Farm has recently been sold to John P. and N. E. Douglass, of New York City.

A LARGE PURCHASE

For many years Alexander Copley was the largest land-holder in this region of country. He came to Jefferson County in 1833, and had been here nearly fifty years when he died. On June 7, 1833, he purchased two thousand five hundred and sixty-two acres of Vincent Le Ray de Chaumont, and three years later—October 5, 1836—the large tract of sixteen thousand nine hundred and sixty-one acres from Gouverneur Morris. These lands lay in the towns of Clayton, Brownville, and Lyme. Afterwards he added ten thousand more acres to his estate, the land being situated in the town of Antwerp, thus owning nearly thirty thousand acres in all. Mr. Copley made Chaumont his home, although business often called him elsewhere; he dealt largely in stone and grain, owned a grist-mill, employed vessels, was a director of the Union bank from the year of its organization till his death, February, 1871, and was also a merchant.

ANOTHER INCIDENT

Before leaving these statements concerning the hardy pioneers of Lyme, a sad story may be related, the substance of which is given in Dr. Hough’s sketch of Clayton. In 1817, Simon and Jared White came from the vicinity of Depauville to Three-Mile Point, with the intention, probably, of making a settlement. After remaining here a short time they decided to go west; they had been trespassers in the township of Clayton; and may not have been cordially received here. The westward-bound party consisted of eleven persons,--the two fathers, their wives, mother , and children. The first night they put up a mile or two beyond Sacket’s Harbor. They were never seen alive after leaving this spot. The men had several hundred dollars in money, and it is supposed that the dissolute sailors and soldiers hanging about the neighborhood robbed and murdered the whole party. The boat was found empty of household goods, and the bodies of the brothers showed unmistakable marks of violence. Search was made for the women, but they were never discovered. The children were found dead under the water.

THE QUAKER FAMILIES

When the War of 1812 was declared there were not fifteen families in the settlement, counting all those who lived at Chaumont village and on Point Salubrious. It should be stated that the name Salubrious was given by Mr, Le Ray, because of its healthful and pleasant location. From this point to the St. Lawrence the wilderness was unbroken. In 1818 Mr. Musgrove Evans brought a colony of Quakers from Philadelphia and its neighborhood. During the next two years occasional additional were made from the same locality. The journey, of course, was overland, and in some instances lasted more than thirty days. For a little time new activity was manifested, but the sickness already referred to destroyed the ambition of he Quakers, and they soon after sold out and moved away. Mr. Evans himself went to the State of Michigan in 1832, and founded the town of Tecumseh. He was a surveyor, and an agent of Mr. Le Ray, in this region.

OTHER SETTLERS

An attempt was made in 1812, by two or three men, to settle Point Peninsula,--one of these named Robbins. But the war interfered with the project and it was soon abandoned. Six years later, Sebra Howard, William Wilcox, Oliver Wilcox, and John Wilcox, with their families, made a permanent settlement. These men were soon followed by Brittle Minor, Asahel Hosington, Asa Collins, John combs, and others. Jonathon Selter was on the north shore. No one was living at Three-Mile Bay, in 1823, except a man whose name is not now remembered, who stopped in a log shanty just beyond the creek, at the east of the village; here was a toll-gate.

Point Peninsula was nearly all taken up before the Bay was permanently occupied; and so late as 1835, only John Reed, Charles Leonard, and Benjamin Estes were residing there. Daniel Borden lived about half a mile to the west of the village site, and within a distance of two miles eight families subsequently located by the name of Wells. Daniel J. Schuyler settled at Three-Mile Bay in 1835, and was the first merchant; he built eighteen or twenty of the village houses. About the same time, Asa Wilcox identified himself with the place, and during the forty years of his residence built no less then forty-eight vessels, besides many smaller boats and fishing craft. The Star, Wave, Banner, and other club-boats repeatedly won prizes at regattas. (Jefferson County History, L. H. Everts, 1878).

Transcribed by Holice B. Young

Html by Debbie

December 26, 1999

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