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DEXTER
Dexter, formerly Fish island, one of the villages in the town of Brownville, was so named in compliment to S. Newton Dexter, of Whitesboro, who was formerly interested in the business of the place.
It is situated at the head of Black river bay, and has a fine water-power, a convenient harbor, and is about one and a half miles from the station of the R. W. & O. railroad at Limerick. The lands in this vicinity were early purchased by John Brown, who, in 1811, commenced a dam. This was swept off, and another one built soon after. A saw-mill was put in operation in 1813, a grist-mill was built by John E. Brown in 1826, and in 1837 the place contained about a dozen houses.
About this time more attention was being paid to the manufacture of lumber for market, from logs floated down the river. James Wood and his sons, Gillman, Charles, and Ira, became interested in the lumber business here. Mr. Wood was originally from New Hampshire, and about 1830 began the erection of a dam and woolen-factory one and a half miles above Brownville, on Black river, which was nearly competed when it was swept off by the spring freshet of 1833, proving a total loss. Besides Mr. Wood and his sons, the names of Keyes & Hungerford, Thurman, Gunn & Co., John Bradley, Kirby & Loomis, Joseph Huntington, Potter and Hammond, E. Leonard, and Henry Binninger are familiarly connected with he lumber business of Dexter.
In 1837 a joint stock company was formed for the purpose of laying out a village on a tract of 249 acres south, and 800 acres north, of the river. The original members of the company were Edmund Kirby, S. W. Dexter, John Williams, John Bradley, and J. Brown.
A post-office was established in 1836, with Joshua Eaton as the first post-master. A company was also formed the same year, to be called the “Jefferson Woolen company,” with a capital of $100,000, for the purpose of erecting and putting in operation a woolen-factory. It originally consisted of S, N. Dexter, John Williams, Edmund Kirby, John Bradley, Rodney Burt, and O. V. Brainard. The present extensive wool-factory was accordingly built in 1837, which, including machinery and appendages, cost $140,000. The original company failed, with liabilities exceeding their assets by $33,000. The property has since been owned and operated by a company known as the “Jefferson Manufacturing Company,” and subsequently by T. H. Magee & Co., F. J. Hall & Co., and is at present understood to be owned by the estate of T. H. Magee. It is not now in operation.
The factory has manufactured at different periods in its history broadcloths, flannels, family blankets, and soldiers’ blankets. During the late war, under the efficient management of F. J. Hall, Esq., it was run to great profit in the manufacture of blankets. The main building is of stone, 50 by 170 feet, and four stories high, beside attic and basement.
A difficulty has been experienced in bringing heavy craft into the port of Dexter, on account of a troublesome sandbar at the mouth of Black river bay. An extensive government appropriation was expended in 1836-37 in the construction of piers, and other appropriations have since been expended towards removing the difficulty, but with only partial relief.
There are a few citizens now living in Dexter who have been residents there and identified with its interests during its entire period of growth. Among them may be named Jesse Babcock, John T. Wood, Solomon Mayer, John P. Shelley, and F. W. Winn. Probably no one man has been more efficient in promoting the interest of Dexter than James A. Bell, who came to Dexter in 1836. He first took a small stock of goods into a room fitted up for the purpose, in a building the used for a warehouse, and now used by the factory company for a store-house; connected with this was the principal dock of the place, and a very flourishing warehouse business was done by way of storing produce and butter and cheese for shipment, and receiving goods and merchandise from the regular lines of vessels then plying between Dexter and Oswego and other lake ports. Mr. Ball became associated with Major Edmund Kirby in this business, and from the building of the factory, the construction of the government works at the mouth of the river, the extensive lumber business of the mills, and a good surrounding country, an opportunity was afforded for establishing a large trade and selling a great many goods; so that the accommodations proving too limited for he business, a large brick store was built, on the site of the present store of O. M. & G. W. Wood, where for many years a very prosperous business was conducted.
The position occupied by Mr. Bell, with reference to Dexter, was summed up by an acquaintance, who said of him: “‘As Paris is to France,’ so James A. Bell is Dexter.” Mr. Bell represented his town as its supervisor, his district as State senator, and has also served as auditor of the canal department.
Dexter shared with Sacket’s Harbor in the warehousing trade, more or less, until the completion of the Rome, Watertown and Cape Vincent railroad, when its business in that line was discontinued.
A large business is now done by henry Binninger, and Binninger & Strainge, in the manufacture of sash, blinds, and doors, and shingles, and a general jobbing and contract business for the construction of buildings. The business was established by Mr. Binninger in 1863.
A similar branch of business is carried on by E. Leonard, as successor to Joseph Huntington.
There are also two grist-mills at Dexter, a plaster-mill, a shingle-mill, and the usual shops for the accommodation of five hundred inhabitants. There are four dry-goods stores, one drug-store, two hotels, and churches of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, and Universalist orders, each having a commodious church edifice. The physicians are Doctors Charles Douglas and Arthur Benedict.
The village of Dexter was incorporated May 8, 1855, under general law, and amended by Special act April 15, 1857, and January 28, 1865.
TRUSTEES
1855 Sylvester Reed, Franklin J. Hall, John T. Wood, William V. Morgan, and James A. Bell.
1856 James A. Bell, William V. Morgan, Samuel Moyer, Delos McWayne, and Joseph D. Beals.
1857 F. W. Winn, M. N. Potter, J. T. Wood, (long term); J. A. Bell, L. W. Gunn, and G. H. Kimball (short term).
1858 E. Leonard, E. S. Clark, and J. A. McWayne.
1859 J. Babcock, F. W. Winn, L. W. Gunn, and J. P. Shelley, to fill vacancy.
1860 F. J. Hall, J. P. Shelley, and M. H. Peck.
1861 Edgar Leonard, S. Meyer, and G. M. Wood.
1862 G. H. Rounds, M. E. Casler, and James Frost.
1863 E. H. Parker, J. P. Shelley, J. A. McWayne, and G. H. Rounds, to fill vacancy.
1864 G. H. Rounds, M. E. Casler, and James Frost.
1865 J. T. Wood, F. W. Winn, and Jesse Babcock.
1866 J. H. Stokes, Edward Linder, and H. Binninger.
1867 Samuel Moyer, James H. Roseboom, and J. D. McWayne
1868 John H. Stokes, H. Binninger, and E. H. Parker.
1869 Charles B. Bowers, Edwin S. Clark, and James W. Plumb.
1870 Thomas J. Strainge, Farlin Ball, and Samuel Moyer.
1871 J. H. Roseboom, Delos McWayne, and O. M. Wood.
1872 H. Binninger, E. H. Parker, and Andrew S. Baker.
1873 M. H. Peck, M. E. Casler, and E. S. Clark.
1874 Robert Thompson, Andrew S. Baker, and Levi Nutting.
1875 Henry Binninger, George W. Wood, and Samuel Francis.
1876 Samuel Moyer, Charles Foster, and George Babcock.
1877 Joseph Underwood, John P. Shelley, and C. C. Emerson.
LIMERICK
On Perch river, where the R. W. & O. railroad crosses the stream, one and a half miles from Dexter, and on the direct road from Brownville to Cape Vincent, is a small village, consisting of a store, tavern, depot, and about a dozen dwellings. Mills were built here at an early day. The dam was found to flow the flats above and render them sickly, when it was removed, and afterwards built below. This place has been selected for holding town-meetings for the last half-century.
The stream known as Perch river, as it passes through the town of Brownville, and all along from Perch lake to Limerick, is a dull, sluggish stream. The lay of the land along its course is flat, and in many places marshy. At the time of the spring freshets it largely overflows its banks, and wide stretches of country are inundated. A dam at Limerick increased the trouble, and an act was passed March 30, 1827, authorizing John Baxter, Abner Smith, and Isaac Moffatt to remove obstructions for the purpose of improving the current of the river. In March, 1828, the circuit court declared the dam a nuisance, and directed it to be removed.
The summer of 1828 was a sickly one. Fever and ague, and a mor severe form of malarial fever, prevailed to such an extent that there wre hardly well ones enough to take care of the sick. On May 26, 1841,an act was passed in pursuance of the same object, and to provide for reclaiming drowned lands, by which parties benefited along the river were to be taxed for defraying expenses incurred. Nicholas lawyer, John Cole, Jr., Paul Anthony, Daniel Allen, and Jonathan Webb wre appointed commissioners for carrying the act into effect. Several thousand acres were taxed, at first at fourteen and afterwards twenty cents an acre.
PERCH RIVER POST-OFFICE
Perch River post-office was at an early day called Moffattville. It is a hamlet of a dozen houses, a Union church, a store, and a few shops. It is pleasantly situated in the midst of a highly-cultivated agricultural district, and is peopled by an intelligent class of persons.
The names associated with Perch river,--Uncle Isaac Moffatt, Deacon Vandebogart, Silas F. Spicer, (who knew all about the underground railroad, and every other benevolent work, and who in face, form, and character so strikingly resembled our martyred President, Lincoln), Daniel Allen, Silas and Lewis Webb, Hon. Hugh Smith, and Hon, Henry Spicer, long partners in business and not divided in sentiment, have each in his time been called to represent his district in the legislature.
Perch river has long been recognized as one of the best sections for farming purposes of any part of the town.
Old Uncle Isaac Moffatt, as he was called, one of its first settlers, had a vein of fun. His family physician, Dr. Bates, of pleasant memory, left his saddle-bags at his house on the occasion of a professional visit there, and Mr. Moffatt took charge of them overnight. On sending for them the next morning, the doctor found his roguish patron friend had removed several vials and in their places deposited specimens of the finny tribe, carefully labeled “Bullo Trouti,” etc, etc.
PILLAR POINT
Pillar Point owes its name to the peculiar appearance presented by certain rocks along the shore, as they are left standing but partly supported, owing to the action of the water of the lake. It included a large and valuable farming district between Chaumont and Black River bays. There are extensive fisheries along the shore. A small village opposite Sacket’s harbor is the place of a post-office, a Methodist church, and a few dwellings and shops. This point has been somewhat important for its ship-building. The postmaster at Pillar Point is Samuel Roat.
Transcribed by Holice B. Young from Jefferson Co. History by L. H. Everts.
Copyright January 2000 by Sherrye Luther Woodworth