Published by the .at'; Lawrence County Historical Association Vol.. 1. Runbea 1 Canton. B. Ye

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FRObl THE EDITORIAL C U I R

Illketkr this, the first issue of the first volume sf the first full- fledged pabli'c'atf on attekpted =by. .oar,. St. Lawrence County Ristorical Ass@c- iatioa will eadqre, tiae alone will recdrd. Quite, tremcrbb there have beea several distributions of different historical papers read before our society in tfisr past. To date, however, the Association has..never undertaken t b publfeatioh of ki periodical.

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Its continuation will depend upon several Qactors: The respomse with - '

which--it is received; the interest of those willing to contribute.&rticles and inforaatkon; some financial tight-rope acrobatics to keep within the limits of our Heager funds;'the 'd;ll~abili,ty of your editorial board to keep the ball rolling.

To confine the copy to the space limitations of this issue it has been necessary to cut some contributions "to the bone," especially in connection with the Cracker Barrel. Also, we have found it necessary to postpone an excellent article about the history of the Association by Mrs. Bette Mayhew. This we will headline in a later issue.

Editing even a modest bulletin such as this means work, more work, and still more work. If the flesh is willing we intend to meet the dead- line imposed each quarter. Your generous spirit in accepting what is offered, in not shooting the fiddlers who are doing their best, and then by lending a hand yourself, will fullfil a dream - we hope. -

There is great urgency. St. Lawrence County is in the midst of &storicsl turmoil. A gigantic face-lifting--historica y and tops- f graphically -- is in progress. Pioneer homes, pioneer ttlements,

cemteries and whole communities are being removed and changed. The St. Lawrence is being harnessed. Time and chance are creatlq vast changes. History, therefore, is in the making. It is vitally important I- .* to posterity that we, today, endeavor to record that whith needs to be .7

recorded historically, and thus preserve the record. Scoe valuable work I, -,.is beiw done in this direc$ion but, obviously, much wif9 be overlcoked

,and lost and left undone.

It is suggested that there is an unusual opportunita to createa photographic record. Is it out -of line to suggest that the Board of &pervisors might aid in this matter? Such a record preserved in the files of our County Historian would be used incessantly in years to come. It is hoped that the splendid film and reportorial record being ecgt-piled by Mrs. Eleanor Dumas of lassena be made available for museum -:prese~va*ion, at least in facsimile form.

History is never static. Too often its horseman gallops by before stopwatch clicks, the lens blinks, or the pen delineates. We must

ws ~n the alert, There is much valuable material passing in front of our Q- doorways today.

building fr- the seventh there is l i t t l e time t o keep Ycrker wcrk a l ive here. Twenty-two eighth graders meet every Tuesday night a t 8:30. ProJect: Made and sold Christmas corsages for funds. A new nilr-tk grade chapter was organized with Urs. Georgisn Wranesh as sponsor. Yewrls project I s h i s t ~ r y of our school system. Dorothy Coates, sponsor, LISBON: Has 33 members from the 8th grade. President, John Miller; Vice President, Belva Maynew; Secretary, Karen LeBarge; Treasurer, Jack Carr. LISBON; St. Lawrence Chapter has 28 7th grade members. President, Kathleen Hculihan; Vice President, Thomas Johnston; Secretary, Frank Farnswcrth; Treasurer, Sheila Mayne. Eightpfive Yorkers accompanied by Mr. and Yrs. C. H. Pickard, M r . and Krs. C . B. Olds and Sponsor, Rachel Dandy, went t o the Seaway Project October 11th. Compositions, making of mGdels, booklets, and charts or snapshots taken on the t r i p followed. Lisbon had the f i r s t Yorker Club i n t h i s County. Miss Dandy was i t s sponsor. The d i s t r i c t Yorker meeting was held a t Lisbon l a s t spring with 200 Yorkers i n attendance, Atwood Manley, President of the County Society, gave an i l lus t r a t ed t a l k on "Land T i t l e s i n the North C ountry USSENA: Has a Yorker Club with

Town Historian, El la Lahey, i t s sponsor.

Editorial Staff: The Pred dent of the Association is indebted to Mrs. Bette Hayhew, Canton Tawn Historian, who has done the bulk of the work i n preparing the copy for this Issue and Mrs. Nina Smithers, County Historian, for her assistance.

THE FIRST BRIDGE TO SPAN ST. RZGIS RIVER

( E d i t o r i a l Note: It i s our d e s i r e t o include i n each i s s u e of the B u l l e t i n a t l e a s t one a r t i c l e of h i s t o r i c a l s ign i f i cance , a s wel l a s demonstrated research . The fol lowing con t r ibu t ion comes from Dorothy Squires , Hopkinton Town His tor ian . )

The f i r s t br idge ac ross the S t . Regis River was b u i l t i n 1805. E l i p h a l e t Brush Prelates t h e s to ry . !'Six of u s s a r t e d out from Hopkinton one morning about day l igh t . Aaron War i e r had moved out EI mile and a ha l f west of Hopkinton n few weeks before and s t a r t e d c l ea r ings . When we got t o h i s place he joined u s with h i s cx team and log cha ins and we came t o t h e r i v e r , car ry ing our provis ions, axes and a few o the r t o o l s . Where the banks were high and dry seemed t h e bes t place f o r a br idge. Halfway between the i s l a n d the west bank, we made an oblong p i e r , u s ing hard wood logs under water and cedar above. More logs were notched and b u i l t up, cob house f a sh ion about s ix f e e t above the sur face of the water. We f i l l e d i n ~ i t h s tones t o zbout the top of the water or a l i t t l e higher . For the s t r i n g e r s we used the b e s t t r e e s i n t h e swamp. We had a hard time snaking them o j t , t he ox were p r e t t y small , bu t they were smart and g r i t t y . The f l o c r of the br idge was cedar logs notched where they r e s t e d upon t h e s t r i n g e r s and f a s t e d a l i t t l e on fogs. Then we hauled on: some smooth s t r a i g h t hardwood logs about the same l e n g t h a s t h e s t r i n g e r s f o r s i d e pieces. These kept the f l o o r logs i n p lace and s t rengthened the bridge, f o r we t i e d them down t o the ou t s ide s t r i n g e r s with b i r c h withes and wooden p ins and toggles . We camped here o m n i g h t and got back t o Hopkinton about sundown t h e second day. We were a f r a i d we hadn ' t anchored t h e p i e r enough t o stand very high water, s o one day before f a l l a f r i e n d and I went back wi th the ox team and c h a i a s and hauled a p i l e of boulders a g a i l s t t he p i e r on t h e upstream end t o p r o t e c t it from damage of i c e i n t h a spring.' ' Tha t ' s how t h e f i r s t br idge was b u i l t across the S t . Regis.

FROM THE YORKER CRACKER BARREL

CANTON: Foote l s Followers i s divided i n t o t h r e e groups. This yea r ' s p ro jec t s : c o l l e c t i n g s t o r i e s , making t i t l e maps of the town, county and s t a t e , making a scrapbook on Canton's Central ized School kystem. P u b l i c i t y Committee: El izabeth Neuse and Keitha Sapsin. Mrs. IJildred Howard's group has Barbara Dommeyer, Pres ident ; Kathryn Finley, Vice Pres ident ; Peggy Gray, Recording Secre tary ; Beverly Reddick, Cor-

responding Secre tary ; and Steven Poole, Treasurer . Roy Otis1 group: Margaret Rocca, Pres ident ; R i t a Munn, Vice Pres ident ; Don Huddleston, Recording Secre tary ; Donald DeMarsh, Corresponding Secre tary ; and Sharon Martin, Treasurer . Arthur Cassadals group: Judy Warner, Pres ident ; Linda Brown, Vice Pres ident ; Chr i s t ina blunson, Recording Secre tary ; Linda Atiyeh, Corresponding Secre tary ; Donald S te in , Treasurer . EDWARDS YORKER CLUB (See H i s t o r i a n ' s news.) HEUVELTON: Van Heuvells Yorkers have 20 members. Pres ident , Bet ty Rounds; Vice Pres ident , Norma Howes; Secre tary , Cora Glidden; Treasurer , Eleanor Cougler. We a r e c o l l e c t i n g old p i c t u r e s , doing a s h o r t h i s t o r y of Heuvelton, wr i t ing and producing an h i s t o r i c a l play. I r v i n Failows sponsor. GOUVERIVEUR: Marble Vil lage Chapter. Margeret Walrath, Pres ident ; Mary Lynn Neuroth, Vice President ; Secre tary , Sharon Bradish; Treasurer , K r i s t i n e Bat tersby; His tor ian , James Hart. With t h e e igh th grade on a half day ses s ion i n a d i f f e r e n t

MEZTING A_ CHALLENGE

The County H i s t o r i a n ' s Department br ings g ree t ings and a l l good wishes t o the membershi? of t h e County H i s t o r i c a l Associat ion and most p e r t i c u l a r l y t o those who a r e undertaking t o b r ing t h i s pub l i ca t ion t o t h e members of the soc ie ty . May it grow i n usefu lness , i n t e r e s t and volume !

This department has long f e l t t he need of an urgan of communication between the membershi? and those who a r e i t s l eade r s . We need t h e cooperat ion and the coordinbt ion of a l l who a r e i n t e r e s t e d i n l o c a l h i s t o r y , i t s c o l l e c t i o n and i t s preserva t ion . D r . E r l Bates once sa id , "A knowledge of community h i s t o r y l eads t o corrfiunity pr ide: community pr ide l eads t o col:l!.uni t y r e s p o n s i b i l i t y .It

This i s a chal lenge which must be met. It cannot be put off u n t i l some d i s t a n t f u t u r e . We must a c t i v a t e ourselves before precious records a r e gcne. To t h i s end t h i s department o f f e r s the f u l l e s t cooperat ion and t h e use of the His tc ry Center and the County Museum.

Nina W. Smithers Cclunty H i s t o r i a n

Wanted: A w i l l i n g volunteer t o paste-up album f i l e s of t h e S t . Lawrence Seaway f o r our County H i s t o r i a n ' s a rchives . No references requi red . No s a l a r y paid. Honorable mention of a l l a p p l i c a n t s i n t h e next b u l l e t i n . Report d i r e c t l y t o 1.9s. Smithers a t her o f f i c e i n t h e Court House, Canton, on any Monday or Friday. This should be a n i n t e r - e s t i n g , and c e r t a i n l y a very he lp fu l , a s s i s t .

AT THE COUNTY MUSEUM

Recent a c q u i s i t i o n s r epor t ed received a t t h e County Museum by Mrs. Smithers: From Mrs. LaRue of Massena, the epau le t s , sword and sword b e l t worn by General Edwin Atkins l d e r r i t t of P ier repont ( l a t e r of Potsdam) i n the C i v i l War; from Mrs. Alice Poste Gunnison of Ogdensburg some Par i sh papers, t h i r ty -n ine books, four costumes, b i b l e , book of cu t s , card book, s i l v e r watch, beaded change purse, three p a i r s of old spec tac les ; from Harland Norton, f o r n e r l y of Massena, 1817 map of Massena copied by hand by him; a l s o g i f t of t hewad ing d r e s s of Mrs. Nickerson, t he grandmother of the l a t e Mrs. Zona Nickerson McPhee of Canton.

Mail a l l new membership dues ($1.00) t o e i t h e r William Guyette, Treasurer , o r Andrew K. Pe te r s , Secretary, Canton, New York.

Already, and l a r g e l y through h i s e f f o r t s , t he matter of having adequate h i s t o r i c a l d i sp lays included i n connection wi th the g i g a n t i c S t . Lawrence River D e v s l c p ~ e n t i s rece iv ing se r ious cons idera t ion . Although n e i t h e r the Seaway and Power Author i t ies apparent ly possess t h e l a t i t u d e t o c r e a t e an h i s t o r i c a l museum a s such a s p a r t of the Development, both i n d i c a t e t h a t s u i t a b l e e x h i 3 i t s or d i sp lays w i l l be e s t ab l i shed i n which h i s t o r t c a l da ta w i l l be f ea tu red .

The propos i t ion of e s t a b l i s h i n g s e v e r a l h i s t o r i c a l museums i n t h i s county, q u i t e sepa ra t e and a p a r t from anything done by these River Author- i t i e s , p resents a r e a l challenge t o our Socie ty and t o . t h e people of S t . Lawrence County. D r . Corey has pointed out t h a t should our l o c a l communi- t i e s e s t a b l i s h s e v s r a l l o c a l museums, and i f we can thereby e f f e c t a county- wide h i s t o r i c a l program i n connection with these i n s t i t u t i o n s we s h a l l be doing some valuable pioneering i n t h i s s t a t e .

I n c los ing , I wish f i r s t t o commend the growth made by t h e Yorker Clubs i n t h i s county. There i s ' r i c h f i e l d of h e l p f u l cooperat ion our Socie ty can make i n t h i s d i r e c t i o n . I personal ly wish t o thank each and every committee worker, our e v e r - f a i t h f u l t r u s t e e s , our County His to r i an who has given me such valued a s s i s t ance , and each of my fe l low o f f i c e r s .

O!-ficers and Trus teas of t h e S t . Lawrence County H i s t o r i c a l Socie ty

Pres ident , Atwood Manley, Canton; Vice Pres ident , Car l Burns, Lisbon; Secre tary , Andrew K . Pe ters , Canton; Treasurer , William Guyette, Canton;

Terms t o exp i re 1956:- elen en S t i l e s , R ichv i l l e ; Fred Johnson, Potsdam; Marguerite Chapman, Potsdain.

Terms t o expi re 1957:--Uiles Green, Massena; Harold S t o r i e , Gouverneur; Glyndon Cole, Morristown.

Terms t o exp i re 1958:--w. Allan Newell, Ogdensburg; Virgie Simons, Rossie; E l l a Lahey, Mas sena.

CHARTER NO. 6803

After havi'hg f u l f i l l - e d t h e necessary r e q u i q m e n t s imposed under i t s f ive-year ternporhry c h a r t e r , t h e S t . Lawrence County H i s t o r i c a l Socie ty was g r m t e d a permanent c h a r t e r on November 18 th by t h e Board of Regents of the Univers i ty of t h e S t a t e of New York. The inscr ibed cha r t e r has been received. It i s being framed and w i l l be hung i n t h e office,County His to r i an , Nina W. Smithers, beside t h e Temporary Charter which has been the re i n s a f e keeping. The Socie ty i s entered a s Charter ND. 6803.

For s e v e r a l years , under the program of t h e County His tor ian , our Town His to r i ans have been compiling cemetery records. Three towns have now repor ted lOC%.census records of t h e i r cemeter ies -- Depeyster, Edwards, and Hermon.

WADDINGTON (Ethel Olds). Aided Seaway Engineers with cemetery work. Made a pic ture album of the lanamarks being ob l i t e ra ted by the Seaway. Dis- covered and reported an Indian bu r i a l ground, D r . R i tc i~ ie , S t s t e Archeologist, made excavations l a s t summer and plans more bhis summer. This s i t e will be submerged.

An ismediate need! 2jew paid members f o r o w County Society. A good motto: Each member get a new member! A membership is only a one do l la r b i l l , usually t o be had jus t fo r the asking. Such dues w i l l hardly more than pay the cost of the bu l l e t i n publicat ion, O f ccurse, we seek no paid subscriptions. Ju s t members!,

FROM THE PRESIDEFIT'S REPORT FOR 1954.55 -- This has been what we may choose t o term a normal year f o r our

Society. We have had about the usual number o f meetings, the usual number of h i s t o r i c a l tours , and the usual number of pleasant dreams of t h a t which we should l i k e t o see accomplished.

A s you r eca l l , we opened our 1955 program w i t h the Tdap Xeeting i n Canton April 30, a t which time Professor Edward Blankman and I&. Maurice Gardner favored us with splendid t a l k s . Then, a month l s t e r , we par t i - cipated i n the Gouverneur Sesquicentennial, and i n August the Hermcjn Sesquicentennial. These tour-meetings were b o t h infcrmzl and thereby a l l the more enjoyable.

Fortunately, we were invi ted by our Ccuntg Historian t o join with the annual Town Historians meeting i n Canton on October ath, a t wilich Dr . Albert B, Corey, S ta te Historian, was the guest speaker. D r . Corey s-pent the twc previous days here i n S t . Lawrence County i n connection with three conferences on the subject of small, l o c a l museums. These con- ferences were held a t Gouverneur, a t the Potsiiam >fuseurn, and a t Massena. They were a l l well attended, and D r . Corey was grac-.tly pleased with the i n t e r e s t shown, and courtesies extended, a t each place.

I f f o r nothing e lse , jus t the publici ty these seminars evoked, made them well worthwhile. But actual ly the publ ic i ty was an unex,peeted, un- premeditated &y-product of D r . Coreyts v i s i t rvith us . Our socie ty sponso~ed these seminars. Tknks t o a f i n e newspaper re lease by B&s. Smithers t o tile da i ly press, tile l o c a l press i n Gouverneur, Potsdam, and ldassena picked up the b a l l 5nd made the most uf the opportunity. A t each meeting cameras clfcked and repor ters took notes.

The meeting a t Potsdam was par t i cu le r ly helpful , and we must hold one of our sumer meetings there so t hc t a much la rger group can benefi t . Mrs. Chapman, IJrs. Keller who i s the wseum's curator , and t h e i r l o c a l group gsve u s first-hand information about how t h e i r museum came i n t o being and of how it has been maintained since.

It is oyr good fortune t o have enl is ted the i n t e r e s t of Mr. Allen Newell of Ogdensburg t o becsme chxirxan of a Stearing Committee on the whole subject of S t , Lawrence Ccunty Yis to r ica l IJhtseums, Present and Tuture.

BRMON (Lela Hance). Town's 125th anniversary observed August 6 and 7 *banner parade, program i n af ternoon, evening bahquet and blohk dance. Hermonites present from Arizona, F lo r ida , I l l i n o i s , Connecticut, New Jersey , Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Yarsschuset ts , Washington, D. C. and a l l p a r t s of New Y ~ r k S t a t e . Luncheon was served t o the S t . Lawrence County His tor ica l Associat ion by the Hermon Grange. squ i re ) . See s p e c i a l a r t i c l e . LAWREKCE (Mrs. LISBON (E. E a r l Jones). UISVILI,E (Lorraine Bandy). In 1954 mapped four cemeteries being mged due t o Seaway. F i f t h cemetery completed i n 1955--Nichols o r Wright cemetery i s only completely abandoned cemetery t o be moved. Genealogical r e sea rch done on 26 f a m i l i e s connected with t h i s cemetery. Contacted 125 se rv ice men and wLmen, completed except f o r 89 needing post s e rv ice information. P i c t u r e s and information on the vanishing landmarks co l l ec t ed and used on WCNY-TV broadcast. Assis ted engineers of Uhl Ha l l and Rich on River Road cemteries . Eight p ieces of l i t e r a t u r e f i i e d MACOidB Has no h i s t o r i a n . MADRID (Margaret Thompson). The dea ih o f 0. P. Coleman, town d e n t i s t f o r 52 years (1903-1955) was repor ted . D r . Coleman was chairman of the Red Cross branch f o r 13 years . A t 1955 e l e c t i o n Madrid, a republ ican town, goes democrat. MASSENA ( E l l a Lahey). Program plans of the Massena H i s t o r i c a l Associ:ltion a r e centered aqound e x h i b i t s s u i t a b l e f o r window disp lays . I n October an i n t e r e s t i n g evening of p i c t u r e s of llEarly L o c o m o t i ~ e s ~ ~ from the c o l l e c t i o n of R. Parker Downs. November meeting was a demonstration of u t e n s l l s with which great-grandmotner cooked her Thanksgiving d inner . January meeting i s on "Steamboat ing on the BIG RIVERu wi th Dan McCormick, s t a f f member of the "Steamboat B i l l t 1 publ ica t ion . A documentary h i s t o r y of Massena i s being gathered by Mrs. T. S. Bushnell for t h e February meeting. A t the annual meeting of the County Assc ia t ion Mrs. Lahey's daughter, Eleanor Dumas, Watertown Times Correspondent brought u s up-to-date on the Seaway with colored s l i d e s t o i l l u s t r a t e her t a lk . MORRISTOWN (Malcolm Booth). NORFOLK@as no h i s t o r i a n ) . OSWEGATCHIE (Emma Cheney) . H E U V S L T O ~ ~ D O W ~ ~ ~ ~ ) . PARISINILLE (Nina ~ a n i e l s ) . Barns onthe Milton S n e l l farm, l a r g e s t i n the town, and the home of Charles and Orv i l l e R i g g s , both destroyed by f i r e w3th l o s s of l i f e i n the Rig:rs home. Three generat ions had l ived there . A s t range and t e r r i b l e tragedy. Miss Doris Rowlands en te r t a ined a few h i s t o r i a n s and gues ts a t her home i n August. The day included a tour of o ther h i s t o r i c homes. Luncheon was served on a George Washington heirloom table c l o t h on a long leafed c h ~ ) r r y tab le s e t with ant ique china and s i l v e r ; v i s i - e d the bui ld ings j u i l t by the Par i shes during the days of the land barons. PISRCEFIi!:LD (Beulah Dorothy) . PIISRR 3POfiT *(Millard ~ u n d l e y ) . P I T C A I R N (Has no h i s t o r i a n ) . POTSDAM <Bas no h i s t o r i a n ) . R2SSIE (Virgie Simons) . Ins? i t e u f i l l ness Zlrs. Simons c l i p s newspaners, writes an a r t i c l e on llHorsethieves of Rossiett f o r North Country Li fe and does research . RTJSSELL (Dorothy FKcm:~ing) . STOCP:%OLM (Lindon Rigss) . Hobbiest Riggs t i n k e r s with old clocks, c u r r e n t l y r epa i r ing one f o r t h e County H i s t o r i a n 1 s ~ l ' l ' i c e . Has con11)le ted two cemeteries, Jenkins Neighbor- hood and Buckton, br inging t o e i g h t the t o t a l cernteries c t mpleted with two lonely b u r i a l s near Old Forge. Has a l s o completed Southvi; e East P a r t , W i l l i s , E l l i s , Brookdale and ilolmes I I i l l . Sanfordvi l le , W. Stockholm and Wintnrop yz t t o go. One hundred e leven se rv ice mensls records c~~rnple ted. Scr:-lpbook on news i te~i l s abuut the t t)+inship. Miss Eva Crane loaned county museum a grandfkt-ler c lock owned by her grand- f z t - ~ c r , J . Ihresley Cur t i s , a l s o S k i n n ~ r l1family bible1 ' , a l e t t e r mailed hen the r ece ive r paid t h e pcstage. George Kennehan has donated i n t e r e s t -

ing i r3n a r t i c l e s . Will.ialn K egran 1 1 ) ~ n c d i r ~ n a r t i c l e s and an ant ique gun.