The Quarterly OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIO~ Major General Newton Martin Curtis April 1961 The Quarterly Official Publication o i The St. Lawrence County Historical Assn. OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION Presidmt BERT J. ROGERS THE CIVIL WAR COMES TO DEPEYSTER 42 Miner Street, Cantrm. N. Y. Vice-Presidefits By Nina W.Smith* 3 MRS. ETHEL C. OLDS Waddington, N. Y. LAWRENCE G. BOVARD CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE Ogdensburg. N. Y. By Elizabeth Baxter 4 Secretary MRS. HAROLD JENKINS R.D. 2. Potsdam, N. Y. LAST MAIL FROM ROSSIE Treasurer DAVID CLELAND By Virgie B. Sintons 5 Canton, N. Y. County Historian TRACKS FROM THE TRIPS OF A TRAVELLER MRS. NINA W. SMITHERS DePqnter. N. Y. By 0. P. Stearns 8 Editor, The Quurterly t MASON ROSSITER SMITH Gouverneur, N. Y. VESTIGES OF CAMP WHEELER Assistant Editor By Rev. J. Karlton Dewey MRS. BE'ITE MAYHEW 9 Canton. N. Y. Committee Choirmen KEEPING ACCOUNTS IN THE 1880s Program By India .Murton ro MRS. DORIS PLANTY Ogdensburg. N. Y. Historic Sites HISTORIANS and LOCAL HISTORICAL GROUPS LAWRENCE G. BOVARD Ogdensburg, N. Y. .Edited by Bette Mayhezv 14 Museums FRANK CRARY COVER-This studio' portrait of Major General Newton Martin Curtis Canton, N. Y. 1 comes from the St. Lawrence County Historian's collection in the county building, Canton. The original mount carries the following legend: Gen- Nominations eral Newton Martin Curtis, souvenir St. Lawrence County Society, New CARLTON OLDS York December 9, 1911. Negative by James Dow, Ogdensburg. Photo com- Waddington, N. Y. pliments of the Marceau Studio, New York City. Yorker Clubs ELWOOD SIMONDS Rosde. N. Y. MEMBERSHIP UP TO DATE? -I Boy Scouts r CHARLES BARTLETT Mr. avid Cleland, Treasurer, Canton, N. Y. St. Lawrence County Historical Association Fair Committee Canton, N. Y. HAROLD STORIE Gouverneur, N. Y. I Dear Mr. Cleland: I THE QUARTERLY is published in Enclosed find $2.00 in cash, check or money January, April, July and December each year by the St. Lawrence County order to cover my dues for 1961. Historical Association, editorial, ad- vertising and publication office 4042 Please send The Quarterly to me at this Clinton stmet, Gowerneur, N.Y. ad,dress: Single Copies 304 NAME ................................ STREET and NUMBER ADVISORY BOARD or RURAL ROUTE .................... C. Atwood Mdey. Canton Mrs. George R Little, Potsdun MAIL THIS HANDY COUPON WITH CHECK 'TODAY ! Andrew K. Peters, Canton I - - Mrs. C. B. Olds, Waddington I 7 The Civil War Comes to DePeyster Other meetings followed and talk of war was heard on BY MRS. NINA W. SMITHER S every hand. Daniel Magone and James C. Spenser, two St. Lawrence County Historian young lawyers from Ogdensburg. addressed the gather- Ings. By April 26 plans were perfected. A meeting was "The South has inaugurated a great war, one that will held, this time in the Town House, located at the rear test the resources of the country as never before." of the town park. Again Benjamin Eastman presided and These were the words of Newton Martin Curtis as he the following officers were elected: Captain, Newton stood before the citizens of DePeyster, meeting in what Martin Curtis; 1st Lieut., John Snyder; 2nd Lieut.. Wil- was the first war rally held in St. Lawrence county. The liam L. Best. There was full complement of non-commis- gathering was held in DePeyster Methodist Church; the sioned officers, a musician and 64 privates, many of whom same building is in use today. may have come from the surrounding towns of Oswegat- Presiding over that momentous meeting was Captain chie, DeKaLb and Macomb. Benjamin Eastman, an East road farmer, who wasconsid- On May 2, 1861 the volunteers were on their way to ered one of the best Wormed men of the town. Albany for further induction. An old Ogdensburg news- Several people from DePeyster had been in Ogdens- paper fully described the event as follows: "As the first burg when the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter had ray of the rising sun gtlde.3 the horizon from almost reached that city by telegraph. Great excitement pre- every dwelling in town could be seen fathers and mothers, vailed in the crowd of people who gathered on the corner friend8 old and young,wending their way to the place of of Ford and Isabella streets when Henry R. James, editor departure to wave a long and perhaps a last farewell to of the Ogdensburg Journal, read the dispatch. Hurriedly the brave champions of freedom. plans were made for a meeting that evening in DePeymer, "At 7 a.m. the crowd assembW at the Town House with Mr. James as the speaker. where prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Francisco. hUss After a prayer by the Rev. Horace M, Danforth, paator Tunle, a resident of the village, presented the company of the church, Mr. James was introduced. He told the with a purse of four hundred dollars, in behalf of the group of the surrender of Fort Sumter; that Ogdensburl women of DePeyster. Cap. N.M. Curtis made a brief would organize a company for six month's service; that acceptance speech. The company of men then marched twelve or fourteen men would be recruited from De- to waiting wagons at the roadside and started for Ogdens- Peyster and that it was doubtful if more than one company burg. In passing through Hewelton they were greeted would be required. Among those present was Newton Martin by waving flags and handkerchiefs and the huzzas of the Cunis whose views were not in accord with those of the crowd which had assembled to cheer the hearts of these speaker and were expressed in the above quote. Since the brave young men who were to join others in the prose- response was slow in coming from those present, Mr. cution of the war." Curtis moved for adjournment, the group to re-assemble In Ogdenaburg the groupwm presented with gingham cape In Mason Tavern which was located nearby. At this which they wore until they were pms- with clothing point, fifteen men volunteered among them the Revemnd by the state. As they passed the Judson bank. Captain Danforth, who later became a Captain in the 6th New Curtis was presented with blank checks by the Hon. David York Heavy Artillery. (Continued on Page 10) Page 4 Controversial Figure By ELIZABETH BAXTER Watertown Times Ogdensburg Bureau The statue of Civil War Gen. Newton Martin Curtis at the Ogdensburg post office lawn facing the Crescent in the St. Lawrence county city was unveiled and dedicated in a rainstorm. A gathering storm of protests attends its possible re- moval to a new site. The Ogdensburg common councfl has included $2,000 in its 1961 budget for re-location of the monument to make way for a driveway and more parking space for the post office at the request of Ogdensburg Postmaster Frank LaVigne. The statue, erected by the state of New York in 1913, cost $6,000. The unveiling took place on the afternoon of Oct. 2. 1913 in a downpour, with the general's four daughters, the late Mrs. George (E. Phebe) Vflss and the Misses Mary W. Florence R. and Eliza C. Curtis, participating in the ceremony. Mrs. Vilas, the eldest, pull& the cords which held American flags covering the monument. One hundred and fifty Union veterans saluted and members of the Og- densburg, Watertown and Malone military companies pre- sented arms. The statue, gift of theNew York Monuments Commission, was the work of sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, New York City. Gen. Horatio C. King, Brooklyn, member of the com- mission, spoke. The first part of the ceremony, lasting two hours, had been conducted at the old Ogdensburg Opera House following a parade of the members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, in annual session in Ogdensburg. The principal speaker was Cpl. Junes Tanner Washington, D.C., who had lost both legs in battle in the war. Rev. A.M. Wight had the invocation and Most Rev. Henry Gabriels. bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Ogdensburg, the benediction. Maj. William H. Daniels, commander of the St. Lawrence county G.A.R. organization presided. General Curtis, who died on Jan. 8, 1910 in New York City at the age of 74, had been a president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. Works by Roland Hinton Perry, 1870-1941, include the New York memorial at Andersonville. Ga., a group at Lookout Mountain, Tern.. the statue of en. or@ S. Greene at Gettysburg, Pa., and the equestdan statue of by public subscription. Gen. John B. Castlemen in Louis ville, Ky. The statue and bronze tablets for the base arrived in On ~d~21 and 22, 1913, Maj. A. J. Zabriskie, engineer Ogdensburg by train on Sept. 24. From Sept. 26 until and secretary of the New York State Monuments Com- Oct. 3, Cllnton Beckwith, member of the New York mission, visited Ogdensburg and, with a committee of State Monuments Commission, was in the city supervis- three local men, Major Daniels, district collector of ing the installation. A bronze tablet five feet by two and customs, Mayor Charles D. Hoard and John C. Howard. one-half feet related the general's military career. The selected the site, one of four studied. statue was placed on the pedestal on Sept. 27 and the in- On Sept. 5, an Ogdensburg newspaper reported: stallation was completed on Sept. 29 under the direction "ivlajor Daniels this morning received official per- of Maior Zabriskie. mission from the secretary of the treasury to place the Manufacturing plants, business establishments and Gen.