1904 NYS Education Dept. Report

Jacob Smith and Family of Chateaugay

One of the first families of Chateaugay, NY is the Jacob Smith Family. 

Excerpted from a February 1978 article in the Chateaugay Record, written by John Andrew Bilow:

"A monument has recently been erected in the Willis Cemetery in Earlville honoring Jacob Smith, one of the first settlers in Chateaugay and a Revolutionary War Soldier.

Jacob Smith was born in East Haven Conn., July 7, 1742, the son of Thomas Smith and Eunice Russell.  Smith married Elizabeth Blanchard, December 27, 1772 and had eight children: Eunice, Ruth, Thomas, Stephen, Jacob, Eli, Amaziah, and Salmon.  Ruth was born in Shutesbury, Mass., Thomas at Sherburn, Vt., Stephen in Arlington, Vt., Jacob, Eli and Amaziah in Sunderland, and Salmon in South Hero, Vt.  This family was well traveled. 

Jacob enlisted in the Revolutionary War in  May of 1775 in the state of Vermont in the company commanded by Captain Gideon Brownson in the regiment Commanded by Colonel Warner.  He served in Seth Warner's Regt. for two years and saw service in the Battle of Hubbarton, the Batttle of Bennington in 77 and the Battle at the capture of Burgoyne.  In the spring of 1778 he was transferred to Col Samuel Herricks Regt. and served for eighteen months when he was discharged. 

According to a statement made by Jesse Down of Poultney, Vt. in 1828 Jacob was cited as a Lieutenant and was also at the taking of Fort Defiance and Crown Point.  He was granted a pension of 15.74 semi-annually for his services in the Revolution. 

Smith was a selectman in South Hero, Vt. and was also known as Major according to the census of 1790.  Upon moving to Chateaugay in 1797, he established the first tannery in Franklin County, in the Northeastern part of town.  This would be in the Earlville area.  For the next 100 years his decendants were men of affairs in the town.  Thomas was a Colonel in the War of 1812 and owned a Tavern.  Salmon was a town justice.  His grandsons, Eli B. and Henry B. were wealthy merchants, businessmen and politicians."

Jacob Smith served as Supervisor of the Town of Chateaugay from 1829 until his death in 1831 and his grandson Henry B. Smith was Supervisor 1841, 1845-1849, 1851, 1856-1858, and 1861-1862.  

Hon. Henry B. Smith, a lifelong Democrat, was born in Chateaugay in 1805 and died in Chateaugay in 1863.  He held numerous local and state offices in addition to Town Supervisor, including assesor, justice of the peace, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, collector of customs, and State Senator. (Hough, p. 469)

Henry's brother, Eli B. Smith donated four acres of "sightly grounds" as the site of the Chateaugay Academy and Union Free School, which opened September 15, 1879.  (Hurd, p. 465)

Capt. Salmon Smith (Jacob's son and the twin brother of Amaziah), also a soldier in the War of 1812, is highlighted in the Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Iillinois by Calumet Book & Engraving Company, Chicago (1896):

"He was a most pronounced infidel up to the age of thirty years, when he was converted to the Christian religion.... He was so well known and had been such a vigorous opponent of religious belief, that his change of sentiment produced much good in the community, although he had always been regarded as an honorable and worthy man.  He occupied some of the most responsible positions that the people could bestow.  He was an able lawyer, and served the public quite as ably and well when elevated to the Bench, as he had previously in a military capacity.  All his brothers did military service, and were pronounced workers in the Methodist Church.  He was born January 12, 1786, in South Hero, Grand Isle County, Vermont, and at twelve years of age removed with his father to Chateaugay, New York, where he resided the remainder of his life and passed away May 24, 1828."

Brushton High School

From the August 12, 1914 Malone Farmer:

Teacher Examinations

From a March 1864 issue of the Malone Palladium:

J.A. Higgins' Select School

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From 5-21-1861 Malone Palladium

Malone Schools in 1891

We stumbled upon this list of Malone village schools (while researching something else, naturally) in the July 3, 1891 Franklin Gazette.   It is from a report on the schools' enrollment and attendance, but it is also useful as a run-down of the school buildings throughout the village near the end of the era of neighborhood schools.  Do you recognize your ancestors in the lists of students?

1867 Arithmetic Textbook

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society (1974.68.1):

This 1867 edition of the Greenleaf's Common School Arithmetic textbook contains not only mathmatical theory and exercises, but also a preface that is surprisingly inspiring.  Benjamin Greenleaf writes,

       

        "The examples are of a practical character, and adapted not only to fix in the mind the principles which they involve, but also to interest the pupil, exercise his ingenuity, and inspire a love for mathematical science."

Indeed, some of the problems are very practical in nature:

The preface goes on to say:

Four girls signed the front of the book:  Frances Douglas, Katie Caldwell, Maria Caldwell and Margaret McNeirney.  It's impossible to say whether the students who used this textbook were suitably inspired in their mathematical studies, or whether they had their young minds on other pursuits.  The concluding pages and inside the back cover are covered in short poems expressing school-friend wishes, such as those scrawled in yearbooks today. 

Jennie C. writes:

"Remember me and bear in mind
That a true friend is hard to find,
But when you find one just & true,
Change not the old one for the new."

An unsigned, and rather maudlin verse:

"May the roses of Love
Encircle thy cot
And flourish long after
This friend is forgot."

One more:

"When distant land divide us,
And you no more see me,
Remember it was Eliza that wrote these lines to thee."

Fourth Grade School Program

Busy minds and hands at the first day of the fall 2010 Fourth Grade Museum Day school program at the House of History museum in Malone:

Bellmont Center School District #2

From the record of minutes of the School District #2, Bellmont Center, NY 1919-1946:

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The minutes of the May 1, 1923 meeting read:

"At the annual school meeting held at the school house in district no. 2

James Seymour Sr. was elected chairman

Mrs. James Seymour clerk.

Tellers -- James Seymour Jr. and

"            Frederick Machabee.

Trustees report received and accepted

James Legacy was elected trustee

Mrs. C.D. Reid was elected collector

Motion was made and carried that $400.00 be raised to meet the years expense.  Motion was made that the trustee write to Albany to obtain the right to use the money, given the Dr. for examining the children, and use it for the children in the distgrict.

Mr. James Cromp is to deliver 15 cords of bldg wood at $2.97 per cord.  Part of which is to be delivered Jan. 1, 1924. The remainder March 1, 1924. 

James Cromp is to draw 2 cords of building wood for $2.97.

Motioned and carried that school opens for fall term not any later than September first.

Motion made and carried that school close for two weeks in the fall for potatoe [sic] digging.  

Motioned that we adjourn.  Carried.  

Mrs. James Seymour Clerk

James Seymour Chairman"

  The minutes generally deal with the election of officers, the budget, and general maintenance of the building through 1934 (which year the teacher was to receive "$22 a week if there is money enough to pay her without raising more taxes").  At the May 7, 1935 meeting, however, the following is recorded:

"A motion was made and carried that the school be closed for one year and the children carried to Malone schools if not satisfied the school can be open the next year."

No mention is made in the following two years regarding the success of this experiment.  In the May 3, 1938 minutes however, it is noted:

"Motion has been made and carried that the trustee contracts with Malone Schools for instruction of all grade pupils also provide transportation for High School pupils."

The final entry in the minutes book is from 1946: 

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 Note the entry: "... all children of school age in the District be transported to Malone Schools."

Alumni Book

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society:

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Although it is not labeled, this log appears to be of an alumni association of Franklin Academy in Malone, NY. The graduation year, name, spouse name, dues from 1921-1934 and an address of the members of the alumni association are noted.

Did you spy a previous congressman in this list of locals? 

Clarence Kilburn represented the North Country as a member of the U.S. Congress from 1940-1965.  He and his wife, Anne Crooks Kilburn, lived at 59 Milwaukee Street, next door to the current House of History museum.  Anne Crooks Kilburn was first cousin to Elizabeth Crooks Kirk, the last resident of the House of History before it became a museum.

Skerry School District #4

This souvenir of the Skerry School District #4 (town of Brandon) from the 1912-13 school year belonged to student Pierre Bowen.  From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society (1982.36.3). 

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Franklin Academy 1890 Graduation Announcement

This graduation announcement of the Franklin Academy class of 1890 includes a lift-up flap that reveals the names of the graduates. The latin phrase "perseverando vincemus" roughly means "continue to excel."   From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society:

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Franklin Academy Annual Exhibition 1863

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society (1974.190.1):

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Every graduating class stands at the cusp of adulthood, both eager and anxious for the future.  The Franklin Academy class of 1863 was likely no different from those going before and coming after.  Those graduates were awarded diplomas on July 8 at an elaborate, afternoon and evening event that showcased the talents of students.  All this against the backdrop of a nation at war.  Earlier that week, the Battle of Gettysburg had begun in Pennsylvania.  The first Union Conscription Act was passed in March of that year, creating a draft.  Imagine the atmosphere of celebration and trepidation represented by this historical object.  Imagine the person who held this program in her hands, enjoying the music and orations, and thinking also of the local men who were dying in the war.

F.A. ledgers

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society (1973.394.1):

Treasurer's accounts for Franklin Academy in 1862:

and 1864:

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Burke School District #6

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society (1981.177.1):

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Burke, NY School District #6 minutes from 1881, 1888, and 1891.

Flanders Elementary School Picture

From an undated newspaper clipping (assumed to be from the Malone Evening Telegram) from the 1970s:

"Attorney Frank Lawler said he believed the picture must have been of the second or third grade at Flanders School around 1914 or 1915. Flanders at that time, Frank recalled, included grades one, two, three, and five. The fourth and six (sic) grades were taught at the Bates School, which later became Notre Dame Parochial School, in Arsenal Green. .... In those days the teachers were: Grade 1, Jennie Irwin; Grade 2, Ethel French; Grade 3, Ethel Daggett and Grade 5, Freda Fayette. That was at Flanders School. Teachers at Bates School were Grade 4, Lillian Snow and Grade 6, Olive Elliott."
Front Row: Blanche Castle, Jessie Thompson, Francis Bizel, Francis Lawler, Helen Doud, Veronica Faubert, Ruth Whitehead, Helen Flynn.
Middle Row: Catherine Bizel, Catherine Wheeler, Ellsworth N. Lawrence, Henry Roy, ___, Burton Gallivan, William Norton, Thomas Rice, Carl Williamson.
Back Row: Gerald Carpenter or Kenneth Davis, Catherine Peck, Lillian Peck, __ Blair, Ernest Lavoie, Ethan Phillips, ___, Beulah Faubert.

Identification was provided by Judge Ellsworth Lawrence and Frank Lawler.

1916 School Superintent's Report

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From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society, 1976.192

1904 Regents Exam

 

From the collection of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society

Franklin Academy Class of 1894

In honor of their 115th class reunion, the Historian presents the Franklin Academy class of 1894.

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From the collection of the Franklin County Historical and Museum Society, 1975.7