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Fifth Generation
369. Polly ACKLEY207 was born on 17 Aug 1789 in Haddam,
Middlesex, Connecticut.492,493 She died on 2 Jul 1875 in Felts
Mills, Jefferson, New York.492,493 Polly ACKLEY and John FELT
were married on 3 Jan 1808 in Leyden, Lewis , New York.5 John FELT492 (son of Samuel FELT and Mehitable BUELL) was born on
11 May 1781 in Somers, Tolland, Connecticut.492
He died on 3 Dec 1868 in Felts Mills, Jefferson, New York.492 Biography of494
JOHN FELT was born in Somers, Conn., May 11, 1781. His father,
Captain Samuel Felt, served in the French and Indian wars, and took an active
part in the War of the Revolution. By the courtesy of his greatgrandson, Samuel
Felt, of Watertown, we are enabled to give a facsimile copy of one of the commissions
held by this Revolutionary patriot.
John removed with his parents at the age of 13 into the then unbroken wilderness
of Madison county, N. Y., where for 13 years he shared with parents, brothers
and sisters, the perils and privations incident to pioneer life at that time.
In1806, some misunderstanding having arisen with his brothers in regard to division
of property, with characteristic self-reliance he suddenly left them and his
own share of the property and sought his fortune in the newly-opened up Black
River country, locating in the town of Leyden, Lewis county.
In 1808 he married Polly, daughter of Oliver and Elizabeth Ackley, of Haddam,
Conn. This was a fortunate alliance for both parties. Their 60 years of married
life were such as to bring forcibly to mind the oft quoted simile of the sturdy
oak and clinging vine.
In 1811 Mr. Felt removed to Great Bend, Jefferson county, and two years later
to a new settlement two miles lower down the river, where he purchased some 350
acres of land, comprising three subdivisions of Great Lot No. 2 of the town of
Rutland, excepting five or six building lots situated in the hamlet at the junction
of Mill Creek and Black river, where the pioneer grist-mill of Jefferson county
was then in full operation. This mill and a saw-mill were subsequently purchased
by Mr. Felt, and thenceforward the place was known as Felts Mills.
In this first year of his residence at Felts Mills, he served as a private in
the war then waged with Great Britain, and took part in the battle of Sackets
Harbor. About 1814 he erected a distillery, and for many years carried on extensively
the four-fold business of lumbering, milling, distilling and farming. Distilling
was discontinued in 1834, and merchandise added in 1841.
In 1821, needing more water-power than Mill Creek afforded, he purchased of Vincent
LeRay the island in Black river opposite the new settlement, and the same year
built dams across the two branches of the river. He gave this work his personal
attention; but he was forced to lose one day from the job, caused by nearly severing
a great toe with an adz. This day was employed in hollowing out and fitting a
wooden shoe for the injured foot. The next morning found him in the water with
his helpers as before.
The year following (1822), he erected a stone grist -mill. The power was water,
both from Black river and Mill Creek, united in one pond. In 1823-24 he built
the first sawmill on his newly-purchased island. The second and larger mill was
built in 1842. In these mills were four gangs of saws, several circular saws,
a shingle machine, planingmill, and at one time a threshing machine, believed
to have been the first threshing machine set up in Jefferson county.
From time to time Mr. Felt made extensive purchases of pine timber and land in
the towns of Wilna and LeRay, and in 1834 built a saw-mill on Black Creek, in
the former town, some seven miles from Felts Mills. From two to three million
feet of pine lumber, of most excellent quality, were annually shipped from these
three mills to Troy and other Eastern markets.
In 1827 he erected the fine stone mansion in Felts Mills, in which his three
surviving children now reside.
It may be of some historical interest to many to learn that the first railroad
in this State, that from Albany to Schenectady, was furnished with its bed-rails
by Mr. Felt in 1834 or 1835. The material, Norway pine, was floated in the log
to the Huntingtonville saw-mill, there sawed into plank six or seven inches wide
by two inches thick, and passed into the Elisha Camp ditch to be floated therein
to Sackets Harbor, to go thence via Lake Ontario, Oswego and Erie canals, to
place of destination.
But those beautiful and extensive groves of pine could not long stand before
the remorseless onslaught of the lumbermen, made "all along the line."
In 1851 Mr. Felt sold his island property and mills at Felts Mills, and seven
years later the stone grist-mill. busying himself thereafter with farming at
Felts Mills, and managing and disposing of sundry tracts of land in the town
of Wilna, and a tract of some 9,000 acres in the counties of Lewis and Herkimer.
In character Mr. Felt was a sturdy, resolute, high-minded and honorable man;
a stranger to fear and discouragement; a good neighbor and warm friend, and a
public-spirited, patriotic citizen, whose sympathies and influence were ever
on the side of sound morality and public virtue. In habits he was strictly temperate,
being opposed alike to the use of intoxicants and tobacco. He took a deep interest
in political affairs, though never an aspirant to office, the only office held
by him being postmaster at Felts Mills and supervisor of the town of Rutland.
The children of John Felt were: Oliver A., born in Leyden, Lewis county, in 1809;
went with his parents to Felts Mills in 1813. With the exception of a residence
of four years in Wilna, he spent his life in Felts Mills. He married, in 1836,
Elizabeth Bolt Weed, of Saratoga, N. Y. His earlier years were spent in the lumber
and mercantile business, and later he became a conveyancer and small farmer.
He held the office of justice of the peace about 16 years; he was notary public
the last 10 or 12 years of his life. He died May 6, 1885, aged 76.
Polly Felt was born in Felts Mills in 1815, and married John T. Copeland, in
1834. She died in Watertown in 1844.
Samuel Felt was born in Felts Mills, June 20, 1817. He married Pamelia, daughter
of Denton 0. and Tryphena (Colton) Losee, in 1843. Until the last 10 years of
his life he was engaged with his father and brothers in an extensive lumber and
farming business at Felts Mills. The last few years of his life were passed in
Watertown. He was a man of sterling integrity, sound judgment, strong attachments
and kindly impulses. He died in Watertown, April 8, 1888.
John Felt, Jr., was born in Felts Mills, October 30, 1821. He began teaching
at the age of 21, and followed that occupation, with short interruptions, till
about 51 years of age. He graduated from the State Normal School at Albany in
1847; married Harriet Adelaide, daughter of James F. and Hannah Angel, at Clayton,
N. Y., in 1851. He taught in the Albany Normal School from September of that
year till February, 1854, and resigned at that date to accept the principalship
of the Liberty Normal Institute, at Liberty, Sullivan county, N. Y. He gave up
teaching in 1858, on account of impaired health, but soon returned to that business,
teaching in Felts Mills, Carthage, Brownville and Watertown. To Mr. Felt more
than to any one person, Watertown probably owes the adoption, in 1865, of its
present school system, and he was chosen by the first Board of Education to serve
as its clerk, and inaugurate the new system. The course of study for the different
grades then written out by him and adopted by the school board was in use without
essential change for some 15 years.
He now resides with his sisters, Harriet and Maria, on the old homestead at Felts
Mills, carrying on the farm cleared up by his father over 80 years ago.
Harriet Felt was born at Felts Mills in 1825 and since the age of two years has
always resided in the old Felt mansion at that place. Although quite infirm in
body she has a clear mind, and is noted for her retentive memory. It is believed
by those who know her well that she has not forgotten a single important fact,
event or date that has ever engaged her attention.
Maria Felt was born at Felts Mills in 1828, and has always resided in the paternal
mansion, in which she and her sister are joint owners. These two maiden ladies
are beloved and respected by the community where their lives have been spent.
John Felt removed with his father to Madison County, N. Y., in 1793. About
1806 he moved into Lewis County, where two years later he married his wife. There
he remained until 1811, when he removed to Great Bend on the Black River, in
Jefferson County, and two years later to a new settlement two miles down the
stream, where he bought 300 acres of land, erected dams, built a gristmill, sawmill,
and distillery, carrying on the four-fold business of lumbering, milling, distilling,
and farming for many years. The distilling business was discontinued about 1832.
The sawmill contained four gangs of saws, and over 3,000,000 feet of lumber was
manufactured each year. From this business the place took its present name of
Felt's Mills. Mr. Felt was an honorable, upright man, strictly temperate in all
things. He held the office of postmaster of Felt's Mills, and at one time was
supervisor of the town of Rutland, in which the village is located. He served
a short time as a private in the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of
Sacketts Harbor, May 29, 1813. Mr. Felt was an ardent Democrat of the school
of Jefferson and Jackson, and his first vote was for Thomas Jefferson in 1804.
On the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the inauguration of squatter sovereignty
he left the Democratic party and voted for John C. Fremont in 1856, and for Lincoln
in 1860 and '64. Polly ACKLEY and John FELT had the following children:
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