The following article was taken from a Scrapbook found at Flower Memorial Library in Watertown, N. Y. The article was undated and most likely appeared in the Watertown Daily Times, the principal newspaper in Jefferson County, N. Y. The piece was accompanied by a photo of the house, the American Legion post, 1757, at Sackets Harbor. My interest in this article arose from its mention of the name, Gladwin, one of the family names I research. (by Shirley, sitehost)

SACKETS LEGION
OWNS OLD HOUSE

______

Post to Celebrate First Anni-
versary of Ownership of
110-Year-Old Dwelling.

______

Sackets Harbor, Nov. 7. -- In the nearly 110-year old house of William Gladwin, who was one of this village’s prominent early residents, the Sackets Harbor American Legion post 1757 will celebrate the first anniversary of its ownership on Armistice Day.

The house, situated on the south side of Ambrose street in the middle of the block between Washington and Edmund streets, is a Georgian type.

It was built about 1842 for William Gladwin, one of Sackets Harbor’s leading business men a century and more ago when he also had several dealings in real estate in this village, in the town of Hounsfield and on Pillar Point.

That he also had owned a malt house appeared from a real estate transaction, which he had with Leonard Denison, another prominent Sackets Harbor figure, on Aug. 22, 1833. At that time, according to the deed, Gladwin sold property to Denison which included the old malt house and the store occupied by Zeno Allen and George Gilmore, the description of the property showing that it came within 29 feet seven inches of Elisha Camp’s printing office.

On Jan. 15, 1869 he disposed of the B>BGladwin store building on Main street and located near Elisha Camp’s brick building owned by Leonard Denison at that time.

It was not until March 1, 1876 that Gladwin sold his residence, now the American Legion club, to Mrs. Olivia C. Denison for $3,000, which was a high price for a house in those days and indicates that it was a good one.

The site for this house was purchased by Gladwin, Oct. 26, 1841, from Thomas Ludlow Ogden, New York city, for $410. Ogden, member of that noted metropolitan family which, through its heavy north country land transactions, had given its name to St. Lawrence county’s only city and to one of Sackets Harbor’s principal streets, made the sale of this lot on Ambrose street to William Gladwin in the capacity of trustee for all of the associates who had been interested in the purchase of Sackets Harbor from Judge Augustus Sacket , on March 5, 1809.

Those associates were Cornelius Ray , William Bayard , Michael Hogan , Herman Le Roy , James McEvers , Joshua Waddington , James Lenox , William Maitland, a man named McLeod , Benjamin W. Rogers , Duncan P. Campbell , Samuel Boyd, Abraham Ogden , David A. Ogden . Thomas Ogden was, of course, one of the partners to the transaction which involved the 1,700 acres where the village stands.

According to the deed, it appears that Gladwin had contracted with Ogden as trustee April 10, 1839 to purchase the Ambrose street lot as site for the Gladwin residence, where Gladwin and his wife Eleanor lived for several years. Only four months prior to his death, which occurred on July 6, 1876, at the age of 79 years nine months “Deacon” William Gladwin had sold his residence to Olivia C. Denison . Mrs. Eleanor Gladwin at the age of 72 years four months and two days had predeceased her husband, dying on Aug. 28, 1874. Both are buried in the Sackets Harbor cemetery.

Olivia Denison retained ownership of the property a matter of a dozen years before she sold it to Charles Hall Sept. 23, 1888.

Three years after that it was purchased on Oct. 29, 1891 by Newton M. Washburn from George Hall , one-time mayor of Ogdensburg, as representative of the Charles Hall estate. George Hall , it will be recalled, who became a millionaire through the merchandising of coal and from the lake and St. Lawrence river carrying trade conducted through the Hall line of steamships, was born in Sackets Harbor in 1847 and began his career as a telegraph operator.

From the estate of Newton M. Washburn the house went to Lydia C. Dingman June 4, 1913 under the provisions of the Washburn will, but she died Sept. 12, 1914 and in the action brought to partition her estate, the place was sold Aug. 10, 1915 to Mrs. Gertrude Metcalf Stearne , wife of Frank M. Stearne , dealer in fuel and farm machinery.

Mr. Stearne , who died May 2, 1934 at the age of 64, had been mayor of this village. For a number of years he conducted a general store and hardware business, but about a quarter of a century prior to his death he organized and was the principal factor in the Sackets Harbor Fuel & Supply company.

Born on Shiphouse Point, daughter of the late Albert H. and Frank (sic)Palmer Metcalf, Mrs. Stearne continued to reside in this house until her death Feb. 19, 1948, and on the ensuing May 3 as executor of her estate Attorney Charles A. Phelps of Watertown sold the house to Mayor Carl M. Jackson , who in turn transferred the property to the Sackets Harbor Veterans’ association, of which he is president, and Harold W. Townsend , treasurer, on Oct. 11, 1949.

The purchase was made for the purpose of converting the house into headquarters and clubhouse for the Sackets Harbor American Legion, and a month after the purchase from Mayor Jackson it had been rehabilitated and formally opened for us. Now the first anniversary of that formal opening is to be fittingly observed on Armistice Day.


Note by webhost: If anyone has ancestral information on William Gladwin and his wife, Eleanor , please contact me.


Return to Clippings Index

Return to Shirley Farone's Homepage