A proposition for the formation of a new town from Watertown and Adams had been previously discussed, which was designed to take three ranges of lots from the north side of Number 7, and annex to Number 1, the new town to be called Newport. A special meeting was called in Adams, to take the matter under consideration, on the 10th of November, 1803, and a vote against the division was passed, but the meeting united in a petition for the erection of Number 8 into a separate town, which was done at the next session of the legislature, under the name of Harrison, since changed to Rodman.

At the first town meeting held by notification of Amasa Fox, at the house of Ambrose Pease and from thence adjourned to the house of Joseph Landon, March 4, 1806, Augustus Sacket was chosen supervisor; William Waring, clerk; Amasa Fox, William Baker, Samuel Bates, Jr., Theron Hinman, assessors; Ambrose Pease, Robert Robbins, commissioner highways; Jotham Wilder, John Patrick, overseers of poor; Jeremiah Goodrich, collector; J. Goodrich, William Galloway, John Root, constables.

Supervisors.-1806-08, Augustus Sacket; 1808 (special meeting), Elisha Camp; 1809-18, E. Camp; 1819 Hiram Steele; 182O-23, E. Camp; 1824, Daniel Hall, Jr.; 1825, E. Camp; (special meeting to fill vacancy), William Baker; 1826-27, Daniel Hall, Jr.; 1828, E. Camp; 1829-41, Daniel Hall; 1842, Seth P. Newell, Jr.; 1843, Benjamin Maxon; 1844, D. Hall; 1845, Augustus Ford; 1846-47, B. Maxon; 1848-50, Jesse C. Dann; 1851, Samuel T. Hooker; 1852, J. C. Dann; 1853, Edgar B. Camp.

1806. "Resolved, That the inhabitants of this town, who shall hunt any wolf or panther in this town (though he should kill such wolf or panther in any other town), shall be entitled to $10.00 bounty."

Resolved, That three delegates be appointed by this town to attend a general meeting of the county to nominate a suitable candidate for the legislature, at their own expense." Theron Hinman, Augustus Sacket, and Amasa Fox, appointed.

At a special meeting called for the purpose, January 10, 1807, A. Sacket, John Patrick and Elisha Camp, were chosen to represent the town at a meeting of delegates from other towns, at Watertown, to take into consideration the military situation of the county. They were intrusted to protest against any undue influences that might be exercised in the meeting.

1807. $10.00 voted as bounty for every wolf or panther which shall be killed by any inhabitant of the town, which wolf, or panther shall be started by such inhabitant within this town A bounty of $25.00 voted for the greatest quantity of hemp, above five hundred weight. Elisha Camp appointed surveyor to the town.

1808. Voted not to accept the state road as a town road. 1812. Canada thistles to be destroyed, under a penalty of $1.00; the fines to go towards rewarding such as might discover some method of destroying them. "Resolved, that hogs be free cormmoners, if yoked, the yokes to be 24 inches long by 15, and small hogs in proportion." 1815. The poor masters authorized to build a poor house for transient poor, if they thought necessary. 1824 At a special meeting, voted against the poor house system, and a remonstrance to the legislature voted. The wolf and panther bounties were continued till 1816. In 1822, 1823, 1831, a fox bounty of 50 cents was offered. In 1828, the highway commissioners, were directed to offer as stock, the half of the cost of the bridge at Dexter, to the plank road leading from thence to Bagg's Corners, on the W. & S. H. P. R., and if refused, to petition that the bridge be made a toll bridge.

This town derives its name from Ezra Houndsfield, a native of Sheffield, in England, who, about 1800, came to New York as agent for his brothers, John and Bartholomew Houndsfield, manufacturers and merchants of Sheffield. He engaged in the hardware trade, and in company with Peter Kimball, purchased in common the south half of township Number 1, or the present town of Houndsfield. This purchase was made of Harrison and Hoffman, March 10, 1801, and subsequently other and smaller purchases were made. Mr. Houndsfield was a bachelor, and died in New York, about 1817. By his will, dated April 7, 1812, he appointed David A. Ogden, Edward Lynde, John Day and Thomas L. Ogden, his executors, who advertised a sale at auction of the remaining interest of the estate in town at Sackets Harbor, August 1, 1817. The executors bought in the property and afterwards conveyed it to Bartholomew, the father of George Houndsfield, the present heir of the family, living in Sheffield.

The town is said to have been named through the influence of Mr. Augustus Sacket, who was an acquaintance of Mr. Houndsfield. The latter was accustomed to spend his summers in town.

From an early period of the purchase, the waters of Black River Bay were regarded as an eligible place for a commercial point, and in Voyage dans In Haute Pensylvanie, et dana 1'Etat de New York, par un membre adoptif de la Nation Oneida. Vol.111' p.408, published in Paris in 1801, the following description of it is given. under the name of Niahoure. "At the bottom of this gulf Black River empties, forming a harbor sheltered from the winds and surges of the lake, which, during the prevalence of the south-west winds, roll like those of the ocean. The land on the right or south of this bay, is extremely fertile, and is a grove more fresh than can elsewhere be seen. That on the left, i.e. the country that extends to the north of the bay of Niahoure, as far as the St. Lawrence, and east to the Oswegatchie, is not less fertile, and the colonists begin to vie in settling it." This bay is elsewhere in the work described as comprising all the waters within Six Town Point, and Point Peninsula, which on ancient maps was named La·Famine, by the French, and Hungry Bay, by the English. On some maps this term is applied to what is now known as Henderson Bay, and in others to Chaumont Bay. The origin of the name is unknown, unless perhaps it may have been derived from the misfortunes of De La Barre in 1684.

This town, having been conveyed through Macomb and Constable to Harrison, Hoffman, Low, and Henderson, as related in our history of the titles, fell to the share of Harrison and Hoffman on division, and the north part was conveyed June 13th, 1797, for $58,333.33 to Champion and Storrs, amounting to 11,134 and 1/2 acres, with the town of Champion (25,708 acres). On the 14th of November, 1798, Champion and Storrs sold a portion of the above to Loomis and Tillinghast, receiving two notes of $6,000.00 each, which, with a mortgage upon the premises, not paid, the tract was sold by a decree of chancery, at the Tontine Coffee Houae in New York, June 20th, 1801, and bid off by Augustus Sacket of that city, who received a conveyance from Champion, and the assignees of Loomis and Tillinghast. While the sale was pending, Mr. Sacket having heard of the location and inclining to engage in its purchase, made a journey early in 1801 to the place, and was so struck with the great advantages for a port which the place presented, that he hastened back, and having secured the purchase, returned ~ few men to commence improvements. In the second and third year, he erected an ample and convenient dwelling, and the little colony received the accession of mechanics and others. Other parts of the town began to settle quite as early as the village, especially towards Brownville, near which place Amasa Fox is said to have made the first improvement in town. In September, 1802 a traveler reported about 30 families living in township Number 1. The south part of the town, sold to Kemble and Houndsfield, was first placed in the hands of Silas Stow, of Lowville, as agent, and in an advertisement in the Columbian Gazette, of Utica, June 11th, 1804, the land is represented as excellent, and "the flourishing state of Mr. Sacket's village, its advantages of water carriage and its valuable fishery, renders it one of the most inviting objects to an industrious settler."

In 1805, several English families settled at Sackets Harbor, among whom were Samuel Luff~ and sons, Edmund, Samuel, Jr., Joseph and Jesse; David Merritt, William Ashby, John Roots, Henry Metcalf, and George Slowman. Besides these, John and William Evans, Squire Reed, Amasa Hollibut, Charles Barrie, Uriah Roulison, Azariah P. Sherwin, and others. Dr. William Baker settled in 1803, and was the first physician. Ambrose Pease, and Stephen Simmons, were early innkeepers, and Loren Buss, and Hezekiah Doolittle, merchants.

The place was at an early day very healthy, and from February, 1805, till January, 1809, it was remarkable that but one case of death occurred (except that of infants), and this was from an accidental discharge of a pistol by one of the men employed in preventing intercourse with Canada during the embargo. The victim of the accident was one McBride, who was killed by Julius Torrey, a negro, with whom he had been a companion for several years on a desolate island, in the South Seas, and whom for a long time he had not seen, and the accident was felt with great severity by him. Late in 1808, typhus fever began to appear among the citizens and a detachment of United States troops, originating with the latter, and of this sickness many died.

On the 5th of March, 1809, Sacket conveyed 1700 acres, the present village of Sackets Harbor, to Cornelius Ray, William Bayard, and Michael Hogan for $30,000 in trust, and a few days after Ezra Houndsfield, and Peter Kemble, conveyed to the same parties their interest in the tract. In a declaration of trust subsequently made, the parties concerned in this purchase appear to have been C. Ray, W. Bayard, M. Hogan, Herman Le Roy, James McEvers, Joshua Waddington, James Lenox, William Maitland, William Ogden, __ McLeod, Benjamin W. Rogers, Duncan P. Campbell, Samuel Boyd, Abraham Ogden, David A. Ogden, and Thomas L. Ogden, each owning 1/15 th part, except D. A. & T. L. Ogden, who together owned a 1/15 th part. The first three named were trustees of the others, and Mr. Elisha Camp, a brother-in-law of Mr. Sacket, who settled in the village in 1804, and has since remained a leading citizen, was appointed the resident agent, under whom the estate was sold, the last of the business being closed up about 1848 or 49. As these proprietors were mostly extensive capitalists of New York, it is to be presumed that their influence was exerted in securing from the general government some portion, at least, of that attention which this place has received, during and since the war as a military and naval depot, but which can scarcely be said to have conferred a lasting benefit upon it. The expenditure of several millions of dollars for labor and materials, would, in the opinion of most people, be sufficient to impart a visible impulse to the prosperity of a place, but from causes which it might be improper or foreign to our purpose to investigate, such has not been the case here.

About 1807, there occurred in this town, about 6 miles south from the harbor in the Price settlements, one of those incidents peculiar to a new country, and which seldom fail to excite the sympathies of a whole community, whose common wants, and mutual dependence, lead to a bond of union less observable in an old settled district. The following sketch was written by Mr. David Merritt, one of the English families, who located here in February, 1805; the occasion was the loss of a child in the woods.

"The parents of the child had recently settled in the woods, a mile from any other dwelling. It was of a Lord's day evening, about sunset; the father set out to visit his nearest neighbor, and, unobserved by him, his son, a child of four years, followed him.

The father tarried an hour or two, and returned, not having little wanderer. The mother anxiously enquired for her child, supposing her husband had taken him with him; their anxiety was great, and immediate though fruitless search was made for the little fugitive. Several of the nearest neighbors were alarmed, and the night was spent to no purpose in searching for the child. On Monday a more extensive search was made by increased numbers, but in vain; and the distressed parents were almost frantic with grief and fearful apprehensions for the child's safety.

Another afflictive and sleepless night passed away, and the second morning beamed upon the disconsolate family, the child not found, and by this time (Tuesday), reports were in circulation of a panther's having been seen recently in the woods by some one. This circumstance gave a pungency to the grief and feelings of every sympathetic heart unknown before; and the timid and credulous were ready to abandon any further efforts to recover the child, and give the distressed parents up to despair.

It was however concluded to alarm a still more extensive circle, and engage fresh volunteers in a work that must interest and arouse even the unfeeling on common occasions. A messenger dispatched to Sackets Harbor, a distance of six miles; it was an irresistible appeal to every feeling heart. To feel, was to act.

Messrs. Luff, Ashby, Merritt, and others immediately mounted their horses, and repaired to the scene of painful anxiety; this was about eleven o'clock in the forenoon of Tuesday. When they arrived at the spot, the number present, that had collected from all quarters, was about five hundred men. A small number was immediately chosen as a committee to direct the best method of search, and they were formed in a line, extending to the right and left of the house, a mile each way. They were placed so far apart as, for every foot of ground they passed in their search, to come under their observation; and when they had marched such a given distance from the house, the left or right wing were to wheel in such a way, as would, by pursuing the same plan, have effectually searched every spot within several miles of the house, before evening. The order of the day was, that no person should fire a gun, sound a horn, halloo, or make any needless noise, whatever; but with vigilance, and a sense of duty to the distressed parents, use every effort to recover the child. If the child was found alive, every person, that had a gun, was to fire, and every one that has a horn to sound it; on the contrary, if the child was found dead, one gun only should he fired, as a signal to the remote line to cease searching.

In this way, in silence, they had marched about two miles, when a distant gun sounded; it was an anxious moment. "Is the child alive?" was a thought that ran through every mind; a moment more and the hope was confirmed, for the air and forests rang with guns and horns of every description.

The lines were immediately broken up, and each ran, anxious to see the little lost sheep. The dear little fellow was presented to his now overjoyed parents; a scene that overcame all present.

When the little boy was found, he was sitting on a small mossy hillock, in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by shallow water. When the man, who first approached him, extended his arms and stooped to take him up, he shrunk from him, appeared frightened, and showed a disposition to get from him. But he was much exhausted, and seized eagerly an apple that was held to him. Had he not been rescued from his situation, he probably would have died at that spot.

On the declaration of war, the United States possessed almost no means, whatever, for defensive operations on this frontier. The brig Oneida, under Lieutenant Woolsey, with an armament of 16 guns, a heavy 36 pound iron cannon, and a few smaller ones, some of which belonged to the state militia, constituted the sum of our means of defence. The British, it was well known, had been preparing for the event, one or two years at Kingston, and when the news of war arrived, had the means afloat at that place, not only of commanding the lake, but of landing whatever force they might possess, at such points as they might select, without a reasonable prospect of resistance. Col. Christopher P. Bellinger, with a body of drafted militia, had been stationed at this place, and an artillery company, under Capt. Elisha Camp, had been formed, and had offered their services for a short time, which had been accepted by General Brown. As ordnance and military stores were of first importance for the defence of the place, a meeting was called to press upon the governor the importance of an immediate attention to these wants, of which the following is a copy of the proceedings:

Sackets Harbor, July 11, 1812

Oswego, Sodus, and Genesee River, she cannot enter with her guns aboard, and Niagara is too much exposed. We would further take the liberty of suggesting the propriety of some engineer being ordered on with instructions to erect suitable temporary batteries to he thrown up by the troops for such pieces of ordnance as may he stationed here. Any communication that your honor may think proper to make through Captain L. Buss, the bearer, to the keeper of the arsenal at Rome or otherwise, we have no doubt will be executed with fidelity and dispatch."

The committee who drafted the above were Colonel Bellinger, Major Dill, Captain E. Camp, F. White, and W. Warring.

President Monroe, soon after his induction into office, undertook a tour through the northern section of the Union, to observe the condition of the frontier, and make such arrangements for its military security, as might be deemed necessary. Having reached Ogdensburgh, on the 1st of August, 1817, he was met by Major General Brown, and attended to Rossie, and Antwerp, where he was met by Mr. Le Ray, and conducted to Le Raysville. On the 3rd he was waited upon by the committee of arrangements, and escorted thence by three troops of horse, under Captains Loomis, Fairbanks, and White, to the house of Isaac Lee, in Watertown, where he received a concise though flattering address from the citizens. He then proceeded to Brownville, and on the 4th to Sackets Harbor. Upon arriving at the bridge, at the bounds of the village, he was saluted with nineteen guns. The bridge was tastefully fitted up with nineteen arches, on which were inscribed the names of the several Presidents; the first arch being surmounted by a living American Eagle. At its extremity, the chairman of the committee introduced to the President a number of veteran officers and soldiers of the revolution, by whom he was thus addressed:

"Sir - It is with pleasure that we, a few of the survivors of the revolution, residing in this part of the country, welcome the arrival of the chief magistrate of the Union. It is with increased satisfaction that we recognize in him one of the number engaged in the arduous struggle of establishing the independence of the country. We have lived, sir, to see the fruits of our toils and struggles amply realized, in the happiness and prosperity of our country; and, we have the fullest confidence, that under your administration, they will be handed down to our posterity, unimpaired. Like your immortal predecessor the illustrious Washington, may you be honored by the present and future generations, and finally receive the rich reward with him in realms above."

The President received this address with expressions of cordiality and esteem, highly cheering and satisfactory to the veteran soldiers, in several of whom he recognized his former associates in arms, in the revolutionary war. Upon passing Fort Pike, a national salute was fired, and at the hotel, to which he was conducted by Capt. King, chief marshal of the day, an address was read to him by the chairman of a committee of citizens. Commodore Woolsey then presented the officers of the navy, attached to his command. The public works were inspected, the troops reviewed, and in the evening the village was tastefully illuminated. The events of the late war had given importance to this place, and it became a subject of interest, to determine what works should be erected for its protection. In this the President was aided by Major Totten, a military engineer, who had been ordered to join the suite at Burlington.

On the 6th, the President embarked on board the U. S. brig Jones, under a national salute, and sailed in company with the Lady of the Lake to Niagara.

For nearly ten years after the close of the war, Colonel Hugh Brady was stationed at the harbor, where he organized the 2nd regiment of United States Infantry. He was subsequently assigned the command of the station at the Sault St. Mary, and died, at Detroit, about two years since.

Captain Alden Patridge, of Middletown, Ct., the celebrated teacher of a military school at that place, in the summer of 1828, proposed to establish a military and scientific school at Madison Barracks, and Peter B. Porter, then secretary of war, on the 3rd of July, announced in a letter to the citizens of Sackets Harbor, the consent of the President, to the loan of the premises, for a term of years to the trustees, who might have it in charge. This was confirmed by a joint resolution of Congress, of May 2, 1828, but nothing further was done toward effecting this object.

While Colonel Brady had command of this station, the remains of most of the officers, who had fallen in the field, or died of sickness, on the frontier, were collected and buried together, within the pickets of Madison Barracks, doubtless with the intention that at a future time they should be honored with a monument, worthy of the memories of American Citizens, who fell in the defence of the American Rights, and the vindication of our national sovereignty and honor.

A temporary wooden monument of pine boards, the form, without the substance, of a testimonial to their memory, and perhaps emblematical of the empty and perishable honors, which our people are too wont to bestow upon those who deserve well of their country, was placed over the spot where these remains were buried, but which, from neglect, and the natural action of the elements, has tumbled down. From the panels, which were broken and defaced, we made out, with great difficulty, the following inscriptions:

NORTH SIDE.-"Brigadier General Covington, killed, Chrysler's Field, U. C., November 11, 1813." "Lieutenant Colonel E. Backus, Dragoons, killed at Sackets Harbor, 29 May, 1813."

EAST SIDE.-"Colonel Tuttle," "Lieutenant Colonel Dix," "Major Johnson," "Lieutenant Vandetenter."

SOUTH SIDE,-"Lientenant Colonel Mills, Volunteer, killed at Sacket, Harbor, 29 May, 1813," "Captain A. Spencer, 29th Infantry, aid-de-camp to Major General Brown, killed at Lundy's Lane, July 25, 1814."

WEST SIDE.-"Brigadier General Z. M. Pike, killed at York U. C. 27 April, 1813." "Captain Joseph Nicholson, 14th Infantry, killed at York U. C. 27 April, 1813."

A few years since, the remains of Colonel Mills were removed to Albany.

A prominent and attractive relic of the war at this p1ace, is the hull of the frigate New Orleans, which had a keel of 187 feet, beam 56 feet, hold 30 feet, and a measurement of 3200 tons. She was pierced for 110 guns, and could have carried 120. The British had got out the St. Lawrence, a three deck man-of-war, of 120 guns, and this rendered it necessary to produce some vessel to match the enemy, and led to the commencement of this undertaking. The vessel was never launched, and has been preserved at considerable expense by the government who have caused it to be covered by a house. She was to have been named the New Orleans. The Chippewa, a vessel quite as large, was building at Storr's Harbor, further up the bay, when the news of peace put a atop to the building, which had not advanced so far as the New Orleans. A house was built over this also, and it was preserved many years, but finally taken down for the iron it contained. Modern improvements in navigation, and especially in the use of steam, have rendered vessels of this class, especially on this water, entirely unavailable, and the question of keeping up this vessel may he regarded as one of doubtful expediency. There are but very few ports on the lake, where a vessel drawing water to a depth that this would require could enter.

About 1838, the political aspect of our northern frontier threatening collision with the English in Canada, a large number of heavy iron cannon, of modern construction, and suited for a naval armament, was sent to this place where they now remain.

Previous to the war, a flourishing commerce had sprung up on Lake Ontario, and the following vessels were engaged in trade, all of them having more or less business at Sacket's Harbor:

Genesee Packet, Capt. Obed Mayo, of Ogdensburgh; Diana, Capt. A. Montgomery; Fair Amercaan Capt. Augustus Ford; Collector, Capt. Samuel Dixon; Experiment Capt. C. Holmes; Charles and Ann, Capt. Pease; Dolphin, Capt. William Vaughan, and a few others whose names were not obtained. The Fair American is said to have been the first vessel built under the present government on this lake. She was launched at Oswego for the North Western Fur Company. Soon after the war, the schooners, Woolsey Rambler, Farmer's Daughter, 'Triumph, Commodore Perry, Doiphin, and etc., were advertised as running on regular lines as packets from this port. Ship building, during the war, was carried on under the supervision of Henry Eckford, who gained, and afterwards maintained, great eminence in this department. Noah Brown, and others, who began their career under him, subsequently became noted as ship builders. Ever since the war, the business of constructing trading vessels at this port has been more or less continued, but we have not been able to procure the details satisfactorily.

On the 2nd of March, 1799, Congress first enacted a law applying to the collection of duties on Lake Ontario, by establishing two districts, of which all east of Genesee River was included in Oswego, and all west in Niagara District.

On the 3rd of March, 1803, another act was passed, the third section of which read as follows: "And be it further enacted:

That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, to establish, when it shall appear to him to be proper, in addition to the port of entry and delivery already established on Lake Ontario, one other port of entry and delivery on the said lake, or on the waters or rivers emptying therein, and to appoint a collector of customs, to reside and keep an office thereat."

In pursuance of this law, Sackets Harbor District was soon after established and has been since maintained, having been reduced in extent by the formation of Oswegatchie District, including St. Lawrence County, March 2nd, 1811, and Cape Vincent District, April 18th, 1818, comprising all below Point Peninsula inclusive. The collectors at this port have been:

Augustus Sacket, Hart Massay, Perley Keyes, John M. Canfield, Thomas Loomis, Danforth N. Barney, Leonard Dennison, John 0. Dickey, Otis M. Cole, Daniel McCullock and Abram Kromer.