The following articles were opied from a series of Articles by the late Ernest G. Cook from Watertown Daily Times, June 5, 7, 9, 1930. Upon review several years after I posted these, I am at a loss as to why there aren't three articles, instead of two.

Mrs. Charles Happ (Clara Rees) of Clayton tells of the adventures of her Grandfather, Thomas Rees.
After reaching America from Wales
Few people resided in Clayton when Reese staked out farm near the St. Lawrence

Capt. And Mrs. Charles Happ of James Street, Clayton, have in their home many interesting articles having to do with the early history of Clayton, it is a pleasure to go into this hospitable home and be entertained by these people, whose families have been so long connected to the history of the north country. Mrs. Happ has on her mother’s and father’s side of the house an interesting family history. Her people were the pioneers who helped to pave the way for the Clayton of today.

In a corner of the room , just to the left as you enter from the hall, stands a much cherished cane that is always handled with a great deal of veneration. This cane is made from some of the timbers of the old man-of-war brig, "Oneida" that was the flag ship of the fleet in the war of 1812. She led the American boats into a number of battles and at the end of her brave career she found a watery grave in the upper bay of the St. Lawrence River at Clayton. Some of these timbers were taken from the water in after years and this cane was cut from them. As soon as one begins to handle the cane one begins to ask questions bout the early days of Clayton when the Brig Oneida was in her heyday. Mrs. Happ can entertain you for many an interesting hour with early events, for her people have lived them as they helped to make Clayton. There are other interesting articles in the Happ home. But let us pause for a moment and let Mrs. Happ tell us a little about her father and grandfather and how the family came to Clayton.

"My father was Capt. William Rees" said Mrs. Happ as she started her story, "and I might as well go back to the beginning and tell about his father and how he came to come into this section. You see, my Grandfather was Welsh and in his home in South Wales he began to hear wonderful tales of America. At last the call became too strong and he decided to sell and take ship to the New World, as many called it at that time.”

"It must have been rather hard to leave the old home, for my people have told me how pleasantly situated the house was. It was up on the crest of a rather steep hill and overlooked the sea. They could see for miles out on the waters when the weather was clear."

"But there came the day when they looked for the last time upon the old surroundings where the first years of their early married life was spent, said goodbye to the many good friends and neighbors and went down to the boat. I guess I did not tell you that my Grandfather’s name was Thomas - Thomas Rees. My father was about seven years old when the family left South Wales. Uncle Thomas was some five years older. There were other children, of course. Father remembered the trip over very well indeed. And it was some trip. They were about six weeks on the water and headed for New York. They got well acquainted with the other passengers on the ship and father used to say he remembered seeing some of the people onboard who were leaving France to find a home in the New World also. These French people were fleeing away from the conditions in France as they were at that time and mentioned that they expected to join friends and relatives on the River St. Lawrence at a point they said was called Cape Vincent and where others of their countrymen were already located."

"Grandfather said he was to locate in New York City, he thought. And that was where they did start to reside. But for some reason they did not like it as well as they thought at that location and they remembered from some of their fellow passengers from France that they were to locate upon the River St. Lawrence. Also at this time there was coming into the city stories of the rich Black River country, and how, up in that section, a wealthy Frenchman by the name of LeRay was offering great inducements to settlers who would come and take up lands. All this sounded good to (grand) father and one day he decided to make the move--going about a year after reaching America to a still newer home. He decided he should take up lands in the new section and seek for a place overlooking the St. Lawrence River."

"In those days one could not hop on a train near midnight and take breakfast in Clayton. It was a long and adventurous trip. The best way to go, the people said--in fact about the only way --was by water. They were to put our few goods upon a boat in the Hudson river at New York, grandfather said, and just start out. How long the trip would take none seemed to know, but most people said two weeks. The first part of the trip was rather restful and enjoyable. Maybe it was in its way. The boat moved slowly up the Hudson river, going as far as Albany. They said their goods were on a canal boat. The family lived upon the boat, of course. From Albany the course was due west and Oswego was the place the canal boats had to reach. If not the canal boat some boat, for there were many miles to make inland in New York state before Oswego could be reached."

"At last they reached Oswego and there was a transfer to a schooner to go out on the lake and into the River St. Lawrence and to the lands in Clayton they were to locate upon." They saw much country but were glad enough to reach the place they were to call home. They were 14 days on the boats and as soon as they reached Clayton they selected the place they were to locate upon."

"They decided upon a piece of land just up the river and back a little from the banks. In fact, the high land is out beyond the cemetery of today. At that time, I have heard my father say much of what is now Clayton of today was just wilderness. Where our house is today on James street was pretty much trees. But there was every indication that the place was to be quickly settled and grandfather went at the task of clearing the lands as rapidly as possible. The sons all helped and soon the log house was up and protecting them from the weather. They were told that Clayton was to be the seat of a great ship building industry, that another industry was to be the shipping of oak and other timbers to the Montreal markets and that this market would take all the timber sent down at a good price, and at that the industry of making the rafts at Clayton would give much work to those who desired such labor."

"Our folks were getting along very well in their new home- things looked better every day when a new scare came to them. Folks who had settled farther back from the river in what is now the town of Orleans were coming into Clayton and telling how they suffered from a strange disease called ague. They said they would bet (sic) a shaking and could not stop and that some of the families were leaving and going into other sections. They said Orleans was so low that water covered much of the land all through the year and this was what caused the disease. That some of the families were going to higher lands and to older communities to get rid of the disease."

"Grandfather thought they were too high up to be bothered with this new and strange disease. He had never seen such a disease and wondered if all the stories about it were true. He thought they were overdrawn by frightened minds."

"But one day some of our folks began to have the symptoms of this disease and grandfather wondered if they, too, were to have it. They were told the best help for the disease was to purchase some whiskey and some drug and mix the two and take liberal doses. Grandfather was inclined to laugh at the whole affair, but sad to relate the family began to get it and soon grandfather himself was shaking so he could not stop. It was an excited household. Grandfather and grandmother were shaking and could not stop.. The older children were shaking so they could hardly talk and my father William about eight years of age seemed to be the best one of the entire lot. Grandfather decided that some action was to be taken at once and began to ask who could walk down through the woods to the little store at Clayton and get the drug and whiskey. The older children were shaking so they could no go and grandfather called upon the little William to start out. With his money in his hand he started running for the store. The family was frightened. They thought they were going to die. So it was no wonder William ran, for he thought they might be dead before he got back. He got his bottle filled all right and was hurrying home, fearful he might be too late to be of help. Along just above where our house stands now he got into a fit of shaking himself. It was his first severe attack. Frightened for fear the bottle would shake out of his hands and he would lose the much desired cure, he knew not what to do. He got worse and he too thought he would die before he reached home. He sat his bottle down and put his arms around the trunk of a tree and just hung on for dear life, trying not to shake. Father was badly frightened for he did not know the nature of the disease and had a mortal fear that he was in danger of death unless he could stop this awful shaking. But at last he got himself pulled together and started for home. Needless to say that summer was the hardest as far as the Ague was concerned. Grandpa Thomas Rees died some ten years later after they reached Clayton. Little by little the children found places for themselves. One of the sons, Thomas Jr., became interested in shipbuilding, being first in the employ of E. G. Merrick. Later this was E. G. Merrick & Co., and in the time Thomas had control of the business and was a boat builder of the highest reputation."

"Father got interested in sailing and was for 40 years on the water. Over 30 years, I think, was a Captain and had many interesting experiences. Much of this, but not all , he had papers out of this port and the strange thing about the papers is the fact that this port was known for years as "French Creek". Just to show how this actually was I will get some of father’s old papers. Now here we have several."

"Take this paper here, for instance. You see that father was given his license as a captain from the District of Cape Vincent. Here is one given him in the year 1857. You see it reads as captain of the "Star of Hope" of French Creek. So the government used the name of French Creek long after other began to use the name of Clayton. The government might have known Clayton as a town, but the port was French Creek."

"Did father ever have any thrilling experiences: well a man cannot sail for 40 years in all sorts of weather and storms without getting in some tight places. Father began sailing, you know, when places of the upper lakes were hardly thought of. He sailed into Chicago when that place was only a little community. In fact I have heard father say that when he first saw Chicago it was not as large as French Creek, and nowhere near as important a place as Cape Vincent. Father, I have heard him say, took the first load of stone to go toward the building of the Welland Canal. His boat was doing a coasting business, picking up money wherever the opportunity offered."

"Yes, there were many interesting adventures that father had--too many to tell about properly. One thing father always said he never did and that was to go by, or fail in going to, any sister ship in trouble. There have been times when he did not know whether his own ship would weather the storm, but he would stand by and say they would live or die with the others who needed them so badly."

***************

"For many years father used to have a man come to see him each year and the two would visit far into the night, relating experiences of the past. This man who came to see him was known as "The Sky Pilot of the Lakes." He was sort of a minister and missionary worker. Only he knew how to get his message across to the men without preaching very much. He would just work along with them, saying good things and doing good things. Everybody liked him and he was a welcome guest on any ship. No sailor, no matter how profane or rough, but what respected him and tried to do better when "the Sky Pilot of the Lakes’ was aboard. This "Sky Pilot" would take a trip with first one boat and then another. This time that he and father used to tell about so much in after years was about a bad storm on Lake Erie. The situation could not have been much worse. The Sky Pilot used to tell how the day had been nasty with driving rail storms. As night came and the wind increased, the nigh seemed unending, and the Sky Pilot was right among the men, helping encouraging and giving a message of hope. The boat was about helpless. It had been battered with the storm & high winds until it seemed as if they must go down almost any moment. As the morning began to break the captain began to scan the waters in the gray of the dawn for some ship that might help. The wind was still roaring a gale and every man on the boat expected it would be only a little time before it would be all over. Soon a ship appeared off in the distance. The Captain of the sinking ship began to signal, but the ship either did not see or could no help, for it passed by. The captain said that he could not blame any ship for not stopping for probably they could not. It was almost impossible to keep right side up themselves let alone helping any other ship. Soon another ship appeared off in the distance, but they too did not stop. The men said it was probable they could not do a thing. Some four or five ships appeared and none could stop, or at least did not. The captain said the other captains were probably helpless. Anyway, he knew they themselves were.. So the men settled down to a quiet calm, saying little, knowing the end was probably near. They recalled to each other some of the things they wished they might do before they went down in getting word to loved ones. The captain still scanned the water with his glasses for other ships. Not that he thought it of much use, but as the drowning men clutches for the straw. At last the captain gave a shout. He had seen a ship away off in the distance and he was sure he knew it. He got the mate to look through the glasses. There was a shout by both men. They turned to the members of the crew and shouted there was hope. The ship in the far distance was, they were sure, the one captained by "Bill" Rees. Captain Bill had never been known to pass. a ship in distress or leave one as long as he could manage his own ship. The news had a wonderful effect upon the crew. They just shouted for joy, They eagerly watched the ship in the distance, pounding its way towards them, fighting against great odds."

"It seemed hours and probably some hours, before the ship of Capt. Bill Rees came up to aid the. The captain of the sinking ship told his crew that it was just as they always said--Capt. Bill would never leave a sister ship and would always put his life against any danger. Anyway the crew was saved."

"Years after I remember how we could expect once a year the "Sky Pilot of he Lakes" would come to visit us and he and father would sit down for a long visit at night. Always the story of the big storm on Lake Erie would be recalled and the fact that father would never leave a ship in distress. Probably other captains might have been glad to have stood by, but they were helpless. Anyway, I have heard that story of the rescue on Lake Erie retold so many times I can almost tell it word for word."

"My father married Cornelia Angell and in after years lived a retired life in this village. He was vice president of the bank here and was trustee of the village four years. He was president of the village one year."

"But speaking of my mother, Cornelia Angell Rees, it should be mentioned that she was named for the village of Clayton when Clayton was known as Cornelia. On my mother’s side of the house our people were early settlers here. My grandfather Gen. William H. Angell, was a real pioneer here. I think he came into Clayton when he was about 20 years of age and established a store here."

"My grandfather Angell was born in Burlington, Otsego County, in 1797 and was one of ten children. When he was 10 years old he left home to earn his own living. From that day on he looked out for himself. After he had worked out for four years himself keeping himself and helping some at home, he had $200 saved up. That was a lot of money in those days. It took hard saving to get ahead, but he took the money to his father and told him the money should go to the father as he would be entitled to it in place of work he might have done for his father while a minor. Then Grandpa Angell started out in life. I will tell a little about him."

"After my grandfather, Gen. William Angell, had given his father $200, he came into Jefferson County. Grandfather had a great leaning for business and when he came into Jefferson Country he first located at Smithville, an older place and longer settled. He entered into a store business with Gerret and Jesse Smith and was very successful. There came the time, of course, when he wanted to go into business for himself, and so when yet a young man he started for Clayton. He was not yet 20 years of age, when he located in the wilderness section with a large stock of goods. He had, it is told us, some $5,000 invested in this stock. That was very early day in Clayton’s history and Grandfather was convinced that Sackett’s Harbour offered a better location, and so in about 1834 he started for that place. I need not speak of his life there and in New York City. He was a banker and in New York a contractor. I just mention these events to show that in the early history of Clayton our family has played quite a large part; Grandpa Thomas Rees and Grandpa William Angell were here early and did much to develop the wilderness place. Some day I may speak more about some incidents in their early lives here.

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