Schemerhorn Ancestors Were
Pioneers of Hammond Section

This is the final in a series of
four articles which set forth the re-
collections of early days on the Cal-
aboga road, told by George Schemer-
horn of Brier Hill.

“I suppose I ought to tell you a little about our family and how they came to settle on the Calaboga road,” said George Schemerhorn, as he continued his stories of the pioneers of that section. “My people were of the Mohawk region, but some of them tried living across the river in Canada for a time. My father was Alanzo Schemerhorn and he married Mary Ann Webster, and that marriage touches another pioneer family in that section of Hammond.

“The Websters came from Vermont and located just south of what became the community of South Hammond and their farm was at the corner where the road turns off what we knew as the Military road to go to the Calaboga highway. The Military road is now known as the state highway from Watertown to Ogdensburg and came in via Redwood just after the war of 1812, but grew over with brush. It was reopened in Hammond in 1823 by a company of 25 soldiers who drew extra pay for their services. The soldiers were from Sackets Harbor.

“The Websters came from Vermont, driving their own oxen hitched to a rig which carried all their belongings. It was all wilderness when they settled there about 1818 and I have heard my mother tell that wild animals were plentiful when they came. A fine stone house was later erected and stands there today in splendid condition. In pioneer days, the girls would wonder when they went to get water from the spring under the ledge off in front of the house, if they would see bears, for one of the girls came face to face with a big bear down there one day. The bear raised up, gave her one look, took time to think, and shuffled off into the woods.

“I was born Jan. 7, 1850 (blurry). Our people believed in thrift and work and I decided I would not waste any time away. I decided I would not pay any attention to the girls, but devote my time to making the farm a more paying institution. I attended the Gouverneur Wesleyan seminary and stood high in my classes, especially in figures. I came home to work on the farm, but think now I should have started teaching school. I set at work to follow the rule ‘don’t spend money on girls,’ when a new family moved into our neighborhood by the name of Emrich. They had a daughter, Laura, and the first time I saw her it was love at first sight. But still I determined to make thrifty ways my goal. It ended in my deciding to marry her, and on Dec. 31, 1873, I drove to her home and took her in my cutter and started to the Military road to have Rev. H. E. Tildin (?), Methodist minister there, marry us.

“We planned, or at least I did, to get married and return home and take up the farm duties without a break. After the ceremony and we were in our cutter ready to start out, I got a quick, bold idea -- we would take a wedding trip of one day. So I started driving south and reached Theresa village in the gathering dusk and put up at the old Getman house. It was a good hotel and when we left the next morning I decided that we would not go directly home, but drove out to Oxbow way, turned off to take a cross road into Rossie, where we remained for the second night. The next day we returned to Calaboga.

“I seemed to do well at farming and whatever I undertook I tried my best to make it pay, and did. I retired from that farm to go to another farm in the edge of Brier Hill. Farming was my business and I saw to it that it was my chief concern. I began beekeeping, but never permitted it to interfere with my farming. However, I made my bees pay me a profit.

“You have asked me about those substantial stone houses in the Calaboga section, and elsewhere in Hammond. There are now standing, as I recall, 34 of them, many as near alike as peas in a pod. The Rodger family came into our town from Scotland in pioneer days and they were industrious and thrifty. You know that sandstones can be had in perfect layers in our section and it seemed to be the best and cheapest building materials to be had. One of the Rodger young men was a mason, one a carpenter, and others had their special work. They started in by building one house. It was much admired and they took contract to build houses. If I recall it correctly they got $100 for their labors to build a house. How well they did the work you can see today. They were a fine family, very religious and a valuable addition to a new community.

“Speaking of religion, we had revival meetings in our school house, and there were many other incidents to tell about, for my memory goes back nearly a century. What I have told you gives some idea of as fine a neighborhood and farming section as you could ask for. Calaboga with us means good farms, happy and contented people.”

Note: Most likely published in the “Watertown Daily Times.” Date, unknown. This is being placed in the Jefferson County, N. Y. clippings even though it concerns St. Lawrence County, N. Y. There is a referral to the hotel in Theresa and the area of Oxbow, which are in Jefferson County -- all significant in the portrayal of how closely knit the two counties were in the early times.