The Future Unfolds

Fort Anne Blockhouse
Credit: ibiblio.com

Here we must pause the story of George and his family and turn our attention to Levi Higby who would play a pivotal role in their lives in the near future. Like George, Levi had grown up in Canaan, Connecticut. They were almost the same age and together attended the small schoolhouse when family and farm chores did not intervene.  Their parents were close friends and they had worshipped together at the simple wood Congregational meetinghouse that was the only church in the town and also served as the community-gathering place. The boys had spent many happy hours along the banks of the Housatonic River that flowed through the town and supplied vital waterpower for the various local industries. 

Like George, Levi was married in 1794, when he took the hand of Chloe Cobb, a resident of Attleboro, Massachusetts who came to visit her cousin, Mrs. Burt, in Canaan.  Levi and Chloe were married within a few months and settled into early-married life in Canaan. In 1796 they brought a daughter, Alanson, into the world and then Levi was born on September 17, 1797.  Soon after young Levi’s birth his father and mother decided to leave Canaan and to head west in search of more available and cheaper land.  For reasons that we do not know they stopped for a year or so in Fort Anne, New York where Levi was able to use the skills he had acquired as a farmer in Canaan, especially those involving blacksmithing. [History of an Old Home, Alice Higby Downs, 1929]

Then fate intervened and they were destined to move once again, this time to Willsborough, New York on the western shore of Lake Champlain. Although unknown to them at the time, Levi and Chloe’s lives were to be changed radically by an act of government far removed from their community. Between 1798 and 1800 Congress passed a series of bills that broadened the powers to protect American shipping interests from marauding pirates that had been given in the 1794 Naval Act, and on April 30, 1798 Congress passed an act that established the independent executive Department of the Navy. [Encyclopedia of the American Military, John E. Jessup, Editor in Chief. Vol. I, pp. 365-380. Copyright 1994, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.]

Charles Kane of Schenectady and Daniel Ross of Essex, New York, persons unknown to Levi at the time, had formed a partnership secured a lucrative contract with the Department of the Navy to build all of the anchors possible within the ten years following and to deliver these to Troy, New York. [The Story of Three Town, Morris Glenn, 1977] Their partnership would lead Levi and Chloe north to Willsborough, New York, a small village on the western shore of Lake Champlain. In order to fulfill the terms of their contract with the Navy Kane and Ross had to find an individual or individuals to run their business and decide upon the best possible place to establish their forge, which they referred to as the “anchor shop”. They also had to locate a reliable source of iron ore, and then engage capable men to run the forge operations.

Daniel Ross owned land on the Boquet River in the village of Willsborough and this seemed an ideal location for the anchor shop. As a direct descendant of William Gilliland, who was the first settler in the area and arrived in Willsborough in 1765, Daniel had been told how William quickly harnessed the river’s waterpower for the gristmill and sawmill that he intended to build.  With the location of the forge secured by the source of reliable waterpower they had to locate a reliable source of the iron ore that their operation would require. They knew that there were small deposits of bog iron near Basin Harbor on the Vermont shore as well as an ore bed formerly owned by Platt Rogers on the west side of the lake.  This would get them going until they could locate other, larger sources of ore. [200 Years of Soot and Sweat, The History and Archaeology of Vermont’s Iron, Charcoal and Lime Industries, Victor Rolando, 1992, p. 59 and Glenn, p. 265]

Next came the need to secure good management of the anchor shop.  In some way, as yet unknown, Charles Kane had become acquainted with Levi Higby and George Throop, both of who were residing in Fort Ann at the time. He heard that they were accomplished blacksmiths and very used to working with iron. Kane offered them the opportunity to move north to Willsborough and become part of this new venture. He also promised that if they proved worthy they could be engaged to run the shop.

Once Levi Higby and George Throop had familiarized themselves with the operation and won approval from Charles Kane and Daniel Ross they had to engage men who were skilled in working with iron ore. From their own experience they knew that farmers were an excellent source of the type of manpower they required since those who worked the land had to have blacksmithing skills in order to meet their own farming and household requirements.

Village Blacksmith (after Longfellow)
Source: cowhampshireblog.com

Levi thought of his friend George Clark, back in Canaan, Connecticut, whom he knew had blacksmithing skills and was an honest, hard-working man. He communicated with George regarding the opportunity for steady work over a long period of time, as well as the financial remuneration that his company offered. How all of this transpired we do not know.  We can only imagine that Levi’s offer was strong enough to make George decide to uproot his family from their ancestral home and move into a totally unknown area far away from family and friends.  We do know that exactly one year after the names of George Throop and Levi Higby appear in the Town of Willsborough Records George Clark’s name shows up in those same records on April 27, 1802. [Town of Willsborough Records, April 27, 1802.]