TOWN OF BROWNVILLE

PRESIDENTS AND MAYORS FOR THE VILLAGE OF DEXTER

Contact person:
Phyllis Putnam

Cemeteries in the Town of Brownville

History of the Town of Brownville linked from Shirley Farone's Home Page taken from CHILD'S GAZETTEER OF JEFFERSON COUNTY by HAMILTON CHILDS, published in 1890, transcribed by Shirley Farone.

History of the Town of Brownville from "Ray's Place", as found in OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE by EDGAR C. EMERSON, 1898

History of the Town of Brownville, taken fromA HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK by FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, A. M., M.D. linked from Shirley Farone's Home Page

Contributors to DURANT AND PEIRCE's 1878 History of Jefferson County

One of the oldest towns in Jefferson County, and the mother town for the northern tier of towns, Brownville was first settled by the pioneer Jacob Brown and his extended family in 1799. At its first organization, Brownville included all of present Brownville, as well as Pamelia, Lyme, Cape Vincent, Clayton, Orleans, and a part of the Town of Alexandria. Many pioneers first noted in the Town of Brownville were afterwards recorded in the Town of Orleans, or Lyme, or one of the others, without ever having moved.

Brownville is bounded by Lyme on the northwest, and continuing clockwise we find Clayton, Orleans, Pamelia, a bit of Watertown, with Hounsfield on the south. Brownville juts out into Lake Ontario with Pillar Point, Black River Bay on its south and Guffins Bay on the north. Its history is dominated by the Brown family, and the War of 1812. The main communities are Brownville, with the Jacob Brown mansion, Glen Park, now a suburb of the city of Watertown, and Dexter, once a paper mill town, all three on the Black River. Limerick and the hamlet of Perch River round out the settlements.

From the 1864 Jefferson County Atlas: a summary of statistics for Brownville


ACRES OF LAND
  Improved                  26,636
  Unimproved                 8,216

VALUATION
  Real Estate               682,600
  Personal Property          75,300
  Total                     757,900

POPULATION
  Males                       1,808
  Females                     1,861

Number of Dwellings             687

Number of Families              722

Freeholders                     360

SCHOOLS

  Number of Districts            21

  Children Taught             1,529

LIVE STOCK

  Horses                      1,090

  Working Oxen and Calves     1,493

  Cows                        2,752

  Sheep                       3,582

  Swine                       1,366

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

  Bushels of Grain

    Winter                   14,178

    Spring                  121,802 1/2

  Tons of Hay                 5,096

  Bushels of Potatoes         9,663

  Bushels of Apples          10,490

  Dairy Products            

    Pounds of Butter         267,182

    Pounds of Cheese         118,655

YARDS OF DOMESTIC MANUFACTURE  2,382