Johnsburgh responded with alacrity to the demand for volunteers during the War of the Rebellion. Her foremost men at once engaged themselves in the work of procuring enlistments, and so well did they do their work, and so patriotic were the sentiments of the inhabitants, that out of a population containing perhaps not five hundred men, one hundred and fourteen found their way to the battle-field.
For many years Johnsburgh suffered from great and manifold disadvantages. Being a northern town of the county, and abutting on the Northern Wilderness, no commerce and very little travel passed through it. For years the inhabitants carried their grain and butter to Glens Falls and Waterford for sale, in return purchasing and bringing home family supplies, such as tea, tobacco, molasses, rum (for the hay and harvest season), sole leather, cotton and woolen clothing. At times somebody would make a spasmodic effort at keeping a store—falsely so-called—by dealing in small quantities of rum, tobacco, salt, etc. In 1832-33, the Weavertown Tannery was built by William Watson and James Wasson, of Blandford, Mass. The enterprise stimulated the dormant energies of the inhabitants, giving employment to the men, creating a market for bark and farm produce, and awakening hopes of other industries yet to come. Several stores were soon established.[1] A few years later a tannery was built at The Glen. It burned not long a after, was rebuilt, operated a few years and abandoned, having proved a source of loss to everybody interested in it. In 1852 Milton Sawyer and Wheeler Mead built the tannery at North Creek. In 1875 a Boston company erected a tannery on the Sacandaga River in the west part of the town, which is still in operation.[2]
The first church edifice built in town was erected at Weavertown about 1822, by the Dutch Reformed Church, having a membership of ten persons. As the society were unable to procure a pastor, some of its members joined other societies, while others moved away. In 1835 the Baptists finished the church, which had not yet been plastered, and occupied it a few years, but finally, for want of unity among the members, it was abandoned, and recently torn down. The next house of worship was the Methodist Church at Johnsburgh Corners, which was begun in 1838 and completed in 1843. It has been in use since it was repaired in 1879, and is now in good condition. Its value is placed at $2,000. The next edifice—Methodist—was built in the Fourteenth Township, or North River, in about 1847, at an expense of about $1,200, and is yet in use. The fourth is the Free-will Baptist Church of North Creek, which was built in 1853. It cost about $2,000, and is still in use by that denomination. The sixth[3] was the Methodist Church built at North Creek in
- ↑ It it a noteworthy fact that Weavertown, North Creek and Creek Center in Stoney Creek, date the origin of their existence as villages immediately subsequent to the erection of the tanneries which now keep them alive.
- ↑ The Weavertown Tannery will be closed in the fall of 1885 because of the scarcity, and distance from headquarters, of bark.
- ↑ See Catholic Church given below.
