A History of the town of Queensbury in the State of New York, with biographical sketches ... and some account of the aborigines of northern New York

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A HISTORY OP THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY, IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES or MANX OF ITS DISTINGUISHED MEN, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINES OF NORTHERN NEW YORK, By A. W. HOLDEN, M.D. tij 11 Therefore to us that have taken upon us this painful labor of abridging it was not east, but a matter op sweat and watching j even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet, and seeketh the benefit of others ; yet for the pleasure of many, we will UNDERTAKE GLADLY THIS GREAT PAINS." II Maccabees, ii, 26, 27. ALBANY, JV. Y. : JOEL MUNSBLL. 1874. A ■> Œo tfje JWemotff OT THE LATE HALSEY R-. WING, AN EARIsEST WORKER, PROFOUND THINKER, A WISE COUNSELOR, A SINCERE FRIEND, THROUGH WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT, THIS WORK j AFTER TEARS OF TOIL AND RESEARCH, 18 NOW PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC, THESE PAGES, ARE WITH REVERENT AND AFFECTIONATE REGARD, Inscribed BY THE AUTHOR.

Glen's Falls, Christmas, 1873. A WORD TO THE PUBLIC. BY ANOTHER HAND. HE historian is the seer looking backward. My friend, Dr. Holden, has long held this office. For many years, his visions of ye olden times in Queensbury and vicinity, have placed him far in advance of any other person, as authority on all events of our local history. He almost sees the fish that used to swim in the waters that once covered our plains, and the icebergs depositing their freights of boulders along the mountain shores. He is never lonesome in his professional rides ; he moves amid Indian encampments, and along In dian trails ; now he marches with an English, and now with an American or French army. Here he says was the ambush, there was the battle, and a little further on was the massacre. He is acquainted with all the first settlers of the town.

Dear dweller in these parts, the doctor knows your great grandfather well ; he can tell you where he was born, whom he married, where he built his hut, and where his bones now rest. Read this book, it will open your eyes, as the eyes of Elisha's servant were opened, to see on every hillside and rood of sand, now so dull and dead, the teeming life that has moved here and dwelt here. It will make every spot new to you, and full of interest ; you will see the town prospering, the village growing, enterprise increasing, the churches thriving. I rejoice that the era, so long waited for, has at length come, when this history, which has cost years of earnest VI A WORD TO THE PUBLIC. research, which is so critical and authentic, and which will leave so little on this field to be undertaken by any one hereafter, is about to fall into our hands in type.