A newspaper announcement about the death of my great, great, great grandmother Mary Bull provided the first clue that my Bull ancestors lived for a time in Moose River Settlement, in the Town of Lyonsdale, Lewis County, N.Y.
I remembered seeing Moose River during a road trip in the North County with my dad, so I decided to look for some historic maps to pinpoint the exact location where the settlement had once stood.
Was I ever surprised to discover just how close it was to where Dad grew up in Otter Lake, in the Town of Forestport, Oneida County, N.Y.
The maps posted here show Moose River Settlement in the lower right corner of Lewis County (left image) — just north of the Oneida County border.
Carefully examining the Oneida County map (right image), I found Otter Lake in the upper right corner — almost within shouting distance of Moose River Settlement, when the two county maps are joined.
Charboneau connection
Why is all of this important? Because it was in this general geographic area, where New York’s Oneida and Lewis counties meet, that my Bull ancestors connected with the Charboneau branch of my family — early residents of the Adirondacks foothills.
And because — although he grew up right near the site of Moose River Settlement where the Bulls once lived — even my closest Charboneau ancestor (my dad, Norm Charboneau) did now know about any of this until we went looking!
Examining the 1895 maps above, I could clearly see the towns and villages that corresponded with my family history research findings — Lyonsdale and Moose River, where the Bulls lived; Port Leyden, where Arthur Bull saw a doctor when he first applied for his Civil War pension; Hawkinsville, Otter Lake, Forestport and Boonville, where the Charboneaus lived — all geographically located nearby one another.
And once again I was amazed that the details of my paternal ancestral history in and around this Adirondacks region failed to make it down to my generation — either in story or papers — requiring me to research and document from the other direction.
Which brings us back to Moose River Settlement. Although it no longer exists — and in fact was pretty much gone when my dad was a child — it was once a bustling hamlet when my great, great grandfather Arthur Bull and his family arrived there in 1875.
So what more can I find out about the area and my Bull ancestors’ time in Moose River? We will start that search together, beginning with the Black River Canal.
© 2016 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.