The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is set to continue their Brown Bag Lunch series on Thursday, March 21st. Philip Paige will speak on the Ogden family, of which Ogdensburg, NY, got its name.
While they’re obscure today, the Ogden family’s influence in early New York State can hardly be overstated, especially in St. Lawrence County. Two Ogdens negotiated the Treaty of New York (1796), which largely ended Native American title to North Country land; members of the family shortly thereafter bought up large tracts of land, and began settling it.
Unlike many other large landholders at this time, prominent members of the Ogden family opted to move to the northern frontier. The family mansions in Madrid (now Waddington) were home to their family and their slaves, and served as a meeting place for elite members of society on both sides of the border.
Philip Paige, of Madrid, is a realtor and co-owner of Madrid Mercantile, a kayak rental and antique store. He is also a member of the SLCHA Board of Trustees.
Brown Bag Lunches are free and open to the public. Bring your own lunch and enjoy a beverage and dessert provided by SLCHA. The Brown Bag Lunch Series is a lunch time lecture series dedicated to the memory of Patricia Harrington Carson, who founded the series during her 24 years as a Trustee of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association. Pat Carson was active on numerous SLCHA Committees, and was an article writer and an issue editor of the SLCHA’s history journal, The Quarterly.
The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is located at 3 E. Main St., Canton. Parking is available behind the SLCHA, next to the museum’s main entrance.
For more information, call the SLCHA at (315) 386-8133 or e-mail info@slcha.org. Visit the SLCHA’s website for more information on St. Lawrence County history.
Portrait of Charlotte Seton Ogden, whose diary is a major source for the talk, provided by the St. Lawrence County Historical Association.
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