Peter Storm LeRoy (1793 - 1857)

Born 8 Feb 1793 in Canada

Died 17 Mar 1857 at age 64 in Redfield, Oswego, New York, United States

Biography

On February 8, 1793, Peter Storm LeRoy was born in Canada (probably near Chute a Blondeau). He was one of a large family and was the third child and the second son of Peter Francis LeRoy and Margaret (Storm) LeRoy.

In the next eighteen years his father's family grew to ten. Three years after Peter Storm was born another brother and sister reflected a need for larger quarters.

Peter Storm met and married his wife, namely twenty-one year old Abigail Carpenter, three years his junior, in Rutland. It is known that Abigail was born in Vermont on February 16, 1796, yet the identity of her parents has thus far not surfaced, nor has the locale of her wedding.

Almost immediately after their marriage, the couple started married life in Brownville, New York, on the Black River. There two children were born, the first in 1818. The family did not tarry in Brownville, moving circa 1821 to Wilna, New York, also on the Black River. There in the ensuing years six (and possibly a stillborn seventh) more girls were born. Prior to 1832 another move to Lyme, New York on Chaumont Bay, took place. Before the decade was over one of the girls had been born and died, one had been married, two more daughters had been added, and at long last, twenty-one years after the birth of his oldest sister, on December 24, 1839, a son was born, the last child of Peter Storm and Abigail LeRoy. Ecstatic, they named him George Washington LeRoy.

Deeply religious, at some point early in his married life, Peter Storm LeRoy was ordained a Methodist Episcopal minister. There is no evidence at this writing as to how he trained for this role, if indeed he ever experienced any formal preparation for it. While it is known that he preached in several churches, significant records are scarce. There is reason to believe he was at times an itinerant, preaching to more than one parish on successive weeks of circuit riding. It is doubtful he could have supported his large family through this calling alone, and indeed he is designated a farmer on some records. Even so, one might conclude that scratching out an existence for his many children, his wife, and himself must have been a serious and taxing responsibility.

Whether or not there were more moves than those fixed by the birthdays of the children of Peter Storm and Abigail, and/or by census records, has thus far not been determined. If so, such moves would have been limited and brief. One of the limiting factors was transportation. It appears significant that the Black River connects Brownville, Wilna, and via Black River Bay, both Lyme and Henderson. This indicates water transport accessibility, a popular mode of travel both before and after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. Moreover, they were all within horse and buggy driving distance of one another. The Reverend Peter Storm LeRoy doubtless used both means in whatever way each met his requirements, especially since ferries perhaps enabled maximum use of both.

Ferries could have been of special importance in getting to church. The oldest and only Methodist Episcopal Church within the Black River areas described above, which is contemporary with Peter Storm LeRoy, is the First Methodist Episcopal Church and Society of Henderson, (Jefferson County) New York. Records began in 1844, but those between 1844 and 1853 were later accidentally burned by a janitor. Peter Storm LeRoy, however, was in the Lyme/Henderson area from 1831 to 1853. The last nine of those years match the period covered by the burnt records.

The year 1853 takes on added significance since then it was Peter Storm moved to Redfield in Oswego County, New York. A number of factors motivated this. The pattern of life in this area was changing. When he and Abigail moved to Brownville in 1820 the population of nearby Lyme was 1724, but growing.

By 1845 it was a thriving village of 6,018, but dropped to 2,925 in 1850. In that latter year the Cape Vincent portion of the town was set off and further population loss became likely. While Peter Storm preached in the Henderson Methodist Church during the 1844-1853 period, and surrounding area during the 1831-1844 period, he may have lived in Henderson from 1844 to the critical year 1853. Although he could have tried to replace parishioners lost to St. Vincent by a return to the circuit, the result was seemingly unsuccessful. Another factor was his age, and as he grew older may have been less able to stand the rigors of riding the circuit.

Peter Storm LeRoy was sixty when he moved to Redfield in 1853. By this time most of his family was no longer in his home. Some of the girls had married. Others were working. He and Abigail had only the two youngest still with them. With his only son he owned a frame house valued at $300, a considerably higher price than most others at the time of the State Census of 1855. Peter Storm's only son was just sixteen at that time, and the property may have been rented before the purchase was made. The assessment of property at that time required separate visitations. They revealed that Peter Storm LeRoy was classified as a ‘clergyman' and was the only one of his household eligible to vote. In 1992 the house still stands.

The Methodist Church of Redfield was part of a circuit which served the town of Florence as well as that of Redfield. It was built in 1824, possibly a half dozen years after the local church was organized. This house of worship was the first in town. In 1853 the two members of the circuit, once as many as four, separated. Peter Storm LeRoy became the first minister of the Separated Redfield Church. His move to Redfield may have been in part an answer to ‘a call', which may also explain how he wound up in his three hundred dollar house. In 1992 the church was still standing, but had not been in use for several years. Here he preached during the next four years until his death on March 17, 1857 at the age of sixty-four. He was buried nearby in the Methodist churchyard.

Peter Storm LeRoy's only son left Redfield in 1855, but Abigail and the youngest daughter continued for a while to live there. At some point prior to the census of 1860 Abigail moved to Syracuse to live with her son, while her daughter remained until her marriage in 1867. By that time the family homestead on County Road, No. 17, Great Lot No. 21 had been sold to one C.Potter.

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103039386/peter-storm-leroy