Jesse Corey is mentioned in passing in a number of texts on Adirondack Guides, none of them with much information. He consistently listed himself as a farmer in the censuses, yet the “J. Corry Hotel” is plain on the Plan of the South Woods (map), and there are other references as well.

In any event, it is clear that William Johnson’s widow Martha Graham married Jesse Corey and lived with him for some time, and continued to live with his son Charles when Charles Corey and Charles Johnson moved to North Elba before 1900.

In the 1860 census, Jesse Corey (spelled “Covey”) was 40, listed his occupation as “farmer”, had real estate valued at $300 and personal estate valued at $200, and reported that he had been born in New York State. He was two listings away from William Johnson, next to Stephen Martin and Scott Peck. Living with him were his children Charles, Eleanor, Alembert, and Charlotte; also, farm laborer Henry Wood and servant Eleanor Ford.23

In the 1870 census, Jesse Corry [sic] was 51, listed his occupation as “farmer,” had real estate valued at $500 and personal estate valued at $500, and reported that he had been born in New York State. Living with him were Martha (Graham Johnson), and sons Charles and Albert (Alembert) and daughter Charlott. Also with him were Martha’s son George. They were living next to John and Nancy Dukett (Ducant), who bought property from Martha’s mother Harriet in 1880. Dukett and Clark Farmer were in the hotel business together (the Hiawatha?), and Clark Farmer may have been the Farmer who married Selva Johnson, or just related to that Farmer.29

In the 1880 census, Jesse Cory [sic] was living in Brandon (Township 23) near John and Nancy Ducatt. With him were wife Martha, sons Charles and Alembert, and his mother-in-law, Harriet Graham. Jesse was 60, a farmer, and reported that he had been born in New York but his parents had both been born in Rhode Island.24

Jesse Corey is listed in Bromley’s “Guides of the Adirondacks” as a Lower Saranac guide, from a source named “Wallace.”

From Donaldson’s “A History of the Adirondacks,” the chapter on Indian Occupation:
“Mr. Jesse Corey, the original proprietor of Rustic Lodge on the Indian Carry, also had a small collection of Indian relics, but appears to have given it away little by little to passing visitors. This Indian Carry, which runs from the lower end of Upper Saranac Lake to the Stony Creek, or Spectacle, Ponds, connecting with the Raquette River, undoubtedly owes its name to the fact that the Indians once had a summer village at the lake end of the carry.
“A few years ago this ancient of carries was theoretically closed to the public through legal proceedings and the opening of a substitute road by way of Bartlett’s. As a matter of fact, however, the original Indian Carry is still used by the comparatively few travelers that pass that way, and no objection is made to their use of it. Its desuetude is due mainly to the tearing down of the famous Rustic Lodge which stood for many years at the lake end of the carry.
“In 1897 Messrs. E.P. and S.A. Swenson, of New York, purchased the property including the Indian Carry and Rustic Lodge. They continued to rent the lodge to Charles H. Wardner (who had rented it from Corey), and left the carry open to the public. In 1913, however, they decided to restrict it, nominally at least, to their own private use and to tear down the old lodge buildings. The boat-house, the laundry, the popular little “grocery” at the landing, as well as the venerable lodge itself, are now but a memory of the bygone days, and a golf-course is the modern attraction that brings visitors to the spot to-day.
“So ended the long career of one of the most modest but best-loved resorts in the mountains. Rustic Lodge was a most unpretentious-looking place, built long and low of squared logs chinked with plaster, in the most primitive style. But there was no spot more dear to the heart of its patrons, and none that radiated a finer spirit of good cheer and woodsy brotherhood.
“It was built by Jesse Corey in 1850. He was the pioneer settler on Upper Saranac Lake, having built his first home on the Sweeney Carry about 1830. After living there a while he sold out and went West, but only to return a few years later and settle on the Indian Carry. There he lived and prospered till 1894, when he leased his lodge and retired to Axton, where he died on May 28, 1896.
“The lessee was Charles H. Wardner (a relation of James M. Wardner), who ran the lodge with notable success, making it more popular than it was before. He continued to lease from the Swensons after they had bought from the Corey estate. In 1911, being forewarned of impending changes, Mr. Wardner gave up his lease and bought the Rice Hotel property on Lake Clear.
“Alfred B. Street the author, for over thirty years State Librarian, published two of the early books on the Adirondacks. He was not only a lover of the mountains but a student of their lore. In his “Woods and Waters” (1860) he writes as follows:
‘About a hundred years ago, a large tribe of the Saranac Indians inhabited the forests through which runs the Indian Carrying-Place; an old path, named by them the Eaglenest Trail of the Saranacs. The site of the clearing held their village and Council-Place. They claimed as their exclusive hunting-grounds, not only the Eaglenest Forests, but those of the Wampum Waters (the Stony Creek Ponds), the Stream of the Snake (Stony Creek), and the Sounding River (the Raquette), from the Lake of the Blue Mountain to Wild Mountain at the Leap of the Foaming Panther (Piercefield Falls).’
“Some books refer to traces of an Indian burying-ground on the carry, but I find among the oldest guides no support for the belief that one existed there. Mr. Chas. H. Wardner, who succeeded the Coreys at Rustic Lodge and ran it for seventeen years, writes me as follows in reply to certain inquiries:
‘I have always understood that there was an Indian village on the carry, and that is what gave it the name of Indian Carry. Mr. Corey did have some Indian relics. I myself found several arrowheads and a knife, which, I have been told, the Indians used to skin deer with. I still have the knife, but the arrowheads I gave to different people who took a fancy to them. One was as perfect as anything I ever saw. It was a reddish colored flint. I gave that one to a collector who came to the Lodge once looking for relics. He told me is was the finest one he had ever seen.
‘I never saw anything that looked like a burying ground, but there isn’t the least doubt in the world that the Indians had a village there. Some years ago two old indians came to the Lodge from Canada and stayed with me two or three days. They said they were looking for lead, and that the Indians who used to live there knew where there was lead. But they could not find it, although they spent all the time in the woods; and they never came back again.’”598

An Ancestry.com search of VT census indices turned up two entries:
1850 Jesse T. Corey, Cavendish, Windsor County, p. 312
1820 Jesse Corey, Hartland, Windsor County, p. 155

Axton is at the end of Coreys Road, Axton Landing on the Raquette River.


At the Pine Ridge cemetery in St. Armand:
COREY   Section 8
Jesse   d. May 28, 1896   Age 77 yrs. 6 mo 12 da
Marion   Wife of Jesse   d. Oct. 29, 1859   AE 25 yrs.
Children of Jesse & Melinda COREY:
1) Ellen   Aug. 23, 1865   age 17 yrs.
2) Sattle J.   d. Feb. 26, 1882   Age 27 yrs. 8 mo.
3) Alambert   d. July 30, 1892   Age 39 yrs. 3 mo. 10 da
Lem L. COREY   d. July 30, 1892   AE 39 yrs.
Ellen A.   Wife of Robert NICHOLS   d. Aug. 23, 1865   AE 17 yrs.


From D.H. Hurd, History of Clinton and Franklin Counties (H974.754qH95, NYSL, 1880, p. 498):

Next to the northward is Township 23, which bears the historic name of the Irish Killarney, whose romantic lakes find here worthy copies in the Upper Saranac, twelve miles long, about half of which lies within the boundaries of the township, a considerable portion of Round Lake, three miles in diameter, and a large number of smaller ponds, nearly all of which discharge their waters into the south branch of the Saranac and its tributaries. Here is the celebrated “Indian Carry” between the Saranac and Raquette Rivers. On this carry and in the vicinity large numbers of Indian stone weapons, implements, etc. have been found at various times, including several vases of pottery, nearly perfect and of great value, affording ample support to the theory that this was once part of a great Indian thoroughfare, or chain of settlements extending across the Adirondack plateau from the Champlain Valley to that of the Upper St. Lawrence, or the great lakes. In this township but little progress has been made toward permanent and complete settlement. At the foot of the Upper Saranac Lake is a small clearing made by Jesse Corey some twenty years ago, who also has accommodations for guests, and a mile below, on the “Carry,” is another small sporting-house kept by Mr. Duquette; on the Sweeny Carry is Covell’s house; between Upper Saranac and Round Lake on an eighty-rod carry is C.V. Bartlett’s well-known sporting-house; and on Fish Creek, near where it empties into the Upper Saranac from the west, is the camp of the old half-breed hunter and fisherman “Mose” St. Germain. With the exception of these settlements, the township is yet wild. The most valuable of the timber has been cut off and floated down the Saranac River, and manufactured into lumber. At the foot of the Upper Saranac Lake is a dam, by which the water can be raised several feet above its natural level, and is used by lumbermen for flooding while driving their logs.

J. Corey is listed as a Saranac guide in H.P. Smith’s 1872 “The Modern Babes in the Wood”, along with C. Corey and Stephen Martin, John Dukett, and others, but not the Johnsons. Smith’s appendix (found on Google Books) begins:
“If the names of any guides are omitted in the table appended, it should be attributed to unintentional oversight.
Guides charge for services from $2.50 to $3 per day. They furnish a boat, an ax, perhaps hatchet and auger, and carry all the luggage over the portages -- though gentlemen will naturally assist them somewhat in this laborious operation. Guides, too, do all the cooking and attend to all the domestic duties incident to camp life. It is customary for two individuals to employ one guide between them -- thus reducing the cost one half.
Boats may be hired independent of guides at 50 cents per day. The expense of living, while in the woods, need not exceed $2 for each person per week; and even this figure may be considerably reduced. The proximate cost of a journey to the Adirondacks, and a sojourn for any period therein, may be easily estimated from the above data.”

The guides are broken down by Fulton Chain, Beaver River, Oswegatchie or Cranberry Lake, Raquette River, St. Regis River, Meacham Lake, Chateaugay Lake, St. Regis Lake, Saranac, Hunter’s Home, Ausable Pond, Lake Placid and North Elba, and Long Lake.

Jesse Corey was also given thanks by Seneca Ray Stoddard in “The Adirondacks,” along with others, for his sections in Franklin county, 1881. Can be found on Google Books.

Charles W. Bryan’s “The Raquette, River of the Forest,” 1964, says Jesse Corey made the first settlement in that area in the 1820s and died there.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise article on the auctioning of the historic Lake Clear Inn, August 6, 1963, says:
The original Rustic Lodge was built by Jesse Corey in 1850. It was the most modest and yet the most loved hotel in the Adirondacks according to Donaldson’s History of the Adirondacks.
During the late 1800’s Corey not only ran the hotel but he and others like him carried guide boats, canoes, baggage and camping parties over the old Indian Carry from Axton on the Raquette River to the shore of Upper Saranac Lake. The trip cost the traveler 75 cents.
In 1897 E.P. and S.A. Swenson bought the property from Corey and then leased it to Charles H. Wardner who ran the hotel for 7 years. In 1911 after considering several sites, Wardner bought the Rice Hotel on Lake Clear. . . . Lake Clear Inn under that name was first opened for business in the summer of 1912. During the winter of 1911 eight of the cottages at the old Rustic Lodge were cut into sections and loaded on sleighs, then brought to Lake Clear across the frozen waters of Upper Saranac and Lake Clear. These cottages modernized, yet retained their rustic decor, remain today.

Edwin R. Wallace’s Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks, 14th ed., 1889:, p. 211
Jesse Corey’s “Rustic Lodge” is pleasantly located and enjoys a delightful prospect of the broad expanse of this charming lake. Corey is a time-honored guide and is thoroughly familiar with everything pertaining to woodland life and scenery. His table is famed for its excellence throughout the region. (P.O. Saranac Lake, N.Y.)
The celebrated Indian Carry is a smooth road over a level belt of cleared land. At the other extremity of this portage, on a gentle elevation near the first of the Spectacle Ponds, delightfully overlooking its waters, is situated the Hiawatha House, where guests are acceptably provided for. In this vicinity, one hundred years ago, the Saranac Indians had their dwelling place, and on an eminence not far from the hotel is a mound-like seat where their chief was wont to keep his vigilant watch for the enemy. Here, too, is pointed out the impress in the solid rock of an Indian’s foot. Corn-fields, in their season, then abounded where second growth timber now covers the ground.
A fine mountain view is afforded from this spot; Seward, Ampersand and other peaks being included in the picture.
Dukett of Hiawatha House, and Corey, with their teams, haul boats and baggage over the Indian Carry; price 75 cents per load.
(Wallace’s 1888 13th edition contains largely the same text and is noted in a separate book note).

An article in the Adirondack News (St. Regis Falls) on 1/23/1915 said “A small saw mill at Coreys, near the former site of Rustic Lodge on Upper Saranac Lake, was totally destroyed by fire Monday morning. The mill was purchased last fall from A. J. Villnave by C. Calhoun & Son, of Saranac Lake, and had been used by that firm for cutting hardwood rolls for foreign shipment. Besides the mill and machinery about $200 worth of rolls ready or shipment were destroyed with no insurance.”

In 1893, a Jesse Corey is listed as an assessor for the town of Harrietstown in the Adirondack News (St. Regis Falls) -- article on the proceedings of the Baord (sic) of Supervisors of the County of Franklin, Saturday, Dec. 8, 1892. (Published 2/11/1893).

Jesse Corey appears in the Ancestry database of U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists 1862-1918. In 1863, as Jesse G. Corey he was assessed for “income” which was unspecified, valued at $264.59, resulting in an ad valorem duty of $7.94. Others were also assessed for “income,” though assessments included such things as “billiard table”
In 1864, he is listed as Jesse Corey, location of Franklin (others nearby had towns listed, not the county), “hotel keeper 8th class”, for which he appears to have been assessed 50 cents.
In a separate record for 1864, he is listed as Jesse Corey in Brandon, hotel keeper 8th class, and also assessed 50 cents, so this may be a duplicate record.

On Jan. 1, 1885, “Jesse Corey, proprietor of Rustic Lodge House, Upper Saranac lake.” signed a “Pledge of Saranac Hotel-Keepers and Guides,” later included in the “Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York.” The pledge read: “We, the undersigned, hotel proprietors, guides and residents of the Adirondacks, having learned with regret that some vandal has been committing depredations upon the State hatchery property at Little Clear pond, do most heartily condemn such a dastardly outrage, and do pledge ourselves to use every lawful means to bring such perpretrators to speedy and condign punishment. Saranac Lake, January 1, 1885.” Also signing were Horace Peck, S.C. Martin, and Joseph B. Lamoy, among many others, and “George E. Johnson, guide.” (Found on Google Books.)

In, according to the 16th Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York, a report from John Liberty, Game and Fish Protector, Sixth District, included: “July twenty-eighth on receiving information that a deer had been killed at Square pond, Franklin county, I immediately left for that place and reached the upper Saranac the night of twenty-ninth, and there learned particulars. I also went to Raquette river and Stony creek ponds. On this trip got the required evidence against Jesse Corey for the deer killed at Square pond, and also against Melville Hathaway for a like offense at Round lake. In August I started suits in justice court against Hathaway and Corey. On the twenty-fifth I drove to Ausable, in the Hathaway case, and to Lake Placid and Wilmington in the Corey case. Was on the road four days.” Dated Elizabethtown, Essex County, December 1, 1887.

In 1890, according to the Nineteenth Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York, Jesse Corey was charged in Franklin county with killing a deer (presumably out of season), was tried Jan. 24, 1890, convicted and fined $100.00 (“moiety received: 33.00”) (p.186).

“Woods and Waters, or, The Saranacs and Racquet” by Alfred Billings Street, 1860, (Google Books) appears to be about the Indian Carry and Corey, with a single mention of a “Will Johnson.”

The Franklin Gazette (Malone) for March 24, 1882, lists in the court report:
The next was a case of assault and battery, Jesse Corey vs. John Dukett. Hobbs & Kilburn for plaintiff, Cantwell, Paddock & Cantwell for defendant, verdict, $40 for plaintiff.

The St. Regis Falls Adirondack News, publishing the accounts of the towns of Franklin County for 1889, listed for Harrietstown claim and allowance for Jesse Corey of $4.00. The purpose was not specified.

In 1887 he had been given $4.00, and $64.00, also with no purpose specified.

Malone Palladium, Aug. 2, 1888 -- in an article on a Republican rally at Saranac Lake on July 28 says “The voters then rpoceeded to organize what is known as the “Harrietstown Harrison and Morton Club of Saranac Lake.” Jesse Corey was elected one of several vice presidents.


The St. Regis Falls Adirondack News, publishing a Journal of Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Franklin, November, 1891, listed the following:
Report of the Committee on Miscellaneous Town Accounts
To the Board of Supervisors of Franklin County: -
Your Committee on Miscellaneous Town Accounts report as follows:
We have audited and allowed the following accounts, and recommend that they be added to the respective town abstracts: - . . .
HARRIETSTOWN . . .
Jesse Corey, Overseer Highways, 5 00 (claimed) 5 00 (allowed)
Pat. Corey, [ditto - Overseer Highways] 4.00 (claimed) 4 00 (allowed)

[this may indicate that there was an account payment through the Overseer of highways, as other names were attached to this as well -- not that Jesse was the overseer]

On Oct. 3, 1867 there was a public notice in the Malone Palladium: “Public Notice is hereby given that application will be made by the undersigned, freeholders of the towns of Brandon and Harrietstown, in the county of Franklin, and State of New York, to the Board of Supervisors of Franklin County, at their next Annual Meeting, to have townships Nos. 20, 23 and 26, known as Margate, Killarney and Core Hill, respectively, taken from the town of Brandon and annexed to the town of Harrietstown. Dated August 12th, 1867.” Among the signers for Brandon were Jesse Corey, John Dukett, P.W. Johnson, C.N. Corey, and Virgil C. Bartlett.