1878 Village Of Cape Vincent New York $100 Bond Signed By Willard Ainsworth Rare on 2040-motos

Old Houses of the North Country —No. 196 • • : • 19 FORMER WILLIARD AINSWORTH HOUSE NEAR CAPE VINCENT\

 This house of native limestone is the old Willard Ainsworth place on the Pleasant Valley road near Kent's creek in the town of Cape Vincent. It is probably well over a century old, stands on the east side of the highway and is not far from the Deer Lick farm of J. R. Newton. Neat and attractive, it is owned by the estate of Frederick Constance whose parents came to this county from Germany about a century ago. Mr. Constance, a well known and thrifty farmer who died Oct. 27, 1891, acquired the property from the Ainsworth family several years prior to his death. Its present owners and occupants are his surviving children, Catharine S., Elizabeth K., Clara M., Mary M., and Frank F. Constance, who operate the 240-acre farm. Willard Ainsworth, the first owner of the property, was born Nov. 22, 1791, at Pomfret, Vt., son of Henry and Frances Throop Ainsworth. He was a brother of Dr. Avery Ainsworth, first physician in that part of the county and also a resident of the Pleasant Valley road. They were great-great grandsons of Edward Ainsworth who was born in England about 1652 and who with his wife, Joanna Hemmingway, became residents of Roxbury, Mass. Dr. Avery Ainsworth, who was eleven years older than Willard, first bought land in Cape Vincent from James D. Le Ray de Chaumont Dec. 15, 1809. About nine years later Willard, then a resident of the town of St. Arbans, Vt., paid Avery f 1,400 for his first acreage in this coamty and the deed describes it as on the road from the • village of Cape Vincent to Kent's Ray, which road is now known as the Pleasant Valley road. The price would indicate that there was a house on the land at the time of the purchase and this may well have been this house. Since the house was built a number of alterations have been made. The original, small-pane windows have given way to larger ones. A modern verandah has been added to the front and there has been expansion with dormer windows at the rear. The front entrance, with its witch's cross door and rectangular framing lights, has been kept in its original form. There are nine rooms in the house and one fireplace in the front. The house sets on high ground and the outlook is beautiful with the lake in front and gorgeous sunsets striking it full in the face. Willard Ainsworth, who married Miss Sally Green of St. Albans, daughter of Nathan Green, Aug. 21, 1815, died at his home on the Pleasant Valley road Oct. 18, 1865. His wife died Oct. 24, I860. Roth are buried in Riverside cemetery. They were the parents of several children, one of whom, Willard, jr., born March 6, 1830, at the homestead on the Pleasant Valley road, was a federal customs officer at Cape Vincent. For more than 125 years the Ainsworth family has been prominent in the town of Cape Vincent and the Constance family for almost as long. There are many descendants of both still residing in the town, among those of the Ainsworth family being David R. Otis, Charles Ainsworth and S. Kelsey Ainsworth. —Photo and Caption by David F. Lane