The following sites are known to have existed at one time. In some cases, the remains of the site remain in existence, but I have not yet visited the location. In other cases, the furnace site may no longer exist. Anyone having any information on these sites is encouraged to forward their knowledge - credit for the source will be acknowledged when posted.
Per J.P. Lesley,
Per J.P. Lesley,
Mrs. Barbara Alger Farrand Doxey was kind enough to forward the following information regarding Stockbridge Furnace.
I am a great, great granddaughter of Charles Coffey Alger (C. C. Alger) who was in the iron business at Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass. from before 1834 until about 1850. His company was the Stockbridge Iron Company. I don't know anything else about it except it was eventually demolished. There is a half sentence about it in a book about Stockbridge at the Stockbridge, Mass. public library.
The only daughter of C. C. Alger and Sarah Palmer, married Dec. 27, 1831 at a Methodist Church in Manhattan, was Grace Alger (never married). She was born in 1833 - 1834 at Stockbridge and died March 1899 at Pittsfield, Mass. while a resident of Hudson, N. Y. The only son of the couple was Charles Alger (my great grandfather) who was born Feb. 22, 1836 also at Stockbridge. In 1845, Jacob Warren Hoysradt, went to work for Charles Alger. About 1850 C. C. Alger went to Hudson, New York and started the Hudson Iron Company. He designed the works and had about $25,000 of the start-up capital of $175,000 needed. That required him to acquire partners who had the rest of the capital. The works were built and went into operation about 1851. The works returned a profit of about 40% a year and a book I looked at quite a few years ago said those works were the third most profitable in the U. S. at the time.
C. C. Alger was the general manager until 1864 when he retired. At Hudson, J. W. Hoysradt was C. C. Alger's assistant and probably supervised the day-to-day operations which freed up C. C. Alger to come and go as he pleased. In the Census of 1850 at Hudson, New York Charles Alger had a worth of about $25,000 and in 1860 at Newburgh, New York he had a worth of about $250,000. In 1861 the marriage of my great, great grandparents went bad after 30 years of marriage. They eventually divorced in New Haven, New Haven County, Ct. in March of 1868 which was confirmed by a Manhattan Court in May of 1868
C. C. Alger entered into a partnership to build an iron furnace in what is now Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York. He had the brains and know-how and the partners put up the money and made him president. This appears to be in the late 1860s. One source called it the West Point Iron Company and another the Cold Spring Iron Company.
By October of 1869 C. C. Alger was in Paris married to Marie Louise Molt (possibly born in Vermont) who was 35 years younger than he was. They had a daughter Lucile Alger, born Oct. 10, 1870 or 1871 at Norwich, Ct. who eventually inherited almost all his money and his very, very valuable art collection along with jewelry which C. C. Alger bought for his second wife as well as other items. C. C. Alger died July 13, 1874 at New London, Ct. at age 65 and Marie Louise Molt Alger died about 1887. Lucile Alger never married and when she died Dec. 24, 1936 her assets at Great Neck, Long Island, New York where she had moved around 1901 went to her girlfriend of 25 years, Miss Louise Nathalie Grace, a daughter of William Russell Grace of the fabulously rich Grace family (with the exception of $5,000 which went to a married female friend living in Paris, France).
Your information on the furnace at Fort Edward and C. C. Alger's involvement in it is new information for me. I'm sorry I don't know more about furnaces, but I do think your Stockbridge, Mass. furnace should be listed to Charles Coffey Alger. I doubt there was another in the area at that time frame but it is possible, if not probable. C. C. Alger was listed in the U. S. Census of 1840 at Stockbridge, Mass. and I believe it was 1838 when he got an iron patent which listed Stockbridge, Mass. as his address. His only two children by Sarah Palmer were born there in 1833-1834 and Feb. 22, 1836. Sarah Palmer Alger was born at White Plains, Westchester County, New York about 1809 - 1810 to a father William Palmer. She died at Hudson, New York late in Feb. of 1897 about 8 weeks after the death of her only son Charles Alger who had died Jan. 2, 1897 in the house they shared with the four grandchildren (three girls and a boy). Charles Alger had become a widower in Feb. of 1879 when his 32 year old wife died of pneumonia and he never remarried. He got to live with his mother from about 1877 until 1897 when they both died.