One of the early settlements of the town of Alexandria was made in the southwestern section near the Orleans town line by the Tanner family, who came there in the late spring of 1819. There were actually three families, who settled there and opened a clearing in the wilderness. They must have done some wondering about the weather in their new home, for it is reported that they had to shovel snow for some five miles to reach the site they finally selected for their log houses.

The three men in the group were Ashley and Benjamin Tanner and John Salisbury. The Tanner family looked forward to having quite a settlement there and Ashley Tanner built a hotel and a store on a rise of ground a few rods east of the present schoolhouse. One can see where the hotel stood, and the barn is still standing.

The late Nathaniel W. Freeman, a former schoolteacher and for many years a student of early history, thinks that the cemetery that the Tanner family laid out just east of the hotel in 1819, was probably the first in the town of Alexandria. But, as Mr. LeRay caused a clearing to be made in the center of the town in 1811, which would include the Barnes’ Corner cemetery, that cemetery is generally considered the earlier of the two.

Again we visited Albert A. French to learn about the Tanner’s Corners section of early days, for Mr. French, as a small boy, resided there.

“It was probably 72 years ago that I lived at Tanner’s Corners and went to school there. I lived with my uncle, Sherman Snell, who was a cooper. I helped with the chores night and morning and worked about the small farm when school did not keep.

“It was at that time that Mr. Snell purchased the schoolhouse at the Pine Grove corner, about two miles from Tanner’s, and abandoned by the school authorities, and moved the building to his place, using heavy rollers and a team of horses. That was the schoolhouse in the old district No. 22, I think. He made that building into a cooper shop and was pretty busy in there, for he made butter tubs, and that was a rich dairy section.

“On the farm he kept a few cows, had a flock of sheep and the usual flock of poultry. He also had a bang-up orchard and by the stone wall that was the line fence, grew one of the largest butternut trees you ever saw. It had bushels of nuts, but I was told that all the nuts that fell over the fence were the property of the neighbor, although the tree grew on our land.

“At that time Dr. Carlisle practiced medicine at the Pine grove, driving over much of our section. I attended school at the schoolhouse and if I remember rightly the seats were built around three sides of the building, with the teacher’s desk in front, along with the entrance. Two of the Tanner girls attended school at that time, their home being where the Tanner family settled, but the hotel idea had long before been given up. There was a number of Spalisbury family residing there when I lived in that neighborhood.

“What I do remember was the big box, about four feet square that my uncle had in the St. Lawrence river at Fishers Landing, which generally held a large number of fish. When we had company, or wanted fresh fish, we would go to the river, open the box, and take out as many as we desired.”