The early history of Saugerties, 1660-1825

Front matter

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974.702

Sa8b

Preface

At the request of Saugerties Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, the author has attempted to tell the story of the settlement and development of the town of Saugerties, basing this work upon papers contributed at various times to the press.

He would acknowledge the assistance given him by that chapter, not only so far as it has been personal, but more than this in its cultivation of a spirit of true patriotism which more than justifies its existence as the world may thus know that its very being calls attention to all our ancestors struggled for, suffered and sacrificed that they and their children might be forever free.

He has attempted to tell how those ancestors lived their simple and sincere lives ; to set forth their manners, customs and pleasures ; to record how they developed their young men and maidens into men and women physically, mentally and spiritually, and built the township we love.

He has attempted to gather up their old Dutch ballads, folk songs, riddles, nursery rhymes and nonsense verses before it is forever too late. This has never been done, and it can not be done by the next generation. He here expresses his indebt-

VI

PREFACE.

edness to the many friends whose assistance was indispensable.

In selecting the subjects for the illustrations he has chosen those alone which are connected with the town history. He attempted to secure a picture of the first physician, but failed; and substituted his residence instead. The typical Dutch farm house is inserted because it is typical. No portrait of pastor Kocherthal exists, nor of the West Camp church. The monumental tablet is given instead. The house of Christian Myer is included for the reason that the home of the family from which came eighteen Revolutionary soldiers should be held in everlasting remembrance. The first minister (except Kocherthal) and the first merchant, with his residence and store, are included ; but the first lawyer could not be. There was none until shortly before the date at which this story stops. And the author regrets th.at the book has not reached the standard of his wishes, efforts and intentions.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introductory and Descriptive .... 1

II. A Decisive Battle 7

Chapter I. Introductory And Descriptive

The town of Saugerties is the northeast town of Ulster county, New York, and extends from the centre of the channel of the Hudson river to the brow of the Catskills. Its northern limit is the boundary line with Greene county, and on the south the town of Ulster where the Plattekill empties into the Esopus. Its area is about 30,000 acres, and its population was in 1900 9,754. This had decreased in the preceding twenty-five years from 10,934 in 1875.

The town was organized from the town of Kingston, April 5, 1811, and is thus of the Nineteenth Century. But for more than one hundred and twenty-five years preceding it had been a large factor in what constituted the town of Kingston, and Katsbaan and West Camp were known throughout the colonies before the Revolution ; the latter as the scene where was colonized the first German emigra-

fO

HISTORY OF SAUGERTIES.

tion to America in 1710, in an ill starred project of the British Government for the production of naval stores, which failed, and the former as the location of a widely-known country store, so widely, in fact, that Burgoyne had selected Katsbaan as the site of one of his three camps between Albany and Kingston upon his intended march from the former city to New York. The others were Kack’s Hackey (Coxsackie) and Katskill (Leeds). It is needless to add that some men from Katsbaan assisted in dissuading him at a meeting they had with Burgoyne at Saratoga.

The town occupies two distinct plateaus. The lower one extends from the hills along the Hudson to the mountain ridge, two peaks of which are respectively Mt. Airy and Mt. Marion. This ridge divides the town from north to south into two nearly equal portions.

The eastern plateau lies upon strata of sandstone and shale along its eastern border, with limestone ledges farther west. All these extend in a northerly and southerly direction. The upper, or western plateau lies upon a foundation of greywacke, commercially known as bluestone, which has been for three-fourths of a century the source of the chief industry of the town.

The town is well watered. Along the whole of its eastern border flows the Hudson.

INTRODUCTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE. 3

Through the southern half come the waters of the Esopus creek which have proceeded from their source in the heart of the Catskills for many miles in a southeasterly direction until they were free from the confinement of the mountains. When they reached the fertile plain in the town of Marbletown they coursed due north for thirty miles to Saugerties village, where, after watering as productive fields as the sun shines on, they empty into the Hudson. Through parts of the northwestern portion of the town the Cauterskill carries the rainfall of the Catskills to the river, and through the western part the Plattekill performs the same service. The Beaver drains the upper and lower plateaus in a ten mile course, and in the northeast the little, though historic Saw creek does like duty. It is a peculiarity that all of these streams except the Plattekill and Saw creek flow north.

It is contemplated in this history to tell the story of the settlement of the town and its growth ; to show the nationality and character of those who were the pioneers, and from whom the people of the town descended until its development into a manufacturing centre upon the purchase of its immense water power at Saugerties in 1825. In carrying out this intention the first important event will be the coming of the Palatines in 1710 and the story of the

HISTORY OF SA UGER TIES.

two churches which they founded at West Camp and Katsbaan ; the second, the service of townsmen in the French and Indian War, and the third, the story of their connection with the fight for our civil liberties. In this connection it may be said that the dangers to the patriot cause from the invasion of Burgoyne in 1777 called into military service in the field during the summer and autumn of that year practically the whole male population, young and old, of the town capable of bearing arms. Even men who had been Tories at the beginning of the war were compelled to assist or leave the country. A few families did so and went to Canada. A few more remained loyal to the British Crown, but the most of those who had been opposed to the cause of the patriots in 1775 became, under the stress of events, at least nominal patriots. This will explain why names of certain Tories are found on the list of the patriots who served in the army.

This town was included in the charter given to Kingston in 1667, and when, on the 19th day of May, 1687, Gov. Dongan issued the patent for the grant of the large territory to the freeholders of the town of Kingston in trust, which was for more than one hundred years known as uThe Kingston Commons/’ it comprised all the town of Saugerties south and

INTRODUCTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE . 5

west of Sawyer’s creek, with the exception of the four Meals and Hayes patents, until the bounds of the great Hardenbergh patent were reached at the foot of the Catskill mountains. Thus most of the early settlers derived the titles to their farms and homes from the trustees of Kingston Commons.

Although a part of the town of Kingston, this town did not .participate in its Indian troubles of 1655 to 1663. There is no certainty of any permanent settler within the borders of the town of Saugerties at that time. The question of ‘‘the old sawyer,” or “little sawyer,” will be taken up in a subsequent chapter. But aside from him there is no record of a settler within this town before 1688, when Cornelius Lambertsen Brink acquired lands on the southern border of the town at the junction of the Plattekill and Esopus, and built the stone house still standing. He had been a captive taken at the massacre at Esopus (Kingston) in 1663. With twenty-two others he was rescued after a captivity among the savages of just three months.

Nor were there any Indian troubles within the town except when, during the Revolution, the savages were incited by the Tories. Permanent settlement was not made until after the treaties between the Indians and colonial Governors Stuyvesant and Andros had extin-

HISTORY OF SA UGER TIES.

guished all Indian titles, and thus the early settlers were able to live without the dread of a midnight attack by a savage foe with all the horrors of the tomahawk and scalping knife.

Indian villages did not exist within the borders of the town. It was a sort of neutral ground between the Katskill Indians on the north and the Esopus Indians on the south. Evidences such as arrowheads, knives and axes of stone are continually found here which show it to have been in their occupancy. The journal of Capt. Martin Cregier in 1663 tells of the Indian maize plantation just north of the present village of Saugerties, and there are other evidences about town that Indians were often here. It is safe to say that no permanent Indian village existed within the limits 'of the town of Saugerties.

In the earlier chapters of those to follow much will appear concerning an “ old sawyer, ” or a “ little sawyer” who is only known by that appellation. He had a sawmill at the mouth of the little stream still known as the Saw creek, and by the Dutch his mill was spoken of in the possessive case as “ de zaagertje’s,” or the sawyer’s. From this came the name of the stream on which his mill was erected, then of the locality, in time of the town and lastly of the village.

SITE OF OED SAWYER’S MIEE.

Chapter II. A Decisive Battle

“ The Journal of the Esopus War,” by Capt. Martin Cregier, describes the destruction of Wiltwyck (Kingston) by the Esopus Indians in 1663, the capture of many of the women and children, and the military expedition that effected their release. A detachment of the command, under Sergeant Niessen (Niese), proceeded to Saugerties, while the main force under Capt. Cregier tracked the savages and their captives up the W allkill valley. Capt. Cregier’s “Journal” says of Niessen’s detachment :

“July 12,1663. Sergeant Niessen returned with his troops bringing one squaw and three children which they had captured. Examined the squaw. She answered that some Kattskill Indians lay on the other side near the Sager’s Kill, but they would not fight with the Dutch. On the 16th, some Mohawks arrived and went to see the Esopus Indians, and fetched from them some captive Dutch women.” There is a text for a long sermon here. It is one incident in a story which had begun forty-five

HISTORY OF SA [/GERTIES.

years before, and was to be continued one hundred years more until the power of France on this Continent would be overthrown under Montcalm at Quebec by the British under Wolfe. A crisis in that long struggle culminated on the borders of our town of Saugerties. It is necessary to go back to the days of Hudson to see why the Katskill Indians would not fight the Dutch, and the Mohawks compelled the Esopus Indians to release their Dutch captives.

In August, 1609, Henry Hudson discovered the beautiful river which bears his name and ascended it as far as Waterford. While he was prosecuting his voyage Samuel de Champlain in Canada was carrying on the work begun by Jacques Cartier, and had just discovered lovely Lake Champlain, and was proceeding south upon its waters. Thus representatives of these two nations of Europe almost met. Almost, but not quite. Champlain retired to Quebec and Hudson returned to Europe to report to his employers. A trading company was formed in Amsterdam to prosecute the trade for furs along the river and a trading post was established about four miles south of Albany, and here the Dutch unconsciously prepared for the death grapple which their successors, the English, would have with the French for one hundred and fifty years until the Continent

A DECISIVE BATTLE.

became the home, not of absolutism, but of freedom, by a masterly act of John Jacob Eelkens in 1618.

In the opening lines of “ The Song of Hiawatha” Longfellow sings :

“ In the vale of Tawasentha,

In the green and silent valley,

There he sang of Hiawatha. ”

This green valley was on the west side of the Hudson, six miles south of Albany, at what is now Norman’s Kill. And here in the spring of 1 61 8, Eelkens, the commander of the trading post, assembled the representatives of the Five Nations and entered into a treaty of peace and amity with them which was never broken, though troubles and difficulties often arose. And to this amity the English succeeded upon the passing of the province into their hands and the French', despite all their efforts, could never detach them, or weaken that friendship. In the words of representatives of these Indian tribes in 1737, one hundred and nineteen years after this, addressed to the English Governor of this province u In ancient times when our fore-fathers first met at this place we will tell you what happened before there was a house in this place, when we lodged under the leaves of the trees, the Christian and we entered into a covenant of

HISTORY OF SAUGERTIES.

friendship.” John Fiske says of this treaty that “ It was never violated or seriously infringed. The Five Nations were all more or less steadfast allies of the Dutch, and afterwards of the English until 1763.”

The Indians of North America belonged to two great families,* the Iroquois and the Algonquin peoples. The seat of the former was the Mohawk valley and the lake region of New York. The five nations, or tribes, were savage and powerful warriors and dominated the Continent. The tribes of the Hudson and of New England and Canada were Algonquins. But the aggressive Iroquois were forcing them into subjection and at last became their tributary lords.

Early in 1628 the Mohegans of the upper Hudson, the Hoosic and the Hoosatonic valleys were driven from their haunts by the Mohawks and an Indian war was begun. To resist their aggressions the Mohegans had allied themselves with the Katskill tribe and the Esopus Indians and with other scattered bands along the upper waters of the Delaware and Schoharie. But the terrible Maquas, or Mohawks, had pressed down the Catskill creek from Schoharie on frequent raids. At last the Mohegans intrenched themselves at the junction of the Cauterskill and Catskill creeks and built another fort at Jefferson Flats, west of Catskill. These

R&VINB WHKRK THK INDIANS FOUGHT,

A DECISIVE BATTLE .

forts were stockades of logs set close to each other perpendicularly in the ground, and they remained long after the Dutch had settled the region.

Tidings of their purpose and of their preparations for defense reached the Mohawks and they determined once for all to subdue the river Indians. Down the Catskill creek from Schoharie they descended upon the Mohegans at their forts. The fighting was fierce and the Mohegans were driven out. A stand was next made at the spring along the Saugerties road to Catskill just where the watering-trough is standing above the Embocht school house. But the onset of the Mohawks was irresistible. They were driven down to the present Ulster county line and took refuge on Wanton Island in the Hudson, recently the site of the National Ice Company’s ice house. Here they fought with the energy of desperation and the Mohawks were unable to dislodge them. The Mohawks withdrew and built their camp-fires quite a distance at one side and appeared to be thoroughly discomfited. The Mohegans were deceived into abandoning the island to fall upon their enemies, who, finding them at last on the main land, and taking them in flank and rear along the road to the present Smith’s Landing, and in the ravine just east of the old Connelly blacksmith shop, fell upon them

HISTORY OF SA UGER TIES.

at dead of night with unearthly cries and with fearful slaughter. Most were killed and many were made prisoners. The power of the river Indians was forever broken and the Iroquois dominated the Continent. The tribes of New England and Canada submitted and an annual tribute of wampum and dried clams was exacted by the conquerors.

Regularly every year this was collected. Two Indians would start from the Mohawk castle, proceed down the river of that name to the mouth of the Schoharie, paddle up that stream to its upper waters, then carry their birch bark canoe by a short portage to the upper waters of the Esopus creek and follow that stream to its mouth at Saugerties, collecting tribute as they went. Such was the prowess of the fearful Iroquois that no one molested the embassy. From Saugerties they paddled up the Hudson either to Roelof Jansens Kill (Livingston creek) and ascended that stream, or followed the Hudson to the Hoosic river above Troy and entered the country of the New England Indians from thence. But wherever they went they were received with respect founded on the fear their reputation inspired.

Many were the efforts made by the French to detach them from the Dutch and English. But down to the day in 1763, when Montcalm and Wolfe both went to the grave at Quebec

A DECISIVE BATTLE .

and the flag of France on this Continent was forever furled, these efforts were unavailing. Did Gov. Stuyvesant or Gov. Andros negotiate a treaty with the Esopus Indians at Kingston? Some Mohawk chieftain was present to approve, or not. Did the Indians about New York city confer with the colonial authorities? An Iroquois chief was there. Did New England officials negotiate with red men ? The consent of the Maquas was necessary. No wonder that the captive Katskill Indian told Capt. Creiger that her people would not fight the Dutch. Thus though Saugerties was neutral ground nevertheless on its borders occurred a battle of tremendous consequence to the future of America in its coming fight for freedom.

Chapter III. The Earliest Records

In the preceding chapter it is said that a squaw informed Sergeant Niessen and his troops that “ some Kattskill Indians lay on the other side near the Sager’s Kill, but they would not fight with the Dutch.” This is the earliest mention of the Sawyer’s creek in the old records and is under the date of July 12, 1663. It establishes the fact that the sawyer from whom the town took its name had had a mill there long enough before 1663 to name the little stream.

The Indian treaties with Governors Stuyvesant in 1658 and 1664, and Nicolls in 1665 had extinguished the titles of the red men to the lands at Kingston and to the west and south of that place. The time had arrived when this should be done to the territory north. Therefore, in the spring of 1677, Governor Sir Edmund Andros summoned the Esopus Indians to a conference at Kingston with himself and the magistrates of the town. The meeting was held on the 27th of April, 1677, and the following is the official account of the proceedings :

THE EARLIEST RECORDS.

Conference Between Governor Andros and the Esopus Indians.

Kingston, the 27th of Aprill, 1677.

Present — His Honor the Governor, Capt. Salisbury, Capt. Chambers, Mr. West and the Magistrates, and Geo. Davit, Interpreter.

His Honor, the Governor, asked the Esopus Sachems, Sewerakan, Pomerewague, Kaelcop,’ Ankrop and the majority of the Esopus Indians, women as well as men and youths, whether they had any claims upon the land, occupied by us in pursuance of the agreement made with His Honor, Governor Nicolls. They went out and after some time spent in deliberation, Kaelcop said that they did not think they had sold land so far North, but they were well satisfied we should have it provided His Honor would give him a blanket, a shirt and a loaf of bread. The Governor then inquired whether it would satisfy them completely, to which he replied, “ Yes, but if His Honor would add a piece of cloth it would be well.” He and the Sachems and all the other Indians were told to point out, or describe the boundaries as they were to be now. They described them as follows : — Beginning at the Ronduyt Kil, thence to a Kil called Kahakasnik North along the hills to a Kil called Magowasinginck, thence to the second fall, Easterly to Frudeyachkanieck on the “ Groote Revier,” along the river South to Ronduyt Kil, with everything lying within these boundaries, good and bad, hills, valleys, waters, etc.

Kaelcop further declared that he had ceded to the old sawyer his claim upon a kil called the Sawyer’s Kil, and the land stretching up to the boundary of the land belonging to the Katskil Indians along the river as far as the mountains above.

HISTORY OF SA UGER TIES.

Whereupon His Honor, the Governor, asked the Sachems and all the other savages, old and young, whether this was so ; they should give a free and fearless answer. They replied it was so and nobody else had any claim upon the land. Questioned once more if they were satisfied with the aforesaid payment they said “Yes, fully.” His Honor then gave to Kaelcop in presence of all the others the articles agreed upon as full pay, to wit : A blanket, a piece of cloth, a shirt, a loaf of bread and baize for socks. All being well satisfied, His Honor said he intended to have the boundaries reviewed for better satisfaction and desired Kaelcop and some other Indians to go along and point out the landmarks for which they should receive extra pay. They accepted the proposition with thanks, and said they were ready to go at any time.

Signed,

Kaelcop, for the Amogarickakan family.

Ankerop, for Kettsypowy.

Kugakapo, for the Mahow family.

Wengiswars, for the Kahatawis family.

Pamiere Wack, Sachem ; Senera Kau, Sachem ; Mamarij Backwa, Sachem j in the name of all Esopus Indians.

In presence of His Honor and the undersigned :

Thomas Chambers, G. Hall,

JOOST,

Sylvester Salisbury, Will Rodeney,

John West,

N. DeMeyer.

Testis,

THE EARLIEST RECORDS.

Thus is recorded in this Indian treaty of 1677 the fact that “ the old sawyer” had secured an Indian title to the Saw creek not only, but to the land stretching from it to the lands of the Katskill Indians, and as far back as the mountains. The Indians always respected the treaty, and no trouble with the whites ever arose over the lands thus conveyed. So this old sawyer, so far as Indian title could make him, became the largest landholder the town ever had. At least 15,000 acres must have been conveyed him. But there is nothing to show that he ever sought confirmation of his title from the colonial authorities, and in fact no one knows the name of him who gave the name to the town of Saugerties. Nor has any investigation ever disclosed when he secured this Indian grant, nor when he first came here. Cregier’s Journal shows the stream thus named fourteen years before the Andros treaty, or in 1663, so that he must have been here as early as the first settlement of Kingston. For this sawmill must have been there long enough before that date to have named the little stream. The date mentioned there, July 12, 1663, is the earliest mention of Sager’s creek in any record. The entry in that “ Journal” is given in the last chapter.

On the 28th of August, 1683, Col. Thomas Dongan arrived in New York to be governor of the colony. In a few days he issued writs for the choice of representatives of the freeholders in a general assembly. On the 17th of October, 1683, this assembly met. It was the first meeting of representatives of the people in a legislative assembly in the colony of New York. At this first meeting of a legislature one of the first acts was to divide the province into counties, and twelve were created. One of these was Ulster. Its description includes these words “ all the village neighborhoods and Christian habitations on the west side of the Hudson river from the Murderer’s Creek to the Sawyer’s Creek,” thus having its southeast limit at the mouth of the creek entering the Hudson just above Cornwall, at the Highlands ; and its northeast in the present village of Saugerties where the Saw creek empties into the same river. Before the date of the organization of Ulster county, November 1, 1683, there is no record of a conveyance of land and, presumptively, no settler.

This was not to remain so long. On the 15th of April, 1685, George Meals, a resident of Albany, and Richard Hayes a resident of Kingston, and both in the British service, secured from the colonial authorities four considerable parcels of land in the town of Saugerties, the patents not being issued until May, 1687. One of these was for a swamp of three

THE EARLIEST RECORDS .

hundred acres, now known as “ The Big VI y,” situate in the north of the. town and lying partly in Albany (now Greene) county. Another was situate on “ The Old Kings Road” along the Beaver creek, containing the farm known as the Kemble place, and was of two hundred and fifty-two acres; the third lay just north of the present village of Saugerties, on both sides of the Sawyer’s creek, and contained two hundred and one acres and the fourth, the largest of all, was on both sides of the Esopus creek at its mouth and contained four hundred and forty-one and three-fourths acres. It was described to be at a place “ called The Sagier’s.” The bounds began on the Hudson just taking in the falls at the mouth of the Saw creek and proceeded in a direct line along the present Division street of Saugerties village to about the present bridge below the Geo. W. Washburn place which spans the Tannery brook. From thence it crossed the Esopus in a direct line and ascended the hill to a point just west of the Richard C. Washburn place. From thence it proceeded in a straight line until near the southerly bounds of the cemetery on Barclay Heights and thence to the river. November 22, 1687, George Meals and Sarah, his wife, conveyed all their interest in the patent to his partner, Richard Hayes, and on the same day Hayes sold his interest in this

HISTORY OF SAUGERTIES .

patent, so far as the south side of the creek was concerned, and also in the Big Vly, to John Wood. And on Oct. I, 1694, Sarah, wife of the late George Meals, conveyed to Wood the interest her husband and she had in the same and which he in his lifetime had sold to Wood.

Then Richard Hayes and Goodwith, his wife, sold the remainder of the village patent to John Hayes, and on August 16, 1712, he conveyed the same to John Persen. So far there had been no settlement on this tract. John Persen became a settler. He built a grist mill, established a ferry across the Esopus and in his will, in 1748, bequeathed house, lands, mill, negro slaves etc. to his wife. His daughter, Vannitje, was the wife of Myndert Mynderse who built the stone house on his estate which is now the residence of F. T. Russell, whose wife is a descendant. But up to the date of the purchase by Persen (1712) there is no evidence of any settler in the bounds of the village. This date is subsequent to the coming of the Palatines to West Camp, Oct. 4, 1710. The records of conveyances of real estate show that none of the Palatines settled in this village until some years later. So it seems clear that John Persen was the first settler within its bounds, unless the nebulous sawyer be excepted. John Persen was born in Kingston where he was baptized Sept. 2, 1683. He was the son

THE EARLIEST RECORDS .

of Sergeant Jan Hendricks Persen of the New Netherland army and Annetje Mattys, his wife. Both came to Kingston from Albany. John Persen married Anna Catryna Post, daughter of Jan Jansen Postmael spoken of below. Cornelius Persen, who kept the store in Katsbaan, was a grand nephew of John.

On May 19, 1687, the same month in which the Meals and Hayes patents were issued, Gov. Dongan granted a large territory of land to u the Inhabitants and Freeholders of the town of Kingston’* for their benefit. This tract practically covered the present towns of Esopus, Ulster, Kingston and Saugerties, except what lay northeast of the Saw creek in the lastnamed town, for the triangle between that creek and the river in which is now West Camp and Malden was then part of Albany county. The patent ordained and declared said inhabitants and freeholders a body corporate and politic with succession forever, with full power to hold and convey real estate and personal property of every kind, and to sue and be sued in the corporate name, and provided for an annual election on the first Tuesday of March of twelve trustees, to hold office for one year. Thenceforth all applications for lands within the present town of Saugerties west of the Saw creek were to be made to the trustees of Kingston Commons instead of the colonial authorities.