Documentary history of Rhinebeck

Index

CHAP. PAGE

1. Indian Deeds and Patent to Artsen & Co 7

2. The Beekman Patent 16

3. The Schuyler Patent 23

4. The Kips and Their Lands 37

5. The Van Wagenens and Their Lands 33

6. Arie Roosa and His Lands 39

7. Jan Elton and His Lands 43

8. The North Ward 45

9. Organization of the Precinct 47

10. The Beekman Family 53

11. The Hoffman Family 80

12. The Van Benthuysens and Heermances 83

13. Our Palatine Settlers 86

14. The German Reformed Church 91

15. The Rhinebeck Lutheran Church 98

16. The Reformed Dutch Church 107

17. The Wurtemburgh Church 119

18. Red Hook Reformed Dutch Church 133

19. Upper Red Hook Reformed Dutch Church 136

20. Rhinebeck Methodist Church 135

21. Rhinebeck Baptist Church 146

22. Rhinebeck Village Lutheran Church 154

23. Tlie Rhinebeck Episcopal Church . . 157

24. The Rhinebeck Roman Catholic Church 163

35. Rhinebeck Flatts 164

26. Public Institutions and Buildings 170

28. Rhinebeck in the Civil War 330

Appendix

Old Buildings 335

Town and Precinct Officers 387

U. S. Senators from Rhinebeck 231

Representatives in Congress from Rhinebeck 231

State Senators 231

Members of Assembly 232

An Old Settlement 238

INTRODUCTORY.

The map on the ^'♦receding page includes the patents to Maj. Peter ISchuyler and (iemt Artsen & Co., in 3 688, and that to Henry Beekman in 1697, and shows the territory which constituted the town of Rhinebeck from 1788 to 1812. The precinct of Rhinebeck, organized in 1784, contained, in addition to this territory, "■Pawling's purchase'' on the south, becoming in part the property of Dr. Samuel Staats, of New York, in 1701, and Ivnown thereafter as Staatsburgh. (See Appendix.) The town of Red Hook co\'-ers all of the Schuyler, and we thinlv a i3art of the Beekman patent, while the town of Rhinebeck contains the Beekman patent, and also the jmtent to Artsen, Roosa, Elton, and the two Kips, know^n as Kipsbergen in our early history. The town of Rhinebeck contains 21,'Si)'S acres, about 2,2()() of which were included in the Artsen patent, and the tow^n of Red Hook 22,22;") acres. Rhinebeck creek is so-called because it has its main springs in the part of the town laid out for the '• High Dutchers," and called Rein Beek. It runs through level meadow land from beginning to end ; has no falls, and has, therefore, never tiu-ned a mill. Landsman's civek was so-called, either because all its water-falls, ('a])ab]e of tui'uinga mill, were'reserved by the "Landsman," or landh)rd, in his sales to the settlers; or, because it was discovered or first settled upcm by Casper Landsman, whose name is found in our old church records. These two streams join in Fritz's mill-pond. At this point the Rhinebeck

IV INTRODUCTORY.

creek terminates, and from thence to the river it is Landsman' s creek, and was Beekman's property. A short distance below the junction, it fails over a rocky precipice sixty feet high, and when it is full forms a beautiful cascade in a deep and picturesque dell, in full view from the highway, called by a Rhinebeck poet the ' ' Buco Bush ' ' (Beechwood) Falls. This creek at one time turned a grist and sawmill at the river ; a grist-mill and woolen factory in Fox Hollow ; a paper mill at the falls ; a saw-mill, an oil mill, and a woollen factory at the Junction ; a grist-mill west of the post-road, liuilt by General Richard Montgomery ; a grist mill and woollen factory east of the post-road ; a gristmill east of the village, known as Isaac Davis' mill ; a sawmill and Schuyler's woollen, factory further east ; and Rutsen's grist and saw-mill at Mrs. Miller's place. Of these mills, the Fox HoUovv^ mill burned many years ago, the paper mill at the falls later, Ludekke's mill at the junction, and the two mills at the post-road a few years ago. A grist and saw-mill at the junction are all that are left to the town. The Sawkill in Red Hook was so named, because the first use made of it was to turn saw-mills. It at one time turned Judge Livingstone' s mill at the river ; General Armstrong's mill at Cedar Hill; Van Benthuysen's mill, and a woollen factory in the same place ; the Chancellor' s mill, now Hendrick's mill, in the interior ; and Robert G. Livingston's mill on the Rock City branch. Gen. Armstrong's and, the Chancellor's mills, we Vielieve, are maintaining a feeble existence. The White Clay creek is so-called ])ecause it runs through, or from a layer of white clay somewhere. This creek at one time had Jannetje Bradt's mill at the mouth. Park's mill at Myersville, Cook' s factory, and Zachariah Hoffman's mill. It is doing very little, if anvthing, in the milling line now. These creeks have thus

INTKODUOTORY. V

all lost their value to the towns, which have become simple agricultural communities, with sumptuous country seats on the banks of the Hudson ; well-stocked retail dry-goods and grocery stores ; skillful mechanics of all kinds ; learned and eloquent ministers of the Gospel of different orthodox denominations ; and a full supply of lawyers and doctors, in all the post villages and hamlets.

Before the invention of steamboats, when all the work on the river, in the conveyance of freight and passengers, was done by the slooj:)s, the post-road carried a lively opposition to the river ; and after the invention of the steamboat, when the Winter closed the river, the post-road carried the mail and all the freight and passengers between New York and Albany, and the growing /:'ities North and West ; and the villages along the line knew something of life and business. But now all is changed. The railroad knows no Winter or Summer ; it maintains an unceasing draft on the life-blood of the small towns for the benefit of the larger ; and hence there is a dark future for all the country villages that have not the facilities and advantages of location foi' the conduct of profitable manufacturing enterprises.

Of the Hudson River Railroad, eight miles and fourteen one-hundredths are in Rhinebeck ; of the Rhinebeck and Connecticut, five miles and five-sixteenths. The assessed value of the real estate in the town is $3,152,348; of the personal estate, $450,460. The number of people in the town is 3,905 ; of taxable people, 716. The aggregate State tax against all the taxable property in the town, in this year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty, is $23,045.00.

DUTCHESS COUNTY, N. Y.