A history of old Kinderhook from aboriginal days to the present time

Front matter

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Preface

THE suggestion of this history came from Mr. William Wait, as we met in our cemetery one Sunday afternoon nearly seven years ago. An immediate reference of the plan to the same quiet resting-place might possibly have proved to be the wiser course. Certainly if a tithe of the magnitude and difficulty of the work had been realized, it would never have been undertaken. And yet a task that ought to have been completed before so many of our elder citizens had passed away, should be undertaken. Kinderhook, one of the oldest towns in the State, and one whose contribution of eminent men to public life cannot readily be paralleled, should have its story told more fully and accurately than is possible in a county history. Nearly fifty years ago, indeed, a small beginning was made in the gathering of material for a proposed history; but the exactions of service which had a prior and superior claim, and the announcement that two other writers, natives of the town, had a similar work in hand, led to the now regretted abandonment of the project. Seven years ago, however, relief from an active pastorate, continued for forty-three years, a realization of the unwisdom of having those "idle hands" of which Watts wrote warningly, a degree of familiarity with place and people as great perhaps as that of any who had time for the work, and the expressed wish of many, led to the undertaking of what must be largely a labor of love.

The work is designed to be chiefly a history of old Kinderiv Preface

hook; first the original District, then the Town, and finally the Village proper. Valatie and the parts of the original territory of which we were despoiled for the formation of adjoining towns are by no means neglected, but necessary limitations have precluded their receiving equally full consideration.

The labor involved has been enormous. A short paragraph sometimes represents long and laborious research. No known available source of information has been neglected. Land-papers in the Secretary of State's and other public offices, State and County; deeds, mortgages, and wills innumerable recorded in Albany, Hudson, Kingston, and New York, together with many unrecorded papers loaned by friends; the treasures of the great libraries, including priceless manuscripts (now largely perished) in the custody of our courteous State Archivist, Mr. Van Laer, to say nothing of histories, alleged histories, gazetteers, and newspaper files, have been searched with the utmost care in reading and copying. Many Dutch records have been translated or their substance furnished, in some cases by Mr. Van Laer himself. The records of the old Kinderhook church, covering nearly two hundred years, have been of incalculable value; and possibly fifty years of very frequent scrutiny of them may justify the hope of the approximate accuracy of data derived therefrom. In every quotation there has been strict adherence to the original text, and all responsibility for inconsistencies in the spelling of names is expressly disclaimed. Three variations in such spelling in one document, and as many as fourteen spellings of the same name, have been noted. Descendants of the old families may find in their records ample authority for any spelling they prefer.

The genealogical and biographical notes are numerous and relate to nearly all the old families, but are given of necessity merely in outline. They are, however, reasonably complete and accurate. As long as descendants of the same original ancestor are not agreed as to the accuracy of the

Preface v

published genealogical records, even those of Pearson and Munsell not excepted, it is not to be assumed that I have threaded my way through the inextricable maze with unerring step. Authorities supposedly correct have been followed, and if I have erred it is in excellent and even illustrious company. Personal research in behalf of many seeking to establish impossible family relationships corroborates the statement of Professor Pearson in his Genealogies of the First Settlers of Albany that "it is to be feared that, through tradition or something worse, a large element of fiction has been introduced into many genealogies. "

Footnotes are few, notwithstanding the suggestion that "they look well." Inasmuch as the indices of the many volumes of the Documentary History of the State, the Documents Relating to the Colonial History ^ Munsell's Annals and the like, volumes familiar and accessible to the novice in historic research, reveal the authority for a multitude of unimportant details mentioned, the pedantic display of footnotes concerning an Indian foray or the building of a bridge seemed unnecessary and even undesirable. For all really important land-papers, records, and narratives, the source of authority will be found incorporated in the text.

While the gazetteers furnish many dry-as-dust industrial and other details, said to be loved by posterity, the newspaper files give informing and entertaining glimpses of the every-day life of the fathers; of their exciting political campaigns when the stability of American institutions was imperilled by the candidacy of a Kinderhook justice; of their notable celebrations, barbecues, and gorgeous training days ; of their churches and schools ; of their sloops and stagecoaches ; and of the occasional sad aberration of local editors and bards in the by-ways of frivolity and sentiment. The story of the old homesteads, inns, and the people in them is told with considerable fullness. Many biographical sketches reveal Kinderhook's exceptionally large contribution of notable men to every department of public life. In reminis-

VI

Preface cences of old times Kinderhookers may see the village and their forebears as others saw them, and the gossip of the author concerning men and things fifty years ago may be an appropriate finale.

Obligations to helpers cannot be fully acknowledged, but many are named in the text. The first place belongs to Mr. William Wait, an enthusiastic antiquarian and Indian archaeologist. His suggestions and the treasures of his fine library, as well as his artistic taste and skill in the matter of illustrations, have been of great value. Next in order are the voluminous notes of the late Mr. Pierre Van Buren Hoes who passed away when his sketches of Kinderhook and its people were but begun. Through the kindness of his widow, Mrs. Anna Miller Hoes, and of his son, P. Ernest Hoes, all that material has been made available and helpful. The Rev. Roswell Randall Hoes, Chaplain U. S. N., has also rendered valuable assistance. So, likewise, have Mr. Philip Van Alstine and Dr. Wm. B. Van Alstyne, both of New York and both deeply interested in Kinderhook's early history. Our accomplished State Archivist, Mr. Arnold J. F. Van Laer, and Miss Van Peyma of the genealogical room of the former State library, are to be thankfully named. To Mr. Peyton F. Miller of Hudson I am indebted for permission to use his A Group of Great Lawyers as if written by myself. Very great also was my obligation to my lamented friend, the late Colonel Silas W. Burt, for the loan of the charming manuscript volume containing his recollections of his early life in Kinderhook. From the late Mrs. Aaron J. Vanderpoel, Mrs. W. G. Hibbard of Chicago, and Mr. Robert C. Van Schaack of the same city, daughters and grandson of the late H. C. Van Schaack, of Manlius, N. Y., came the privilege of examining and culling from his three large folio volumes of Revolutionary Autographs, containing many autograph letters and other documents pertaining to those times. Then a host of good people have not only loaned valuable documents but have had their lives made miserable

Preface vii

in part by ceaseless questions. Their unmentioned names would make a partial census of the town. I must, however, name Mr. Calvin Ackley of phenomenal memory of persons and events long passed; and also Mr. Chas. M. Bray, who made many searches of titles in Albany and Hudson. All these at least will rejoice at the completion of this work. Many, with no faintest conception of the labor involved, have been impatient at the long delay in writing finis. Thankful that with spared life and reason I can now write it, I dedicate the book to all the sons and daughters of dear old Kinderhook.

My long-time friend, the Rev. Dr. W. E. GrifEs, bade me God-speed as this new voyage out upon the dark and stormy sea of authorship was begun. He also, most kindly, warned me against being "swamped in a sea of archaeological details." Perilously near it have I been many a time, but now my battered bark is at last safely within a haven of rest, which is sweet, even though it be not in all respects the "desired haven." Laus Deo!

E. A. C.

Kinderhook, N. Y., July i, 1914.

Contents

CHAPTER

PAGE

I. — Discovery and Indians i

Chapter I Kinderhook And Its Indians

Name — Territorial Extent — Discovery — Hudson's Visit — Indian Occupancy — Indian Names — The Last of the Mahicans.

KINDERHOOK {Kinder-hoeck) means Children's Corner. The prosaic prefer Point. Referring to this meaning Ruttenber says, "There is a fragrance in the fact which makes the name more palatable than most Dutch geographical terms." Another breath of fragrance, we add, comes to us from Claverack — Clover Reach.

The original location of the name was on the river-bank near Light House Creek. This explains the constantly recurring phrase in early land papers — "behind Kinderhook."

The first known appearance of the name is remarkable and of great significance. It is on what is called Adriaen Block's (possibly Cornells Hendrick's) "Carte Figurative," dated 1614-1616. No present-day place-name in the State is of earlier record. On that chart Albany is Nassau, and New York, Manhattes. The chart is, as Bacon states, "shockingly mendacious" in its mislocation of some names; Esopus, for example, on the east side of the river; but it is accurate as regards the location of Kinderhook.

This early appearance of the name instantly disposes of all the alleged and variant traditions as to its origin except the most pleasing, namely, that it was given by Hudson or his crew because of the Indian children gathered to see the strange monster on the river. Inasmuch as the telegraph and telephone had not as yet been installed in the wigwams of the Indians, it seems probable that it was an anchored, somewhile abiding, and not a mere passing ship which called the children together in sufficient number to occasion the giving of the name. Returning home the explorers reported the incident, and down the name Kinderhook went on that very early chart.

To Henry Hudson belongs the honor of the discovery of Kinderhook when the Half Moon anchored in latitude 42° 18', September 18, 1609.

Our authority for this and other statements to follow is De Laet's Nieuw Werreld, 1625. John De Laet, a member of the West Indian Company and an eminent geographer, claimed that he wrote with original documents, inferentially Hudson's Journal and Juet's Log Book, before him. Robert Juet, Hudson's clerk, kept a daily log book with evident care. Director Jameson, of Carnegie Institute, Washington, in his Narratives of New Netherlands assures us that "De Laet's work is composed with system, precision and accuracy." Both Hudson and Juet were English, and their leagues and miles English and not Dutch. Interpreters of these records have come to different conclusions. After Yates and Moulton, Brodhead and others, it would ill become us to assume that we can settle the disputed question in favor of Kinderhook waters as the most northerly anchorage of the Half Moon. It is certainly, however, not settled adversely; and while we do not claim a proved case, we do claim a greater degree of plausibility and probability for this view than for any other. All conditions considered, the Half Moon of our picture puzzle fits more perfectly in Kinderhook waters as the final anchorage than any-

K-inderKooK and its Indians 3

where else. We present the argument for what it may be worth.

The first important presentation of the view for which we contend was by Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller in his address before the N. Y. Hist. Society in 1809, published in their first volume.

In Capt. Simms's Frontiersmen of New York, we read: "Captain Hudson ascended the stream above the present city of Hudson, and from thence sent his mate with four hands in a boat to prosecute the survey, who, it is believed, ascended the river to the present site of Albany."

From Historical Collections of the State of New York we quote the statement of Barber and Howe, 1841:

Hudson appears to have sailed up the river a little above where the city of Hudson now stands; and beyond that point he himself never ascended. Not considering it safe to proceed further with his ship he sent a boat with five hands to explore and sound the river higher up. The boat proceeded eight or nine leagues beyond where the ship lay at anchor; but finding the soundings extremely irregular and the depth in some places not more than seven feet, it was judged inadvisable to attempt any further progress.

Finally, in this partial citation of authorities, in Randall's History (1870, p. 12) we read: "On the 19th, he (Hudson) reached the present site of Kinderhook, from whence, having sent a small boat to a point a little above Albany, he commenced, on the 23rd, his return voyage."

Much importance is given to the statement of Emanuel Van Meteren, Dutch consul at London for twenty-five years until his death in 161 2, which is that the ship ascended the river to latitude 42° 40', approximately that of the present Lumber district, Albany.

We also have Lambrechtsen's statement that the river was sailed up to latitude 43° ; that is more than twenty miles above Albany. Recalling the rapids then existing beyond

Troy, and having a fall of about twenty feet, the statement is absurdly inaccurate, if strictly interpreted.

Yates and Moulton cite from A Record of West India Voyages that the highest latitude reached was 42° 40'; but whether by the Half Moon or its boat is not stated. We submit also that the writer, thirty-eight years after Hudson, quoted by Brodhead is not a prime or conclusive authority.

Morse {American Geography, 1789) gives the latitude of Hudson as 42° 23', Albany, 42° 36'. It is quite conceivable that Van Meteren also erred. Concerning his and all like statements we remark:

I. They are inconsistent with the original narrative of Hudson and Juet. This explicitly declares that the small boat went *' eight or nine leagues'' beyond the most northerly anchorage of the Half Moon. It was gone all day, not returning until ten o'clock at night ; presumably a twelve- or fourteen-hour trip to say the least. But it is certain that the boat could have gone only about two leagues above 42° 40'. We must anchor the Half Moon in Kinderhook waters to make that eight or nine league twelve-hour trip possible.

II. De Laet, with Hudson's narrative professedly before him, expressly states that it was in latitude 42° 18', approximately that of the mouth of Stockport Creek, that Hudson made his memorable visit ashore. Beyond this point the Half Moon sailed only about two leagues, that is, to Kinderhook waters, and there for about four days remained at anchor and thence returned after the trip of the small boat "eight or nine leagues'' beyond; that is, to the vicinity of Albany. It is alleged that De Laet's latitudes and Juet's leagues and miles were probably inaccurate. The precision of our U. S. Coast Survey is not to be expected; but we may not assume errors to fit our theories. The latitude of Sandy Hook bar, which the Half Moon hesitated to cross because "there was no more than teji feet of water," is given with approximate accuracy, and there is no warrant ninderHooK and its Indians 5

for the assumption that 42° 18', as the latitude of Hudson's visit ashore, is incorrect. The miles and leagues of Juet's log are, it is alleged, too many for the actual distance sailed. Quite true for a modern steamboat trip, but possibly not for the Half Moon tacking hither and yon as compelled by adverse winds.

III. The details of the original narratives as regards the vicinity of the final anchorage of the Half Moon point to the same conclusion. A friend, very familiar with this part of the river, and a practical navigator, assures us that the details — '^shoals in the middle of the river with deep water on either side and in the proximity of three small islands ^^ — are met in this locality and in no other.

IV. We have this narrative of the first stage of the return trip:

At tweule of the clocks wee weighed, and went downe two leagues to a Shoald that had two channels, one on the one side, and another on the other, and had little wind, whereby the tide layed vs upon it. So, there wee sate on ground the space of an houre, till the floud came.

The narrative in all its details agrees perfectly with the theory of Kinderhook waters as the starting-point, and the well-known flat near the four-mile lighthouse as the place where the Half Moon grounded.

The editor of Juet's Journal {New York Historical Collections, New Series, Vol. I.) added this note:

"Ship navigation In the river extends five or six miles above the city of Hudson, to about the latitude 42° 18'; beyond this point vessels drawing more than six feet of water are generally unable to ascend." Moulton supposes the Half -Moon to have been of the small class of vessels of less burthen than sloops plying between Troy and New York. But it will be remembered that on making Sandy Hook, Hudson at first declined entering what appeared to be the mouth of a large river, because it had a very shoal bar before it, where they had but ten feet of water. Is it probable, then, that he ventured or was able to pursue his course beyond the point indicated as the head of ship navigation on the river, when he would encounter shoals of only six or seven feet at high water?

De Laet, after describing "Kleverack" (Clover Reach) and other "Reaches" as "dotted with sands and shallow both on the east side and in the middle of the river," writes:

Finally the Hart's Reach succeeds as far as the Kinderhoeck : at this place and beyond, the river at its greatest depth has but five fathoms of water and generally only two or three. Beyond the Kinderhoeck there are several small islands in the river, one of which is called Beeren Island.

We confess to a profound admiration for the skill of the theoretic pilots two hundred and forty years after Hudson who, under these conditions of unknown tortuous channels and innumerable shoals, navigate a ship of eighty tons, which drew too much w^ater for the bars of the Delaware and hesitated and grounded at Sandy Hook with its ten feet of water, to the vicinity of Albany, and thence send a small boat twenty-four miles or more up the rapids.

All are agreed that through the day and night of September 1 6th, the Half Moon was at anchor within near view of the Catskill Mountains, possibly near Catskill, possibly Tivoli. There, Juet narrates, ''We found very loving people and very old men and were well used.'' The natives supplied them with Indian corn, pumpkins, and tobacco. The next day tortuous channels and many shoals, wdth which all navigators of the Hudson are familiar, made progress difficult and slow. They ran only ''six leagues higher ^ The Half Moon grounded twice but was "heaved off" and finally safely anchored, where it remained about a day and a half. The latitude, according to De Laet, was 42° 18', approximately, as we have already said, that of the mouth of Stock-

The "Half Moon" in Kinderhook Waters

Major Abram's Creek, Looking West Near here Henry Hudson Landed

RinderKooK and its Indians 7

port creek. There, De Laet states, " Hudson landed.^' Then and there he discovered Kinderhook and trod its soil. Beyond this the Half Moon went about six miles and anchored, where it remained about four days. It was the cynosure of all eyes, especially of those of the gathering children, and the place was therefore named Kinderhook. And the name continues while Albany was successively known as Nassau, De Fuyck, Fort Orange, Beverwyck, Albany, Willemstadt, and Albany; not to say Aurania ("ffort Aurania"), which was doubtless the English phonetic spelling of the Dutch Oranje (Orange). Most respectfully do we remind Albanians, who insist on docking the Half Moon where we beheld her replica in 1909, of what Governor Nicolls with reason wrote to Jeremias Van Rensselaer: "You should not grasp too much."

We have presented our argument and deem it plausible if not conclusive. Certainly no other conclusion is indisputably established.

That this was the view of Martin Van Buren we do not positively affirm; but among the pleasing memorabilia of him is his alleged reply when at a royal reception Queen Adelaide asked how far back he could trace his ancestry. Bowing with all courtly grace he answered, "As far back as Kinderhook, Your Majesty."

Of course we who know Kinderhook best are not surprised that Hudson should have regarded it as the Ultima Thiile of his personal explorations and the Ne Plus Ultra of his desires.

Hudson's visit to Kinderhook was on Friday, September 18, 1609. The narrative from his own journal is as follows:

I sailed to the shore in one of their canoes with an old man, who was the chief of a tribe consisting of forty men and seventeen women ; these I saw there in a house well constructed of oak-bark and circular in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built with an arched roof. It contained a great quantity of

8 Old KLinderKooK

maize or Indian corn and beans of the last year's growth, and there lay near the house for the purpose of drying enough to load three ships, besides what was growing in the fields. On our coming into the house two mats were spread out to sit upon, and immediately some food was served in well made red wooden bowls; two men were also despatched at once with bows and arrows in quest of game, who soon after brought in a pair of pigeons which they had shot. They likewise killed a fat dog, and skinned it with great haste with shells which they had got out of the water. They supposed that I would remain with them for the night, but I returned after a short time to the ship. The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees"of every description. The natives are a very good people, for when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed that I was afraid of their bows, and taking their arrows, they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire. Hospitality and goodness abide in Kinderhook still.

The Indians who so kindly welcomed Hudson were the Mahicans, sometimes mistakenly identified with their cousins the Mohegans, whom Cooper immortalized. Their domain included the whole eastern shore of the upper Hudson as far as the falls of the Mohawk and thence eastward indefinitely. They were a tribe of the Lenni-Lenapes, which means Original People. The domain of the Lenapes extended along the Atlantic seaboard from the St. Lawrence to Florida, and as far inland as the valley of the Mississippi, and even to some tribes beyond. But of this region a small portion near the Great Lakes, and that extending across New York and through the valley of the Mohawk and to the headwaters of the Delaware and Susquehanna, was occupied by the Mengwe, otherwise called Iroquois or Six Nations; and a small portion along the Gulf at the south was inhabited by the Creeks and Cherokees. The Lenni- Lenapes, it is stated, had been reduced in numbers by 1660, to 90,000; about one half of the total number of Indians east of the Mississippi.

RinderKooK and its Indians 9

The tradition of the Mahicans concerning their early history, which is essentially that of the Lenni-Lenapes, is given by Heckewelder in substance as follows : Their ancestral home was in the far West beside great waters that ebbed and flowed. Moved by the Great Spirit to seek new hunting grounds in the East, they started upon their journey. It was long and perilous and involved many bloody conflicts with hostile tribes through whose territory they must needs go. Years of privation and suffering came and went without their finding a place of rest. They came to many great waters but to none that ebbed and flowed until they reached the Hudson, These waters were like those of their ancestral river. They named them Mahicanituck, the river of the Mahicans. Here the Great Spirit would have them ^^ kindle a fire and hang a kettle whereof they and their children might dip out their daily refreshment.'^

Their Council fire and palisaded village or castle were in Schodack, meaning Fire Place or Place of Council. The site was Castle hill within the present village of Castleton. Another place of rendezvous was in Valatie, the Indian name of which (Pachaquak) signifies Meeting Place. Beeren Island was long known as the island of the Mahicans, and Smack's as Aepjen's Island.

Eskuvius, alias Aepjen (Little Ape), was the Mahican head Sachem and Peace Chief. The name Aepjen was probably the Dutch phonetic spelling of an Indian name of much more dignified meaning. Kesieway (Kesse Waye) was another Peace Chief who was in later years a mail-carrier between Albany and New York. The function of a Peace Chief was to maintain tribal covenants and also to negotiate treaties of peace for his own people and for others when invited thus to serve. We find Aepjen thus serving with the sachems of five other tribes in New Amsterdam, in 1645, to terminate a desolating war of five years' continuance. Their signatures, with those of William Kieft and other Dutch officials, were affixed to the treaty. Aepjen's mark is charmingly like a child's picture of a giraffe with a long neck but very short legs and a straight tail of the same length. It was meant doubtless for a wolf, the emblem of his tribe. Again in 1660 he was one of three Mahican chiefs who went to Fort Amsterdam in the interests of peace with the Esopus Indians. Laying down, we read, four belts of wampum before Governor Stuyvesant, "These," he said, "are a guarantee that the Kalebackers (possessors of guns) desire peace, and that we are authorized to treat in their behalf."

Traditionally, Emikee, whose name occurs on an Indian deed and on the subsequent Baker and Plodder land-patent, was the owner of the present site of the village of Kinderhook and of a portion of the flats toward Valatie; and one Pompoen (whence Pompoenick) was the swarthy proprietor of Valatie or land to the east of it. As late as 18 12, when attorney Martin Van Buren was arguing one of the almost interminable land cases, he rather ungraciously referred to Emikee as "only an Indian." The retort was that the attorney was born on Emikee's land.

In our iconoclastic age some are disposed to regard Emikee as a myth, partly because Chancellor Kent, in one of our most important land cases, of which we shall have more to say, used the words, "the Emiquees land," suggesting possibly a tribe or family of the Mahicans. That the word was a corruption of Maquas (Mohawks) is not credible. The Mohawks, sometimes victors and at other times the vanquished even in their own fastnesses, in the frequent conflicts between the two tribes, never owned any of our territory. That Emikee and Wattawit, our chief Indian landholder (for himself or his family) , were one and the same is possible. But for ourselves we have a profound respect for Emikee as a veritable person, and shall drop a quiet tear over his grave when we find it. He should have a monument in our village park, and we will receive subscriptions therefor.

HinderKooK and its Indians II

The principal trails of the Indians through the wilderness, unbroken save by patches here and there under crude tillage, were two: one near the river; and the other, following the lines of least resistance, nearly identical with the roadbed of the Boston and Albany Railroad and long known as the "New England Path."

The friendliness of the Mahicans who welcomed Hudson was continued for many years. With scarcely an exception their lands were bought, not stolen. The price was often trifling indeed, but satisfactory to the owners. Under the Dutch in 1629, and the English in 1664, the extinguishment of the Indian claim by purchase was a prerequisite to the granting of a land-patent. The Indian owner or the Sachem of the tribe was required to appear in person before the Albany authorities and attest the satisfactory sale.

On Manhattan, not here, occurred the alleged repetition of Queen Dido's exploit at Carthage. A bit of land, only what a bullock's hide would cover, that they might "raise a few greens for their soup," was asked for and freely given. But when the thrifty suppliants, laying aside their Virgil, proceeded to cut the hide into small strings which enclosed a considerable plot, the Indians said nothing, for they had several acres left, but they did considerable thinking, to the effect possibly that the verdants in the bouillon were already in evidence.

In 1623 Mahican chiefs brought to commander Jorise at Fort Orange, large presents of beaver and other peltry, and asked for covenants of friendship and privileges of traffic. They are reported as saying at that time that they made a wide distinction between the Dutch at Fort Orange and those at New Amsterdam. We blushingly accept the tribute as undoubtedly merited. And yet we will say that there was a decided distinction between the fierce warlike Delawares of Manhattan and our peaceful loving Mahicans. Moreover, when we read in the narrative of the Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, of his visit to Albany, in 1749, —