XIV. TOWN OF CRAWFORD…

XIV. TOWN OF CRAWFORD

By J. Erskine Ward.

This triangular township, some eighteen or twenty miles west of the Hudson River, is in the northwest corner of Orange County, bordering upon the counties of Sullivan and Ulster. It carries a point of Orange County land well up into old Ulster County and contains the northernmost soil of the county.

It is bounded on the north by Sullivan and Ulster, on the east by Ulster and the town of Montgomery, south by Montgomery and Wallkill, and on the west by the town of Wallkill and Sullivan County.

The area of the town, as given in the last report of the Orange Supervisors, is 24,769 acres. Upon this land the Crawford assessors for 1906 placed a valuation of $664,531, and returned personal property of its residents to the value of $15,300. The total tax raised in the town that year was $8,617.89. This amount was made up as follows: General fund, $2,668.14; poor fund, $600; town audits, $2,287.12; roads and bridges, $400; railroad purposes, $2,107.50; temporary relief, $250; sworn off taxes, $185.45; treasurer's credits, $115.33.

The name Crawford came from a numerous and respectable family of Irish descent who were among the first settlers of the locality. The land was a part of the original John Evans patent referred to in other parts of this work. When this great tract was set aside the territory of this section was disposed of in many smaller grants to Philip Schuyler and others. Among the many other tracts mentioned in the Crawford titles were the 8,000-acre tract which now includes the village of Pine Bush, and the 10,000-acre tract next on the south. The following separate patents were included in the Crawford township; Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, November 12, 1750; Frederick Morris and Samuel Heath, January 24, 1736; Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, April 25, 1722; Philip Schuyler and others, 8,000 acres, July 7, 1720; part of the patent to Jeremiah Schuyler and others, January 22, 1719; part of Thomas Noxon's patent February 21, 1737.

NATURAL FEATURES OF THE TOWN.

The general altitude of the town is somewhat higher than that of Montgomery. The general surface is a hilly upland broken by high ridges, which extend northeast and southwest. It is in fact separated from Montgomery by one of these elevated ridges known as the Collaburgh and Comfort Hills, which at times rise 200 feet above the valley. While the land is somewhat more difficult to cultivate because of the stony hills and undulating surface, the soil is very strong and productive, yielding fine crops of grass, grain and fruits and responding well to tillage. These slopes and elevations have been found particularly well adapted to the growth of fruit of a superior quality. The proximity of the mountain range is said to have a favorable influence upon the general rainfall of the region. Showers are frequent in summer and the effects of drought are less severe than in other sections not so favored.

The Shawangunk Kill or river is the principal stream, and it forms the western boundary of the town between it and Sullivan County, and afterward it also separates the town from Ulster County until the northern limit of the town is reached. This is a rapid flowing stream and affords much valuable water power at different points, which has been utilized to some extent in a variety of ways. The early settlers were quick to see the value and importance of these privileges, and they began to make use of them in their primitive manner at once.

Among the numerous tributaries to the Shawangunk in the town is the Paughcaughnaughsinque. The name is of Indian origin. There are in fact two of these subsidiary streams, the Big and the Little Paughcaughnaughsinque. They flow northward and afford additional water power at different points.

In the eastern portion of the town is a more important stream known now as the Dwaarskill. This, too, has enjoyed a great variety of orthographic nomenclature, such as "Dwaaskill," "Dwarf'skill," etc. Of course the original was bestowed by the Indians, and, it is said, was given in honor of a Chief of a small tribe which dwelt upon its banks. One of the old settlers in that region is credited with having seen this Indian Chief, who was called "Dwaase," and who had his wigwam near the old turnpike gate No. 3. Others claim, however, that the name is clearly Low or Holland Dutch, and signifies perverse or contrary because it flows north. The stream begins somewhere near the center of the town of Wallkill, not far from the Crawford Railway junction, flows through the valley parallel to that of the Shawangunk Kill, and finally leaves the town at the northeast corner.

This town also has its share of swamps, of which the historian Ruttenber says Orange County has over 40,000 acres. One of these swamps is northwest of the Sinsabaugh neighborhood, and another is southwest of Searsburgh.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS.

This being among the newer towns of the county, the specific details of its settlement are so blended with the early history of the old Wallkill precinct and that of the town of Montgomery, from which Crawford was set off, that it is quite impossible to separate them for this place.

The Weller settlement was partly upon this territory. Johannes Snyder started a small settlement in the vicinity of Searsville, where he bought a large tract of land on both sides of the Dwaarskill. He built a primitive log mill there at once, and this is down in the records of 1768 as Snyder's Mill. He seems to have been a man of means and influence, as he also built a log church soon after settling there, which was known as Snyder's Church. This Snyder family was Dutch and made the first settlement here in 1740, if not earlier. All the services in this little church was in the Dutch language, and it is recorded that the church was worn out or outgrown even before the Revolution.

Somewhere about the same time Robert Milliken built a saw mill on the Shawangunk Kill. This is referred to as Milliken's mill in the records of 1768, and this is the earliest mention of a saw mill on that stream in the records. Other mills were built there, however, in later years. First was the old flour mill of Pat. Boice, next below the Milliken mill was the Sear's grist mill, then Abraham Bruyn's flour mill, and finally Cornelius Slott's saw and grist mill combined. The latter was continued by Arthur Slott after the death of his father, and he soon built a small collection of houses there for his employees. This Slott ancestry were among the oldest settlers in the State. The family came from Holland in 1670, as the family record shows. They located first at Hackensack, N. J., and after a few years there they removed to Rockland County, and soon after that they came to Montgomery and settled on the Tinn Brook at a point afterward known as Slott Tow. Cornelius Slott engaged in farming. In 1777, while serving as an orderly sergeant with his military company, in the active defense of Fort Montgomery, he was taken prisoner and confined in the old Sugar House, New York, by the British forces for ten months. In 1785, on regaining his liberty, he sold his farm and lived in New York for the next five years. Then he bought the mill site in Pine Bush and erected his saw mill just below the mouth of the Paughcaughnaughsinque stream. The next year he also built a grist mill. There was no public road leading to his mill at the time, but he soon secured one from Hopewell.

A small early settlement near Graham's Church was made by Abraham Dickerson, an Irishman, John Robinson and Philip Decker. Philip Decker's ancestors came from Holland. When sixteen years old he drove a team from Ward's Bridge to Valley Forge with a load of corn for Washington's army. Dickerson built a saw mill on a small stream near there which was operated successfully for a time and then fell into decay. The portion of the Wallkill valley in this town was the site of the earliest settlement. These old pioneers consisted of Germans, Hollanders and Huguenots. Many of them came from the older settlements in Ulster County, and others were directly from their native land.

Robert Jordan came here from Ireland in 1771. About 1784 he settled at Bullville in this town. His brother John seems to have settled there in 1767, having arrived in this country some years ahead of Robert. Among his neighbors there about that time or a few years later, were Joseph Elder, James Barclay, Samuel Barclay, John Martin and Daniel Bull. Thomas Turner was also a land owner in the Bullville settlement to the extent of 300 acres.

In the Searsville neighborhood William Snider was among the pioneers. He purchased a large tract of land there upon which he lived many years before the Revolution. He seems to have been a man of some wealth, for at the outbreak of hostilities with Great Britain he buried a considerable sum of money in a secret place upon his property, the location of which was known only to a faithful Negro slave. After the war this Negro was awarded by his master with his personal freedom because of his loyalty and faithfulness.

An old apple orchard planted before the Revolution near Bullville, died out long years since. Nathan Johnson was the village shoemaker, going around from house to house with his kit of tools strapped upon his back. This occupation was then known as "whipping the cat" for some reason not very clear at this time. Johnson was an old shoemaker who had been employed making army shoes during the war. It was the custom at that period for those cobblers to go about at stated periods and do the family cobbling and shoe-making for the year.

William Jordan, son of Robert, became colonel of the Shawangunk regiment of militia, and he lived under every President of the United States until his death, having voted the Democratic ticket for 66 years.

Benjamin Sears is mentioned in the records as a remarkable man in many respects among the settlers in that region. Coupled with rare native talent he had a most remarkable memory of details. Nothing ever escaped him when once his mind grasped it. All his accounts were accurately kept in his mind. But his education is said to have been very limited. He served as constable in the town of Montgomery during his early life, where he had five brothers from whom there has been a long line of descendants. He also served as sheriff of Orange County for a time. And the small hamlet of Searsburgh, near the center of the town, on the Dwaarskill stream, was named for him. He established a flour and saw mill there at an early date.

Joseph Elder was of Irish descent and came into this region some years before the Revolution. He lived upon a very stony farm, and it is recorded of him that being a man of giant frame, robust and vigorous, he would gather up these stones in a leathern apron girded about his loins and carry them to the place where they were used for fence walls, instead of carting them in a wagon. Though also scantily educated, he served some years as magistrate of his town with much satisfaction, being a man of strong common sense and good judgment. He seems also to have been a pioneer pedestrian, the original Weston, apparently; for it is recorded that on a certain occasion, missing his sloop at Newburgh, which was already out of sight above the Danskammer Point, running with a fair wind, on the Hudson, on its way to Albany, young Elder started off at a rattling pace, with his musket and knapsack, to join his military company at the Capital in time or be denounced as a traitor. It is said he beat the sloop by several hours, though the precise time made is not given.

Dr. Joseph Whalen, another well known Irish pioneer, was among the early physicians practicing his profession in this region. He came at the close of the war, settled in this town for a few years, and afterward practiced in Montgomery for over fifty years. It is worthy of note in this connection that in those days no doctor ever expected to collect for his services from his patient in person. The doctor's claim was always presented to the executor or administrator, as the case might he, after the patient's death. There were obvious reasons for this custom then, as there often are even in these later times, but the reader must be left to draw his own conclusions. This noted doctor had a most extensive practice, and he was also a famous horseman and equestrian, owning much fine horseflesh. He even rivaled the celebrated Count Pulaski, the Polish general in the Revolution, who would throw his hat before him on the road while under full speed on his horse and so far dismount as to take it up. Dr. Whalen could take a glass of liquid in his hand, mount his horse, ride away a quarter of a mile and return without spilling a drop.

Daniel Bull was another prominent settler of this region. He came some years before the Revolution and settled upon an extensive tract of newly cleared land which was rough and stony and had been owned by his father, Thomas Bull, who lived in the old stone house in Hamptonburgh. This land was then valued at $2.50 per acre. In 1780 he married Miss Miller at Goshen, where the bride and groom were snowbound for two weeks of their honeymoon. They had thirteen children and the family became one of the most prominent and numerous in the town. Mr. Bull was a most successful farmer, and he reclaimed a vast acreage of wild land and brought it under good and profitable tillage. He amassed wealth and became a valued citizen, being long regarded as a patriarch of the town. In 1821, the record shows, that fifty-two grandchildren had been born of this parentage, making a family total of seventy-six. All were then alive except two who died in infancy, and on a certain day in June of that year seventy-four members of this noted family were gathered in the family homestead near Bullville for a grand reunion. The farm is now owned by Theodore Roberson.

The Crawford family, after which the town was named, were descendants of John Crawford, who settled in New Windsor in 1737. The names of John, William, James and Samuel are found upon the old military roll of 1738 for the Wallkill. Robert I. Crawford was a prominent citizen here early in the last century, and he lived near the old Hopewell church.

The Thompson brothers, Alexander, Andrew, and Robert, came from Ireland about 1770. They bought 500 acres of land on what became afterward known as Thompson's Ridge, and divided the plot equally among themselves. One of these farms then included the site of the Hopewell church, and all this property has been kept in the Thompson family.

David Rainey was another ante-revolutionary settler in this locality, and he established what was afterward known as the "brick-house farm," near Pine Bush. He erected the first brick house between Newburgh and Ellenville. Although only a boy during the Revolution, he served for a short time in the Continental Army under Clinton. The ancestor of Jacob Whitten was also among the pioneers there.

Among the early physicians of the town were Dr. Crosby, who lived near the Hopewell church and practiced during the early part of the last century; Dr. Charles Winfield, who lived near Pine Bush; Dr. Hunter, of Searsville, who later served as school inspector for that time; Dr. Griffith, also of Pine Bush, who died in 1855, and Dr. Durkee, who lived a mile south of Pine Bush.

TOWN ORGANIZATION.

The town of Crawford was formed from the town of Montgomery, March 4, 1823. That older town covered such a large extent of territory that it was found inconvenient and expensive to conduct the public business to advantage. A convenient and practicable arrangement of boundary lines for a division of the town was found possible whereby there might be a central point convenient of access for the citizens of each town. The name Crawford was given in honor of that pioneer family, as before stated, many of its descendants having become so closely identified with the local interests of the region.

The first town meeting was held at the house of Edward Schoonmaker, April 1, 1823. William W. Crawford was then chosen the first supervisor; Oliver Mills, town clerk, and a full list of officials was selected. Every man was authorized to act as his own pound-master, and every farm was regarded as a pound. A bounty of $25 was voted for every wolf killed in the town, which shows that these hungry animals were still roaming through the forests at that time. At a special meeting held later in the month, $460 was voted to be raised for the support of the poor for that year. There were then thirty-nine road districts in that little town, and each district had its accredited road-master. But the records are not clear as to the character or extent of the road work done in that early period. Of course every male citizen was required to appear for service upon the road at such time or times as the master of his district would designate, and put in such number of days' work as his property possessions called for under the prevailing provisions of the State road laws. The road-master was the boss, and if he said the roadway must be highly rounded in the center, a plow was run deeply along each side of the track and the loose mud or dirt was scraped up into the road with hoes or shovels. Then the wagon wheels would throw out this mud during the rest of the year when it was not frozen, where the workers of the succeeding year would find it again, waiting to be scraped back into the roadway. This was the old process of road repair for two hundred years, and there seems to have been general satisfaction with the curious method as far as the records disclose. In fact, the public highways were not regarded of great importance in those days in spite of the fact that they were the leading if not the only arteries of transportation throughout the country before the advent of railways and cheap water-line shipment. These observations are made in this connection because of the recent dawn of a new era in roads and road work, when the great importance of public roads and their proper repair and maintenance has at last been more nearly recognized. Very soon these antiquated methods will be among the curious events in history.

When the Middletown and Crawford Railway was projected through this town the sum of $80,000 was raised by the town authorities in aid of its construction. This was in July, 1868. The interest upon this debt has been paid annually since that time, but in 1880 no part of this principal sum had yet been paid. This was a severe tax upon the town which bore rather heavily upon the farmers especially, a class that rarely escapes the lion's share of these burdens of modern civilization. But the railway has been of great value to every resident as a developing factor of that entire region and none now regrets its cost.

VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.

Hopewell.--This village is in the western portion of the town, not far from the Shawangunk River. The name was taken from the old Hopewell church, which was an offshoot from the Goodwill Presbyterian congregation at Montgomery, where the Congregational section had been squeezed out, as it were. They were thus in need of hope at the time, and thus the name "Hopewell" was suggested by some of the more thoughtful members, and it was very promptly adopted for the church name, as it afterward was also for the little village which gathered about it. It does not appear that any important business or mercantile trade was ever conducted there, however. It is merely a fertile farm section where the residents have gathered to make their homes. The postal facilities for these people are at Thompson's Ridge, a station on the Crawford branch of the Erie Railway.

Bullville.--This is in the southwestern portion of the town near the Wallkill line. It was named in honor of Thomas Bull, who lived there many years and engaged in various business enterprises, and in fact founded the place. While the name of the hamlet is not especially felicitous, nor even euphonious, the location is attractive and pleasing, it being upon high ground with a fine view of the surrounding landscape. A fine commodious Methodist church was built there many years ago and there is a most attractive cluster of fine dwellings. In 1880 a hotel was conducted by Silas Dickerson and a general store by Charles Roe. There were also a creamery, two blacksmith shops, a flour and feed store, a coal yard and even a distillery. The place is seven miles west of Montgomery village.

Searsville.--This was formerly known as Searsburgh. It is another small village, near the center of the town, on the Dwaarskill. It was named for, and practically founded by, Benjamin Sears, already mentioned at some length. He built the mills there at an early date, and his more distant neighbors soon gathered about him and built their homes there. It was formerly a trading point of some importance, but the advent of the railway brought other neighboring hamlets into greater prominence and left this place somewhat isolated. But in 1880 there were a hotel, two blacksmith and wagon shops, a grist mill and a saw mill still in operation. There is also a post-office. The location being central, the town meetings were usually held there in past years, and the general official business was transacted there.

Thompson's Ridge.--A short distance west of Searsville, on the Crawford Branch Railway, is this hamlet, as before stated. In former years it was mainly composed of the Thompson family, for which it was originally named. Daniel Thompson, the railway superintendent, lived near there. The station is quite an important one both for its passenger business and the large shipments of milk which are made from it. A small store, the post-office, and the various railway structures make up the business part of the hamlet. It is in the midst of the finest farming section of Orange County, the farms of the Thompson family and others in that neighborhood being the most productive in the county.

Collaburg.--This is in the southern section of the town, and the name is now printed "Collabar" on the modern map of the county. The locality is somewhat thickly settled. It was formerly an important point on the Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike, with a hotel and many other buildings of a varied character. But the new railway did not touch the place and travel was soon diverted to other points, which stopped all further development there.

Pine Bush.--This is located near the Shawangunk River, in the northern part of the town, near the Ulster County line, and it is a thriving business village, the most important in the town. It is the northern terminus of the Crawford Branch Railway, and its post-office serves a large section of country on both sides of the river in that region. The village site is generally level and attractive, upon the high bank of the stream at that point, and the land environment comprises a most fertile farming section. The old grist mill there belongs to the Revolutionary period, and the Shawangunk Mountains rise in rugged, frowning peaks which overlook the valley and form a background of rare beauty. The heights of the Hudson River are seen in the distant horizon toward the east and north, and there is a rare combination of upland, valley, mountain and stream, forest slopes and well tilled farms which charms the beholder and forms a most attractive and beautiful landscape. Summer visitors are attracted here in large numbers, and they find much to admire and enjoy.

Among the early tradesmen here was James Thompson, who opened a store in 1824. He was succeeded by Hezekiah Watkins, Tarbosch & Weller, Louis Wisner, Elijah Smith and George Oakley. Dr. Ewan came in 1830, and built a hotel and also conducted a drug store. Abraham Mould began a tannery plant in 1825, but after a few years he was killed by James Mitchell in a violent personal quarrel, for which Mitchell was finally acquitted on the ground of self defense.

The old Ellenville and Newburgh plank road--a wicked production of a benighted period--passed through Pine Bush. This, however, marked the beginning of the modern growth of the place. There were then only three or four dwelling houses. In 1880 there were in addition to the various railway structures, two hotels, several stores, many shops of various kinds, a restaurant, grist mill and saw mill, meat market, photograph gallery, livery stable, distillery, marble works, and a great variety of other business enterprises. The post-office was originally known as Crawford, and Arthur Slott was probably the first postmaster. The name of the village was bestowed on account of the dense growth of pine trees which formerly covered that entire tract of land. The opening of the railway was of course a great event for Pine Bush and had much to do with its subsequent development and progress. Mr. A. R. Taylor, a leading business man, came from Ulsterville in 1848 and proved a most progressive citizen, opening many new stores and taking an active part in all village improvements. He was a civil engineer and was credited with having driven the first stake in Chicago during an engagement in the west many years ago, which if true is a well merited distinction.

SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN.

Oliver Mills, Alexander Thompson and Hieromous Weller were the first school commissioners chosen at the formation of the town. From 1843 to 1856 the public schools were under the control of town superintendents chosen at each annual election. There were ten school districts in 1823, and 655 children between the ages of five and fifteen in the town, small portions of the towns of Wallkill and Montgomery being then included in this enumeration. The amount of public money received was $264.44. Among the early school teachers of this town were John Hardcastle, William Brown, Mr. Reed and Mr. Crosby. And they are said to have been firm believers in the free use of the rod in the inculcation of a thorough knowledge of the three "Rs" and the maintenance of proper discipline.

THE CRAWFORD CHURCHES.

The first effort to build a church in Hopewell was made in 1779 by the Presbyterian association. But they succeeded only in completing the exterior of the building and very little was done toward finishing the inside of the structure. And yet for the next three years those devoted Christian people were content to worship in this unfinished building with all its discomforts. They went to church faithfully and regularly. In 1792 they united in a corporate body and selected a full board of trustees, as follows: William Cross, Robert Milliken, Jonathan Crawford, Daniel Bull, Andrew Thompson, Nathan Crawford, Abraham Caldwell, Robert Thompson and Robert McCreery. Soon after this they finished their church and called the Rev. Jonathan Freeman as their pastor, who was installed August 28, 1793. This may be regarded therefore as the date of the organization of this church, which began with twenty-one members. Mr. Freeman multiplied this number by five during the next five years and then resigned for another field of labor. The next five years this little pulpit remained vacant. Rev. Isaac Van Doren took up the work there in 1803 and labored most successfully for 21 years, adding some 152 members to the little flock of worshipers during that period. Then, after further changes in the pastorate, a new and more commodious church building was built of stone on another site, which was completed in 1832. Rev. John H. Leggett was then the pastor for the next twenty-three years, when he went to Middletown. His ministerial work in this Hopewell church is highly spoken of in the records, he being a powerful preacher and a man of great activity and influence.

What was known as Graham's Church, associated Reformed, was established by Robert Graham in 1799. A house of worship was erected at once and it was opened for use in August of the same year. Mr. Graham died a few weeks later, but he devised 100 acres of land to this church organization for its pastor. This church was merely a branch of the older organization at Neeleytown until 1802, when it became independent, with Samuel Gillespie and Andrew Thompson as elders. There were then only 28 regular members, and the Rev. John McJimsey still served both this and the Neeleytown church. He left in 1809 but returned ten years later and remained until his death in 1854. Robert Graham, the founder of this church, was a staunch Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and he left a lasting impress for good upon this people.

The Crawford Methodist Church is located at Bullville and it was incorporated April 20, 1859. The trustees named were Jacob M. Shorter, Robert Hill and Herman S. Shorter. The original church structure was completed in the summer of 1861 at a cost of $8,000, which was donated by Mrs. Mary Shorter. Rev. John Wardle was the first pastor, being assigned there in response to a request of Mrs. Shorter.

The Methodist Church of Pine Bush was incorporated November 28, 1870. with the following trustees: William B. Barnes, John Walker, Samuel Armstrong, William H. Cowley and Francis M. Bodine. But there had been religious services there many years before this, especially in the school house. The old Reformed Church over the river at Shawangunk, in Ulster County, had many members in the Pine Bush village, and there was preaching in the little school house nearly every Sunday, either by the pastor of that church or by the Methodist preacher from Bullville. But the Methodist people were not satisfied with this arrangement and they finally built a church for themselves, completing it in the spring of 1871 at a total cost of $8,000, of which only half had been paid. But the balance was pledged at the dedication ceremonies held on the night of April 24, 1871. This building was repaired and improved some ten years later.

HISTORIC POINTS OF INTEREST.

Near the site of the old Slott grist mill on the bank of the river is an old log hut which is said to date back to the ante-Revolutionary period. During that war this hut was on the Van Amburg property, and that family was somewhat closely connected with the noted Anneke Jans, who once owned the ground now covered by the vast estates of Trinity Church in New York City, in which her myriad heirs, scattered all over America to-day, still claim an equitable share, and justly so, perhaps. In this old log structure once lived a stalwart female member of the Van Amburg family, and the story is that during the Revolution a big reward was offered by the British officers for her capture. "Shanks Ben," a noted Ulster County Tory, like Claudius Smith of Orange County, being attracted by this rich reward, planned her capture. He concealed himself in one of the farm haystacks where he knew she would come to feed her cattle at a certain time. But when he saw the huge old-fashioned hay-fork in her hand, he concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and was in fact glad to escape with his own life, fearing she might chance to puncture his brave anatomy in reaching for the required hay-fodder. If this somewhat noted woman was ever captured by the redcoats the records fail to disclose it.

Aside from the pursuit of farming and lumbering, this town has never been able to boast of any very important industries. Nearly every citizen was engaged in the cultivation of the soil during its early history at least. As already noted, the town was famed for its production of the choicest grade of Orange County butter. In later years, under the changed condition of transportation facilities, the manufactured products of the dairy were almost entirely discontinued and gave way to the natural product of milk, which was shipped to the New York markets in large quantities.

The growth of apples, peaches and other fruits, for which the land is so well adapted, has meanwhile increased in extent and importance, and many of the Crawford orchards that were properly cultivated and cared for have become sources of large profit to their owners.

While many of the more ancient grist and saw mills of the town have now disappeared, some have been greatly improved and modernized and new ones have been built.

MILITARY HISTORY.

On this topic little can be said with reference to the early history of this separate section, as the town came into existence some time after the close of the wars with foreign nations. All such data is hopelessly buried in the ancient annals of Wallkill and Montgomery so far as the Crawford chronicler is concerned. There were doubtless patriots of this section who served in the Continental army of Washington, and others who went out in the military company during the second outbreak in 1812. But the records contain no separate lists of these and this roll of honor cannot therefore be presented here. Philip Decker, David Rainey and Joseph Elder, the only names we can positively identify as being residents of what is now the town of Crawford, who served in the Revolution.

But in the War of the Rebellion the record is more complete. While, like most other towns in nearly every county in the northern States, there were misguided men in Crawford, partisans, politicians and abject followers of that class, servile men with little principle and less brains, who opposed the war on political principle, or through ignorance of the situation, without regard to the safety of the American Union of States, the great majority of the citizens, here as elsewhere, were loyal Union men. And when the first secession gun belched forth on Fort Sumter the old spirit of patriotism which had animated their ancestors was fired anew. The town furnished 188 men for the Union army and navy under the various calls of President Lincoln and the draft. Sixty-nine men went forward at once under Captain Samuel Hunter, who organized a company of volunteers in the town known as Co. H, which was attached to the 124th Regiment. The sum of $525 was raised by subscription in 1862 for bounties paid to 21 volunteers who enlisted in the 168th Regiment, and $50 was raised for a like purpose in connection with the regiment first named. In 1863 $3,000 was raised and $27,610 the following year. Then, under the last call, $16,500 was added to these cash contributions from this town, making the total sum $47,685. On the final settlement with the State after the war, $11,700 of this amount was returned to the town for excess of years and bounties. A tax of $30,000 was authorized in January, 1865, but as is seen above only a portion of this amount was required.

The record contains a detailed list of the men furnished by the town from which it appears that ten enlisted in the 56th Regiment in 1861, one in the 18th, five in the 19th, and twelve in other regiments during the first year. Then in 1862, twenty-one went out in the 124th, and thirty in the 168th. Twenty-nine enlisted in various other organizations in 1863 and 1864, and twenty-nine others were drafted into the service, most of whom furnished substitutes.

As showing who were among the leading farmers in this town in the early part of the 19th century, it will be of interest perhaps to quote a few items from an old list of agricultural premiums awarded at the county fairs held in that period. In 1820 Daniel Bull was awarded $20, for the best farm of 100 acres in the town. He also had the second best fat oxen. The next year Henry Bull got $10 for the second best farm, and Daniel Bull $15 for the best working oxen. In 1822 Henry Bull had the best three acres of winter wheat, for which he was awarded a prize of $10. Moses Crawford then received a like award for 2,051 pounds of butter from twenty cows. In 1823 Moses Crawford received a four-dollar prize for the third best piece of dressed woolen cloth, also various other prizes for white flannel, linen, etc. William Gillespie then had a fine exhibit of sewing-silk, for which he received a prize. These items are taken at random from an old record which, strangely enough, does not contain the first awards in many cases.

The population of Crawford, according to the national census of 1880, was 1,951, which was a decrease from that of 1870 of seventy-three.

The Pine Bush Library Association was organized November 10, 1899, at a meeting held in Wallace Hall for the purpose of considering the practicability of establishing a public library in the village. H. J. McKinney, Mrs. Joel Whitten, J. E. Ward, Mrs. J. L. Acheson, D. T. Bowen, Miss Emma B. Shaper, S. K. Seybolt and Mrs. Nelson Van Keuren were chosen trustees. H. J. McKinney was elected president, retaining the office until his death, September 24, 1907. While ably discharging the duties of the position, he was a liberal contributor to the support of the library. He supervised the construction of the building it now occupies.

The library was incorporated December 21, 1899, receiving from the State University a provisional charter. December 1, 1904, a permanent charter was granted.

Through the kindness of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Pine Bush the library was kept in the rooms of that organization without cost to the association, until the summer of 1907, when it was removed to its present home. This was remodeled from a building presented to the Library Association by H. P. Taylor, a resident of the village, and is a substantial edifice with an attractive interior, admirably arranged for library purposes.

The library, which is free, now numbers more than 2,000 well selected books. The funds for its support are derived from the membership dues, contributions, lectures or entertainments, and the State appropriation.

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XV. TOWN OF DEER PARK

LOCATION, AREA AND TITLE.

This town is located in the extreme western angle of Orange County. In outline the territory forms nearly a perfect triangle. It is one of the larger towns in the county, having an area of 37,020 acres, according to the latest tax tables of the Orange supervisors, being exceeded only in extent by the town of Warwick. It is also next to the largest in population, having 11,562 inhabitants, according to the State census of 1905. It is also a most important town in several other respects, as will be seen from the comprehensive outline presented in the succeeding pages.

It contains the point of land where three States intersect--New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This precise point is known as the "Tri-States Rock." This solid rock is at the extreme point of the tongue of land lying at the mouth of the Neversink River and between that stream and the Delaware River. A copper bolt has been sunk in this rock to mark the spot which has been agreed upon by the authorities of these States. By standing over this bolt one is therefore in three different States at the same time.

Whether or not the full legal import of this strategic point of vantage has been well understood by certain classes, or made use of in critical emergencies, is not definitely known. It is, however, one of the show places of Port Jervis, and visitors may easily find it by a short walk through Laurel Grove Cemetery.

In 1880 the town assessors reported a total value of taxable property of $2,431,680, upon which a tax of $37,374.27 was levied. These amounts have been increased to $2,509,003, and $41,378.65 respectively, the valuation of the two banks not included, $379,706, on which their tax is levied.

With the exception of the small tracts known as the Arent Schuyler patent, the Tietsort 400 acre patent, and the Cuddeback patent, the title to all the land of Deer Park comes from the Minisink patent. This name was originally spelled "Minnisink." The tribal Indian occupants were first known as the Minquas, and subsequently as the Minsis, from which the present name seems to have been evolved.

Captain Arent Schuyler visited this region in 1694, during that turbulent period of war with the savages, in order to determine how far the influence of the French had effected the aborigines.

The town is bounded on the north by Sullivan County, on the southeast by Mount Hope and Cornwall, {sic} and on the southwest by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the County of Sullivan.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The topographical features of Deer Park are peculiarly marked. There is the broad valley of the Neversink on the east, reaching from northeast to southwest. This soil is exceptionally fertile, and here it was that the early settlers began to build their cabins and blaze their way into the thick forests.

A short, distance from the Neversink stream the old Delaware & Hudson Canal was constructed and operated for many years, the line being nearly parallel to the river. This great coal artery from the mines to the Hudson was, however, abandoned in 1898 after seventy years of successful operation, and the new Ellenville & Kingston Railway took its place.

The Neversink stream has no important tributaries from the east. On the west the Old Dam Kill comes into the main stream at Huguenot. This drains a large portion of the central territory and gives some valuable water power. Basha's Kill is the largest branch entering from the east near Cuddebackville.

The Delaware River separates the town from Pennsylvania on the southwest, and the Mongaup branch of the Delaware divides the town from Sullivan County. Tributaries of this Mongaup stream drain the higher central portions of the town. Still other tributaries of the Delaware flow through the Honesdale region.

The general surface of the town is a mountainous upland broken by many small streams which often flow through rocky ravines. There are steep declivities along the Delaware, Mount William and Point Peter being the most attractive features near Port Jervis. Along Basha's Kill the bottoms are known as the Mamakating valley. Those along the Neversink constitute the Suckapack valley, until the junction with Basha's Kill is reached, when it is called the Neversink valley proper, although also known as the Peenpack. This valley extends to the mouth of the Neversink at Carpenter's Point. If space permitted it would be interesting to trace the origin and significance of these quaint names.

EARLY SETTLEMENT

In 1689 the old town of Schenectady in New York State was captured by the Indians after a bloody fight. Among the residents there who fled from the place was one William Tietsort (now written Titsworth), who came to the land of Esopus first, but soon afterward went to this Minisink region and settled in these forests. After a residence there of some years he sought the right to purchase a tract of land there. This was in 1698, and he succeeded in obtaining the land. His title to this tract, though in dispute for a time, was finally confirmed, and it was excepted from the Minisink patent. This tract was afterward sold to John Decker, and the location is thought to have been near Port Jervis. Thus the honor of being the first settler seems to belong to this William Tietsort.

Other pioneer settlers came into the Peenpack valley and also in Mamakating Hollow. Most of these old pioneers seem to have taken such lands as suited their fancy with very little regard to who the owner might be. Many of these came in from the famous Esopus region, and these were mostly of that thrifty Dutch stock which made that ancient region so famous and important in the formative period of the State and national history. Nearly all settled along the streams where the advantages of fertile soil and level land seemed most attractive and important.

In 1697 Arent Schuyler received his patent, which covered a large tract in the Minisink country called by the natives Sankheheneck, otherwise Mayhawaem, also another tract called "Warinsayskmeck, upon the river Mennessincks before an island called Menagnock, which was near the Maghaghkemek tract and contained 1,000 acres and no more." About the same time another grant of land containing 1200 acres was given to Jacob Codebeck, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Jan Tys, Peter Gimar and David Jamison.

Both these patents were in the Peenpack valley, and they were so imperfectly described in the titles that it was impossible to fix their precise location or boundaries. They were therefore regarded as "floating" patents or tracts, and the grantees were inclined to take possession of most any unappropriated lands in that valley and settle where they saw fit. This led to much difficulty in the succeeding years, and when it became necessary to divide this Minisink patent the commissioners found no end of trouble.

The patentees Codebeck and Gimar were French and came here after a brief sojourn in Maryland. They married into the Swartwout family, which was a sturdy, vigorous stock, well able to cope with the warlike natives and ferocious wild animals and dense forests as pioneers.

The seven joint owners of this patent are said to have come into this region in 1690, although there is no authentic record of any white people there until 1694. The land covered by this patent laid along the Neversink River and Basha's Kill. Mamakating Hollow was then the nearest settlement, some twenty-five or thirty miles north.

In those days the settlement of a new country was indeed a herculean task with the meager facilities then existing. And this was preeminently true of this town, which was still slumbering in a dense primeval forest. Plows and all other implements were of the crudest description. What little grain was grown by these ancient farmers had to be cut with a knife or rude sickle, and then the grain was separated from the straw by the tramp of horses upon the threshing floor. It was afterward winnowed from the chaff by hand-fans made of willow rods. This was the universal practice in this region down to 1760. The first fanning mill was brought in here just previous to this by Peter Gumaer. The wagons were made almost entirely of wood and the harness of flax and tow. During the long winter evenings while the men were making these things the women were spinning and reeling yarn. Not the yarn of the idle gossiper, as now, but the fiber and fabric of utility which went into their clothing.

The old Esopus region was some fifty or sixty miles north and the roads were left to the vagaries of Dame Nature. But these pioneers had to cart their corn and other produce there for sale. Wheat was the staple crop, and Jacob Codebeck of this town was the first to attempt grinding it in a small mill. One of these millstones, about two feet in diameter and three inches thick, is still in the Gumaer cellar near where the old mill stood. This was afterward followed by two other grist mills on the "Old Dam Brook." Then came the De Witt mill in 1770, on the Neversink River near Cuddebackville, and others in later years. These ancient mills had no devices for bolting the flour as now; thus after the grinding process, the whole had to be sifted by hand in order to secure the fine flour for bread-making and other culinary uses.

One of the earliest saw mills was erected in this town soon after 1760.

It should be said in this connection that there is some traditionary {sic}evidence of a still earlier settlement in this Minisink region which takes the date back even to 1650. Most of these claims, however, seem based upon certain letters written by Samuel Preston of Stockport, Penn., in 1828. In these letters he gave the recollections of John Lukens, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, as to this very ancient settlement. His memory extended back to 1730. On this rather hazy authority it is claimed that the first settlement was prior to 1664, when the region was still in the possession of the Dutch, and that the settlement was abandoned at the English conquest. But there are no existing documents to substantiate any such claim, and the entire weight of evidence seems to clearly disprove it.

The records show that in 1714 the only freeholders in Maghaghkemek were Thomas Swartwout, Harmon Barentsen, Jacob Cuddeback, Peter Gumaer and Jacobus Swartwout. To these were added, fourteen years later, the names of John Van Vliet, Jr., Samuel Swartwout and Bernardus Swartwout, Jr. This would show a very small increase in 38 years, assuming that the settlement began in 1690.

This town became important also because of the long dispute over the boundary line between the States of New York and New Jersey. The variance of this line over which the conflict arose was in this township. The owners of the Minisink and the 1,200 acre patents were much disturbed for years by the New Jersey State authorities, who claimed the line ran considerably farther north of the Delaware River than the Deer Park people had established it. The New Jersey people claimed a large portion of this 1,200 acre patent through which they insisted the line ran, they procured a colony title to this disputed portion of that patent. The precise location of the line being vague and uncertain, no action at law could be maintained by either side, but a bitter struggle ensued and lasted for many years. The trouble seems to have arisen over the meaning of the phrase "the northernmost branch of the Delaware River," which was the language used in the description of title. There was a big triangular gore of land in dispute. This conflict lasted nearly seventy-five years, and then it was finally settled by an equitable division of the land in question.

Among the residents on this disputed land was Major Swartwout, and the Jersey claimants planned to oust him from the property by force. He was prepared for such an attack, but in spite of all his loaded guns it seems that about 1730 the Jerseyites routed him from the house and threw out all his goods. But with the assistance of friends in Goshen the major was reinstated, and he afterward successfully repelled another attack made about ten years later. He was, however, captured and imprisoned, together with Johannes Westbrook, another resident of the battleground, some time between 1764 and 1767, by a strong force of Jersey men who surrounded his church on the Sabbath, and seized the two men at the close of the service, after a fierce struggle.

Soon after this a new line was agreed upon and the fight ended by the passage of a royal edict at the Court of St. James in September, 1773. Commissioners of the two States afterward ran the line in accordance with that agreement.

In 1874, one hundred years later, commissioners representing the two States made a resurvey with the assistance of the United States Coast Survey officials, which finally settled the great controversy for all time.

In 1775, an old assessment roll of district No. 3, which was the southern portion of Deer Park, comprising the present territory of Port Jervis and vicinity, contained forty-eight names of property holders. The largest of these was Johannes Decker, who was assessed for 17 pounds 8 shillings and 7 pence. Next in order was Anthony Van Etten, John Wells, Abraham Van Auken and Johannes Decker, Jr.

The De Witt family of this town were descendants of Tjerck Clausson De Witt, who came from Holland and settled in Wiltwyck, now Kingston, at a very early date. It was a very prominent family here and many of its members achieved distinction.

Among other prominent settlers in this region were Peter Gumaer, Jan Tyse, Bernardus Swartwout, Jacob Cuddeback, Anthony Swartwout, David Jameson, and Hermanns Van Inwegen.

The very earliest physician in this region was Doctor Chattle, and he settled near Carpenter's Point and practiced there until his death, many years later. He came in at the opening of the nineteenth century.

CIVIL ORGANIZATION.

Just when the civil organization of Deer Park was formed is not definitely known. The Legislative act of October 18, 1701, provided that the "people of Maghachemeck, the Great and Little Minisink, should vote in the County of Ulster." This would imply that they were outside of that county. This territory covered what is since known as Cuddebackville and vicinity. Eight years later the boundary between the counties was more definitely fixed by the Legislature. Soon after this the territory went under the name of Maghachemeck, remaining under this jaw-breaking title until 1743, when the precinct of Mamakating was erected, which was at least a slight improvement upon the old name.

This continued until 1798 when the town of Deer Park was organized. The first Mamakating precinct meeting was held at the house of Samuel Swartwout. This territory then included "all the land to the southward of the town of Rochester as far as the County of Ulster extends, and to the westward to the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk."

While the name Minisink was applied to the territory above named, it has been contended by some writers that there was in addition a precinct of Minisink, and there are documents which seem, to establish this fact even as early as 1739. But this precinct seems to have been erected along the Delaware River below what afterward became Carpenter's Point.

The territory now in Deer Park south of the old county line comprising Port Jervis and vicinity was a part of the town of Minisink from 1789 to 1825.

The first supervisor of the Mamakating precinct elected in April, 1774, was Benjamin Dupuy. The first supervisor of Deer Park elected in April, 1798, was James Finch, and he remained in that office by successive elections until 1810, when Peter E. Gumaer succeeded him. But Mr. Finch was again selected to serve the town in that capacity on three different occasions.

The earliest assessment roll of the town now preserved in the town clerk's office, which was the first roll of Deer Park after the division of the territory, is that of 1825. This shows a total valuation of $114,820, and there were fifteen persons on the list for over $2,000, the highest being Peter E. Gumaer at $6,230.

CENTERS.

With the exception of Port Jervis the centers of population in the town are small and unimportant. Among them may be mentioned Westbrookville on the line of the old canal, northeast of Cuddebackville; Port Orange, a short distance south on the canal line; Cuddebackville, in the northeastern part of the town, named in honor of the pioneer settler, Jacob Cuddeback; Rose Point, a station on the Monticello Railway; Port Clinton, still further down the valley; Gumaers, also on the old canal line, and Huguenot, between this and Port Jervis. Near this point are valuable mineral springs, discovered in 1860. In 1880 a pipe line for the transmission of petroleum oil to tide water was constructed through this section, with stationary engines and a power plant for forcing this oil to market.

Carpenter's Point is a very old locality, named for an early settler, who established a ferry across the Delaware River there at a very early period. It is near Port Jervis on the south and the famous "Tri-States rock" is located here at the extreme point. This rock marks the junction of the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There are several stores, an old grist mill, and many dwellings. A bridge here spans the Neversink River which was built in 1868.

Sparrowbush is another hamlet and post-office on the old canal line. Bushkill is in the western part of the town, and Quarryhill is a local mining district still farther west. Shin Hollow is a neighborhood on the slope of the Shawangunk Mountain where the Erie Railway crosses the town line into Mount Hope. Paradise is a small hamlet on the Sullivan border northeast of Cuddebackville, and Honesville and Bolton are other small hamlets born of the canal enterprise.

CEMETERIES.

The Gumaer graveyard is believed to be the oldest burial place in the town. Some of the old stones have inscriptions which show that burials were made there very early in the eighteenth century.

The old Maghachemeck graveyard is in the southern section of the town at Port Jervis. Previous to 1907 this ground was much neglected, and its condition was anything but creditable to the citizens of that growing village. Interments were made there long prior to the Revolution.

The Laurel Grove cemetery is situated in the extreme southeastern part of Port Jervis. This was established in 1856 by John Conklin, who owned the site, and it is the modern cemetery now in use. It contains many fine monuments and the lots and drives are well kept. The name Laurel Grove was most appropriately bestowed because of the thick natural growth of the American laurel on the ground. In 1857 the Weeping Willow cemetery was begun in Port Jervis. This is St. John's burial ground next the Reformed church. Among other cemeteries are that of the Reformed church, started in 1833, the Catholic cemetery, also in Port Jervis, and the Rural Valley cemetery in Cuddebackville, opened in 1867. In the early eighties the Weeping Willow cemetery was purchased by the village of Port Jervis and converted into a site for a school building, the bodies being removed to other cemeteries.

MILITARY HISTORY.

At the beginning of the French war of 1775 there were only about thirty families within the present limits of Deer Park township. It was then divided into upper and lower neighborhoods. In the upper or northern part, near the old county line, three small forts were built; one on the Neversink, another at the house of Peter Gumaer, and the third near the home of Peter Swartwout. There were also three forts in the lower neighborhood on the south.

It is believed, however, that most of the Indian occupants of this region had left before the opening of this French war. But they returned in force when the Revolution began and attacked some of the early settlers in 1777. These attacks soon became more frequent and alarming, and the Committee of Safety was obliged to resort to very vigilant methods in repelling the ferocious savages. Three other forts were built in the Peenpack section, and these were manned by soldiers known as the nine-months' men. Many of the women and children were sent out of the town to more safe quarters. About this time there were some fifty families in the town and they moved into the forts for protection. But the settlement was attacked by a force of Indians and Tories about that time and afterward, and many were killed in the conflicts. Many of the houses and barns were burned and much of the crops were destroyed during these Indian raids.

Many stirring incidents of those days are recorded, but much of this record is merely traditional and lacks authentic documentary evidence in its support.

At the close of the war the people were practically in a destitute condition, and it took them a long time, with the very meager facilities at hand, to reinstate themselves. Even the Continental paper currency had greatly depreciated in value, and it was necessary to build mills to make material for rebuilding their homes and barns.

At the opening of the Revolution Major John Decker was one of the most prominent citizens in the Minisink valley, and it is said that one of the objects of these Indian raids was to secure the scalp of Major Decker. They succeeded in burning his house to the ground and destroyed all his property during his absence from home at night, driving out his family to sleep on the banks of the Neversink River, but they didn't get the Major's scalp, though he was wounded while riding his horse homeward, and barely escaped with his life by hiding in a cave.

The Brandt raid of what was known as the lower neighborhood occurred in July, 1779. News of the atrocities perpetrated by the Mohawk chief and his savage followers was conveyed to Goshen, where a pursuing force of militia was organized by Colonels Tusten and Hathorn. They overtook Brandt at the ford of the Delaware at Lackawaxen, Pa., and in the sanguinary struggle which took place on the heights above Lackawaxen on the New York side of the river, the Indians were completely victorious. The force under Hathorn and Tusten was almost annihilated, but few escaping to tell the tale of the disaster. Of these men were Captain Abraham Cuddeback of Deer Park, and Daniel Meyers of Minisink, who is said to have killed more Indians than any other man during the engagement.

The town took its full patriotic share in the struggle to save the Union of States. Dr. John Conklin presided at the first meeting of citizens, April 18, 1861, and prompt measures were adopted. Nearly $1,000 was raised, and there were many donations for the soldiers and their families. The Ladies' Aid Society was formed with Mrs. H. H. Farnum as president, in September, 1862, and this association of patriotic women forwarded supplies to the front amounting to $843.63. Under the call of President Lincoln for 500,000 men in 1864 a tax of $48,600 was raised by the town to pay bounties for soldiers of $300 each. An additional tax of $155,300 was afterwards raised for a like purpose.

The Deer Park roll of honor in that war numbers 428. Of these some forty-five lost their lives in the service of their country.

In the Spanish-American war of 1898 eighty-two volunteers for service in Cuba were recruited in Port Jervis by Captain Benham and others under the auspices of Lafayette Post, G. A. R., of the city of New York. Of these, forty-four were attached to Company I of the Second U. S. Infantry; thirty-five to the 42d U. S. Infantry, and the remainder entered the Artillery and Cavalry arms of the service. The recruits for this war came mainly from Port Jervis, but a few came from surrounding districts.

BONDED DEBT.

Under the act of May 4, 1868, the town of Deer Park was bonded for the sum of $200,000 to aid in the construction of the Monticello and Port Jervis Railroad. These bonds drew 7% and ran thirty years to their maturity. In 1898 they were refunded at 4% and provision made for the gradual payment of the principal. There is now (1908) outstanding in these bonds $161,000.

THE MONTICELLO R. R.

The Monticello and Port Jervis Railroad Company was incorporated Sept. 3, 1868. It ran between Port Jervis and Monticello and opened for traffic January 3, 1871. It was sold in foreclosure July 8, 1875, and subsequently reorganized as the Port Jervis and Monticello Railroad Co. Its history has been a checkered one. It is now operated by the Ontario & Western Railroad as a part of its system.

THE CITY OF PORT JERVIS.

Port Jervis had its beginning in 1826 when the building of the D. & H. Canal became a certainty. It was named in honor of John B. Jervis, of Rome, N. Y.. a distinguished civil engineer, who superintended the construction of the canal. As late as 1846 a writer thus describes Port Jervis:

"It is a small village on the canal where it first approaches the Delaware. It is just above Carpenter's Point (Tri-States) and the junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers. It owes its population and its importance to its position about midway between Honesdale, Pa., and Kingston, N. Y., the two terminals of the D. & H. Canal. There are five stores in the village; three taverns in spacious buildings; one three-story grist mill, built by Dr. Ball, of Brooklyn, N. Y., being a stone building with five run of stone in it; three churches, a Dutch Reformed, Baptist, and Methodist, and one large school house. Coal and lumber are sold in considerable quantities. A mail route from Kingston, N. Y., to Milford, Pa., and thence to Philadelphia, passes through the village."

At this time the population of the village was small, and Port Jervis was equaled if not exceeded in importance by the neighboring hamlet of Carpenter's Point, where the post-office was located and courts were held.

The completion of the Erie Railroad to Port Jervis, January 1, 1848, gave a wonderful impetus to its growth. The directors of the company celebrated the event by an official trip over the road from Piermont on the Hudson River, its eastern terminus, to Port Jervis, where the entire population of the surrounding country were gathered to celebrate their arrival. Cannon boomed and flags and bunting floated from every house top. A banquet was served at the hotel of Samuel Truex on the southwestern corner of Pike and Main streets, during which the president of the road, Benjamin Loder, made an address congratulating all concerned in the successful completion of the great enterprise as far as Port Jervis. The subsequent growth of the place was rapid. Its position as the headquarters of the Delaware division of the road and the terminus of its eastern division and the location here of extensive machine and car shops gave it a large railroad population, which has been and still is the principal contributing element to its prosperity.

In 1853 the village was incorporated and the first charter election was held in August following. The total village expenses for the first year was $1,350. Samuel Fowler was the first president.

Port Jervis became a city by an act of the Legislature of the date of June 26, 1907, and at the first election under the city charter, held in the ensuing November, the following city officials were elected: Mayor, Dr. H. B. Swartwout; aldermen, Joseph Johnson (at large), F. N. Mason, Andrew Hensel, A. F. Brown. P. C. Rutan, C. F. Van Inwegen, Thomas Mulhearn, James Howell and James I. Delaney. The first five named are republicans, the others democrats. The following appointments were made by the Common Council: City clerk, A. P. Altemeier; city engineer, Irving Righter; commissioner of charters, John M. Snook; superintendent of streets and sewers, Theodore Ludlum; chief of police, William Wilkin. Supervisors from the four wards were elected as follows: First Ward, S. S. Garriss, dem.; Second Ward, Henry Farnum, rep.; Third Ward, J. J. Toth, rep.; Fourth Ward, J. P. Gillen, dem.

The population of Port Jervis in 1907, according to the census of the State excise department, taken in that year for the purpose of furnishing a basis upon which to adjust license rates, was 10,035. But as the census was not intended to be exhaustive and practically stopped when the 10,000 limit was reached, leaving certain sections uncounted, it is fair to presume that the actual population was considerably in excess of the figure named.

The assessed valuation of the city of Port Jervis for the year 1907 was $2,000,000; for the town of Deer Park about $500,000.

The city has eighty-two industrial establishments including the car and machine shops of the Erie Railroad, employing over 1,000 operatives. The principal manufactured commodities are saws, glassware, silk, gloves and mittens, shirt and ladies' collars. These industries give employment to many skilled operatives who receive good wages. The city has three hardware stores and two iron foundries.

Among the important industries of Port Jervis is the Deer Park Brewery Co., located on Reservoir avenue. The company was organized in 1902 with George F. Ott, of Philadelphia, as president. The plant of the insolvent Deer Park Brewery Co. was purchased and greatly improved and enlarged.

STREET RAILROAD.

The Port Jervis Electric Street Railway Company was organized in 1895 with Hon. W. C. Richardson, of Goshen, as the first president. The work of construction began November 15, 1897, and the road went into operation January 15, 1898. The road is now known as the Port Jervis Electric Railroad Co. It has about 4 1/3 miles of track and runs three cars.

BANKS.

The oldest of the two banking establishments of this place, the National Bank of Port Jervis, was organized under the State law as the Bank of Port Jervis, in March, 1853. Business was opened in the Delaware House. The original capital was $120,000, afterwards increased to $130,000. Its first president was Thomas King, who served until his death in 1857, when he was succeeded by H. H. Farnum, who served until his death in 1879. The late Charles St. John succeeded him and the late Francis Marvin became president in 1892 on the death of Mr. St. John. The present incumbent of the office is W. L. Cuddeback.

The heavy defalcation of the assistant cashier led to a reorganization of the institution in 1899 with Dr. W. L. Cuddeback as president. The last annual report, December 5, 1907, showed deposits amounting to $550,738.04. The present dividend rate is 7-1/2 per cent, per annum.

The First National Bank was organized in 1870 with a capital of $100,000. Jacob Hornbeck was the first president. The late Martin C. Everett succeeded him. The present head of this prosperous institution is Chas. F. Van Inwegen. Its last report, on December 3, 1907, showed total deposits of $1,001,621.46. The stock pays 16 per cent. dividends to stockholders.

The Port Jervis Savings Bank, organized under the State law, began business in March, 1870, with Eli Van Inwegen as president. It discontinued business in the later seventies.

THE POST-OFFICE.

The post-office was removed from Carpenter's Point to Port Jervis in 1829, and John Slauson was the postmaster. He was succeeded by Dr. John Conklin in 1833, followed by Dr. Charles Hardenburgh in 1845, who was soon displaced by Thomas J. Lyon. Then came Dr. Conklin again in 1849, Francis Marvin in 1851, Thomas J. Lyon again in 1853, James Van Fleet in 1855, George Brodhead in 1857, Augustus E. Goodale in 1861, Charles St. John, Jr., in 1879, Benjamin Ryall in 1885, Stephen St. John in 1889; George A. Elston in 1893; S. D. Boyce in 1897. Mr. Boyce still (in 1908) continues in office.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

The Port Jervis fire department was long regarded among the best in the State outside the large cities, and few destructive fires were ever allowed to gain much headway. The introduction of the water-works system gave ample hydrant pressure to cope with any conflagration, and the old hand engines were long since abandoned. There are seven different fire companies with a force of considerably over 200 effective fire fighters. The equipment included a steamer and hook and ladder apparatus. P. C. Rutan is chief engineer of the department.

PORT JERVIS FREE LIBRARY.

In 1892 was organized the Port Jervis Free Library, with W. L. Cuddeback, W. H. Nearpass, Maria B. Van Etten, Minnie C. Brox and E. H. Gordon, trustees. This board has continued in charge of the library until the present time except that, in 1896, Mrs. Brox resigned and was succeeded by Mrs. M. I. Coonrod. In 1901 a gift of $20,000 was received from Mr. Carnegie for the construction of a library building, which was subsequently increased to $30,000, and with this fund a large, handsome, commodious building was constructed on Pike street hill on a site given by Peter E. Farnum. The building is constructed of light colored pressed brick with native blue stone trimmings. It will house 40,000 volumes. The number at present on the shelves is 15,000; added during the year 1907 by purchase, 1,062; the number lent for home use during the current year, 33,706. It is rich in encyclopedias and valuable works of reference, including the Congressional Record and Globe, and reports of the departments of the Federal and State governments. The valuable collection of books and documents of the Minisink Valley Historical Society is also housed in this building, a separate room on the second floor having been set apart for the accommodation thereof. This building contains two spacious, well equipped reading rooms, in which may be found all the leading reviews, magazines, and weekly periodicals, with complete files of many of them handsomely bound and ranged about the walls for convenient reference.

The present librarian is Miss Elizabeth G. Thorne; assistants, Miss Charlotte Nearpass and Miss Anna G. Wells.

SEWERS.

Port Jervis has an excellent system of public sewers, established in 1891 at a cost of about $85,000, for which the bonds of the village were issued. The original sewer commissioners were Francis Marvin, L. E. Carr, George Schoonover, W. A. Drake, M. D. Graham, with Ed. Whitner, clerk. Its establishment has resulted in a lowering of the death rate and a notable diminution in zymotic diseases within the city limits.

CHURCHES.

Port Jervis has eight churches, which in the order of their establishment are as follows: The Reformed Church of Deer Park, founded August 23, 1737, under the name of the Reformed Dutch Church of Mahackemech; Drew Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptist Church, both founded in 1838; First Presbyterian, incorporated July 15, 1851; Grace Episcopal Church, incorporated September 3, 1853; the Church of the Immaculate Conception, incorporated January 10, 1860; German Lutheran Protestant, Port Jervis, incorporated January 1, 1861; the Second Reformed Church, whose house of worship on West Main street (in Germantown), was dedicated November 29, 1896, with Rev. David T. Harris as pastor; the Church of Sacred Heart (in Germantown), whose handsome church edifice of brick was dedicated in November, 1899, with Rev. B. J. Duffy, ordained in Rome, as first pastor.

The colored people also have a church organization known as the Wickham A. U. M. P. Church, in honor of the late Dr. D. T. Wickham, the principal contributor to their church building.

ST. MARY'S HOME.

A religious, educational and charitable institution of great merit and usefulness is St. Mary's Home, founded in 1871 by the late Rev. Father Nelan, its object being to provide a home for orphan children and to train and instruct them for a useful place in society. For over twenty years this institution has been in charge of Sister Theophelia, a woman whose motherly instincts and marked administrative abilities peculiarly fit her for this highly important work.

MINISINK VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

An event of great importance to the residents of this town was the organization of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in 1888. Among the active promoters of this undertaking were Rev. Dr. S. W. Mills, Francis Marvin, Dr. John Conkling, O. P. Howell, Dr. Sol Van Etten, C. E. and W. L. Cuddeback, W. H. Nearpass and C. F. Van Inwegen. Its collection of relics and manuscripts is large and of great value to the genealogist and historian. Its library numbers more than 1,500 volumes of books and pamphlets. Its manuscripts exceed 1,000 in number. With the facilities offered by its new home in the Carnegie Library building and protection and safety provided by its fireproof vaults, it will in time become the repository of all valuable documents and manuscripts in this vicinity.

OLD BURYING GROUND RESTORED.

During the summer of 1907 a notable work was accomplished by the Machackemech Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which Mrs. Charles F. Van Inwegen is the president, in clearing and beautifying the grounds of the old historic Machackcmech cemetery on East Main street next to the Catholic cemetery. Through long neglect the cemetery had fallen into a condition of utter decay and ruin. The ground was covered with a dense growth of weeds, briars and underbrush, and the memorial stones, some of them dating back to a period anterior to the Revolution, were for the most part so weather beaten and moss-grown that their inscription was difficult to decipher, in some cases were totally illegible. All this has been changed, and now this hallowed ground "Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep" has been restored to order and beauty and no longer offends by its wild and neglected appearance.

SOLDIERS MONUMENT.

A conspicuous ornament to the public square of the city (Orange Square) is the soldiers' monument, erected in 1886 through the liberality and public spirit of Diana Farnum, widow of H. H. Farnum, whose gift of $10,000 defrayed the cost thereof. It commemorates the valor and patriotism of the soldiers from Deer Park who took part in the great struggle for the preservation of the Union in 1861-5. It was unveiled to the public on July 4, 1886, in the presence of a vast multitude of spectators. L. F. Carr, Esq., of Port Jervis, and General Stewart L. Woodford, of Brooklyn, N. Y. were the orators of the occasion. The ceremonies were in charge of Carroll Post, G. A. R., of Port Jervis.

FLOODS IN PORT JERVIS.

The situation of Port Jervis near the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers exposes its low-lying parts to occasional overflows of these streams in times of heavy rainfall and more especially during the break-up of ice at the end of the winter season.

The channel of the Delaware at this place is shallow and obstructed by rapids and islands against which descending masses of ice become lodged, damming back the water and producing what is known as an ice-gorge. Such an event occurred in the latter part of February, 1875, when the channel of the river for several miles in extent was filled with a gigantic accumulation of broken ice. For several weeks the village was threatened with inundation and various unsuccessful expedients were resorted to to start the ice moving. The excitement culminated on March 17, when the "gorge" gave way, carrying with it the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware above Sparrowbush, which in descending the stream on top of the moving ice, struck and swept away the Barrett suspension bridge at Port Jervis. For a short time just before the break-up of the "gorge" the lower part of the village as far as the Erie tracks was flooded with water.

On October 10, 1903, a ten-inch rainfall in forty hours caused both rivers to overflow their banks, submerging the low-lying parts of the town. Barrett bridge across the Delaware was again carried away, and five persons who were on it at the time lost their lives.

On March 8, 1904, a flood caused by an ice gorge destroyed the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware at this place and the suspension bridge across the Neversink. The lower section, of the village was submerged to a depth of three feet and the portion across the Erie tracks to a depth of from seven to ten feet.

This succession of disasters emphasized the necessity for protective measures of some kind, and the matter was taken in hand by the village Board of Trade, as a result of whose deliberations a bill was presented and passed at the ensuing session of the Legislature, appropriating the sum of $35,000 for diking the Delaware at Port Jervis. This money was used to excellent purpose and a substantial dike was built under the direction of the State engineer, extending from the upper part of Germantown to Barrett bridge. To afford the needed protection, however, this work should be extended down the river bank to Laurel Grove cemetery. Bills for the necessary appropriation have been introduced at the successive sessions of the Legislature, but for various reasons have failed to pass. A more fortunate issue is expected from the one introduced by Senator Taylor at the present session. Another State appropriation of $10,000 was spent in strengthening and clearing the channel of the Clove Brook at Tri-States and a pumping station has been established at the foot of Wagner Place, by means of which accumulated surface water is drained off in times of flood. An effort is also being made through Representative Thos. W. Bradley to secure the aid of the Federal government in clearing and deepening the channel of the Delaware and removing obstructions from Storm Island, about a mile below the city.

CANAL ABANDONED.

The canal of the Delaware & Hudson Company was abandoned in 1878. Samuel D. Coykendall, of Kingston, purchased the right of way, and sold it to the Pennsylvania Coal Company, by whom a coal carrying road from the anthracite field to tide water along the old canal route was projected. The enterprise was defeated by the purchase by the Erie Railroad Company of the stock of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, which carried with it ownership and control of the old right of way and blocked threatened competition in the carriage of coal to tide water.

ERIE CHANGES.

In the spring of 1890 the Erie removed its passenger station from the foot of Pike street to the Brown building in Jersey avenue, near its junction with Fowler street. This building was remodeled and enlarged and made over into one of the finest depots along the line of the Erie road. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas night of the same year and the present handsome structure erected on its site.

On Easter Sunday, 1905, the company transferred the headquarters of the principal Delaware division official from Port Jervis to Susquehanna. This involved the removal of thirty officials and assistants, including the superintendent, train master, division engineer, division plumber, and division carpenter.

GOOD ROADS.

This section will benefit by the good roads movement lately adopted by the State, and Port Jervis may naturally expect considerable increase of trade and perhaps of population from the three State roads now in process of construction which converge in this city. One of these begins in Middletown, passes through Wawayanda and Greenville and comes out upon the road leading from Tappentown to Tri-States. Another starts from Middletown and passes through Otisville and Cuddebackville, taking at the last named place the old road pronounced by the State inspector to be one of the finest in the State. A third leads from the Sullivan County line at Rio on the west to Port Jervis.

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

The year just passed has witnessed the organization of a City Improvement Association composed of ladies, the object of which is sufficiently indicated by its name. It has an active corps of officers and members animated by a praiseworthy spirit of civic pride. Mrs. Maria B. Van Etten is the president.

PLACES OF SPECIAL NOTE.

Tri-States Rock, situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers, at which the boundary lines of three States--New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey--intersect, is one of the show places of the town. The rock is at the extreme point of the narrow tongue of land lying between the two rivers and at the mouth of the Neversink. The geological formation is rocky and will stand the wear of the floods for centuries to come as it has for centuries past. A small monument now marks the spot.

The site of the old Dutch church on the Van Inwegen land directly opposite the old Machackemech cemetery on Main street is suggestive of historic memories. Here assembled for worship in the old log "meeting house" of 1743 the pioneer families of this section. The house was burned by Brandt and his savages in the historic raid of July, 1779.

The Van Etten schoolhouse, from which the teacher, Jeremiah Van Auken, was taken out and cruelly murdered in the same raid, was located on the old Levi Van Etten farm, afterwards owned by Mark Van Etten, on the east side of the Neversink River about one-fourth of a mile north of Black Rock cut on the Erie.

The forts mentioned in the early annals gather about themselves most of the traditions of Indian attack. In the upper neighborhood there was one at the house of Jacob Rutsen De Witt. This was near Cuddebackville, on the west side of the Neversink. Another fort was at the Gumaer place, now the Godeffroy estate. The old stone building is still standing and in excellent preservation.

In the accounts of incidents occurring during the old French War, it is stated that on one occasion the Indians lay in ambush "to take the lower fort at Mr. Westfall's." This was probably the old stone house at Germantown. A local writer says: "The present structure, rebuilt in 1793, occupied the site of a fort or blockhouse built anterior to the Revolution and occupied as a dwelling and trading post by a family of the name of Haynes, who carried on a thriving trade with the Indians for many years." Captain Westfall, who married one of Mr. Haynes's daughters, lived in the house during the Brandt invasion of 1779. He was away on a scouting expedition at the time, and a trusty Negro buried the valuables and assisted the escape of the captain's wife to the high hills of the Jersey shore near Carpenter's point.

It is said that Brandt's expedition first attacked "the fort at Major Decker's." This was on the old George Cuddeback place on the east side of the Neversink River, about three miles from Port Jervis. Another fort was near the residence of the late James D. Swartwout. Still another is mentioned by Peter E. Gumaer "at the house of Peter Coykendall, in the present village of Port Jervis."

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XVI. TOWN OF GOSHEN

By George F. Gregg.

Northwest, sixty miles by rail from New York City, sixteen miles in an air line west from the Hudson River, lies Goshen, the county seat of Orange County, located in the geographical center of that civic sub-division. The town derives its name from the Goshen of Biblical memory. Almost two centuries ago the first of the settlers came. The native beauty of the place appealed to the calm and dauntless spirits of these men, who had plunged boldly into a benighted and unknown country. They stood upon the wooded hills and looked with glad eyes upon the fertile, fruitful valley. All around about them lay the land of their desire, and they called it Goshen, the "promised land" of the Scriptures.

The town, which was first known by this name in 1714, was originally much larger than at present. Its boundaries were defined by law in 1788. A part of Hamptonburgh was taken from it in 1830, and a part of Chester in 1845. Other changes of boundaries were made at different times, as recited elsewhere in this article. It has a population to-day in town and village slightly in excess of 5,000.

The section is known for the great fertility of its soil. It is in the heart of a noted dairying country, and as long ago as Revolutionary days Goshen butter was widely famed. Butter making has practically ceased now, but the milk production is large. The town is also noted for the onions and celery raised on its black dirt meadows, as well as for the grass crops grown on its fertile farms.

The village is located on the main line of the Erie Railroad, and has direct connection with New England cities by way of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. It is also the terminus of the Montgomery & Erie, the Goshen & Deckertown, and the Lehigh & New England Railroads. It is handsomely laid out with broad, well-kept and well-shaded streets of smooth macadam. It has three public school buildings, and Garr Institute, a parochial school, conducted under the direction of St. John's Church. It has six churches: The First Presbyterian, organized in 1720; St. James' Episcopal, dating back to 1796; St. John the Evangelist, Roman Catholic, founded in 1820; the Methodist Episcopal, organized in 1847; the A. U. M. P. Church, and Olivet Chapel, a Presbyterian colored mission. It has two national banks and a savings bank, two newspapers, gas and electric lighting companies, a waterworks system, and first-class hotels and clubs. Its fire department is made up of three volunteer companies, Cataract Engine and Hose, organized in 1843; Dikeman Hose, organized in 1872, and Minisink Hook and Ladder, organized in 1906, upon the disbanding of Elliott H. and L., which was organized in 1871. Leading to the village from almost every direction are improved roads, maintained under State supervision.

No mention of the town, past or present, would be complete, without reference to the trotting-horse industry. It began in 1803, when Imp. Messenger, acknowledged head of the trotting family, stood at Goshen Down through all the years trotting horses were bred and raised there, and even in this day and generation the horse interests are chief among the interests of the town. In the center of the village is located the finest half-mile track in the country and many famous horses are trained there.

Every foot of its ground is historic. In the far-gone years red men roamed its landscape and predatory beasts lurked in the shadows of its primeval timber lands. It was one of the early settlements made on that vast tract to which Governor Nicolls referred when he wrote in 1664: "The lands which I intend shall be first planted are those upon the west bank of Hudson's River." Shortly after the first settlement a bounty was placed on wolves and the Governor recommended its payment to the House of Lords. Chapter 302 of the laws of 1715, was an act for the destroying of wolves in this section. This act expired July 21, 1717, and on October 29, 1742, the General Assembly found it necessary to pass a law placing a bounty of a shilling and sixpence on "wolves, whelps and panthers."

Noah Webster, of dictionary renown, taught the first academy in Goshen. Dewitt Clinton attended school there, and William H. Seward studied law in the office of Judge Duer. The first newspaper of the county, The Goshen Repository, was published at Goshen in 1788, by David Mandeville.

In the article which follows, the writer has endeavored to furnish a concise history in limited space. As nearly as possible, events are set down in chronological order. Much of interest concerning the town that is based only upon tradition is left out and the space devoted to historical facts that can be authenticated and verified by records, maps, parchments and the writings of earlier and wiser men.

The County of Orange dates its existence by legal enactment from October 1, 1691, in the third year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, and in the administration of Henry Sloughter, Esq., Governor. The First Assembly convened the 9th of April that year. On October 1 it passed an act, Chapter 17, entitled "An Act to divide the province and dependencies into shires and counties." Section VII of this act provided: "The County of Orange to begin from the limits or bounds of East and West Jersey, on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river to the Murderer's Creek, or bounds of the County of Ulster; and westward into the woods as far as the Delaware River."

Chapter 94, which became a law October 18, 1701, added to the lands embraced in the county those of "Magachemeck and Great and Little Minisinck."

On November 12, 1709, during the administration of Richard Ingoldsby, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, the Eighth Assembly passed an act, Chapter, 202, "to determine, settle and ascertain the bounds and limits of the County of Orange." This act repealed the clause added by Chapter 94, and fixed the bounds as follows: "That the County of Orange shall extend from the limits and confines of the Province of New Jersey on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river to the line of the County of Ulster, and westward so far as the Delaware River."

The county derives its name from the Prince of Orange, who married Mary, and came to the throne in 1689, under the name of King William.

Goshen is a part of the tract known as the Wawayanda Patent, acquired of the red men by John Bridges & Company, on March 5, 1703, and confirmed by royal decree of Queen Anne. Twelve Indian sachems conveyed the land. They were Rapingonick, Wawastawa, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Arawinack, Rombout, Claus, Chouckhass, Chingapaw, Oshasquememus and Quilapaw. The patent was granted April 29. There were twelve patentees, namely, John Bridges, LL.D., Hendrick Tenyck, Derrick Vanderburgh, John Chotwell, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Syms, Daniel Herran, Philip Rockeby, John Meredith, Benjamin Aske, Peter Matthews, and Christian Christianse. The grant was supposed to contain 60,000 acres, but surveys later showed that it contained nearly 160,000. These twelve patentees held the land in common until 1706, when it was divided into twelve parts. Only eight of the original shareholders retained their interests at that time, Bridges having died in 1704, and others having transferred their holdings.

The tract was unoccupied until 1712, when Christopher Denn made settlement upon it, to be followed shortly by Benjamin Aske; Daniel Cromline, who became a shareholder in 1704; Christian Snedeker, of Long Island; Samuel Staats, who came into record as a thirteenth shareholder in 1713; and John Everett and Samuel Clowes, who in 1714, acquired a tract equal to four of the thirteen shares. The township of Goshen came that year, and the precinct of Goshen, comprising the outlying settlements came later, and remained until 1788 when the township was expanded to take its place.

In 1712, Christopher Denn, a carpenter by trade and resident of New York City, paid a visit to the patent and determined to make a settlement upon it. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were childless, but had adopted an orphan girl, Sarah Wells.

Denn selected a spot along the Otterkill, as it is now known, about two miles or more from the present village. He returned to New York, equipped an expedition, which he sent up the Hudson River in charge of his adopted daughter, accompanied by two white men and some Indians whom he had taken to New York when returning from his first visit. A raft was used for the voyage and a landing safely made near Cornwall. The journey to the spot selected by Denn was through a trackless forest, but was made without mishap and a rough cabin was built. After the starting of the expedition Denn was remorseful because he sent the girl into unknown dangers, and within a short time he started for the new settlement, with his wife. The journey was made on horseback. They arrived safely and took up permanent residence there.

It appears from an old map that Denn's share of the patent was a triangular tract, containing about 2,000 acres. The presence of this family soon brought other settlers and the woodman's axe resounded far and near. The merciless push of immigration began and the native red men were driven further into the wilderness. In the course of a few years Sarah Wells became the wife of William Bull, of Wolverhampton, England, who came to this country and was employed by Daniel Cromline in 1716 to build the masonry of a dwelling, later known to fame for nearly a century as the Greycourt House. History records this as the first marriage within the limits of the town of Goshen.

The lands in the vicinity of the present village were settled to some extent soon after Denn's arrival. There were on record deeds showing the conveyance of lots in the village in 1714. On July 10, 1721, a deed in trust was made to John Yelverton by John Everett, John Carpenter, John Gale, William Ludlum, Nathaniel Higby, John Carpenter, Jr., G. McNish, James Sandys, Thomas Watson, Hope Rodes, John Holly, James Jackson, Isaac Finch, Solomon Carpenter, John Beers, Michael Dunning, Samuel Seely, John Nichols, William Jackson, Alexander Moore, John Knapp, Samuel Webb, John Alsop and Richard Halsted, setting forth that a conveyance had been "lately" made to John Everett and Samuel Clowes, giving them one-sixth part of all the lands for the purpose of laying out a township, establishing a church and settling a minister.

The Goshen Presbyterian Church was organized in 1720, and Rev. John Bradner, to whom more extended reference is made later in this article, became its pastor in 1721. Two hundred acres of land were deeded to him on April 17, 1722, and recorded at the request of his widow on April 8, 1742. In 1724 the erection of a house of worship was begun on the spot where now stands the court house. The first court was convened in Goshen in 1727, and on December 16, of that year an act was passed providing for the building of a court house and jail, which were erected and completed in 1740, on the site of the present Orange Hotel. On October 24, 1754, the General Assembly appropriated 100 pounds for an addition to it, and in 1775 it was demolished and a new one built at a point where now stands the county clerk's office. The arms of King George III were placed upon its front, but were torn down by indignant citizens.

A schoolhouse was built in 1801 on the church plot, the same spot where the public school building on Greenwich street now stands. Here Noah Webster taught for a time before he published his first dictionary in 1806.

Goshen, after its original settlement, soon became the most important and populous district of the county, and a census taken in 1738 showed a total of 319 males above the age of ten. These were stirring times for the people and most of the affairs were of a warlike nature. There was frequent trouble with the Indians. The frontier was only four miles away. Block houses were built at Dolsontown and Scotchtown, and tradition has it that a block house once stood back of the present race course on the property known to-day as the Parkway Farm. In those days the settlers west of the Wallkill made Goshen their rendezvous when Indian raids were feared.

In the reign of George II, when Hon. George Clinton was Governor, the General Assembly passed an act to enable the inhabitants of Goshen in the County of Orange to elect two additional constables. This act explained that the inhabitants of the Precinct of Goshen had liberty to elect only one constable and as the precinct had considerably increased in numbers of inhabitants and settlements, it was necessary that an increased number be elected. The act was passed December 17, 1743, and provided that one of the constables "be elected and chosen from and out of such of the inhabitants as have habitations in the south part of Goshen, commonly called Wawayanda, and the other from and out of such of the inhabitants as have habitations northward near the meeting house, commonly called the Water-Side Meeting House."

On September 21, 1744, the General Assembly passed an act to authorize justices of the peace in the counties of Dutchess and Orange to "direct so many constables and overseers of the highways to be chosen, in the several precincts as to them shall seem meet." On the same day an act was passed for the relief of the poor in the counties of Orange and Suffolk.

Covenant Chain Treaty.

During these years the settlers had as allies two tribes of Indians, sometimes known as the Cashigton Indians, whose principal lodges were located near where now stands the village of Cochecton in Sullivan County, They formed a part of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Confederacy, once powerful, but at that time reduced in numbers. From time immemorial Western Orange had been their hunting ground, but late in the year 1744 they showed signs of distrust and retired to their lodges on the upper Delaware. The colonists were loath to lose these faithful allies, for their withdrawal left the outlying settlements on the frontiers exposed to attack of hostile savages, incited to rapine and murder by the French.

The attention of the Colonial Government was called to this matter and Colonel DeKay was ordered to take a party and visit the Indians in the hope that friendly relations might be restored and the red men induced to return to their old hunting grounds. As a result of this visit the Indian Treaty of Orange County was enacted and the ceremony of the Covenant Chain performed at Goshen. Colonel Thomas De Kay took with him, upon this expedition, Major Swartwout, Ensign Coleman, Adam Weisner, who acted as interpreter, Benjamin Thompson, and two Minisink Indians as guides. The pilgrimage was made in the depth of winter. The Indians were found and agreed to come back, claiming that they left because they were afraid of the people of Orange County, who were always under arms. When it was explained that this was by order of the Governor and for protection against the French and their allies, the Indians rejoiced. They explained that they were of two tribes, using for totems the signs of Minsi, or Wolf, and Uralachtgo, or Turkey, and that their sachem had recently died. They were about to choose a new sachem to govern all, and they promised that when he had been chosen they would send representatives to make a treaty. New Year's Day was fixed upon as the date.

On January 3, 1745, two days late, the Wolves and Turkeys, a dozen of the head men in all, led by the new sachem, came into the village of Goshen and marched in savage bravery up its main street. Just where the ceremony took place is unknown, but the old manuscript record says that the weather was severe, and it is probable that the meeting was held in the rude court house. The Indians by their spokesman explained that they had brought a Belt of Wampum that friendship and brotherhood might be restored. They asked that some one be appointed to enact with them the ceremony of the Covenant Chain.

Colonel De Kay informed them that the Governor alone had power to make such an appointment and that as there was not time to communicate with him, it would be best for the Indians to select a man. They chose the colonel and he was then chained to them for an hour or more as a token of their being united again in the bonds of friendship. Speeches were made by the Indians and they solemnly pledged themselves to be true "as long as the sun and moon endured," and promised to send in runners at once if they learned of any plots against the English. They also agreed to join in fighting the enemy and asked that aid be given them in case of attack by the French. This was freely promised and while the Colonel was still chained to the Indians they gave him the Belt of Wampum to be sent to the Governor. The Indians, according to the record, "again rejoiced with three huzzahs and departed very much pleased." The Belt of Wampum, so states the books of the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London, was taken to the Colonial Council in New York by Colonel DeKay a fortnight later and delivered to the Council, which in turn sent it to the Governor, who recommended that one be given in return to the Indians. This was the only occasion on record when the ceremony of the Covenant Chain was enacted in Orange County.

On April 18, 1748, an act was passed by the General Assembly providing that "for the time to come, all elections of representatives of the County of Orange to serve in the present or any future General Assembly shall begin and be first opened at the court house in Orange Town, or at the court house or some other convenient place in the town of Goshen."

About this time settlers who had dealings with the sheriff began to find considerable fault with the manner in which mileage charges were computed. On April 8, 1748, an act was passed providing that for all writs and process papers served on inhabitants on the north side of the mountain range called the Highlands, mileage should be computed by the sheriff from the court house in Goshen, and for all papers served on the south side from the court house in Orange Town. The preamble to this act fully explained the situation. It stated: "Whereas the County of Orange is very extensive in length, and by reason of a ridge of mountains across the same, and for the better accommodation of inhabitants, it was found necessary to have two court houses, the one at Goshen on the north, and the other at Orange Town on the south thereof; yet by the sheriff having his residence sometimes at the one and sometimes at the other extreme of the said county, the computation of his fees for mileage in the service of writs hath hitherto been made from the place of the sheriff's abode, which has been found to be very inconvenient and burdensome to the parties concerned."

Military Matters.

When the French and Indian War began in 1756 the men of Goshen were continually under arms. The old Journal of the Assembly relates the services of Captain George De Kay as express between Goshen and Minisink. It mentions as his guards Peter Carter, David Benjamin, Philip Reid and Francis Armstrong. It tells also of the payment of nearly 100 pounds to Colonel Vincent Mathews for furnishing guides to regulars posted at Goshen from October, 1757, to February, 1758, and refers to the work of Colonels Clinton and De Kay in laying out block houses for the settlers' defense. Mention is also made of the payment of 56 pounds to Samuel Gale for provisions furnished troops on the frontiers near Goshen; and of reimbursing Colonel Benj. Tusten, Captain Daniel Case and Captain J. Bull for money advanced in building block houses Nos. 1 and 2 on the western frontier in January, 1757.

In 1763, Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader Colden appealed to the General Assembly for troops to relieve the militia on the borders of Orange and Ulster which were infested by the enemy. At this time the town of Goshen extended from the Hudson to New Jersey. In 1764 a bill was passed dividing the precinct of Goshen into two precincts, to be called Goshen and Cornwall. After this division Cornwall embraced the present towns of Cornwall, Monroe and Blooming Grove, while Goshen included the present town of Warwick.

During the years prior to the Revolution when the colonists were growing desperate under the exactions of King George, patriotism and valor were manifested to a marked degree in Goshen. On June 8, 1775, over 360 men signed the Revolutionary pledge at Goshen and the name of Henry Wisner headed the list. The Reverend Nathan Ker, an ardent patriot, and the fourth pastor of the Goshen Presbyterian Church, who came to Goshen in the fall of 1766, and remained until his death, December 14, 1804, on one occasion is said to have dismissed his congregation in the midst of a Sunday service to prepare food for a troop of horse that had halted on the way to Philadelphia. Once General George Washington, riding eastward on the Florida road towards his headquarters at Newburgh, stopped with his staff to chat awhile with the children at the old school house near the stone quarry.

NOTABLE EARLY RESIDENTS.

Many of the old families of Goshen to-day are descendants of the patriots who fought in the colonial service and whose names appear on the roster of the Goshen regiment at the battles of Long Island and White Plains, at the struggle in the Highlands, and the capture of Fort Montgomery, as well as in the memorable slaughter of Minisink.

The highway between Goshen and Florida, over which Washington rode, is a historic thoroughfare and in Revolutionary days was lined with the homes of famous men. Goshen was then the stronghold of the Whigs. In a stone house nearly opposite the present Sayer homestead, lived Moses Hatfield, a captain, afterwards a major, in the Goshen regiment, who was taken prisoner at a night assault on what is now Randall's Island, on September 23, 1776, and was kept a captive until 1778.

A little further along the way lived Henry Wisner, the elder. He and his son of the same name were makers of powder for the Continental Army at Phillipsburg, between the highway as it now stands and the grist mill near by. Traces of the old raceway and mill can still be seen. Another on the opposite side of the stream, and one at Craigville, operated in conjunction with John Carpenter, were also erected by Henry Wisner. The Sons of the Revolution arranged some years ago to mark the site of the Phillipsburg powder mill by an historical tablet.

Henry Wisner stood foremost among those who advocated the independence of the colonies. He represented Orange County in the Continental Congress which declared that "these States are, and of right ought to be, free." His son Gabriel, hardly past his majority, was slain in the slaughter of Minisink. On the 16th of August, 1774, Henry Wisner was chosen as one of the delegates to represent Orange County in the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia in September of that year. The election was by the committee of the county held at the house of Stephen Slot and the purpose was for the delegate to attend at Philadelphia "to consult on proper measures to be taken for procuring the redress of our grievances."

A question was raised as to the regularity of this election and a meeting of the inhabitants of the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall was held at Chester on September 3, 1774, at which Henry Wisner was chosen to go to Philadelphia "in order to meet the rest of the delegates and consult on proper measures to be taken with respect to the claims made by the British Parliament of taxing America in all cases whatsoever."

William Wickham was a prominent citizen of Goshen, and his attitude was one of extreme loyalty to the crown. With other adherents of the king he attempted to set aside the election of Wisner. The correspondence, which still exists, shows that political feeling was very bitter. The scheme came to naught and Wisner took his seat. In April, 1776, he was elected by a convention held at New York City, as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in which he took part, leaving it for the purpose of manufacturing powder for Washington's tattered army.

Mr. Wisner's signature may still be found in the list at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. He continued in Congress until the memorable 2nd of July, 1776, when the "Resolution of Independency" {sic} was passed. He was heartily in favor of the measure and remained for the purpose of casting his vote for its final passage, had the Provincial Congress of New York given such instructions to its delegates. Tradition affirms that he actually did vote for the "independency" that day. He was not present to sign the Declaration. He had proposed in Congress "a method for the manufacture of saltpeter and gunpowder" which had been approved, and in agreement with which he was requested or appointed to build works and prepare powder for the "Army of the North." To do this he left Philadelphia on the third of July and applied himself to the making of powder. For three years, and until his mill was burned and his fortune exhausted, he continued to supply powder to the American forts and thus beyond any man in the Continental Congress of 1776 contributed to his country's triumph.

On the square at St. James' Place in the village of Goshen stands a monument of native Pochuck granite erected to the memory of Henry Wisner by his great granddaughter, Mrs. Frances Wisner Murray, widow of Ambrose Spencer Murray, of Goshen. The monument was dedicated on July 22, 1897, by Dr. John H. Thompson, who presided and Harrison W. Nenny, Esq., who made the dedicatory address.

Adjoining the residence of Henry Wisner, and separated from it by what is now known as Steward's lane, was the home of John Steward, an ardent patriot. He was one of two brothers, John and Walter Stewart, or Steward, the name having been spelled both ways, who came from Ireland to New England about 1740. Walter settled in Rhode Island, where he started a snuff-mill and became the father of Gilbert Stuart, the noted portrait painter, whose unfinished picture of Washington is the likeness that the world knows best to-day. Gilbert after reaching manhood, wrote his name Stuart, because by reason of the fact that his ancestry was by tradition connected with the Jacobite cause, he had a great admiration for "Bonny Prince Charlie."

The tradition was that, at the time of one of the early Jacobite risings, a nurse in charge of two young children appeared in Belfast, Ireland. They came from Scotland and the woman immediately on arriving fell ill of small-pox and died refusing to tell anything about the children except that their names were John and Walter Stewart, and that they were the sons of a man of rank who would soon come for them. She had with her no money but some fine jewels, no one ever came to claim the children, but as it is recorded in history that some Jacobite families are known to have been exterminated in their bloody and unfortunate battles, this may have been the fate of the relatives of these boys, too young to tell anything about themselves. They were brought up by a man, appointed their guardian. He treated them harshly and as soon as grown they left him and came to try their fortune in a new land. John first acquired some property in Boston, which he left in his will to his son Nathan, but soon came to Goshen and settled there, buying in 1744 eighty acres of land, "and the houses thereon" from William Jayne. From this it appears that the Steward house may have been erected previous to 1744, but "houses thereon" may have been a mere legal term, and the house was probably built by John Steward. It is certain, however, that it has been standing since 1744. He bought more land, about 120 acres in all, at a later date. To farming John Steward joined the occupation of blacksmith, erecting a little to the left of his house a forge, which was in operation as early as 1758, the family having still in their possession, a deed of sale bearing that date of a slave named Tite, warranted to be a good blacksmith. Later at this forge, John Steward II, during the Revolutionary war made sabers and bayonets for the Continental Army.

John Steward I, married Elizabeth Bradner, the daughter of Rev. John Bradner, first settled clergyman in Goshen. As John Bradner was the father of nine children, viz., Calvin, John, Benoni, Gilbert, Susanna, Mary, Sarah, Christian and Elizabeth, and to him many families in Orange County trace their descent, the following may be thought worthy of record. When a young divinity student in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Bradner was employed by a gentleman called Colvill, a Huguenot refugee, as a tutor to his sons. His daughter Christiana shared her brothers' studies and she and the tutor fell in love with each other, but Colvill thought the tutor no match for his daughter, and told her if she married him he would never speak to her again. She put love before duty and having married John Bradner they sailed for America. The voyage occupied six months. Violent storms in which the ship nearly foundered were encountered. These Mrs. Bradner thought were sent by Heaven to punish her for her disregard of her father's wishes. Rev. John Bradner received the degree M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, February 23rd, 1712, was licensed to preach March, 1714, ordained May 6, 1715, pastor of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church, Cape May, N. J., before being called to the church in Goshen, 1721. He died 1732. His widow died 1759. She was well educated in the classics and assisted in preparing her son, Rev. Benoni, for Princeton College. He graduated 1755, was settled in Jamaica, L. I., 1760, and two years after was called to Church Nine Partners, Dutchess County. There is now in the possession of Mrs. M. H. C. Gardner, of Middletown, a piece of a quilt brought from Scotland by Mrs. John Bradner. The colors of the design, birds, fruit and flowers, are as bright as though it was new. John Steward I had eight children and their mother used to relate with pride that never once during their infancy or childhood was she obliged by reason of the illness of one of them to strike a light during the night. John Steward I died in 1770, of a fever then epidemic. In his will he left to his widow, as long as she remained his widow, the use of the best room and the "salon" room. The small adjoining room, now a store closet, was her prayer closet, where she used to retire to pray, as was the good custom of those times.

Her eldest son, John Steward II, although holding no commission in the Continental Army was an ardent patriot, mention being made in Rivington's New York Gazette, the Tory organ, that "rebellion in Orange County was continually fomented by those two firebrands, Squire Steward and Old Wisner," the latter being Henry Wisner, member of the Continental Congress and John Steward's friend and neighbor.

John Steward II, who was thirty years younger than Henry Wisner, was a justice of the peace, and a number of Hessian prisoners passing southward through Goshen, probably after the battle of Saratoga, were quartered over night at his house. The common soldiers slept in the barn, but the officers, of whom there were several, were accommodated in the house and on leaving the next morning told Mrs. Steward that the coffee made by her black cook was the best they had tasted since leaving Germany.

In a house that stood about 100 feet east of the present residence of Campbell Steward, Esq., lived General Reuben Hopkins, whose son, Hanibal, married Elizabeth Steward, daughter of John Steward II. General Hopkins's portrait and his appointment as attorney-at-law dated 1771 and signed by Lord Dunmore, now hang on the walls of the Steward house, which contains other objects of interest, among which may be mentioned an original broadside of the Declaration of Independence addressed to John Steward, Esq., his commission as Major No. 1 of the regiment of militia in the County of Orange, signed by Geo. Clinton in 1798, and a bag of old counterfeit silver Spanish dollars. A band of counterfeiters was arrested in Orange County about the time of the Revolution and they were tried at Goshen, their judges, among whom was Judge Steward, keeping some of the coins as curiosities. In the house can also be seen a small stone hammer presented to the wife of John Steward I, as a token of friendship by a member of a band of Indians who, at the time Steward settled in Goshen, and for some years after, lived in a hickory grove at the rear of his house. His family always made a point of maintaining friendly relations with their savage neighbors, and were never troubled by them, although once during the French and Indian War on an alarm being given that Indians on the war path were approaching Goshen, the family fled to the cedar swamp. It is said that on leaving they looked back for what they feared might be a last look at their house, but the alarm proved a false one. Goshen was spared an Indian massacre and they returned to find their house still standing. The main body of the house, with some minor alterations, is the same to-day as it was in those old Indian days, its cedar shingles, oak beams and large stone chimneys seeming still sound and strong. The house being too small for modern requirements, two wings have been added at different times and the chimney tops rebuilt, but care has been taken to preserve as far as possible every antique feature of the house in its original condition.

During Revolutionary days the inhabitants of Orange County were terrorized by the depredations of Claudius Smith, a notorious outlaw, and his gang of ruffians, who were known as cowboys. Smith was indicted on three charges, one of which was the murder of Major Strong. Rewards were offered by Governor Clinton, and Smith was taken captive at Smithtown, L. I., by Major Brush. He was given into the custody of Colonel Isaac Nichol, sheriff of Orange County, and on January 22, 1779, was publicly executed at the west corner of church park in Goshen, with two other criminals, De La Alar, a burglar, and Gordon, a horse thief. On the gallows near the same spot forty years later two others were publicly put to death for murder.

BATTLE OF MINISINK.

On July 22, 1779, occurred the battle of Minisink, in which the Goshen regiment, under Colonel Tusten, met almost complete annihilation at the hands of nearly 500 Indians and Tories under Joseph Brant, the half-breed chieftain, who was known as Thayendanegea, the Scourge, and held a colonel's commission from George III. The Goshen regiment marched against Brant's forces to avenge a raid made by Brant upon the settlers near Minisink on the 20th of the month. They were joined by a small reinforcement, under Colonel Hathorn, of the Warwick regiment, and the latter assumed command. While marching along the west bank of the Delaware at nine o'clock on the morning of July 22, the Indians were discovered about three-quarters of a mile away and Colonel Hathorn hastened his command in pursuit. Brant, taking advantage of intervening woods and hills made a detour which enabled him to gain the rear of the attacking party, and in the battle which followed the savages completely routed the small force that opposed them. The colonists had little ammunition and this was soon exhausted. A part of them fled, and more were killed in flight than in battle. Colonel Tusten, who was a skillful surgeon, dressed the wounds of his men, and refused to abandon them, staying on the field until he fell. Of the eighty men in the engagement, 44 were killed outright and others died later of their wounds.

Colonel Benjamin Tusten, who was a physician and surgeon by profession, came originally from Southold, L. I., in 1746, at the age of three years. His parents located on the banks of the Otterkill on the patent granted to Elizabeth Denn. His father, Benjamin Tusten, was appointed one of the judges of the courts of the county and also a colonel in the Orange County regiment of militia. The son, Benjamin, was sent to an academy at Jamaica, L. I., and at the age of nineteen returned to Goshen and studied medicine with Doctor Thomas Wiskham. He afterwards studied in Newark, N. J., and New York City, returning in 1769 to practice medicine in Goshen, where two other physicians, Doctor John Gale and Doctor Pierson, had already located. He was very successful and was widely known as a surgeon. He married Miss Brown, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. In 1777 he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Goshen regiment of militia under General Allison, and in 1778 was appointed surrogate of Orange County, which office he held when he lost his life at Minisink.

Captain John Wood, of Colonel Tusten's regiment, was captured in the battle of Minisink, his life being spared by Brant, who in the thick of the battle, thought he saw Wood give a masonic sign. Wood was taken captive and transported to Canada. He left a journal of events following the battle which throws considerable light on the life and character of Brant.

On July 22, 1822, by the influence of Dr. David R. Arnell of Goshen, a monument was erected in the village to the memory of the men who fell at Minisink. It was set up over the bones of the patriots which had been gathered from the battlefield forty-three years after the massacre. On July 22, 1862. a more pretentious monument was dedicated and unveiled, provision for the cost of the same having been made in the will of Dr. Merritt H. Cash, of Minisink.

Goshen village was originally laid out in four lots of eighty acres each. Its original boundaries are not definitely known, as a disastrous fire in 1843 destroyed the town clerk's office, burning up the map of the town and village lots, together with deeds dating from 1714. After these records had been destroyed a new charter was granted on April 18, 1843, fixing the boundaries of the village, which remained under this charter until 1878, when it was abandoned and the village reorganized under the general act. Goshen was incorporated a town on March 28, 1809.

At one time Orange County embraced nearly all the southern part of New York, bordering on the Hudson River. Courts were then held at Orange Town, now in Rockland County. In 1827 they were removed to Goshen. In 1839 the board of supervisors made application to the Legislature to erect a new court house at Goshen. There was considerable opposition from the southern end of the county, which was anxious to secure increased judicial conveniences. As a result, the Legislature effected a compromise, making Goshen and Newburgh joint capitals, and in April, 1841, passed an act authorizing the building of a court house and jail at Goshen and a court house and cells at Newburgh.

IN THE CIVIL WAR.

On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 volunteers, and Governor Morgan appointed a military committee for Orange County. Hon. Ambrose S. Murray was the Goshen member. As a result of this call the 124th Regiment, afterwards famed as the "Orange Blossoms" was organized. During the period of organization it was encamped at Goshen, where Murray avenue is now located. Enlistments came rapidly and by August 23 it was ready for the field.

The military committee recommended A. Van Home Ellis, of New Windsor, for colonel of the regiment and he accepted the commission. Henry S. Murray was made captain of Co. B, which was composed of Goshen men. On August 26, 1862, the regiment was presented with a stand of colors by the women of Orange County. Hon. Charles H. Winfield made the presentation speech. Afterwards, on behalf of the women of Wawayanda, Miss Charlotte E. Coulter presented the regiment with a pair of embroidered silk guidons.

On-Friday, September 5, the regiment was mustered in and on the following day departed for the front. It fought in many engagements from Manassas Gap to Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and was disbanded at Washington's headquarters in Newburgh, June 16, 1865, leaving a record of 208 service dead and 609 casualties in action.

When the Civil War was at its height and drafts were necessary to supply the depleted ranks of the Union Army, one interesting incident took place at Goshen. The provost marshal general had ordered a draft for the Eleventh District, comprising the counties of Orange and Sullivan, calling for 1,932 men, with 50% added, making a total of 2,898. This draft was to begin at Goshen on Wednesday morning, October 7, 1863. Trouble was feared by certain of the leading citizens, and they asked that troops be sent to the village to prevent rioting. Accordingly on Tuesday evening, October 6, the Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, under Colonel Allen, arrived in town. The regiment, which originally numbered 1,300, had been reduced by hard service to 450 men. They made their camp on the elevation which is now Prospect avenue, and during the night, trained their cannon to cover the points where crowds would gather in case of rioting. The drawing began on Wednesday and lasted until Saturday and there was no serious disorder. The names were drawn from the wheel by Gabriel Coleman, an aged blind man of the village. Orange County's quota was 2,131, and Sullivan's 767. Goshen furnished 62, of whom three were colored men.

A table of military statistics compiled just before the close of the war showed that Goshen had furnished men as follows at the Government's call: 30 men in 1861; 113 men in 1862; 104 men in 1863; 51 men in 1864.

On Thursday, September 5, 1907, there was dedicated at Goshen a monument to the service dead of the 124th Regiment. The monument, which weighs nineteen tons, is a bronze figure, "The Standard Bearer," designed by Theo. Alice Ruggles Kitson, a noted sculptress. The figure, eighteen feet in height, stands upon a pedestal of Stony Creek granite, fourteen feet high. The monument was presented to the people of Orange County by Hon. Thomas W. Bradley, of Walden, N. Y., Member of Congress from the Twentieth New York District, in memory of his comrades who died in the service of their country. Mr. Bradley enlisted as a private in the "Orange Blossoms," was promoted to captain, and brevetted major for meritorious service, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, when he volunteered in response to a call, and alone, in the face of a heavy fire of musketry and canister, went across the field of battle and procured ammunition for his comrades.

The presentation was made by Colonel Charles H. Weygant, who commanded the regiment after the commander, Colonel F. M. Cummins, fell wounded. It was accepted for the people by Mr. John J. E. Harrison, chairman of the board of supervisors, a veteran of Co. B, 56th Regiment, U. S. V., who was wounded at Devon's Neck, S. C., December 7, 1864, and who rendered before and after that time valiant service in the Union's cause. It was accepted also by Captain Robert B. Hock, who was the village president, and was then serving his eighteenth consecutive term in that office. He also had been a soldier with a long and honorable record. He enlisted in the regular army as a bugler, some years before the war, and was assigned to the Tenth U. S. Infantry, and sent to Fort Snelling, Minn. He took part in many expeditions against the Mormons, under General Albert Sidney Johnson, afterwards the confederate general killed at Shiloh. Mr. Hock was later sent to the scene of the Mount Meadow massacre and fought in the battle of Ash Hollow under General Hardy. In 1860 he was a pony express rider when Denver was only a tented village. After Fort Sumter was fired on, his old commander General Tracy, asked him to drill recruits at Staten Island. He did this and later performed the same service at Washington. In 1861 he was commissioned lieutenant of Co. E, 12th New York Cavalry, and in 1863 was made captain of Co. F. He was on the Burnside expedition, at Ball's Bluff and in the second battle of Bull Run. On April 17, 1864, he was taken prisoner at Plymouth, N. C., and confined for three weeks in Andersonville, four months at Macon, one month at Savannah, and one month at Charleston. With six brother officers he escaped from prison at Columbia, S. C, and was tracked by bloodhounds. All the others were recaptured, but he, after suffering terribly by privation and exposure, reached the Union lines and was cared for by the Third Tennessee, until able to report to General Dix in New York. In 1865 in a skirmish with General Bragg's troops his horse was shot from under him, and he was caught by Bragg's men and sent to Danville, Va. He made a break for liberty and escaped to the brush, rejoining the Union forces just before Lee's surrender. At Bentonville, in a cavalry charge, his horse was killed and he was thrown among the rebel infantry and captured. The same night he escaped, covering himself with dead leaves, and reporting at his company headquarters in the morning. His comrade in rebel prisons, Lieutenant A. Cooper, dedicated a book of his experiences to Captain Hock.

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XVII. TOWN OF GREENVILLE

By Charles E. Stickney.

The number of acres of land in the town assessed in 1865, was 18,287, at a valuation of $385,600. Personal property $49,850. The number of acres assessed in 1907 is 17,829 at a valuation of $269,485. Personal property, $19,850. A loss in 42 years of 458 acres of land, $116,115 in assessed valuation of real estate, and of $30,000 assessed personal property. The town expenses (town audits) were $619.37, besides $807 for roads and bridges.

In 1855 the town had a population of 1,218. Ten years later it had a population of 1,147; while in 1905 it had only 672 inhabitants, a loss of nearly half compared with its first-named census.

The name was undoubtedly suggested by the beautiful green summer verdure the eastern part of the town exhibits, lying to the sun on the eastern declivity of Shawangunk mountain.

Its boundaries are: Beginning at the corner of the town of Wawayanda line with that of Mount Hope, thence almost due west along the Mount Hope line to that of the town of Deer Park; thence along the Deer Park town line southwest to the New Jersey State line; thence easterly along the said State line to the corner of the Minisink town line; thence northeasterly along the Minisink town line to a point on Castle High Hill near South Centerville; thence northwesterly along the town of Wawayanda town line to a corner; thence northeasterly by north along the said line to the place of beginning.

The first town meeting was held at the house of Jonathan Wood, in Bushville, March 28th, 1854. Bushville then was a village of some importance, but since the near advent of railroads its trade has gone to other places.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The oldest village in the town is no doubt the settlement at Smith's Corners. It was situated on the road which leads along the eastern slope of the Shawangunk mountain from Coleville, N. J., to Otisville, and in early times was a place of some business. Elijah Smith was its founder about the close of the Revolution. Joseph Smith, justice of the peace (see Minisink civil list), in 1813 was a noted man in his day. After the Goshen and Minisink turnpike road was built, and later when (about 1820) a mail route was established through there, the post-office was located at a store which stood where the village of Greenville now is. The post-office was named Minisink, because there was somewhere in the State a post-office already known as Greenville, and this was the nearest post-office to the real Minisink west of the mountain. Two churches, a store and a hotel are located there. The village of Smith's Corner has this year of 1907 been made convenient to travel on account of the new macadam road just built throughout it from Slate Hill to Carpenter's Point.

Lake Maretange, upon which one of the great land patents (Evans) cornered in Colonial days, is now known as Binnewater Pond. It covers about twenty acres of land, and is now so filled with aquatic growths and mud that it has less than half of its original extent. It was once reported to be of great depth. It in early times was famous for its excellent fishing. Its original name was undoubtedly an Indian one. The name Binnewater is a corruption of the German Beninwasser (Inland water). Boudinot creek is its outlet.

The great swamps which once stretched north and east of Smith's Corners were known to early records as "Pakadasink Swamp." They have been largely cleared, drained, and are coming rapidly under cultivation. The Shawangunk Kill whose Indian name was the same as that of the swamp, "Pakadasink" or "Peakadasink," originates from springs in the swamps, and flows northward along the base of the Shawangunk mountain toward Ulster County.

Rutger's creek originates in the watershed south of Greenville village.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Jonathan Wood, justice of the peace as early as 1796, and Timothy Wood (see civil list) resided in Bushville in this town.

John W. Eaton (see civil list) is a descendant of Robert, who came to the town, shortly after the Revolution. Robert had sons, John, William, Robert, and Samuel. There was also an Alexander in the town of about the same generation as Robert's sons, who had a son Thomas. John, the eldest son of Robert, had two sons, Gabriel and Daniel H. The latter during the later years of his life, owned the former David Moore farm now owned by William Creeden, in Wawayanda, where he died. Gabriel, during the later years of his life retired from active life to Unionville, where he owned property and where he died. There seems to have been a James Eaton in the town contemporary with Robert. Their farms constituted what was called Eatontown.

Charles Durland of Long Island settled near Bushville in this town prior to 1800, and it is probable that Moses came into the town soon after he did. Moses lived and died in the town, but Charles bought land, about a mile and a half south of Ridgeberry, where he made a permanent settlement and died there. Thomas T., Steward T., Daniel and Addison were sons of Charles. Steward T. and Daniel became residents of Greenville (see civil list). Garret, John and George A. Durland, descendants of Moses, also resided in Greenville. George A. and Steward T. were justices of the peace for many terms in the town (see civil list). Addison settled near Westtown where he died. Thomas T. Durland succeeded to the old homestead near Ridgeberry, and later in life bought the former Phineas Howell farm near Slate Hill, where he died. His widow (whose father, George Jackson, in his lifetime owned the farms now owned by William Ralston, of the lower road) and son George, and daughters Alice L. and Etta H., now reside on the Slate Hill homestead; while a son, Charles, resides in Middletown and a daughter, Elizabeth Van Orden, lives in Pompton Lakes.

John, Joseph and Hiram Manning were early settlers in the town. Joseph's children were Joseph, Jr., John, Isaac, Richard, Walter, Benjamin, Mrs. Isaac Finch, Mrs. E. Hurlbut, Mrs. John Ferguson. Hiram Manning at one time owned the grist, saw and cider mills at Millsburg. His son, John R. Manning, resides in Gardnersville in Wawayanda, and the latter's son, Hiram, Jr., is in business in Johnsons.

Abraham Elston was a very early settler in the town and many of his descendants are still in it.

Harvey H., Alfred, W. L. and W. W. Clark (see civil list) were descendants of the David Clark mentioned in a sketch of the family in the town of Minisink.

Under an old school law teachers were formerly licensed by town superintendents which prevailed up to 1856. Geo. A. Durland held the office of superintendent for some time. Samuel S. Graham was elected to the position in 1856, but the law was repealed that year and he was never sworn into office.

CHURCHES.

The Baptist Church of Greenville was incorporated January 27th, 1816, and was supplied by the pastors of Brookfield church until July 31st, 1822, when the church was dedicated as a separate one. It was constituted by thirty-one members. Elder Zelotes Grenell preached the sermon, August 3d. That year twenty-three more members were set off from the Brookfield church to it. Elder Henry Ball was pastor for eleven years. Elder D. Bennet supplied it from Unionville for four years. W. H. Jurton, D. Benett, C. Brinkerhoff and Joseph Haughwout supplied it to 1848. Rev. Stephen Case became pastor of it in May, 1848, and continued there to his death in 1895. It was said of him that he married and buried probably more Orange and Sussex County people than any other minister has. He was a son of John and Mary (Mead) Case. The father is alleged to have come from New England, while his mother was a daughter of Ebenezer Mead of near Waterloo Mills in Minisink. John and Mary (Mead) Case had four sons, Joseph M., E. Inman, John B. and Stephen.

Joseph M. was justice of the peace from 1850 to 1874 in Minisink and held other offices (see civil list). The Case homestead was on the ridge west of Westtown where John died in 1844 and Rev. Ralph Bull preached the funeral sermon. His wife died in 1847. Joseph M. was unmarried. E. Inman died in 1888. He had five sons and one daughter, John, Jr., Joseph, Ira L., Jefferson, Anson and Amelia. Ira L., became a resident of Middletown and was elected school commissioner of the second district of Orange County for a term. John B. studied for the ministry and became a clergyman of much influence. He died in 1886. He had seven children: John B., Jr., Stephen J., Joseph M., Tisdale, Joshua I., Sarah and Flora.

Stephen, son of John, after his primary studies were over, attended and graduated at Madison University in 1840. He began preaching the next year, and supplied the pulpit of the Orange Baptist Church six months. Then he preached for three years in what was called the Broadway Baptist Church, which we incline to think was located near Wykertown in Wantage township, N. J., probably the one built by Job Cosad. In May, 1848, he became pastor of the Mount Salem and Greenville churches. He was then about thirty years old, and he labored there for over sixty years until his death. He was survived by three sons: John E., Joshua, Jr. and Joseph M. Joshua, Jr., is a famous auctioneer residing in Unionville.

The Methodist Church of Greenville was incorporated December 23rd, 1850. There had been preaching for about twenty years before that by ministers of the M. E. denomination. The church edifice was built before the church was incorporated. Rev. Henry Litts, who died a few years ago in Deckertown, was pastor there for some time, succeeding Revs. Andrews, Grace and Rusling.

Besides the cemeteries connected with the churches, there are a number of family burial places in the town; notably those of the Manning, Seybolt, Seeley, Courtright, Vanbuskirk, Mulock, Remey and Jenks families.

MISCELLANEOUS.

During the Civil War the town issued in August, 1864, bonds for $25,159; they were all paid by February 11th, 1871.

Its officials have from the formation of the town proved worthy men. It has been universally Democratic by a small majority.

Nathaniel Reeves Quick, justice of the peace from 1868 to 1873, was a tall pleasant man, a descendant of the Quick family of Pennsylvania. He was well posted on the history of the famous Tom Quick, who was a member of the same family. The traditions which Mr. Quick, of Greenville, had instilled into his mind from accounts handed down to him by his grandfather, no doubt truthful, were not altogether complimentary to the old Indian hunter. His grandfather said (told by Nathaniel R. himself), that Tom, when hard pressed for something to eat, would come to his house and stay till the good housewife would absolutely refuse to cook for him any longer, and his grandfather would inform Tom that he must either go to work or leave. That, he said, always started him, for if there was anything in this world that Tom hated it was to work. Then he would shoulder his gun and tramp off in the forest for two or three months before he ventured to show himself again at the house. In truth, his grandfather did not put much dependence on the stories told by Tom of his adventures, because he thought Tom was merely whiling the time away with something to wheedle him with, in fact, a sort of "stand off" for lodging.

The old Goshen and Minisink turnpike road of the last century, crossing Shawangunk Mountain just west of Greenville village, was changed by the State to a macadam road constructed or, nearly so, in 1907. It takes a new route across the mountain and has greatly reduced the grade. The Goshen end of the road to Dolsentown was completed a few years ago, and the one from Dolsentown through Wawayanda and Minisink to the State line about two years ago. The new road through Greenville connects with the Wawayanda line at Slate Hill.

Of the Tory element in the town during the Revolution, it is traditionally remembered that Brant is said to have, after his first raid in 1778, contemplated a more extensive one. For that purpose he came to Greenville secretly to get information of the surroundings. He hid himself in the Pakadasink swamp below Smith's Corners, and explored the vicinity by night. Certain Tories of the neighborhood were suspected at the time of furnishing food to some tramp in the swamp, and one of them was caught returning from the swamp where he had been to take a portion of a sheep which he had killed, as it was later found out. Excitement ran high at once and a party visited his premises and found that he had slaughtered a sheep and had taken a part of it to the swamp to feed a hidden Tory as was supposed. A committee improvised a fife and drum corps, wrapped the bloody sheepskin about him, and marched him at the point of a bayonet on foot to Goshen followed by the music of the fife and drum.

This was on a broiling hot day in summer, and, as may well be supposed, that march of sixteen miles, bothered as he was by the flies and the jokes of the people they met, made the victim very uncomfortable. Later when Brant swooped down on Minisink in 1779, he did not cross the mountain into the Greenville neighborhood as the settlers then thought he intended to do at first. Then they ascertained the kind of a tramp that the Tory had been furnishing with mutton in Pakadasink swamp, and rejoiced to think that their prompt action in treating their Tory neighbor to that arrest probably saved their homes from the invasion planned.

Before the days of railroads the people who lived in these neighborhoods generally went to Newburgh, and if they desired to go to New York took from thence passage on a sailing vessel for that place. Sometimes the passage occupied three or four days between those two cities, dependent on the weather. In windy weather the sloops often had to anchor under some protecting high shore, and in dark nights they generally anchored until daylight. A disaster which made a great sensation throughout the county and elsewhere, happened November 24th, 1824, to a sloop of this kind, near Pollopel's Island, in lower Newburgh bay. The sloop Neptune was on its way up the river under command of its first deck hand, John Decker, the captain (Halstead) having been left in New York sick. About twenty tons of plaster were in its hold and about twenty more tons piled on deck, together with eight or ten tons of other goods. There was a strong wind prevailing and the boat was coming up near the island with a double reef in the mainsail and all precautions taken for safety, when there came a sudden blast of wind which caused the sloop to dip and the plaster on deck to shift its weight. This shifting of the deck plaster caused the sloop to dip so violently that the water came pouring into the scuttle of the forecastle, and into the cabin where some ten or twelve women and a number of children were gathered. Besides the crew about twenty-six male passengers were on the deck. Instead of righting, the boat went right down without further warning. All in the cabin were drowned. It was about noon, and several boats that saw the sloop go down hurried to the scene, and were so successful as to rescue seventeen of the passengers.

Joshua Mulock, of Minisink (now Greenville) was one of the men on deck, and he said that when he first heard the women and children scream in the cabin, he tried to break a grating in the deck to let them out and the boat went down so quick that it carried a part of his vest with it which caught fast. That held him and he went down under the boat. Luckily his vest tore loose, and he floated out from under the boat and came to the surface, where he was rescued. Jesse Green from present Greenville, and a man named Carey from present Wawayanda neighborhood, were also saved. Among those drowned were John Greenleaf, George Evertson, Matilda Helms and William Kelly and child from Minisink. The next year the bodies of Matilda Helms and Mr. Greenleaf were found among others at Cold Spring some distance down the river. They were buried by the coroner of Putnam County. The sloop was afterwards raised by its owners.

Next to the battle of Minisink this disaster furnished the greatest sensation of those early times. Mr. Mulock was a great humorist. On one occasion, a Mr. and Mrs. Lee, of Greenville, made Mr. and Mrs. Mulock an evening visit. When the visitors were seated in their wagon ready to start for home, one of them said to their host and hostess, "Now you must come and see us as soon as you can." "We'll promise to do so, sure!" said Mr. Mulock.

When Mr. and Mrs. Lee had arrived home, and she was in the house with a lighted candle looking at the clock and wondering how they came to stay until after midnight, and he was returning from the stables where he had placed the horse, they were surprised to hear a wagon driving up to the door. How much greater was their surprise when they both went to the gate to see who it was, and saw there Mr. and Mrs. Mulock. "You told us," said the former, "that we must come and see you as soon as we could, and here we are." Then after a laugh at Mr. and Mrs. Lee's apparent discomfiture, they went home, and told the joke round about to their friends. We give it to illustrate the jollity of those times.

From the years 1836 to 1854 the post office regulations for the three towns, under the name of Minisink, were a mail delivery Tuesdays and Fridays of each week. The mail was carried by a contractor, who left Goshen on those days in the morning in a one horse sulky or gig which easily carried the driver and mail bags. He came across the Wallkill at Pellet's Island to Ridgeberry; thence to Westtown, Unionville, Minisink (Greenville) and back through Bushville, South Centerville, Brookfield, Slate Hill, Denton and to Goshen. The trip was made in one day. Sometimes the carrier would have a young woman on the seat with him which invariably made him late and caused lots of grumbling among the people waiting for the mail. Few letters were received, and the only newspapers taken generally were the Goshen Democrat and Independent Republican, of Goshen. Not a daily paper then found its way in this region except at intervals. The rates of postage were, up to 1845, for a letter of a single sheet, not exceeding thirty miles, six cents; over thirty and not exceeding eighty miles, ten cents; over eighty and not over 150, twelve and one-half cents; over 150 and not over 400 miles, eighteen and three-quarter cents; over 400 miles, twenty-five cents. If the letter had two sheets of paper it was charged double, and if three sheets, triple rates; for each newspaper carried not over 100 miles, one cent; to any office in the State where printed, one cent; otherwise over 100 miles, one and a half cents. Pamphlets 100 miles, one and a half cents a sheet; over 100 miles, two and a half cents a sheet; if not published periodically, four and six cents a sheet, as to distance. Everything else was paid at letter postage at a quarter ounce rate. The letters then were sent without envelopes, folded so as to conceal the writing, and sealed with wax usually. The postage was collected on delivery. In 1854 the rates were reduced considerably, but all other features retained. In 1855, the writer, then a boy, was left temporarily in charge of the post-office at Slate Hill, which then paid the postmaster, a storekeeper, about $10 a year percentage. He then kept a store and the keeper of the office was considered a help to the store trade. A woman came in and asked if there was a letter for her. There was. She asked how much postage was due on it. There was eighteen cents. Then she asked to look at it. The verdant young man handed it to her. She opened it, glanced over the contents, then handed it back, saying, "I won't take it. There's nothing in it worth the money." The postmaster when informed of the incident later, said, "Boy, next time don't you hand out the letter till they hand over the money."

In 1852 the postage was reduced and a little later envelopes came in fashion. The Middletown, Unionville and Watergap Railroad was completed from Middletown to Unionville, June 2nd, 1868. That changed mail arrangements throughout the three towns. Slate Hill, Johnsons, Westtown and Unionville got a daily mail. Waterloo Mills, Denton and Bushville were abandoned, and Ridgeberry and South Centerville were supplied from Slate Hill. The railroad is now known as the New York, Susquehanna & Western, under control of the Erie. The increase in the amount of mail matter handled has been wonderful, and the offices which once had their mail matter carried on a two-wheel sulky twice a week easily, would now require a team of horses and a big wagon to move it every day.

The 4th and 5th days of January, 1835, were remarkably cold days and that winter was a terribly severe one. We have no thermometer records for our three towns of those days, but in New York City it was 5 degrees, in Newark 13 and Elizabethtown 18 degrees below zero for both days. In 1857 the 23rd of January was a remarkably cold day, the thermometer standing at 23 below in the early morning, 17 at noon, and 12 at night, when it began to snow and a deep snow came.

Orange County gave 3,541 votes for Van Buren and 2,242 for Harrison for President in 1836.

The local option law in our three towns has resulted in a continual no-license majority for about twenty-five years in Wawayanda; occasional no-license in Greenville and Minisink. The result of the election in 1907 gave no-license a majority in Minisink.

In ancient times elections were held in the spring for local officers, and in the fall for county, State and national officers. All the officers in the State are now elected in November on one day. In 1837, the States held election: Maine, 2nd Monday of September; Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 1st Monday in August; Delaware, 1st Tuesday of October; Louisiana, 1st Monday of July; Tennessee and North Carolina, 1st Thursday in August; Vermont, 1st Tuesday in September; Georgia and Maryland, 1st Monday in October; New York, 1st Monday in November; Massachusetts, 2nd Monday in November; New Hampshire, 2nd Tuesday in March; Virginia and Connecticut in April; Rhode Island in August; South Carolina, 2nd Monday in October.

During the first early years of our history, where farmers kept large dairies, they made butter, which was the mainstay of their farming. They used a tread-wheel about twelve feet in diameter set at a steep incline, on one side of which a horse or bull climbed to furnish the power for churning. Similar dairies used sheep or calves. About 1834 to 1840 (tradition) George F. Reeve, of near Middletown, invented an endless chain-power on which a good-sized dog would furnish as much power as an animal twice as large.

Lights for many years were furnished of dip tallow candles. These were made by melting a wash boiler full of tallow, into which six candle-wicks hung on a stick were dipped and hung on a rack to cool. Enough sticks were used so that by the time the last one was dipped the first one was cool enough to dip again, and so the process was continued until the candles had accumulated enough tallow to be of the right size. Whenever the tallow in the boiler began to get low hot water was added to make the tallow float to the top of the boiler. When beeves were killed in the fall the good housewives were careful to dip candles for a whole year's supply. About 1852 camphene began to be used for lights, and in some instances alcohol and some other dangerous compounds. About 1860 the use of kerosene came into family and public lighting, and is still the great illuminant.

In 1777 a real estate ownership of one hundred pounds value was a necessary qualification for a voter who desired to vote for a Governor, Senator and Assemblyman, while only twenty pounds worth of real estate was requisite in order to qualify a person to vote for a representative in Congress. For town officials and resolutions all male citizens were allowed to vote, and this was generally done at town meetings viva voce, or by division to the right and left. A Governor then held office three years and had to be a real estate owner. Senators held office four years and had to be owners of one hundred pounds worth of real estate. Judges were appointed by the Governor and council and held office during good behavior, but were disqualified when sixty years old. They could be removed by the Governor when requested by a two-thirds vote of the legislature. Clergymen were then excluded from holding office, and from the legislature. In 1821 a new State constitution was framed and the property qualifications removed. Ballots were then introduced generally in town elections.

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XVIII. TOWN OF HAMPTONBURGH

By Margaret Crawford Jackson.

On March 5, 1703, in the reign of Queen Anne, the Wawayanda patent was signed. The grantors were twelve Indians named Rapingonick, Wawastawa, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, Manawitt, Ariwimack, Rumbout, Clauss, Chonckhass, Chingapaw, Oshaquemonus and Quiliapaw, and among the twelve patentees was Christofer Denn. He was a Frenchman and a carpenter, then living on the eastern shore of Staten Island with his wife, Elizabeth, and a young girl sixteen years of age, Sarah Wells, who had been taken by them as an infant and brought up as their own, although she did not receive their name, nor at their deaths did they mention her in their wills, probably because she had received one hundred acres after her marriage.

Christofer Denn, as his name is spelled by Mr. Eager in his history, or "Denne," as spelled by Mr. Ruttenber, the latter says, was a resident of New York in 1701, and one of the signers of the "Protestant Petition" to William III, in that year. In 1702 his name appears appended to the congratulatory address to Lord Cornbury as one "of the chiefest inhabitants of the City and County on New York." And in 1705 he was one of the signers of a petition by the merchants of that city. He was still a resident of New York in 1722-1723, and it was in that city his wife Elizabeth died. It should be noticed that it is said Denn was a resident of the county of New York, even when not living in the city.

SARAH WELLS.

Around Sarah Wells much of the history of Hamptonburgh is woven. She was born in New Jersey, opposite Staten Island, April 6, 1694, and died April 21, 1796, aged 102 years, leaving 355 living descendants. Her husband was William Bull, an Englishman from Wolverhampton. The family left there for Dublin in February, 1689. At Wolverhampton the church register shows the records of the family back to 900 A. D. The late claim is that William Bull, son of John Bull, and grandson of Josias Bull, of Kingshurst Hall, who emigrated in 1715, settling at Hamptonburgh, Orange County, New York, is identical with the husband of Sarah Wells. But whether Kingshurst Hall is in Wolverhampton we cannot say at this moment. However, the coat-of-arms belonging to the Bulls of Kingshurst Hall has been engraved and virtually accepted by Mr. Ebenezer Bull, of Hamptonburgh, as that of his ancestors.

Christofer Denn's share of 2,000 acres in the Wawayanda patent having been set apart, he visited the location and made friends with the Indians living there. The claim was surveyed by Peter Berian and lay touching the northeasterly bounds of the town lots of the village of Goshen. Its bounds run thus: "Beginning at a stake and stones about east of and ten chains from the dwelling-house of General Abraham Vail in East Division; thence northwesterly along the northeasterly bounds of the Goshen town lots, and until it meets with a line supposed to divide the old counties of Ulster and Orange; thence east along the same to a stake and stones known to be standing near the top of the highland, or mountain above Charles Heard's in Hamptonburgh; thence on a course about thirty-six degrees west to the place of beginning."

Some difficulty arose later in running the survey of other lines which interfered with Denn's claim.

To settle it a grant was made after his death in the name of his wife, Elizabeth "Denne," of 1,140 acres, December 12, 1734. Although the patent had been signed there was a condition that unless a settlement was made on the Wawayanda patent by the end of May, 1712, the title was to lapse. Add to this that six hundred acres were to be given to the first settler and we may find a sufficient motive for Christofer Denn to become the needed pioneer.

His affairs were embarrassed at the time, and this change from the city to the wilderness probably offered a much needed retreat for a time at least. He took with him on his return to the city after his inspection of the land, three young Indians, sons of those whom he had visited and of the tribe which had parted with their land to the patentees. They had befriended the surveyors while running out the patent and had kindly volunteered their services to help him remove from the city to the patent. All accounts say that three young Indians went with him to the city and helped to direct the party.

It was Sarah Wells, this slender, dark-eyed little girl of sixteen, whom Denn chose to go forth alone with the men to conquer the wilderness. When he told her, she was sick with terror at the thought that in the latter part of her journey her only companions would be the carpenters and half-naked savages, who might attack her at any moment.

The carpenters sent to build the log house, of whom there were two, knew nothing of the country, and had treachery been intended the whites must have been defenseless.

Denn, being in straitened circumstances at the time, the other patentees came to his assistance and supplied the sloop and crew and cows and horses to assist in the settlement which, according to Eager, was to hold the Wawayanda Patent.

The present family believe him to have been correct in regard to their history, for he was a descendant on his mother's side. He gives a full and romantic account of this journey, from which we can only give extracts.

He says: "As this portion of our narrative was derived from Sarah in after life, we purpose to place an inventory of the various articles of outfit before the reader, that he may judge of its nature, extent and value, which are as follows: Two pack horses with bells on, two milk cows with bells, two dogs, two Irish Brahmas, one spade, two pails, two beds and bedding, one small and one large kettle, wood trenchers and bowls, candlesticks and candles, a pair of trammels, a frying pan, small tin plates for saucers, coffee pot with coffee, teapot, chocolate, tin canister with tea, silver teaspoons and sugar tongs, small china teacups and saucers, bundle of cloths, saddlebags, pillow saddles, knives and forks, some potatoes, wallets, medical cordials in vials, refined sugar in small pieces, brown sugar in rolls, flour, biscuit, ham in small sacks, some trinkets, ribbons and small knives for the Indians."

There may have been other articles not enumerated. As Denn bade Sarah good-bye in a subdued voice and tones of affectionate regard, he said: "Sarah, you have been kind and dutiful to us thus far, and your present conduct confirms us in your kindness. The duty you have to perform is new and may be fatiguing, but must if possible be accomplished now or the season may be lost. The workmen will take care of you while on the boat and afterwards, while the Indians, of whose friendship I have no doubt, will guide you through the woods to the place selected for our dwelling. This work is very important and what you do for Madam Denn and me is also done for the benefit of the company." He ended thus: "God save and bless you, Sarah."

The Indians faithfully performed their part and the one who was given especial charge over Sarah's horse (after the party landed on the banks of the Hudson near Cornwall), although half-naked, as were the other two, watched carefully her comfort. Their eyes were piercing, their voices harsh and grating, yet Sarah's attendant showed a deference; and gentle anxiety to please that many white men of to-day might envy.

Sarah mounted on the second horse, sat upon beds and bedding with many small articles around her and managed her horse with great difficulty. The Indian marched close by her side, helped her on and off her horse, and pointed out many things in the woods calculated to interest her attention and draw her out in conversation. Not infrequently he plucked an early flower as it sprang up by the wayside, and calling her attention to it, tasted its leaves and then presented it for acceptance.

They arrived on the bank of the stream, now the Otterkill, opposite the spot which Christofer Denn had selected as the place of his residence. Thus the journey in full twenty miles of pathless forest, with occasional thick underwood, was performed in a single day.

They built a fire beneath a tree whose branches guarded them from dampness. They put boughs of trees upon forked sticks driven into the ground and laid the beds there to escape the snakes, and the carpenters lay down and slept well till morning, but Sarah dreamed and slept fitfully, while the Indians threw themselves on the ground with their feet to the fire and slept all night. Whenever Sarah roused herself to look about, "her Indian" made signs to her that all was well and he was guarding her. The next day the carpenters built a wigwam of split logs resting on end against a frame of poles 16 by 18 feet with a ditch about it to carry off rain. It had a slanting roof with a hole three feet square in the peak for the escape of smoke, the fireplace being below it.

The goods were first unpacked and plates set on the table for supper the second evening of their arrival, when one of the Indians saw two people at a distance, and going to reconnoiter, found Madam Denn and her husband. They had been so overcome by the parting from Sarah and the enormity of their conduct in sending her on such a perilous adventure, that they had followed her on horseback up through New Jersey as fast as they could, and arrived in time for the first meal in the new wigwam. On seeing them at the door she fainted at their feet.

It is only just to say that the friendship thus begun between Sarah and the Indians continued to the end.

When the Indians were most hostile to others in the neighborhood the family could always give a safe refuge to the many who sought a shelter under their roof when night came.

WILLIAM BULL.

In 1716 William Bull entered on the scene. Born in Wolverhampton, England, February, 1689, his youth was, however, passed in Dublin, where his father moved when he was small.

He was apprenticed to learn the trade of a mason and stone cutter. When his apprenticeship ended he and a young friend took the contract to build a large arch for a bridge being constructed near Dublin. Tradition says: One Saturday night the work was nearly done and the arch finished but for the keystone. He begged the men to remain and put it in place, so completing the work, but they refused. On going down to see it on the next morning he found it fallen and his fortunes with it. It had carried with it his all and imprisonment for debt--as far as he knew it might be for life--stared him in the face.

There was a ship lying at the dock which he knew was sailing that day for New York. He searched his pockets and discovered five guineas with which and a few books he boarded the vessel. The captain on being asked if that much money would take him to America, answered it would. On reaching New York the captain told him the money had brought him, but had not paid his full passage and he must be sold for the balance. Bull was highly indignant and refused to leave the ship. He replied that he would return to Ireland and face his debts. Daniel Cromline, who also had a share in the Wawayanda patent, heard that an Irish ship was in dock, and hoping to procure some workmen had it proclaimed on board the ship. Bull felt that Providence and strangers would help him, and on telling his story to Mr. Cromline the money was advanced and they traveled together as far as Greycourt. Here he did the mason work on the old stone Greycourt house in 1716.

This was long a public inn on the way from the Hudson to New Jersey, and was a famous resort for the people around.

William Bull lived in the Cromline family, whose patent was not far from that part of the Wawayanda patent on which Mr. Denn had settled. They were in fact neighboring families, and so William Bull met Sarah Wells. They loved each other and were married in 1718.

The ceremony took place in the new double log house of Christofer Denn, and as Bull was an Episcopalian and desired to be married by the rites of his church they did not know how to proceed. There was no church nor a clergyman who could proclaim the banns three weeks, but courts of justice had been established and a magistrate was in the neighborhood.

They decided that circumstances alter cases and summoned their guests. All being assembled the magistrate carrying the prayer book proceeded first to the front door and proclaimed the banns to the trees of the forest, then through the hall to the back door where he proclaimed it to the cattle and the outbuildings. He made proclamation then once more from the front door to the wilderness at large and then performed the marriage ceremony. The wedding dress was of homespun linen delicately embroidered by the bride, and is now in the possession of one of her descendants, who has exhibited it at the family picnic held each year on the last Wednesday in August in the grove at Campbell Hall.

Later Sarah Wells Bull asked for and received the promised reward of 100 acres from Christofer Denn for having gone alone at his bidding to settle his claim and save his title.

William Bull and Richard Gerard received a grant joining Denn's of 2,600 acres, August 10, 1723.

On the 100 acres given to Sarah, Bull built a barn of hand-sawed planks. These were of ash, rived, and the shingles of split pine and put on each with two pegs. This barn is still in use and never has been painted. Afterwards he built the stone house in 1727 on his own land near by, and it is still occupied by the family and probably will stand for generations to come. It is built on a rock, with a spring in the cellar, and before the house was quite finished in September, 1727, an earthquake which was felt for 1,500 miles, cracked the east side of the house and the crack can still be seen. The lightning struck it in 1767-8, but only slight damage was done to its thick stone walls. The house has two stories of eleven feet each, with basement and a good-sized garret. It is a truly fine house for those times. Mr. Bull called his place Hamptonburgh, from Wolverhampton where he was born. There were eight children born to him.

FEATURES AND SETTLERS.

Stephen Jayne. Daniel Jayne. Joseph Hildreth. Adam Miller. Isaac Tobias. David Bloomfield. Gilbert Roberts. Lawrence Ferguson. Daniel Harrison. Daniel Miller. Joseph Gold. Henry Davenport. Israel Osmun. Ezekiel Osmun. Henry Hall. William Cooper. Samuel Lows. Jacob Lows.

Hamptonburgh township as it now stands was set apart in 1830 from the towns bounding it. It is in the form of an irregular hexagon, its northern extremity a point and Montgomery bounding it on the northeast and northwest, with the Wallkill river running between Wallkill township on the west and Montgomery on the northwest, while Goshen is on the southwest, Blooming Grove the southeast and New Windsor on the east.

The Otterkill circles through the town adding picturesqueness to the fields it waters, while high ridges and fertile valleys vary the scene. The Goshen and Montgomery State road runs northeast through the western part of the town and the Little Britain State road joins it at Clark's Crossing. Mr. Clark's farm, once the Denniston Bull farm, is now in the hands of the New York and New Jersey Railroad, and the road is being constructed. It is claimed that this will put Campbell Hall within one hour of New York City, instead of the three days' journey by sloop and horseback which Sarah Wells had to undergo.

At Campbell Hall Junction four railroads center, the Ontario and Western, the Central New England, the Wallkill Valley Division of the N. Y. C. & H. R. and the Erie, while the Lehigh and New England runs through the eastern part of the town from north to south, with stations at Hamptonburgh, Girard and Burnside, thus making this small town of more than proportionate interest in the county.

There are six rural schools and one church now in the town. This is the Presbyterian church at Campbell Hall, where also are the stores of Alexander Brothers and C. B. Howell, a meat market, a creamery and a blacksmith's shop, and the surrounding houses with neat lawns make an attractive hamlet.

The two-room schoolhouse stands in a grove of oaks on a hill overlooking the Otterkill where the old church stood before it was moved to Hamptonburgh proper. Now that building stands empty and only the graveyard tells the old story. The name Campbell Hall came from a Colonel Campbell who lived there. His house was back of what is now the Bertholf house. "Col. Campbell was a Scotchman, the father of Mrs. Margaret Eustace, who was the mother of Gen. Eustace of the Revolutionary army of France, both of whom, we believe, died in the vicinity of Newburgh thirty or thirty-five years since." (Eager in 1846-7.) In speaking of Mrs. Eustace he notes her dignity of manner when she resided at Campbell Hall; also of her husband, Doctor Eustace, who was from the South, he says there was a secret not fully understood which embittered the last years of her life and her father's.

Campbell Hall owes much to Mrs. Matilda Booth Gouge. Her husband, Mr. George Gouge, conducted a large creamery business there for years, and on his death he left his widow more than comfortably provided for. There were no children and Mrs. Gouge did many kind things for her neighbors before her death. She gave the ground on which the church was built and a large house for a parsonage close to the church. She also educated a colored man for the ministry. On her death she willed her large residence with its furniture for a more comfortable home for the pastor and her farm of 100 acres to the church with $5,000 in bonds. Most of the buildings in the village are built on land purchased from her. Her birthplace was near and is now owned by Mr. C. B. Howell.

Burnside has a sawmill, a store and a Borden's creamery. Post offices are in each place and the R. F. D. comes out from Montgomery. This closes the helpful public activities of the town, but fine hotels, with bars, make an addition not to be omitted. It is impossible to follow closely all the different family fortunes of those who make the records of to-day; our allotted space is too small.

There are two of the original grants on which the descendants of the patentees are still living. These are the Richard Gerard and William Bull grants.

The one of 2,600 acres was dated August 10, 1723, on which, by a mistake of calculation, the carpenters erected the first wigwam in 1712, followed by the William Bull stone house.

The second grant lay partly in Wallkill, partly in Hamptonburgh, divided unevenly by the Wallkill River, William Bull, Esq., the great-great-grandson of the first one of the name here, lives upon the western portion, and the stone house known as Hill-Hold on the eastern part, belongs to the descendants of the third son of William Bull--Thomas Bull, Robert McLeod Jackson and Margaret Eleanor Jackson and their mother, Margaret Crawford Jackson, wife of Robert McDowell Jackson, son of William Wickham Jackson.

The stones in the house were cut in the fields by the builder, Thomas Bull, as he had time for the work between planting and reaping. It was years before he was ready to build. Paneling was brought from England for the east and west sides of the two large first-floor rooms. Also solid mahogany balls for the newels and mahogany balusters. The walls are two feet thick, with open fireplaces throughout the house and massive chimney stacks on the east and west. This house also stands on a rock, is in good repair and has a beautiful situation on a hill.

Thirty years ago Mr. Charles Backman bought the road house by Stony Ford bridge, known as the Sutton House, with race track, and began to improve Orange County's fine trotting stock. Little by little he bought the adjoining farm land until he owned 640 acres and remade the mile of road from Stony Ford to La Grange into as fine a highway as are the best State roads to-day.

His house was visited by many noted people, among them General Grant when President, and General Benjamin F. Tracy, now ex-Secretary of the Navy. Mr. J. Howard Force now owns the place. General Tracy owned for a few years a farm in Goosetown or LaGrange, which he named Marshland and greatly improved. This also was a stock farm for fine horses; it is now in other hands. Mr. Backman bought part of the Valentine Hill farm originally belonging to Andrew Wilson, who was a private in Colonel James McClaughrey's regiment of Little Britain. In October, 1777, he was one of the hundred men sent out from Fort Montgomery to intercept the British, who were 5,000 strong and commanded by Sir Henry Clinton in person.

Here is a dispatch from Governor Clinton, dated October 7, 1777, the day after the fort was taken: "We received intelligence that the enemy were advancing on the west side of the mountain with design to attack us in the rear. Upon this ordered out Colonels Bruyer and McClaughrey with upwards of 100 men towards Doodletown with a brass field piece, with a detachment of sixty men on every advantageous post on the road to the furnace. They were not long out before they were attacked by the enemy with their whole force; our people behaved with spirit and must have made great slaughter of the enemy."

Andrew Wilson was here taken prisoner and when an English soldier ordered him to take off his silver shoe buckles he refused and was knocked down by the butt of a musket and his buckles taken. He lay on the sugar hulk for two years and believed he was treated with greater indignity than others because of his refusal.

After his release he lived on the farm mentioned on the east bank of the Wallkill. His son James died first, he himself in 1804. He left two sons and a daughter. John lived and died in Goshen. His son, Andrew, raised two companies in 1812, the first he turned over to his intimate friend, Burnett of Little Britain, that they might not be separated; the second gave him a commission as lieutenant in the regular army. Afterwards he became captain and was in charge at Governor's Island. He married a daughter of William Bull, of Wallkill, Milinda Ann, and made a home in Goshen. He was sent to the Legislature from there in 1819. He was prominent in the temperance movement, also the Bible society and the church life of Hamptonburgh.

The first pastor settled at Hamptonburgh was the Rev. James R. Johnson, formerly of Goshen. The tide of prosperity in the town was expected to set to the east, about the new church, but the hopes were not fulfilled, and little by little Campbell Hall became the established center. The Rev. Slater C. Hepburn was called after Mr. Johnson and was installed July 2, 1850, and died in Campbell Hall after serving his people forty-five years.

Able B. Watkins was an early settler near the Denns and had a family of ten children.

In 1749 Silas Pierson came from Long Island and took possession of what long was known as the old shingle house on the Pierson farm, a mile northeast of Hamptonburgh church. This house was burned this spring of 1907, April 13th. The eastern half was built of squared logs up to the eaves.

On the 8th day of July, 1760, James De Laney, Esq., his Majesty's lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief in and over the province of New York and the territories depending thereon, signed a commission appointing Silas Pierson to be captain of the company of militia foot lately commanded by John Bull, Esq. This was near the close of the French and Indian War, when England had determined to destroy the power of France in America. The militia was liable to be called out at any time to defend the settlements against the attacks of the Indians and to avenge their wrongs.

In 1775 Silas Pierson was captain in Jesse Woodhull's regiment; later he was captain of a light horse company in the Revolution. Silas Pierson and Silas Pierson, Jr., were among the many signers of the pledge in the Cornwall precincts, in which they declared that they would never become slaves and would aid the Continental Congress in opposing the arbitrary acts of the British Parliament. Joshua Pierson, grandfather of George Pierson, Sr., was a private in Col. Jesse Woodhull's regiment in 1777 at the age of sixteen, and went with the regiment under the command of Major Zachariah Du Bois to assist in the defense of Fort Montgomery.

The family of Mr. William Henry Pierson still resides on the old farm. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Bull of the "stone house." His daughter Lucile married Harry Bull, of Wallkill, who, like his father, is justice of the peace. It thus appears that in a large degree the history of Hamptonburgh township is the history of the Bulls, for marriage has linked the family with so many other well-known names.

We would like to give a list of the men who have served as supervisors and also as elders of the church. Indeed our story could well lengthen itself into a small volume were all to be told which is of interest in our little town. We have tried to keep a class of facts which hold more than a passing and local interest.

We have drawn for our material upon such published records as have been within our reach, and have consulted with persons who have knowledge of such points as may have been in dispute.

Let us hope we have wronged no one in anything said or left unsaid, and have disseminated no more false facts than are unavoidable with the most conscientious historians.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIX. TOWN OF HIGHLANDS

By Captain Theodore Faurot.

This is one of the younger towns of Orange County, only those of Tuxedo and Woodbury having been born later. It is, in fact, only about thirty-five years old. But for scenic beauty and native charm it easily outranks every other town in this county, if not all others on the Hudson River. The fame of the Hudson River Highlands is worldwide, and it is in this little town that the culmination of this native grandeur and picturesque beauty is reached. No one who has ever sailed up or down the Hudson, and who has not, will spend a moment wondering why this township was thus named.

The general shape or contour of the town, laterally, may be roughly classed as triangular. But the topographical surface is far more difficult to classify. It has the most extended river frontage of any town in the country, it being some nine or ten miles, beginning at Cro' Nest, in the town of Cornwall on the north, and reaching below Fort Montgomery, to the Rockland County line.

It is bounded on the north by the town of Cornwall, on the east by the Hudson River, on the south by Rockland county and the town of Woodbury, and on the west by Woodbury.

The area of this young town, as now estimated by the Orange supervisors, is 15,514 acres. In 1879 it was placed at 9,324-1/2 acres. This fractional total would seem to indicate that a very careful survey had been made previous to that time. But nobody has been quite able to explain just how this unique engineering feat was accomplished. Looking at the town from the river, the task presents many features of serious import, even to the mountain engineer.

The whole thing was valued at $330,600 by the assessors of 1879. But of course there was nothing allowed for sentiment or native grandeur in that cold, business estimate. Perhaps such things really had no cash value at that time, if indeed they have now. The tax of the town that year amounted to $2,896.67. In 1906 the total value of this real estate was placed at $857,112. Upon this amount a tax of $8,610.67 was levied. This was made up as follows: $3,474.20, general fund; $4,423.37, town audits; $250.02, sworn off taxes; and $0.33, treasurer's credits.

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

Concerning these, previous to the Revolution, little is definitely known. The lands around the Point, from which West Point takes its name, and to the north and west thereof, were originally granted by the British Crown to Captain John Evans. In 1723 these lands, having been re-assumed by the Crown, the larger portion was granted to Charles Congreve upon condition that he, or his heirs and assigns, should settle there and cultivate at least three acres out of every fifty acres of land conveyed to him in the grant. The inference is, therefore, that the first buildings at West Point were erected about that time.

This Congreve tract comprised some 1,463 acres, which included the northern portion of the Point. But the records do not give the names of these early white settlers. In March, 1747, another portion of this John Evans tract, covering 332 acres, was granted to John Moore, on the same conditions contained in the first grant to Congreve. This tract adjoined the southwest corner of the Congreve Patent. John Moore afterward purchased the Congreve tract and thus became the owner of 1,790 acres in the vicinity of the Point. This he subsequently devised to his son, Stephen Moore, a merchant of Caswell, N. C. Then after a forty-year tenure of this land by the Moore family it was finally sold to the United States Government, pursuant to an act of Congress passed July 5, 1790. The deed of transfer was executed by Moore, December 10, of the same year. The price paid was $11,085. The necessity of this purchase was urged upon Congress by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, and also by Henry Knox, who was then Secretary of War, who finally conducted the negotiations for the purchase for the Government.

Captain John Evans obtained his original grant on petition, March, 1694, from Governor Dongan, who had purchased the land from the Esopus Indians. It was described as extending "from Murderer's Creek back," This stream finds the Hudson at Cornwall. Captain Gee, of the ancient sloop Federal, who brought stores to West Point between 1790 and 1810, seems to have owned a dwelling house near the Point about that time, when it was known as Gee's Point.

Adjoining the Congreve Patent on the south was one of the six tracts originally granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, October 18, 1731, under the conditions of settlement already named. This tract seems to have passed to many successive owners, as follows:

Richard Williams, of Cornwall; Robert Armstrong, of Sussex County, N. J.; Benjamin Rose, December 1, 1785; John Dunlap, of Ulster County, September 6, 1788; and Thomas North, of Cornwall, November 22, 1704. North also purchased an adjoining tract on the south from Isaiah Smith, June 3, 1790, and he held the whole tract for nearly thirty years. Then it passed to Oliver Gridley, of Bergen County, N. J., December 28, 1819. who deeded the same to the United States, May 13, 1824, in accordance with the act of Congress, approved March 10, of that year.

At the time of the purchase of the Congreve and Moore grants by the Government, Hugh McClellan, a Revolutionary soldier, occupied a small house on the property. In recognition of his patriotic services in that war he was permitted to remain and cultivate his garden by Secretary of War John Knox. The old soldier spent the rest of his life there, leaving a wife and a daughter on the premises. They finally claimed the domicile by right of undisputed possession under the laws of the State. But they were finally dispossessed by the National Government in 1830, in an action for ejectment. {sic}

In addition to the patents already named the following list of grants, covering other parts of this town of Highlands, are found on the record: Gabriel and William Ludlow, 991 acres, October 13, 1731; Alexander Phoenix, 1,000 acres, July 13, 1750; Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard, 1,100 acres, December 27, 1762; Samuel Staats, 400 acres, June 5, 1712; Thomas Ellison, 770 acres, November 12, 1750; Richard Bradley, 800 acres, July 30, 1743; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 407 acres, October 18, 1731; Vincent and David Matthews, 1,000 acres, November 26, 1761; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 1,437 acres, October 18, 1731; Bradley children, 4,290 acres, October 30, 1749; Vincent and David Matthews, 800 acres, November 26, 1768; William and Edward Wilkin, 1,305 acres, April 15, 1768; John Osborne, 1,850 acres, March 14, 1775; Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard 2,900 acres, December 23, 1762; Smith and Wilkin 100 acres, April 15, 1768; Moore and Osborne, 150 acres, March 14, 1775; Smith and Wilkin, 190 acres, April 15, 1768; John Nelson, 550 acres, October 4, 1752; Henry Townsend, 2,000 acres; Thomas Smith, 250 acres, June 14, 1750; the Hassenclever & Co.'s tract, 1,000 acres, 1705.

Captain Horace M. Reeve, of the general staff of the United States Army, in his history of West Point during the Revolution, says: "Until the American troops began to cut timber for military purposes, and to crown the surrounding hills with forts and redoubts, West Point and the neighboring Highlands were little else than a wilderness of rugged hills and virgin forests, presenting about the same appearance as first greeted Hendrik Hudson when, in 1609, he sailed up the river which now bears his name."

Hudson anchored near West Point September 14, 1609, and he was probably the first European that ever saw that section.

Continuing, Captain Reeve says: "Although this tract of country could never lend itself kindly to the agriculturist, yet before the advent of the American soldier there were several houses standing at or near West Point, which were subsequently used for purposes very foreign to the peaceful intentions of their builders. Two of these became noted. One was 'Moore's House' at West Point, used by Washington as his headquarters during the whole, or a part, of the time he was stationed at West Point--from July 21, 1779, until November 28. The other was the 'Robinson House,' and was situated on the eastern shore of the Hudson, about two miles below West Point. It was used as a military hospital and afterward as the headquarters of several successive general officers, among whom was Benedict Arnold, who was in this house when apprised of Andre's capture. It was from this house that Arnold made his escape."

The Moore house stood in Washington Valley, near the river, a short distance from the northeast corner of the present cemetery. It was built prior to 1749, and was a pretentious structure for that period, being known as "Moore's Folly."

Every foot of land in these Highlands has its memories of the Revolutionary War, and this town contains the culminating features of native grandeur not only, but also the vital strategic point on the famous river which figured so conspicuously in the war for independence, and will continue to fill so many important pages of our national history for all time to come.

These great hills of grandeur and beauty extend along the entire river front from Stony Point on the south to old Storm King on the north. Scientists tell us that these vast mountains of primitive rock are composed of granite, gneiss and syenite, with veins of trap. But regarding the formation of these towering masses of rock both geologists and laymen have only speculated and guessed for more than a century, as their descendants and successors will continue to do for ages to come, and leave the maze of mystery as dark and deep as ever. We can only wonder and admire, while scientists wrestle with the mighty problem of creation here presented.

Just now, as the writer is gathering these data for this connected record, he finds that the great mystery concerning the formation of this particular region has become even more obscure than ever through the developments of the vast engineering project now under way off Storm King Mountain. In the effort to find a solid rock bottom beneath the Hudson at this gate of the Highlands, through which to construct the great aqueduct which is to convey the Catskill Mountain water to New York City, the engineers have bored the river bottom to a depth of 700 feet, and are still baffled. Geologists predicted that this rock would be found at least at 500 feet. But now they are all at sea and frankly admit that their supposed knowledge as to the bed of the Hudson at this point was totally wrong. Some expected that rock would be reached even at 100 feet. But now the engineers say they may have to go down 4,000 feet before they can find proper rock through which to build their aqueduct which is to carry 800,000,000 gallons of water daily at a pressure of 200 feet per square inch. {sic} The old bed of the river is evidently covered with the drift and silt of ages. And who will say when and how this vast body of water broke through these adamantine hills, or by what Cyclopean process of upheaval they were formed?

There are several small streams that flow into the Hudson at different points in this town; one just south of Cro' Nest, others at Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery. The pretty cataract, called "Buttermilk Falls," from its characteristic resemblance to that acidulous fluid, as it tumbles over the rocky shelves in fantastic glee in its haste to reach the river, is admired by every tourist. There are also other streams which become tributaries of Popolopen's Creek, which finds the Hudson at Fort Montgomery.

The town also contains many inland ponds or small lakes, such as Bog Meadow Pond, Round Pond, Long Pond, Cranberry Pond, Mine Pond, Popolopen Lake and Highland Lake. Strangely enough, many of these ponds have been left without more appropriate names. This Highland Lake, just south of Fort Montgomery, is about 150 feet above the Hudson, and about half a mile long by one-eighth of a mile wide, and is fed by its own springs. "Blood Lake" and "Hessian Lake" are some of its more ancient appellations, bestowed, according to Revolutionary tradition, because of a company of Hessians who were slain there when Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Montgomery.

It is now proposed by the New York authorities to locate a new State Prison in the vicinity of this lake, which is northwest of Iona Island in the Hudson. Most of the region in that immediate section is a wild rocky forest, and sparsely populated. Half a mile or more west of the river, however, there is a comparatively level plateau, some 200 acres in extent, from which a fine view of both reaches of the Hudson is obtained. This is included in the site which has been selected for the prison. Part of it, however, extends over into Rockland County.

This property, which consists of some 500 acres, was purchased by the State for this prison site, in December, 1907, at a cost of $75,000. It is about six miles below Highland Falls, and it includes Highland Lake and its entire watershed. Whether the name of this new prison will be selected from the classic nomenclature which prevails in that locality, such as "Doodletown," or "Popolopen," remains to be seen.

"Doodletown Bight," is the classic name handed down from the Colonial period, which is here applied to a small bay in the Hudson where small water craft find a safe and pleasant harbor. The new State road which is to run from the New Jersey line to Albany, will pass through the eastern side of this new prison tract. Bear Mountain, on the west, has an inexhaustible supply of granite well suited for building purposes.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

As before stated, the ancient records are almost devoid of names of early settlers in this immediate region, and the presumption is that these settlers were comparatively few. Major Boynton, in his history of West point says: "The interval between the granting of the patents and the transfer of the titles, down to the period at which the American Revolution commenced, are blanks in historical literature. No traditions even of early settlers are extant, and the probabilities are that, beyond a settlement made to secure a site or grant, West Point, being in a region of stratified rocks, heavily covered with drift deposits, and without a suitable soil for cultivation, remained a mere woodland tract, possessing no higher value than attaches to similar adjoining points in the Highlands which have remained unsettled and uncultivated to this day."

It seems well settled, however, that John Moore, the patentee, really located upon his purchase about 1725. This homestead stood in what has since been known as Washington Valley, from the fact that Washington once occupied the same dwelling for a time. The original house, and even the second one, which replaced it, have long since disappeared, but the remains of the old cellar were visible for many years afterward. This, then, may be regarded as the first point of settlement in the town of Highlands. The Moore descendants, though inclined toward loyalism, at the outbreak of the war, could not have been outspoken or turbulent in their opposition to the American cause, as their lands were not confiscated. They, however, soon fled to Nova Scotia, but afterward returned to the State of North Carolina, where some of them became prominent, one being elected Governor of the State; and Stephen Moore sold the West Point reservation to the Government, as already stated. A daughter of John Moore married Hugh McClellan about the time the war broke out. Although not in the army, as a soldier, McClellan seems to have fought bravely against the invaders on his own hook, as it were, for the records contain many instances of his personal prowess. He was employed in hauling stone for the erection of Fort Putnam, and on one occasion he crossed the river alone and brought powder for the Continental Army at West Point at the risk of his life or capture.

James Denton, who came from Newburgh, seems to have settled at the Point some time afterward. He had married into the McClellan family and became active in pressing the claim against the Government for the title to the old homestead there by reason of possession. These descendants also claimed certain rights which came from the Moore family direct and were not reserved in the deed to the Government, although antedating that transaction, as they contended. Then, too, it may be added in their behalf, the suit for ejectment was terminated by a compromise, the widow of McClellan being paid a certain sum to surrender her claim.

In the vicinity of Highland Falls Cornelius Swim seems to have been the pioneer settler. This family originally came from England about 1686 and settled on the east side of the Hudson opposite West Point, forming part of a colony there. They were offered an extensive tract of land there at that time for ten cents an acre. But not being possessed even of this modest amount of money, they were afterward obliged to leave when a more fortunate immigrant took the tract at fifteen cents per acre. The Swims, Faurots and Roses came to Highlands in 1725. Cornelius Swim had six sons and six daughters, most of whom settled in the vicinity. He was finally killed by a British scout for refusing to tell where certain army supplies were hidden.

Cornelius Gee was another ante-Revolutionary settler at West Point, who came from the Colony opposite. He afterward established a ferry from West Point, then known as "Gee's Point," to Constitution Island opposite, being associated with Jacob Nelson in the enterprise. This was called "Nelson's Ferry." Nelson also lived in the colony on the east shore of the river opposite the Point and he had seven children. Only one of these, however, seems to have settled on the west side of the river. This ancient ferry is frequently mentioned in the Revolutionary annals; and Nelson's Point opposite Fort Arnold, afterward Fort Clinton, was regarded as a most important strategic point by Washington, which he carefully guarded.

Tradition has a pleasant little Highland "tea story" connected with this Gee family which may as well be perpetuated here. "Aunt Sally Gee" was the happy possessor of half-a-pound of this most delectable and very scarce beverage that caused so much trouble between the mother country and her dependent Colonies on this side of the Atlantic, at the outbreak of hostilities. It is said that while the flames that were destroying Fort Montgomery illuminated this entire region, announcing the triumph of the British forces, "Aunt Sally", giving up all as lost, resolved upon having a final cup of tea to assuage her grief before fleeing for her life. Grabbing the old teapot from the shelf, she tossed the entire, half-pound of tea into it in her haste, determined that none should be left for the redcoats. But the decoction proved all too strong and bitter even for her tea-stained palate.

An early pioneer in the West Grove section was John Kronkhite, who came, about the opening of the war, from Westchester County, N. Y. Some of his descendants are still in that region. Moses Clark was another early settler there, whose name appears in the Cornwall records between 1765 and 1775, which would indicate that he arrived some years before the war. Tobias Weygant is also mentioned as an early West Grove settler. Among other early settlers in the town were Thomas and Joseph Collins, William Cooper, who lived near Fort Montgomery, Thomas Cooper, Isaac Garrison, who lived in the Middle Highlands section, Jonas Garrison, William Horton, Zaccheus Horton, Maurice Havens, David June, who lived near the Rockland county line, D. Lancaster, John Parker, Israel Rose, Samuel Rockwell, S. Sheldon, Birdseye Young and James Stout. Isaac Faurot was also an ancient resident in the Highland Falls section, who was a deckhand on the first steamboat "Cleremont" that went up the Hudson under Captain Wiswell in 1807. Captain Faurot, a descendant, is still a resident of Highland Falls.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

Like several other of the younger towns in Orange county, Highlands was the offspring of convenience and expediency. Its formation became in fact almost a matter of public necessity owing to the peculiar conditions prevailing. The old town of Cornwall consisted of a thickly settled region north of the mountains, and the widely separated localities of Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery far to the south. Communication between these two ends of the township was in those days very slow and inconvenient. The transaction of official business of the town was very expensive and almost impracticable. Boats had to be chartered to carry voters to the town meetings. Thus the division of the town, which was authorized by the county supervisors in 1872, met with little opposition.

The first town meeting of the new town was held at the house of Charles Engleskircher, March 4, 1873. William Avery was then chosen the first Supervisor, and a full list of town officials was selected. Avery was succeeded by Jeremiah Drew in 1874, who continued in the office several years. John A. Cook held the office one term and was followed by Hon. Louis F. Goodsell, who was supervisor eighteen years. Jacob L. Hicks was elected in 1905 and was succeeded by John F. Pierce in the closely contested election of 1907.

VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.

Of these, West Point, if it can be called a village, is the more important. A post-office was established here at an early period of the nation's history. Major Roger Alden was the postmaster for some years, and was followed by Mr. Hoh. In 1835 Prof. Claudius Berard succeeded to the office and held it until his death in 1848. His widow was then appointed and remained in office until 1870 when she was succeeded by A. B. Berard, who was still there in 1880.

The place is composed almost entirely of the great Military School of the nation in all its varied departments and imposing structures. Aside from this there is very little business, except that arising from the extensive improvements now in progress by the government. The noted old West Point hotel is still standing, and in operation, although even this is soon to be demolished under the plans for the modern reconstruction of the post, which are being carried out on a vast scale and at great expense.

The importance of West Point during the Revolutionary period is too well understood by every student of our national history to need any further emphasis or exemplification in this connection. It is visited by thousands from every land annually as the great show-place of the nation and river. And the rare native charm of its location enshrines it as the beauty spot of America.

Busy Highland Falls, adjoining West Point on the south, was incorporated in 1907. It is located on the Big Meadow Brook which tumbles over the rocks into the Hudson at this point in a most attractive cataract, which gave the village its name. It was first known as "Buttermilk Falls," under which name the post-office was established there July 14, 1849. Cornelius Nelson was the first postmaster, but President Buchanan removed him and appointed Timothy O'Leary in his place. He was reinstated, however, at the close of Buchanan's term, and held the office in all about thirty years. Joseph F. Stephens, the present postmaster was appointed in 1901. Although still invested with much historic charm because of its 200 years' existence, the village now presents a pleasing modern aspect. There are many business houses, stores and shops. There are two national banks, both organized in 1907. A library and reading room, and a village improvement society. A weekly newspaper was established in 1891. South of the village overlooking the Hudson are some charming private residences including those of John Bigelow, Major General Roe, ex-Senator Goodsell and J. Pierpont Morgan. The place is a favored summer region because of its picturesque natural environment. The most imposing structure in the village is Ladycliff Academy conducted by the Franciscan Sisters. This property was originally Cozzen's and later Cranston's Hotel, and was purchased and opened for its present purpose in 1900. Extensive additions and improvements have since been made. The enclosed grounds cover an area of twenty-two acres. There is an average attendance of one hundred and ninety pupils, and the regular courses give the education acquired in advanced high schools.

The old Revolutionary Fort Montgomery, which stood on Popolopen's Creek, where the stream empties into the Hudson, is perpetuated by a small hamlet with the same name. It makes no boast of its business importance and points only to its patriotic history. It is, however, the shipping point of large quantities of iron ore from the Forest of Dean Mines some six miles west of this point.

West Grove is a pretty hamlet in the mountain section northwest of Highland Falls. It was settled at an early date and the environment is among some of the attractive lakes and ponds of the town.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

For the school records pertaining to this specific region between 1813 and 1856, the reader is referred to the parent town of Cornwall. There are three common school districts in the present town, in addition to the Post school at West Point which is maintained for the children of the soldiers and officers of the post. District No. 2 comprises the Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery schools. George W. Flood, school commissioner for the eastern district of Orange County, is a resident of Highland Falls.

The First Presbyterian Society was incorporated October 12, 1830, with William Howe, of Buttermilk Falls, Samuel Spencer of West Point and Peter Meeks of West Grove as trustees. It was decided to erect two churches for the better convenience of the separate settlements, one near Buttermilk Falls, and the other in the Fort Montgomery section. These churches were open to other denominations under certain regulations. In 1850 the society was reorganized under the name of "The First Presbyterian Church of the Highlands." The following trustees were then chosen: David Parry, Cornelius Nelson, Charles P. Smith, Alexander Mearns, and John M. Hall. The Rev. E. P. Roe, the famous novelist, who then lived on his fruit farm in Cornwall, was the pastor of this church for several years, being succeeded by Rev. Mr. Williams.

The First Methodist Church at Fort Montgomery was incorporated January 11, 1831, with the following trustees: Thomas Potter, Ebenezer Bull, Michael Jaquish, Hiram Tyler and Silas Rockwell. A comfortable house of worship was built soon afterward.

The First Methodist Church at Buttermilk Falls began its career March 4, 1845, with Andrew Swim, David Parry, James Thackara, Charles P. Smith and Wright Dusenbury as trustees. But for some reason the society disbanded soon afterward and the members united with other churches.

The present Methodist Church at the Falls came into existence some years later, and it continues in a flourishing condition.

The Church of the Holy Innocents (Episcopal), at Highland Falls, was incorporated September 13, 1850, Robert W. Weir and Thomas Webb being chosen wardens, and Dennis M. Mahar, W. H. C. Bartlett, A. E. Church, Francis Rider, R. S. Agnew, Thomas Corris, B. R. Alden and R. S. Smith, vestrymen. The church building, which was erected largely through the liberality of Prof. Weir of the Military Academy, was completed in July, 1847, being constructed of the native granite.

The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart was erected opposite the old Cozzens Hotel, at the Falls, in 1875, at a cost of $19,000. Rev. T. J. Early became the first settled pastor.

"MOLLY PITCHER."

The oft-told story of this stout, freckle-faced young Irish patriot of the Revolution is so closely identified with the ancient history of this locality, where she lived and died, that its omission here, even in this modern history, would be noted with regret.

At the capture of Fort Clinton by the British in October, 1777, "Molly" was "in at the finish." When the enemy scaled the parapet, her husband, an artilleryman, dropped his portfire and fled. But Molly caught it up and discharged the last gun fired. Nine months later, at the Monmouth battle, while she was devotedly bringing water to her husband, who was serving a gun, he fell dead at her feet from a British shot. Although the officer in command ordered the piece withdrawn, Molly dropped her water-bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed she would fill her husband's place at the gun and thus avenge his death. Next morning, covered with dirt and blood, she was presented to Washington by General Greene, and was appointed a sergeant and placed upon the half-pay list for life. She became a universal favorite with the army and usually appeared in artillery dress, with a cocked hat. She was afterward provided for at the Point by the Government authorities and died in that vicinity about the age of thirty-three.

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY.

Colonel Henry Knox, who was appointed chief of artillery by Washington in November, 1775, was the first to propose the establishment of a military academy, of the Woolwich type, in this country. In a letter to his wife, dated September 5, 1776, he said: "We must have a standing army. The militia get sick, or think themselves so, and run home." Later in the same month, in a letter to Adams, he wrote: "Military academies must be instituted at any expense. We are fighting against a people well acquainted with the theory and practice of war, and brave by discipline and habit."

Here was the germ of the Military Academy of this nation. In the following October a committee was appointed to "prepare and bring in a plan of a military academy at the army." The Post of West Point received its first garrison January 20, 1778, and work on Fort Clinton was begun at once. There seems no room for doubt that in the very midst of the Revolutionary War, at least as early as 1780, and possibly two years before, an engineer school was in operation at West Point. There were also a laboratory and library, which was the parent of the present Academy Library, the oldest Government library in the United States. It is clear that military instruction of some sort had then begun. Early in 1783, when the success of the American Revolution was apparent, the necessity for this permanent school of military education was still recognized. General Washington and his officers were agreed upon the importance of some such school, and West Point was generally regarded as the "key to the United States." In 1783 the necessity of retaining West Point for this purpose was urged upon Congress. General Knox, Secretary of War in 1790, again advocated the scheme in his report, which was approved by Washington. But it was not until March 16, 1802, that the organic act for the establishment of the United States Military Academy was finally passed. This authorized the President to organize and establish a corps of engineers at West Point which should constitute a Military Academy.

Thus in 1802 ten Cadets of engineers were stationed at West Point with their officers, which constituted the Military Academy there until 1812. This force was increased from time to time, and the sum of $25,000 was finally appropriated for the erection of suitable buildings, and the provision of the library, apparatus and necessary instruments for the use of the school.

Previous to this, however, while Washington, Randolph, Knox and Hamilton strongly favored the West Point Academy plan, Jefferson doubted the constitutionality of the scheme. But Washington was inclined to take the risk, and at his recommendation the West Point School was practically started in 1794, it being then held in the old provost prison building, which was burned in April, 1796. The school seems to have begun in earnest, however, in February of that year. The fire, which had destroyed all the books and apparatus, was thought to have been of incendiary origin, induced perhaps by opposition to the school. In the following May a parapet for the practice of field pieces, and some of the early wooden fortifications were constructed.

In September, 1799, the superintendency of this academy, which however had not yet been legally established, was offered by President Adams to Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Military Academy of Munich. But nothing came of this ill-advised proposition. For nearly 25 years Washington had labored to establish a National Military Academy, which he considered of primary importance.

On December 14, 1801, Major Williams, a grand-nephew of Benjamin Franklin, took charge of the school as superintendent. Cadet John Lillie, writing of his life there from 1801 to 1805, said: "All order and regulation, either moral or religious, gave way to idleness, dissipation and irreligion. No control over the conduct of the officers and cadets was exercised."

As already stated the academy was legally instituted March 16, 1802, and the school went into full operation on the 4th of the following July. But its ancient history really dates from 1776. The act of 1812 established its present form, the main features of which have been practically adhered to to this day. Washington is still regarded as its founder, while Knox first proposed and strongly advocated a military school of this very type, and Hamilton outlined the well-considered plan of military education that was finally adopted and has been pursued ever since.

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