film U7 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE — *feH- r^^^*^ "^ mi ^^teift^ i GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.SJV. The original of tinis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924080771912 Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to preserve the informational content of the deteriorated original. The best available copy of the original has been used to create this digital copy. It was scanned bitonally at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using ITU Group 4 compression. Conversion of this material to digital files was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1995. This volvime has been scanned as part of The Making of America Project, a cooperative endeavor undertaken to preserve and enhance access to historical material from the nineteenth century. The digital dato were used to craate Cornell's replocement volume on paper that meets AKSIStondardZ39.48-1992. CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Elverett A. Piester GENERAL HISTORY — OF- DUCHESS COUNTY, — FROM — 1609 TO 1876, INCLUSIVE. ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS WOOD-CUTS, MAPS AND FULL- PAGE ENGRAVINGS. By PHILIP H. SMITH. PAWLING, N. Y. : PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1877. ■'"% Entered according to act of Conf^rcss, in the year 1877, by PHILIP H. SMITH, In ttie Office of the Librilrian of Congress, D. C. 7^ ^ cJ^^'-' ^ ^' DeLacet Is, Walsh, Printers, Amcnia, N. Y. PRKFACE. HISTORY of Duchess County, one of the wealthiest, most intelligent, and most abundant in historical mate- rials of all the shires of the State of New York, has never before been written. A large proportion of her sister counties have had their historians. Putnam, form- erly part of Duchess, Orange, Ulster, and Litchfield in Con- necticut, have each been made the subject of a volume of his- tory, in which the eminent deeds of her children have been recorded for the instruction and entertainment of cotempora- ries and posterity. Whether the present volume will supply the deficiency remains for a discerning public to determine. In behalf of his efforts the author would state that all his spare moments have been devoted to this object for a period of nearly three years. During this time he has traveled through each town, visiting places of interest, and noting down the more important matters that came in his way ; copying old records, and questioning the oldest inhabitants in relation to the early history of the localities. He has also made free use of such authorities at hand as would aid him in the work. He has aimed to avoid burdening the pages in the body of the book with unnecessary references, which, while they may lend the appearance of (authenticity to the volume, serve but to confuse the general reader. He would, however, acknowledge the following as having been of 8 PREFACE. great assistance, and trusts this acknowledgment will be sufficient : " History of Amenia," by Newton Reed ; " Blake's History of Putnam County;" Bailey's and BrinckerhofF's works on Fishkill ; " The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea," " The Pictorial History of the Revolution," and other works and papers bv Lossing ; " Bolton's History of Westches ter;" "O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands ;" " Dunlap's History of New York ;" " New York Historical Collections ;" SpafFord's, Disturnell's, French's, and Smith's Gazetteers; " Moulton's History of New York ;" and other sources space would fail us to mention. In the portion devoted to the history of the churches of the county, the effort has been made to deal impartially with all denominations. If more space has been given to one society than another, it is because the facts connected there- with have been preserve^ with more care, and made more easy of reference. A word in relation to the wood-cuts which are embodied in the work. The sketches were, in most cases, made directly from the buildings, and engraved on wood, by the author. As these constitute the first and only work of. the kind ever attempted by him, the reader will kindly pardon the deficiency if not quite up to the standard of artistic excellence. It was suggested that the book would lack an essential feature if devoid of illustrations ; and as the expense of having the engraving done at a regular establishment, would more than balance the profits that could reasonably be expected from the sale of the book, the author was, from necessity, forced to do the work himself. They are believed, on the whole, to be as truthful as cuts usually are. The writer is well aware that he cannot expect to please all classes alike. What, to one person, would be of no conse- quence, would be replete with interest to another. The effort has been made to abridge so as not to weary the patience of the general reader, and at the same time not to omit what might prove interesting and important ; while it is believed nothing superfious has been inserted. If any reader finds his favorite theme has not been dwelt upon as profusely as he could wish, he should bear in mind that another is the better pleased for the abridgement. If, in the subsequent chapters, there should be found a little tendency toward the romantic^ suffice it to say that by far the greater portion of readers find delight in such topics. The romance of a locality is as much a part of its history, as is the name of its occupant, or the value of its land per acre. PREFACE. 9 It is believed that the outline map, which forms a part of the work, will add not a little to its value. The preparation of tlic stone on which it is printed necessitated an original outlay ol a considerable sum, and is beheved to be one of the most complete of the kind ever issued in a local history, giving, as it does, many of the minor details only to be found in expensive maps. The author expects to be reminded of errors and omissions. He lays no claim to perfection. But he has the satisfaction of knowing he has done the best he could under existing circum- stances. Had he more leisure and means at command, he is confident he could have added much more that might prove of interest. It has been his object to make a book that would be read, rather than praised and not read, as would most likely be the case with a strictly statistical work. It may not be egotistic to state that this volume, whatever its merits may be, is essentially the work of the County, both as regards its literary and its mechanical execution. A home- made article is always the more prized from its being the work of ourselves. The writer takes great pleasure in acknowledging the many favors shown by individuals of the different towns, by way of aiding him in the collection of data. Many friendships have been formed, which he values as he would life-long acquain- tances. Did he not think their modesty forbids, he would be pleased to mention them by name in this connection. In conclusion, if the results of the efforts embodied in this volume shall be to rescue one fact from oblivion, the perpetua- ation of which will prove beneficial to the community ; or if its perusal shall suffice to while away an agreeable hour around the evening lamp, the author will consider his work has not been in vain. Philip H. Smith. Pawling, N. Y., 1876. CONTENTS- Map of the County Title Page S Preface 7 — 9 Table of Contents lo — 1 1 List of Illustrations la — 14 Orthography of Name 15 — 16 Aborigines 17 — 23 Earliest Mention - 23 — 24 Topography 25 — ■ 26 Geology — Including Mineralogy 27 — 30 Botany 31 — 36 Zoology 37 — 40 Patents 41 — 47 County Organization 48 — 50 Military History 51 — 96 General History 97 — loS Amenia - 109 — 131 10 CONTENTS. 1 1 Beekman 13Z — 143 Clinton 144 — 148 Dover 149 — 173 FisHKiLL — Including East Fishkill and Wap- PINGER i 74 — 214 Hyde Park 215 — 225 LaGrange 226 — 235 Milan 236 — 240 Northeast 241 — 256 Pawling 257 — 297 Pine Plains 298 — 323 Pleasant Valley 324 — 33 1 Poughkeepsie 332 — 371 Red Hook 372 — 385 Rhinebeck 386 — 406 Stanford 407 — 416 Union Vale '. 417 — 422 Washington 423 — 434 Wappinger 435 Appendix A — Comprising Towns in Putnam Co. .439 — 471 Appendix B 472 — 501 General Index 502 — 567 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Frontispiece — View of Poughkeepsie, 4 2. Hut of Lavina Carter, Schaghticoke, 20 3. Maringoman's Castle, Chief of Waoranacks, 22 4. Plan of Fort Constitution, 58 5. Beverly Robinson House, 63 6. Winegar House, in 7. Round Top Meeting House (restored), 114 8. Old Separate Meeting House, 117 9. House built by Deacon Barlow 124 10. Old John Boyd House, 125 1 1. Delamater House, 127 12. Old Hoag House, 129 13. Old House near Amenia, 131 14. Freemanville Palace, 135 15. Episcopal Church (Poughquag), 136 16. Col. Vanderburgh House, 140 17. Joshua Burch House (restored), 141 18. Old Poughquag Tavern, 142 19. Noxon House, 142 20. Old Mill at Hibemia 145 21. Creek Quaker Church (Clinton), 145 12 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 3 22. Dover Stone Church — from the outside looking in, ... . 152 23. Dover Stone Church — from the inside looking out,. . . 153 24. Oldest House in Dover, 159 25. The Morehouse Tavern 160 26. Branch Preparative Church, 168 27. The Teller Mansion, 188 28. The Wharton House, 191 29. The Verplanck House, 198 30. Old Dutch Stone Church, 208 3 1. Episcopal Church (Fishkill), 210 32. Stone House, near Landing (Hyde Park) 218 33. Stone House at East Park, 219 34. Moore's Mill — Rear View, 229 35. Old Hotel Stand at Sprout Creek, 232 36. Old Wilbur Mill, 237 37. The " Lafayette House," 239 38. House built by Ezra Clark, 252 39. Pawling Institute, to face page 272 40. Old Catholic Church, Pawling, to face page 273 41. The Kirby House, 274 42. LaFayette's Headquarters, 279 43. Hicksite Church (Quaker Hill), 281 44. Tom Howard's Hotel, 290 45. Old House (Pawling), 291 46. Johnson Meeting House, 294 47. Monument, 296 48. Shekomeko in 1745 3^3 49. Monument at Wechquadnack, 316 50. Buettnor's Monument, 316 51. The Lasher House, 318 52. Old Pine Tree (Pine Plains), 319 53. Ruins of the Harris Scythe Factory, 320 54. Cotton Factory of Gamer & Co., 325 55. Baptist Church (Pleasant Valley), 330 56. Soldiers' Fountain, to face page 336 57. Views in Eastman's Park, to face page 360 14 ILLUSTRATIONS. 58. Van Kleeck House, 340 59. Livingston's Mansion, 341 60. Cleir Everett House, 343 61. Old Quaker Church, Mill Street, 353 62. Court House (Poughkeepsie), 355 63. City Hall (Poughkeepsie), 359 64. Catholic Church, Cannon Street, 362 65. Jewish Synagogue (Poughkeepsie), 365 66. Horse Ferry Boat, 366 67. Collingwood Opera House, 371 68. Country School House, 383 69. Monument at Madalin, 384 70. Heermance House, 400 7 1. Montgomery House, 401 72. The Village Smithy, 406 73. Paul Upton's House, 412 74. Old Skidmore Mill, 418 75. Nine Partner's Boarding School (restored), 428 76. Duchess County Alms House (Washington), 432 77. Putnam County Poor House (Kent), 452 78. Diagram of Duchess County, looyearsago.to facepagesoo 79. Poughkeepsie Bridge- as it will appear when finished,5o8 History of Duchess County. ORTHOGRAPHY OF NAME. HOULD Duchess be spelled with or without the "/?" Usage, say some, should determine its orthography, no matter how the name originated. If this rule prevails, it is difficult to conceive how any change in a language can ever legitimately occur. The worst faults in a language have the prerogative of usage in their favor, and should there- fore be allowed to remain. A grievous error was committed when the "k " was clipped from almanack, systematic^, and the "i/' expunged from rumoKr, odo»r, &c. In olden times they wrote Khiaeieei, Viskill; and Poughkeepsif was written in every imaginable way except the one now generally adopted : why not do so now? It must be admitted the Enghsh language has been greatly strengthened and made more musical- by the changes it has underwent since the earlier writers ; but all these improvements have been of necessity in opposition to usage, and which of them ought of right to prevail ? Says a writer in the I^ew York Evening Post, speaking of this subject : " A curious error in orthography has crept in — it being usually spelled with a / — possibly from association with the early Dutch settlers along the Hudson. A similar 15 1 6 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. mistake is made in the spelling of Litchfield, a town and county in Connecticut, whereas the English Lichfield, whence the name comes, is never so spelled." In the present volume the t has been left out, believing this to be the correct spelling. We submit the following, by a standard authority, by way of substantiating our position : " Dear Sir : — In reply to your inquiry, I state that the name of our county was given in compliment to the Duchess of York, whose husband, the Duke of York, received from his brother, King Charles the Second of England, a grant of the territory in America, then known as New Netherland, and now as the States of New York and New Jersey. The title of Duchess, the wife of a Duke, was derived from the French, in which language it is spelled duchesse. Previous to the publication of Dr. Johnson's English Dictionary in 1755, the word was spelled in the English language with a letter t Johnson dropped the / and also the final e of the French word, and it has ever since been correctly written in English, duchess. With the change in the orthography of the word in the standard lexicon of the English language, the speUing of the title of our county should have been changed in our records and elsewhere. The error has been perpetuated, not for any reason, but through mere inadvertence. I earnestly hope that you will have the name of our County spelled without a / in your forthcoming history, because it is right, and not perpetuate an error, because of hoary prece- dents. Yours, &c., Benson J. Lossing. ^ABORIGINES. i^Jf HE historj- of the present limits of . Duchess County. t^} prior to 1682, belongs to the Red Man.* But those i^^ ages in which he livediundisputed possessor of the soil '>£>' are as a sealed, book, Xo which the historian turns in vain for the records of the past. There are those who write that this section of country ■wfas without Indian habitations. . Such, too, was the dream in la^ard to the land of the.' fro ft/ois, until Sullivan's blazing torch '^;hted the hills and valleys with the crackKng flames of forty horning villages. Yet tradition, and the somewhat fragmen- Ssuy histGiy that has been gleaned, abundantly show that these *&irest clad hills once resounded with the war-whoop, and the damoke from the wigwam ascended from the valley.f After the advent of the Europeans, the Indians were gradu- ally dispossessed of their happy hunting grounds, sometimes by ftsrchase, and not unfrequently byifraud.J * Xear the borders of this county, in tile State of Couiicrtlciit, ovldciiccs have been l-of agrand seat of tlic native lnltal>itants of tiiis country before tlic Indians, ivlio MMAy inhabited it. had any reMidencc here. There nro stone pots. Icnivcs of a peculi.lr l^&s&iAud various other utensils of such curious woricmansliip as exceeds tiio sl(iii of lur' ~ " uis since the Kngiish liecame acrjuainted with theui. I'robahly tiiry were cuntcrojio- i with tlic mound-builders of the west. -f As l\te as 17jo the baulvs of the Hndson wc^c tltlckly populated by the Indians.— ' "s Hist, West. "X The Wappingers asserted and proved fraiut In the pnix-linse of that tract of land '?ail;raced ill rutnara County. 1 8 BI&'1T)KV" Of DUCHESB CaUNTY, As thougjiby tlie stern decree of fate, the original proprietors ©f the soil have nieked away before the white man, until not a vestige of pure Indian blood remains within the County hmits ; and even the recollection of such a race is fast becoming obliterated. Among the Highlands lived the clan of Wiccopees, a tribe of the Waoratiacks* Above them lived the tribe of Wap- pingers, whose name is still preserved in that of the picturesque streamf flowing into the Hudson. Their chief locality was the valley of the Fishkill, or " Matteawan" Creek, the aboriginal name of which, according, to the popular traditions of the country, signified " good furs," for which the stream was an- ciently celebrated. But modem etymology more accurately deriving the term from "'metai,"' a magician or medicine man, and "wian," a skin, it would seem that the neighboring Indians esteemed the peltries of the Fishkill as "charmed" by the incantations of the aboriginal enchanters who dwelt along its banks, and the beautiful scenery in which these ancient priests of the wild men of the Highlands dwelt is thus invested with new poetical associations. The wigwams of the Wappingers zxiA. their sub-tribes extend- ed eastward to the range of Taghkanick mountains, which sepa- rate the valley of the Hudson from that of the Housatonic. A few miles' north of Wappinger's Creek was a sheltered inlet at the mouth of the Fallkill, affording a safe harbor for canoes navigating the " Long Reach" between Pollepel's Island and Crom Elbow. The aboriginal designation of this inlet was Apokeepsing, "a place of shelter from the storms ;" and the memory of this once famous harbor for the canoes of the river tribes is perpetuated in the name of Poughkeepsie. Bands of Afinnissinks, from the west shores, were intermin- gled in various portions of the county. The Sepascoots lived * Van Der Donck places the Waoranaeks and Mincces in the Highlands on the cast side or the river^ and south of Matteawan Creek. t Wappingers Creek called by the Indians Mawenawaslph. On Van Der D'^nck's map three of the Wappihffers viUuffcs are located oi> the sonth side of the Matteawan, North of that they are called the Indians of the Long Keach, and on the south as the Hiirhland Indians. AfogrlesKen and 2finham are the only names of Indian chiefs of thla. tribe that have come down to us. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. IQ at Rhinebeck, and had their principal seat eighteen miles north- of Poughkeepsie, and three miles east of the river. Still further north, near Red Hook Landing, lived another clan of the Wappin^ers. Here tradition asserts a great. battle was fought between the River Indians and th6 Iroquois Con- federates; and the bones of the slain were said to be visible when the Dutch visited the spot. Above the Wappingers, and northward and eastward of Roeliff Jansen's Kill, the lodges of the Mohe^ans extended, occupying the whole area of the present counties of Columbia and Rensselaer. A remnant of the Peqiwd tribe, from Connecticut,* once lived near Ten Mile River, in the present town of Dover:. With the Mohegans they assisted in the war with King Philip ;: after the death of that chieftain, the Connecticut colonists, drove them out of that province. These were the Schaghticoke Indians, a remnant of which yet live in a narrow valley between the Housatonic River and» Schaghticoke Mountains, in the borders of Connecticut. Thair Sachem, Gideon Mauweesemum, (afterwards contracted! to Mauweehu or Mauwee,) first lived in Derby, than in Newtown, and afterwards in New Milford. In 1729, thirteen Indians, including Gideon, claimed to be "owners of all unsold lands in New Fairfield." A deed of that year exists among papers at Hartford, disposing of above lands for sixty-five pounds, signed by Cockenon, " Mauweehu," and eleven others. Thisb. was • doubtless the town of Sherman, four miles west of the anciant residence of the New Milford Indians. Gideon afterward' removed to Dover, New York. One day while hunting upon what is now Preston Moun- tain, he discovered the clear stream and luxuriant meadows of the Housatonic Valley, which so delighted him that he moved thither with his tribe, and the place became known as Schagh- • ticoke. He issued invitations to his old friends at Potatuck, at New Milford, to the Mohegans of Hudson River, and other tribes to come and settle with him. In ten years from the time of his arrival one hundred warriors had collected under him. A large accession was had from the New Milford Indians; in 1736, after the death of Sachem Waraumaug. rnflinn n.amc, Qiiiiiiiektukgiit. so HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. They had not enjoyed their happy valley many years before they were disturbed by the arrival of the whites. The settle- ment of Kent commenced in 1738, and was prosecuted rapidly. The Moravians first visited the tribe in 1742 ; Gideon was the first convert, and was baptized in 1743. Gideon was the name given by the missionaries. The settlers encroached upon the lands of the Indians, and the latter petitioned Assembly to have a tract of unoccupied land set off to them, lying below the village of Kent, on the west side of the Housatonic, which was granted. In 1767, Mauwee and many other old persons being dead, they became anxious to remove to Stockbridge, and petitioned the Assembly to have their two hundred acres sold, which was refused on the plea that the land did not belong to the Indians, but to the colony. The tribe at this time numbered about six hundred souls. ' In October, 1771, the following, evidently the production of the Indians themselves, was presented to the Legislature: " We are poor Intins at Scutcuk in the town of Kent we ■desire to the most honorable Sembly at New Haven we are very much a pressed by the Nepawaug people praking our fences and our gates and turning their cattle in our gardens and destroying our fruits, the loss of our good friend 4 years ago which we desire for another overseer in his stead to take Care of us and see that we are not ronged by the people we make choice of Ehhu Swift of Kent to be our trustee if it [be] plesing to your minds." In 1775 the Assembly ordered the lands to be leased, to pay their debts and defray expenses. In i860. Aunt Eunice Mauwee, granddaughter of Gideon, died at the advanced age of 103 years, and with her passed away the last pure royal blood. She had been an exemplary member of the Congrega- tional Church in Kent for upwards of eighteen years. A grand- daughter of hers, " Vina" Carter, is still living in Schaghticoke. During the Revolution, many of-the Schaghticoke warriors joined the Ame- rican Army, and quite a number of them were killed. The following different ways of spelling the name of the tribe are Hut of Lavina(vina) Carter, taken from the manuscripts of one of the celebrated men associated with the Commission at Albany: Schaticook, Scaaticook, Schaackticook, Skachticoke. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 21 On the west bank of the " Mahicannittuck"* or Hudson River, dwelt the Minnissinks, Nanticokes and Mincees, who were denominated " Esopus Indians." Says an historian : — "The affinities of the Mohegans with the Mincees, and through them with the Delawares, are apparent in the lan- guage, and were well recognized at the time of the settlement." Says Schoolcraft : " The Mohegans and Mincees were two tribes of Algonquin lineage, inhabiting the valley of the Hud- son between New York and Albany.'' Below the Highlands, in the present county of Westchester, dwelt the powerful tribe of Waoranacks. A band of Mohegans was located in the vicinity of the village of Pine Plains, of whom an interesting account is given in the chapter devoted to that town. The Shenandoahs were a sub-tribe, dwelling near the moun- tains of that name, who, at the time of the Revolution were reduced to one man. " These tribes were mostly in subjection to the Iroquois, and acknowledged it by the payment of an annual tribute." INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS. A tract of meadow land " lying slanting to the dancing chamber," north of Wappingers Creek, had for- its eastern boundary a creek called Wynogkee. Crom Elbow Creek was called Equorsink ; lands adjoining on the Hudson, Eaquaqtia- nessink ; so given in a patent to Henry Beekman, the bounds of which ran from the Hudson River ''east by the side of a fresh meadow called Mansakin, and a small creek called Man- capawimick." The boundary line of the Great Nine Partners' Patent began " at the creek called by the Indians Aquasing, and by the Christians Fish Creek. The Christians spoken of above made free use of the word fish, no less than three streams emptying into the Hudson being given that name. RoelofF * other prominent Indinn nnmcs arc Mohegan, Chatcmuc, Cahotatca. 22 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Jansen's Kill, Sankpenak, was the dividing line between the Mohegans and Wappingers : a difference in dialect is shown by the geographical terms. The universal name the Mincees have for New York, says Heckewelder, a Moravian Missionary among the Indians, is Laaphawachking, or "the place of stringing beads." ;! Vriti:iMi;j I MarinKorann's Cistlc, Chief of Waorniiucksi. EARLIEST MENTION. jN 1609, the Dutch East India Company fitted out a smaU ship, named the Half Moon, with a crew of twenty men, Dutch and EngHsh, and gave the commandto Henry Hud- son. On the 3d of September of that year Hudson an- chored within Sandy Hook. From the 12th to the 20th of the same month he was employed in ascending the river which bears his name. This river is represented, hi the journal of that voyage, as being in general about a mile wide, and of good depth, abounding in fish, among which were a " great store of salmons." As he advanced he found the land on both sides growing higher, until it became "very mountainous.'' This high land, rt is observed, " had many points ; the channel was narrow, and there were many eddy winds." During the passage the natives frequently came on board of the ship. He sailed onward through the pass guarded by the frowning Dunderberg, and at nightfall anchored near West Point. Leaving his anchorage next morning, he ran sixty miles up along the varied shores which lined the deep channel. "Delighted every moment with the ever-changing scenery, and the magnificent forests which clothed the river banks with their gorgeous autum- nal hues, Hudson arrived, toward evening, opposite the 24" mSTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.' loftier mountains which lie from the river'sside, and anchonaif- the Half Moon near Catskill Landing, where he found a loviEg:. people and very old men." Hudson appears to have sailed up the river to a point at- little above where the city of Hudson now stands. Nctt wishing to venture further with the ship, he sent a boat » charge of the mate, who went as far as the present site afi" Albany. "Weighing anchor on the 27th,- Hudson passed down ibst: river, with a fair north wind, past the -wigwams of the 'loviiig. people' at Catskill, who were ' very sorrowful' for his departuric, and toward evening anchored in deep water near Red Hooik. where part of the crew went on shore to fish. The next twa» •days were consumed in working slowly down to the ' lower eaS. of the long reach' below Poughkeepsie, and anchored in tlic evening under the northern edge of the -Highlands. * Here Iwr lay wind-bound for a day, in a very good roadstead, admiring the magnificent mountains which looked to him 'as if they ha.3 some metal or mineral in them.' " The wild game sprung from their familiar retreats, startltsffi by the unusual echoes which rolled through the ancient foreslat. as the roar of the first Dutch cannon boomed over the wateis, and the first Dutch trumpets blew the inspiring airs of the dis- tant Fatherland. The simple Indians, roaming unquestioned through their native woods, and paddling their rude canoes: along the base of the towering hills that hned the unexploretf river's side, paused in solemn amazement as they beheld their strange visitor approaching from afar, and marveled whencr: the apparition came." Such is the account given of the first visit of the white maw to the shore of Duchess, made nearly three centuries ago. * Irt the vicinity: of Klfehkill, on the Hudson. TOPOGRAPHY. I UCHESS County lies on the east bank of the Hudson, centrally distant 60 miles south from Albany, and about 75 miles north from New York. Its greatest length, ^ north and south, is about 38 miles, and its greatest breadth 26. Its form is nearly that of a parallelogram. It is bounded on the north by Columbia County ; on the east by Fairfield and Litchfield Counties, in the State of Connecticut; and on the south by the County of Putnam. Opposite Duchess, on the west side of the Hudson, lie the counties -of Orange and Ulster. Its surface is principally a rolling and somewhat mountain- ous upland, broken by the deep valleys of the streams. The Taghkanick Mountains, extending through the east border of the County, are from 300 to 500 feet above the valleys, and from 1000 to 1200 feet above tide. The declivities of these mountains are generally steep, and in some places rocky. The Matteawan, or Fishkill Mountains, constitute a high broad range, which extends nearly north and south, and occupies the central part of the county. ' A spur from this range extends along the southern border to the Hudson, form- ing the northern extremity of the Highlands. These mountains have an average elevation of about 1000 feet above tide, the 25 26 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. highest peaks along the southern border attaining the elevation of 1500 to 1700 feet. In the southern part of the County the mountain declivities are steep and rocky ; but toward the north the country assumes a rolHng character, broken by rounded hills. The western part of the County is a rolling upland, occasionally broken by deep ravines and isolated hills, and terminating upon the Hudson River Valley in a series of bluffs 100 to 180 feet high. The Taghkanick Mountains run in a northeast and south- west direction, passing into Putnam, at which point the Hudson River forces a passage through them. On the west side of the river they assume the name of Kittatiny Mountains, and continue their course into New Jersey and Pennsylvania under that name. The Taghkanick system forms the most eastern Appalachian Mountain Range, and extends through the .counties of Columbia, Rensselaer, Washington, Ulster, Greene, Albany, Saratoga, and other counties west of the Hudson River. On the west rolls the majestic Hudson, the " River of Mountains," as appropriately named by its eminent discoverer. The greatest part of the streams that drain the county are tributaries of the Hudson. Principal of these are the Sawkill, Landimans, Crom Elbow, Fallkill, Wappingers and Fishkill. Sprout Creek is a considerable branch of the Fishkill. Ten Mile River, otherwise called Weebutook or Oblong River, runs south through Amenia into Dover, where it turns east and dis- charges its waters into the Housatonic, in the State of Connecti- cut. Ten Mile River receives Swamp River from the south. Croton* River, takes its rise in the southeast part of the -county, and Roeliff Jansen's Kill flows through a small portion of the extreme northern part. Among the highlands in the central and eastern parts are romantic lakes, noted for the purity of their waters and the beauty of scenery immediately about them. * Indian name Kitchawan, a term Uesciiptivc of a large and swlft-flowlnfr current. . -Croton, the present name, is said to have been adopted IVom an Illustrious sachem who lived in the limits of Cortlandt, Westchester County, or as others say *^ who lived and ■ exercised his authority at the mouth of the stream." GEOLOGY. 'HE County in the eastern part is primitive, granite and gneiss being the principal constituents. Geologists differ in opinion whether the Taghkanick'" system should be ranked with the primary or transition. It is composed of brown sandstone, limestone, and green shales or slaty rocks. It contains some minerals, and furnishes a fine limestone for building, but has few or no fossils. The soil which overlays this system is generally good, and often highly fertile. The county comprises extensive alluvial and diluvial deposits. The former consist of sand, gravel, loam, &c. The latter are a stiff blue clay beneath, a yellowish brown clay above this, and sand on the surface. The marine shells found in these clays, belonging in some instances to extinct species, show that these deposits were made at an earlier period than those thrown down by rivers or oceans in modem times. To this system belong also the boulders scattered in the county. MINERALOGY. Extensive and valuable deposits of brown hematite occur in various parts of the county. * The Taghkanick systRin is claimed by some as corresfkondinj; to the Cambrian system of Mr. Sedgwick, and by others to be newer formations changed by heat 27 28 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Fishkill Bed is situated about three miles northeast of the village of Hopewell. The ore, which is chiefly limonite, pre- sents all the varieties from the compact brown hematite to the yellowish clayey ochre. The brown ore is usually in the form of rounded nodules, which are sometimes hollow ; and when this is the case, the inner surface is highly polished, and has the appearance of having undergone fusion. Not unfrequently, beautiful stalactites are found in these balls ; and occasionally a black powder supposed to be oxide of manganese. This bed, as well as the other beds of limonite found in this part of the county, is situated at the junction of mica or talcose slate with the grey and white limestone. Clove Bed^—T\as, is an extensive deposit of brown hematite in the southwestern part of Union Vale. Like most of the ore beds in this district, it is worked to the day, as it is tech- nically called. It contains a larger proportion of the ochrey, or fine ore, than the Fishkill bed, and which is usually considered the most valuable. Associated with this ore are minute crystals of oxide of manganese, This locality is further deserving of notice from the fact that the rare mineral gibbsite is associated with the hematite. Foss Bed. — Situated in the town of Dover, one mile and a half west-southwest from the furnace of the Dover Iron Com- pany. In extent this bed seems to be inferior to either of the above beds, and contains a larger proportion of foreign sub- stances, and work on it has for some time been discontinued. Amenia Bed. — An enormous deposit of hematitic iron ore, near the village of Amenia. It presents all the varieties observed at the other localities, and contains a fair proportion of the yellow pulverulent ochre so much esteemed by iron smelters. There are several beds of the same ore in the vicinity of that just mentioned, such as the Chalk Pond and Indian Pond Ore Beds, and another at Squabble Hole.* Pawling Bed. — Situated about a mile and a half west from Pawling Station. This is an extensive deposit of brown hema- * Layers of the oxide of zinc are formed in the chimney of some of the f\imacea in thl-s county, proving that this mineral also exists in the ore. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 29 tite, of a superior quality. The ore yields from forty-five to fifty per cent, of metallic iron, and lies near the surface of the ground. Other beds have been opened within the county, and are being more or less extensively worked. The iron region just described is undoubtedly a part of the great series of deposits which has been traced in nearly a northern direction through the States of Connecticut, Massa- chusetts and Vermont. Bog iron ore* has been found in various parts of the county, though not in sufficient quantity to attract much notice. In the southeast comer of the town of Northeast is a thin vein of galena, f Several openings are to be seen, which are said to have been worked, as early as the year 1740, by a com- pany of Germans, the ore being sent to Bristol, England. Soon after this they were abandoned, but were re-opened during the Revolution, since which time they have been entirely neg- lected. Unimportant localities of the sulphuret of lead have been noticed in the towns of Amenia and Rhinebeck. Beds of marble, similar to those found in Massachusetts near the borders of this State, exist in the towns of Amenia, Dover, Pawling, Beekman and Fishkill. In Dover, the quar- ries have been extensively wrought ; and the marble which they yield, although dolomite, is pure white, fine-grained, and takes a medium polish. Clouded marble occurs in the towns of Amenia and Northeast. Hudson River Slate forms no inconsiderable part of the rock formation in the western part of the county. This rock has been quarried at Red Hook for flagging, and in various places for roofing slate. Deposits of marl have been noticed in the towns of Rhine- • Hoe ore is ilrpnsltcc] In swamps, the bottoms of wlilcli arc cliij-, hnnlpan, or some oHicr strata Im pervious to water. It is continunlly accumulating, so that it nniy bo removed two or three times iJi a century. It has various shades of color, from n yellow to a dark brown. One variety Is liable to blow uji, sometimes dcstroyinj (lie furnace in wliicli It is being smelted. t The principal ore from wlilch the metiil lead is cttracted. 30 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. beck, Northeast, Pine Plains, Stanford, Red Hook and Milan. Often they are associated with peat. Two localities of graphite* occur : One at Fishkill Hook, and another about two and a half miles south of Fishkill Landing. A sulphur spring occurs one mile and a quarter north- northwest of the village of Amenia. Dark colored calcareous spar is found in Rhinebeck. In the town of Fishkill, near Peckville, a little north of the line of Putnam County, th^re is a large bed of talc in the primitive rock, which has been opened as a quarry of soapstone. Its value is impaired in consequence of minerals being found imbedded in it. A deposit of kaoHne (porcelain clay) has been found near Shenandoah, East Fishkill, on lands of Mr. Se)anour Baxter. The clay has been tested, and is pronounced first-class. Kao- line proceeds from the decomposition of the mineral feldspar. This, in making porcelain, is mingled with a fusible earthy matter caWeA. pettinse. Inflammable carburetted hydrogen gas is emitted from tht: bottom of a lake in Northeast. Crystalized garnet occurs abundantly in mica slate in the vicinity of the Foss Ore Bed, and also at the Stone Church, in the town of Dover. Besides these are found calcite, asbestus, staurotide, epidote, green actinolite, anthophyUite, and tourmaline. • lilack Icaa. BOTANY. TENDER this head, Uttle more than a brief mention of the jjl^ more common and most important productions can be '^^ given, as an attempt at an exhaustive treatment would ^ of itself fill the limits of this volume. The forest trees form a large portion of the vegetable wealth of the county,* though the display in this respect is far inferior to what it was at the time of settlement ; the clearing up of the soil for purposes of agriculture, and the avarice of man, have, in a great measure, denuded the mountains and valleys of the magnificent forest trees that were once their pride and glory. The cone bearers ( Coniferte) which are nearly all evergreen trees, are well represented in our Flora. There are several species of Pine. Tamarack (P. Pemin/a) differs from all other pines in its leaves, which fall at the approach of Winter. Hemlock, Spruce, Red Cedar and Arbor Vitae belong to the * There was not an unbroken forest here when the first settlers came; as thn flres of the Indians, in tticir pursuit of game^ had destroyed the timber on tlie dry lands, except a few specimens of oak, white wood and wild cherry, some of which attained ffrcat size. On the plains were scattered small oaks which had sprung up after the fires, and by the creeks and in wet lands there were large bnttonwood and black ash trees, while ai'l the streams were overhung with a mass of alders and willows. The mountains, it has been said, were covered with a less dense growth of wood than at present. It is evident that in the valleys, the white wood or tulip tree, and the wild cherry have given place to other trees, as tlie elm; and that on the mountains, the chestnut has greatly increased. Tl e mountains, being burned over also by the Indians, were so bare, that the wild deer were plainly seen from the valleys below. — [HIstorj' of Amcnin. 31 32 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. same natural family. The last mentioned variety is conspicu- ous along the Hudson for its cone-like growth ; and is some- times found in the interior in swampy places, and is then known as White Cedar. The Oaks are still more numerous. White Oak ( Querciis Alba) is one of our most valuable timber trees. The wood is of great strength and durability, and is used when these quali- ties are required. Other varieties are the Red Oak ( Quercus Rubra), Pin Oak ( Quercus Faluster), and Black Oak ( Quer- tetran. ) The White Elm* ( Ulmus Americana), when growing in moist rich soil, is one of the thriftiest of the forest trees. The Red or Shppery Elm (Ulmus Fulva) known for the mucilaginous properties of its inner bark, and Witch Elm ( Ulmus Montana) are found. The Plane or Buttonwood (Platanus), Ash (Traxinus), Basswood, Lime or Linen (Sella), Beech (Tagus), Birch (Petula), and Dogwood ( Cornus), are more or less common. The latter possesses many of the medicinal properties peculiar to Peruvian Bark. Shell Bark Hickory ( Carya Alba) bears the common white walnut, so pleasant to crack by the Winter fireside. The Chestnut ( Castanea) is a variety of the European, differing only in its smaller and sweeter nuts. The Tulip or Whitewood {Liriodendron) is the pride of our forests for its majestic growth, symmetrical form and handsome foliage. The Sycamore (Plantanus), the Poplars and the Willowsf are of little value except as shade trees. The Locust {Robinia') is a tree of rapid growth, graceful form, its wood hard and nearly indestructible, and is not a native of the county, but is cultivated for sale, and as an ornamental tree. Among the varieties of Maple (Acer) are the Sugar Maple. * From the hark of the -whtte elm the Tndinn manufactured his ll^ht canoe. Thene •were flcwed totrethcr ^vlth thongs made from the sinews of the deer. One uf them wa>> ca)tablc of holding f^om 12 to 14 men, or 150 bushels of corn. t The Willow exhibits a remarkable hardihood. If a young willow be inverted, the branches will become routs and the roots put fortli leaves like the hranclies. If a brunch be inserted into tlie ^'round, either by the lower or upper end, or hy both at once. It will takt rout and flourish. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 33 a large and handsome tree, well known as furnishing the sap from which maple sugar is made ; the Red, the White, and the Mountain Maple or Moosewood. Curled Maple and Birdseye Maple are only accidental varieties of the Sugar Maple. The mountain sides and woods are clothed with a growth of shrubs, as the Whortleberry, Sweetfern, Rhododendron and the Mountain Laurel. Anemone and Violets, the Cowslip or Marsh Marigold whose yellow cups illuminate the swamps, the Woodbine, Bloodroot and the Skunk Cabbage, serve to mark the opening Spring. The last mentioned, though pleasing neither in name nor odor, possesses a kind of beauty, and is the earliest to appear. The Pond Lily — said by Hawthorne to be " the most satis- factory of flowers" — is a plant, the flowers of which, attached to long stems, float upon the surface of the water 'in slow flow- ing streams, and in ponds having muddy bottoms ; like the Primrose and Four-o'clock, opening in the early morn to rejoice in the Summer sunshine, and in the afternoon closing again to sleep through the night. The botanical name is Nymphcea, — so called from the fact that the Greeks associated the Pond Lily with the water nymphs. Besides those mentioned, the more frequent plants of low grounds and margins of streams are the Iris, Sweet Flag* or Calamus Root, Forget-me-not, whose bright blue flowers con- tinue from early Spring till frost ; Arrow Leaf; Cat-tail Flag, loved of boys, and shaped like a cannon-sponge ; together with numerous varieties of Rush and Sedges. Plants of the group called by botanists Cotnpositx, to which the Asters and Golden-rods belong, forming one-ninth of our entire flora, are characteristic of the Autumnal vegetation. Yarrow, Boneset, Tansey, Wild Hyssop and some few others are medicinal ; most of the order are but weeds, as every farmer who has had his land overrun with Canada Thistles and Pigweed can testify. The Sunflowers and Jerusalem Arti- * A plant having aromatic and mcdieinnl qualities, and witli ns arc small wealil.r herbs ; but Bates and otiicr travelers in tlic .Amazon spealc of seeing tliem of enormous size. 34 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. chokes are not natives, but are sometimes found in waste places near habitations. Sweet Cicely, an umbelliferous plant of sweetish taste, is found in certain localities. The Wild Carrot, poisonous in its native state, is, when cultivated, the esculent Carrot of the garden.* In the deep recesses of woods and swamps, the Arum and the Orchis are met with. Poison Hemlock, by a draught of which Socrates is said to have died, with other introduced and native plants, as the Milkweed, Plantain, Canada Thistle, Poke Weed, Thorn Apple, Oxeye Daisy, and Dandelion, belong to a class that might be denominated "wayside plants," from their commonly occupying a position beside roads and fences. The Plantain has been called by the Indians "white man's footstep,'' because it is found wherever he hag placed his dwelling. The more it is trodden down, the more luxuriantly does it grow. Of the family Rosacea are the Eglantine, or Sweet Brier, Rose, Blackberry, Strawberry, Thornbush, Service Berry or Shad Bush, Wild Plum and the lofty Wild Cherry : the latter is much used in cabinet work. Of the Labiate or the Mint tribe, Spearmint or Julep Weed Peppermint, Pennyroyal, Catnip, Babn and Mountain Mint are generally known. A few of the Nightshade tribe are natives, as the Bitter- sweet and Deadly Nightshade, the latter of which has a sus- picious appearance, and is reputed poisonous. Buckwheat is one of the Polygonacem, and of the same order are the common Sorrel, Water Dock and Smart Weed. Shrubby plants are numerous ; many species are highly ornamental ; others, from their virtues, are admitted into the Pharmacopoeias ; others, again, are poisonous. Of this latter class is the Swamp Sumac, simple contact with which, or mere exposure to its effluvium, being sufficient in many cases to pro- duce a most painful eruption of the skin. Mercury or Poison * The cabbage, in its wild static, is a slender brancIiliiE: lierb. with no appearance of fl head. The potato, in its native ^vilds or tropical Ainerica, is n ranic running.' vine with scarcelT* a tuber upon its roots- All the rich varieties of the apple have sprung' by artificial means from an austere forest fruit. The numerous and splendid varieties of the dahlia arc the descendants of a coarse Mexlean pCitnt with an ordinary ytllow flower. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 35 Oak (sometimes called Poison Ivy) is less active than the preceding, but sufficiently so to cause all who are easily affected by vegetable poisons to shun its neighborhood. The leaves of the common Sumac are used in the manufacture of Morocco. The -wild upright Honeysuckle, the broad-leaved Laurel, and the gorgeous May Apple, make the woods gay by the pro- fusion of their flowers. The Dwarf Laurel (known also as sheep-poison and lamb- kill) is a pretty little bush, but has a bad reputation, its leaves being said to poison sheep. The Elder, and the Hazel, prized for its nuts, are found in every coppice. The Whortleberry; the Billbery, frequent in swamps and shady woods, and the agreeably acid Cranberry, abound. The banks of every stream and rivulet are fringed with Willow, Alder, and Spice Wood. Witch Hazel is, in the eyes of the superstitious, a most notable shrub, because, in the moment of parting with its foliage, it puts forth a profusion of gaudy yellow blossoms, as though from enchantment, giving to November the counterfeited appearance of Spring. No class of plants is so widely distributed as the grasses. They form the principal portion of the herbage of the earth, giving to the hills and plains their lovely green. Though our flora contains many native species, only a small number are of value, our meadow grasses being, with some exceptions, of foreign origin. The principal varieties are Clover, Timothy, Sweet Vernal grasses, which, when half withered, give out a pleasant odor of vanilla. Blue Grass and Rough Grass, most of which have spread all over our pasture grounds. Some grasses are peculiar to the sands ; their matted roots, forming a thick sod, prevent the loose soil from being carried away by water or wind. Many others, by their annual decay, aid in fertilizing the soil. Phragmites, the largest grass of the Northern States, looking at a distance like Broom Com, grows by the borders of swamps and ponds. 36 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. The Wild Oat, and Chess, into which many people errone- ously believe Wheat and Rye degenerate, are found. Ferns and fern-like plants occupy a wide extent of territory ; such as the common Brake, under which the sportsman is sure to find the rabbit and the partridge. The Scouring Rush is used for polishing wood and metals. In moist thickets, conspicuous from its red fruit, is the AVinter Berry, once used for the cure of fever and ague. * * In the Rcpoit of a Geologicill nnd liotnnfc.il Surrey of the State made by order of the Legislature previous to 18a0, tlic whole number of flowering plants In the State was said to be 1450. Of thoac 1200 are herbaceous, and loO may be regarded as ornamental. Of woody plants there arc 250 species. Including about SO that attain the stature of trees. Of native and naturalized medicinal plants there are ICO varieties. ZOOLOGY. lAMMALIA. — By mammalia are meant all those ani- mals having warm blood, a double heart, and bringing forth its young alive. Of the Carnivora, or flesh- eaters, may be mentioned the Mole, Raccoon, Skunk, . AVeasel, Mink, Otter, Dog (five varieties of which are native). Black Bear* Wolf and Panther. Of the Rodentia, or gnawers, are the Fox; the Red, Striped' and Flying Squirrel ; the Woodchuck,. or Ground Marmot ; the Musquash, or Muskrat ; the common Rat, Mouse, and the Grey Rabbit ; the Beaver and the Porcupine. Ungulata. — Animals with toes covered with a horny case,', or. hoof. Of these we have the Hog, Horse, Ass, Ox, Goat,, Sheep, Fallow Deer, Moose and Buffalo.^ Aves, or Birds. — Birds of prey, Accibitres, include Eagles; Hawks and Owls. Passeres, birds of passage. This class in- cludes most of those birds that depart for a more southern • Such as are not now found here In a wiia state are printed in Italics. t The vast f^orges of the Highlands and these vales once abounded with the buffalo. — [Trumbuirs Hist. Conn. Van Der Donck, writing of this vicinity in 1656, says: "Buffaloes are tolerably plenty, but these animals keep mostiy toward the southwest, where few people go. It la remarked that half these animals have disappeared .and left the country." An early European traveler, visiting tills vicinity, thus writes home:— "The animals here are of the same species as ours, (except lions and other strange beasts) ; many bears,, wolves, which harm nobody but the small cattle; elks and deer In abundance; foxes,., beavers, otters, minks and s'uch like." — [Doc. Hist. New York. 37 38 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. clime in Autumn, and return in the Spring. Gallina, or Cock tribe, include our domestic fowls. Wild Turkey, Partridge, &c. Natatores, or swimmers, includes Loons, Wild Ducks and Geese, &c. The following embraces the birds most common in the county, in addition to those already mentioned : The Great Horned Owl, * that makes the woods resonantwith its solemn hoots at night-time ; the little Screech-Owl that utters a harsh, disagreeable noise in the vicinity of bams and dwellings during the still hours of darkness ; the Whippoorwill,t whose plaintive cry issues from the thicket during the Summer twi- light ; the Nighthawk, making its peculiar whirring noise as it dives after its prey ; the Chimney Swallow, that peoples the chimneys of old dwellings ; the Barn Swallow, Martin, King- fisher and Humming Bird ; the Httle Wren that loves to linger near the habitations of man ; the Blue Bird, one of the earliest of Spring ; the Brown Thrush ; the Cat-Bird, the noisiest of our song birds ; the American Robin, Wood Pewee, Phebe- Bird, Blue Jay, Crow, Crow Blackbird and Meadow Lark ; the Bobolink,^ that rejoices in the sunny meadows during the months of May and June ; the Sparrow, Bunting and Chip- ping-bird; the Yellow- Bird, or American Gold Finch, that revels in the pastures and stubble fields of Autumn ; the Snow Bird that comes riding on the storm blasts of Winter ; the Red Bird, Woodpecker, Turtle Dove, Quail, Plover, Woodcock and Snipe. According to a survey made previous to 1850 there are nearly 1,000 varieties of birds found in the State. The Eng- lish Sparrow has been introduced, which multiplies so rapidly, and is of such a contentious disposition as to cause the appre- hension that the smaller native birds will be driven off. * *' The clamorous owl that nightly hoots."— [Shakspcare. t The notes of this solitary bird, Jrom the lUeas which are associated with them, -seems like the voice of an old friend, and are listened to by almost all with great Interest. At first they issue from some retired partof tiie woods, the glen or mountain ; in a few eve- nings we hear them from the adjoinli g coppice, the garden fence, the road before. the door, and even flrom the roof of the dwclihig house, long after tlie family have retired to rest. £vcry evening and morning his shrill and rapid repetition" are heard IVom the adjoining woods ; and when two or more are callhig out at the same time, and at no great distance from each other, the noise, mingling with the echoes tVom the mountains, is really surpris- ing. Some ot the more ignorant and superstitious dread seems on the decline. J The happiest bird of our Spring is the bobolink —[Irving. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 39 Reptiles. — There are three orders of reptiles found, viz. — the Serpent, the Lizard and the Turtle tribe. Of the serpents, two species are venemous, the Copperhead and Rattlesnake. The other varieties are the common Blacksnake; the Pilot Blacksnake, or Racer, found in the Highlands and Fishkill Mountains ; the Milk or Chicken Snake ; the Striped Snake ; the Grass or Green Snake ; the Brown Water Snake or Water Adder — a snake with its tail tipped with a horn, and frequently regarded with terror, but without cause; the Water Garter Snake, and the Hog-nosed Snake, called also Deaf Adder, Spreading Adder, &c. Amphibia. — Animals living both on the land and in the ■water. Of these there are the common Bull-Frog ;* the Amer- ican Toad, a harmless and useful animal ; the Peeper or Cricket Frog, called at the South the Savannah Cricket ; and the com- mon Tree Toad. Fishes. — Of the Fishes found iii the County, including the Hudson River, there are so many varieties as to forbid a men- tion of all. Among them are the Perch, Bass, Catfish, Mullet, Roach, Pond Shiner, Eel, Pout, Sucker, Trout, Dace, Minnow, Pickerel, Pike, Lamprey, (sometimes called Lamper Eel), Common Pond Fish, Chubsucker, Shad, Salmon, Sturgeon, Shark, Eel, Mossbunker, Porgee, Hudson River Sea Horse, &c. Over 900 varieties are found in the State. Insects. — The order Coleoptera, beetles, is very numerous. The Boring Beetle, the Tumble Bug, Ground Beetle, Horn Bug, and some others of brilliant colors, are the most common of this class. Orthoptera includes the Cockroaches, Crickets, and Grasshoppers. The Katydid, so well known by the pecu- liar sound produced by its wing-covers on early autumn nights, belongs to the latter family. Homoptera includes the locusts ; one species of these is noticeable for remaining seventeen years in the grub state. Hemiptera, bugs, comprises many of the insects injurious to vegetation, particularly the May Bug, Lady Bug, Apple-tree Blight, &c. Lepidoptera, butterflies, are very * The most wonderfiil are the bull-frogs, in size about n span, which croak with a wringing noise in the cveninif.— fDoc. Hist Sow Vork. 40 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. numerous. Among those that fly during the day the best known are the small yellow-winged Butterfly, and the large yellow and black Butterfly. The variety and beauty of their colors attract universal attention. Some of the nocturnal species are very large. Common in the low grounds, during the Summer evenings, is- the Fire-fly — an insect whose bright phosphorescence illumines the darkness. The Indians have the following chant to this flitting, white fire insect : Fire-fly, flre-fly ! bright little thing; Bright littic fairy bug; night's littie iting. — Schoolcraft's Oneota, ArachnidcR, Spiders, though a separate class, may be men- tioned here. Some of them are very large and possessed of great beauty. The Long Legs, Clawed Spider, Tick, Mite, Louse, &c., also belong to this order. The Worms have not yet been made the subject of general investigation. PATENTS. I HE Dutch Government sometimes granted lands in the- colonies without the formality of Indian Purchase ; but it was the custom of the English first to extinguish the aboriginal title. It was customary to apply to the Gov- ernor and Council for leave to purchase. If granted, an Indian treaty was held, and a deed obtained, a warrant was issued for the Surveyor General for a survey, and the map and field notes were reported. The Attorney General was then directed to pre- pare a draft of the Patent, which was then submitted to the Governor and Council, and, if approved, was endorsed upoft parchment, recorded, sealed, and issued. The fees incident to the procuration of a patent were ims- portant sources of revenue to the officers concerned. Only I, coo acres could be granted to one person; but this rule was evaded by associating a number of merely nominal parties ; and the officers through whose hands the papers were passed were often largely interested in the grants. In this respect the Co- lonial Government became exceedingly corrupt, and stood greatly in need of a reform like that wrought by the Revolutioru 41 42 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. In a few isolated cases, grants of land were made directly by the Crown, and consequently do not appear in our offices. Patents of land were generally very formal, and abounded in repetitions. The grants were "in fee and common socage," and included with the lands all " houses, messuages, tenements, erections, buildings, mills, milldams, fences, inclosures, gardens, orchards, fields, pastures, common of pastures, meadows, marshes, swamps, plains, woods, underwood, timber, trees, rivers, rivulets, runs, streams, water, lakes, ponds, pools, pits, brachen, quarries, mines, minerals, (gold and silver ex- cepted), creeks, harbors, highways, easements, fishing, hunting and fowling, and all other franchises, profits, commodities, and appurtenances whatsoever." This enumeration of rights, more or less varied, was embraced in all land patents. Colonial grants were usually conditioned to the annual pay- ment of a quitrent, at a stated time and place named in the patent. This payment was sometimes due in money, and often in wheat or other commodity. Others were conditioned to the payment of skins of animals, or a merely nominal article, as simply an acknowledgement of the superior rights of the grantor?. An important source of revenue was formed by these quitrents, which, after the Revolution, became due to the State. In 1786 it was provided that lands subject to these rents might be released upon payment of arrears, and fourteen shillings to every shilling of annual dues. Large amounts of land, upon which arrears of rent had accumulated, were sold from time to time, and laws continued to be passed at intervals for regulating these rents until 1824, when an act was passed for the final sale of all lands which had not been released by commutation, or remitted by law. Such lands as then re- mained unredeemed were allowed to be released by payment of $2.50 to each shilling sterling due. In March, 1826, the last sale took place. In 181 9, the arrears for quitrents, amounting to $53,280, were taken from the general fund, and •given in equal proportions to the Literature and School Funds. It was the custom of the patentees to let the land to those HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 43 who would settle on it, paying little or no rent* for a term of years except the taxes. In this way the tenant came under a modified form of the ancient feudal system.f The eariiest recorded Patent issued, embracing land within the limits of Duchess, was that granted to Francis Rombout and others, October 17th, 1685, and known as the Rombout Patent. The two Fishkills are included within that grant. Poughkeepsie Patent, and Schuyler's Patent, granted to Peter Schuyler, June 2, 1688, were included in the present town and city of Poughkeepsie. The Great, or Lower Nine Partners' Patent, granted May 27, 1697, to Caleb Heathcote and others, comprising a strip of land some eight or ten miles in width, and extending from the Hudson River to the Oblong, covered the territory, very nearly, now included in the towns of Clinton, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Stanford, the lower portion of Hyde Park, and parts of Amenia and Northeast. This patent was granted before the Oblong was ceded to New York, and was bounded by what was then the Colony line. It was divided into thirty-six principal lots, besides nine " Water Lots," extend- ing across the lower part of Hyde Park. The lots were nearly equal, containing about 3,400 acres, varying to some extent according to the quality of the land. The Philipse Patent (comprising nearly the present County of Putnam, which was set off from Duchess in 1812) was * JjHTKH tracts of land in Albany and Rensselaer Counties, portions of the estates of the first Patroons (patrons) are yet (187fi) In possession of the family. After 1&40, many scenes of violence and bloodshed were witnessed on these lands, irrowinfr out of disputes with tenants, when they were called npon to pay even the most nominal rent that was demanded. Social and political questions arose and produced two stronj? parties. The opposition shown by the tenantry was termed Antl-lCcntlsm. Conciliatory measures were finally proposed by which the tenants wprc allowed to buy the land, and obtain a title In -fee-simple. In time the whole estate will thus pass into the hands of numerous new own* ers. These angry disputes have already become items of past history. — [Lossiug. t The nature of feudal laws may be illustrated by a single example : William, tho Norman Conqueror of England, divided the land of that coun;ry into parts called baronies, and gave them to certain of his favorites, who became masters of the conquered people on their estates. For these and certain privileges, the barons, or masters, were to furnish the king witi) a stipulated amount of money and a certa.-n number of soldiers when required. The people had no voice in this matter, nor in any public afTairs, and were essentially slaves to the barons. Out of this state of things originated tho exclusive privileges yet enjoyed by the nobility of Europe. — [Ibid. 44 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. granted June 17, 1697, to Adolph Philipse, * a merchant of Ne\v York. As shown by the patent it included PoUepel's Island^ and contained a little more land than is now comprised by Put- nam, the extreme northwest comer being retained in Duchess in order to adapt the dividing line to the topography of the country. Rhinebeck Patent, granted June 17, 1703, to Henry Beek- man, was located on the Hudson River, within the limits of the present towns of Rhinebeck and Red Hook. The land granted to Peter Schuyler, Governor of New York, called the- Magdalen Island Purchase, the lands purchased of the Widow Paulding and her children by Dr. Samuel Staats, and all the land granted to Adrian, Roosa, and Cotbe, were likewise in- cluded in these two towns. Beekman's Patent, granted June 25, 1703, to Henry Beek- man, included the present towns of Beekman, Pawling and Dover, except the Oblong, Union Vale and a portion of Lagrange. Little or Upper Nine Partners' Patent, granted April loth,, 1706, to Sampson Bough ton and others, embraced very nearly the territorial limits of the towns of Milan and Pine Plains, and a portion of Northeast. the oblong. By charter of 1662, the territory of Connecticut extended * Adolph riiilipsc died in 1749, without issue, leaving his cstato to his Kephew. Frederick I'hilipse. Thelattcrhad five children, — Frederick, I'hilip, Snsnnnaii, Mnry an<^ Marsaret. Frederick was disinherited, Margaret died when young, and tiie i)roperty was divided among th« remaining three. Philip left ft -widOAv, -who married one Ogicvie ; Susan- nah married Beverly Hobinson, and MarymarriedCol. lloger jVlorris. On the 7th of Feb. 1754, the Patent was divided into nine lots, the division and allotment of which can be understood by reference to the appendix in this work. On the 14tli of January', 1768, previous to the marriage of Mur>-, a deed of marriage settlement was executed, by which her cstato was vested In such children as might be born under the marriage, reserving only to herself and husband a life interest in the property. When Itubinson and Morris and their wives tvere attainted, their property was sold, chiefly to former tenants. In J8Ui), John Jacob Astorboujfht the heirs of Morris in this property for £20,000. The State, to protect those who held title from the Commissioners of Foi*feiturc, passed a law, April 16, 1827, directing five suits to be prosecuted to judgment in the Circuit Court of the S. l)ist. of N Y., and presented by writs of error to the Supreme Court of the U. S. for review and final decision.. If against the defendants, the State agreed to pay S450,000 in 5 per cent, stoek, redeemable at pleasure, and if the decision included the improvements that had baen made by occupants- $250,000 more. Three suits were tried, each resulting in favor of Astor, when the Comp- troller was directed to issue stock tor the full amount, with costs. The amount issued was- 25G1,500. Few suits have been tried in the State involving larger interests to greater num- bers, or which were argued with more ability than tills. In the suit agahist James Carvci" the counsel for the plantiff were Messrs Oakley, J. O. HoffmaL, Emmet, Plntt and Ogden ;; for the defendant were Talcott, (Attorney Uen.) Webster, Vnii Uureii, Ogden, lIolfmRii and Cowles. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 45 westward to the "South Sea," and by patent granted in 1664, the territory of the Duke of York was bounded east by the Connecticut River. This gave rise to conflicting claims. ■Commissioners were sent over in 1664 to settle the controversy, when it was agreed that the line should run " from a certain point on Long Island Sound north-northwest to the Massachu- setts line,'' under the impression that this line would be parallel to the Hudson River, and twenty miles from it. At that time the country north of the Sound was an unknown land, and its geographical features little understood ; hence the manifest misconception, for such a course would strike the river below West Point. When the error was made apparent both parties agreed to rectify it, and another commission was sent over. But the people who had settled on the lands defined by that boundary near the Sound, very earnestly desiring to retain their civil con- nection with the Connecticut colony, it was agreed by that colony to cede to New York an equivalent in territorial extent to the present towns of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, aii area twelve miles by eight — 61,440 acres. The agreement was completed and subscribed by the commis- sioners at Dover, on the 14th of May, 1731, after the entire survey had been made by them, and the monuments set up. This Equivalent Land, or Oblong, as it is now generally called, was a strip of land 580 rods in width, extending along the east side of the Counties of Duchess, Putnam, and the north part of Westchester, comprising 61,440 acres. This strip was divided into two tiers of square lots, called five-hundred- acre lots, though exceeding that amount. A Patent, embracing this territory, was granted to Thomas Hawley and others, and allotments made to individuals of the company, and by them sold to emigrants, " who received a guarantee of title from the Colonial Government." It was the security of this title that caused these lands to be eagerly sought after. The Crown also issued a patent for these lands to Joseph Eyles and others, an English land company, who endeavored to maintain their 46 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. claims ; the litigation was brought to an end by the war of the Revolution. The survey was made by running a random line from a given point to the Massachusetts boundary, and the true bound- ary between New York and Connecticut, found by perpendicu- lar surveys from this random line. This accounts for the fact that the monuments that mark the boundary between the two States are not in a true line ; which has excited more or less controversy for many years, and is not even yet settled. The Governor of Connecticut, in a recent message, called the attention of the Legislature to this matter. Livingston's Manor, patented July 22, 1686, three years after the organization of Duchess, was included in the County until 171 7, when it was taken off and annexed to Albany County. The patent of this Manor conferred upon Robert Livingston,* the patentee, feudal privileges, and imposed an annual quitrent of 28 shillings. The Manor contained 160,- 240 acres, and included, very nearly, the territory now embraced in the Towns of Clermont, Germantown, Livingston, Gallatin, Taghkanick, Ancram and Copake, in Columbia County. It- contained two purchases: The Livingston purchase, obtained of the Mohegan Indians in July, 1683, and the Taghkanick purchase, obtained August loth, 1685. In 1701 there were but four or five houses on the Manor. From and after 17 16 it was represented by a member in the General Assembly. In June, 1736, Hon. Cadwallader thus writes to President Clarke, in relation to the frauds, &c., made use of in obtaining patents : — " It is very difficult for the King's officers, who live in the Provinces, to guard against frauds in petitioning for lands described by natural limits, such as brooks, hills, &c., &c., though actual surveys be made previous to the grant, because the names of such being in the Indian tongue, are known to few Christians, so that the proprietors are sometimes tempted to put those names upon the places that they think * Kobert Livingston, ancestor of the Livingston ftmlly In this County, was an eml- Krant from Scotland, and was connected by marriage with theltensselaer and the Schuyler families. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 47 more convenient for them. Now, sir, if it be so difficult for the officers who live on the spot to prevent abuse, how much greater must it be at such a distance as England is from us, and how great will the temptation be to commit frauds. This method of granting land in England must be of great preju- dice to the settlers of the country and the improvement of uncukivated lands." COUNTY ORGANIZATION. lUCHESS County was organized Nov. i, 1683. It was provisionally attached to Ulster, because of its few inhabitants, until 17 13, when it was represented sepa- rately in the General Assembly of the Province. The ■original act defines its boundaries to be " from the bounds of the County of Westchester, on the south side of the Highlands, along the east side as far as Roeliff Jansen's Kill, [now Liv- ingston's Creek,] and east into the woods twenty miles." In 1717, Livingston's Manor was taken from its northern part, and in 181 2 Putnam County was organized and taken from its southern portion, reducing its area to 765 miles, its present dimensions. The first civil divisions of the County were established Dec. 16, 1737. By aid of General Assembly, it was then sep- arated into three Divisions : South Division, extending from below the Highlands to VVappingers Creek ; the Middle Divi- sion, from the latter to Cline Sopas (Little Esopus) Island ; and the North Division, from this point to the northern border ■of the County. Each Division elected a Supervisor. PRECINCTS. The municipal regulations of a Precinct were much the 48 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 49 same as those of a Town. At first, while the County was but sparsely settled, the territorial limits of Precincts were quite extensive ; but as the population increased, it was found con- venient to sub-divide them. It would hardly be of interest to the general reader to specify the boundaries of all the Precincts that have been erected within the County, even if it were practicable. By act of Dec. i6, 1737, the present area of Putnam County, except the Oblong, was styled South Precinct, and in December, 1743, it was extended to the Connecticut line. It is also mentioned in early records as Fredericksburgh Precinct. March 24, 1772, this territory was divided into Southeast Pre- cinct, comprising, nearly, the present Towns of Patterson and Southeast ; PhiUpse Precinct, now Putnam Valley and Philips- town ; while the remainder, or Carmel and Kent, retained the name of Fredericksburgh Precinct. Beekmans Precinct*, formed Dec. 16, 1737, was bounded aearly, by the geographical Kmits of Pawling and Dover except the Oblong, Union Vale and part of Lagrange. Pawling Pre- cinct, including the Towns of Pawling and Dover, was set off from Beekmans Precinct December 31st, 1768. Rombout and Fishkill Precincts embraced the Fishkills and a part of Lagrange. Rhinebeck Precinct, including Rhinebeck and Red Hook, and Poughkeepsie Precinct, were formed December i6th, 1737. North Precinct comprised territory in the northern part of the county. Northeast Precinct was formed from it December 1 6th, 1746, and embraced the Little or Upper Nine Partners' tract. Crom Elbow Precinct included territory between North and Beekmans Precinct, and extended from the Hudson River to the Connecticut line. Amenia Precinct was taken from it March 20th, 1762. Charlotte Precinct just previous to the Revolution, com- * South, Beekmans. Crom Elbow and North Precincts were extended acroas to the Connecticut line Decemt)«r 17, 1743. 50 HISTORY or DUCHESS COUNTY. prised Stanford, Clinton and Washington, and was settled about 1750. A general organization act was passed March 7th, 1788, dividing the State into fourteen counties, which were sub- divided into townships, instead of Precincts. By that act Duchess comprised twelve towns, viz: Amenia, Beekman, Clinton, Fishkill, Northeast, Pawling, Poughkeepsie, Rhine- beck, Washington, Kent, Philipstown and Southeast, the three last named being now included in Putnam County. Further changes have been made since that time, and there are now nineteen towns and one incorporated city,, comprised within the County. MILITARY HISTORY. fHE 19th of April, 1775, was a memorable day in the history of the Colonies. On that day, upon Lexington Common, in Massachusetts, was the first patriot blood shed. The people were already irritated almost beyond endurance by the oppressive acts of the British Parliament, as well as the disdain with which that body treated their most earnest protests ; and when the news of the massacre of seven of their countrymen was heralded throughout the country by the swiftest messengers, one sentiment seemed to pervade the hearts of the people — that of uniting in armed resistance against oppression. The storm had burst, and every day was adding fearful intensity to its force. The farmer left his plow in the fjirrow ; * the mechanic dropped his .chisel, and the student threw aside his books ; and shouldering their muskets sought the patriot army and enrolled themselves in its honored lists. A few, from motives of self-interest, or awed at the desperate undertaking of coping with the armed power of Great Britain, were zealous partisans of the King. Ten days after the bloody tragedy at Lexington, the people of the city of New York called a public meeting. At that * This is said to be literally true in the case of Gen. Putnam^ wlio, fv-hen he received the news from Lexingtun was plowing in the field ; stripping the harness fVom the horse, ho mounted upon his back, and was ofl' for the fleld of action without even bidding his fam- ily farewell. SI 52 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. meeting they formed a general association, adopted a pledge, and transmitted a copy thereof to every county in the State for signatures. The object of this pledge was to secure unanimity and har- mony of action in the ranks of the lovers of liberty, and also to ascertain who could be relied on in the expected struggle : in a word, to commit the people to one side or the other. To sign the pledge was to sign their own death-warrant if they failed ; and to refuse to sign was to draw upon themselves the hatred and distrust of the patriots. The most zealous Whig could but regard the issue as doubtful, with but one chance in many in his favor. But the men of that age were schooled to danger and difficulty, and they had made up their minds to die rather than submit. It may be expected the zeal of the patriots could ill brook the sentiments of their Tory neighbors. Thus were the feel- ings of enmity engendered between members of the same community, and often of the same family ; which frequently ..culminated in the shedding of blood. * THE PLEDGE. '•' I'ersuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabi- tants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which attend a dissolution of the powers of gov- ernment, We, the Freemen, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of Duchess, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in Massachusetts Bay, do in the most solemn manner resolve never to become slaves, and do associ- . ate, under all the ties of religion, honor, and love to our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatsoever measures may be recommended by the Continen- * For an aconunt of these local fends the reader is referred to the chapters relating to the several towns in the body of this work. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 53 tal Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of preserving our constitution and of opposing the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on consti- tutional principles (whicli we most ardently desire) can be obtained ; and that we will in all things follow the advice of oiu- General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order and the safety of individuals and property.'' As before stated, a copy was sent to every county in the State. Committees were appointed, who were to thoroughly work up the territory, and report to the Association the names of those who subscribed to the pledge, together with a list (called the black list) of those who refused. On the isth day of August, 1775, ^ return was made, at the house of Jacob Griffin, in Duchess County, of the names of 502 persons who signed, and soon after of 261 who did not. On the 23d of the same month, a return was made in Fish- kill, by the Committee, Dirck G. Brinkerhoff, Chairman, of the names of 252 persons who signed in Beekmans Precinct, and of 134 who refused. Of signers in Poughkeepsie, during June and July of that year, a Hst of 213 names appears; also a Hst of 82 who refused. Returns were also sent in from Northeast Precinct, Amenia, Rhinebeck and Charlotte Precincts. The whole number of "Associators" within the county was 1820 ; whole number rafus- ing to sign was 964. (See appendix.) A few subscribed with certain limitations. I do agree to the above Association so far that it doth not interfere with the oath of my office, nor my allegiance to the King. Isaac Smith. Not to infringe on my oaths. Abraham Bockee. This may certify to all people whom it may concern that I, 54 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. the subscriber, am willing to do what is just and right to secure the privileges of America, both civil and sacred, and to follow the advice of our reverend Congress, so far as they do the word of God and the example of Jesus Christ, and I hope, in the grace of God, no more will be required. June 8th, 1775. John Garnsey. The following serve to show the continual alarms and dan- gers that harassed the people of that day, when neither property nor life was for a moment safe. Resolutions calling out the Militia of WestcJiester, Duchess and Albany. In Conventio?i of Representatives of State of New York. Fishkill, Dec. 21, 1776. Whereas, It appears highly probable that the enemy's army meditate an attack upon the passes of the Highland on the east side of the Hudson River, and the term of enUstment of the Militia under the command of Gen. Clinton expires on the first of this month, and Whereas, His Excellency, Gen. Washington, has warmly recommended to this State to exert themselves in procuring temporary supplies of Militia Resolved, That the whole Militia of Westchester, Duchess, and part of Albany be forthwith marched to North Castle, in Westchester county, well equipped with arms and ammunition, and furnished with six days' provisions, and blankets, and a pot or camp kettle to every six men, except such persons as the field officers shall judge cannot be called into service without greatly distressing their families, or who may be actually en- gaged in the manufacture of saltpetre, or of shoes and clothing for the army. Resolved, That the Militia be allowed Continental pay ra- tions, and that such men as cannot furnish themselves with arms shall be supplied from the public stores. Th^ commanders of regiments were empowered to hire or impress as many teams as were necessary for transportation of baggage. Commissary-Gen. Trumbull was notified to make timely provision for the subsistence of said Militia. Col. Cheevers, Commissary of Ordnance, was applied to for a loan of small arms for those destitute. In 1777, while Burgoyne was threatening the northern part of the State, a considerable body of the Tories of Duchess HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 55 County were collected at Washington Hollow, and made a for- midable demonstration of their hostility. An expedition was set on foot to break up the gang. A company of fifty or sixty started from Sharon, Conn., and was joined on the way by others, until the party numbered two hundred. They halted for the night a little north of the Hollow, and in the morning made an attack on the Tories. Some escaped, but thirty or forty of them were made prisoners, and were sent to Exeter, New Hampshire, where they were kept in close confinement for two years.* ARMY MOVEMENTS, REMINISCENCES, ETC. It will be remembered that Duchess, previous to 1812, em- braced the territory now included in Putnam county. The his- tory of this whole section, therefore, up to that date, properly belongs to the county which forms the subject of this volume, and will be so treated in these pages. During the troublous times of our early history. Duchess County was frequently the theatre of the movements of armed forces, but no battle is recorded as having taken place within her limits. A short time previous to the French and Indian War, Lord Louden passed through the County with troops and baggage on his way north to attack the French outposts. The old post road leading through the Highlands was built by his direction. Previous to this there was only a path used by Indians, leading from Westchester to Fishkill. It is recorded that, about this time, a detachment of soldiers from the Colony of Connecticut, passed through Dover and Amenia, likewise to reinforce the troops designed to operate against the French. A considerable detachment of the American army lay en- camped in Fishkill during the campaign of 1777, and after- ward at different times. Gen. Putnam was in command a part of the time, and was succeeded by Gen. Parsons. • History of Sharon. 56 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. During the year [1777] that Burgoyne was trying to force his way down the Hudson, Gen. Washington moved three brigades into the limits of Patterson (now in Putnam Co.), where they were encamped in order to reinforce Gates had he been forced to retreat, and check the enemy. About the year 1778 a portion of the American forces were stationed in the present town of Pawling. Gen. Washing- ton had his headquarters there a short time. In 1780, a detachment of troops occupied a line of barracks, called the " Hempstead Huts," located in what is now Philipstown ; they were capable of accommodating 2000 men, and as late as 1850 the chinmeys were yet standing, the huts having been burned. After the battle of Monmouth, in the summer of 1778, that portion of the American army that crossed the Hudson, not long after that memorable battle, was distributed in winter encampments along the Highlands, from West Point to Danbury. Putnam was given the command at Danbury (burned about this time by Lord Tryon), and Gates was sent farther east. By forming this line, which communicated with another line west of the Hudson, it was hoped to pervert any movement of the British troops to rescue the prisoners captured by Gates at Saratoga. These were about taking up their line of march for Virginia, and their route was north of the Ameri- can cantonments. Entering our county at Amenia, they passed through Verbank, Arthursburg and Hopewell, reaching the Hudson River at Fishkill Landing, and crossed over to Newburgh. From the 23d of September to the close of November, after the prisoners had passed, Gen. Washington had his head-quarters in Fredricksburgh Precinct, now included in the present towns of Patterson, Carmel and Kent. About a mile north of the Westchester line, at the main entrance to the Highlands in PhiUpstown, is situated Conti- nental Village. During the Revolution this place was guarded by American troops, and two small forts erected for its defense, the remains of which are yet to be seen. It was burned. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 57 during the month of October, 1777, by a detachment of British troops on their way to co-operate with Burgoyne, after Forts Clinton and Mongomery had been captured by the enemy. During the same month, after burning Kingston, the British soldiery landed and set fire to several buildings at Rhinebeck Flats. During this period, a number of fortifications were constructed at different points, and obstructions placed in the river, to guard against British invasion. At the Wiccopee Pass, about four miles south from Fish- kill Village, two small forts were built and garrisoned by American troops, to guard the pass, and protect the military stores at FishkiU. The locations of these forts are yet plainly marked. From Anthony's Nose, a peak 1500 feet high, near the West- chester Une, a large boom and chain extended, in 1776, to Fort Montgomery, on the opposite side of the Hudson. This was the second obstruction attempted in the Hudson, the first being at Fort Washington, in Westchester County. The great length of this chain ; the bulk of logs which were necessary to support it ; the immense amount of water which it accumulated and the rapidity of the tide ; all these were difficulties which for a time baffled all efforts of the engineers to perfect it. Its own weight parted it twice ; and when the English ship struck it, the chain broke with the facility of a piece of twine. It was built at the Ringwood (N. J.) Iron Works, and its con- struction exhausted the public treasury, costing ;^5o,ooo. Continental money. Its links were made of iron bars two inches thick, and was over 1800 feet in length. A third chain was stretched across from Fort Constitution to West Point. The links weighed from 100 to 150 pounds each, and the entire chain weighed 186 tons. Its length was 1500 feet, and was buoyed up by large spars placed a few feet apart, secured by strong timbers framed into them, and firmly attached to the rocks on both shores. In the fall it was drawn on shore by a windlass, and replaced in the spring. It was: 58 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. never broken by the enemy. Two of the spars with their connecting links are preserved at Washington's Headquarters at Newbiirgh, and several links of the great chain may be seen at the laboratory at West Point.* A fourth obstruction consisting of spars, pointed, and their ends connected by iron links, extended across from Pollepers Island to the west shore. Fort Constitution f was erected on Constitution Island [Martlaer's Rock] in 1775, the west side of which is formed of steep precipices, and which is situated in a sharp bend of the river opposite West Point. Other fortifications were built on the east shore of the Hudson : two redoubts on Redoubt Hill, called North and South Redoubt ; two on Sugar Loaf Moun- tain, and one on Anthony's Nose Mountain. In 1777, this county was for a time in possession of the enemy. During the autumn of that year a British force of 3000 men, under Gen. Vaughan, was sent up the river to co-operate with Burgoyne. The presence of this force terrified * In tlie Artillery Lflboratorj' at West Point arc deposited several Interesting trophies and relics of ttie Itevolution. In the center of one group is a large brass mortar, mounted, taken from the British when Wayne captured Stony Toint, two small brass mortars captured from Burgoyne at Saratoga, and a portion of the great chain at Constitution Island. The iron of which this chain was constructed was mainly wrought ft-om ore of equal parts, from the Sterling and Long Mines, in Orange Count". It was manufactured bv Peter Townshend, of Chester, at the Stirling Iron Works, in the same county, situated abont 25 miles back from West Point. The engineer of this work was Copt. Thomas Mackln. and was completed about the middle of April, 1778, and on the 1st day of May stretched across the river and secured. Col Timothy Pickering, accompanied by Cant. Mackin, arrived at the house of Mr. Townshend late on Saturday night in March of that year, to engage him to construct it. Townshend readily agreed to perform the work, and the party set out, in the midst of a violent snow storm, for the Stirling Works. At day- light on Sunday moniing the torgcs were in opciation. Kcw England teamsters carried the links, as fast as manufactured, to West Point, and in the space of six weeks the chain was completed. Its weight was one hundred and eighty tons. When Benedict Arnold was arranghig plans for the surrender of West Point this chain became an object of his special attention. A few days before the discovery of his treason he wrote a letter in a disguised hand and manner to Andre, informing him that he had weakened it by ordering a link to be taken out and carried to the smith, tinder pretense that it needed repairs, and assured his employer that the links would not be replaced before the forts would be in possession of the enemy. t Fort Constitution and its outworks were quite extensive, and cost about 825,000 Kcmains of the fort and batteries are still to be seen on the Island. ^1 Plan of Fort Cnnstitiitioii HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 59 the inhabitants. For ten days after passing the barriers of the Highlands, they amused themselves by burning and plundering the houses of the Whigs along the river. The Livingston Mansion, on the banks of the Hudson one-fourth mile south of the city of Poughkeepsie, still bears the marks of a cannon- shot fired into it during that expedition.* After the surrender of Burgoyne, this hostile fleet set out on its return, and this section of the country was freed from their presence. Duchess has furnished some of the most briUiant and use- ful actors in the early history of our country. Such were Montgomery, the hero of Quebec, the Schencks, and others of imperishable renown. Among the old buildings closely associated with the most stirring events of our country's history, may be mentioned the AVharton House, the Dutch Stone Church, the Enghsh Church and the Verplank House, in the town of Fishkill ; the Livings- ton Mansion and the Van Kleek House, in Poughkeepsie ; the Beekman House in Rhinebeck ; the Quaker Church in Paw- ling ; and St. Phihp's Chapel and the Robinson House in Philipstown. St. Philip's Chapel, so-called in the Revolution, says Blake in his History of Putnam Co., is the Episcopal Church near Garrisons, which was built in 1770 by Col. Beverly Robinson, and was used as a barrack during the Revolution. The Robinson House was built by Beverly Robinson f about 1750. who was an officer in the British army, and son-in-law of Adolph Philipse, proprietor of Philipse Patent. In the center building is the large dining-room where the traitor, with his wife, and two of Washington's aids-de-camp were at breakfast, when a messenger dashed up to the door and handed him a letter, which the stupid Jamieson had for- warded by express to Arnold, informing him of the capture of ' Sec chapter devoted to the town and city of Poushkecpsle. t Beverly Robinson toolc sides with tlie mother country, and Ills property was confis- cated and 6old by tlie Commissioners of Forfeiture. He moved his family to New Yoric, and accepted a Briffadier-Gcneral 's Commission in the Brit Isli army. His family never jrcturncd ; but it is said that when the enemy moved up the Hudson alter tlic fall of Fort Monti^'Omery, he visited his liome to which he was destined never mure to return. 6o HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Andre and the discovery of the papers. This house has been kept from dilapidation and decay by repairs when needed, but in no way has it been changed from its original appearance. " The same low ceiling, large and uncovered joists, the same polished tiles around the fire-places, and the absence of all ornament which marks the progress of modern architecture, preserve complete the interest which the stirring incidents of that period have hung around the Robinson House." Enoch Crosby, the original of Harvey Birch, in Cooper's Spy, was a resident of the town of Carmel, and was elected a deacon of the Gilead Church * of that town. He died about the year 1830, in the town of Southeast. " The Spy Unmasked," a small thin volume by Capt. H. I.. Barnum, contains memoirs of Enoch Crosby, taken in short-hand from Crosb/s own lips. Some discredit the work ; but Lossing asserts on the assurance of Doctor White, whose father was well acquainted with Crosby, that the narrative of Barnum is substantially correct. It contained the veritable incidents which were the foundation of the most thrilling inci- dents of that, powerful romance, "The Spy," and was intended mostly for private distribution among the numerous relatives of the hero. During his infancy his parents resided in Southeast, and his childhood was passed in the midst of that picturesque region. In the romance the " Spy" is represented as being nearly fifty years of age, collecting his information under the guise of a pedlar, and making his reports personally to General Washington, with whom he had secret interviews in the caves and recesses of the mountains in the neighborhood ; but at that period Crosby was only about 25 years of age, and had served an apprenticeship as a shoemaker before the breaking out of the War of Independence. He served occasionally as an enlisted soldier in the regular service; was one of the one hundred men who in 1775 marched to Lake Champlain, and engaged in the battles in that quarter until Quebec was stormed. After his return he remained quiet for a while, and was then employed in the " secret service" to obtain informa- tion of the movements of small expeditions sent out by Sir Henry Clinton to collect forage, and gather recruits from the • This society -was organized in the vicinity of Carmcl villairc about the commence- ment of the Kevolution. They -worshiped in a log building until 1792, when a more commodious building \vils erected. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 6 1 Tories of the Neutral Ground. Emissaries holding commissions from British sources, whose doings were cloaked under a pretended neutrality, were actively and successfully engaged in organizing the Loyalists ii*o bands to join the Royal army in New York. He was several times taken prisoner, and as often escaped from custody ; which at last excited the suspicions of the Tories. Deeming it unsafe to mingle with them longer, he joined the detachment of the American army under Heath, then stationed in the Highlands. Crosby was a witness at court in New York City in 1827, and was recognized by an old gentleman who introduced him to the audience as the original of Harvey Birch. The fact become noised abroad. The Spy, dramatized, was then in course of performance at one of the theatres ; Crosby was invited to attend ; his acceptance was announced ; and that evening a crowded house greeted the old soldier. After the close of the war he took up his abode at or near the place where he spent his childhood. A recent writer in the Fishkill Standard thus speaks of him : " What knowledge I personally have of the prototype of the ' Spy* is limited to a very short period in the first decade of my life ; and the venerable man himself was upon the very precincts of that unknown country from which no tidings are ever transmitted. He was residing with his son upon his farm about two miles southeast of Carmel village, in Putnam County. A portion of the farm borders upon the cast bran-;h of the Croton, and it has lately been taken by the Croton Water Board, of New York, to be submergedby the waters of the new reservoir now in process of construction in that vicinity." From Salem, Andre was brought to the Red Mills, in the town of Carmel and was lodged at night in the house of James Cox. While here, two soldiers were stationed at each door and two at each window of the apartment. The follow- ing is said to have occurred while at this house : " A little child lay asleep in its cradle. Andre stepped near, and the child, which had just awoke, looked up to him and smiled. His feelings were touched ; and in tones of melancholy and tenderness he said : ' Oh, happy childhood ! we know your peace but once. 1 wish I were as innocent as you.' "* From the Red Mills he was brought by way of Continental village to 62 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. the Robinson House under guard of a hundred horse, and from thence to West Point. A grist mill was filled with grain at the Red Mills, for the supply of the army, and soldiers were stationed there to guard' it. The notorious Joshua Hett Smith, to whose house Arnold conducted Andre after their midnight interview at the foot of Long Clove Mountain, was arrested at Fishkill and brought to the Robinson House a short time previous to the arrival there of Andre. He secreted the latter all day, furnished him with a coat, saddle and bridle, accompanied him to Pine's Bridge, and giving him some Continental money, left him. — Six miles below here Andre was arrested. Smith was tried before a court-martial, and imprisoned in the jail at Goshen, Orange County, from which he escaped into British lines. During the years 1779 and 80, Washington frequently crossed the Hudson from West Point, inspecting the outposts, and visiting the Eastern States. Daniel Haight kept tavern on the cross-road leading to the Peekskill and Coldspring Turnpike, in Philipstown. The Commander-in-Chief was in the habit of stopping at " Haight's Tavern" to rest himself and suite in passing to and from Continental Village and the east. Mr. Haignt said he never knew Washington to commence a conversation unless first spoken to, or he desired something to be brought to him. Calling at the tavern one day, as he entered, the servant girl ran up stairs, and when half way up, fell. — Washington broke into a hearty laugh, and turning around, he said to his host, " It is the first time I ever saw a person fall up stairs." Mr. Haight used to remark that was the first and only time he saw the Commander-in-Chief laugh. The Robinson House, around which the stirring incidents of the Revolution have woven such an interesting and melan- choly interest, is situated in the southwest comer of Philips- town, about 400 yards from the Hudson. It is about two • While here, and looking in a mirror in his room, he saw a hole in the arm-pit of his coat, and perceiving that the officer In command observed it also, he smiled, and said he presumed Gen. Washington would give him a new coat. The Beverly Kubiiisuii Huiisc. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 63 miles southeast of West Point, and four miles south from the village of Cold Spring. Its halls have been hallowed by the tread of Wash- ington, Knox, Greene Put-, nam, Steuben, Kosiusko, Par- sons, Heath, M c D o u g a 1 and Lafayette; and it also held the traitor Benedict Arnold. It was here, in the upper back room of the main building, that Arnold completed the drawings and specifications that were designed to aid the enemy in obtaining possession of West Point. In 1756, Colonel George Washington visited his firm friend Beverly Robinson, and announced an intention of remaining his guest for a time. A negro attendant was ordered to bring in his portmanteau, additional fuel was cast into the broad and cheerful fireplace, an extra bottle of wine was placed upon the table, and Col. Washington was duly installed as a choice claimant of unrestrained hospitality. Seated with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, and overwhelmed with attention, the visitor exhibited signs' of disquiet and dissatisfaction. His uneasiness became so apparent that his entertainers endeavored to rally him, or at least, to ascertain its cause. At length, an idea shot into the mind of the hostess. Hastily leaving the apart- ment, she soon returned, accompanied by a beautiful young lady, whom Washington, with countenance beaming joyfully arose to greet with becoming respect. The young lady was Mary Philipse, sister of Mrs. Robinson, and daughter of the owner of the Philipse estate. Strange to say, the time of her appearance and the period of the return of Washington's vivacity were coincident ; per- haps it was only accidental. Midnight found this young lady and the Virginia Colonel alone, and in deep conversation. 64 ■ HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY, Daylight found them still together. The Colonel, smitten by the graces and accomplishments of a lady as beautiful as Nature's rarest works, was endeavoring to win her heart. He made his confession, but the lady hesitated. At last she informed Washington, in set terms, that she loved another ! In other words, she refused him ! The greatest of modern men was vanquished, and by a woman. Years rolled on, and the two again met in the old Beverly mansion. A few days before the execution of Andre, Washing- ton received a letter from his old friend and retainer. Col. Beverly Robinson, requesting a private interview. The request was granted. Late at night, Mr. Robinson, accompanied by a figure closely muffled in a cloak, was admitted to the General's apartment. The two men, for a moment or two, gazed at each other in silence, and then abruptly embraced. Suddenly disengaging himself, Washington said : "Now, Sir, your business." " It is to plead for Andre." Washington assured him that his determination was fixed, and that Andre must certainly suffer the penalty due his offense. Nothing would avail. " I have one more argument," said Mr. Robinson, " behold my friend !" The heavy cloak which enveloped the mysterious stranger fell to the floor, exposing the mature figure of Mrs. Morris, the " Mary" whom he had so unsuccessfully wooed years before. Her name was uttered with a start by Washington; but instantly recovering, he said : " This trifling is beneath your station, and my dignity : I regret that you must go back to Sir Henry Clinton with the intelligence that your mission has proved fruitless. See that these persons are conducted beyond the lines in safety," continued he, throwing open the door and addressing one of his aids. Abashed and mortified, Mr. Robinson and his sister-in-law took their leave. The woman had gained a conquest once, but her second assault was aimed at a breast invulnerable. The Commander-in-Chief, at the time of Andre's capture. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 65 ' was on his way from Hartford, and c'.ianging the route which ' he had first j^roposed, came by way of West Point. At Fish- "' kill he met the French Minister M. de la Luzerne, who had been to visit Count Rochambeau at Newport, and he remained " that night with the Minister Very early next morning he sent off his luggage, witii orders to the men to go with it as quickly as possible to ■' Beverly," and give Mrs. Arnold notice that he would be there to breakfast. When the General and his suite arrived opposite West Point, he was observed to turn his horse Into a narrow road that led to the river. Lafayette ' remarked, " General, you are going in a wrong direction ; you know Mrs. Arnold is waiting breakfast for us." Washington " good-naturedly replied : " Ah, I know you young men are all ia ' love with Airs. Arnold, and wish to get where she is as soon as possible. You may go and take your breakfast with her, and^ tell her not to wait for me. I must ride down and examine' the redoubts on this side of the river." The officers, however, with the exception of two of the aids, remaitied. When the' ' aids arrived at Beverly, they found the family waiting ; arid " having communicated the message of Gen. Washington,' Arnold's family and the two aids sat down to breakfast. Before they had finished, a messenger arrived in great haste, and handed Gen. Arnold a letter, which the latter read with evident" emotion. The self-control of the soldier enabled Arnold to suppress the agony he endured after reading this letter. He arose hastily from the table; told the aids that his presence was' immediately required at West Point, and desired them so to inform General Washington on his arrival. Having first ordered a horse to be ready, he hastened to Mrs. Arnold's chamber, and there with a bursting heart disclosed to her his dreadful position, and that they must part, perhaps forever. . Struck with horror at the painful intelligence, this fond and' devoted wife swooned, and fell senseless at his feet. In this state he left her, hurried down stairs, and mounting his holrse, rode with all possible speed to the river. In doing so, Arnold e2 ^6 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COyNTV, ijid not keep the main road, but passed down the mountain^ pursuing a by-path thro' the woods, and which is now called " Arnold's Path," until he came to Beverly Dock. Here he took a boat, and was rowed to the Vulture. He made use of % white handkerchief in passing the fortifications along the river, which created the impression that it was a flag boat. On reaching the Vulture, he made himself known to Captain $utherland, and then calling on board the leader of the boat- men who had rowed him off, informed him that he and his ^ewwere prisoners of war. This act was considered so con- temptible by the Captain, that he permitted the man to gq Qn shore, on his parole of honor, to procure clothes for him- self and comrades. This he did and returned the same day. When they arrived in New York, Sir Henry Clinton, holding, in just contempt such a wanton act of meanness, set them all i(t liberty. When General Washington reached Beverly, and was informed that Arnold had departed for West Point, he crossed (Jjrectly over, expecting to find him. Surprised to learn that be had not been there, after examining the works he returned. Qeneral Hamilton had remained at Beverly, and as Washington jyid his suite were walking up the mountain road, from Beverly pock, they met General Hamilton coming hurriedly towards them. A brief and suppressed conversation took place between Washington and himself, and they passed on rapidly to the liouse, where the papers that Washington's change of route had prevented his receiving, had been deUvered that morning ; «id being represented to Hamilton as of pressing importance, l?ere by him opened, and the dreadful secret disclosed. Instant measiu-es were adopted to intercept Arnold, but in vain, Oeneral Washington then communicated the facts to Lafayette ttad Knox, and said to the former, more in sorrow than ii;^ Jtpger, " Whom can we trust now ?" He also went up to see Mrs. Arnold ; but even Washington could carry to her no con- solation. Her grief was almost frenzied ; and in its wildest a^oods she spoke of General Wa:Shington as the murderer of HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 67 her child. It seems she had not the remotest idea of her hus- band's treason ; and she had even schooled her heart to feel more for the cause of America from her regard for those who professed lo love it — her husband's glory being her dream of bliss. The following is an extract of a letter dated Tappan, Oct. a, 1780, detailing the villainy of Arnold and the capture of the unfortunate Andre. It furnishes an interesting account of that critical incident in the War of the Revolution :* " You will have heard before this of the infernal villainy of Arnold. It is not possible for human nature to receive a greater amount of guilt than he possesses ; perhaps there is not a single obligation, moral or divine, that he has not broken through. His late apostacy is the summit of his character. He began his negotiations with the enemy to deliver up West Point to them, long before he was invested with the command of it, and while he was still in Philadelphia, after which he solicited the command of that post, for the ostensible reason that the wound in his leg incapacitated him for active com- mand in the field. It was granted him on the 6th of August, since which time he has been assiduously ripening his plans, but [the various positions the army assumed, prevented their being put into execution. " On the eight of the 21st ultimo, he had an interview with Major Andre, the Adjutant-General of the British Army. This gentleman came on shore from the Vulture man.of-war, which lay not far from Tellers Point, to a place on the banks of the river, near to the Haverstraw Mountain, where he met Arnold, •who conducted him to the house of Joshua H. Smith (the ■white house), within our lines, and only two miles from Stony Point They arrived in the house just before day, and stayed there until the next evening, when Major Andre became extremely anxious to return by the way he .came, but that was impossible, [for the two men whom Arnold and Smith had • The letter waa first publlslieil In the Boiton Qazette, under date of October U 1780. 68 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. seduced to bring Andre on shore, refused to take him back. It then became necessary that he should return to New York by land. He changed his dress and name, and thus disguised passed our posts of Stony and Verplancks Points on the even- ing of the 22nd, in company with Joshua H. Smith; he lodged that night at Crompond, with Smith, and in the morning pro- ceeded alone on the road to Tarrytown, where he was taken by some volunteers about fifteen miles from "Kingsbridge. Andre offered them any sum of money, and goods, if they would permit him to escape, but they declared that 10,000 guineas, or any other sum, would be no temptation to them. It was by this virtue, as glorious to America as Arnold's apostacy is disgraceful, that the abominable crime of the letter was discovered. "The lads in searching him, found concealed under his stockings, in his boots, papers of the highest importance, vir : Returns of the ordnance and its distribution at West Point and its dependencies; artillery orders, in case of an alarm; returns of the number of men necessary to man the works at West Point, and its dependencies ; remarks on the works at West Point, with the strength and working of each ; returns of the troops at West Point, and their distribution; state of our army, &c., transmitted by General Washington to Arnold, for his opinion, which state had been submitted to all the general officers in the camp, for their opinions. Beside these, it appears that Arnold had carried with him to the interview, a general plan of West Point and its vicinity, and all the works, -and also particular plans of each work on a large scale, all elegantly drawn by the engineer at that post. But these were not delivered to Major Andre, and from their requiring much time to copy, it was supposed they were not to be delivered until some future period. "From circumstances, it appears that it was not Arnold's intention to have deserted, but that ' he meant to be taken at his post, which, from the disposition of its troops, it was easy to have seized. General Washington, on his return to camp. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 69 determined to visit West Point, and in pursuance of that plan, was viewing some redoubts which lay in his way to Arnold's quarters. He had sent out servants there, and Major Shaw and Dr. McHenry had arrived, and were at breakfast with the traitor when he received intelligence by letter of Andre's being taken. His confusion was visible, but no person could divine the cause. He hurried to his barge with the utmost precipita- tion, after having left word that he was going over to West Point, and would be back immediately. This was about ten in the morning. "The General proceeded to view the works, wondering where Arnold could be ; but about four o'clock in the after- noon he was undeceived, by an express with the papers taken on Andre. The apostate was at this time on board the Vulture, which lay about five or six miles below Stony and •Verplancks Points. Major Andre was brought to West Point. A board of general officers examined into his case, and upon his most candid confession, were of opmion that he was a spy, and according to the usage of nations, ought to suffer death. Andre enjoyed a high reputation in the British army, was of the most polite and accomplished manners, and was extremely beloved by Sir Henry Clinton. His deportment while a prisoner was candid and dignified. He requested no favor, except that he might be allowed to die the death of a soldier, and not on a gibbet. Rigorous policy forbade grant- ing a favor which at first seems immaterial. An army sympa- thised in the misfortunes of the Chesterfield of fhe day. But if he possessed a portion of the blood of all the kings on earth, justice and policy would have dictated his death. The enemy, from hints that- some of the officers dropped appeared to be inclined to deliver Arnold into our hands for Major Andre. But they afterward declared it to be impossible. If it could have been effected, our desire to get Arnold would have rendered the exchange easy on our part. "The British army are in the utmost affliction on account of Major Andre, and have sent repeated flags on the subject. ^O HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Yesterday they sent General Robertson, Andrew Elliott, and William Smith, Esqrs. The two latter were not permitted ti> land. General Green met General Robertson ; he had noth- ing material to urge, ' but that Andre had come on shore- under the sanction of a flag, and therefore could not be considered as a spy ;' but that is not true, for he came at night, had no flag, and the nature of his business was totally incompatible with the nature of a flag. He also said they should retaliate on some people at New York and Charlestown ; but he was told that such conversation could neither be heard nor understood. After which, he urged the release of Andre on motives of humanity, and because Sir Henry Clinton was much attached to him ; and other reasons equally absurd." The following is the defence read by Andre before the Court which condemned him to death as a spy : " I came to hold a communication with a general officer of the American army, by the order of my own commander. I. entered the American lines by an unquestionable authority — when I passed from them it was by the same authority. I used no deception. I had heard that a provincial officer had' repented of the course he had taken, and that he avowed he never meant to go as far as he had gone, in resisting the authority of his King. The British Commander was willing to- iextend to him the King's clemency — yea, his bounty — in hopes; \o allure others to do the same. I made no plans, I examined no works. I only received his communication, and was oni itty way to return to the army, and to make known all I had* learned from a general officer in your camp. Is this the office: of a spy ? I never would have acted in that light, and what I have done is not m the nature of a spy. I have noted neither your strength nor your weakness. If there be wrong in the transaction, is it mine ? The office of a spy, a soldier has a; right to refuse ; but, to carry and fetch communications with another army, I never heard was criminal. The circumstan- ces which followed after my interview with General Arnold^ ftlST ORY Of duchess COUNTY. 7 1 Were not in my power to control. He alone had the manage- ment of them. " It is said I rode in disguise. I rode for security incog, as far as I was able, but other than criminal deeds induced rat to do this. I was not bound to wear my uniform longer thaft it was expedient or politic. I scorn the name of a spyj brand my offence with another title, if it change not my pun- ishment, I beseech you. It is not death I fear. I am buoyed above that by a consciousness of having intended to discharge my duty in an honorable manner. " It is said that plans were found with me. This is truft^ but they were not mine. Yet I must tell you honestly that they would have been communicated if I had not been taken. They were sent by General Arnold to the British commanders, and I should have delivered them. From the bottom of nijr heart I scorn to screen myself by criminating another ; but s6 far as I am concerned, the truth shall be told, whoever suffers. It was the allegiance of General Arnold I came out to secure. It was presumed many an officer would be glad at this tim$ to retrace his steps ; at least, we have so been informed. Shalf I, who came out to negotiate this allegiance only, be treated as one who came out to spy out the weakness of a camp ? If these actions are alike, I have to learn my moral code anew. " Gentlemen, Officers, be it utiderstood that I am no sup- pliant for mercy ; //««/ I ask only from Omnipotence — not froliij human beings. Justice is all I claim — that justice which i4 heither swayed by prejudice, nor distorted by passion, but that which flows from honorable minds, directed by virtuous deter- thinations. I hear, gentlemen, that my case is likened to that bf Capt. Hale, in 1775. I have heard of him, and his mibfot^ tunes. I wish that in all that dignifies men, that adorns and elevates human nature, I could be named with that accom- plished but unfortunate officer. His fate was wayward, and tmtimely cut off, yet younger than I now am. He went out, knowing that he was assuming the character of a spy. H6 took all its liabilities into his hand, at the request of his great :J2 HIS^rpRY OF.DUCHESS COUNTY. commander. He was ready to meet what he assumed, and all its consequences. His death the law of nations sanctioned. J^t may be complimentary to compare me to him, but it would be unjust. He took his Hfe in his hand when he assumed the character and the disguise. I assumed no disguise, nor took upon myself any other character than that of a British officer who had business to transact with an American officer. " In fine, I ask not even for justice ; if you want a victim to the manes of those fallen untimely, I may as well be that victim as another. I have, in the most undisguised manner, given you every fact in the case. I only rely on the proper construction of these facts. I have examined nothing, learned nothing, communicated nothing, but my detention, to Arnold, that he might escape if he thought proper to do so. This was, as I conceived, my duty. I hope the gallant officer, who was then unsuspicious of his general, will not be condemned for the military error he committed. " I farther state that Smith, who was the medi.um of com- munication, did not know any part of our conference, except that there was necessity for secrecy. He was counsel for General Arnold in various matters, but was absent from all interviews I had with him ; and it was Smith who lent me this dress-coat of crimson, on being told that I did not wish to be known by English or Americans. I do not believe that he had even a suspicion of my errand. On me your wrath should fall, if on any one.' I know your affairs look gloomy ; but that is no reason why I should be sacrificed. My death should do you no good. Millions of friends to your struggle in England, you will lose, if you condemn me. I say not this by way of threat ; for I know brave men are not awed by them — nor will brave men be vindictive because they are desponding. I should not have said a word had it not been for the opinion of others, which I am bound to respect. " The sentence you this day pronounce will go down to posterity with exceeding great distinctness on the page of his- tory ; and if humanity and honor mark your decision, your names, each and all of you, will be remembered by both HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. • 73 nations when they have grown greater and more powerful than they now are. But if misfortune befalls me, I shall in time have all due honors paid to my memory. The martyr is kept in remembrance when the tribunal that condemned him is for- .gotten. I trust this honorable court believes me, when I say that what I have spoken was from no idle fears of a coward. I have done." The following copy of a hurried letter to a forage agent in the neighborhood, bears date the day that Washington and Arnold parted: To Mr. Jefferson, Fredericksburgh, N. Y. Headquarters, Rob. House, September, 19th, 1780, Sir. — You will please to pick out of the horses you now have in your custody, or which you may hereafter receive, a pair of the best wagon horses, as also two of the very best saddle horses you can find for my use. You'll send them to me as soon as possible. I am. Sir, your most obedient Servant, B. Arnold, M. General. Jan. 7, 1777. Capt. James Reed petitions to be relieved from the operation of the rules adopted in regard to the trans- portation of flour to the army at the eastward. Capt. Reed was Assistant Commissary, and was directed to send flour for the army at the east, but was hindered by a certain embargo on flour crossing the colony line. Judah Swift disregarded these orders of the Provincial authorities, and sent, in the night, two sleighloads of flour to the east by way of Kent. On the Kent road, near the colony line, the drivers encountered the guard, whom they overpowered. The object of this embargo seems to have been to prevent the flour going into the hands of the enemy. Trusty persons received a permit to go with the flour to certain points, and in several cases these persons -agreed to bring back a load of salt. Feb. 7-15,1776. Account of guns delivered to Capt. Child, .-and apprised by Dr. Chamberlain, C. Marsh and C. Atherton. £ 8. D. I Gun of Stephen Warren 3 o o .1 Gun of Levi Orton i 10 o 8. ■D. 15 o o o IS o S o o o »S o lO o lo o lo o y4 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. £ t Gun of Jedidiah Bump 2 t Gun of Benjamin Delyno 2 t Gun of Peter Cline i I Gun of Nathan Barlow a I Gun of Benjamin Hall 2 J Gun of Sylvanus Nye : 3 I Gun of Gershom Reed 3 1 Gun of Eliakim Reed 3 I Pistol of Joseph Pennoyer o The following are extracts from Revolutionary papers: relating to the county. Duchess County, 3d December, 1776. Gentn. — Nothing but the strongest necessity could induce us to trouble you with an application of so extraordinary a nature, but if we are esteemed worthy your confidence as friends to our struggling country our sincerity will atone for what in common cases might appear indecent. Our invaded State has not only been an object of the special designs of our common enemy, but obnoxious to the wicked, mercenary intrigues of a number of engrossing jockies who have drained this part of the State of the article of bread to such a degree that we have reason to fear there is not enough left for the sup- port of the inhabitants. We have for some months past heard of one Helmes who has been purchasing wheat and flour in th2S2 pirts, with which ths wall aTected are universally dissuited. This man with us is of doubtful character, his conversations are Of the disaffected sort entirely. He has now moving from Fishkill toward Newark we think not less than one hundred barrels of flour, for which he says he has your permit, the which we have not seen. — However, .we have, at the universal call of the people, concluded to stop the flour and Helmes himself, until this express may return. We ourselves think from the conduct of this man that his designs are bad. We have the honor to be your humble servts. Henry Ludington. Joseph Crane, Junr. Jonathan Paddock. Elijah Townsend. To the Honorable the Council of Safety for the State of N. Y. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. J 5 Duchess County, May 6th, 1776. Sir — It having been represented to the general committfte: of this county that the southern regiment of militia was tOo> large and extensive, containing twelve companies, and cover- ing a space of country upwards of thirty mile in length, wt have therefore, not only because in other respects it \n.s expedient, but also in compliance with the resolution of Congress prohibiting a regiment to con'sist of more than ten companies, divided it, and instead of one have formed the militia in that quarter into two regiments. Enclosed you have the descriptions of the regiments, together with a list of persons nominated for field officers. As this part of our militia will remain unregimented till the offi^cers receive their com- missions, we must request that the commissions be made out as soon as possible, and sent to the Committee in Rombout's: Precinct, with directions to forward them to officers immedi- ately. I remain (by order of the committee) your very humble servant. Egbert Benson, Chairman. The description of the two above regiments was as follows : One regiment to consist of all the militia in Pawling, Precinct, (except the northern company,) all the militia in Southeast Precinct, and all the militia on the northern and middle short lots in Fredericksburgh Precinct, in the county of Duchess. John Field, Colonel — Andrew Morehouse, Lieut. Col. — ^Jonathan Paddock, ist Major — Isaac Tallman, 2nd Major — Isaac Crane, Adjutant — Reuben Crosby, Quarter Master. The other regiment to consist of all the militia in Freder- icksburgh Precinct, (except the northern and middle short lots) and all the militia in Phelps (Philipse) Precinct, in the county of Duchess. Moses Dusenbury Col. — Henry Ludding- ton, Lieut. Col. — Reuben Ferriss, ist Major — ^Joshua Nelson,. and Major — ^Joshua Myrick, Adjutant — Solomon Hopkins, Quarter Master. [Letter from Joseph Crane, Chairman Southeast Precinct Com. to Eg. Benson] 76 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Dear Sir — Yesterday I saw one AUaby, a sergeant of Captain Dellman, taken prisoner at Ward's with Major Dain. He made his escape from the guard house in New York on the evening of the 15th inst. He gives a favorable account of the prisoners taken with him. * * * AUaby says the enemy lost fourteen in the action at Ward's, six of those they carried off -wounded died between Ward's and Williams', and the seventh died as soon as they reached Valentine's. Every commissioned o-fficer, save one ensign, was killed. On their arrival at King's Bridge, the co.iimanding officer of that post came to the door of his lodgings, when the prisoners were paraded, and said, " well, you have got a parcel of the d d rebels, have you ?" " Yes, but we have paid d d dear for them. I am the only o.Ticer left alive," replied the surviving ensign. He farther tells me, that the day before he left New York, he read in the papers an account of the enemy's loss in the Danbury tour, estimated between 300 and 400 men, and that ' he had often heard them say to one another that the Danbury route had been more expensive to them, in proportion to the number of their troops, than the Lexington tour. We are now expecting fresh visits from the Tryonites. A number of the enemy's ships are in the Sound. Yesterday morning upwards of twenty of them drew up against Fairfield, and appeared to be in a landing posture. The alarm reached us by 12 o'clock the same day, but by night we were informed they soon came to sail again and went westward of Norwalk. I have the pleasure to assure you that our people are evidently better disposed, as well as better prepared otherwise, to bid them welcome, than ever we were before, and the general say is that in case Tryon is not gone to account for his former murders, 'tis hoped he will " again grace his murderous train with his presence, and happily meet what Heaven has declared shall be the fate of him in whose skirts shall be found the blood of men." Your most obedient, Joseph Crane. Morris Graham, Robert R. Livingston, and Egbert Benson HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. ^^ were elected deputies to represent Duchess County in the Provincial Conventon held at New York city, April 20, 1775. Duchess County Com., August 18, 1775. Resolved, That the Committee in each Precinct be attended by a sufficient guard to go to the persons called Tories, and in a friendty manner, request them to part with their firelocks for the use of the Continental Forces, at a reasonable price, to be affixed by one of the Committee and a person to be elected by the person parting with the firelock, and ■ in case of their disagreement, then the appraisement to be made by a third party to be nominated by the two other appraisers, and upon refusal, to take such firelocks forcibly, and to value them, and keep a list of the names of the persons from whom such fire- locks shall be taken, together with the value of each firelock. Nov. 27, 1775, three men. Jacobus Ostrum, Johannis Medlar, and Barent Lavis, were ordered to be taken in custody, and confined in goal, for enlisting men in Duchess County to join the King's troops. Your Committee to devise ways and means to obtain intel- ligence from the Committee of Safety at New York city report : Resolved, That Uriah Mitchell and Samuel Duyckman be employed as Ryders ; Mitchell to set out from Fishkill, and Duyckman from New York the same day ; meet at the house of John Plagg, this side Croton River ; exchange mails, return to their respective stages the day following, so as to arrive as early as possible on that day ; set out again the day after, to continue as long as the state shall see fit to employ them, at 1 6s. per day. In July, 1776, Richard Cantillon and John Parkinson, pro- posing to set up an extensive Linen Manufactory in Duchess County, to provide for the inhabitants and army, petitioned that twelve men and themselves be exempted from being drafted into the militia when called into service. The Committee of the County, Egbert Benson, Chairman,, ordered that an account of salt in the County be taken, for- ■yS HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. bidding any person to sell or take it out of the County until further orders. The officers employed to take the account were authorized to send for persons and examine them under oath. Thomas Storm was sent to the State Convention to inform that body there was not more than one bushel for each family; that the article was exceedingly wanted ; that the com- mittee wanted advice whether it be sold and distributed, or sent to the army. August 21, 1776. In Convetition of Representatives of State of New York, ) FiSHKiLL, Dec, 21, 1776. j The whole miUtia of Counties of Westchester, Duchess, and part of Albany be forthwith marched to North Castle, well equipped with arms and ammunition, and furnished with six days' provisions and camp-kettle to every six men. FisHKiLL, January 15, 1777. We, the subscribers, Mary Hawley, wife of Edward Haw- ley, and Bridget Morgan, with leave of the Committee of Safety, about to repair to New York, do severally, solemnly swear on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God not to gire, communicate or convey any intelligence either by speaking, writing, or otherwise, relating to the army of the United American States, or relative to the State of New York, or the controversy now subsisting between Great Britain and the said American States, to any person or persons whomsoever, and that we will not do any act, matter or thing to the prejudice of said States, or ether of them, nor convey any letter or writing without leave of the Committee of Safety, after their inspection. Mary Hawley, Bridget Morgan. In General Camxniion Duchess County, \ March 25, 1777. J The within Petitioner, Lieut. Col. Birdsall, is considered \ff this Committee a person deserving the attention of the HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 70 -.public, and comply with his request in recommending him to the Honorable Convention of the State. The farm formerly in possession of Moses Northrup and that of Aichibald Camp- bell is now unoccupied, and will very well suit his purposes. By order of Committee. Nathan Pierce, Chairman. Isaac Sheldon, Theodore Van Wyck, and Henry Living- ston, Jun., constituted the Committee of Sequestration about the year 1777. Nov. 7th, 1775, an alarm was given to the effect that the "Tories of Duchess and Westchester threatened to visit Orange County. The convention of the State, in session at Fishkill, ordered prisoners now in confinement at Peekskill, for thefts and plundering the inhabitants of the State, to goal at Poughkeepsie, there to remain until delivered by due course of law. May 5th, 1777, the Convention recommended each county to organize a Com. of Safety, vrithin the county, to guard against intestine divisions, which the enemy was laboring to promote. At an early period during the Revolution, one sergeant and fourteen privates fi-om each regiment within the county were sent to Fishkill to erect barracks. Each man so drafted was to furnish himself either with a good sufficient spade, shovel, stubbing hoe, felling ax, or com hoe, and every other necessary for his accommodation. [Return of Militia officers for Southeast Precinct, Duchess Co. N. Y.] Southeast Precinct Committee, August 21st, 1775. Pursuant to a Resolution of Provincial Congress, Ordered that Thomas Baldwin, Esquire, and Mr. Nathaniel Foster, two of the members of this Committee, notify the Militia of this 8o HISTORY OF DUCHK5S COUNTY. Precinct, consisting of one Beat (lately commanded by John* Field, as Captain) to appear on the 25th instant at the place of parade, that the said Militia, under the direction and inspec- tion of the said Baldwin and Foster, may arrange themselves into a military company, agreeable to said Resolution of Congress. That said Militia do then and there make choice of military officers by a majority of votes, to take the command of said company, and that the said Baldwin and Foster make- return of their doings to the chairman of this Committee. Joseph Crane, Chairman. Having duly executed the above Order of Committee, we hereby certify that the Company of Militia of said Southeast Precinct, agreeable to said order, did assemble ; and they have, by a fair majority of votes, made choice of Commissioned Officers to take command of said company, agreeable to the Resolution of Congress, as follows, viz : — William Mott, Captain; Benjamin Higgins, First Lieutenant; Ebenezer Gage, Second Lieutenant ; Nathaniel Green, Jun., Ensign, rpggj Thomas Baldwin ' Nathaniel Foster. [Return of Minute-officers in Southeast Precinct, Duchess; County, New York.] Southeast Precinct Committee, Sept. 22, 1775. Ordered, that those persons who have arranged themselves, in the character of Minute-Men in this precinct, do assemble themselves on the 26th inst., in order to choose out of their Company the several officers which agreeable to directions of our Congress, are to command such companies ; and that Thomas Baldwin, Esq., and Mr. Nathaniel Foster, members of this committee, do attend and inspect such choice, and make return thereof to the chairman of this Committee. Joseph Crane, Chairman. Southeast Precinct, Sept. 26th, 1775. We hereby certify that agreeable to the foregoing order; HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Si the Company of Minute-Men referred to did, on the 26th inst. assemble, and under our inspection, make choice of Joshua Barnum, Jun., as Captain ; William Marsh, First Lieutenant ; Eliakim Barnum, Second Lieut ; Jonathan Crane, Ensign. Thomas Baldwin, Nathaniel Foster. In a Plymouth paper, in July, 1825, appeared the following notice of an application for a pension by one of Arnold's bargemen, detailing the manner of his departure from " Bev- erly Dock." "Application was made this week in this town for assist- ance in making out the necessary documents for a pension by one of the bargemen in the barge that conveyed Gen'l Arnold to the Sloop of War Vulture. He was bow-oarsmen in the boat, next in rank to the coxswain, whose name was James Larvey, His memory is remarkably accurate, and his veracity is unquestioned. The day before the flight of Arnold, he brought him with Major Andre, from Lawyer Smith's, below Stony Point, to the General's headquarters. They conversed very little during the passage. The General told his aid, who was at the landing when they arrived, that he had brought up a relative of his wife. Arnold kept one of his horses con- stantly comparisoned at the door of his quarters, and the next morning, after breakfast, fled in great haste with the coxswain close behind on foot. The coxswain cried out to the barge- men to come out from their quarters, which were hard by, and the General dashed down the foot-path, instead of taking a circuit, the usual one for those v/ho were mounted. The barge was soon made ready, though the General, in his impatience, repeatedly ordered the bowman to push off, befoi-e all the men had mustered. The saddle and holsters were taken on the barge, and Arnold, immediately after they had pushed oft", wiped the priming from the pistols, and primed anew, cocked and half-cocked them repeatedly. He inquired of CoUins if the men had their arms, and was told that the men came in such haste that there were but two swords, belonging to him- f Sz HISTORY OF DUCHEbS COUNTY. self and the coxswain. They ought to have brought their arms, he said. He tied a white handkerchief to the end of his •cane for a flag in passing the forts. On arriving at the Vulture he took it off and wiped his face The General had been down in the cabin about an hour when the coxswain was sent for, and by the significant looks and laughing of the officers, the men in the barge began to be apprehensive that all was not right. He very soon returned, and told them they were all prisoners of war. The bargemen were unmoved, and submitted, as to the fortunes of war, except two Englishmen, who had deserted, and who were much terrified, and wept. "The bargemen were promised good fare if they would enter on board the Vulture, but they declined and were hand- cuffed, and so remained four days. Gen. Arnold then sent for them at New York. In passing from the wharf to his head- quarters, the two Englishmen shipped on board of a letter-of marque, then nearly ready to sail. The others, five in number, waited on Arnold, who told them they had always been atten- tive and faithful, and he expected they would stay with him. He had, he said, command of a regiment of horse, and Lar- vey, you, and ColUns, may have commissions, and the rest •shall be non-commissioned officers. Larvey announced that he could not be contented — he would rather be a soldier where he was contented, than an officer where he was not. The others expressed or manifested their concurrence in Larve/s opinion. He then gave the coxswain a guinea, and told them they should be sent back. At midnight they were conveyed to the Vulture, and the next day sent on shore. This worthy and irtelligent applicant perfectly remembers Major Andre's dress, when they took him up in the barge, from Smith's house to Arnold's headquarters — blue homespun stockings — a pair of wrinkled boots, but lately brushed — blue cloth breeches, tied at the knee with strings — ^waistcoat of the same — ^blue surtout, buttoned by a single button — black silk handkerchief once around the neck aiid tied in front, .with the ends under, the waistcoat, . and a .flapped hat." HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 83 Joshua Hett Smith, to whose house Arnold conducted Andre after their midnight inter\'iew "at the foot of Long Clove Mountain, near the low-water mark," was arrested at Fishkill, under charge of being in complicity with the treason of Arnold. He was tried before a court-martial, but was set at liberty on the plea that he was a civilian, and therefore out of the jurisdiction of a court-martial. He was soon after arrested by a civil process, and imprisoned in the jail at Goshen, Orange County, from which he escaped, and returned with the British army to England. Some years ago he published a little volume entitled " Major Andre," in which he gives an account of his relations with Arnold, his arrest, trial, and imprisonment, and endeavors to show he knew nothing of the real business between the British Adjutant-General and America's great traitor, coupled with great abuse of Washing- ton, Greene and other patriots. The following is an extract of that pirt of it relating to his arrest at Fishkill, his arrival at the " Robinson House," and his interview with Washington : " Having given him (Andre) directions about the road he was to take upon crossing the bridge, with a message to my brother, the chief justice, whom he knew, we parted. I pro- ceeded on my way to Fishkill, taking Arnold's headquarters at the Robinson House on my route ; I mentioned to Gen, Arnold the distance I accompanied Mr. Anderson, which gave him apparently much satisfaction. His dinner being ready, I partook of it, and in the evening proceeded to Fishkill to my family. Here I found General Washington had arrived in the course of the afternoon, on his return from visiting Count Rochambeau, and I supped with him and a large retinue at General Scott's. The next day I went on busmess to Poughkeepsie, and returned to Fishkill the ensuing evening. It was on the 25th of September, about midnight, that the door of the room wherein I lay in bed with Mrs. Smith, was forced open with great violence, and instantly the chamber was filled with soldiers, who approached the bed with fixed bayonets. I was then, without ceremony, drawn out of . bed 84 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. by a French officer named Govion whom I recollected to have entertained at my house not long before, in the suite of the Marquis de LaFayette. He commanded me instantly to dress myself, and to accompany him to General Washington, having an order from the General, he said, to arrest me. The house was the residence of Col. Hay, who had married my sister. The family was thrown in great confusion ; the females especially were in the deepest distress ; indeed the shock so much affected Mrs. Smith that she never fully recovered from it ; and, which, added to my subsequent sufferings, was the cause of her death. I perceived that any opposition would be ineffectual. Col. Hay desired ■ to know for what cause the arrest was made ; to which Govion would give no satisfactory answer. I then desired the privilege of having my servant and one of my horses to go with him to General Washingon, at Robinson's house, which he refused ; and I was immediately marched off on foot a distance of eighteen miles. "At length on my arrival at Robinson's house, I was paraded before the door, under a guard. General Washing- ton soon afterward came to a piazza, and looked sternly and with much indignation at me ; my countenance was the index of my mind, and the beautiful lines of Horace occurred to me, ' si fractis et illabiter orbis inupaviaum feriunt, que ruinae^ etc. On his retiring, I was ordered into a back room, and two sentinels placed at the door. After as much time had elapsed as I supposed was thought necessary to give me rest from my march, I was conducted into a room, where were standing General Washington in the centre and on each side Gen. Knox and the Marquis de LaFayette, with Washington's two aides-de-camp, Cols. Harrison and Hamilton. " Provoked at the usage I received, I addressed General Washington, and demanded to know for what, cause I was brought before him in so ignominious a manner? The General answered sternly, that I stood before him charged with the blackest treason against the citizens of the United HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 85 States; and that he was authorized, from the evidence in his possession, and from the authority vested in him by Congress, to hang me immediately as a traitor, and that nothing could save me but a candid confession who in the army, or among the citizens at large, were my accomplices in the horrid and nefarious designs I had meditated for the last ten days past. I answered that no part of my conduct could justify the charge, as General Arnold, if present, would prove ; that what I had done of a public nature was by direction of that General, and, if wrong, he was amenable, not myself, for acting agreea- bly to his orders. " He immediately replied, ' Sir, do you know that Arnold has fled, and that Mr. Anderson whom you have piloted through our Hnes proves to be Major John Andre, Adjutant General of the British army, now our prisoner ? I expect him here under a guard of one hundred horse, to meet his fate as a spy, and unless you corifess who were your accomplices, I shall suspend you both on yonder tree,' pointing to a tree before the door. In a short time I was remanded into the room and urged to a confession of accomplices, with General Washington's declaration that the evidence he possessed of my being a party was sufficient to take away my life.. "Sometime afterwards, Col. Hamilton came to me, and compassionately, as he said, recommended me to declare all I knew respecting the business of which I was accused, observing that many were mistrusted, who, if they confessed, would be in a worse situation ; but as he supposed this was not the case, I had now a chance to save my life, and for the sake of my family I ought to preserve it — with many more expressions to the same effect. ' General Washington then came into the room, and ques- tioned Col. Hamilton why he was so long speaking to me ? The Colonel replied, ' General, I know Smith' has meant well during his agency in this transaction, for in all our public meetings in New York, his general demeanor spoke a spirit of moderation, nor could he be persuaded to any other opinion 86 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. than that this contest between Great Britain and her colonies would be coitipromised, as in the business of the stamp and other acts of which we complained to the British Government, in our petition by Gov. Penn,' etc. "Gen. Washington then said in a gentle tone of voice, ' Col. Hamilton, I am not yet satisfied ; take him into the back room ; we must know something more about this business.' I was then conducted into the recess from which I was brought, was about to take some refreshment, when one of the sentries, pausing at the door, vowed that if I touched any of the bis- cuits that were in the room, he would shoot me dead. The faict was the room was a kind of a butlery, in which Mrs. Arnold had placed her stores, and I was in the act of taking a piece of the biscuits. I made no reply to the sentinel ; but remained nearly two hours in this confinement, when I heard the tramp of a number of horses near the place where I was confined, and soon after could distinguish the voice of the unfortunate Andre, and of Gen. Washington and his suite, who soothed him with all the blandishments that his education and rank demanded ; he was courted with a smile in the face, when worse than a dagger was intended for his heart. I distinctly heard Col. Hamilton say to a brother officer, who came out of the same room, that Major Andre was really an accomplished yOung man, and he was sorry for him, for the General was determined to hang him. " It was nearly dark, when a very respectable young gen- tleman entered the room, and politely desired me to accom- pany him. I was in hopes this was a prelude to my emanci- pation, and I requested the honor of his name ? He answered, ' It is Washington.' I said, ' I presume, sir, you hold the rank of Colonel.' He told me he held no rank at all. He then conducted me to the, back part of Robinson's hoUse, where there were two horses, desired me to mount one of them, and by his guidance in a way I had never been, we soon reached the bank of the river opposite West Point. Here I was delivered to the custody of a Capt. Sheppard, of the New HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Sf Jersey Continental troops, and did not observe that I had been guarded by a troop of horse until I was placed in the ferry- boat, and saw them follow Mr. Washington up the mountain ;: two boats followed us composed of the guard. If I had any inclinations to throw myself overboard, I was so well guarded! that I am certain that I should have been taken out of the water ; for the main object of General Washington in detain- ing and tr}'ing me, was to obtain a knowledge of General Arnold's confederates in the army, as well as in Congress. In fact, this defection of Arnold had excited such a general sus- picion, that no one dared trust another ; and nothing but exe crations were heard from hut to hut." The following recapitulation of the Judgment of the Court Martial before whom Major Andre was tried, the order from- Washington approving the same, and directing its execution, is taken from the " Revolutionary Orders" of the Commander- in-Chief, edited by Henry Whiting, Lieut. Col. U. S. Army,, from the manuscripts of his father, John Whiting, Lieut, and! Adjutant of the 2nd Regt. Mass. Line : " No. 80, Headquarters Orange Town, ) October ist, 1780. j The Board of General Officers,* appointed to examine into- the case of Major Andre, have reported — ist. That he came on shore from the Vulture Sloop of War in the night of the 2 ist of September last, on an interview with General Arnold, in a private and secret manner ; andly. That he changed his dress within our lines, and under a feigned name and disguised habit, passed our works at Stony and Verplank's Points on the evening of the 22nd of September last, and was taken on the 23d of September last, at Tarrytown, in a disguised habit, and being then on his way to New York, and when taken he had in his possession seveial papers which contained intelligence for' the enemy. * The Board referred to consisted of Major-General Gre< ne, as Trcsldcnt, and Major' ' Oenorals Marquis dc LaFayette, and Baron Steuben. 88 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. " The Board, having maturely considered those facts, do also report to his Excellency, General Washington, that Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the British Army, ought to be considered as a Spy from the Enemy, and agreeably to the law and usage of Nations, it is their opinion that he ought to suffer death. The Commander-in-Chief directs the execution of the above sentence, in the usual way, this afternoon, at 5 o'clock."* THE WAR OF l8l2. For several years the war cloud had loomed dark and threatening over the land. Difficulties with foreign powers began to thicken ; insults were heaped upon our flag, and our solemn protests were greeted with scorn. Great Britain was first and foremost in these acts of insolence. She claimed the right to board American vessels and carry off pretended deserters from the British navy, and right boldly did she exercise her claims. Under color of capturing deserters, hundreds of American seamen were forcibly impressed into the British service. In addition to this, English cruisers hovered near the principal ports of the United States, for the purpose of intercepting merchant vessels, which were carried to England as lawful prizes. May i6th, 181 1, the American Frigate President, hailed the British Sloop of War Little Belt, and received a cannon shot in reply. The former answered the challenge by a broadside. A sharp action ensued, in which Little Belt had eleven men killed and twenty-one wounded ; which punishment induced her commander to return a suitable answer. The conduct of both commanders was approved by their respective governments, and matters assumed a still more threatening attitude. During this period the Indian tribes along our borders showed symptoms of unrest, and several outbreaks occurred in * \n the "Afrer General Orders," it i\-.ns niniounced tliflt *' the execution of Major .\ndri! is postponed till to-niorn™-.' In tlic " Evenin;: Orders" of tlie snmc date, It was announced *■ .Major Andre U to tjc executed lo-ino-row at 12 o'clock, precisely. A battal- ion of eifiity tiles from cacii winjf is to attend llie execution." HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 89 the frontier settlements. These Indian irruptions were justly attributed to British emissaries, sent among them for that purpose. Still our government was loth to appeal to war, as the last resort to settle our difficulties and protect our interests, but was at last forced to admit that forbearance was no longer a virtue. On the first of June, 1812, Madison, in a message to Congress, reviewed the state of affairs at some length, intimating the necessity for war. The Committee of Foreign Relations reported a manifesto as the basis of a declaration of war ; and on the fourth of the month Mr. Calhoun presented a bill drawn by Mr. Pinckney for the purpose. The bill was considered by both houses, with closed doors, and was passed by both houses with fair majorities. On the 17th it was signed by the President, who on the 19th issued a proclamation, formally declaring war against Great Britain. The effect of this war was severely felt by the people of Duchess. The depreciation of Continental money, the demoralizing effect of the war upon the country, and the disturbance of industrial pursuits were among the causes that bore heavily upon them. The differences of sentiment touch- ing the national questions then at issue, were sharply defined here. There was only a partial response to the call for volunteers, though there was no violent opposition to the measures of the government. Some volunteer companies were raised and equipped, and drafts made. Col. John Brush commanded the troops from Duchess County which were stationed at Harlem Heights. The imperfect sanitary arrangements of the military service exhibited in that war, as well as the lack of moral enthusiasm among the soldiers, were in marked contrast with what was shown in our late terrible struggle, yet some important ends were attained in the War of 1812. which Mr. Lossing terms " The Second War for American Independence." OFFICERS IN THE LATE REBELLION. The One Hundred and Fiftieth Regi.ment was organ- go HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. ized at Poughkeepsie, New York, to serve for three years- The companies of which it was composed were raised in the- County of Duchess. It was mustered into the service of the United States October ii, 1862. M.ustered out of service June 8, 1865, in accordance with orders from the War De- partment, and the recruits transferred to the Sixteenth Regiment New York Volunteers. The following are the principal battles in which the Regiment was engaged : Gettysburgh, Lookout Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, Gulp's Farm, Peach Tree Greek, Averysborough, Atlanta, Savannah, Raleigh. The- record of the Regiment is a noble one, reflecting great honor upon the Gounty that sent it forth. But a little more than one-third of those that went out with the regiment returned with it. GoLONELS. — John H. Ketcham, {Brevet Brig.- Gen. U. S.. y.) commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, and resigned March 2, 1865.. Alfred B. Smith, {Brevet Brig.- Gen. U. S. V.) commissioned April 12, 1865, mustered out with regiment June 8th, 1865. Lieutenant Golonels. — Gharles G. Bartlett, commis- sioned Nov. 3, 1862, discharged October 27, 1864. Alfred B. Smith, commissioned Nov. 30, 1864; promoted to Golonelcy April 12, 1865. Joseph H. Gogswell {Brevet Col. N. Y. V.)- commissioned April 22, 1865 ; mustered out with regiment, June 8, 1865. Majors. — Alfred B. Smith, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to Lieut. -Gol. Nov. 30, 1864. Joseph H. Gogswell, commissioned Nov. 30, 1864, promoted to Lieut.-Gol. April 22, 1865. Henry A. Gildersleeve, {Brevet Lieut.-Col. U. S.. V.) commissioned April 22, 1865, and mustered out with regiment. Adjutants. — William Thompson, commissioned Novem- ber 30, 1862, discharged Aug. 6, 1863. Stephen V. R. Gruger, commissioned Sept. 30, 1863, promoted to Gaptain Nov. 21, 1864. William S. Van Keuren, commissioned Nov. 21, 1864,. promoted to Captain April 22, 1865. Gyrus S. Roberts, com- HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 91 missioned April 22, 1865, but not mustered. William H. Bartlett, commissioned Dec. 22, 1865, not mustered. Quartermasters. — George H. Gaylord, Brevet Captain U. S. F.) commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, resigned March 9, 1 863. Henry C. Smith (Brevet Captain N.Y.V. and U. S. V.), commissioned April 1863, and mustered out with regiment. Surgeon. — Cornelius N. Campbell commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, mustered out with regiment June 8, 1865. Assistant Surgeons. — Stephen G. Cook, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, resigned October 16, 1864; recommissioned, Henry Pearcc, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862 ; resigned April 7, 1864. Stephen G. Cook, commissioned Dec. 20, 1864, declined. Alexander Hammill, commissioned Jan. 31, 1865, mustered out with regiment. Chaplains. — Thomas E. Vassar, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, dischai'ged August 6, 1863. E. O. Bartlett, com- missioned Nov. 30, 1863, mustered out with regiment. Captains. — ^Joseph H. Cogswell, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to Major Nov. 30, 1864, Robert C. Tripp, commissioned November 30th, 1864; mustered out with regiment. Robert McConnell, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, resigned October 20, 1864. Stephen V. R. Cruger, {Brevet Lieut-Col. N. Y. V. and Major U. S. V.) commissioned Nov. 21, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Henry A. Gildersleeve, commissioned Nov. 3, 1864, promotedto Major April 22, 1865. William S. Van Keuren, (Brevet Major N. Y. V.) commissioned April 22, 1865, mustered out with regi- ment. William R. Woodin, {Brevet Lieut-Col. N. Y. V.) commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, mustered out with regiment. Andrus Brant, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, resigned Dec. 18, 1863. Obed Wheeler, {Brevet Major M Y. V.) com- missioned Jan. 18, 1864, mustered out with regiment. John L. Green, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, mustered out with regiment. Edward A. Wicks, {Brevet Major U. S. V.) com- missioned Nov. 3, 1863 mustered out with regiment. Piatt N. Thorn, {Brevet Lieut- Col. U. S. V.) commissioned Nov. 3, 92 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1862, mustered out with regiment; Benj. S. Broas, com- missioned November 3, 1862 ; discharged Nov. 25, 1863. Richard Titus, {Brevet Major JV. V. V.) commissioned Dec 7, 1863, mustered out with regiment. John S. Schofield, commis- sioned Nov. 3, i862,mustered out with regiment, June 8th, 1865. First Lieutenants. — Henry Gridley, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, killed in action at Kulp's J'^arm, Ga., June 22, 1864. William Wattles, {Brevet Captain U. S. V.) commissioned Sept. t6, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Albert Johnson, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, discharged May ist, 1863. Benj. J. Hevenor, commissioned June 28, 1863, failed to muster. Robert C. Tripp, commissioned Dec. 7, 1863, promoted to Captain Nov. 20, 1864. Andrew J. Ostrom, commissioned Nov. 30, 1 864, mustered out with regiment. Edgar P. Welling, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, died Oct. 21, 1863, at TuUa^ homa, Tenn. James P. Mabbett, commissioned Nov. 30, 1863, resigned October 4, 1864. Frank Mallory, commissioned Nov. 21, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Robert S. Mooney, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, resigned Nov. 6, 1862. J. Curtis Smith, commissioned Nov. 30, 1S64, mustered out with regiment. Henry J. Hick, commissioned Jan. 20, 1865, mustered out with regiment. Obed Wheeler, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to Captain Jan. 18, 1864. Perry W. ;Chapman, {Brevet Major and Captain N. Y.V. (commissioned Jan. 18, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Second Lieutenants. — James P. Mabbett, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to First Lieut. Nov. 30, 1863. AVil- liam Wattles, commissioned Nov. 30, 1864, promoted to First Lieut. Sept. 16, 1864. J. Curtiss Smith, commissioned Sept. 16, 1864, mustered out with regiment, June 8, 1865. William H. Bartlett, commissioned Nov. 30, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Robert C. Tripp, Jr., commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to First Lieut. Dec. 7, 1863. Andrew J. Ostrom, commissioned Dec. 7, 1863, promoted to First Lieut. Nov. 30, 1864. Richard Germond, commissioned May 1865, not mus- tered. Rowland H. Marshall, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 95 died September 13, 1863, at Georgetown, D. C. James B, Furey, commissioned Nov. 30, 1863, mustered out with regi- ment. Frank Mallory, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, promoted to First Lieut. Nov. 21, 1864. Henry J. Hicks, commissioned Nov. 21, 1864, promoted to First Lieut. Jan. 20, 1865. Charles H. Smith, {Brevet Major U. S. K) commissioned May 17, 1865, mustered out with regiment. Charles P. Barlow, commissioned Jan. 18, 1864, mustered out with regiment. John D. Brown, commissioned Nov. 30, 1864, mustered out with regiment. John Sweet, commissioned Nov. 3, 1862, died August 13, 1863. Benj. T. Murfelt, {Brevet First Lieut U. S. V.) commissioned Sept. 16, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Charles J. Gaylord, resigned March 18, 1863. Landon Ostrom, commissioned Sept. 16, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Benj. M. Van Keuren, commissioned April 22, 1865, not mustered. John McGill, mustered out with reg- iment, June 8th, 1865. The One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment was organized at Hudson, N. Y., to serve for three years. The companies of which it was composed were raised in the counties of Columbia and Duchess. It was mustered into service of the United States September 4, 1862. Mustered out of service July 12, 1865, in accordance with orders from the War Department. The principal engagements in which this regiment was engaged were those at Cedar Creek, Fishers Hill, Winchester, the siege of Port Hudson, and the Red River Campaign. We give below the officers of the regiment from this county : Colonel, — ^James Smith, commissioned June 19. 1863, discharged June 7, 1864. Lieut. -Colonel, — Francis S. Keese, {Brevet Colonel N. Y. V.) commissioned Jan. 22, 1864, mustered out August 28, 1865. Major,— - Robert F. Wilkinson, commissioned Jan 27, 1865, mustered out with regiment July 12, 1865. Adjutants. — John P. Wilkinson, commissioned May 27, 1863, resigned Dec. 19, 1863; Ambrose B. Hart, commissioned Feb. 28, 1865. ^4 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. mustered out with regiment. Quartermasters. — Alexaoder Annan, commissioned Sept. 19, 1862, resigned July 29, 1863 ; Sylvester H. Mace, commissioned Oct. 7, 1863, mustered out with regiment. Assistant Surgeon. — C. H. Andrus, commissioned Sept. 10, 1862, promoted to Surgeon 176th N. Y. Volunteers, Aug. 14, 1864. Chaplain. — John Parker, resigned March 28, 1863. Captains. — ^Jeremiah S. Pearce, commissioned Aug. 2, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Charles E. Bostwick, commissioned Sept. 10, 1852, promoted to Major Ninety-fifth U. S. C. T. May 23, 1863. Thomas N. Dutcher, commission- ed July 4, 1863, mustered out with regiment July 12, (865. George Parker, commissioned Sept. 10, 1862, promoted to Lieut. -Col. 90th U. S. C. T. August 30, 1863. Henry H. Sincerbox, commissioned Oct. 27, 1863, mustered out with regiment. Arthur De Wint, commissioned Sept. 10, 1862, resigned March 19, 1864. John J. Williamson, commissioned April 28, 1864, mustered out with regiment. John A. Van Keuren, commissioned Sept. 10, 1862, resigned February 14, 1864. Charles R. Anderson, commissioned March 26, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Frederick Wilkinson, co...- missioned June 21, 1864, mustered out with regiment, July 12, 1865. First Lieutenants. — Ransom A. White, commissioned August 2, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Howard H. Morse, commissioned Sept. 18, 1862, resigned August 13, 1863. Spencer C. Doty, commissioned Jan. i, 1863, resigned July 23, 1863. Jacob Armstrong, commissioned Feb. 28, 1865, mustered out with regiment. Charles Van Tine, com- missioned July 20, 1864, mustered out with regiment. Colum- bus L. Keyes, commissioned Nov. 30, 1863, mustered out with regiment. John I. Schouter, June 21, 1864, not mustered; mustered out with regiment as sergeant Co. I. Second Lieutenants, — .Henry Rothery, commissioned July 20, 1864, not mustered; mustered out with regiment as HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 95 private in Company F. Benjamin T. Benson, commissioned Aug. 2, 1864, mustered out with regiment July 12, 1865. A number from this county enlisted in the "People's Zouaves" (44th, N. Y.) in 1861. This was largely made up of students and professional men from all parts of the State, and during, the war was frequently called upon to occupy posts of the greatest danger, it being considered as one of the most reliable regiments in the service. Recruits from this county joined other arms of the service, but we have not space to mention sU here. SuflSce it to say, no county in the State was represented on the bloody battle fields of the late rebellion by a nobler set of men than was Old Duchess. During the progress of the Rebellion, it became a favorite idea with the leading minds of the County of Duchess in mil- itary matters, that a regiment should be sent out composed of and officered by Duchess County men. Many of her citizens had already responded to the call of the nation ; but being widely distributed among the various arms of the service, and in different regiments, it was thought that Duchess could not be properly represented in this way. After a deal of effort the Governor finally gave his consent, and the idea took a tangible form in the isoth Regiment N. Y. S. V., with a camp located at Poughkeepsie. This regiment was made up of some of the noblest sons of Duchess, — the mechanic and student, the farmer and accountant, joining heart and hand, in the support of their countr/s flag. In due time this regiment was sent to the front, where it participated in some of the severest actions of the war. It was first engaged in the battle of Gettysburgh — a most terrible ordeal for a raw regiment — where it behaved with signal gallantry. In all the engagements in which it after- ward took a part, it upheld the honor of the section that sent it forth ; and it is said the regiment can boast of never having been broken by the enemy when in line of battle. But at last the strong arm of the Rebellion was broken ; the two great armies which had been so long engaged in mor- tal combat laid down their arms, and peace once more reigned 96 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. over the distracted country. The isoth, with her battle flags torn and, begrimed with the shot and smoke of the fight, took her place among the 200,000 veterans that marched in review before President Lincoln, on their return from the war. The people of Duchess were impatient for the coming home of their soldier sons. Delay after delay still kept them absent, and not a few anathemas were vented against the powers that controlled their movements. At last the day was appointed that the regiment was to return at Poughkeepsie. The day wore away, and no boat appeared'; evening came, and deepened into night, but still its coming was unheralded. The citizens retired to their homes, and the town was enveloped in quiet. About midnight a solitary watchman descried the boat coming up the river. The signal was given from Kaal Rock, which awoke the city from her slumbers. The population turned out en masse, to welcome her defenders. Every dwel- ing and place of business on the principal streets was illumi- nated. The iSoth embarked, and marched up Main Street between two closely packed files of men, women and children j while the loud huzzas that rent the air made the scene one long to be remembered. Let us not forget to bestow praise to others who repre- sented our County in the great Rebellion. Those of the gallant 128th, who so nobly faced the leaden shot at Fort Hudson, and confronted the enemy on other hotly contested grounds, are worthy a high place in our memories. All honor to the " Heroes of Duchess." GENERAL HISTORY. PHE early inhabitants of Duchess came into this territory without any concert, each family purchasing land inde- pendently of the others, and without any previous arrangement for establishing civil or religious organiza- tions. In this they were unlike many of the early communities of New England, where the settlements were made under the direct supervision of a regular organization, both civil and' religious. The former came together without any mutual purpose, except that of bettering their condition ; the latter set out at once with all the advantages accruing from a unity of purpose and a settled form of government. However, notwith- standing the diversity of their origin, these immigrants soon began to lay the foundation for their future welfare by setting up the institutions of the Christian religion, and by assiduously cultivating that love of freedom which has characterized the people of Duchess through all the trials of her early history. Duchess County was organized Nov. ist, 1683, and provisionally attached to Ulster because of its few inhabitants, provision being made for the freeholders in Duchess to give their votes in the County of Ulster the same as if they lived there. At the same time Orange County had some fifty S-97 98 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. families under the protection of New York County. In the year 17 13 Duchess was considered competent to take care of herself, though containing less than five-hundred inhabitants, including women, children and (Glacks, and was then first represented in the General Assembly of the Province. The original act defines its boundaries as follows : " The Duchess County, [The Duchess's County] to be from the bounds of the county of Westchester, on the south side of the Highlands, along the east side as far as Roehff Jansen's Kill, [now Livingston's Creek,] and east into the woods twenty miles." Duchess County was not settled as early as AVestchester, Orange, or Ulster Counties. It was covered with heavy timber, and was in many places swampy. Early settlers thought it unhealthy. None but the Dutch cared to venture on these grounds, and hence settled Fishkill. The first settlements were made by the Dutch, at Fishkill and afterwards at Rhinebeck, previous to 1690. A settlement was begun at Poughkeepsie about the year 1700. Along its river region, French Refuges, called Huguenots,* settled, and about the year 1741 New Englanders came into its eastern borders, "f A portion of the county was settled upon lease- holds, which here as elsewhere led to difficulty. * The Hupruenota, or Krencli Protestants, c.lme from Europe, and were a part of the. .10,000 priisecutiul, who fled from France four years liefore the rcvocdtion of the Edict of >'antz. The cruelties they suffered In France are beyond anythiil;; else of the kind ou record, and in no af;e was there .■«uch a violation of all that is sacred, cither with relation tu Uod or man ; and when we consider the exalted virtues of tiiat glorions band of brothers we are amazed while we are dclit^iited with their fortitude and coura^u. Uather than renounce their christian principles, they endured outrage shockinff to iiumanity, persecu- tions of unheard of enormity, and death in all Irs horrors. To be a Huguenot was cnougli to ensure condemnation. Whoever bore this name were arraigned for their lives, and on adhering to their profession were condemned by merciless judges to the flames . Some of the name and character were murdered in cold blood, and massacred witliout any legal forms of justice, t The following copy of a lettcrnow (1860) In possession ofT. Van Wyck Brinker- hotf, of East Fisliklii, throws some light upon the early history of the County : '* In thtt year JS23 I saw Isaac Upton, a coaster from Newport, who informed me that about 1760 he came up the North Kiver, tu Poughkeepsie. and In. company with another person, went to Mabbitl's store, in Washington, on business. I'hat, on their rctnrn, they took a circuitous route from Pleasant Valley, and passed the house of a German by the name of Hoffman, who was then 118 years old. He supposed himself to be- the flrst settler In -]>U"lieS8 County. When young he deserted from a Dutch ship of war in New York, squatted where he then lived, built him a shanty, and lived a number of years a solitary life without being able to And a white woman for a wife. Afterward he found n German family at Klilne- beck, maivied, and lived where he then was to that advanced age. 1 was Informed that he died two years afterward, at the age of 120. Signed. V/lVL UPTON." HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 99 June 27th, 1776. — For some months a mob has frequently .assembled and ranged the eastern part of the manor of Rensselaer. Last week they appeared at Mr. Livingston's with some proposals to him : but he being from home, they j-eturned to Mr. Rensselaer's son's, about two miles from Claverack, where, not finding him at home, they used some insulting words, and left a message for Mr. Rensselaer, that if he did not meet them next day at their rendezvous, they would come to him. On the 26th; the sheriff of Albany, with 150 men under his command, went to disperse the rioters, who were assembled it is supposed to the number of sixty in a house on the manor. On the sheriff's advancing to the house they fired upon him, and shot off his hat and wig, but he escaped unhurt — many shots were exchanged on both sides. Of the militia, Mr. Cornelius Tenbrook, of Claverack, was killed, and seven wounded. Of the rioters three were killed (two of them the ringleaders) and many wounded, among them was Capt. Noble (one of the chief instigators) in the back. The rioters retreated to Captain Noble's house, where they formed a breastwork, and did not quit the house till the sheriff's party left the place. He afterward went to Poughkeepsie to get assistance from the regulars to disperse the whole ; but the regulars were gone to Pendergraft's house, on Philipse Patent, in Duchess County. We hear from Fredericksburgh,* in Duchess County, that on Saturday last, as a party of regulars stationed there, under the command of Major Brown, were crossing a bridge, they were met by about 30 of the rioters, who were going to join Pendergraft, their chiefs party — a skirmish ensued, wherein two of the regulars were wounded, and it is supposed a much greater number of the rioters, who generally dismounted and fled to the cornfields and bushes, leaving some of their horses and guns, which were taken, and one prisoner. Several more were taken that night. The next evening they sent a flag of triice with 50 followers, who were all lodged in the meeting- house, and the next day several more parties came in. Pendergraft's wife was gone to persuade her husband to accept of the Governor's mercy, as were many more wives of the rioters. We hear of no lives lost. It was reported that 300 of the rioters lodged at Quaker Hill, intending to attack the regulars on the T3th ult. — [Letters from Claverack. * Patterson Village, or the Oily, during the Revolution and previous tlicretu, sayR Blake In the History of Putnam County, was called Frcdericltsbnrgh. The village, until the Harlem Itailroad was built, was located about one-half mile west of the railroad «tatlon. lOO HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Pendergraft was afterwards taken, tried before Judge Hors- mander for high treason, and sentenced to be executed, but was afterward pardoned. Fifty to sixty others were fined, imprisoned or pilloried. Soon after the sentence of Pender- graft, an advertisement appeared, offering a good reward to any one wiUing to assist .as executioner, and promising disguise against recognition, and protection against insults.* In 1689, the inhabitants of Duchess, like those of Ulster and Albany, took part against Leisler. This was diiring the period of civil commotion occasioned by the accession of WiUiam, Prince of Orange, to the throne of England, and which agitation extended to her colonies. Leisler had assuined the office of Governor, and the people of the above-mentioned counties refused subjection to him. Milbourne, a son-in-law of Leisler, proceeded to the disaffected territory with a con- siderable armed force, which had the- effect of reducing the colonists to subjection. For a time the progress of population was slow. In the year 17 14, or thirty-one years after the organization of the county, it contained only sixty-seven freeholders, and an aggre- gate number of souls, including twenty-nine slaves, of 445. The following are the names of the freeholders, as they appear in the Dutch records : Jacob Kip, Jacob Plough, Matieis Sleyt, Evert Van Wag- enen, William Ostrander, Lowrens Ostrout, Peter Palmater, Maylvell Pulmatier, William Tetsort, Hendrick Pells, Peter Vely, John Kipp, John De Grave, Leonard Lewis, Elena Van Der Bogart, Bartholomus Hogenboom, Baltus Van Kleek, Frans Le Roy, Barent Van Kleeck, John Ostrom, Hamen Rinders, Mindert Van Der Bogart, Johanes Van Kleck, Lenar Le Roy, Swart Van Wagenen, Henry Van Der Burgh, Elias Van Bunschoten, Thomas Sanders, Catrine Lasinck, Wedo, Peter Lasinck, ey Scouten, Mellen Springstun, Johnes Terbets, John Beuys, Garratt Van Vleit, Abram Beuys, Wil- liam Outen, Andreis Daivedes, Frans De Langen, Aret Mas- • Dunlap's Hist. N. T. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. lOI ten, James Husey, Roger Brett, Peter De Boyes, Isaac Hen- dricks, Jehu Breines, Jeury Sprinstan, Peck De Wit, Adaam Van Alssed, Cellitie Kool, Harmen Knickerbocker, Johanis Dyckman, Sienjar, Jacob Hoghtslingh, Dirck Wesselse, Wil- liam Schott, Jacob Vosburgh, Tunis Pieterse, Hendrick Bret- siert, Roelif Duvtser. Johannis Spoor, Junjoor, Abraham Vosburgh, Abraham Van Dusen, Willem Wijt, Lauwerens Knickerbocker, Hendrick Sissum, Aenderis Gerdener, Gysbert Oosterheut, Johannis Dyckerman, Junjor. The inteUigent reader will readily distinguish, in the quaint orthography of the above list, many of the family names of the present time. French's Gazetteer says of this county: "The most important articles of manufacture are cotton and woolen goods, prints, iron ware, flour, malt liquors, cordage, leather, oil, paper, &c. Its manufactured products in 1845 exceeded $25,000,000." This County, now so populous and opulent, was. assessed in the year 1702 below any other, contributing only _p^i8 to a general tax of ^^2,000. In 1729 the County was thus described: " The south part is mountainous, and fit only for iron works ; but the rest con- tains a great quantity of good upland, well watered. The only villages in it are Poughkeepsie and Fishkill, though they scarcely deserve the name. There is no Episcopal Church iri it. The growth of this county has been very sudden, and commenced but a few years ago. Within the memory of persons now living, it did not contain twelve families ; and according to the late returns of the Militia, it will furnish at present about 2500 fighting men." In 1723 its population was 1,083 > in i737) 3A'^2 > ^'^ 1746, 8,806; in 1 77 1, 22,404. On the 27th of May, 1775, a Provincial Congress * was convened at New York, and efficient measures immediately taken for the military organization and defense of the country. •Up"n tlie a(tjnur(i[nent of this Congress in Scptcmhcr, for a month, they dricpatcd their pot\'er9 to a Committee of Safety, composed of three nicmbiTS from the city and county of New York, and one from cacli of the other counties. Thus it must have consisted of 16 members. I02 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Two regiments were authorized to be raised, bounties offered for the manufacture of gunpowder and muskets in the province; and fortifications were projected at Kingsbridge and the High- lands. July 6th, 1776, the Provincial Congress met at White Plains and took the title of " The Representatives of the State of New York." On the first day of the meeting they received the Declaration of Independence, and immediately passed a resolution approving it. Soon after they enacted a law, that. all persons residing in the State, and enjoying the protection of its laws, who should be found guilty of siding with its enemies, should suffer death. Their deliberations were conducted under constant excite- ment and alarm, and their places of meeting were continually changing. From New York they moved to Harlem, King's Bridge, Yonkers, White Plains, Fishkill, Kingston and Pough- keepsie, and in 1784 returned to New York. Two sessions were afterwards held at Poughkeepsie, and three at Albany; before the final removal to the latter place in 1797. In March^ 1778, a concurrent resolution directed the Secretary of State and the Clerks of the Counties to put their records into strong and light enclosures, to be ready for instant.removal in case of danger. A court house and jail were first ordered to be built at Poughkeepsie July 21st, 17 15, for the use of the County, but they do not appear to have been completed until nearly thirty years afterwards. In 1760, an act authorized the conversion of a jury room into a jail, and four years after money was raised to complete the arrangement. The act of April iith, 1785, appropriated the sum of ;^xS,ooo to re-construct the building, which had been destroyed by fire, and Cornelius- Humphrey, Peter Tappen, and Gilbert Livingston were appoint- ed a building committee. A further tax of ^^2000 was ordered in 1786, and another of ;^i3oo in 1787. In the- meantime prisoners were sent to the Ulster County jail. By act of March 19th, 1778, the Sheriff's mileage was reckoned HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 103 from the house of Myndert Vielle, in Beekmans Precinct. The buildings were again destroyed by fire on the night of September 25th, 1808; the prisoners were removed to the Fanners' Hotel, and the courts held sessions in the Reformed Dutch Church. The act for the construction of the present building was passed March 24th, 1809, and $12,000 was raised for that purpose. James Talmadge, John B. Van Wyck and John Van Benthuysen were appointed building commissioners. The next year $15,000 additional was raised, and the building was soon after completed. It contains the court-room, clerk's office, and all the usual county offices, except that of surrogate, which is in a small building adjaceat. A new jail was built separate from the court house about the year 1 860. In March, 1807, a bill was introduced into the Legislature to divide Duchess County. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of sixteen to thirteen, but it was rejected in the Assembly by a vote of forty-eight to forty-seven. In a motion to recon- sider the vote stood forty-nine to forty-nine, but the speaker voting in the negative the motion was lost, and Duchess County was not divided until five years afterwards. After an interval of several years a line, called the Philips and Robin - son's Line, was surveyed through Duchess County, two miles north of the Putnam County line, and parallel with it, and an attempt made to extend the latter County to that line ; but the measure proved a failure. By act of April nth, 1808, semi-annual fairs of sale were directed to be held in this County, under the management of five commissioners, to be appointed by the Judges of Common Pleas. These fairs were to be supported by a tax of one per cent on all sales, one-half to be paid by the purchaser, and one-half by the seller. At a meeting of the Supervisors, held in January, 1721, among the items of expense allowed are the following : To Trynte Van Kleek, widow, for victualling the assessors and I04 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. supervisors, 9s. To Jacobus Vander Bogart, Esq., for the assessors and for horse fodder, 3 s. In the list of expenses allowed at a session of supervisors and assessors in 1726, the following are among the items allowed : To Col. Leonard Lewis, for three gallons of rum for assessors and supervisors, at two meetings, at 5s per gallon, 15s. To Widow Vander Bogart, for victualling assessors and supervisors, and clerk, and sider furnished, j£i 7s. To Hen- drick Bass, for destroying a wolf, allowed in the act, 6s. To Harmanus Reynders, for tending and waiting on the justices and assessors and supervisors, clerk, is allowed for a year's service, ^^2. To Cornelius Vander Bogart, Collected for two people that ran away out of his tax list last year, which he did not receive, their taxes in all, los. " The burning of a white man and negro for incendiarism, which took place in Market Street about a century ago, was witnessed by a large concourse of people. The horrors of the scene were indescribable ; it seemed as if the sufferers never would die, but continued their screams of agony longer than it seemed possible for any one to live under the circumstances. After the fuel under them had been nearly exhausted, and their charred and half consumed bodies had fallen among the coals and ashes, the negro's jaws continued to open and shut, as if yawning, for some minutes, as the people crowded around to witness the end." " But there was another scene of horror which took place in Poughkeepsie in the early part of the Revolution, which ex- ceeded, if possible, the burning above alluded to. Two boys from Fishkill, only about sixteen years of age, were arrested as spies. Being without friends, they were undefended; were tried and condemned to be hung, and were actually executed onForbusHill." " The trial and execution of an unfortunate man from Beekman, named Brock, which took place about 1770,. is too melancholy to dwell upon. He, too, was poor and friendless; and was arrested for passing a counterfeit hard dollar, which it HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. I05 was proved had been given him. At the trial he had no defense, and he was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung, and his body delivered to the surgeons for dissection ; all of which took place at Poughkeepsie." TRAVEL AND POST ROUTES. The only post road in the State in 1789 was between New York and Albany, running through Fishkill, Poughkeepsie and Rhinebeck, and the number of post-offices in the State was only seven. In an old N. Y. City paper, bearing date Oct. 2d, 1797, occurs the following advertisement : " Vermont stages [mail and passenger] will leave New York every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, at 8 o'clock, run to Bedford the first •day, the second to Dover, the third to Stockbridge, and fourth to Bennington, Vermont. Fare of each passenger five cents per mile." Thus it appears that Duchess early enjoyed the privilege of two mail routes, extending through its eastern and its western borders, communicating with New York City. Letters — the few that were written — were mainly carried by private hands. Newspapers — from Hartford and Pough- keepsie — were carried by post-riders on horseback. Such was the custom within the recollection of many of our old residents. Under the caption " New Mail Route," an old copy of the Poughkeepsie Observer has the following : — " Proposals will be received by the Post Master General, until the 27th of September, 1817, for carrying the mail once a week from Poughkeepsie to New Milford, (Conn.) via Beekman, Pawling, &c. Elihu Stewart, familiarly called Captain Stewart, father of Elihu Stewart, Esq,, of Sherman, Conn., was the successful bidder. He was succeeded by one Page, who conducted the route until he failed, when Stewart again resumed charge of it. At this time the mails were carried through three times each way, every week. Finally a Mr. Butler took the contract. lo6 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. agreeing to carry the mail from New Milford to Poughkeepsie and return each day, a distance of nearly seventy miles, over a very mountainous road. Though frequent relays of horses were provided, this was found to be hardly practicable, and several horses were killed on the road before the plan was discontinued. Butler was succeeded by McKibbin, who con- tinued on the route until the completion of the Harlem Rail- road to Dover Plains. The old Poughquag Tavern (now the residence of Daniel Thomas, Esq.j) was called the half-way house, where man and beast were refreshed. THE SHARON CANAL. About the year 1 821, the New York and Sharon Canal was projected. Many enterprising men took a lively interest in it, though some looked upon it as a visionary scheme. The canal was proposed to be constructed from Sharon Valley down by the Oblong River, and by the Swamp River, to the sources of the Croton in Pawling, and by the Croton either to the Hudson or the Harlem River. The Harlem Railroad runs over very nearly the route proposed for the canal. An extension of the canal north through Salisbury to Great Harrington, in Massa-< chusetts, was also contemplated. The preliminary survey was made, and about sixty thousand dollars contributed. This money was deposited with a broker in New York, who failed. This so discouraged the managefs that the project was abandoned. In 1826 the project seems to havp been renewed, and and a Report of the Canal Commissioners was made to the Legislature, of surveys and estimates by an engineer employed by the Commissioners. The estimated cost of the Canal to the Hudson was $599,232 ; and by the route to the Harlem it was $1,232,169. This included the whole expense of excavation, aqueducts, locks, bridges, and everything essential to the completion of the work. A survey was made of ponds and streams which could be made to supply the canal with water, and an estimate given of the amount of transportation that HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1 07 might be expected. We have no record of the project after this. Cyrus Swan, of Sharon; Joel Benton and Thomas Barlow, of Amenia ; William Tabor, of Pawling ; and Mark Spencer, of Amenia, were among the projectors of this enter- prise. SOIL, CLIMATE, ETC. The soil is in general a fine quality of sandy and gravelly loam. Upon the hills it is in some places, composed of disintegrated slate ; and upon the Hudson River intervales it is a deep rich alluvium. The richness and variety of its soil, and its proximity to the New York market, insure a rich return for all agricultural labor ; and it ranks foremost among the various counties in the State. In cultivated area it is excelled only by Jefferson, Oneida, Otsego and St. Lawrence ; and in cash value of farms by Monroe and Westchester only. Farm- ing is of a mixed character, all branches being successfully pursued. Owing to the facihties afforded by the network of railroads throughout the County, the sending of milk to New York has become an important branch of business. That part of the County along the Hudson has considerable ornamental farming and gardening, where are the country seats of men of opulence. Owing to its somewhat elevated position, the climate of the County is colder than in some of the adjacent counties of the same latitude. A considerable amount of manufacturing is carried on, the principal establishments being located in Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. The commerce by means of the Hudson is extensive. In 1850, whale fishing was prosecuted here to a considerable extent, several large ships being employed. About that time eight or ten steamboats, and a considerable number of sloops, schooners and barges, were employed in the coasting trade. The following facts may interest the general reader: — In 1687 the Governor and Council levied a tax of half a penny Io8 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. on every pound out of the estates of the freeholders of Duchess County. A further act was passed Sept. loth, 1692, "To raise 80 men out of Duchess and Ulster to protect Albany from Indians during the winter." In 17 13 empowered Duchess to elect a Supervisor, Assessor and Collector. Previous to 17 18 no records were kept in Duchess County. Whatever records may have been kept are lost. None are to be found in Ulster County. The cities of Newburgh and Po'keepsie now contain more inhabitants than the whole State of New York in 1695. In 1723 there were 195 taxable inhabitants in Duchess County. AMENIA. POPULATION, 2,700. SQUARE ACRES, 84,568. j MENIA is one of the original towns formed by act of March 7, 1788. It comprises the Avidth of the Oblong tract, and the east tier of lots in the Great Nine Partners. The origin of the name is too obscure to venture even a guess upon. It is noticeable from the fact that it is the only locality bearing the name in the whole country. Young, a minor American poet, applies this term in his " Conquest of Quebec," in a description of the several provincial troops em- ployed in that campaign. The Taghkanick Mountains extend along the east border, and the Highlands belonging to the Fishkill Range extend through the west part. The wide valley separating these two ranges occupies the central portions. The declivities of the mountains are often steep and sometimes rocky, and their highest summits often reach the altitude of 300 to 500 feet above the valleys. Amenia Station is 500 feet above tide water. The soil is a clayey and sandy loam. The principal streams are the Weebutook or Ten Mile- 109 no HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. River, Wassaic Creek, and West Brook, and their branches. A low range of limestone, hard and brittle, of a bluish color, considerably disintegrated where it crops out, extends north and south through the valley. Near the village of Wassaic are striking evidences of geological changes in the far-off aeons of the world's infancy. The bed of the valley is a succession of low hills that were washed up by the waters of some Paleozoic Lake, that at one time filled the valley. Dig into the sandhills and you will see the works of the waves left in the ripples of the sand. A gentleman who had travelled extensively in Europe, said he never saw a lovelier valley than that of Amenia. No country affords finer contrasts of mountain, hill, ravine, wood and cultivated plain. All its approaches from the west are beside streams, through gorges, up and down steep declivities as wild and varied as those of far-famed Switzerland. The contrast between the fairness of a clear Summer afternoon and a ragged thunder storm in the night is not greater than that, of the fair fields of Lithgow, and the stern, dark mountains and fearful ruggedness of Deep Hollow. Amenia Village, The City, Wassaic, Amenia Union, South Amenia, Leedsville, and Sharon Station are post villages. Richard Sackett was here several years before any other settlement was made, probably about the year 17 ii. He located at the " Steel Works," about one mile south of the village of Wassaic, so called because, a furnace and foundry were established there during the Revolution, to manufacture steel for the use of the army. The site of the works is still covered by coal dust and cinders. Mr. Sackett was connected with the Livingstons in the settlement of the Palatinates at German or East Camp, now Germantown, Columbia County. In the Colonial Records we read : " March 11, 1703, Richard Sackett petitioned government for hcense to purchase (of the Indians) a tract of land in Duchess County, east of Hudson's River, called Washiack." "Oct. 20, 1703, license granted." "Nov. 2, 1704, patent granted to Richard Sackett & Co., for HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. said land, containing about 7,500 acres, or thereabouts." Mr. Sackett was one of the company known as the Little Nine Partners. He died in 1746, and was buried on the hill, in a little cemetery not far from his residence. At the time that he established his family in Amenia, there was not another white family rtearer than Poughkeepsie, or Woodbury and New Mil- ford, in Connecticut. Uldrick Winegar and his son, Capt. Garrett Winegar, were . the next settlers. They were of the Palatinates at East Camp, and located at Amenia Union about the year 1724, where they entered upon land without any title, except from the Indians. Afterward, when the Oblong was confirmed to New York, and surveyed, he received a title from the proprietors of that tract. It is worthy of note that, no mention is made of any block-. house, or any defense against the Indians, put up by these early settlers, though isolated for many years from any other white settlements ; while in Litchfield, between 1720 and 1730, there were five houses sur- rounded by palisades, and soldiers were stationed there to guard the inhab- itants while at work, and at worship on the Sabbath. Uldrick died in 1754, at The Winegar House. the age of I02 years, and Garrett the year following. Their graves and those of many of their descendants are in that beautiful burial ground near Amenia Union. Hendrick Winegar, the oldest son of Capt. Garrett, resided for several years at the foot of the West Mountain ;. in 176 1 he built the large stone and brick house a short distance west of Amenia Union. He was ancestor of the families of that name in Kent, Conn. The Rows, hkewise Germans, are beUeved to have been of the Palatinates, and settled near Amenia Union, soon after the Winegars, and previous to 1731. Hcniy Nase settled below 112 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. them, near the town line. His memorial stone, in the cemetery at Dover, says : — " Henry Nase, born in High Germany, died Dec. 14, 1759, about 64 years old." The old houses, built by these early settlers, of which there were as many as seven or eight near Amenia Union at the beginning of the present cen- tury, were objects of special interest. The Delamaters were French Huguenots, and settled here previous to 1740. The first highway from • Salisbury was from Weatague through Lakeville, Ore Hill, Sharon Valley, and Sackett's Farm in Dover, showing the intercourse of these Dutch families. The first important immigration to this town was not until the year 1740, and it appears that ten years afterward the popula- tion was sufficient to encourage the people to institute public worship in three places. In the journal of Abraham Rhinke, one of the Moravian Missionaries, who preached at " Nine Partners and the Oblong" in 1753, he says: — "The people came here five years ago in expectation of bettering their fortunes by the purchase of cheap farms, and for the enjoyment of religious hberty." From this it would appear that the influx of population was about the year 1748 ; and it also affords an idea of the sentiment of freedom in religion, entertained by the early settlers. At the time of settlement a remnant of the Pequod Indians had a village in the northeast part of the town,* called Wech- quadnach, on the west side of Indian Pond. Some Moravian "missionaries began to labor with them about the year 1740, with evident success ; but so annoyed were they by the officers of the Colonial Government, that in a few years they were driven out of the State. These Christian laborers were charged with being Jesuits, and emissaries of the French. Although the charge proved groundless, it may be some palliation of the jealousy of the Colonists, that the French were sending their emissaries among the Indians in other quarters to incite them against their English neighbors. It should be noted that it was not the local authorities that suspected the peaceable savages, * The town limits, or rnther the precinct limits, have been since changed. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 113 for they were held in the highest esteem by the whites. . After- ward^ one of the Moravians, Rev. Joseph Powell, ministered to a congregation near Indian Pond. He died in 1774, and was interred, with some of his people, in the burial ground near their house of worship. A more extended account of the Moravians in Duchess County is given in the chapter on Pine Plains. Several Indian burial places are spoken of in tradition : one on the lands of Myron B. Benton ; another near Amasa D. Coleman's, still the burial place of families in the vicinity. At a place by the river called the " Nook," near South Amenia, the Indians were accustomed to hold their noisy pow-wows. There were a few wigwams near the outlet of Swift's Pond. Amenia is topographically divided into three valleys. In early times each valley had its separate place of worship, each church being of the same order — Presbyterian or Congrega- tional. The oldest was organized near the centre of the town, and was named "Carmel, in the Nine Partners." In 1750, Abraham Paine, Jun., "was set apart to the work of the min- istry by solemn ordination by laying on the hands of the Pres- bytery, and by the power of the Holy Ghost." Mr. Paine and some of his church soon became affected with the notions of the " New Lights," or " Separatists," which lead to some disa- greement with the more conservative of the congregation. The house of worship known as the " Red Meeting House'' was built in 1758, and stood about a mile northeast of the village of Amenia, near the burying ground. It was a square building, two stories high, with a gallery on three sides, and seated with square pews. This house was built and afterwards repaired by contributions from persons not strict adlierents to the Congregational polity, and was occupied harmoniously in later years by the Congregationalists, Baptists and Methodists. In the Summer of 1770, the celebrated Whitefield preached in the Red Meeting House to the crowds that followed him all the country round. Elder Elijah Wood, a Baptist, was the acceptable minister of the congregation for several years. In h 114 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. the early part of the present century the line was gradually drawn between the three denominations, and each sustained a separate organization. In 1811, this church was connected' with the associated Presbytery of Westchester, and in 18 15; with the Presbytery of North River. In the same year Rev. Joel Osborne became pastor, giving to the church one-third of the time. The congregation in the Oblong' Valley, known as the- Oblong Society, was made up partly of families living in Con- necticut, the church edifice being located at Amenia Union,, about twenty yards west of the colony line. It was a capacious. The ICoiiiid Top Meeting House (Restored). building, with galleries, and with doors on three sides. The roof had four sides, terminating at the top in an ornamental cupola, which gave it the name of " The Round Top Meeting House." It was built in 1755, and in 1786 it was taken down and another erected near where the present church edifice stands. The society was organized in 1759,* .seventeen years before the Revolution, twenty-nine years before the organiza- tion of the town, and about ten or fifteen years after the prin- cipal settlements had been made. Palatinates and Huguenots, ' J" 1*"' ••"' concrepatlon iit South Amoiiln lield memorial services In commemo- ration of its one hunlredtli annivcrsno', iiiiit u historical discunrsc was renil. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 115 escaping from the fire of persecution, and Puritans from New England composed the membership. The first preaching there of which there is any record, was by a Moravian missionary in 1753, named Rhinke. . Rev. libenezer Knibloe was installed first pastor. He came from the Phihpse Patent, near " Kent's Parish," or Carmel. He was a Scotchman by birth ; his manner unfortunately was such that members in his congregation, fired with patriotic zeal, became suspicious of his loyalty to the cause of the king, and he was dismissed after serving them sixteen years. The evi- dence, however, was clearly against the suspicion ; and, after the war, he again ministered to them acceptably until his death, which took place in 1785. Marriages, recorded by him, numbered 321 ; baptisms, 581. This would seem to indicate a population greater than at present. While the British were in possession of New York, the distinguished Dr. John Rodgers, a Presbyterian, left the city and found a safe retreat in the country. He came here in 1778, out of the way of the disturbing effects of the war, and ministered to the people about two years. Rev. Dr. Livings- ton also spent some time here during the war. The following are from the old church records : — " Voted, that Capt. Colbe Chamberlain, Lieut. David Doty, Dr. Timothy Babcock, and Mr. Benjamin Delano, be quoristers ; that Capt. Colbe Chamberlain and Ebenezer Hatch, be tithingmen." [The office of tithingmen was to keep the young people in becoming order.] In 1778 the society voted to give their pastor, Dr. Rodgers, $16 per Sabbath. That season the people furnished for Dr. Rodgers' family one hundred pounds of butter; Simeon Kelsey provided a pig of about one hundred pounds ; Moses Barlow a pig and a beef; and Jedediah Bump about six hundred pounds of pork. Dr. Rodgers resided a part of the time in tTie house called Deacon Leon- ard's house, near George S\vift's. "Feb. 22, 1786, voted that our present old Meeting House be taken down and apphed to the building of a new one ; and Il6 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. that all persons who had any right in the old meeting house shall be considered proprietors in the new one." Thus it appears the true succession was preserved in the house and in the congregation. Some of the material of that first building is doubtless in the present structure. After the death of Mr. Knibloe, several ministers were engaged temporarily, till 1802, when Rev. John Barnet was engaged as preacher, but not as pastor, who continued with them upwards of ten years. He was a Chaplain in the war of the Revolution, first in Col. Hopkins' Regiment, of Amenia, at Saratoga, and afterwards in the regular army. Mr. Bamet's salary was sixty pounds per annum, and the use of the parsonage farm, which then included, besides the present parsonage land, that part of Henry Cline's farm west of the highway. A Fourth of July oration by Mr. Barnet in 181 2 was published ; also a funeral sermon for Ambrose Spencer, Jan., who was killed at the battle of Lundy's Lane, and who had been a pupil of Mr. Bamet's. In 181 5, Rev. Joel Osborne became pastor ; dismissed at his own request in 1825 ; died in Kent, Conn., in 1856, aged 66 years. Rev. Asahel Bronson was installed i^astor in 1827; Rev. John G. Lowe in 1830; Rev. A. Cogswell Frissell in 1843; ^^d Rev. Harry Smith in 1859. The present parsonage was built in 1815, and the present church edifice in 1849. The following is a brief comjiendium of the history of the Smithfield Church and Society : About the year 1750, at the time when the dark cloud of the French and Indian war hung over the Colonies, a plain church edifice was erected upon the ground occupied by the. present building. At an early date two churches occupied the ground now covered by the Smithfield Church and Society. After the Revolution there was an effort made to unite the two which proved successful. Rev. John Cornwell, it is believed, preached the gospel in both places until his death. Both societies were originally Congregational, and remained so until one ceased to exist, and the other became Presbyterian in HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 117 1824. It is supposed that the church at the Separate was built very nearly the same time with the one at the City, but we have no records of either. It is a well-known fact that those who desired a thorough reformation of the Church of England in the time of Queen Elizabeth were called Puritans ; and that those Puritans who 'I^_^I7 ^^- left the Church of England were called Separates or ^=*-=s^r Separatists. Some of both "^g",, parties sought refuge from persecution in America, and ill 1670 commenced the settlement of Nev/ England. Those who afterwards settled The Old Separate Meeting iioiisc. in that part of this Society known as the " Separate'' may have been Separatists, or in sympathy with that branch of the Puritans, and hence the name. Stephen Kenney settled near the Separate in the year 1740, and was one of the number who signed the covenant of the organization of the church in the year 1787. Elisha Adams found a home very near the same time at Adams' Mills, who also signed the covenant as a member of the church. Abraham Bdckee, from New York, at an early period settled upon the land purchased by his father in the year 1699, and which has remained in the family until a very recent date. Robert Willson, Sen., died in 1799, just twelve years after he had signed the covenant at the organization of the church, in 1787. He doubtless was among the first settlers. Benjamin Herrick died in 1778, having buried two children in the cemetery at this place in 1755, only five years after tlie first church edifice was built. No evidence has been found that a settled pastor served this church from 1750 to 1775, a period of twenty-five years, and it is probable that during this time the gospel was preached only by such ministers of Christ as might journey through this section of country. Among these was the Rev. George Whitefield. In a letter dated New York, July 29th, 1 18 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1770, he says : " Since my last I have been above a 500-mile circuit, and have been able to preach and travel through the heat and dust every day. The congregations have been large and attentive, particularly at Albany, Schenectady, Great Bar- rington, Norfolk, SaUsbury, Sharon, Smithfield, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill." Tradition tells us that church edifices here could not hold the people who assembled to hear the most wonderful preacher of the age. Near the church was a grove of oaks, one of which still stands ; under the shade of this grove the people listened to this eloquent man. In 1775 the church gave a call to the Rev. Job Swift, D. D., who faithfully and ably preached the gospel for more than seven years. While living and laboring here a son was born to him, afterwards known as the Hon. Samuel Swift, LL. D., one of the most learned and honored citizens of Vermont. From 1782 until 181 2, the church was without a pastor, when a call was given to Rev. Eli Hyde. The call was accepted and a council called to meet on the 8th day of January, 1813. The following churches, by their pastors and delegates, were requested to ' attend, viz : 1st Church in Sharon, ist and zd Churches in Cornwall, South Church in Canaan, Congrega- tional Church in Southeast, the Presbyterian Church in Pleas- ant Valley, and the Reformed Dutch Church in Poughkeepsie. Mr. Hyde remained pastor a little more than eight years. During his pastorate, in the year 181 4, the second church was built on the site of the old one. He married the daughter of his teacher and pastor, the Rev. Samuel Nott, D. D. She was richly endowed by nature and careful culture, and possessed great devotion to the cause of Christ. With her originated the idea of forming a Bible Society, for the distribution of the Word of God among those destitute, and this idea took form in the Duchess County Female Bible Society, of which she was the first President, and which is still doing a good work. It was organized several years before the American Bible Society. From the close of the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Hyde the church was without a pastor for more than three years, when HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. > II9 the Rev. Robert G. Armstrong accepted a call, and was in- stalled pastor by the Presbytery of North River, Sept. 20, 1824. He was pastor about seven years, being dismissed by the Pres- bytery in 1 83 1, and at the same date installed pastor of the Presbyterian church at Fishkill; in 1840 he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Hudson. The Baptist church, at its organization May, 1790, seems to have been composed of some from the old Congregational Church, and of others who had been members of the Baptist Church of Northeast. They chose Rev. Elijah Wood for their pastor, who on the 27th of June administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper to them for the first time. Mr. Wood had ministered to the Congregational Church ; but this uniting with a new organization did not sunder his fraternal .relations with the brethren of the old church. He was a native of Norwich, Conn., came to Amenia before the Revolu- tion ; and was counted among the most active patriots. He was not a scholar, but a close student, and an acceptable minister. In i8i6, this church was greatly revived and v.enlarged. Rev. Mr. Peck, who officiated as pastor two years, seems to have been the active agent in bringing about this prosperity. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., came to Amenia when a young man; engaged in teaching awhile, and then became minister of the church. The Methodist Society of Amenia, one of the earliest of that denomination in this part of the country, was formed about the year 1788, and consisted of eight members. David Rundall was the only male member for several years. The .first sermon was preached in a private house, one half mile east of Sharon Station. The meetings were held in this house for a time ; when, more settlers coming in, a society was formed in the vicinity of the old Red Meeting House. Mr. Garrettson formed the first class, and Captain Allen Ward- well was the first class leader. The late Dr. Wakely was wont to call that part of Amenia ■"The Old Methodist Classic Ground." The important position 1 20 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. of this society at that time may be inferred from the fact that, the New York Annual Conference was held here. It was in t8o8, and the sessions were held in the Round Top School House, about half a mile northeast of the Old Red Meeting House. Rev. Bishop Asbury presided and occupied the teacher's chair, with the school desk before him ; and the preachers sat upon the benches of the pupils. On the Sabbath the conference occupied the meeting-house, when the Bishop' preached. One hundred and three preachers were stationed at this Conference. Some families entertained ten or twelve of the preachers each, with their horses ; and the community were so gratified with the Conference that a committee waited on them with thanks for holding the session there, and invited them to come again. The first church edifice of this society was built in 1812, in which the New York Conference met in 1 8 13, when Bishop Asbury and McKendree presided. At this Conference eighty-six preachers were stationed — the Conference having been divided since 1808. At the annual town meeting of the freeholders and inhabi- tants of the Precinct of Amenia, on the ist Tuesday of April, 1762, at the house of Roswell Hopkins, Esq.* Michael Hopkins was chosen clerk of said Precinct, and Capt. Stephen Hopkins was chosen Supervisor ; Samuel Doty and Jonathan Reynolds, Assessors ; Benj. Benedict, Abraham Paine and Moses Barlow, Overseers of the Poor, and Conrad Winegar, Constable. In the War of the Revolution, the patriotism of the citizens of Amenia, was manifested by promptness and almost entire unanimity. A committee of safety was appointed here, as in other towns. The vigilance of the committee was particularly directed to the movements of the Tories. A rude prison, constructed of logs, was used for confining suspected persons. This was built about half a mile east of the present village, of * Tlic house of KuswcU Ilupkiiis slonrt iicir the Kcil Mcetlii; House, north of the- Fair GrullntU. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1 2 £ Amenia, and north of where the turnpike now runs. The remains of this prison were visible a few years ago. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Amenia the military companies came together with a spontaneous will. They were addressed by Ephraim Paine, Esq., in a masterly oration ; at the close of which Simeon Cook, captain of one of the companies, said to his men : — " Fellow soldiers; the time has come to give up our liberties, or to defend them with the musket. As many of you as are willing to march with me to the scene of action, I will lead ; and I will expose myself to all the hardships and dangers that you will be exposed to. If any of you are unwilling to go, you are dismissed." It is added that not one left the ranks. In April, 1777, the lead mines at Great Nine Partners were explored, with some success, by an agent of Congress. These mines were on lands of Mr. Fish, in the present town of Amenia, and were explored at the suggestion of Moses Harris. The Cpmmissoners appointed by the Provincial Congress were Jonathan Landon and Ezra Thompson, and they employed John McDonald, an experienced miner from Scotland, (one of the distinguished family of that name) who appears to have come over for the purpose of aiding the people in their struggle. The work at these mines was continued throughout the season, as reported by Mr. McDonald. Cornelius Atherton, engaged at the Steel Works, in this town, in September, 1776, petitioned the New York Council for the exemption from military duty of his workmen engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms in his contract with Congress. Among the citizens in Amenia, who rendered valuable service in the wars, none were more worthy of favorable mention than the Hon. Ephraim Paine. He was from the beginning employed in offices of very high responsibility and, honor. His integrity and firmness were not less marked than was his Puritanic simplicity of manner. He held that there should be no distinction in dress, and wore, therefore, the dress of a laboring man in the halls of legislation, and in the 122 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. house ot worship. Many mistakes are mentioned, resulting from Mr. Paine's plainness of dress. He was at one time treated as a menial by the landlady at whose house he was stopping during his stay at court in Poughkeepsie. The only rebuke he gave when she apologized was, "you should treat all men alike." A gentleman who rode in haste to the house on public business gave him his horse to hold while he went in to speak to Judge Paine. Another was once looking over the farm for Judge Paine, and, finding a man ditching, asked him, " Where is your master ?" " In Heaven," was his ready answer. Judge Paine's education had been without the aid of schools, but his mind was disciplined to a habit of clear comprehension and strict accuracy. He was on many occasions in his public service a valuable adviser on matters of finance ; he opposed decidedly the financial policy of Gen. Hamilton. He was a member of the Senate when he died. Silas Marsh, called " Lawyer Marsh," was an active patriot in civil life. Samuel King and Hon. Egbert Benson are favorably mentioned as stem and true patriots. This part of the country was singularly free from any disturbance, resulting from the near approach of the enemy, or the movements of the American troops. The people here, it is said, heard the sound of the cannon at the battle of Long Island, and they saw the smoke of burning Kingston ; but it " did not come nigh unto them." The nearest encampment of Continental troops at any time was that at Pawling in 1778. In the summer of that year, a large number of prisoners — mostly Hessians, taken at the battle of Saratoga the year before-^were marched through this town on their way to Fishkill, where they crossed the Hudson. It is said that some of the Hessian sojdiers solicited the people to aid them in escaping ; a few succeeded, and remained in this country. In the early part of the war, a man called at Judge Paine's in his absence, who was suspected by Mrs. Paine to be a British spy. She persuaded him to partake of refreshments, ■which caused his delay, while she sent for two patriots to arrest HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1 23 him. He was however, an American spy, and the committee who knew him, were obliged to use some deception in plan- ning his escape, in order that his character might not be revealed. He was sent under guard on his way to Poughkeep- sie, but «ianaged to escape. A young man named Samuel Jarvis joined the army from Amenia, where he left a wife and two children. He afterwards deserted into the British lines, went to England, and married again. After almost a hundred years. his legitimate family here have recovered his estate left in England. In the disturbed condition of society incident to the war, lawless and rapacious men used the opportunity to indulge their spite, or to gratify their greed for plunder. Even in this safe retreat, though so far removed from the armies, there were instances of robberies. Philip Nase, Sen., and his wife, who lived where their son afterward did, had laid up a considera- ble sum of gold and silver money and other valuable treasure. Four men, in the disguise of British officers and soldiers, came one evening, armed with axes, demanded the key to the treasure, and threatened death to the family if any resistance was offered. The key was given up, and every part of the treasure carried off, and never heard from again. The attempted robbery of Capt. David Collin, father of the late Capt. James Collin, came to a different sequel. A company of robbers, supposed to be some well-known Tories, came to Mr. Collin's house, in the absence of his wife, and demanded his money and other treasures. Upon his refusal to give up his valuables, they proceeded to hang him, and probably would have carried their purpose to a fatal issue, but for the timely arrival of his wife, who saved his life and their treasure. The family have some memoranda of this event, and of the goods concealed. Henry, the oldest son of Philip Nase, Sen., was a Tory of so positive a character that he left the country and made his home in Nova Scotia. It is said he concealed some money in great haste at the foot of the mountain, before going away ; House built by Deacon Itiliiuw. 124 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. when he returned to get it he was not able to find the place^ and it is supposed to be' there to this day. Deacon Moses Barlow, and his brother Nathan, came from Cape Cod in 1756. Before leaving there they had been sea- faring men. They came by water to Poughkeepsie, and journeyed across the country to this place. Their diary speaks of a kind hospitality extended to them by the Newcombs, of Pleasant Valley, on their way to their new homes. f Caleb Benton, of Guil- ford, Conn., purchased of Capt. Lasell, in 1794, the- place now owned by his grandson, Myron B. Benton. He paid for the land in specie, at the rate of fifteen dollars per acre, which he brought with him on horseback. When his family removed hither, they too- came by way of Poughkeepsie. Soon after 1750, Abraham Bockee, a merchaiit of New- York, came to Nine Partners and entered upon land purchased of his grandfather in 1699, which has been in possession of the family to the present time. He was one of the Colonial Justices appointed by the Crown as early as 1 761, at which time he is mentioned as a " Mr. Bokay," a Justice of the Peace- at Nine Partners, near a place called the City. The immi- grant ancestor of Mr. Bockee was Johannes Bockee, who came to this countr)"- in 1685, and who was of that noble Huguenot stock that has contributed so many families of worth and distinction. Abraham Bockee, was the father of Jacob Bockee, a grandfather of the late Judge Abraham Bockee, Jacob Bockee, a graduate of King's College, N. Y., was Captain in the Revolution of a Company in Col. Willet's Regiment, and was a member of the Assembly in 1795 and 1797, where he- introduced a bill for the abolition of slavery in this State- HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 125 Phenix Bockee, a brother of Abraham, was Liea'iennnt in the war of 1 81 2, and died in Poughkeepsie in 181 4. Capt. John Boyd was of Irish descent, and came from Orange County pre\'ious to 1769. He married the daughter of Conrad Winegar, built him a house which is still standing a little south of Amenia Union, and in which he died in 181 7. Lemuel and William Brush, sons of Reuben Brush, from Long Island, lived in the west part of the town, not far from the City. Lemuel had five sons ; Perlee, Jesse, Piatt, John and Henry. Jesse was an officer in the Revolution. John was the General John Brush who commanded the Duchess County troops at the Harlem Bridge in the war of 181 2, and who was afterwards Major General of the Militia. Col. Henr)' Brush was Captain of the Ohio Volunteers in the war of i8i2,and was on his way to Detroit with 230 men, 100 beef cattle, and other provisions, and a mail, at the time General Hull surren- dered, August i6th, 1812. Capt. Brush had arrived at the river Raisin, and was in imminent danger of falling into the hands of the Indians under Tecumtha, through the negligence of Hull to send a reinforcement. When notified on the 17th, by a British officer, with a flag of truce, of Hull's surrender with his army, including his own command, he refused to accept the notice as authoritative, escaped with most of his stores to Ohio. It is said thatCapt. Brush pur- posely allowed the whiskey among his The Old John Boyd House. storeS tO fall into the hands of the Indians, which so demoralized them that they were unable to pursue the returning party. The ancestors of the Carpenter family game from England to Massachusetts in 1638. In 1752 Daniel Carpenter purchased land in Crom Elbow Precinct, near Salt Point, 126 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. where he died in 1777. His son Benjamin, being excessively annoyed by the Tories, removed to Amenia. This was at the time the Tories of Duchess County put on such a bold front and gathered their forces at Washington Hollow. Mr. Carpen- ter was three times robbed by them. Joseph Chamberlain came from Tolland, Conn., in 1755, and settled on the farm afterwards owned by the Nye family. He had four sons; Colbe, James, John and William. The latter was a captain in the Revolution, and was in the battle of Bennington, Saratoga, and other bloody fields. He lived on the farm now owned by J. H. Cline, and kept tavern there, which was much frequented during the war. Peter Cline (Klein), a native of Germany, came into Amenia from Rhinebeck in 1760. He was one of the " Redemptioners," who paid for their passage to this country by their services afterwards, to which they were bound by the captain who brought them over. He located where his grand- son, Edward E. Cline, now lives, purchasing one-half of Oblong lot No. 43, at ten dollars and a half per acre. Dr. Benjamin Delavergne settled on the road to Kent, previoiis to the war, and built a dam which is still visible, and which yet bears the name of the French Doctor's Dam. He took a prominent part in the Revolution, and was Major in the Fourth Regiment of Duchess County Militia. The Justices of the Peace, previous to the organization of the Precinct, were Castle, Hopkins, Bockee, Winegar, Smith, Garnsey, and others. The record, kept with admirable clerical skill by Roswell Hopkins, Esq., shows the " actions determined" in his official service, a period of thirty years, to have been 2,564. This record also shows the criminal penalties of the age, which sometimes read "lashes upon the bare back." These convictions were by a Court of Special Sessions, held by three Justices. Sometimes Justices from other towns were associated with them. The fine for breaking the Sabbath, for drunkenness, and for profane oaths seems to have been three shillings, which went to the poor. Sometimes the penalty HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 127 imposed was that the criminal be transported out of the county. The German Settlers and the Delematers had their slaves : Jacob Evartson had as many as forty, it is said. Most of the slaves in this town were manumitted in the manner and under the condi- tions prescribed by law. Owners were not permitted to make free and cast off any slave who was not capable of providing for him- Honse built by Johannes De:emater. self In 1824, three years before the completed abolition of slavery in this State, there were 32 slaves in Amenia. In 1764, the following persons in Amenia Precinct received license to keep tavern : Samuel Smith, Robert Johnson, Jona- than RejTiolds, Edmund Perlee, Stephen Ray, Widow Eunice Wheeler, Samuel Snider, Michael Hopkins, Simeon Wright, Stephen Johns, Ichabod Paine, Benjamin HoUister, Jun., and Daniel Castle. In the latter part of the last century the Federal Co. was organized, and a Federal Store established in the north- west part of the town, with Judge Smith at the head. The freighting business at Poughkeepsie was a part of their scheme. Previous to 1817, another association was incorporated, who had their head-quarters at the Federal Store. Their first operation was carding wool by horse power. Next they moved to the stream near Adam's Mills, and erected a woolen cloth manufactory, using water power to propel the machinery. The late Capt. Robert Willson was President of the Company, and they issued a considerable amount of small bills as currency. The property was afterward sold to Lawrence Smith, who continued the work of cloth dressing. On the small stream passing through the mountains west of Leedsville, some time previous to the Revolution, Capt. Samuel Dunham had a forge, using the ore from the Amenia 128 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. bed. It is also evident there was a forge at the Steel Works as early as 1770, the ore being taken from the same place. It was not until 1825 that the important works of N. Gridley & Son were commenced at Wassaic. The cast-iron plow was introduced in the early part of this century, and the first manufacture of them in this town was by Mr. Calvin Chamberlain, at the City. Near the beginning of the Revolution, Capt. James Reed and a Mr. Ellis entered upon the manufacture of steel at what has since been known as the Steel Works. They obtained the iron for their purpose in pigs from Livingston's Furnace at Ancram, the first blast furnace in this part of the country. About the year 181 2 a company was organized in this town for the manufacture of woolen goods, styled the "Amenia Manufacturing Company." The factory was located on the banks of the Weebutook, at Leedsville. Its ruinous walls still stand where they were first built, after all those who instigated the project have passed away. The principal owners were the Barkers, Bentons, Ingrahams, Parks and Canfields. Shortly after the war, the company issued fractional currency, of which the following is a specimen : AMENIA MANUFACTURING CO. ^ The Corporation of the Amenia Manufactur- ta ^ ing Company prom ^^^ ^„^ ise to pay the o W bearer on demand 20 TWENTY- W ^ FIVE CENTS, in current bank ^ ^ notes, at their store in Amenia. c« Geo. Ingraham, Jr., Agent. June, 14, 1815 The bill was 4J by 2 inches, and printed only on one side. The failure of the company occurred shortly after, caused partly by too much rag money, and partly by the diminished profits of woolen manufacturing, brought about by the con- •HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 129 .elusion of peace with Great Britain. The bell of the factory- was rung long and loud when the news of peace arrived, but it was the death knell of its prosperity. The property was purchased by Selah North, who established the business of cloth dressing. About the year 1818 the "store" mentioned in the scrip was sold to Joseph Hunt and Abraham Miller, who 'Tlic Old Iluas House. did business under the firm of Hunt and Miller. The store was a large building for those times. After the dissolution of the firm, Mr. Hunt carried on the mercantile business under the sign " Hunt's Old Stand." This was the emporium of business for miles around. The post-office was located there, and a four-horse stage was a morning and evening arrival. The building was finally moved across the river, and converted into a gigantic barn, where it was afterwards burned. AMENIA SEMINARY. The Seminary building is located in lot No. 32, of the Nine Partners'* tract, and was set to James Enimott, one of the Nine Partners. James .Emmott was attorney to the King's bench, and a member of the Church of England. He was the ancestor in the fourth remove of Hon. Judge Emmott, of Poughkeepsie. We next find the title of this site in a family named Lord, who built a mansion where the seminary now .stands, about the year 1740. A son named Ephraim inherited the estate as early as 1760; when the tocsin of war was sounded, this noble patriot took his musket, joined the Conti- nental army, served all through the war, drew his pay as a *Thc Nine I'nrtiiers was a laiul company cnmposed of Caleb llrnthcntc, Jameii Emmott, llonr.v KilkiiLs. Ilendrick I'en.vck, Aii;;nstus (■ralnini, William Crei-il, John .\ilrtiion, iJuvi I* Mar^liall, &t\U I>uvid «Iauu>$on, nine nn'ii ol' ^veal.ii aiul tiigii social :*tAnding. i 130 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUN'TV. soldier and sent tlie money home to liis wife, who, with an eye to business, laid it out in land. Ephraim Lord thus became a large land holder in the then Amenia Precinct.* He had one daughter, who married Simeon Cook, and at the death of her parents came in possession of the entire estate. She had a. number of children, the youngest of whom distinguished him- self in the war of 18 12, and was advanced to the rank of Colonel, and who finally became owner of the homestead, at that time known as Cook Hill. In 1832 this community resolved to have a seminary, and the three prominent places named were Amenia Village, I.eeds- viWe, and Amenia Union. Two full years was spent in fruit- less efforts to locate the ground. In May, 1834, a- committee was appointed to determine the matter. On Mone of tite Ilnekmans. one of the most ancient and honorable families of the province, the members of which do gratefully commemorate the origin of tliclr dignity, not as your nobie families in Kngland would dn, bv having a glowing proboscis eDibluzuned on their escutcheon, but bv one and all wearing a right goodly nusc stuck in the very middle of their faces."— [Irving's Knick- erbocker 111st. N. Y. 172 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 133 is a productive, gravelly loam. Sylvan Lake is a fine body of water near the west line. The Indian name for this lake is A-po-qtta-quc, signifying round lake, from which '' Poughquag" is derived. The first settlements are supposed to have been made about the year, 17 10: but the early records are lost. A. Belong located in 1716, and kept an inn at an early day. Rt. Rev, Alonzo Potter, Bishop of Penn., and his brother, Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, Bishop of the Diocese of New York, were bom in this town. Lossing, the historian, and ex-Minister DeLong, were also born here. The Uhls came from Germany, and settled in the north part of the town. The Haxtuns and Sweets from Long Island, and the Gardners and Reisoners from Nantucket, settled in Gardner Hollow. A family named Hogeboom came to Gardner Hollow, but after remaining- a year removed to Hudson. The Bakers settled on Pleasant Ridge. The Corn- wells came from Long Island, and the Noxons from Rhode Island. John Brill came from Germany, soon after marriage, and purchased a large tract of fertile land south and west of Poughquag. It is worthy of note that much of the land is still in possession of his ancestors, the farms of the Brill family l}ing contiguous to each other from Poughquag to Green Haven, a distance of two miles. The Barnards moved in at an early date. The old part of the upper store building at Poughquag has a history worthy of record. It stood, at the time of the Revolution, above the present residence of E. L. Williams, and was occupied as a Continental Store. Harness, powder, cutlasses, guns, cartridge boxes, and other military stores were kept there. It was guarded by soldiers stationed there for the purpose. A man named Champlain had charge of it. Among the other old buildings may be mentioned the M. E. parsonage bam at Poughquag, which was in former times occupied as a distillery. Heniy I. Brill had a fulling 134, HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. mill, on the site of the saw mill now belonging to Daniel Thomas. There was a grist mill at Green Haven in the Revolution, kept by one Vincent. The Bogarts from Holland settled here. Richmore Bogart was elected Justice of the Peace, of whom some amusing anecdotes are told. Men differed in opinion then, as well as now, and had recourse to law to settle their difficulties. Squire Bogart was soon required to sit in judg- ment upon several cases, and uniformly gave his decisions in favor of the plaintiff. When asked the reason for so doing he replied, " Do you believe any man would be foolish enough to bring suit against another, if he did not suppose he had good ground for complaint ?" However wise Squire Bogart's decisions may have been in the eye of the law, the result was to put an effectual stop to all litigation in the neighborhood. The Squire fattened considerable pork each year. He was at one time advised to feed his hogs on what is commonly known as the " Jamestown Weed," being assured that this would not only impart an agreeable flavor to the pork, but would cause them to fatten much sooner. Accordingly he set about raising a quantity of the weed, and when tlw time came threw it in to the hogs. , The result was that every one of them died. Many stories are told of the Robber Hoag, a noted Torj' who infested this vicinity during the Revolution. He carried on quite an extensive business of horse-stealing, in connec- tion with his other maraudings. He and his gang were accustomed to enter dwellings, and if the people refused to give up their valuables, or to tell where they were secreted, he would tie them fast in a chair and build a fire under them, and keep them there until his demands were complied with. Many were so injured by this treatment that they did not recover in years. At one time Benj. Noxon was going out in the field, and on passing near a clump of bushes, heard the click of a gunlock. A glance revealed the Robber Hoag, lurking in the bushes. He pretended not to notice the robber, and gradually HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1 35 drew off, and when at a safe distance ran for home with all his might. Hoag was brought up in the neighborhood which was afterwards the scene of his robberies, and he subsequently told the man with whom he had lived, that he had often covered him wth his rifle as he was hiding about in the woods, and bushes,, but could never summon quite enough courage to shoot. After the war, Hoag fled to Canada. A number of years after he came back to Beekman, supposing that his deeds had been forgotten, to visit the family of a relative. But he was not forgotten ; for a number of persons who had suffered from him formed a plan to kill him, and he was forced to fly to save his life. In what is known as the Noxon Meadow, tradition locates a small Indian village, probably some of the Schaghticoke tribe. Arrow heads are picked up in that locality ; and a few years since the mounds of the graves were distinctly visible. Green Haven, Poughquag, Beekmanville and Sylvan Lake are small post villages. Freemanville, or Guinea, is a settlement of colored people in the mountains south of Pough- quag. Charles Freeman, a mulatto, was a large land holder, and important personage among them, and is still held Frccmnnviiie Palace. in remembrance by the oldest citizens. There are three churches in town, viz: Baptist, Methodist, and Roman Catholic. An Episcopal Church was built in 1852 on the rising ground east of Poughquag, was taken down in 1772, and the material conveyed to Sing Sing camp ground, and there converted into cottages. The constituent members of the Baptist Church at Beek- man,* previous to its organization, held their membership with the First Baptist Church of Fishkill, from which they were regularly dismissed. Their house of worship was completed late in the autumn of 1829, at a cost of $3,000, all • Tbere w.is. at one time, a Baptist orfranizatioii in the Clove, a few miles from I'.eekmnnviile It was gntlitrcil nirJer the labors of -Mr. I'almer, anil li.as since become «.vti[iet. 136 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. paid, and dedicated in December following. Dedicatory sermon by D. T. Hill, — text Rev. xxii ; 9 ; " Worship God." In February ten persons were recognized by a council called for the purpose. Rev. Rufus Babcock, D. D., preaching the sermon. Elder D.T. Hill became their pastor, continuing with them until 1843. The Duchess Baptist Association has four' times held its anniversaries with this church. The Centennary M. E. Church edifice at Poughquag was built in 1839. Previous to this there was a small society of two or three members. The corner stone was laid July 24, 1839; sermon by Rev. Mr. Cochran. The house was raised August lo, 1839; and the record states no alcohol was used :^-*-&- !,|P|l|M[H;'|!jffl!JW!||S|,^ ^ '''f-'^ — fcrvirri "^"^ on that occasion. At the raising, one hundred and fifty people dined,, the ladies furnishing the provisions. Henry Wright was the builder; Oliver Smith, mason. The house was formally dedi- cated January 15, 1840; six hundred people l>resent. Episcop.ll Cluircli. The Roman Catholic Church, built about the year i860,- is situated in the west part of the town, near the south borders, of Sylvan Lake. A Quaker Church was early constituted in this town and was known as the Apoquaque Preparative Church. Their second house of worship was recently sold to a Missionary Society, and is still used for religious purposes. The first church edifice stood about two miles east of the second one, in the burying ground at Gardner Hollow. Morgan Lewis leased the land for the first house to the society, at a rent of " one pepper-corn a year, if demanded." One of the oldest grave-stones in the burial ground, that is distinctly legible, is that of Dr. Klbenezer Cary, who died in 1815, at the age of.yp. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 137 years. The stone was removed into this ground from the old grave-yard south of the road. The following are from the old records in the Town Clerk's office : At a Town Meeting held, April 7, 1772, for Beekmans Precinct, chosen for officers as follows, viz : — Maurice Pleas, Town Clerk ; Joshua Carman, Supervisor ; Samuel Borland, James Vanderburgh, Assessors ; Simeon Noxon, Constable and Collector; Thomas Clements, Maurice Pleas, Inspectors of Intestate Estates. Memorandum at this Meeting — The parties living on the Clove Road agreed to work it as follows, viz :-^that half of the inhabitants that live below to work to Andres Buck's Lane, and the other half to work from thence to Lieut John Uhls. At a meeting held April 2nd, 1776, James Vanderburgh,. Esq., Samuel Borland, John Hall, Ebenezer Cary, and Eliab Youmans were chosen a Committee to retire and draw up some Prudential Laws relative to height and sufficiency of fences within this Precinct, upon which they drew up the following and read them publickly to the meeting for their approbation, to which the said meeting unanimously agreed, and ordered that the same be recorded. [Then follows the laws.] April 3, 1787 — Voted the sum of seventy pounds to be raised for the use of the poor of this Precinct. April I, 1788. It is hereby enacted that the majority of the Justices and a majority of the Overseers of the Poor for the time being, shall be and are hereby impowered to bind out the children of all such poor persons [as are not able to get a liveUhood] as apprentices ; and they are also impowered to bind out the parents for such time and times as they may think fit and convenient. Passed in open Town Meeting, J. Oakley, Clerk. April 7, 1789. — Voted that the next Annual Meeting shall be held at the Bwelling House of Henry Smith. The whole amount of money received by us or oiu: 138 • HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. predecessors in office for the use of the common schools during the year ending on the date of this report, and since the date of the last report for our town is $311.20 of which sum the part received from county treasurer is $155.60, the part from the collector $155.60; that the said sum of money has been expended in paying the instructors of the schools of said town. The school books most used in the common schools in our town are as follows, viz : The Juvenile Spelling Book, American Preceptor, English Reader, Walker's Dictionary, Daboll's Arithmetic, Murray's English Grammar, Morse's Geography, and Historical Dictionary by Ezra Thompson. June I, 1835. Allen Butler, ) Commissioners of Lewis E. Baker, j Common Schools. We the Overseers of the Poor of the Town of Pawling, do hereby certify, own and acknowledge that Isaiah Burch, labourer, his wife and children, is inhabitants legally settled in our said town of Pawling. — In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight-hundred and fifteen. Signed in presence of Jacob Parks, Silas Dutcher. Archibald Campbell ^ Overseers of the & Y Poor of the Samuel Stebbins, ) Town of Pawling. April 13, 1 816, special town meeting was held at the house of Adam Crouse. This day received the name of Peter, a black child, son of Sude, a slave of Alida Bogert, who was born the i8th day of February, 181 7. May I, 181 7. Gilbert B. Noxo.v, Clerk. I, George Cornwell, of the Town of Beekman, in the County of Duchess, and State of New York do manumit and set free, and by these presents have manumitted and forever discharged from my service a certain colored man by the name of Harry, who has heretofore been my slave. Sept. II, 1823. George Cornwell. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 139 Whereas application has been made to us, Nathan Miller and Reed Crandall, Overseers of the Poor of said Town of Beekman, by George Cornwell, who by the above instrument of writing has this day manumitted and set free a certain colored man named Harry, who has heretofore been a slave to said George Cornwell, and therefore we, the said Nathan Miller and Reed Crandall, Overseers as aforesaid, do certify that we are personally acquainted witli the said Harry, a colored man, and that we know him to be under the age of forty-five years and that he is of sufticient ability to provide for himself We do therefore record the manumission of the above named Harry. Sept. II, 1823. Nathan Miller > Overseers of Reed Crandall ) the Poor. We the Overseers of Rombouts Precinct do give Margeret Deen a permit to go and work where she may best get a living and if she should like to be a Precinct charge we the said Overseers of Rombouts Precinct are willing to take her and provide for her. Derick Brinkerhoff. Aug. 5, 1772. Isaac Adriance, Petres Bogarues. Aug. 10, 1800, was born Dinah, a black girl, daughter of Susan now in possession of Zachariah Flagler. I, John Brill, of the Town of Beekman, do by these presents manumit and set free my black man named Harry, of the age of twenty-nine years, hereby acquitting and exonerat- ing him of and from all further demands for service to me for or on account of his having been born a slave to me, on condition of him, the said Harry, becoming legally manumitted. Mar. 28, 181 7. John Brill. It was the custom in early times, in New. England and New York, for the inns to be kept by the citizens who were the most wealthy and respectable of the people, very often by men who had large farms and possessed the means of providing ample accommodations. The public houses were then not .always located at the intersection of highways, and there was 140 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. seldom any village to give local attraction to a tavern. An- old resident pointed out the location of an ancient tavern,, some yards southwest of the residence of Daniel Thomas, Esq., now near the centre of a meadow. He recollected the sign which hung on an apple tree, near to the inn. The road at that time ran close to the house, but has since been changed. Sixty or seventy years ago, the ]Doughty Tavern, located . between Po'quag and Beekman, was a noted inn. That and the mill opposite was once owned and managed by a Widow Dennis, who afterward married N. Doughty, ancestor of the present families of that name. Doughty's Tavern was celebrated for its good board, excellent beds, and ample accommodations; its fame was in the mouth of every traveler journeying that way. At that time emigration from the- Eastern States was quite extensive. People travelled in w;agons, usually in trains. As many as twenty or thirty wagons ■ were frequently in one train. The custom these emigrants: brought to the taverns along their route proved no small source of their income. The Vanderburgh mansion, a subjoined cut of which is: given, from a pencil' sketch in possession of the family, built some time previous to the Revolution, and razed in i860, stood about one- fourth of a mile Tiie ci. viviiuerburgii Houic. northeast ofthe- village of Poughquag. It was one of the first substantial dwellings erected within the limits of the town, and was a fine ■ specimen of the b'etler class of dwellings of those early times.. It was constructed partly of stone and partly of wood, with a broad covered piazza extending the whole length in front, and a roomy, well-lighted basement, which was set apart for the use of ' the slaves. In this mansion Col. Jas. Vanderburgh had eighteen. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 141 ■children bom to him, all of whom reached the" age of maturi- ty, and whose descendants are now reckoned among the most esteemed and influential ^in the county, and elsewhere. Col. Vanderburgh was an officer of note in the War of the Revolution. At one time, having returned home sick, the Tories •of the neighborhood deemed it a favorable opportunity to attack him. Knowing the location of the bed he occupied, they approached during the night and discharged a volley at the house, hoping that some of the balls might penetrate the siding and hit his person ; but his wife, having had an inkling of the matter, had secured his safety by placing a bulwark of pillows about him. It is stated that General Washington was once the guest of Col, Vanderburgh at this house, having ■occasion to stop there when passing between Fishkill and some eastern point. On one occasion, his children in company with some of their youthful neighbors were playing with the yqung^sljLveS.in the basement. Among their p" ay things, was an old musket, with which they amused themselves by pointing at each other Joshuit Curch House, ( Itustorca.') and pulling the trigger. The piece contained a charge which had been in from time immemorial. It, however, had long been used by the children in their play, so long that it was deemed impracticable to make it "shodt." But, on that day,. ■one of the boys, nicknamed " Lud," we believe, caught up the :gun. and, aiming at one of the little darkies, cried out " see me shoot a black crow," and pulled the trigger. By some means the gun went off, and the little -fellow was blown to •atoms. X42 HISTORY Of DUCHESS COUNTY. Another relic, which some of our older readers may reraem- hiT, was the house occupied by Joshua Burch, which stood west of the road, nearly opposite the residence of Thomas Brill, Esq. It was built after the old Dutch st3'le, with long rafters, steep roof, with eaves nearly reaching the ground, and stone chimney at one end, with a fire-place of sufficient capacity to hold a saw log of moderate size. Burch, it will be remem- bered, was an early settler and large land-holder, from whom some of the finest farm lands of Beekman have been handed down. The old Poiighquag Tavern, (now the residence of Daniel Thomas, Esq.,) though of not so ancient origin as those just mentioned, yet may well claim mention here. It was built about the year 1800, by PTenry Brill. It was afterwards con- sider ably remodeled, Old PouKhquag Tavovu. '^ut the froot appear- ance is much the same as it was originally. This was the " half- way house" for the line of stages, running between New Milford and Poughkeepsie, and was well patronized by travelers and drovers. Its upper room has often resounded to the tread of the "light fantastic toe," and the loungers of the bar-room as often regaled with travelers' stories, for which the hardy adventurous hfe of those early times afibrded abundant material. The Noxon house, built about the same time, possesses htttle historical interest. It was erected by Benjamin Noxon ; and a portion of the brick of which it is constructed was manufactured on the farm on which it stands. It is rapidly falling into decay, and will soon be numbered among the things that were. The Beekman Cemetery is pleasantly located on the Xoxon House. HISTORY OK DUCHKSS COUNTY. 1 43 southern and western slope of a gentle eminence, north of the village of Poughquag. It is tastefully laid out, and decorated with evergreens, which mingling with the pure white marble of the numerous monuments and headstones, produce a pleasing effect. Th Centennary M. E. church of Poughcjuag stands on the east side and within the enclosure. Mines of hematite iron ore are being extensively worked near Sylvan Lake, and at Beekmanville. Two blast furnaces are located a short distance northeast of the latter place, only one of which is now in operation. CLINTON. POPULATION, 1, 793. ^SQUARE ACRES, 24,064. ■ LINTON was organized March 13, 1786. It was formed from Charlotte and Rhinebeck Precincts, and derives ^ its name from Hon. George CUnton, who was then Gov- "^(rf ernor of the State. It originally embraced territory much larger than at present, Hyde Park and Pleasant Valley having been taken off in 182 1. Its surface is a rolling upland, considerably broken by hills in the north and west. Shultz Mountains in the north part, and Sippe Barrack in the west, are the highest points. The principal stream is the Salt Point Creek, which flows south, near the centre. Crom Elbow Creek forms a portion of the west boundary. In the north are several small lakes, the largest of which are Long Pond and Round Pond. The soil is a slaty loam in the centre and south part ; inf the north it is a sandy loam. The principal post-offices and villages are Clinton Corners, Clinton Hollow, Bull's Head, Hibernia, Pleasant Plains and Shultzville. Two Irishmen named EvefSon came into the southeast part of the town over one hundred yeats ago,, where they put up a 144 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 145 ^grist mill, and erected a substantial stone dwelling, both of which are still standing. They named the place Hibernia, — iprobably by way of keeping alive the memory of the land of their nativity. A cut of the mill is here shown, representing it as it was originally built, since which time considera- ble changes have been made. Stephen Sweet, grandfather of John Ferris, Esq., of Washington, * wasthe builder of the mill. Benja. Old Mill at Hibernia. min Sherow, who died some ■years since, at an advanced age, used to tell about being here .at the time the mill was raised, which they were three days in accomplishing. Many of the beams are fourteen inches ■square, of solid oak, and are still in a perfect state of preserva- tion. A fulling mill was established here at an early date. The Parks, the Porters, the Hutchinsons and Coopers located at or near Hibernia. At Clinton Corners stands the old Hicksite Church called 'the "Creek Quaker Church,'' erected, according to the date on the roof, in the year 1777, the second of the War of American Independence, and therefore wants but one year of being a century old. It is one of the few relics left. It is built :substantially of stone, and has recently been furnished with a slate roof, and considerably remodeled in its interior. The house had originally two porches, one for each door ; they were afterward joined, and extended across the whole front of the build- " creek Qimkcr Church.- ^g. An orthodox Church •stands a mile or so north of the Hicksite building, built after the separation. ' Hf wns nncestoi .also of .Mis. JSiHihon ,T. Lnssing. J 146 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Before the first house was erected, the people would throw up a pile of stones, and gather around to conduct their wor- ship when permitted to do' so by the scoffers and enemies of their faith, who frequently molested them in .their services. When the church was in process of constructionf, which was during the Revolution," the builders' on several occasions ran away to avoid being pressed into the janks of the a!rmy. 'Thus in the midst of toils and dangers was the church' n'ourished and built up; and in the church yardMie -the church' ■fathers,' calmly resting from all their trials and persecutions. • jrtje walls of the building are as firm as when first*built,"and-with a little' care will stand the storms of another- century. "Withifi its ■ sacred enclosure the fervent prayers of godly men and ^vol■nen • have been offered up to the Giver of all Good for a century. Men have stood up in all the pride and glory of manhood, and passed away, and their places have- been filled by others, until' three generations have gone by, and yet the old house stands, a beacon on the ocean of time. , May it long continue to stand, to light the lonely traveler journeying on to eternity. At Clinton Hollow is a quaint-looking grist mill, built over a century ago, by the Halsteds, who were early settlers in" this neighborhood. Some of the timber used in it is nearly two feet square, of solid oak. A fulling mill was likewise located in the vicinity. Grist mills and fulling mills seem to have been necessities of the people in those primitive days, and their location was the nucleus around which the hamlets and larger ■villages clustered. Then an available mill-site did more towards determining the location of a settlemeiit than fertility of soil or eligible building plots. The Knickerbackers settled near Clinton Hollow at an early date. At Shultzville is another mill, probably not as ancient as the others mentioned, around which a village has sprung up. Here is located a Christian Church edifice, built in 1864, ancV also the Masonic Hall. At Pleasant Plains is a Presbyterian Church, a branch of the Pleasant "Valley church of that denomination. The society was formed in 1837, of twelve HISTORY. OF DUCHESS COUNTY, 147 members regularly dismissed from the mother church for the purpose, and the house of worship built about that time. At LeRoy's Corners is another old'mill, a store, and a few dwellings. At the' upper end. of the Shultz Mountains, in the north part of the town, a slate quarry was formerly worked by the Hudson Rivei*. Slate Company, but it is now abandoned. ' The -LeRoys and Cookinghams were early settlers near ^lea^ant Pkins: The' Van Vliets located in this town about the yeai" 1755.; quite. a number of that name still reside here. ." Near Clinton" Corners stands the mansion built about the ^year-'i794,' by Abel. Peters, now owned by B. Hicks, Esq. .Peters was an inn-keeper and merchant, and appears to have accumulated wealth in the business ; and was withal, a repre- sentative man of that class who did all the public business -required by the people of .those primitive times. It is said that Peters kept his tavern and store in the mansion spoken of; but this is denied by a grand-daughter of his, who visited here several years ago, and who said the hotel and store stood opposite, and have since been removed. The Peters mansion was built when she was a little girl ; the brick was manufactur- ed jiist in. the rear of the house, the materials for which were thrown together in a mass, and mixed by means of cattle treading in it ; and she remembered driving the oxen for the purpose. Standing near the. road leading from Clinton Hollow to Rhinebeck' is an old log cabin, built by the Sleight family, in which two maiden sisters of that name formerly lived, and both of whom recently died in one day. The house is now unoccu- pied, and is probably one of the first dwellings ever put up in the town. Agriculture was the chief business of the early settlers, as it has continued to be of their successors. Most of the tillable land was easily prepared for cultivation ; there, was plenty of timber for their log cabins and dwellings; the country abounded in clear springs and brooks, and it may be siipposed the pioneers had no trouble in gaining a subsistence. 148 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. The proximity of grist mills made it easy for them, from the first, to get their grain converted into flour or meal, and after- wards furnished a ready market for their wheat, the first pro- duct that brought any considerable income. Their sugar and molasses were furnished by the towering sugar maples that graced the native forest about their lonely cabins. Their plain but substantial homespun woolen and linen cloth furnished the family with comfortable clothing. Their leather was in proportion to their beef and mutton, and the bark for tanning was near at hand. The skins were carried to the tanner, marked with the owner's initials, and returned to him after several months. Then the shoemaker would make his yearly rounds, when he would make all the shoes for the family for a year. Almost every article of food required by their simple habits could be raised off their farms ; their appetites were unpam- pered, and their active life and vigorous health caused their plain food to be relished ; and when anything was required out of the usual line the considerable towns of Poughkeepsie and Rhinebeck were near at hand to supply them. One distinguishing feature of the town of Clinton is that there is no hotel kept within its limits — at least such is the assertion of those who profess to know. The lakes, of which there are several, afford fine opportunity for angling ; and we may readily suppose were a favorite resort of the Indian. The wooded hills which spring up in the picturesque landscape have the same appearance as when looked upon by the primi- tive owners of the soil. Removed from the hurry and bustle of commercial life, as well as from the din and smoke of the manufactory, Clinton affords a fine retreat to one to whom the absence of excitement, and the free enjoyment of rural sports and occupations are congenial. The following statistics may be of interest: — the price of wheat in 1776 was five shillings a bushel — ^just the price of a day's work in harvesting. Butter was ten pence per pound. The wages of a woman to do housework was five shillings a week. DOVER. POPULATION, 2,279. — SQUARE ACRES, 26,669, I OVER was formed from Pawling, Feb. 20, 1807. The east and west borders are occupied by hills and moun- ^^"^ tains, and the center by a deep, wide valley. The "^ valley is about 400 feet above tide, and the summits o^ the hills are 300 to 500 feet higher. Ten Mile River enters the north part of the town, flows to near the south boundary, thence turns east and discharges its waters into the Housatonic. From the south it receives Swamp River, a stream that is bordered by swamps the greater part of its course. A ridge of limestone extends north and south through the principal valley. The principal quarries are ' between South Dover and Dover Plains. Iron ore is also found in abundance. The Foss Ore Bed has been extensively worked. The Dover Iron Works formerly did an extensive business, but have been closed several years. The small streams flowing from the western hills have worn; deep ravines, and in several places have formed beautiful cas- cades. About a mile southwest of the village of Dover Plains, a small stream flows down the mountain in a succession of 149 150 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. rapids three to twelve feet in height ; and at the foot of each fall, smooth, rounded holes, called The AVells, have been worn in the rocks to a considerable depth. The holes occupy the whole width of the bottom of the ravine, and the rocks on each side arc shelving and slippery, rendering a near approach both difficult and dangerous. One or two fatal accidents are men- tioned as having occurred here. Above these is situated the DOVER STONE CHURCH. A small stream of clear water,* after leaving a pond at the foot of the southwestern slope of Plymouth Hill, glides in mur- muring rapids nearly every foot of the way, until it reaches a point in the mountains west of Dover Plains village, whence it descends in sparkling cascades to the level fields below. This small stream, in its passage down this declivity for ages, has worn for itself a remarkable channel through the rocks ; and at a point toward the foot of the mountain it has wrought a considerable cavern, the entrance to it at the outlet of the stream being in the form of a Gothic arch. This cavern, from the form of its entrance, like that of some old cathedral, bears the name of The Stone Church — " Dover Stone Church." It is a very interesting natural curiosity, with romantic and picturesque surroundings, and has attracted thousands of visi- tors, and will attract thousands more. The " Church" is in a v/^ooded gorge of the mountain and is reached from the main street of the village by a pleasant lane that crosses the stream and expands into a grassy acre or two, well shaded, especially in the afternoon, and affording an admirable place for pic-nics. From this plat a short and easy pathway, cut at the foot of a rocky declivity and along the margin of the brook, leads to the door of the Church. At a little distance the interior of the Church appears black, but is found to be illuminated by a sky-light formed by a fissure in * A portion of this sketch of the Stone Chnrcli is ft-om the pen of Mr. Lossing, and -was published in tlie Amenia Times. Tlic views are f^'om slictches, also by Mr. i^ossinj?, and have been kindl.v furnished lor tliis work by Messrs. DeLaccy & Walsli. proprietors of the Times. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 151 the rocks above. This light is pleasantly reflected upon the rocky sides of the Church from a pool formed by the brook on the floor, and reveals a fallen mass of rock which the imagina- tive observer calls the " pulpit." Out of the arched door that brook — the patient architect of the church — flows gently, and then leaps in cascades and rapids to the plains below. The sketches were made many years ago, when the rocks which formed the roof approached so near each other that the branches of shrubbery on each side entertwined. From the apex of this roof, many feet above the floor, the cavern gradually widens, until at the base the span of the arch is about twenty-five feet. The narrow opening at the top admitted sufficient light to show the form of the interior and give it the appearance of rays passing through a glass dome. The Church has two apartments : the inner one was the larger, being about seventy feet in length. The mass of rock called the " pulpit,'' which seems to have fallen from the roof, separated them. At the farther extremity of the inner apart- ment was a beautiful waterfall, over which a stair-case led to extensive ledges of rocks at a height of thirty feet, forming commodious galleries overlooking the body of the Church. The floods and frosts have somewhat modified the aspects of this structure. • " The Great Preacher continues the same old service •within its shadowed recesses that was ccmmenced ages ago, and which proceed with the same solemn stateliness whether men hear or forbear. Day and night, without ceasing, vespers, midnight mass and matins proceed. The deep-toned organ peals as if it were the wind, and the chant of the choir mingles its silvery tones as musical as the falling of water — trumpet and cymbal and harp peal and fade and echo, and through them tremble tones like the far-off" voices of young men and maidens singing. At sunrise, through all the long Summer day, at twilight, at evening, and louder as the night deepens, the eternal service proceeds, unwearied and unbroken by the watches of the day, by the changes of season, by the lapse of TS2 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. the years, or by the procession of centuries. Individuals,, families, generations, and races come and go, — the Church and its solemn monotonies stand ; and within its dark portals the same sweep of that awful and mysterious monody is still there. The Indian hushed, and heard it ; the white frontiers- man heard it ; and it mingles just the same with silence, or with the shriek of the locomotive as it passes the door. There- it will be when these have finished their work and passed away." DoTCr stone Churcli — from the outside looking in. The Dover Stone Church, like many other wierd places in our country, has its traditionary legend. History tells us that Sassacus, the haughty sachem of the Pequods and emperor over so many tribes between the Thames and Housatonic. Rivers, when, more than two hundred years ago that nation made war upon the whites and dusky people of Connecticut (the latter, the Mohegans, who had rebelled against his author- ity), was compelled, by the destruction of his army, to fly for- his life. Captain Mason, with New England soldiers and! HlfSTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. I53- allies from Rhode Island and its vicinity, had suddenly invaded the dominions of Sassacus. At early dawn in June they fell upon a Pequod fort and village, and before sunrise more than six hundred men, women and children of the Indians perished by fire and sword. The proud Sassacus was seated upon a hill overlooking the site of New London, when news of the terrible disaster reached him. He and the warriors surrounding him,., seeing no chance for success in a battle with the invaders, fled. Dover Stone Ciiurch— from the inside footling out. across the Thames and westward, hotly pursued by the Eng- lish and their allies, and took refuge in Sasco Swamp, near Fairfield. The beautiful Pequod country stretching along the shores of Long Island Sound, was desolated. Wigwams and gardens disappeared before the despoiling English, and women and children were not spared. Sassacus made a stand at the swamp, but at the close of a sharp battle nearly all of his fol- lowers became captive. He escaped with less than a dozen 154 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. followers, and continued his flight westward. His nation had perished in a day. Only the small captive remnant survived to transmit to their posterity the traditions of their national woes. Sassacus and his handful of followers fled over the mountains into the beautiful valley of the Housatonic, to Kent Plains, from which they were speedily driven by pursuers, and climbing the great hills westward of that region, descended into the lovely valley of the Weebutook,* or Ten Mile River. There, on the site of Dover Plains village, tradition tells us, they encountered a strong band of Mohegan hunters, who were also trained warriors, from whom Sassacus and his men barely escaped destruction after a fierce conflict, and took refuge in the watery cavern now known as the Dover Stone Church, a cool and safe retreat at that mid-summer time, when the stream was low and the cavern was mostly dry. The Mohegan hunters did not discover their retreat ; and a week afterwards when the latter had left the valley, Sassacus and his young braves, who had been joined by a few other fugitives, followed the Weebutook northward, subsisting on the fish with which it abounded, and the berries that grew on the plains. They made their way to the land of the Mohawks, near Albany, craving the hospitality of that nation. That hospitality was denied. The sequel is told by Governor Winthrop in his "Journal," in which, under the date of August 5th, 1637 (two months after the destruction of the army of Sassacus) he wrote : — " Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Pincheon and about twelve more, came by land from Connecticut, and brought with them a part of the skin and lock of hair of Sassacus and his brother, and five other Pequod sachems who, having fled to the Mohawks for shelter, with their wampum (being to the value of ;^5oo) were by them surprised and slain, with twenty of their best men." Beside the Wells, and the Stone Church, there is a roomy cave in the mountain side, the roof of which is formed by a • Weebutook sisriiincd ■• liiaiililul liunllns sromn'" Such iv.is tlie Intcrprclatloii given by Eunice Mamveu. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 155 ; large rock jutting out a long distance. To this is attached a historic interest. In Revolutionary times there were about twenty-five Tories living in and about the village. They were obliged suddenly to leave ; but instead of fleeing to distant parts, they took to the mountain west of the village, and con- cealed themselves in this cave. Here they were to live by pillage ; but their camp fire was discovered by the sharp eye of .an old hunter, who was ascending another mountain on the east side of the valley. The villagers were aroused, a large party started on the war-path, and the offenders were banished for good. There is good evidence for the belief that the Schaghticoke tribe of Indians, a remnant of which is now hving on the banks of the Housatonic River, in the town of Kent, Conn., once lived near the Ten Mile River, in Dover. Some forty years since, Indian graves were visible on the flat by the high- way north of "Apple Sauce Hill,"* which would make it . appear to be the place where this tribe deposited their dead. They were mostly Pequods, who, after King Philips's war, were driven by the Connecticut troops out of that State, and who took refuge from their pursuers in the thickets of an island, :near the Swamp River in the town of Dover. Tradition ; asserts that they imigrated by way of Danbury; thence westerly until they crossed the swamp lands through which the Harlem Railroad passes ; from thence directing their course .along the west side of the lands, through the present towns of Patterson and Pawling. Their chief was Gideon Mauwee.* " About a century and a half since, there stood on an emi- nence overlooking the Housatonic, an Indian, solitary and alone, with his eyes fixed on the scenes below. Far beneath him rolled the river ; before him were spread natural meadows, in which the wild deer were quietly feeding ; heavily wooded mountains on either side promised an abundance of animals of •A fnmfly were moving, and when passing over this liill the wiipon tip»et. In it ui!t a house for the Methodist parsonage near where William Ketcham lives. Ephraim Wheeler, Jun., died at the age of loi years. The village of Dover, as it was seventy-five years ago, is thus described: — A small house near where the Shunpike* now runs ; then Mr. Cornelius Dutcher's house ; a house where Perry's school is ; one where Dr. Berry now lives ; a small red house on the corner ; a small house on the right side of high- way, built by Major Livingston ; an old store below the comer ; another small house occupied by Jonathan Mabbett ; then the residence of James Ketcham, grandfather of John H. Ketcham ; next the school-house and church south of the bridge and near the cemetery. * A mad built iti opposititm to tlt« turnpike. 158 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. Mrs. Josejjh Belden saw Burgoyne's captive army as it- passed through the town enroute for Fishkill. They encamped on the plain, and she remembered how the tents looked thai Were pitched there. It is said that Gideon Osterhout and Derick Dutcher bet their farms upon the . result of the war of the Revolution. Dutcher lost and gave up his farm. A tribe of Indians lived on the plains,. probably a remnant of the Schaghti cokes. On the farm of William Taber there- was an Indian orchard, and another near Luther Holley's. Horse-racing was indulged in here to a great extent, the straight, level roads being well adapted to that kind of sport. An extensive tannery was located at Dover, near the cemetery grounds. Capt. Miller bought lands in Butt's Hollow, paying $10 par acre, when land on the Plains was worth only $3 per acre. Thomas and Alice Casey came from Rhode Island about the middle of the last century. They settled on Chestnut Ridge, where they purchased a tract of one thousand acres. Their daughter, grandmother of the wife of Mr. Lossing, came on horseback, in company with thirteen others, including six blacks, the whole distance from Long Island. Their goods were brought by way of Poughkeepsie. The first white child bom in Duchess County was a girl named Eniigh. Her parents resided in Fishkill. She married a Lossing, from whom is descended" the family of Lossings of which the historian of that name is an honored representative. That gentleman has in his possession an Indian deed, granted to some' of his ancestors, for a large tract of land extending from the Hudson River to the Connecticut line, being the same^ territory afterwards covered by the Rombout and Beekman Patents. On the farm of Mr. Lossing is a barn built in 1783, still sound and staunch, though ancient in appearance. Dr. Konkiput, a Scaghticoke Indian, educated by the Moravians, used frequently to^ encamp on the Ridge. He: HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTV. 1 59 possessed quite a reputatioa as a physician, and many people now living recollect going to him for medicines. Jacob Van Camp and Derick Dutcher were living in the north part of Dover previous to 1731. An old map shows their houses near Plymouth Hill. The old house north of Philip Hoag's was built in 1 75 1, as shown by date on chimney, by H eiidri ck Dutcher. It is said, to be the oldest house in town* and has been tenanted 32 X 24 feet, and Oldest Ilonse in Town— as originally built. till within a year or so. The house is formerly had a chimney in it the base of which measured 14 x 12 feet— just half the width of the house, and nearly half the length. Its appearance has been somewhat modified in later years by the addition of some windows. When Washington evacuated Boston, he passed with a portion of his command, so tradition says, by the road leading west from Wings Station. His troops encamped for the night on the hill across the brook west from Philip Hoag's on both sides of the road. Washing- ton took up his quarters in the old house just mentioned, which though located on another road, stood in full view of the encampment. The chamber window shown in the cut opened into the room occupied by the Commander-in-chief, through which he could easily observe the movements of his soldiers. Elder Waldo, a Baptist preacher, lived at that time where the Misses Hoag now reside. He carried all the milk pro- duced by several cows into camp, together with other provisions, and distributed the articles among the soldiers ; told them where he lived, and invited them to come to his house and get whatever they wanted to eat. Many of them did so, and partook of his generosity ; and to their credit be it said, noth- ing about the premises was in the least disturbed by them. * .Vnntlior Iioiise nc.lrly as old, is stnndiiig ueiir tli'^ .lowett schoollionse. i6o HISTORY OK DUCHESS COUNTV. A family named Elliott lived on tlie place now occupied ,by Mr. Philip Hoag. They were less free with their provisions than Waldo, and went to the officers with the request that the soldiers be entirely kept off their grounds. The result was that not a chicken or scarcely any other eatable was left about the premises, the troops making a clean sweep of everything the Elliots possessed; and, notwithstanding their earnest entreaties, the officers paid no heed to their complaints. An old resident says that Luther Sheldon, who was seven years old at the time mentioned, often related to him the incidents of the occasion. The next day was rainy, and they remained there until the following morning. The fields bordering the road at the place of encampment were, at that time, covered with timber, nearly all of which was cut down by the troops, and used for their camp-fires. It is related of Elder Waldo that on one occasion he went to the store, where he saw some coffee beans — an article then but little known. The Elder enquired what they were, and concluded to try a quart or so. He took them home, put the whole quantity into the pot, and proceeded to cook them as one would field beans; but after boiling several hours, he found they were as hard as ever. Finally, his patience be- came exhausted, and he took them back to the store in disgust, saying that they were worthless— he could never boil them soft. About one-half mile east of Wing Station, on the Harlem Railroad, stands the famous "Morehouse Tavern" of the Revolutionary period. It is located upon the then chief highway from Hartford to Fishkill, over which military officers, troops, and other travelers passed. Under its roof many of the general offi- cers of the Continental army have slept. There AVashington, ■Crates, Putnam, Arnold, Heath, Parsons, Lafayette and other The Mort-huusc Tavern. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. l6l distinguished leaders have been entertained and there Rocham- beau and his officers have lodged.* In a rare work entitled "Travels in. North Aiherica in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782," by the Marquis De Chastellux, a French general officer under Rochambeau, who travelled extensively in this country, is a journal, written by that officer in his wanderings, which was printed on board of the French fleet before it left American waters. Only twenty copies were printed, for the use of his friends. One of them fell into the hands of an English traveler in America, who translated the book and published it in London in 1787. In it the Marquis describes two of his visits at Morehouse's Tavern. His first visit was in December, 1780, when he was on his journey from Rhode Island, where the French troops had debarked, to Fishkill, to visit Washington at his headquarters at New Windsor, on the Hudson. De Chastellux says he crossed the Housatonic River at " Bull's Iron Works," (now Bull's Bridge). " We soon met with another, called Ten Mile River, which falls into this, and which we followed for two or three miles, and then came in sight of several handsome houses, forming a part of the district called The Oblong. The inn I was going to is in the Oblongjt but two miles further on. It is kept by Colonel Morehouse ; for nothing is more common in America than to see an inn keeper a Colonel ; they are, in general, Militia Colonels, chosen by the militia themselves, who seldom fail to entrust the command to the most esteemed and most credita- ble citizens." He said he pressed forward his horses to get the start of a traveler who had joined him on the road, that he might secure lodgings, when, to his great satisfaction, his companion did not stop. He found the tavern wholly occupied, however, by some New Hampshire farmers, who were driving some two hundred and fifty oxen from their State to the army. " The farmers, their horses, and their dogs," he • Lossinf;. t The ftlarquls must have been misinformed, as the tiouse does not stand in tbe Oblong. 1 62 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. said, " had possession of the inn." They occupied all the rooms and all the beds ; and he was in great distress, when a "tall, fat man, the principal person amongst them, being informed who I was, came to me and assured me that neither he nor his companions would ever suffer a French general officer to want a bed, and that they would rather sleep on the floor." The result was that Chastellux and his aides-de-camp had a double bedded room. The Marquis passed over the high hills the next morning, into The Clove, and going through Beekman, where were "several pretty farms and some mills," and Hopewell, " inhabited chiefly by Dutch people," he reached Fishkill at four o'clock. The second visit of De Chastellux to Morehouse's Tavern, was in December, two years later, whilst he was again on his way from Rhode Island to the headquarters of Washington, then at Newburgh. The war had ceased ; the preliminaries of peace had been arranged between the United States, Great Britain and France, and the French allies were about to depart from America. The Marquis had taken his usual route from Hartford, through Litchfield, down the Housatonic to Bull's Bridge, and so along the Ten Mile River to More- house'.s. " On this occasion," says De Chastellux, " I had not much reason to boast of the tavern. Colonel Morehouse, after whom it was named, no longer kept it, but had resigned it to his son, who was absent, so there were none but women in the house. Mr. Dillon [a traveling companion], who had gone on a little before, had the greatest difficulty in the world to persuade them to kill some chickens ; our supper was but indif- ferent ; and when it was over, and we got near the fire, we saw these women, to the number of four, take our place at the- table, and eat the remainder of it, with an American dragoon, who was stationed there. This gave us some uneasiness for our servants, to whom they left, in fact, a very trifling portion. On asking one of them, a girl of sixteen, and tolerably hand- some, some questions the next morning, I learned that she, as HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 163 well as her sister, who was something older, did not belong to the family ; but that having been driven from the neighbor- hood of Wyoming, where they lived, they had taken refuge in this part of the country where they worked for a livelihood ; and that being intimate with Mrs. Morehouse, they took pleasure -in helping her when there were many travelers, for this road is at present much frequented." The settlers in Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania, whence these girls had come, were chiefly families from Connecticut. That beautiful valley was desolated with fire, gun and toma- hawk, in the summer 1777, by Tories and Indians under Colonel John Butler. They burned the dwellings, murdered many of the inhabitants and carried away women and children as captives. The survivors fled eastward over the Pocono Moun- tains, suffering dreadful hardships in the wilderness. Men, women and children made their way back to Connecticut on foot. A large portion of them crossed the Hudson at Pough- keepsie, and through Holt's New York Journal, then published there, .their tale of horror, with all the exaggerations which fear and suflfering and excited imagination gave it, the story was given to the world. De Chastellux says that, observing the poof girl's eyes filling with tears as she spoke of her misfortunes, he became more interested, and desired more particulars. She told him that her brother was murdered almost before her eyes, and that she had barely time to save herself by running as fast as she could ; that she and her sister traveled in this manner fifty miles, with their feet covered with blood, before they found a house. They experienced kindness everywhere on the way, and now wanted nothing except clothing. " Lodgings and nourishment are never wanting in this country," the Marquis wrote. " Clothing is more difficult to procure, from the deamess of all sorts of stuffs ; but for this they strive to find a substitute in their own labor. I gave them a Louis [about four dollars and a half] to buy some articles of dress with; my aides-de-camp, to whom I communicated 164 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. the Story, made them a present Hkewise ; and this little act of munificence being soon known to the mistress of the house, obtained her esteem, and she appeared very penitent about having shown so much repugnance to kill her chickens ," The Marquis and his companion set out from Morehouse's in the morning at nine o'clock, and reached Fishkill Village at half-past two, having ridden twenty-four miles without stopping. They alighted at Boerum's Tavern, (formerly kept by Mrs. Egremont,) where they supped, and crossed the Hudson at twilight. There at the headquarters (the old ' Hasbrouck house) they found General Washington and wife. Colonel Til/nman, Colonel Humphreys, and Colonel Walker. The writer describes the famous room with seven doors and one window. Washington used it as a dining room. " The chimney," says De Chastellux, " or rather the chimney back, is against the wall, so that there is, in fact, but one vent for the smoke, and the fire is in the room itself" The Marquis makes the following observations on the subject of agriculture in Duchess, which he obtained from the landlord : . " The land is very fertile in Duchess County, of which Poughkensie (Poughkeepsie) is the capital, as well as in the State of New York, but it is commonly left fallow one year out of two or three, less from necessity than from there being more land than the farmers can cultivate. A bushel of wheat, at most, is sown upon an acre, which renders twenty and five-and-twenty for one. Some farmers sow oats on the land that has borne wheat the preceding year, but this grain in general is reserved for lands newly turned up. Flax is also a considerable object for cultivation. The land is plowed with horses, two or three to a plow, sometimes even a greater number when on new land, or that which has long lain fallow." (The Marquis spelled Duchess without the superfluous /.) De Chastellux passed through Poughkeepsie on his way from Fishkill Landing to Albany, He speaks of the. beauty of the scener/ at Wappingers Falls. " There I halted a few minutes," he wrote, " to consider, under different points of HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 165 view, the charming landscape formed by the river, as well as from its cascade, which is roaring and picturesque, as from the groups of trees and rocks, which, combined with a number of saw-mills and furnaces, compose the most capricious and romantic prospect. It was only half past three when I got to Poughkensie, where I intended sleeping, but finding that the sessions [of the county court] were then holding, and that all- the taverns were full, I took advantage of the little remaining day to reach a tavern I was told of at three miles distance." After mentioning incidents on the way to Staatsburgh, Rhinebeck, Livingston's Manor and Claverack, he tells us that he arrived at the Dutch settlement of Kinderhook, where he had the choice of three or four taverns. He chose Van Buren's. " The preference for this, however, does no honor to the others," he says. " It is a very small house, kept by two young people of a Dutch family ; they are civil and attentive, and you are not badly off with them, provided you are not difficult to please. It would have ill become me now to have been so, for I had nothing but snow, hail, and frost during the whole day, and a fireside was an agreeable asylum for me." The " young people " here spoken of were the parents of Martin Van Buren, President of the United States. He was at the time of the visit of the Marquis only twenty days old.. Late in 1757, Elder William M. Marsh, of Lyons Farms, N. J., met by request a number of Baptists at a place spoken of in the old church records as " Batemans Precinct," who were by him constituted into a church. This society has continued up to the present time, and is now known as the First Baptist Church of Dover. In January following, Samuel Waldo was licensed to preach for them, and was subsequently chosen Elder ; in May of that year he was ordained by letter. In September they resolved on building a house of worship, thirty feet by forty. This was known as the Red Meeting House, and stood near the old cemetery grounds, on the brow of the hill nearly east from the present church edifice. The road has been changed since the first church was built, 1 66 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. and then ran close to it. The Red Meeting House was for a number of years the only place of worship in what is now the town of Dover ; all contributed to its erection, irrespective of church or creed ; and it was, in effect a union church, as will appear from the following, taken from the records : " Voted, that we are free for any improvement of pubUc gifts among us, let their denomination be what it will, provided they are under suitable recommendation." In 1761 this church records "eighteen baptized, fifty-one members, four hundred hearers." At that time it belonged to the Philadelphia Baptist Association, composed of twenty-nine churches, and was the fourth church, in the order of their size, of all that number. A few years afterward the question arose as to the obligation of members of the church to conduct family worship, a question that caused a serious division of sentiment for several years. In 1774, the church settled the matter by a vote, which was to the effect that vocal prayer in families was binding upon all members thereof Waldo is spoken of as a powerful preacher, and an influen- tial man. In 1784, he was moderator of the Association. He was about twenty-six years of age when he commenced his ministry at Dover; he continued his labors with great success with that church until his death — a period of more than thirty- five years. His ashes and those of his beloved companion, Hannah, repose in the old cemetery ground, near the site of the Red Meeting House, wherein so much of his ministerial labor was performed. August 2, 1759 — "Voted to commune with the church* of which Simon Dakin is pastor." September 6, 1764, the breth- ren Uving in the " upper end of the Oblong " formed a separate church, which soon became extinct. In 1794, still another so- ciety was constituted by members of this church, which is now known as the Second Baptist Church of Dover. Sept. 13, 1800, Elder Detherick became pastor. In 1812, Elisha Booth was ordained pastor at the Red Meeting House. In * Northeast Itnptl&t Cliurch. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 167 the following year, Elders Booth and Job Foss were called to preach on alternate Sabbaths. Elder Foss was disowned in 1817. He was then a large landholder in the vicinity of what is now called the Foss Ore Bed. The following are statistics of the First Dover Church : — The present house of worship — the third since the society was organized — ^was built in 1855, at a cost of $4,564. Present membership about ninety. Rev. I. N. Hill, pastor. As before stated, the Second Dover Baptist Church was organized in 1794, on the 3d of August. Elder Samuel Waldo, then stationed at First Dover, was probably the first Baptist minister that preached there. Elder Seth Higby was their first pastor, continuing with them six years. A few months after its organization the church voted to become a corporate body, agreeably to the law then just enacted. Timothy Bab- cock, Samuel Stevens, and Caleb Sheldon were the first trus- tees. January 21, 1796, Eliab Wilcox was chosen in place of Timothy Babcock. The Duchess Baptist Association was or- ganized with this church in July, 1835, at whose request, urged by its pastor, Elder Roberts, the convention was called. Per- kins, Roberts, Hopkins, Hall, and others have been connected at different times with this church as pastors. In 1840, a protracted meeting was held with this congrega- tion, at which Elder D. T. Hill assisted, preaching three times a day. Much interest was manifested in the community at this time and many conversions resulted. Julia A. Lathrop, a member of this church, embarked for Birmah about the year 1843, to engage in teaching. Previous to the Revolution, a Dutch Reformed church was commenced on the present cemetery grounds, which was not completed. Pratt was the builder. In this house the Baptists first held their meetings. Here Elders Waldo, Detherick, Foss, Perkins, and a host of others expounded the Divine Word to their followers. In 1844 the building was remodeled and used as a Union church. It was afterwards removed, and is yet standing in the village of Dover, doing duty as a blacksmith's 1 68 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. shop. The present house of worship was built in 1833, at a cost of $6,000. It was dedicated in the Autumn of that year. Elder Perkins preaching the dedicatory sermon. There are three Methodist Episcopal churches in the town : One at South Dover, built about twenty-one years ago ; another at Dover Plains, and a third on Chestnut Ridge. These societies were not of so ancient origin as those of the Baptist denomination in this town. It is to be regretted that our mention of the M. E. Churches of this county is so meagre, compared with the importance of that denomination, both as regards number and influence of its membership. This must not be attributed to any lack of effort in gathering and compiling the materials ; but it is owing to the fact that the society as a rule, have neglected to make any permanent record of the early local history of the churches, as has been done by other denominations. A Friends' church, known as the Branch Preparative Meet- ing, was organized here in 1774, by the Monthly Meeting at Oblong — now Quaker Hill. The meeting house- was built about that time, and is yet standing. A piece of land was; attached to it, into which Branch Prcparaiiv.: ciiiircii. the e ar ly worshi pers turned their horses for pasturage, during services.. Most of them came on horseback. The venerable Augustus Straight, of South Kent, Conn., is the only male member living. Much, if not all, of the membership of this church is composed of persons who are upwards of eighty years old. The ancient edifice is still in tolerable repair. It is surrounded by a cluster of majestic trees whose moss-covered trunks are in unisom with the old house they surround ; and is provided with a row of sheds, whose green-turfed floor shows the spot to be sadly neglected. At stated intervals these aged pilgrims meet together for HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 169 prayer and exhortation. Some have belonged to this society more than half a century. In childhood, and in maturer years they together have listened to the preached Word; and, as they pass down the steep of old age, hand in hand they go, mutually consoHng and congratulating one another as they tremble on the brink of eternity. Another Friends' meeting house was located on Pleasant Ridge, of whose early history we have not any record at hand. VALLEY VIEW CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. This association was organized May 27th, 187 1, at Dover Plains, by the following persons : John H. Ketcham, George T. Belding, James K. Mabbett, George M. AUerton, Egbert Dutcher, Thomas Hammond, Jr., Joseph Belden, and Horace D. Hufcut. The association purchased sixteen and one-half acres of land of James Ketcham. It consisted of a beautiful, undulating meadow, adjoining the old burying ground, a short distance south of the village. " The ancient hills and moun- tains stand sentinels around it, hence the appropriateness of its name — Valley View." At the northern border a stream of pure water runs gently over a gravelly bed, seeking its burial in the Ten Mile Creek, a short distance away. Its contiguity to the old burying ground — ^where lie the buried dead of several generations of the Dover Valley — contributed in some degree to the selection of the ground, and in September following the organization of the association, the inhabitants interested in the old ground caused the same to be transferred to the Association for cemetery purposes — the old and new grounds together making one cemetery of twenty acres in extent. The grounds were laid out by Mr. J. I. Wanzer ; and on the 7th day of October, 187 1, the cemetery was formally dedicated, Hon. AUard Anthony delivering the address. The old grounds, mentioned above, was a parcel of land, of about five acres in extent, granted May 16, 1818, by John R. Livingston, to the inhabitants of a surrounding tract of about four miles square, for educational and religious purposes. Part of this was lyo HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. connected with the parsonage, and was sold some twenty-five years ago. The mill now known as Preston's' Mill was kept in former times by Elihu Russell, and had a wide reputation, being one of the first in this part of the country. The present structure was built nearly a century since,* a former one, on the same site, having been carried away in a freshet some time previous. A fulling mill was early established here. It is related that .a man named Wilcox once went with a grist to Russell's Mill, and was told that he must wait till the next day as there were other customers before him. He concluded he would not go home without it at all events. Dinner time came, and he was invited in to dine with the family. Now Wilcox was a man of large frame, and withal a huge feeder ; and his bashfulness was not so great as to prevent his partaking of the good things with a heartiness that filled the "heart of poor Russell with dismay. Slipping out unobserved he hastened to the mill, poured out the contents of Mr. Wilcox's sack into the hopper, and when the latter finally emerged from the dining-room, Russell met him with the information that his grist was ready. Wilcox took his depar- ture, happy in the thought that he had secured his grist so early, and had made a good substantial dinner out of his friend the miller into the bargain ; while the latter was no less rejoiced that he had got rid of a customer that was like to have exhausted his stock of provisions. John Preston opened a tavern about the year 1810. The house is still standing, as is also the barn opposite, on which are painted figures of cattle. It became a favorite resort particularly for drovers ; and Preston's Tavern and its hospita- ble but somewhat eccentric landlord, were in days gone by well known throughout the State. Preston once collected the seeds of a noxious weed, put them carefully in little paper packages labeled with a high-sounding * The building known as " Titus's Store" was put np by him about the same time. Stephen Sweet was the builder of both.— See page 145. HISTORY OF IWCHESS COUNTY. 1 7 1 botanical name, and distritmt«d them among his guests, representing the plant as bearing flowers of rare beauty. Those who accepted the seeds, and planted them as directed, had ca«se to remember the landlord of Preston's Tavern to their dying day. He was once questioned as to "his manner of fattening cattle. " My plan," said he, " is to plow a furrow or two around that grove of trees, and plant gourd seeds ; the vines run up among the branches, and the cows climb the trees and fatten on the gourds." Jackson Wing opened a tavern at an early date in the large brick house now occupied by his son, Ebenezer Wing. This was at one time a noted resort for drovers passing through this section of country. Here the town meetings were held before the erection of Dover into a separate toAvn. The " Old Forge," by which name the locality is still known, was located on Ten Mile River, near the State line. Old John Griffin used to work in it. An old resident says the hammer made a great noise, and could be heard a long distance off. At this place an old saw-mill is located, connected with which is a traditional story : During the Revolution, a man having in his possession a quantity of silver money, buried it at the foot of a tree on " Weaver Mountain," drove a spike into the tree to mark the spmt, and ran away to escape conscription. After an absence of several years he returned for his treasure, but the bark had grown over and concealed the spike, and he was unable to find it. Years afterward the timber on the mountain was cut off, and the logs drawn to the mill. One day the saw came in con- tact with an obstruction in a large log, and was shivered to pieces. On examination a spike was found imbedded in the wood. This called to mind the circumstances of the buried money, and efforts were made to find the stump from which the log was cut, but without avail ; and the treasure, if tradi- tion speaks truly, is still lying there. In the western part of the town, in the days gone by, when 172 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. men believed in ghosts, there stood what was known as the "Haunted House." Many were the stories connected with this building which were rehearsed around the Winter fireside ; people were afralid to live in it, and it remained untenanted for a number of years ; and the bravest among them would cast uneasy glances toward it when they were obliged to pass in its vicinity after nightfall. It was said the furniture was offered to any one who would go and remove it, but it was found impos- sible to do so, as unseen hands would snatch away the articles before they could be carried out. Strange noises were fre- quently heard within it, usually on very dark and stormy nights ; and strange, unnatural lights could at times be seen flitting about the different apartments. But ghosts are now out of fashion, and if they ever lived, they have gone to more congen- ial climes ; and though the house yet stands, nothing is now heard about its being haunted. David Allis was an old resident, and lived in the house yet standing in a dilapidated condition, near the Jewett school- house. He used to preach in the Branch Meeting House. He was the man that bored holes in the south side of his apple-trees, into which he poured molasses, to make, as he said, the apples on that side of the tree sweet. At the close of the Revolution a "barbecue" was held at Dover Plains. A man named Grant gave the ox, which was spitted and roasted whole. Speeches were delivered, and a great concourse of people came together. Although the cook- ing was none of the best and the flesh was either raw or burned to a crisp, the patriotism of the people led them to pronounce it excellent. Preston Mountain has long been the dwelling place of her- mits. Robert Brownell long ago lived in the rocks there; Curtis was another, who kept a cobbler's shop in a cave, to which the inhabitants of the neighborhood repaired, when their shoes needed mending ; and it is said that there is still another now living a solitary life on the north part of the mountain. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTi'. 1 73 There is an old burying ground near the site of Martin Pres- ton's house, where lie the bones of the first inhabitants. Ebenezer Preston, better known as " Captain" Preston, was a brother of Martin Preston's, and was one of the earliest settlers in the town. He located in the valley of the Ten Mile stream, and put up three grist-mills. Two mills are now standing on the sites of these old ones ; a third was located at "The Forge." Thomas Wing was another early emigrant. He came from Rhode Island, and settled near where Thomas Wheeler, Esq., now lives. Wilham Chapman kept a hotel on the Old Forge road, about half a mile east of Preston's Mill, before the hotel at the latter place was opened. Mistake Turnpike Hes partly in this town. It leads over the mountain, west of Wing's Station. The name is said to have, been given it from this circumstance : — When the road was being built, a large boulder was rolled down the mountain side with the view that it should form a part of the wall of an embankment. Its momentum was so great as to carry it be- yond the place mtended, out of reach, where it remains to this day. Allis Pond and Sharparoon Pond are the principal bodies of water. Some peat beds have been opened near the line of the Harlem Railroad. Both the white and clouded varieties of marble are found ; Preston's and Ketcham's quarries are the principal openings that have been made. Two blast furnaces were built in this town, both of which are in ruins. FISHKILL,. POPULATION, 15,785. square; ACRES, 59.848'. k^ISHKILL was formed as a town March 7th, 1788. A part of Philipstown was annexed March i4thr 180&. A part of " Freedom" (now Lagrange) was taken off in 1 82 1. November 29th, 1849, East Fishkill was taken from it and erected into a separate township ; and May 20th, 1875, the town of "Wappinger" was constituted from its remaining northern portion. As few or no events of historic interest have transpired since its division into separate town- ships, the facts recorded in this chapter will be considered as relating to the whole territory comprised in the original town of Fishkill. The early inhabitants called it Vis-Kill, that is, Fish-Creek, kill being the name for creek ; hence its present name. The surface is mountainous in the south, and hilfy in the north. The Fishkill Mountains, extending along the southern border, are high, rocky, and precipitous. Old Beacon and Grand Sachem, the highest summits, are respectively 1471 and 1685 feet above tide: These are commemorable from the fact that bale-fires were kindled on their tops in Revolutionary days, to alann the inhabitants of the surrounding country in case of sudden invasion. 174 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 175; A break in these mountains is known as the Wiccopee* Pass. This was carefully guarded during the Revolution, to prevent the British from turning the American works at West Point. A considerable American force was stationed at its upper extremity during the campaign of 1772. The Fishkill skirts the foot of the mountains, separating them from the hilly region in the northwest. Wappingers Creek forms the west boundary. A high rolling ridge lies between these two streams ; the highest point is Mt. Hopef 1000 feet above tide. A series of bluffs, 150 to 250 feet high, extends along the river, broken by the valleys of the streams. The soil is a clay and gravelly loam. Prior to the advent of the English this vicinity was the favorite home of the Red Man. Here the priests performed their incantations, and ministered at their altars. Until recently, there were evidences of their occupation of this territory in the traces of their burial grounds, and in the many apple and pear trees, planted by Indian hands, that were standing. But the memory of the ancient inhabitants is rendered more permanent by the beautiful Indian names yet applied to streams and localities — Matteawan, Wiccopee, Shenandoah, etc. We subjoin a deposition made by David Ninham, a Wappinger Indian, touching the boundaries of tribes etc. : David Ninham, aged thirty-six years, being duly sworn,, maketh oath that he is a River Indian, of tribe of the Wappin-- gers, which tribe were the ancient inhabitants of the east shore of Hudson River, from the city of New York to about the middle of B^ekmans Patent ; that another of River Indians, called Mohegans, were the remaining inhabitants of the east shore of Hudson River ; that these two tribes consti- tuted one nation. That the deponent well understands the language of the Mohegans. It is very little different from the language of the Wappinger tribe. That the Indian word Pattenock signifies, in the language of the Mohegans, a " fall of water," and has no other signification. And this. deponent * So named from the Wiccopecs, an Indinn clan once living near Shenandoah, t Mt. Hope is about one-half mile south of Myers' Corners. A beautiful and extend- ed view is obtliined from its summit. 176 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. says that he is a Christian, and has resided some years with the Mohegans at Stockbridge. his David ><) Ninham. mark Sworn the second day of August, 1762, before me. • William Smith. As late as 1700, a powerful tribe, numbering more than a thousand warriors, lived in the vicinity of Fishkill Hook. They erected a palisade on Fort Hill, for retreat when hard pressed by the foe ; their village was located in the valley north of this hill. It is but a few years since that this tribe became extinct. The first land purchased in Duchess County was in the town of Fishkill. February 8th, 1682, a license was given by Thomas Dongan, Commander-in-Chief of the. Province of New York, to Francis Rombout and Gulian Ver Planck, to purchase a tract of land from the Indians. Under this license they bought on the 8th day of August, 1683, of the Wappinger Indians, all their right to a large tract afterwards l^nown as the Rombout Patent. Gulian Ver Planck died before the English patent was issued by Dongan. Stephanus Van Cortland was then joined in it with Rombout, and Jacobus Kipp substituted as the representative of the children of Gulian Ver Planck. On the 17th day of October, 1685, letters patent were granted by King James the Second. There were 85,000 acres included in the patent. Besides paying the natives, they were to pay the Commander-in-Chief, Thomas Dongan, six bushels of good and merchantable winter wheat every year. This Indian deed* is couched in the formal language common to all old instruments of that class. The names of the Indian granters are : — Sackoraghkigh, Megriskar, Quegh- sjehapieuw, Niessjawejhos, Queghout, Asotewes, Wappegereck, Nathindaew, Wappape, Ketaghkanns, Mekaghoghkan, Mier- ham, Peapightapaeuw, Queghhitaeuw, Memesawogh, Katariogh, ICightapinkog, Rearawogh, Meggiech, Sejay, Wienangeck, * Recorded In Alb., Book of Patents, vol. 5, p. 72. HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 1 77 Maenemaeuw, and Guighstierm. The following is a schedule