The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924083674279 In Compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1998 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1 89 1 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE THE EAGLE'S HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE From the Earliest Settlements 1683 TO 1905 BY EDMUND PLATT F" I '^ tiimu. PUBLISHED BY PLATT & PLATT POUGHKEEPSIE 1905 COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY PLATT & PLATT. THE* V. H4I0HTC0, PBINTERS MUCHKEtPSIE NEW rORK PREFACE. Ever since the publication of the Souvenir Eagle at the time of the completion of the Poughkeepsie Bridge in 1889 I have had in mind the idea of writing a history of Poughkeepsie, and began then in a rather desultory way the collection of materials. It is doubtful, how- ever, if the plan would have taken definite form had not Mr. F. T. Smiley, of New York, induced the pub- lishers of the Eagle to enter into a contract with him for a History of Poughkeepsie. similar to the histories he had been publishing for other cities. Preliminary canvassing was done under his direction, which showed that a demand certainly existed for such a work, but finding that a satisfactory history could not be written without long study of a great mass of material, con- suming" much more time than had been anticipated, the contract was surrendered and the preparation of the history was turned over to me in November, 1903. Much material for a historv of Poughkeepsie had been collected since the publication of the two Dutchess County Histories (1877 and 1882). Continuous news- paper files had been brought together at the Adriance Memorial Library or at Vassar Institute, covering the period from 1806 to the present, and a few earlier vol- umes, together with many single copies of the old Poughkeepsie Journal had been collected by Mr. Henr\- Booth, Mr. Tristram Cofiin and Mr. Frank Van Kleeck. Mr. Booth and Mr. Coffin had long been collectors of local historical documents, very few of which had been made use of in the county his- tories. Mr. Van Kleeck had preserved in scrap books near!}- all the historical sketches and obituary notices of prominent citizens published during the last twenty- five years, and had also collected many rare old photo- graphs and prints. Mr. Charles N. Arnold had saved manv documents of interest and value, and Mr. Silas W'odell had made an excellent collection of local maps. To these gentlemen I am particularly indebted not onh' for the use of their collections, but also for many valuable srggestions and for aid in solving the prob- lems which have arisen at all stages of the work. Miss Helen \\'ilkinson Reynolds's genealogical studies and familiaritx with (he carl\ counl\ records have also been of great service. ,Alany newspaper files and documents of historical interest still remain scattered in the hands of many owners, and ought to be brought together. A good many files of the early newspapers cannot be found, but others are treasured by their owners and are rea- sonabh- safe from destruction from everything but fire. I wish to acknowledge indebtedness for much assist- ance from the files of the Dutchess Observer and of the Poughkeepsie Telegraph, in the office of the News- Press and continuous from 181 5; from the Pough- keepsie Journals, 1831-1844, in the possession of Mr. A. G. Tobey, of the Courier ; and from the early files of the Guardian and of the Political Barometer belonging to Mrs. C. M. Nelson. Many other persons have assisted me with loans of papers, documents or photo- graphs, including Mr. John A. Roosevelt, Mrs. Isaac Tompkins, Mr. Alfred M. Frost and Mr. Helmus W. Barratt. The early county records, surprisingly complete when one considers that they have been through two court house fires, have been for the first time made easily accessible in the new court house. Thev contain much interesting historical matter which has previous- ly been overlooked. Two of the books of minutes of the old \'illage of Poughkeepsie have been lost, to- gether with many of the early ordinances and assess- ment rolls, but the first book of minutes is in good preservation (beginning 1803) and later deficiencies can generally be supplied from newspapers. The Town of Poughkeepsie records of elections are complete from 1743 and ha\'e been placed in the citv librarw The State of New York has done much in recent )ears to make the work of the local historian easier and to add to his material. The publication of the Public Papers of George Clinton, now almost finished, is per- haps the most important recent State work, and as many of Governor Clinton's Revolutionary letters were written in Poughkeepsie, this work is of particular in- terest to the historian of Poughkeepsie. I am indebted to My. Hugh Hastings, State Historian, for proofs of one of the \-olumes of Clinton Papers not vet pub- lished. Many local historical sketches of Poughkeepsie were PREFA CE. written by Benson J- Lossing, long- a resident of the place, and by Isaac Piatt, who founded the Pough- keepsie Eagle in 1828, and began to put into print the stories he had heard and matters that he remembered in 1848, on the anniversary of the beginning of his ca- reer as a newspaper editor and proprietor. Later \tx- sions of these sketches, printed mostly from twenty to twenty-five years later than the originals, with num- erous additions and omissions, were the basis of many of the statements in the county histories, and account for their inaccuracies. The original sketches are very valuable as guides and in matters within the recollec- tion of their authors, but are not to be accepted against the direct evidence of the records. Ever-^- eft'ort has been made in the preparation of this history to trace statements to their sources and to obtain the main facts directly from unimpeachable records and contempo- rary documents. The completion of the book has been long delayed, but the delay has resulted in manv im- provements and important additions to the narrative. New material, in fact, is constantlv coming' to light, and the task of preparing such a historv is in a sense endless. The author, however, must make his final choice of material at some time and finish his work. During the past two }-ears I have published a num- ber of historical sketches in the Eagle with the purpose of bringing out additional information, and much of \alue has been obtained through letters from persons interested. Probably some of the genealogists will be disappoint- ed that the book does not include sketches of the leading families of the early days, but these seemed out of place in a chronological history and were not possible within the limits of the present volume. I have endeavored to indicate where some of the most prominent families came from and when they settled in the neighborhood, but in general ha\'e taken the names as I found them in the records. The photographs from which the excellent fac-sim- ile and other illustrations were made were nearly all taken by Mr. O. K. Seaman, whose work speaks for itself. A few are reprints from a series of plates made about twenty-five years ago by C. S. Lucas, and others are copies of rare photographs taken by various per- sons. EDMUXD PLATT. Poughkeepsie, June ist, 1905. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CllArXER I. The Name "Pougiikeepsie," Where it was First Given and \\'hat it Means — The Ai'OKEEPSiNC Derivation Not Sustained. .9-15 CHAPTER II. Cl lEONI AE tllSTORY 16-33 The First Settlers and the First Land 'i'itles 16-18 Beginnings of Development, the Post Road 18-19 Connty Organization and the First Court House.. 19-20 The First Ta.x List 21 Some Interesting Entries in the First Book of Records of Supervisors and .Assessors 21 The First Dutch Church J2 The First English Church 23-24 Oaths Signed by Office Holders 24 The Precinct or Town of Poughkecpsie 25-2(1 Interesting Colonial Events... Signs of Growth Prominent Colonial Families. 20-27 27 29-33- CHAPTER HI. The Ria-oei-tion 34-53 Early Meetings and Development of Anti-British Sentiment 34-.^^' The "Associators" and the Tories 36-38 ^lilitary Organization 38 Poughkeepsie's First Boom; Ship Building for the Continental Navy 39-41 The Critical Year 1777 41-42 Fall of Fort Montgomery and Vaughn's Raid.... 42-4'' Ponghkeepsie Becomes the State Capital 46-4>'^ Governor Clinton's Letters 4851 Continentals in Ponghkeepsie S<-3- Last Years of the War; The Fishkill Beacons..., ,12-5,3 CH-VPTER n' From the RiCvolution to 'i'iie In'cori'or.vtion oe THi-: X'li.EACE 17S3-17')'; 54-71 James Kent .^45.^ The Ponghkeepsie Journal ,S.s-5'' Ratification of (he Constitution of the United Slates .ifi-Cit Early Politics in Town and County 61-62 Rival Newspapers ^'- Slavery in Ponghkeepsie 62-04 Town Development 64-6S The Churches ('*'< The First Stale School .Money 69 Incorporation as a Village 6<)-7i CHAPTER \'. Fro.m tiiic Inc()ri'0r.\tiox of the A'ii.L.\(.;i; to THE Close oE tihc W'.vr of 1812 72-93 Village Organization 72-75 The Court House Fire, 1806 7.i-76 The Village Streets 76-81 River Industries and Freighting 81-83 Other Manufacturing Industries 83-85 The Vassar Brewery . ' 85-86 De\'eloping a Business Centre 86-8S Some Popular Amusements 88-89 Banks, Schools and Incorporated Companies 89-90 Churches 90 Newspapers and Politics 91-92 CHAPTER \'I. FR0-^l Tiiic Close oe the A\'ar oe 1812 to the P.vNic OF 1837 95-127 Gen. Talhnadge and the MissoiuM Compromise..., 96-97 Lafayette's \'isit g8-ioi The Lottery in Ponghkeepsie ior-102 Parly Changes; The Telegraph and the Dutchess Intelligencer 102-104 l^ianks and Bankers 104-107 The Improvement Parly 108-1 To Tlie Whaling Companies 1 10-115 Other Industries 115-I17 The Era of the Sleanilioat 117-719 The Reser\oir and the Big Fire of 1836 119-120 The h'ire Department 120 Churches and Schools 121-126 The Real Estate Boom 12O-127 CHAPTER VU. I'ro.m Till'. P.XNicoE 1837 TO THE InCORI'OR.VI'IOX oi- Till-: City, 1854 128-152 Political liffecls of the Panic, Senator N. P, Tall- madge and the Conservatives 128-135 n'he Panic and Ihe linprox'enient Parly '35-139 Building ^i'i:>: 315-3^8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Map of Poiighkeepsie and Vicinity in 1798 8 The Waterfall at the Mouth of tlie Fall Kill 13 Scene on the Mahwenawasig or Wappingers Kill 15 The Van Kleeck House (Lossing, 1838) 19 English Church "Glebe House" 24 The Hoffman or Sherman House 29 Henry Livingston House in 1870 29 Map of Poughkeepsie in 1770 31 Rear View of Noxon House 33 Fac-simile of Commission Signed by Governor Clinton.. 46 The Everitt or "Clinton House," before alteration 47 Fac-simile of State Currency Printed by John Holt 50 Seal Used on State Commissions 53 Fac-simile of "Extra" printed during the Constitutional Convention in 1788 60 Map of Poughkeepsie in 1790 63 House Purchased by Governor Clinton in 1799 66 Episcopal "Parsonage House" 68 Map of Poughkeepsie in 1799 71 Court House and "Lawyers' Row," in 1870 76 Court House and Hotel, from Turnpike Map 78 The Winans, or Southwick House 83 The George Booth House 84 The Arnold Cotton Factory 84 Cannon Street from Liberty west in 1875 88 Fac-simile Middle District Bank Note 89 Reynolds House 96 Fac-simile Lottery Circular 100 Building of Poughkeepsie Trust Company (formerly the Poughkeepsie Bank) 106 The Vassar Street Brewery 108 Fac-simile Stock of Poughkeepsie Whaling Company.... no Map of Poughkeepsie in 1837 in Fac-simile Note of Dutchess Whaling Company n2 Poughkeepsie Glass Works n4 Fac-Siniile Stock of Poughkeepsie Silk Company 116 Northern Hotel n8 City Hall, formerly the Village Hall n9 Old Christ Church I2r Presbyterian, afterwards Universalist, Church 121 College Hill School Building 123 Fac-simile Stock of College Hill School 124 Poughkeepsie in 1836 from College Hill 125 The N. P. Tallmadge House 127 I-'ac-simile Bill of Journal and Eagle I3t The Vassar Brewery at the River 136 Poughkeepsie in 1840 I37 Old Picture of Vassar Brewery 142 The Lower Furnace ( 1880) I43 The Cannon St. Methodist Church 146 Presbyterian Church 147 "Goose Neck" Fire Engine I49 Old Phcenix Hose House 150 Poughkeepsie in 1852 151 Church of the Holy Comforter 156 Red Mills Buildings 158 Main Street in i860 160 Dutchess Insurance Co.'s Building 162 Corner Main and Market Streets in i86r 178 I"ac-simile of Poughkeepsie War Shinplaslor (first scries) 191 Fac-simile of Poughkeepsie War Shinplastcrs (second scries) 192 Market Street in 1865 198 Itastman Park in 1875 200 The Soldiers' Fountain 200 Vassar College in 1870 202 The Filter Beds in 1875 212 Poughkeepsie & Eastern Station 215 Eastman Terrace in 1875 218 Corner of Main and Garden Streets after the Fire of Dec. 26, 1870 2ig Old Buildings on the Site of Kirchner Hall 219 Walter Adriance's Cartoon of H. G. Eastman 221 187s Snow Scene, Main Street 227 Bridge Caisson (1877) 228 The Poughkeepsie Bridge 229 Looking South from the Bridge (1889) 232 The Poughkeepsie Iron Works 233 De Laval Separator Company's Buildings 234 N. Y. C. & H, R. R. R. Station ( 1880) 235 Factory of Poughkeepsie Underwear Company 236 Main Street in 1880 237 Old Telegraph (Enterprise) Building 242 The Frederick F. Thompson Memorial Li1)rary at Vas- sar College 247 The First Dutchess County Academy 253 The Building of Luckey, Piatt & Co 256 Residence of the late Capt. John H. Brinckerhoff 273 The Eagle Building 279 Interior view Jacob Schrauth's Sons' Ice Cream Parlors and Salesroom 296 PORTRAITS. Gov. George Clinton.... 45 George B. Evertson 80 Tunis Van Kleeck 87 Hon. William Nelson. .. . 93 George P. Oakley 99 Matthew Vassar 108 George Corlies 109 Hon. Seward Barculo... 132 Isaac Piatt 134 James Emott 152 George Wilkinson 154 Charles W. Swift 15S Albert Tower 159 Robert Sanford 163 Rev. D. G. Wright 165 Matthew Vassar 169 Oliver H. Booth 170 Charles WHicaton 177 Dr. Robert K. Tuthill.. 180 James Bownc 183 Hon. Homer ,\ Nelson.. 184 George Innis 187 Judge Joseph F. Barnard i8g Hon. John H. Kctchani.. 195 Albert Van Kleeck 199 llarxcy G. Eastman 201 Dr. lulward H. Parker.. 207 TlKim.is McWhinnic .... 209 William T. Reynolds.... 211 John Sutcliffe 213 Jacob Corlies 217 Frank B. Lown 226 John H. Brinckerhoff.... 231 John I. Piatt 238 Allison Butts 239 Hon. Martin Heermance 240 James W. Hinkley 241 Hon. Charles N. Arnold 243 Samuel H. Brown 243 Joseph Morschauser .... 246 Hon. Edward Elsworth. 249 William W. Smith 252 Martin W. Collins 254 Clement C. Gaines 253 Joseph B. Bisbee 256 Dr. Charles E. Lane.... 257 George \\'. Lumb 23S George Nagengast 261 Dr. H. F. Clark 262 Francis G. Landon 265 Dr. H. W. Barnum 272 John E. Alack 288 Dr. Stephen Palmer.... 290 William H. Schrauth... . 296 Jacob Schrauth 296 l'"d\vard L. Schrauth.... 296 ■•^MSKEiKEN CHAPTER I. The Name "Poughkeepsie/' Where It Was First Given and What It Means— The "Apokeepsing' Derivation Not Sustained. Poughkeepsie is one of the old towns of New York State, dating well back into Colonial times, but it was not one of the first settled, and from its earliest beginnings, near the close of the seventeenth century down to the Revolution, which made the United States an independent nation, its growth was very slow. The name goes back of the origin of the town itself to the time when the Indians held undisputed control. The first Dutch farmers and woodsmen found the name here when they came, and much fun has been made of their many and various attempts to spell it as they heard it pronounced by the Indians around them. Phonetic spelling was the rule in those early days, which should have delighted the spelling re- former. Even the commonest names were frequently spelled in two or three different ways in the same docu- ment. An extreme instance of phonetic spelling is found on page 33 of Liber A of Deeds, recorded in the County Clerk's Office of Dutchess County, where "hutchens river" is mentioned in the bounding of a piece of land. All historians who have had any occasion to men- tion Poughkeepsie have gravely informed us that the name has been spelled in more than forty different ways, whicK is after all not better than the record of Schenectady or of many other towns the Indian names of which are long enough to admit some variety in the arrangement of letters. Not all the various spellings were the work of the early settlers, and some have been added by the antiquarians and etymologists in their efforts to explain the derivation and meaning of the name. The word Apokeepsing, from whicli the name Poughkeepsie is generally believed to have been de- rived, is, I think I shall be able to show, a pure inven- tion. No such form is to be found in any recorded deeds or documents, and there is no evidence that it was ever used by the Indians here or anywhere else. Its origin is ascribed to Schoolcraft,' who was fol- II have not been able after considerable searching to find this in Schoolcraft's works, bnt see Riittenber's "Indian Tribes of Hndson's River," page 371. The word, with the popular definition "safe harbor," is given in a pamphlet on lowed by Benson J. Lossing and later writers. Mr. William Wallace Tooker, author of the Algonquin n Series of monographs on Indian names, and probably the leading authority on eastern Indian nomenclature, says of Apokeepsing, in a contribution to the Ameri- can Anthropologist (1899, V^S^ 170)' "no warrant can be found for that form nor for such a translation" (safe harbor). There has been some variety in trans- lation introduced, however, mostly by recent writers. The word has been defined as meaning " safe harbor," " place of refuge," " safe harbor for small boats,'' "pleasant harbor," "deep water,"' and "at the rock pool, "2 certainly a pleasing variety.^ Mr. Lossing and others seem to have been much impressed with the harbor idea, possibly from some such legend as that related in Lossing's Hudson (p. 188) about the In- dian maiden who is said to have fled with her lover across the river in a canoe, finding a "safe harbor" at the mouth of the Fall Kill. Having satisfied them- selves as to the proper translation the next thing was to provide a word to translate, not so ver^' difficult if you can combine scraps of the dialects of several dif- ferent Indian nations. "Apokeepsing," or "Apokeep- sinck," was the result. Now, unless we accept the legend, which did not originate, so far as we can find out, until long after the Revolution — if indeed it was not invented bv Mr. Lossing himself — there was no reason for construct- ing a word to mean '" safe harbor." Indian names were generally given to some conspicuous feature of the land or water, and there was no " safe harbor" at the mouth of the Fall Kill as a conspicuous feature. It must be evident to any one who will examine the locality that the falls were almost at the river's edge. Two hundred }'ears of erosion, as well as the filling in of the bay or " cove" between Reynolds' Hill and the Kaal (or Call) Rock, are to be considered. If the Indian names published by the U. S. government and compiled chiefly from Schoolcraft's works. i\V M Beauchamp — ''Indian Name in New York.'' p. 19- 2W. R. Gerard — American Anthropologist, 1899 ^'ol., p 586. 3"Diichcss'' County History, p. 357 and note. 10 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. inlet was small and certainly not an important fea- ture, the broad cove could hardly have been worthy of special designation as a harbor, for there were doz- ens of other coves, many of them deeper, within short paddling- distance. Finally it may be worth while to remember that canoes navigating a river like the Hud- son do not stand in great need of harbors, but when wind or waves threaten can be run ashore and pulled out of harm's way wherever there is a bit of beach. While there is no evidence that such a word as Apokcepsing was used to describe either the lit- tle inlet or the cove at the mouth of the Fall Kill, and no reason why a word meaning " safe harbor" should have been employed to describe that partic- ular locality, there is the best of evidence that the word " Poughkeepsie" in a form very much like the present was used by the Indians to designate the one conspicuous feature of the neighhborhood-^the water- fall, which during much of the 3'ear, and certainly at all times of high water, must have attracted attention from all passing canoes or other vessels on the river. This waterfall is very naturally named in the first known deed to property within the present cit}^ lim- its, as will appear. A somewhat similar word was borrowed from the Indians and used by the first settlers as the name of the Casper Kill, which flows through the Vassar College grounds and empties into the river at Clinton Point. At length, long before there was any town of Poughkeepsie, or village of Poughkeepsie, the name was used to describe a considerable section of land, as many early deeds on record in the County Clerk's Office clearl}^ show. It certainly' belongs to the town of Poughkeepsie, as well as to the section included in the city. A curious print^ which purports to be "A \'iew in Hudson's River of Pakepsey & the Catts- Kill Mountains from Sopus Island in Hudson's River," is evidence of the wide application of the name. The print declares itself to be the reproduction of a sketch made "on the Spot b)' his Excellency Governor Pownal," and is a view looking northward from Esopus Island. Governor P(jwnal published a series of prints of scenes in America, and was in this countr\' between October, 1753, and June, 1760. Long before that time there was a court house and a church, a tav- ern or two, and the nucleus of a village well started on the hill where is now Poughkeepsie, but thev do not seem to have had exclusi\'e title to the name, though Governor Pownal stretched his license as an artist a good deal when he turned his back en them and car- ried the name abo\'e Esopus Island. The firsti certain mention of the word Poughkeep- sie that I have been able to find occurs in an Indian deed, the earliest known conveyance of property now in the corporate limits of the city, recorded among the notarial papers in the Fort Orange Records at the County Clerk's Office in Albany, and published in Documents of Colonial History, XoX. XIII, page 571, as follows : This fifth day of May 1683 appeared before me Adrian van Ilpendam, Notary Public in Xew Albany and the undersigned witnesses a Highland Indian, called Massany, who declares herewith that he has given as a free gift a bouwery to Pieter Lansingh and bouwery to Jan Smeedes, a young glazier, also a waterfall near the bank of the river to build a mill thereon. The waterfall is called Pooghkepesingh and the land Minnisingh situate on the Eastside of the river. He acknowledges this gift herewith in the presence of their Honors the Commissaries Cornells van Dyke and Dirck Wesselsen Ten Brock, who themselves have heard the Indians testify, one called Speck and the other \'echpaidmo, that the aforesaid Massany had surrendered the aforesaid land to the said Pieter Lansingh and Jan Smeedes without retaining for him or for his descend- ants the right to claim even a stuyver's worth from them ; also that the said Indian Massany is the lawful owner and inheritor of the said land. The foregoing has been interpreted in the presence of their said honors the commissaries, by the wife of Jurien Teunissen and the afore- said Indian has signed it with his own hand at Xew Albany, on the date as above. This is the mark made by -s/ Massany himself ^ which I certify .Adrian van Ilpendam, Not Public .-\s witnesses Cornelius van Dvk Dirck Wesslsen. The spelling by the Dutch scribe of the word the Indians used in describing the waterfall, Pooghkepe- singh, it will be noticed, is not so very unlike that which has come down to us as the official and final spelling of the name, first of the precinct or township, then of the village, and at length of the city which grew near the waterfall. There is, however, a still earlier Indian deed on rcco.rd in Albain- which gives a somewhat similar name to. a stream. It is quoted by Rutte.nber in his "Indian Tribes of Hudson's River" (p. 371), and here occurs the first questioning of the authenticitv of iln the .\driance Memorial Library, nortli side of en- trance. iSee aK(i Ir\'ing Elting's "Dutch Village Communities of the Hudson River," p. 40, note. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE 11 Apokccpsing. Ruttenbers custom was to look for documentary evidence of the earliest forms of Indian names, instead of accepting them on tradition alone. " In a deed to Arnot Veil, 1680, covering the tract," says he, " the boundaries are described as ' beginning at a creek called Pacaksing, by the river side;' in a petition from William Caldwell, the orthography is Pogkeepkc; in an affidavit by Myndert Harmance, it is Pokccpsinck; in other papers the prevailing or- thography is Pokcepkc. and finally it is found applied to a pond of water l\-ing in the vicinity of the city and its signification given: or 'muddy pond,' an ex- planation that accords well with the accepted interpre- tation of Ramcpogh — a simple generic term for pond, or ponds, modified by locality or character." Mr. William Wallace Tooker, in a paper published in the American Anthropologist in 1899, taking the evidence of the Veile deed, concluded that " Pough- keepsie" was one of a long series of names derived from the Algonquian term "Poquosin," which indi- cated, according to Mr. Tooker, a place where a stream overflowed in time of freshet, or where it opened out into a shallow pond. The term was applied by the early settlers in many places throughout the east to swamps and streams, and with a wide variety of spellings. The deed above quoted is in Dutch, and is recorded in the Fort Orange Records, liook 3, Deeds, p. ^2, and dated June 15, 1680, nr three years before there was any Dutchess County. It is the earliest deed I have found to land within the present limits of the county. There are two partial translations or abstracts of it which differ somewhat. < )ne is published in the Docu- ments of Colonial History XIII, 545, as follows: "Indian deed for Land given by the Indian owners Kashepan alias Calkoen, Waspacheck alias Spek,^ and Phillipuwas, having power of attorney from Awannis, one of the owners, to Arnout Cornelissen \'iele as a present. The land consists of three flats through which a kil called Mynachkcc runs, one being about 25 morgens and lying on the Northside of the Kil, the other two on the Southside containing together about 12 morgens. The grant includes the above kil from the river to the second fall called Mataj^an, a (Us- ance of about three F.nglish miles, also the wood- land adjoining it and stretching about two Englisli miles to the North and one mile to the Sont'.i of the abo\e described land along the river and back from the river as far as the aforesaid sccoiid fall, including two small kils. one in the woods to the North, which empties into the river and is called Pakakeing, the other emptying into the large Kil from the South. The other translated abstract is in the State library in manuscript, and contains the important addition that the kill, here spelled JVynachkcc. on which the land lies is " opposite Danskammer." The kill in the woods to the north is here spelled Pakakcincg, which is the spelling of the Dutch deed, still a perfectly legible document as recorded. These early deeds, and also many of the land patents from the crown, were without punctuation, and the boundaries are very indefinite, sometimes doubtless purposely left so in order that the land might be taken up where it seemed most valuable. In this deed the words as to the location " opposite Danskammer" are in the margin. Now Danskammer'^ was a point well fixed at that time. Capt. Couwenhoven lay there in his sloop negotiating with the Indians after the mas- sacre at Wiltwyck (Kingston) in 1663, and it is frequently mentioned in the old records. The only kill that can be called " opposite Danskammer" is the Wappingers, and fortunately by a succession of docu- ments we can trace this land far enough to show defi- nitely that this is the stream called "IVynachkcc," and not the Fall Kill. In the notarial papers at Albany there was recorded only two years after the .•\rnout Cornelissen Viele deed, a " bond and mortgage gix'en by a Highand Indian, Tapieas, for a debt to Lawrence van Ale and Gerrit Lansing, secured h\ his land situate upon Hudson's River, on the Eastside, nearl>- opposite Danskammer, it being a flat on the West side of a Kil called IJ'ynacIikcc beginning at the second fall, where Aernout Cornelissen's land ends."- F>y 1685 crown grants or '' patents" were begin- ning to be given for large tracts of land in Dutchess County and the settlers on the Arnout Viele land, presently found themselves in danger of being dis- possessed despite their Indian deeds; hence in 1704 we find \'iele, who was a well-known man, joining with Pietcr Lansing (either the same man mentioned with Jan Smeedos in the deed granting the Poogh- kcpcsi}igh waterfall, or his son), in an application for a patent to make his title good. This document is in English, and is in excellent preservation (page 183, \'ol. Ill, Land Papers) in the Secretary of State's Office. In it the boundaries become more easily fol- pp. lit will be noticed' th.il an Indian of the same name is mentioned in the Pooglikepe.singli waterfall deed. 'See Rultenlier, "Indian Tribes of Hudson's River 38.^ and 2g. 2D0CS. Csing. or Pocghhec/'sing — See " Duchess" County History, p. 362. ^W^areskeechen, on Livingston's map, 1798, is the name given the stream at the foot of Teller Hill, flowing through the W^ebendorfor place. 'For the probable meaning of these words see letter quoted at end of chapter. 14 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. twelve thousand acres^ in one entire piece * * * in Dutchess County aforesaid called Minnisinck,'' etc. The quotation continues through the men- tion of the two waterfalls, the first of which here becomes "Pendanick Reen." The reference to the "creek called WSnogkee" is quoted from the patent, but when this deed describes more particular!}- the land conveyed to Lewis there is no mention of this name, but instead references to " the creek having" Water Falls," and also " the Great Creek." The land conveyed was evidently along the '' Creek having Water Falls," but there is nothing to prove that the " creek called Wynoghkee" in the patent was the same stream, nor is there anything to show definitely what fall is called " Pendanick Reen." To add to the puzzle we find that in deeds made two and three years earlier the " Fall Kill" is named unmistakably, first in a con- veyance from "Myndert Harmcen" to "Jan Oosterom of Pogkeepsinck," June 17, 1707, and again in a deed to Peter U. Zelie, June 8, 1708. I have quoted all this because in a map of lands about Poughkeepsie made b}' Henry Livingston in 1798, "Pondanickricn" is placed as the name of the fall at the mouth of the Fall Kill, where Livingston's Mills then were, and persons in ignorance of the existence of the much earlier grant of this fall to Jan Smeedes with the name Poogli- kcpesingh, have supposed "Pondanickricn' or "rccn" to have been its Indian name, thus lending color to the assumption that Apokeepsing was applied to the hypothetical " safe harbor." Mr. Tooker thinks that Pondanickricn is the same as a word sometimes spelled Ponganitchcii'an, meaning " the shallow over- flow." In seasons of low water such a word would have been applicable to these falls, as well as to several other streams, not far away, but its use does not in the least destroy the force of the direct evidence for the much earlier use of the word Pooghkcpesingh, which had already begun to be employed as a name of the neighboring lands. It only remains to mention the latest defender o'f Apokeepsing, Mr. W. R. Gerard, a former well-known resident of Poughkeepsie. Writing in answer to Mr. Tooker's paper on " Poquosin," in the American Anthropologist (p. 586, vol. for 1899), Mr. Gerard says : " As Mr. Tooker attempts to connect the name Poughkeepsie with the word ' poquosin' and con- iThe Van Kleeck deed already quoted refers to this pat- ent as conve^'ing tvveh c hundred acres. A dispute arose over this question later, as shown by some of the Christ Church glebe papers. fidently asserts that " there appears to be absolutely no question as to its identity' with the latter, it may not be out of place to explain the meaning of the appellation of the city of the alleged 'safe harbor.' Having resided in Poughkeepsie many years, I am perfectly familiar with its topogra- phy and with the exact locality to which the name originally applied. This was a rocky cove or basin worn away at the foot of the fall near the river just north of the present railroad station. On May 5, 1683, a Highland (west side of Hud- son) Indian gave as a present to one Jan Smeedes a farm and also 'a fall on the shore to set a mill upon.' Smeedes erected a mill upon the site of a pool or basin near the foot of the fall whence he obtained his water power. In the deed of gift the Dutch scribe wrote the name of the mill-site ' Pooghkepesingh' for ' Apoeghkipsing' a word which in German or- thography would have been Apuchkipisink. The word means 'at the rock pool,' or 'at the rock basin of water,' and accurately describes the locality to which the name was applied by the Indian owner." Of this Mr. Tooker saj's (p. 791 same volume) : " If there were nothing else that would show the worthlessness of Mr. Gerard's derivation, the taking of the Lenape inseparable apiichk, 'a standing rock' (Mass oinpsk), and employing it as a possible prefix to an impossible name, would be enough to condemn it. It is well known that this generic cannot be so used, and the fact bears witness that Mr. Gerard's criticisms are not based on the strict rules of Algon- quian nomenclature." It is perhaps unnecessary to add anything to this but I cannot refrain from pointing out that Mr. Gerard, knowing the locality and knowing of the Smeedes deed, threw over the "safe harbor" theory, but clinging to Apokeepsing as a word, looked around for a new construction and translation of it. In very much the same way Mr. Lossing, supposing the word JJ'ynoghkec to refer only to the Fall Kill reconstructed it into Winnikee and gave its meaning as " Leap Stream" in his Hudson. In conclusion, I think it may be said that the evi- dence of the Indian and other early deeds, and iNIr. Tooker's definition of Pooghkepesingh as a name properly given to the waterfall at the mouth of the Fall Kill, settle the derivation of our citv's name. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 15 Neighboring Indian Names Explained. Sag Harbor, N. Y., Dec. 3, 1903. Dear Mr. Piatt: — I have road your letter with much inter- est, and your researches show that you are on the right track. The deed quoted by Ruttenber which you found at Albany I also find in the Colonial History, Vol. XIII, pp. 545-6. Wynachkee is there, however, Mynachkee, an evident error. From the evidence so conclusively given I agree with you that the Pakaksing is the Casper Kill, and that Pickmvick- quassick is a variation of the same name. Wynachkee be- longed originally to land thereabouts and not to the kill. There is absolutely nothing in the name that would justify " leaping brook." It probably described one of the flats through which the 'kill runs," "W'iu-askcht," "fine or pleas- ant green place, plain or flat." If you will turn to page 545 (Col. Hist.) you will notice another deed where a "great flat" is called ilachaclikcck — Mach-askcht, i. e. "the great green place or flat." \Vc have on Long Island a locality called "Coiiitu" originally H'innccoinac, varied as J}'ynco)nii\ "the pleasant or good field." Chelsea, Mass., was called U'iniscincl — Win-ashiiii-tit, "at the pleasant springs.'' "Mata- pan fall" in the above record denotes a " sitting down place," a "portage," - for it. There is no record to show that any- thing was done under the act and surely the necessity of a county house and prison was not very pressing, but the project was not given up. Some sort of a county organization was formed by this time, for Richard Sackett became the first county clerk in 1 815, and Leonard Lewis represented the county in the Fifteenth Assembly (1713-1714). In the Sixteenth Assembly (1715) Baltus Van Kleeck and Leonard Lewis were both members and continued in the next assembly until Van Kleeck's death in 171 7. Both lived in the neighborhood called Poughkeepsie and Lewis had been appointed the first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1716. Their influence was doubtless of weight in the passing of the second act for the construction of a county or court house. May 27th, 1717, and in providing for its location "at or near the most Convenient place at Poghkepse" This act allowed three }'ears for the completion of the work, and despite the assertions of the two his- tories of "Duchess" County that the first court house was not built until 1745 or 1746, the proof is convinc- ing that it was finished within the time limit fixed in the act of 1717. The first book^ of the supervisors and assessors shows that a meeting of the "frie bould- ers" was held at the house of Leonard Lewis June 22, 171 7, and that Barendt Van Kleeck and Jacobus \'an den Bogert were chosen as a building committee. A few pages further on we find the tax levies prefaced by the statement, "It is amongst other things enacted -that the County hose and preson shall be built wid- in three years." The entries do not clearly show liow much money was spent, but it is certain that the building, surely not a ver}' elaborate structure, was ready for use soon after the passage of the act of July 6, 1720,- which provided that "from henceforth there shall be held and kept at Poghkepson near the Centre of said County, a General Sessions of the Peace, on the third Tuesday in May and the third Tuesday in October." In the records of a meeting of supervisors and assessors held in 1722 at "Pockkepsinck" pursuant to a colonial act for the improvement of the roads, these words are used describing the post road: "Also Persuing from the County house b\' Jacobus Van Den Bogert iThis book was probably unknown to the authors of the two histories, as well as to Benson J. Lossing, though there arc quotations 'from it in a historical sketch in the Weekly Eagle of July 8, 1876. It covers the period from 1717 to Dec. 17, 1722, and contains also receipts for taxes paid in New York in 1715. ^Documentary History of New York, Vol. Ill, 972, I do not find this act in the Colonial Laws as published by the state in 1894. The county records however show that the first court of General Sessions was held here in 1721. In 1722, Harmen Rynders was appointed "Stebo or bell ringer." * * * to the Bridge of Jan Kasper's Creek as the Rod is now used and so to Peter Lassings." The second record book of the supervisors and asses- sors, beginning 1722, contains direct statements that meetings were held in the court house, and to coin- plete the proof that the building was there one has only to turn to the Colonial laws (Vol. Ill, p. 336, 1894 edition) and read the act authorizing the construc- tion of the second court house, passed Dec. 17, 1743 ; "An Act to Enable the Justices of the Peace in Dutch- ess County to build a Court House & Goal or to en- large and Repair the old one." It has been stated that the property on which the court house was built was conveyed b}^ Jacobus Van Den Bogart to Barendt Van Kleeck, Justice of the Peace, in 1718, but there is no deed on record to this effect. The earliest deed to the property seems to be that of Nov. 13th, 1747, a "lease and release" of the land "with the court house and goals already built on the same" to Isaac Van Den Bogert, Jacobus Ter Bos, Anthony Yelverton, Lewis Du Bois and John Tenbruck "four of his Majesties Justices of the Peace." The parchment release is preserved in the County Clerk's Office among the maps. It provides that the property shall revert to the Van Den Bogart family if used for any other purpose than that for which it was granted. It is interesting to find in Liber I of Deeds, page 29, confimiation of the tradition that the A''an Den Bogart and Heermance families are the same. In July, 1709, "Myndert Harmse of poghkeepsink in Dutchess County Yoeman and helena his wife for divers good Causes & Considerations them thereunto moving but more especiall}- for and in Consideration of ye Love and affection which they bare unto their Eldest Sunn Jacobus Van den bogart" conveyed a considerable amount of land to the latter, and the court house stands on a part of it. This Jacobus is said to have planted the first apple orchard in the neighborhood, the word "bogart" (modern Dutch "boomgaard") meaning orchard. Liber A or I of deeds in the Dutchess County Clerk's Office was begun in 1718, but many earlier deeds, as we have seen, were recorded in it. Most of the deeds dating back of 1700 were recorded in Ulster County, in Alban)' County, or in the records of the Colonial Government at New York. The last named are now in the Secretary of State's Office in Albany, while those originally recorded at Albany are among the Fort Orange Records in the Albany- County Clerk's Office. Although the Dutch language was spoken by the great majority of the people of Dutchess County until almost the time of the Revolu- tion, none of the records arc in Dutch, except the first will in Liber A of Wills. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 21 The First Tax List. the; inhabetunts, residents, sojorners and i?rie- holders of dutchis county are rated & as- sesed by assessores chosen for ye SAME THE DAY OE l/lj^ EOR YE MEEDEL WARD, VIZ : £ £ Thomas Sanders, 35 02 12 3/2 Elias Van Bunschoote, 10 00 12 I Zacharias Flegelar, 04 00 04 10 Hendrick Van Der Burgh, S3 03 04 /a Jacob Titsort, 04 00 04 10 Josias Crego, o6 00 07 3 Evert Van Wagene, 10 00 12 I Johannes Van Kleck II 00 13 3K2 Myndert Van Denbogert, 20 01 04 3/2 Harmon Rynderse, 01 00 01 2/2 Jan Ostrom, 13 00 01 2/2 Barenet Van Kleck, 35 02 02 3/2 Fransoy Le Roy, 24 01 09 Lowarance Van Kleck, 05 00 06 oy2 Jacobus Van Den Bogart, 05 00 06 7K2 De Weden Van Baltus X'an Kleck .58 03 10 I De Weden Van Myndert harmese 52 03 02 10 Jan De Graef, II 00 13 3 Bartholomeus Hoogeboom 05 00 00 Leonard Lewis, 55 03 06 5 De Weden Van Jan keep. 05 00 06 Pieter Vielee, 22 01 06 7 Hendrick Pels, 13 00 15 8 William Titsor, 13 00 15 8/2 Magiel Palmetier Jun, 03 00 03 7/2 Magiel Palmetier Siniure 45 02 14 4/2 Pieter Palmetier, 14 00 16 II Hendrick Buys, 03 00 01 7/2 John Egerton, 01 00 01 2/2 Thomas Lewis, 01 00 01 2/2 Thomas Chadwick, 02 00 02 5 Jonas Scoot, 02 00 02 5 Richard Sackett, 10 00 12 I The first column of figures is of course the assess- ment and the next three the tax in pounds, shillings and pence, colonial money. A curious outcropping of Dutch will be noticed in "De Weden Van," for "the widow of." A few years later Zacharias Flegelar's name drops out and "De Weden Van Zaacharias Flegelar ' appears on the roll. Notice also the method of dating "the day of 171 J^" which means Jan. i, 1 7 18. Dates between January and March were often written both "old and new style" like this J/r. This first as- sessment roll, when the other two wards are included, contains 120 Dutch, 2 French and 8 English names, and the last assessment in the book, 1722, contains 171 Dutch names, 2 French and 14 English. The scarcity of French names seems to show that the Du Bois, Freer and other Huguenot families from New Paltz had not yet arrived. The increase of the English is also noteworthy. Some Interesting Records. The little supervisors' book from which this assess- ment is taken contains a number of entries that throw light upon the life of the people. There are records of several payments to the Indians, but without clear indication of their purpose. Probably some of them were bounty payments for killing wolves, as several Colonial acts were passed to authorize such bounties in Dutchess County. Here is an entry which shows that bad spelling was not the only vice of our ancestors : Dutches County frebruary the 19 Annocj 171 J-^ At a Specal Sesiones heald at Pockepsink Present Leonard Lewis Judge Capt Barendt Van Kleeck Machill Palmater, Esqurs Justices Have Tacken Information of Barthoolomeus Hoog- enboom and Franseys Van Den Bogard Rachal Buck- ley That John De Grafe has Retald Stong Licquors by Smal Measure as apereth b}' thare Several Afedafides. Dutches County febrary 28 Annoq 171^ Upon Request of Mr. John De Grafe The Gusteses of Sd County Meet Present Leonard Lewis Esq. Judge Capt Barendt Van Kleeck Machil Parmentier Justices The Said John De Grave Being Sincebell of his Erore beged the Justiss to be Exqused of his fine and promisith for the time to come not to fall in the lick Erorss Wareupon the Justices have taken it into con- sideration to be of mean Capasity and a Great famely to meantain they have ackquitted the said John De Grave of five Pound which de said John De Grafe is fifalen under. A study of the assessment rolls makes it a little doubtful whether John was of "mean Capasity." In the first assessment he is down at in, while only four years later, 1722, his wealth had risen to £30, show- ing that there must have been some profit in the sale of "Strong Licquors by Smal Measure." Once again in July, 1719. he got into trouble, but the record does not show clearly whether he escaped his fine or not. Another interesting entry is the following under date of January 20th, 1721 : To jMr. Jacob Plough for Sarviss Done for the Countv for Tow Viges from Kips berge to pockepsink upon the Business of a Negro of Johanns Dickman that was Burnt and forgot to bring it to the County Charge afore and is allowed 12s. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. This is obscure enough, but it may refer to the burning of a negro at the stake. Two such horrible incidents have been related in historical sketches of Poughkeepsie, usually with a later but not very definite date. Isaac Piatt in a historical sketch published in the Weekly Eagle in May, 1858, spoke of the burning of a white man and negro "on the eve of the Revolu- tion," and stated that it took place on the ground next south of John Thompson's place on Market Street. Punishments were often harsh and brutal in Colonial days, and there are several references in the early books of the supervisors to a whipping post, and to chains and stocks for securing prisoners. The records also show that prisoners were in need of better security than the jail afforded, for its locks and bars were a source of much expense and were not infre- quently broken. The First Church. The first deed' in Liber A of Deeds is that which conveys the lot on which the first church was built, from Jacobus Van Den Bogert to "Capt. Barendt Van Kleeck, Mr. Myndert Van Den Bogert, Mr. Pieter fielee and Mr. Johannes van Kleeck All Yomen." It is dated December 26th, 1716, and was recorded Au- gust 20th, 1718, by Henry Van Derburgh, the second County Clerk. The congregation had been organized Oct. loth, 1716, when Re\-. Petrus Vas, pastor of the church at Kingston, installed Michael Parmenter and Pieter du Bois as elders, and Elias \'an Benschoten and Pieter Parmenter as deacons, and also baptised Marytjen, daughter of Frans De Langc and Marytjen \^an Schaak. Rev. A. P. \'an Gieson has translated many of the early Dutch records for his history of the church and he tells us that the first Church Master's book contains copies of subscription lists that were circulated in 1 717 to raise money for the building of the church. 1,427 guilders^ were sub- scribed in money and 61 days work estimated at six guilders per day. Evidently community life was taking form at this time and the future of the little hamlet at Poughkeepsie was assured, with the court house on one side of the King's Road and the church on the other. The church was finished in 1723 and is said to have been of stone. Its location is clearly shown by the description of the property in the deed : "Scituated Lying and being in pochkepseng in the 'Printed in full in the "History of the First Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie," by Rev. .-X. P. Van Gieson, D. \). (p. 122). -The guilder wa.s commonly reckoned at one shilling (i; 1-2 CIS.) New York currency. The term disappears from the Poughkeepsie Church records in 1740. — Dr. Van Gieson's History, p. 85. afore said County, butted and Boundett Vz on the Nort Sid to the Rood that Runs to the Eastward to the fore said Cap't Barendt Van Kleecks and on the west along the Rood that Runs to the Sout." This was of course on the southeast corner of Market and Main street, and the church still owns the property, as will appear in subsequent chapters. That the early Dutch settlers who built the church and the court house were not devoid of enterprise is apparent. They were so few in numbers that the church was united with that organized about the same time at Fishkill, and it was not until 1 73 1 that the first minister. Rev. Cornelius Van Schie arrived from Holland to take charge of the two backwoods congregations. If Dominie Van Schie received what the two churches agreed to pay him in the call (which Dr. Van Gieson prints in full) he got the princely salary of £70 ($175) New York money, the time of his salary "to begin with the lifting of the anchor of the ship on which he shall sail from Amsterdam.'' He was also furnished with firewood for summer and winter "to be piled by his house" and was presented with a brown horse which cost "four pounds & Teen shillings.'' A house, "three morgens of pasture, also a garden in suitable fence, " and several minor in- ducements were included in the call, but as he re- mained less than two years he may not have received all these good things. The parsonage, pasture, etc. were to be located either at Poughkeepsie or Fishkill, and Dominie Van Schie was to be perfectly free to decide which place he preferred for his residence. He preferred Poughkeepsie, and here the two congrega- tions jointly purchased the land on a part of which the present church stands and built the first parsonage, probably in 1732. In a call sent to Holland in 1734, it is described as "A new and suitable residence, fortv- five feet long and twenty-seven broad, having three rooms, and a study upstairs, a large cellar under the house, and a well with good water, a garden, and an orchard planted with 100 trees." Dominie Van Schie went to Albany in 1733 and it was twelve years before another minister could be in- duced to come out from Holland. The salary had then been raised to £110. The calls of course had to be sent through others by power of attorney, as it was impossible for the consistory of the little churches in Dutchess to know what young ministers were avail- able on the other side of the ocean. When the second minister, Rev. B. Mcynema, arrived and had looked over the ground he asked, among other things, "that he might be reimbursed for any expense in riding to the church, or from the church to his home, on account of storms, high water, and necessity of bein.3- helped through the creek," and the request was o-rant- HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSie. 23 ed. This of course, referred to the long ride to and from Fishkill. What happened to destroy the first church is not known. Rev. Samuel Seabury,' the English Church missionary, writing about 1756, says, "The Dutch Church at Poughkeepsie was not enclosed or under- pinned but standing on blocks, nor floored or preached in though raised for several years." If the date of this letter is correct it seems as if it must refer to a second church building, though according to the church records the second building was not determin- ed upon by the Consistory until Feb. 15th, 1760, at which time the minutes state that the walls of the old church had fallen. Boudewyn Lacounte, Elias Van Benschoten, Leonard Van Kleeck and James Liv- ingston were the building committee, and this church was erected on the North side of East Lane, as Main Street is called in the deed from Gale Yelverton con- veying the property, October 25th, 1760. It stood until 1822, on the lot just to the east of the present Nelson House Anne.x opposite the end of Mar- ket Street, and there are still a few interesting grave stones^ remaining in the rear of the buildings there. After this church was built the old church lot, on the corner across the road, continued to be used as a burial ground until well into the nineteenth century. Before the second building was determined upon the dissension between the Coetus and Conferentie parties had begun and the harmony of the Dutch church was not restored until the Revolution. The Coetus party held that, minsters could be ordained in America, while the Conferentie party maintained that the onl>' authority was in Holland. When the fourth pastor of the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill churches, Dominie Henricus Schoonmaker arrived in Poughkeepsie in 1764 for ordination he found the church in the possession of the opposing (Conferentie or Holland) party and the service took place under a tree not far from where the present church is located, the officiating minister, Rev. John H. Goetschius, standing in a wagon. Elder Peter Van Kleeck and Deacon John Conklin of the Conferentie party or- ganized a bolting consistory and called Rev. Isaac Rysdyck from Holland. He accepted, and from 1765 to 1772 the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill churches had two pastors. Dr. Rysdyck left the Poughkeepsie church to take charge of the Fishkill, Hopewell and New Hackensack churches in 1773, which marks the separation of the Poughkeepsie church from Fishkill. It is interesting to note that Mr. Schoonmaker, who was in his time said to be the most eloquent preacher iRev. H. O. Ladd's "Founding of the Episcopal Church in Dutchess County," p. 22, note. 2See appendix for names. in the Dutch language, left Poughkeepsie in 1774, largely because he could not preach well in English. The Dutch language was steadily losing ground and disappears entirely from the church records in 1783, though occasionally used in preaching until 1794. The first record of preaching in English was in 1 740 and in Dominie Schoonmaker's time it had become customary to hold services alternately in Dutch and in English. The church was evidently then much in the position of the Lutheran church of to-day. The First English Church. The increase of the English population and of the English language, as well as the dissentions in the Dutch church made a place for the Church of England (Episcopal) and for the Presbyterians. The latter,^ it appears, were first in the field with an organization as early as 1749. but failed to maintain themselves on a permanent basis or to erect a building until some time after the beginning of the 19th century. They held frequent services, however, first in connection with Fishkill and afterwards in connection with "Charlotte Precinct," which included Washington Hollow and Pleasant Valley, until 1772, and then the records show only an occasional sermon for a long period. At Pleasant Valley, on the other hand, the denomination increased in strength, and the first church was built there about 1770, when Rev. Wheeler Case left the Poughkeepsie congregation to become its pastor. The Pleasant Valley congregation was built up by immigration from the north of Ireland and soon became stronger even than the "Pittsbury Church," organized at what was afterwards called Washington Hollow, in 1746. The Church of England started in Poughkeepsie with a vigorous organization in 1766, as a result of meetings held during a number of visits from 1755 by Rev. Samuel Seabury of Hempstead, Long Island, who was in the service of the "Society for the Pro- pagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." It con- tinued to flourish until the Revolution was well start- ed, when prejudice against it became so strong on account of the lo}'alty of many of the members to the King, that services had to be suspended. Christ Church- in connection with Rombout (Fishkill), Beek- mans and Charlotte, in the year of its organization called Rev. John Beardslcy of Groton, Ct., to be its iThe History of the Presbyterian Church in Dutchess County has never been fully written, but see Daily Eagle, June 8th, i8gs. -Daily Eagle, May 25, 1895. The records of this church are in good preservation and a complete history is in couree of preparation by Miss Helen Wilkinson RejTiolds of Pough- keepsie. 24 HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. first rector, and the next year purchased a farm or "glebe' of 87 acres from Gideon Ostrander on the Filkintown Road (Main St.) The "glebe house," or rectory, built of brick in 1767, is still standing nearly in its original form on the north side of Main Street opposite the end of Church Street. At the meeting which extended the call to Mr. Beardsley, Barthole- mew Crannell, Peter Harris, Johannes Ferdon, Johan- nes Midlaer and Charles Moss were present from Poughkeepsie. A royal charter was granted to Christ Church, March 9th, 1773, by King George III, under the corporate title of "The Rector and Inhabi- tants of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County in Com- munion of the Church of England, as by law es- tablished," and by it a grant of two hundred acres of land previously regarded as "common land" was added to the glebe. This land in after years caused the church many law suits, as squatters settled on it and claimed title by right of occupation. ^^^"^^^^^^^m^i^i English Church Glebe House — Taken 1904. Rev. H. O. Ladd in his "Founding of the Episco- pal Church in Dutchess County" makes Trinity Church, Fishkill, antedate Christ Church by virtue of a subscription paper circulated for the building of a church in 1756, but no organization was formed at Fishkill until ten 3'ears later in connection with Pough- keepsie, and it does not appear that the church was built until 1769. The first Christ Church building was erected in 1774 on land given b}' Lewis DuBois. facing the Post Road, where the State Armory now is. There was some opposition to the establishment of the Church of England from the staunch old dissenters who had come into the county bringing with them the memory of the Stuarts of England, but the Dutch in- habitants do not seem to have been greatly disturbed. In fact Dutch names began to appear on the records ver\- soon after it was fairlv settled. ^Original parcliment in Savings Bank, in the care of Major J. K. Sague, one of the wardens. Oaths Signed by Office Holders. Something of the rehgious prejudices of Colonial days, as well as the English fear of a return of the Stuarts to the throne and of Roman Catholic influence, are shown in the oaths of abjuration and fealty re- quired to be taken by office holders in Dutchess County. These oaths were long, and abounded in every sort of legal repetition and prolixity. The shortest of them, as used in 1729, was as follows: I, A. B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor Detest and abjure as Impious and Heretical, that Danmable Doctrine and position that Princes Excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any Authority of the see of Rome may be deposed or Murdered by their subjects or any other what- soever, and I do declare that no Person Prelate State or Potentate has or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superi- ority Preeminence of authority; Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God The oath of fealty declared "that our Soveraigne Lord George the Second is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm * * * ^j^^j j ^^^ Solemnly and Sincerely declare * * * that the person pre- tended to be Prince of Wales during the Life of the Late King James and since his Decease pretending to be * * * King of England by the name of James the third hath not any Rights or Title whatso- ever," etc. A third oath declared that "in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ; there is not any Transubstantiation," etc., and that various practices of the Church of Rome are "Superstitious and Idolatrous." A copy of one of these oaths found in the attic of the old Court House contains the following sig- natures for the dates given : 1729. Benthusen, Jan — captain. Du Bois. Piter — justice. Du Lang, Frans — captain. Hermans, Hendricks — captain. Hussey, James — captain. Kip, Jacob, Jr. — captain. Kip, R'd — justice. Knickerbacker, Lowerens — captain. La Roy, Frans — captain. Muntross, John — captain. Oosterhout, Lowerens — captain. Sanders, Thomas — Scheefer, Henrie — Scott. William — coroner. Swartwout, Jacobus — Swartwout, Rudolf — sheriff. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. 25 Ter Bos, Jacobus — Ter Bos, Johannis — Van Benshoten, Elias — captain. Van Cleec, Lowerens — captain. Vanderburg, Henry — dark. Van Etten, Jacobus — Van Kleeck, Barent — major. Van Cleck, Pieter — justice. Van Clock, Johannis — Van Wagenen, Evert — captain. Westfalle, Wouter — 1730. Kip, Jacob, Jr. — captain. Van Wagenen Gerrit — captain. 1734- Brett, Francis — ensign. Brinkerhoff, Abraham — Bumshoten, Elias — captain. De Witt, Jacob — leftenent. Du Bois, Metthis — justice. Filkins Frans — judge. Hussey, James — captain. Kip, R'd — justice of the quorum. Livingston, Gil. — major. Osterhout, Jan — ensign. Scott, William — coroner and justice. Squire, William — sheriff. Swartwout, Bernardus — Swartwout, Jacobus — justice. Tebos, Jacobus — justice. Terbos, Johannis — judge. Van Campen, Jacob — captain. Van Cleec, Lowerens — leftenent and justice. Vanderburg, Henry — Van Kleeck, Barent— leftenent and colonel. Van Kleeck, Machiel — leftenent. Vanwyck, Cornelius — 1735- Beekman, Henry — justice. * Crawler, Peter. *Crandler, Peter. Haber, Fragharys— Knickerbacker, Lourens— ji-istice. Spater, Johannis— minister. Wilson, James — sheriff. It is a little difficult to tell from the old paper just what the offices held were in all cases. The list does not exactly agree with the colonial civil list as pub- ished by the State, which does not give Rudolf Swart- wout among the sheriffs. The two persons whose names are preceded by a star could not wnte their names and are marked -'naturalized," as is also Mr. Spater, the minister. There are two later colonial lists on file among the county papers. The Precinct or Town of Poghkeepsie. The County of Dutchess, as has already been shown by the first recorded tax roll, was divided into three wards as soon as it had enough population to warrant a division, "The South Division to begin at the South side of the Highlands & Northward to Wapaingers Creek, the Middle Division to begin at the aforesaid Wapaingers Creek, & so Northward to Cline sopas Island, & the North Division to be- gin on the Northside of the Midle Division, and end- ing on the Northernmost bounds & extent of the County."! ]\Tq eastern boundaries were assigned, "Cline sopas Island" is the present Esopus Island, not far from Hyde Park. The Middle Division was therefore very much the smallest of the three, indicat- ing that the population was mostly concentrated there. In 1737 the county was further divided into seven pre- cincts, in general corresponding to the great land grants, except the "Poghkeepsie Precinct," which in- cluded "all the Lands to the Northwest of Wappingers Kill or Creek from the mouth thereof And up along the said Kill or Creek & Hudson's River until it meets the Patent Granted to Heathcote & Company called the Lower Nine Partners." Thus the precinct or town of Poughkeepsie came into existence with practi- cally its present boundaries. This act provided for the election of supervisors, assessors, etc. the first Tues- day in April, but there was no provision for a Town or Precinct Clerk until 1741. In 1749 the "Precinct of Poghkeepsie" — this was the official spelling until after the Revolution — bought a book and copied in it the records from 1742, and from that time the records of the town elections are complete. Town meetings were of course held in Poughkeepsie and the town clerk's office remained here for many 3'ears. The first page of the town book is as follows : At a meeting of the Inhabitants of Poghkeepsie Precinct in Dutchess County on Tuesday the Sixth Day of April 1742 when by a Plurality of Votes were chosen for the year Ensuing viz : John Van Kleeck Supervisor "Lewis Du Bois { Assessors Bowdewine La Count \ Barent Lewis, Overseer of ye Road to ye Northward Benjamin Van Keuren Do To )'e Southward John Tappen Do To ye Eastward John Maxfield Do To ye North East Henry Livingston Town Clerk John Ten Brook Collector iColoiiial Laws, Vol. I, p. 1033. This act is dated June 24, 1719, but it appears from the tax roll quoted that the di- vision had been made as early as 1717. 26 HISTORY OF POUGHKBUPSin. Abraham Freer Pound Master Peter Viele | ^ ... Frans La Roy [ ^ence Viewers Bartholemew Noxon ( ■ Overseers of the Poor Henry Van Den Burgh ( r^ * ui Johannes Swartwout \ Constables In the next year John Conklin, Jacobus Van Bomell, Moses De Graff and Augustus Turick come on the hst of precinct officers and Abraham Freer is designated "Pounder." The overseers of the roads in 1743 were Henry Livingston — Overseer of ye Road to ye Northward. Isaac Lassing — Do To ye Southward. Myndert Van Den Bogert — Do to Du Bois. John Rynders — Do To ye nine partners. Nearly all these men lived in or near the present city limits of Poughkeepsie. The references to the roads are clear except that "To Du Bois." In the record of the next year's election, 1744, the road "To ye nine partners" becomes the road "To filkintown." Henry Filkins was sheriff from 1743 to 1748 and the settlement named from him was in the neighborhood of Mabbettsville. In the 1744 records five roads are mentioned and among the overseers are: Matewis Kip — from Lewis Du Bois to Callrugh. Gerret Davis — from Lassing's to Du Bois Mill. In 1745^ the roads are designated simply "North," "South," "filkintown, "Simeon La Roy" and "Lewis Du Bois." In 175 1 Gulian Ackerman is mentioned as overseer to "Du Bois Bridge" and Peter Du Bois to "La Roy's Bridge," while a sixth road "from Perdon's to P. Lassings" comes in. In 1754 Clear Everitt was overseer "To Larroys Bridge" and Francis Littamore "From Gedion Duboys to P. Road." Clear Everitt became sheriff in 1754 and he lived, I believe, at the mouth of the Fall Kill and owned the milP there. This leads one to conjecture that the road in his charge might have been Mill Street and that there was a bridge across the Fall Kill somewhere near him call- ed La Roy's Bridge. In 1755 the road masters were: Post Road South Roelif Westerfelt Post Road North James G. Livingston From Gidion Duboys to Post Road James Lucky Filkintown Road Gabriel H. Ludlow From Call Rugh to Simeon Larroy's Bridge John DeGraff From Ferdon's to Hock Landing Abraham Lassen "Call Rugh" must be our Kaal or Call Rock and early maps show a road leading around from it to Mill Street about at the junction of Mill and Clover iTunis Van Vliet comes on the records as road overseer in this year and Casparus Westerfelt in 1746. ~K deed from Henry Bayeau.x to Anne Everct, dated 1761, refers to him as owner of this mill. Streets. It has all sorts of spellings and in the I759 records becomes Call Bergh and is once or twice spelled Colburgh. There was evidently a landing place there with an authorized town road leading to it as early as 1744. It comes all the way down in the records to 1790 with occasional omissions. Mr. Loss- ing says that the rock received its name because it was the place from which passing sloops were signalled, and the fact that the landing place there was used as early as 1744 and appears to have been the principal Poughkeepsie landing place for a time, makes it seem possible that he was right, though a derivation from the Dutch word Kahl (bald) has been sug- gested as more probable. The road mentioned in 1744 "from Lewis Dubois to Callrugh" is puzzling. If Dubois lived where road surveys of the same date seem to place him, on what we now call the New Hackensack Road, and where he certainly was living a few years later — DuBois's Mill was in 1770 at the out- let of what is now Vassar College Lake — then there must have been a road regarded as continuous all the way from his neighborhood to the Call Rock landing, certainly evidence of the importance of the landing. No map shows such a road, unless it may be taken to include the New Hackensack Road to Main Street, and the winding way on about the lines of Washington, Mill and Clover Streets. The old road books contain many such puzzles and modern surveyors who have gone through them searching for the early lines have marked a considerable number of the roads "un- known." Doubtless the location of some has been so entirely changed as to be unrecognizable, but the puzzles presented by most of them could be worked out by a careful comparison of old maps, deeds and traditions as to where the people mentioned lived. Some CoIvOniai, Events. There were a number of events of sufficient excite- ment to lend variety to the life of the little hamlet of Poughkeepsie in Colonial days, but they were gen- erally county matters brought to the county seat for legal action. The examinations in 1744 at "Pikipsi" of the Moravians, Buttner, Ranch and Mack, who had established a successful mission among the Indians at Shekomeko, reflected the bitter religious prejudices of the times and the fear of the French. The driving of these noble, unselfish Christians from the county was an episode of which no one can be proud. The history of the Moravian mission has been pretty fully written, and is well covered in the Dutchess County History published in 1882. There is little evidence that the persecuted missionaries found much sympathy among the inhabitants of Poughkeepsie, who doubt- less shared the insane suspicion of the day that the HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. 27 Moravians were in some way acting in the interest of the French. That fear of the French was not al- together absurd at this time the following letter to Henry Livingston, the County Clerk, fiom his brother- in-law, shows : Rinebeek Novem. 23 — 1745 IvOving Brother, *" " , We are att presnt in good health, hope by^god s Blessmg this may find you & family the same I Recieved this Morning at 5 oclock a letter from Uncle P. Livingston to witt— that there was 600 french & Indians near hosick Drawing Down to the English Settlements which news came Post Down to him & he sent it Likewise to me, his Letter was Dated Last night 12 oclock I Emiediately sent it over pr post as your father was the nearest Colonell I Dount Doudt but you have heard of the murder committed att scharightoga were they kild all they could gitt both man & beast, as for the particulars we have not yet heard, it is supposed that Mr. Philip Schy- ler is first shot & then burnt in his own house my wife son & self joyn in Love to you sister & Gille & am your to command, Jacob Rutsen. On the side of the sheet are written the words "In great haste." News carried by direct messengers on horseback was not so slow as we are inclined to imagine, but additional particulars were hard to ob- tain and alarm was proportionally greater. Here is another letter which shows something of the feelings of one Dutchess County boy pursuing the French far away from home. Launciston June ye ist, 1745 Loving Brother this is to let you know that I am in good health and I hope this will find you in the same dear brother I am very sorry that I did not stay at home with you for I do repent very much my coming in a man of w^r for here is nothing else but Cursing and swaring every day Now we are Cruising of Capertuny i8th of last may we took a french man of war of 64 Guns Brother I wish I was now with you at home out of this miserable place I hope you and sister and Cousin Gilbert are in good health, no more at present but am your Loving brother Samuel Livingston. During the French and Indian War Governor Hardy called out the militia of Dutchess and Ulster Counties, after the surrender of Oswego to the French in 1756. There \va.^ much traveling by important personages up and down the river throughout the war, for Albany was the military headquarters. The Earl of Loudon marched an army from New York to Al- bany by the Post Road, which we are told was opened by him through the Highlands where it had been merely a trail before. The Dutchess militia were sent to reinforce his army at Lake George and prob- ably a few residents of Poughkeepsie town spent the fall of 1756 in the wilderness at Fort William Henry, watching the French at Ticonderoga, and then in the winter returned home leaving the work to the British regulars. Probably also some of them were among Webb's provincials at Fort Edward, who failed^ to go to the relief of Fort William Henry in time to prevent its capture by Montcalm the next year. In 1766 there were soldiers again at Poughkeepsie, British regulars, and we learn from a letter^ written by Sheriff James Livingston that there was a skirmish between the military and the people. This skirmish, however, took place in the eastern part of the county near Quaker Hill and was a part of the "anti-rent war" against the great land holders. One of the anti-rent leaders, William Pendergast, was brought to Poughkeepsie and his trial is one of the causes cele- bres of Colonial days. He conducted his own defense assisted by his wife, but the jury found him guilty. The wife, as soon as the result was announced, started at once on horseback for New York, obtained a re- prieve from the Governor, and was back in three days. Such a woman could hardly be expected to fail in what she undertook. She followed up her success with an application to the King himself, and in six months a full pardon came from George HI and Pendergast and his noble wife went home amid great rejoicings.^ The eastern Dutchess people were mostly Yankees from Connecticut and not so deliberate in their move- ments as the Dutch of the river neighborhoods. Some Signs of Growth. The development of a town in the neighborhood of the Court House and Dutch Church was about as de- liberate as anything could be, but after 1750 the Coun- ty of Dutchess began to grow rapidly and the popula- tion was almost doubled between 1749 and 1756, the census of the latter year putting it at 14,157. In 1756 William Smith, the historian of New York, said of the county, "The only villages in it are Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill, but they scarce deserve the name." It is something to know that Poughkeepsie was called a village at that time, forty-three years before it was officially incorporated, and it may also be some satis- faction to know that Xewburgh wasn't yet heard of. Of Orange County Smith says, "Their villages are Goshen, Bethlehem and Little Britain." Kingston, on the other hand already had "about one-hundred and fifty houses, mostly of stone, is regularl\' laid out on a dry, level spot and has a large stone church and court iParknian's "Montcalm and Wolfe," Vol. I, pp. 439-497 and Vol. II, p. 2. -Calendar of English Manuscripts, Sec. of State's Office, p. 763. 3Sketch in Weekly Eagle, May 17th, 1856. 2S HISTORY OF ROUGH KEBPSIE. house near the centre." He might have mentioned the fact that we had a pretty good Court House also ai; that time, judging from the time required to finish it. The second Court House was authorized as we liave seen, in 1743, when an appropriation of £300 was made, then in 1745 £300 more were appropriated, in 1750 £130 more and in 1753 an additional £50, ac- cording to the Colonial acts. Presumably, therefore this Court House was finished for something less than $2,000, but money purchased a great deal more in labor and material then than it does now. In 1764 another £70 was authorized for converting "one of the Jury Rooms in the County House into a Jail," and in 1765 £200 was added to this. Both the Court House and the jail were certainly large enough to be of a great deal of service during the Revolution. By 1756 the English population had so much in- creased, as we have seen, as to attract the occasional services ot a missionar)' of the Church of England, and the Presbyterians were also on the ground. Rev. Samuel Seabury, the Church of England missionary, is authority for the statement that a considerable num- ber of families from Long Island were settling in Dutchess County at this time. The river trade was becoming of some im- portance in Poughkeepsie, as references already made to the "Call Rugh" road show, and doubt- less there was also a landing place at the mouth of the Fall Kill. According to tradition the old grist mill, which preceded the dye-wood mills, was raised on the day of Braddock's defeat in 1755, and stood until 1849, when it was burned. It was during this period that the two crooked roads to the river that we now know as Pine Street and Union Street originated. In a deed^ from William Van Derburgh to Richard Davis, dated Oct. 9th, 1761, the three acres of ground conveyed are described as "Beginning at a white oak- tree standing at the South side of a small Creek called the landing place Killetje," and there is a stipulation for ''a convenient open road of the breadth of three rodds from the post road through the other lands of the said William Van Derburgh to a Store House that may be hereafter built or building to be and remain a publick and open road forever." This was the road marked on the maps of a few years later as "Richard Davis's Road" and after 1800 was named Pine Street. It followed a winding course seeking an easy grade into the valley of the Killetje (little kill.) l->idently the landing place had been used before that time, but had not been improved. Four small streams converg- ed at this landing place, as shown on the 1798 and 17()9 maps, — see frontispiece, also Chapter V — iLiber 14, p. 254. and the last of tliem has only recently been put into the sewer. One^ of them flowed through Eastman Park, coming down between Montgomery and Noxon Streets, but the ground has been so completely chang- ed by filling that its course is difficult to trace. The cove at the mouth of the Killetje was as much of a "safe harbor" as that at the mouth of the Fall Kilj^ v, John De Graff, (either the same man mentioned in' the first supervisors and justices' records or his son), owned the next farm north of William Van Derburgh, and had also built a store house at the river front by 1766. In 1767 a road was laid out by the town com- missioners (Book C, Roads, p. 74) on petition of John De Graff and his son-in-law James Winans "petition- ers having both a Dwelling and a store House near Hudson's river * * -^ and being desirous to have a public Landing place there and not having an open road from the Kings Road to the premises." The road is described as beginning "at said Store House thence along the Bank to the Dug way thence up the Bank as the road now goes to the Top of the Hill thence along the east side of the Hill to the west of the Brook till it comes to the Creek thence over the same as the road is now opened To the Kings road at the south side of the Court House." Who could recognize all this for Union Street, except by the ter- minus at the south side of the Court House ? A little consideration of old maps and the situation of the ground will show pretty plainly that the "Dug Way" and the "top of the Hill" must refer to the lower part of Union Street (the road up from the old Lower Furnace). This landing place during or soon after the Revolution became known as the "Union Landing" and the road to it was called "The Union Store Road." James Winans in the meantime had built himself a store house and a landing further south, near Richard Davis's store house, but on the north side of the Killetje. The fact that a branch road from the Union Store Road led to it (a road which became the end of South Water Street) appears to indicate that the Killetje was not bridged so that Davis's road could be reached from that side. When the first store house was erected at the mouth of the Fall Kill we do not know, but it prob- ably antedated all the others, and a deed from Clear Everitt to Nathaniel Seaman in 1764 refers to "Houses, .Mill, Mill House, Store Houses," etc. Down to this time this property, the site of the first mill in Pough- keepsie, can be clearly traced through deeds on record. It passed from Myndert ITeermance to Leonard Lewis in 1710, from Lewis to his wife by will, dated 1723, lit furnished the water for flooding the old Eastman skat- ing park. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE 'iit and then to Anthony Yelverton in 1740. He sold in 1755 to Martin Hoffman of Rhinebeck, which seems to mark the coming of the Hoffman family, who lived in that neighborhood many years. Hoffman sold (perhaps not all the property) to Clear Everitt in 1760 and Everitt sold to Nathaniel Seaman, as noted, in 1764. There tlic record stops. Robert L. Livingston of Clermont came into the possession of the mill after this in some way, but perhaps not until after the Revolution. He is said to have built the substantial stone house, afterwards the home of the Hoffman and Sherman families and recently the home of Mr. Charles N. Arnold. This house of course originally had a peaked roof. The Hoffman or Shcniiaii House — Taken 1904. PuGMiNENT Colonial F.^miliES. .\n interesting little survey- map^ of the Hudson River from "the mine point to the crum elbow" — a map upon which Gilbert Livingston endorsed a state- ment in 17<)4 that it was made by his father about 56 years earlier — has the mill marked "Lewis Mill." If Henry Livingston did make the survey and map as early as 1738. it was made before he came to Pough- keepsie, or at least before he bought property here. The marks on the map indicating buildings and their owners, etc., were certainly later additions, for a "ship- yard" is indicated in the neighborhood afterward called "Ship Yard Point" and "Richard Davis's Store House" is .so marked. Near the "Rust platts Killitie" is a house marked "Conklin's," wliicii would seem to show that Gili)ert Livingston or one of his brothers wrote the names on the map, for they naturally knew all about that place. Henry Livingston,- the first of his name in Poughkecpsie, was a son of Gilbert Liv- ingston and Cornelia Beekman, and was born at Kings- ton, Sept. 8th, 1714. His father was a son of the "first lord" of Livingston Manor. He married Susan Conklin and purchased his property here from John Conklyn, as the name is spelled in the deed, Nov. i6th, 1742, and the same 3'ear became county clerk, an office which he retained until 1789, and in which he was succeeded first by his son Robert Henry Livingston and then in 1804 by another son, Gilbert Livingston. Henry Livingston's brother, James G. Livingston, was sheriff of Dutchess County from 1761 to 1769 (succeeding Clear Everitt), and also lived in Pough- kecpsie. Philip J. Livingston of Livingston Manor, the Tory sheriff of early Revolutionary times, prob- abl}' also lived here during his term of office. Besides these and their families there was Robert L. Living- ston already mentioned as owning the mill at the mouth of the Fall Kill at one time. He is said to have lived at Rhinebeck, where he also owned mills, but may have resided here for a time, as one of his daughters married' John Crooke of Poughkeepsie, and his son, Robert G., married Marthe de Reimer of the same place. EM* M ^P ^^ ^i^:^ f.^i^ ^^^&S ^E^^^^ r^SI v^^^i 11 ii ^H \m- the sub-com- mitteemen show the strong feeling of the Revolution- ary organizers against those who refused to sign. Silas Marsh, who made the canvass for one district of North East Precinct encloses the names of three men iSec Appendix for Pouglikeep.sie Precinct list; also Ameri- can Archives, Vol. Ill, and Calendar of Revolutionary Papers, Vol. I, pp. 77, 78 and 79. HISTORY Of POUGHKEEPSIB 37 in a black border, inscribes them "The black Role of Tories," and adds, "Tho out of my limits I am com- pelled to remind you Gentlemen of James Smith, Esqr. who is notoriously wicked." The lists of "As- sociators" are not conclusive evidence as to opinions throughout the Revolution, for some of the signers like Richard Snedeker were afterwards known as Tories, while a few who were on the "black list" after- wards supported the cause of American liberty warm- ly, and others after they saw themselves powerless to stem the popular current ceased outspoken opposition. Something like forty or fifty residents of the town of Poughkeepsie incurred the suspicion of the local com- mittees so strongly that their personal property was sold under forfeiture, possibly because they had aban- doned it, in 1777, but I think very few of them en- tered the British service. Bartholomew Crannell was one of the few, and was the only person in the neigh- borhood of the village whose real estate was confis- cated, so far as I have been able to find. The account of the sales of personal property has been preserved in a book now in the care of the Custodian of Records in the State Library at Albany. Each article sold is enumerated with the price, and the faithful certainly obtained some fine bargains in horses, cattle and even in mahogany furniture. It is rather difficult to tell to what precinct or town the persons^ whose property was sold belonged in all cases, for the arrangement is somewhat confused, but only a small proportion of the names of those who seem to have belonged to the Pre- cinct of Poughkeepsie are to be found in the list of men who refused to sign the Pledge of Association. They included, however, Henry Van DerBurgh, Rich- ard Van Der Burgh, Jacob Ferdon, several of the Las- sings, John Beardsley, the rector of the English Church, and Bartholomew Crannell. Here again there is no mention of the Evcritts. In spite of Crannell's unswerving loyalty to the King, his two daughters, Mrs. Livingston and Mrs. Tappen, became equally strong adherents of the popu- lar side, and are said to have offended their father very early in the dispute by wearing aprons em- broidered "Liberty and "No Tea" in his presence. The Tories were disarmed and closely watched, and if they refused to take the oath of allegiance, after the Declaration of Independence had been proclaimed, were arrested and kept in confinement or assigned to certain limits. Many of them also were sent within the British lines in exchange for Whigs. They were al- ways suspected of furnishing information to the enemy, of harboring British recruiting agents, or of iFor list of persons who appear to have li\ed in the Town of Poughkeepsie, see Appcndi.x. encouraging the bands of marauders that later in the war made cne naine of Tory so thoroughly detested. The}' were rounded up, not all at once but at various times, according to the exigencies of the occasion, as will be shown. Some of the arrests were unjustifiable; it is stated that a sixteen-year-old boy was arrested near FishkiU, brought to Poughkeepsie and hung, an inci- dent which nearly caused a riot. Of one youth, Wil- liam Haff, who got into trouble during the Revolution, a romantic story is told. He lived a short distance east of Poughkeepsie and was doubtless a somewhat wild, roystering youth, but withal a great favorite among the people, and especially among the young women in his neighborhood. He had incurred the animosity of a justice of the peace before whom he was brought fot^some prank, and who made use of his authority by senteiicing Haff to be publicly whipped. This was entirely too much for the proud spirit of the young man, and he forthwith pitched into the justice, gave him, so the story goes, a sound licking and then ran away to the southward, where he ultimately joined the British army. After a while, becoming homesick for the sight of some of his old friends, and especially for a certain joung woman with whom he was ac- quainted, he ventured up into the vicinity of his old home, was captured, tried and convicted as a deserter, and sentenced to be hung. While awaiting execution he was confined in the jail in Poughkeepsie, which was guarded by soldiers. At certain times the prisoners were allowed the freedom of a hall, or corridor, which extended from the front of the Court House on Mar- ket Street, to the rear of the building, facing west- ward, for air and exercise. Haff did not lose his spirits because of his perilous situation, but, as among his other accomplishments, he was a fine singer, oc- casionally would stand at the front window and sing, his fine strong voice often attracting a crowd of people who stood in the street below to listen. Whether he had planned his subsequent action from the beginning, or whether it was suggested by the fact that he noticed the soldiers stopping their patrol to stand beneath the window with the crowd while he sang, is not known, but one day at noon Haff appeared at the front win- dow and sang with unusual vig'or and expression. There was a little pause, during- which the sentries made the circuit of the building to see that all was safe, and Haff began singing again before they got back. A few minutes later there was another pause, and the soldiers remained on the Market Street front, waiting for him to resume, but this time he failed to reappear, and after waiting a few minutes they marched round the Court House, to find when thev reached the west side that the window opening from 38 HISTORY OF POUGHKHBPSIB the hall was open. Haff had jumped out and was already out of sight in the woods which then lay between the Court House and the river. An alarm was at once sounded and parties started to capture the daring prisoner, but they never saw him again till the war was over. Then among the conditions of peace there had been established a full amnesty for all military offences, whereupon Mr. Haff returned to Poughkeepsie, sporting his red coat and full British uniform as he marched up and down the streets, to the chagrin of his former persecutors, but to the great admiration of some of the young people, including the young woman for whom he had risked his life, and whom tradition appropriately says he afterwards married. The Declaration of Independence was the turning point which many good citizens felt that they could not approve, and it put the Church of England at once in a serious position, dependent as it was upon the authority of the Bishops of the mother country. In the Christ Church records is the following minute : "At a vestry meeting held at the house of the Rev. Mr. John Beardsley on Saturday, July 13th, 1776, to consider of the Rector stoping divine service in the church (In consequence of the Independency being declared by Continental Congress) until the vestry can hear from New York. Present the Rev'd John Beardsley Rector ; Isaac Baldwin church Warden ; Bartholomew Crannell, William Emmott, Isaac Bald- win , Jr. ; Robert Noxon, Eli Emans, John Davis, vestrymen. Taking the above affair in consideration Resolved that the Rector do from this time stop all Divine Ser- vice in the church until word can be had from the Rector of New York or from a convention of the clergy." Whether this was a purely voluntary act or whether public clamor against the well-known opin- ions of the rector and several of the vestry had its influence does not appear. Mr. Crannell was prob- ably arrested and sent to New York not long after this time, if the statement that he reached there before the British took possession is true, but the permission to go to New York for "The Reverend Mr. John Beardsle}', his Wife and five Children His Negro Wench & three Negro Female Children with the Wearing Apparel, necessary Bedding for the Family & provision for their Passage,"' is dated January 17, 1778. Mr. Beardsle^'s removal had been ordered in December, 1777, according to the church records. He became chaplain of I'.cverly Robinson's regiment of Loyal Americans and after the war settled at iClinton Papers, Vol II, p, 574. This permission included Henry Vandenburgh and famil}', Mrs. Catherine Clopper and several others. Maugerville,^ New Brunswick. Some of his des- cendants, particularly his youngest son Bartholomew Crannell Beardsley, attained considerable distinction in Canada. Military Organization. As the war progressed every man was forced to de- clare himself, and pretty nearly every able-bodied man was forced to serve in the army at some time, or sub- ject himself to arrest. Under the Colonial system all able-bodied men were required to enroll in the militia, and when the Revolution was organized the system was continued. A special "black list" of those who re- fused to sign the "Pledge of Association" was kept for each company. Dutchess County had seven regiments during the war, according to the rolls published by the State, though probably not all were in existence at the same time. They included two regiments of "Minute Men," one commanded by Col. Jacobus Swartwout, which appears to have been numbered the First Regi- ment. The 2nd Dutchess Regiment was commanded by Col. Abraham Brinckerhoff, the 3d by Col. John Field and Andrew Morehouse, the 4th by Col. John Frear, the 5th by Cols. William Humphrey and John Vanderburgh, the 6th by Cols. Morris Graham and Roswell Hopkins and the 7th by by Col Henry Luden- ton. The organization of the militia regiments was de- cidedly loose, there was little discipline, and they often failed when most wanted, but weak as they were, they always formed a reserve for emergencies and rendered some important service. Despite their unwillingness to turn out and leave their homes, there were times when the American cause would have fared much worse had it not been for the militia of Dutchess County, which during part of the war was the largest and strongest county in the State, both in population and in taxable wealth. Besides the militia, though formed from it, there were independent companies specially organized to drill and prepare for service. One such was formed in Poughkeepsie in 1775 with John Schenck, Captain, Dr. Peter Tappen, ist Lieuten- ant, John Child, 2d Lieutenant, and Matthew Van Keuren, Ensign. When their commissions arrived in September they found themselves attached to Col. Swartwout's regiment of minute men, and on Oct. 26th they petitioned to be kept independent, apparently a local manifestation of the unwillingness to serve under general officers. The real soldiers of the Revolution were those of the Continental Army, enlisted for a term of years. Warrants for enlisting recruits in Dutchess County were issued June 28, 1775, to Captains Henry B. Liv- 1 Eaton's "The Church in Nova Scotia," p. 161. HISTORY OF POUGHKHBPSIB 39 ingston, Ivouis DuBois, Andrew Billings and Rufus Herrick; to First Lieutenants Jacob Thomas, Elias Van Benschoten, Jr., Ezekiel Cooper and Charles Gra- ham; and to Second Lieutenants Roswell Wilcox, Cornelius Adriance, John Langdon and Jesse Thomp- son. Of these men Henry B. Livingston became colonel of the 4th Line Regiment of Continentals, Rufus Herrick a captain and Roswell Wilcox and Jesse Thompson lieutenants. In the third line regi- ment, commanded by James Clinton, are found the names of Andrew Billings, Elias Van Benschoten, Lewis Duboys and Ezekiel Cooper as captains. The others do not appear in the lists published. Ezekiel Cooper seems also to have commanded a company known as the rangers during part of the war. There were certainly many enlistments from Dutchess and among the records of the Committee of Safety, dated July 12, 177s, is a letter from Capt. Andrew Billings of Poughkeepsie stating that he had enlisted seventy- two men and asking for orders. He was directed to put himself under the command of Col. Clinton. When Richard Montgomery of Red Hook had been commissioned a General and selected as a leader in the daring invasion of Canada in the fall of '75. many men from Dutchess accompanied him. Elias Van Benschoten was one of these and was recommended by Gen. George Clinton for promotion at a latter peri- od, because of his service under Montgomery. Poughkeepsie's First "Boom" — Ship Buieding for THE New Navv. Mr. Joel Benton has been quoted as saying: "In colonial da^s few were the people here; but they were a bright and stirring handful."^ They accom- plished enough during the Revolution to justify this assertion, and the little town was a wonderfully busy place during most of the war. The fact of its location, far enough above the Highlands to be considered safe from the British, attracted a few families from New York, and also caused its selection as the place at which to build two of the thirteen frigates author- ized by the Continental Congress in December, 1775. This selection gave the town its first importance, and at about the same time it became the centre from which the Revolutionary correspondence of the county was conducted, having been previously barred by its conservatism. December 7th, 1775, Egbert Benson of Red Hook wrote to the Provincial Congress stating that the county committee had appointed "Col Freer, Capt. Piatt, and Messrs. John Child, Paul Schenck and Peter Tappen (all residing in Poughkeepsie) a Committee of Correspondence," because they were 'Bacon's Hudson, p. 426. more conveniently located than he to communicate with all parts of the county. During this month there was some correspondence about certain persons who refused to recognize the authority of the county committee to compel them to testify concerning the presence and business of one John Harris, who was charged with enlisting men for "the Ministerial army." The Provincial Congress authorized the imprisonment of these persons and some were sent to the Pough- keepsie jail. The weeding ovit of Tories was evidently well started, but the following communication seems to hint that the Poughkeepsie precinct was not yet to be trusted too far. Writing of one Timothy Doughty from Rhinebeck, Jan 29, 1776, Mr. Benson says; "Not only from the disaffection of the county, but as there will be an election at Poughkeepsie on Tuesday next and a vast number of people necessarily assemble, we thought it prudent to commit him to the jail in Kingston."^ Preparations for building the two frigates for the nav}' were probably by this time in progress and bringing to Poughkeepsie some important visitors. The spring of 1776 was fortunately an early one, and we learn from a letter written by Robert Erskine to George Clinton, dated Feb. 29th,2 that six tons of iron had been shipped by sloop from New York to New Windsor by that time, "to be forwarded from thence, by the first opportunity, to Messrs. Samuel Tudor & Aug't Lawrence, Superintendents, to the Shipbuilding near Poughkeepsie." The opportunity came before long and Mr. Lossing states that lumber was brought down the river from Gen. Schuyler's mills at Sara- toga about the middle of March, men and materials having been forwarded from New York still earlier. The reference in the letter above quoted to the "Ship-building near Poughkeepsie," together with a comparison of maps shows pretty conclusively that the Continental ship-3'ard was on the Livingston property just south of the town. There was a ship-yard in that neighborhood before the Revolution, and "Ship-yard Point" was carried on all the early maps well down into the 19th Centur)- as the name of what we now call Fox's Point. h\ 1800 also there was a division among the heirs of Henry Livingston of the"Ship- yard Property,' a map of which is on file. Smith's History of the county, however, says that the "Conti- nental navy yard was on the site of the late Edward Southwick's tannery, near the Lower Landing." Sloops and schooners, as will appear, were built in the latter neighborhood after 1800, but I have seen no evidence that any such work was done there during 1 American Archives, Vol. IV, p. 1118. 2 Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. I, p. 226. 40 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB the Revolution, though there was considerable boat building of various kinds here during the war, and it maj' not have been confined to one locality. General Washington himself ordered that fire rafts should be built at Poughkeepsie early in the summer of 1776 and it appears from letters of Jacobus Van Zandt, of the secret committee then in session here, that at least fourteen such craft were launched in July. (Clinton Papers, \''ol. I, pp. 254 and 275.) The theatre of war had now been shifted from New England to New York, a British fleet was in possession of the harbor and a British army was gathering on Staten Island ; the Declaration of In- dependence had been signed and accepted, and the Colony or Province of New York had become a State. The Convention, successor of the Provincial Congress, sent John Jay with five others to Poughkeepsie, "to devise and carry into execution such measures as to them shall appear most effectual for obstructing the channel of Hudson's River or annoying the enemy's ships." This committee "held its first meeting at the house of Mr. Van Kleeck in Poughkeepsie," accord- ing to Pellew's Life of John Jay (page 62), "and at once .sent Jay to the Salisbury Iron Works in Con- necticut for cannon and shot," which he at length obtained.' The critical period of the Revolution was be- ginning and all depended upon holding the Hud- son. Poughkeepsie became the centre of the develop- ment of plans for defense and besides the fire rafts above mentioned old sloops were rigged up to be sunk for obstructing the channel, and an immense iron chain, which had been used in an attempt to keep Brit- ish vessels out of Lake Champlain, was sent down from Ticonderoga. Theophilus Anthony and other blacksmiths in the neighborhood were set to work forging additional links to piece it out so that it would be long enough to reach across the Hudson at Fort Montgomery, which had been constructed near the lower entrance to the Highlands. ^»- Of course when the British began to tlTfeaten New York many of the Tories seized the opportunity to show their colors, and anticipating trouble the Pro- vincial Congress had, on June 20th, passed a resolution providing for the raising of three companies of 50 men each in Dutchess and Westchester counties to keep them in check. Melancthon Smith and John Durlin were appointed captains of the Dutchess com- panies, but it appears that most of the serious dis- affection was in the lower part of the county, now Putnam County. When at length the British army iFor his report see Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Vol. I, p. 75- was Strong enough to move to attack General Wash- ington, there was great alarm throughout the Hud- son river counties. On the 27th of August, 1776, two days after Washington's defeat at the Battle of Long Island, the State Convention resolved to call out the militia of Westchester, Dutchess, Orange and Ulster Counties, but on Sept. 4th there was a report against such action on the ground that the militia of the four counties did not exceed 3,100, while the "dis- armed and disaffected" numbered 2,300 and the slaves 2,300. From Dutchess County Col. Swartwout's and Col. Morris Graham's regiments were nevertheless in the field and took part in the battles at White Plains and Harlem. Many Tories were arrested during this summer and fall and the jail at Poughkeepsie was full. Between the hurrying of the defenses of the High- lands, the mustering of the troops in response to the numerous alarms and the surveillance of the Tories, the local committees led a strenuous existence. The general expectation was that the British would seek to push past the defenses in the Highlands for the purpose of destroying the two big frigates building at Poughkeepsie, and messengers were constant!}' dash- ing up the Post Road with news that the British ships were about to advance or had advanced towards Fort Montgomery. Most urgent letters were sent by Gen- eral Washington, General Israel Putnam, General George Clinton, and the Convention, to induce all possible haste in the construction of the war ships and the big chain. At the same time the members of the Poughkeepsie committee were often without money, and at their wit's ends to keep things moving. The following letter from their secretary to the Conven- tion will serve as an illustration of some of the prob- lems at hand : In Committee, Poughkeepsie Aug 9, 1776 Sirs : From the present situation of publick affairs, the Committee of Poughkeepsie labor under many difficulties for want of cash, as well to answer publick accounts already due, which they have become bound for, as to answer emergencies of which the following are instances : Colonel Clinton wrote us to send him a number of boards down to Fort Constitution, to make shelter for the troops then ordered there, which the barracks would not contain. On his request we purchased a quantity of Mr. Child and sent them down. On return of the sloop Mr. Child received an order on us for the money, which we could not pay ; in consequence of which he returned the order to Colonel Clinton, which we are informed remains yet unpaid. Colonel Clinton also drew on us to pay the freight of the above boards. Major-General Schu^-ler sent down a party of men for stores from the shipyards. These men called on us to provide. them provisions. We have to request the honorable the Convention of the State of New HISTORY OF POUGHKBHPSIB. 41 York would intrust the Committee of Poughkeepsie with a sum of money * * * John Schenck, Secretary. The ship carpenters more than once went on strike with good reason, for they received scarcely enough to buy the barest necessities of life, and worst of all were often without rum. In November the ship- wrights, who were then getting eight shillings per day, declared in a petition^ signed by George Peek and Robert Hatton that the lowest they would work for was "14s per Day & a half Pint Rum" for the foreman and "lis per Day & half pint Rum" for each of the journeymen. The Revolutionary correspond- ence shows that rum was quite as necessary in carry- ing on war as powder and pork, and gave the com- missary officers almost as much concern. In spite of all difficulties the work went forward. A letter^ written by John McKesson at Fishkill, Nov. 3, 1776, says, "part of the chain went down to the forts yesterday," and adds "One of the Frigates at Pough- keepsie is to be Launched to-morrow at Eight o'clock in the morning." It may be worth while to state here that nearly all local historians have confused this chain with the one stretched across the river two years later at West Point. The chain which was part- ly forged here in 'y6 went to Fort Montgomery (there was no fort at West Point at this time), and though great things were expected of it there was trouble from the first to make it so much as bear its own weight. As to the frigates, they were duly launched and sent to Rondout Creek for the winter, but were not rigged until the summer of 'yy, were never fully armed or manned, and never got to sea, as will pres- ently appear. The Critical Year. It is well to remember that there were two distinct periods in the defense of the Hudson, as in the Revolu- tion itself — the first ending with the capture of the lower forts by Sir Henry Clinton, Vaughn's raid to Kingston and Burgo>nc's surrender at Saratoga. The best writers agree that the Revolution was really won on the Hudson River b\' the events of the autumn of 1777 — later events were in the nature of holding on, though often serious enough, and depending much on keeping the British from a second dash through the Highlands. The critical period began in the spring of 'yy, and from that time until Burgoyne's surrender the alarms, first from the Highlands and afterwards from both lA later petition was signed by Piatt Titus and Stephen Seaman.— Calendar of Revolutionary Documents, Vol. I. zCHnton Papers, Vol. I, p. 412. north and south, were almost continuous. The militia of Dutchess County was ordered out so often that it became very difficult to get the men to respond at all when the danger seemed most urgent. They were generally sent down to help garrison Fort Mont- gomery, Fort Independence or Fort Constitution, or to replace some of Putnam's Continentals whom Wash- ington needed elsewhere. As garrison troops the militia was almost worthless, especially when farm work at home was pressing. April 24th, 1777, the Con- vention passed resolutions and appointed a committee to enquire why "a great Part of the militia of Dutch- ess County have neglected to obey the orders of Gen- eral Clinton * * * {Q Garrison the forts and guard the passes in the Highlands." In May, Egbert Benson and Peter Cantine, Jr., were in Poughkeepsie as a commission to detect conspiracies and were hav- ing great difficulty to obtain enough soldiers to guard the jail. Richard Snedeker was one of the Tories arrested at this time. No enemies at home were to be tolerated, for affairs were becoming verj' threaten- ing. At first it was believed that Burgoyne's advance by way of Lake Champlain would be checked at Ticon- deroga, and when the news of the fall of that strong- hold reached Poughkeepsie early in July, the time which really tried men's souls had arrived. Had General Howe known enough to send an expedition up the Hudson then, probably nothing could have stopped him, and the colonies would have been effect- ually divided. How strenuous the efforts of Wash- ington were to prevent such a disaster his letters, as well as those of George Clinton, Israel Putnam and others well show. There was great relief when it was found that the British general had sailed off to attack Philadelphia, and Washington resolved to keep him there, feeling that Putnam and Clinton could now look after the lower Hudson and that the militia could be depended upon to defeat Bur- go}'ne, for they could fight when their homes were threatened. Gen. Schuyler at once began making most urgent demands for reinforcements and Putnam sent Nixon's brigade from the Highlands up the river in sloops, ordering out militia to take their places, while at the same time a draft of 500 men was made upon the militia of Dutchess and Ulster to march to Albany under Cols. Graham and Humphrey. "Every man that can bear arms must on this occasion be brought to the field," wrote Clinton on August 22nd, then just elected the first governor of the state. In the meantime, as no attack from below seemed as imminent as the danger in the north, Putnam, on Aug. 14th, had sent two more regiments from the Highlands to Gates, who had superseded Schuyler. 4:2 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB How nobly the militia of Dutchess responded to the draft to go to Albany in this crisis, the most serious of the war, may be judged from the following report made by Col. Humphrey to Governor Clinton, Aug. 28, 1777: Hond. Sir — Agreeably to order, I met Colo Graham on the fifth instant, and agreed to raise 74 men, on the eighth I had the batallion together and drafted the number, and or- dered them to appear at Poiighkeepsie on the 12th instant, and appointed one captain and one lieutenant. Accordingly the officers met at Poughkeepsie, and finding a small num- ber of men appear, the captain was dissatisfied and resigned his commission. I then appointed another captain and sent to the several captains of the battalion to muster their drafted men; they sent me word that the chief part of their men were gone away or concealed ; I then wrote warrants to each captain to send out guards and search for them, and ap- pointed them and the captain to meet and march with as many as we could find, and all that would refuse to go, send them to the county jail. * * * We raised a bounty of nine pounds per man, and have paid twenty-seven the bounty; and several farmers have given thirty pound to men to go in their place. On the 36th instant I met them, when forty men appeared with the officers, at the house of Capt. Rey- nold. The men seemed willing to march, when the captain told me he would not march unless he had fifty men ; I went out in order to tell the men I would get another captain, and order them to be ready to march on the shortest notice ; but when they found the officers declined, they dispersed im- mediately, and I could not get them together again any more. Several of the men have enlisted in the standing forces to avoid going to Albany. I do not know what farther to do, and shall wait your orders. William Humfrey, Colo. This looks like collusion between officers and men to find every excuse against obeying orders, but it appears from Col. Graham's letters that part of his regiment was in camp at \'an Scliaick's Island, near Albany, by the 21st. This was about the dark- est period. The news of the British defeat at Benning- ton came a few days later and then the reports from the north were steadily better. Burgo^'ne was held in check, and Howe, instead of going to join him, was fighting Washington around Philadelphia. However, after the battle of Brandywine, in September, Wash- inton again drew on Putnam for reinforcements, and on the 15th "the whole of the Militia as far north on both Sides of the River as Poughkeepsie" was order- ed to march immediately to join Putnam at Peekskill and to strengthen the garrison at Fort Montgomery. Fall of Fort Montgomkry .and Destruction of THE Fricates. It appears that only 300 men out of six regiments had responded' to this urgent call by the 29th. 'George Clinton papers. Vol. IT, p. 349. A postscript to orders to Col. Field, Lndinton, PirinckerhofT. ITumphrcy. Sutherland, Freer and Swartwoul. The tension had relaxed in the north somewhat but alarm was greater in the Highlands. This time it was no cry of "Wolf, wolf, when there was no wolf." Oct. 4th Gen. James Clinton reported from Fort Mont- gomery that the enemy was moving up the river, "that the inhabitants at Peekskill are moving away, and are in the Utmost Confusion," but still "there is very few Militia yet come Down." George Clinton hastened to the assistance of his brother. The British under Sir Henry Clinton had outwitted Putnam and crossed to the west side. On the 6th they broke the famous chain, took Fort Montgomery and the river was open. George Clinton reported' his defeat on the 9th to Washington and says : "I have to add that by some fatality the two Con- tinental frigates were lost, they having been ordered down by General Putnam to the defense of the chain ; but being badly manned, they could not be got off in time, though I ordered the ship Congress to proceed to Fort Constitution [opposite West Point] the day before the attack, lest she should meet with a disaster ; and the ship Montgomery, which lay near the chain, having neither anchor nor cables to secure her, it being the ebb of tide and the wind failing, fell down so near the chain, that Captain Hodge was constrain- ed to set her on fire to prevent her from falling into the hands of the enemy. The Congress, unfortunate- ly getting aground on the flat near Fort Constitution, shared the same fate." So much for the two fine ships built here. Governor Clinton had taken the cables from the Mont- gomery and stretched them across the river in front of the great chain, a piece of utter foolishness which made the ship helpless. Sir Henry Clinton had proved his superiority to the two American Clintons and to General Putnam, but his dilatory proceedings after he had captured the forts and opened the way to Albany lost him all the advantage gained. News of Burgoyne's defeat at Bemis Heights reached Pough- keepsie only a day or two after the fall of Fort Mont- gomery and it was of course supposed that Sir Henry would immediately advance up the river to his aid. Vaughn's Raid. Putnam had retreated to Fishkill and Oct. 8th Clinton wrote to the Committee of Safety, "I am this moment informed that the eastern militia come in very fast ; that he is confident that he will soon have ten thousand men with him ; in which case he will keep posts as far as Poughkeepsie and .Rynbeck to head the enemy should they push up the river." The alarm was now sufficient to stir the militia to action. People began moving back from the river in a great panic. Mrs. Clinton had been at Poughkeepsie in charge of 1 Clinton Papers, Vol. II, pp. 380 to 395. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB 43 her brother, Dr. Peter Tappen, who wrote as follows to Col. Hughes at Fishkill : Plisent Valleyi about 8 miles Back of Poughkeepsie Oct'r loth, 1777. Sir, I just now Received you' Latter. I have got Mrs. Clinton as far as Mrs. Barnes Eight miles from the River where I hope we may be safe; However if you Should think the Enemy would penetrate Farther into the Country we should be glad of a Couple of Covered weagons. I Suppose the Intention of tlie Enemy is to go up to Albany and if they can do that, will not penetrate into the Country as far as this. I sent the sloop with the Governors affects to Eusopus Excepting a little Close and Some of her Bedding. I have given Directions they might be Caried into the Country there as it was Impossible for me through the hurry to git them up from Poughkeepsie. I will leave the sending of Weagons holely to you ; if you think it necessary you will Send them to this Place. If you see the Governor be kind Enough to let him know Mrs. Clinton is as well as Common I Remain you humble Ser't Peter Tappen. The governor himself was on the west side of the river ready to march to Kingston via the Wallkill. On the 1 2th "An armed Schooner, two Row Gallies & a small Brigg passed the Cheveaux Defrize & are ought of Sight up the River," wrote Governor Clinton from Little Britain, near New Windsor. The chevaux-defrise was a timber crib with sharpened points sunk in the river opposite New Windsor to Pollipel's Island. It was not entirely finished and the British had little trouble in passing it. One wonders whv this little reconnoitering fleet was not badly pep- pered as it went up the river but the Governor ex- plains. "If we had Round Shott for our 24 Ib'r we might make this small fleet ver>- uneasy in the River but this we have not, nor do I know any nearer than Albany to which place I begg you would send for 100 of that size and 200 for 4 Ib'rs." Hard indeed to do much fighting without shot ! Sir Jame.s Wallace was in command of this little fleet, which proceeded with little opposition as far as Theophilus Anthony's (the Gill place about three miles below Poughkeepsie), where they burned the little shop which had helped forge the great chain and also burned the mill^ but >George Clinton Papers, Vol. 11, p. 400 2This expedition is reported in the 1882 Dutchess County History to have burned "Van Buren's Mills" evidently a mis- print for Van Keurcn's. Theophilus .\uthony had purchased the mill from Matthew Van Keuren only a year or two he- fore. According to tradition in the Gill family the British after burning the mill went to the house and asked for bread. No one had remained at home but a slave woman, who had iust finished baking and had the kitchen tables covered with loaves. These the red coats took and departed satisfied. spared the house, which is still standing. They then turned back and reported the river clear. Already Burgoyne was in a desperate position, about to surrender, but it was not until the 15th that Sir Henry Clinton started General Vaughn and Sir James Wallace up the river with a forinidable force. There were thirty or forty vessels in this expedition, some of them large full rigged ships, doubtless the largest fleet that ever navigated this section of the Hudson. They passed Poughkeepsie on the after- noon of the 15th and anchored for the night just above Hyde Park. General Putnam followed on this side of the river with a part of his army from Fish- kill and Gov. Clinton on the other side. Putnam ap- pears to have been half a day behind the ships, for he did not reach Red Hook until after the British had landed and burned a number of buildings. He wrote on the 1 6th, "Yesterday about forty sail passed up the river, crowded with troops, and are at anchor above Poughkeepsie — the wind not favoring. We were on our march after them when I met the agreeable news of Burgoyne's surrender."^ This was the day of the burning of Kingston, which Clinton was unable to prevent, though he was there in time and wrote General Gates that morning (Oct. i6th), "the En- emy's Fleet consisting of upward of thirty Sail an- chored last night about six miles below the Landing Place at this Town, which the}^ now lie directly op- posite and appear to be making dispositions for Land- ing."2 Oct. i8th Putnam wrote to Clinton from "Leroys Statsford'"^ above Poughkeepsie, at 5 o'clock in the morning: "Yours of the 17th Recei'd last night, and am sorry to hear of the Enemy Destroying the Several Houses &c. Last night I arrived here & all the Troops excepting General Sillimans Brigade which I expect will join me in the morning ; Colonel Samuel Willis with his regiment are about 6 mile a Head, I am just setting off and this morning expect to reach the Shiping." In a postscript he adds: "General Parsons Remains at Peekskill with about 2000. Colonels Humphrey's & Brinckerhoff Regi- ments of Militia are Left at Fishkill, Colonel Piatt with ab"t 150 at Poughkeepsie." .'\t noon the same day Clinton replied, advising that more troops be left at Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. "The Enemy," he says, "is 8 or 10 Miles above this burning away * * * j mean at present to continue where I am now in front of the most valu- able settlements & were the Stores & Effects from 'Cutler's Life of Putnam, p. 317. -Clinton Papers, Vo\. IT, p. 444. 3Clinlon Papers, ^'ol. 11, pp. 469 and 470. Is this Staats- hurgh? 4i HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE Kingston are removed. I imagine the Enemy will not proceed much higher up the River & that on their Return they will attempt to lay waste the Places they have passed going up after our Troops are drawn from them." In this connection the following letter' is of special interest : Poughkeepsie, Oct'r 22d, 1777 Sir: I received your Excellency's favor of the i8th In- stant on yesterday. I have heard nothing of any re- inforcements coming from Gen. Putnam. My Corps at present consists of about 120 Men. And Col Fraer's Regiment by the last returns consisted of 108 Arms and 63 without arms. I am using my best en- deavors to collect all the well affected people who have arms, and are not already out, but have no rea- son to expect any considerable addition to my pres- ent Force. You may rest assured I shall exert myself to protect the inhabitants & oppose the Enemy's land- ing at this place, as far as the Force I have with me will enable me. Your Excellency however must be sensible, that with the force here at present, no op- position can be made to purpose should the Enemy Land with their whole Force, I submit it therefore to 3'our Excellency, whether it would be proper to make any further application to Gen. Putnam on the subject. I have the honor to remain Sir, Your very humble servant Zepha Platt. To His Excellency George Clinton, Esqr. at Hurley. On the day that Col. Platt wrote (Oct. 22) Putnam was at Red Hook and the enemy had retired at his approach to their ships. Putnam feared they might attempt to march over to Salisbury, Ct, to destroy the iron furnace, v\'hich was a great source of supply for cannon, but Burgoyne had surrendered, the people were thoroughly aroused, and militia from New Jersey were beginning to arrive in considerable, numbers at Newburgh and New Windsor. Vaughn's return might easily be cut oiT and Putnam had a fair chance to defeat him if he should attempt a long march. He turned back and sailed down the river on the 24th, to the immense relief of the people of Pough- keepsie, who doubtless fired a few shots at the ships, and received a few in return, both harmless. Col. Jacobus Freer is said to have been stationed under cover of a thick grove of cedars on the hill just south of Kaal Rock, with his regiment or company of Dutchess Invincibles." According to the County his- iClinton Papers, Vol. II, p. 470. ^Philip H. Smith's History of Dutchess County. The story that Richard Davis stood on his wharf and sliouted "Hurrah for King George," and then pointed to James Winans, his rival in business, as a rebel, I believe may be true. The ships, it is said, fired at AVinans or his building and Mrs. William S. tories this was on the 15th, when the ships passed up the river, but it is not improbable that the firing from Freer 's men and from Re3'nolds Hill, of which stories^ have come down to us, was mostly on the return and retreat of the fleet. One shot from the ships struck near the old Vassar Brewery on Vassar Street and another struck the Livingston Mansion, south of the city, where its mark is still visible. It was an iron ball some four inches in diameter, and is preserved in the Washington's Headquarters museum at Newburgh. The presence of Putnam's army in the near neigh- borhood undoubtedly prevented any attempt to do ex- tensive damage in Poughkeepsie. The wind was so light that he was able to keep almost even with the ships on their retreat, and the rapidity of his march is shown by the following letter written on the 26th by Governor Clinton from Poughkeepsie to Gen. Gates; "The next evening after the fleet left the River at Kingston I crossed over on this Side in hopes to have mett Genl. Putnam to advise with him of the proper Measures to be pursued but unfor- tunately found he had moved down the Day before with his Army. I rode till midnight in hopes to have come up with him at this Place but was again disappointed. He had left this about Noon for Fish- kill. I then concluded it best to move my small Force down to New Windsor & accordingly sent them Or- ders 3'esterday." There is one interesting little local record of Vaughn's raid, to be found in Book G of Writs and Processes in the County Clerk's Office. Both the Court of General Sessions and the Court of Common Pleas had been suspended for a time after the Decla- ration of Independence. The May court in 1776 was held as usual, then come the following entries : "Oc- tober Court 1776 No Court Opened the Judges did not attend," "January Court 1777 the like," "May Court 1777 the like." Following this is a page of writs and processes issued under authorit)' of a resolu- tion of the Council of Safety "passed June the 5th 1777 at Kingston," and then on the next page (259) this record : "October 1777 no Court held here principally Oc- casioned by the Enemy Coming up the River with an army and fleet and on the sixth of October Took Fort Morgan, his granddaughter, tells me that she had often seen the marks of the bullets when a girl. She remembers hearing that the British sent a boat ashore and had a conference with Davis, but this seems hardly likely unless the shore there- abouts was left entirely unguarded. Davis appears to have remained in business, for in Nov., 1779, he is recorded as receipting for goods brought up on a sloop under flag of truce. — Clinton Papers, ^''ol. V, p. 376. iHistory of Dutchess County (1882), p. 136. GOVERNOR GEORGE CLINTON. From portrait in Washington's Headquarters, Neivbicrgh. [By comiesy of Newbuj'gh Journal.) 46 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB Montgomery in the High Lands and proceeding up the River as far as red hook and Burned Kingston in Ulster county and diverse Houses Mills Barns &c in this County and by reason of the unsettled Condition of this state and no Officers of the Court Properly ap- pointed there was no Court in January 1778 — But this Winter the assembly sitting : There was a Law passed was to become still more than before the centre from which such work was directed. Kingston had been burned just as the newly formed State Government was about to be organized there, and Poughkeepsie became the most available place for the State capital. Governor Clinton had been in Poughkeepsie frequent- ly before this time, either to visit Dr. Peter Tappen, ■ft We '/?(•>" ("c/rf ■* A^\7t//?n /' Afd^ 4"' /fi74?('fwiiitnA'i/i)!ii/,x>/hj/j/i/ft('.(>>ii//i/'///,urK-^,.,t'll4i ri:^J'f/^iv4,^^U^''a£-.4b^2^^:c^M,S tu7t 'U7 a/'v^.«S2^^K^' /la/t fyvjn fimf ft) /tmejf _. vV^,:-'.^ '^Ina/' iO£f^9T^. (■n?7,a, urfuf aye I Zjtitiirrvc/.aiiaOmimanMf tnfnt^iiflnei^Wi///ta ^tfrz :. Coiinnission signed by Cover by the governor Senate and Assembly that all Courts in future Should Sit on Such day as formerly were appointed by Ordinance." This is not dated but immediately precedes the records of the May Court. Poughkeepsie the State CAriTAL — Governor Clin- ton's Residence. From the retreat of Vaughn and Wallace begins a new period in the Revolutionary history of the Hudson River and of Poughkeepsie. The British abandoned all they had gained, but destroyed the cap- tured forts in the lower Highlands. New defenses had to be planned and constructed, and Poughkeepsie nor Clinton in Poughkeepsie. his brother-in-law, or to look after the work of con- structing the frigates and the various appliances for obstructing the river. His first published letter from Poughkeepsie is dated January 24th, 1776. After his arduous campaigning at the time of Vaughn's raid, he spent some time here resting and was joined by the Council of Safety, to which the legislative functions of government had been hastily intrusted when Kings- ton was threatened. Thus Poughkeepsie became the seat of government, and after a visit to his home at New Windsor the Governor returned here in Decem- ber and issued his proclamation to call together the scattered legislators as follows : HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB 47 A Proci^amation : The Honorable the Congress having by sundry Resolutions, recommended several important Matters to the Consideration of the different States : The Sen- ate and Assembly of this State are therefore hereby required to meet at Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County, on Monday the fifth Day of January next, to proceed on Business; of which all the good People of this State are to take Notice, and govern themselves ac- cordingly. Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Pough- keepsie aforesaid, the fifteenth Day of December, in the Year of our Lord, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven. Geo. Clinton. God save the People. direct reference to the Everitt house. Tradition,' however, points so strongly to its use for important purposes during the Revolution that the State has been induced to purchase it and it is now in the custody of the D. A. R. and known as the Clinton Museum. It is the only house in Poughkeepsie that has survived the years with any tradition of association with Revo- lutionary leaders, and it is not improbable that Clinton did occupy it at some time during his residence here, but that it was the first gubernatorial mansion or the principal one in Poughkeepsie is extremely doubtful. The little map dated 1790 (see page 65), has the Crannell house marked, "Occupied by G. Clinton dur- ing the Revolution," and in support of this is the fol- lowing document indorsed : T/ic Everitt House as it appeared before alteration. Copyrighted 11)04, h Heliiuis 11'. Barratt, as "I'/ie Residence in Pouff/i/ceepsie of Governor George Clinton " From this time Governor Clinton's letters show him to have been living in Poughkeepsie, and there has been much discussion as to what house or houses he occupied. In connection with this subject it is to be remembered that a number of prominent Tories had already left Poughkeepsie and their property had been taken temporarily for the use of patriots. There is evidence, either in the Clinton papers published by the State or in other records, that the State paid for repairs of two different houses in Poughkeepsie on Governor Clinton's orders. One of these was the Snedeker house and the other the Crannell house, but the searches instituted by members of the Daughters of the American Revolution have failed to find anv Ca/i/aw North's Rccci/'t for Boards, etc., for the Refair of the House Formerly Belonging to Cranncl- 1780 State of New York to Robt. North Dr. Oct 10 for the freight of 600 bricks from Albany to Pokeepsie (n' ^ pr Hhd £ o : for 100 iiicli bord 6/^ 2 10: Nov'br for 32 floor bords @ 2 6d 4: for 5 plank @ 3 o: £15: 7: o Received of George Clinton, Esqr. Gov'r of the State, sixty four Pounds twelve Shillings for the above articles in the new iSec article by Tristram Coffin, Esq., in Daily Eagle, Feb. 21, 1904. ^Clinton Papers, Vol. VI, p. 50. 48 HISTORY OF P U G H KEEP S I E Emission computed at four for one in Specie being supposed the present passing Value, this 23rd July, 1781. Robert North. Besides this direct evidence for the Crannell house it seems entirely natural and probable that Gilbert Livingston and Peter Tappen, whose influence w^as locally all powerful, would desire to protect their father-in-law's property by assigning it to the govern- or as his residence. The Crannell property, further- more, was not sold under confiscation until 1788, and then Livingston and Tappen purchased it.i How long the house stood after the Revolution I have not been able to determine, nor have I seen any evidence to indicate whether it was built of stone, brick or wood, but as Crannell was one of the rich men of the day, it is a fair assumption that his house was one of the best in town, and for that reason alone likely to have been assigned to the governor. The following statement of the Tory New York Gazette, July 4th, 1 78 1, has been held to point to the Everitt house: "There is a set of mob legislators met at Pough- keepsie ; a little time will show whether they mean to expose themselves to all the vengeance of which the majority of the late Assembly and Senate live in con- stant dread, many of them changing their lodgings to elude the search of the avengers of the innocent blood they have shed. Mr. Clinton, the titular Gov- ernor, has fortified his hut against a sudden surprise, and the rebel slaves of Poughkeepsie guard it every night." Philip H. Smith's History of Dutchess County interpolates after the word "hut" "the fine stone man- sion of Clear Everitt," but on what authority no one has been able to determine. Smith's history was pub- lished in 1877, and he is said to have had the assist- ance of Benson J. Lossing, but I know of no state- ment in Ivossing's early writings in support of this assertion concerning the Everitt house. Assum- ing on the evidence of the assessment rolls and of traditions, that Everitt was a Tory and was absent, there is no doubt that his house was used^ by the Revolutionary leaders in some way, for they had need of all the buildings they could obtain, as the little town was often crowded with distinguished visitors during the sessions of the legislature. That Washington and Lafayette were entertained there is not improbable. The house has been called "The old fort," the "Head- quarters house," and the "prison house," with prob- ably some reason for all three. The Poughkeepsie jail could not have held all the Tory prisoners that were sent here at various times, and it was not usual 1 Liber 27 Deeds, p. 129. -An act creating a Board of Sequestration to take charge of and lease the property of Tories who had left their homes was passed in May, 1777- to confine well-known and respectable persons in jail if it could be avoided. Ann Lee, the Shaker leader, we are told, was confined in the old Van Kleeck house, and it is certain that prisoners of similar standing were confined in other stone houses in the neighbor- hood, though I doubt the statement that the cellar of the Everitt house was used as a dungeon. Governor Clinton, according to the records, paid taxes on property somewhere in the town of Pough- keepsie as early as 1778, and is known to have pur- chased property here at various times, though most of his deeds were not recorded. The property at the mouth of the Casper Kill in the neighborhood still known as Clinton Point, was not purchased by him until 1804, as papers in Volume 42 of the Clinton Mss. in Albany show. Governor Clinton's Letters. Several hundreds of the letters of George Clinton were written in Poughkeepsie, but I have found in them nothing to indicate what house he occupied. They contain much of local interest, however, and from them could be constructed a history of the Revo- lution, nearly complete, and containing much new material. They show, among other things, that Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County were of para- mount importance during the second period of the war. Dutchess was the only county not at some time invaded by the enemy, it paid more taxes than any other county, furnished a very large proportion of the provisions necessary for the army, and also a large number of soldiers. In emergencies Dutchess was the main stay of the State. Without its aid, without the aid of the sturdy band of patriots in Poughkeepsie, it is hard to see how the Highlands could have been held, perhaps it is not too much to say, how the Revo- lution itself could have been won. The difficulties of building the new fortifications, of finding provisions, of raising money, of keeping the army together during the years of holding on, were serious enough, as will appear. As to the importance of Dutchess County the following statement' of taxes paid by the counties of the State from the Declaration of Independence to Oct. ist, 1781, is significant: Albany Dutchess Ulster Orange West Chester Tryon Charlotte £ 875,720 1,116,141 620,008 280,741 79-450 32,450 3,821 £3,008,479 iClinton Papers, Vol, VII, p. 366. HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE. 49 It must be remembered that New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond and a part of Westchester Counties were in the possession of the enemy. Char- lotte County is now in Vermont and Tryon became Montgomery after the war. Writing from Poughkeepsie to General Washing- ton, December 20th, 1777, Governor Clinton advised against attempting to rebuild the forts destroyed by the British at the lower entrance to the Highlands, and suggested the fortification of West Point as a better location. This suggestion met with approval and was acted upon during the next year, Clinton doing his utmost to help forward the work. Among other things he negotiated for cannon to be cast at Salisbury, Ct, for West Point. Some of them were hauled in wagons to Poughkeepsie and here fitted with carriages. Others were shipped via Rhinebeck. The governor was constantly called upon to forward ma- terials and provisions, but the great iron chain stretch- ed across the river at West Point was made by the Sterling Iron Works of Orange County under con- tract, and Poughkeepsie did no work upon it. Dur- ing the winter of '78 he collected provisions also, to ■ be sent to Washington's army at Valley Forge. From a letter dated March 26th, it appears that Kosciuszko, who had been appointed to take charge of the work at West Point, came first to Poughkeep- sie to consult Clinton, who gave him a letter of intro- duction to General Parsons stating, "I believe you will find him an Ingenous Young Man & disposed to do every Thing he can in the most agreeable Manner." Lafayette had been here in February on his way to take command of the projected "Northern Expedition," one of Gates's schemes that served only to hamper the West Point work and was happily not carried out. The legislature, which met in January, after the us- ual delay in obtaining a quorum, passed a number of important measures which belong rather to State than to local history. Among them may be mentioned the resolutions of February 25th, giving the New York delegates in Congress authority to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Clinton remained in Poughkeepsie, as his letters show, after the adjournment, April 4th, busy with many matters of importance. It has been stated that the legislative sessions were held at the old Van Kleeck house on Mill Street, but there is every reason to believe that they could not have been held else- where than at the Court House, or possibly in one of the churches. The legislative journals afford no cer- tain evidence on this point, but there are a number of references to an "Assembly Chamber" and a "Senate Chamber," which seem to shut out the churches. The Van Kleeck house was too small for anything but committee meetings, and the Court House was the natural place. It is significant that after it was burn- ed in 1785, the legislature did not return here until a new building had been finished in 1788, and the rec- ords appear to show also that important sessions of the courts were not held while the legislature was meet- ing here. For instance on the 13th, 14th, 15th, i6th, 17th and i8th of April, shortly after the first adjourn- ment,i "John Jay Chief Justice of the Supream Court of Judicature of the State of New York, John Sloss Hobart one of the Puisne Judges of the said Court and Ephraim Paine first Judge of the inferior Court of common Pleas for the County of Dutchess" held "a Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Goal Delivery" at Poughkeepsie. Much of the governor's correspondence was about the granting of passes to visit New York or about the exchange of Tories for adherents of the American cause. Sloops frequently plied up and down the river under flags of truce, and privileges were occasionally abused. A pass to visit in New York was granted to William Emott in November, 1777, which excited the suspicion of the local Revolutionary leaders. Emott was pretty well known to be of English sym- pathies, though he had taken the oath of allegiance and had not followed Bartholomew Crannell and other leading members of the English Church into open sup- port of the British. November 23d, Peter Tappen and Gilbert Livingston wrote to the governor, then at New Windsor, stating that he was believed to be "a Sly, Crafty, Designing Tory," advising against the pass and forwarding a protest signed by Augustiss Lawrence, George Peek, And'w Billings, EUhu Mar- shall, Stephen Seaman, Robert Hatton, James Prich- ard, Stephen Hendrickson, Sam'l Tuder, Daniel Law- rence, Daniel Shaw, Alexd'r Litch Miller, Richard Warner, Piatt Titus, Malcom McEuen, Lancaster Burling and George Smeart. The pass was revoked. Some of the signers of this protest were shipbuilders, and they were several times in distress after the com- pletion of the frigates. Clinton appealed to the Coun- cil of Safety on their behalf and in 1778 they were given some work constructing gunboats for the defense of the River. From several letters it appears that there was a strong suspicion that some persons in Dutchess Coun- ty were carrying on a contraband business in flour, which was much wanted for the army. Clinton and Putnam said, in a joint letter to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, "The most exhorbitant Prices given iCliiiton Papers, Vol. Ill, p, iSi. 50 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. for that Article by the People concerned in this Trade is alone Presumptive Evidence against them ; their sending it from Poughkeepsie by the Way of Norwalk for Boston Strengthens the Presumption especially from Mills & Stores, as high up the River as Pough- keepsie & North of that."i It was believed that much of this flour found its way to Long Island and to the British in New York. In the latter part of April Clinton heard of the French alliance, and later in the year 1778 the British again concentrated their forces at New York and there was another succession of alarms, with mustering of militia to the defense of the Highlands. Washing- stated that he once spent several weeks here with headquarters in Valentine Baker's house,i afterwards known as the Brush house, corner Union and Market Streets. This seems improbable, but is not impossible. Proof could be found that nearly all the prominent Revolutionary leaders visited Poughkeepsie at some time during the years of Governor's Clinton's resi- dence. John Adams mentions in his diary a brief visit, when he had to ride to Poughkeepsie from Fish- kill in order to find ice strong enough for crossing the river. Chancellor Kent in his memoirs speaks of the benefits he received while in Poughkeepsie from "the great men that visited there, such as George Clinton, [Face.] [Back.] Fac-shiiile of State Currency, printed by John Holt in Poughkeepsie. Original in possession of Messrs. Gilbert and George Foot'e. ton moved his headquarters to Peekskill and his army formed its long line from there across New Jersey, a position maintained with little change until the final departure in 1781 for Yorktown. Probably during this period he sometimes visited Poughkeepsie, the State capital, though the first definitely recorded visit was on December 27, 1782, according to the minutes of the Solomon's Lodge, No. i, of Free Masons. There is also proof that he visited Poughkeepsie in Mav, 1783,2 his headquarters having then been estab- lished for some time at Newburgh, and it has been iClinton Papers, Vol. IT, p. 501. 2Address by Miss Myra L. Avery, Daily Eagle, March 23, i8g6. Washington, Hamilton, Lawrence, Schuyler, Duer, Duche," etc. The Tory and Indian raids of 1778 occupy much of Governor Clinton's correspondence and show how small the State of New York was at that time, with its frontiers no further west than the Catskill and Sha- wangunk Mountains, through which the treacherous enemy roamed at will, striking the settlements most unprotected. The massacre of Wyoming, in July, greatly stirred the people of Poughkeepsie, for it hap- pened that a considerable number of those who escaped the Indian tomahawk fled eastward and found their wa\- here. The story of their sufferings was printed in 1 Local newspaper article, April 16, 1884. HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE. 51 John Holt's Journal^ and was copied in nearly every newspaper in the country. Holt had fled from New York to Kingston with his printing press in the sum- mer of 1776, and set up his establishment in Pough- keepsie after Kingston was burned in the fall of 1777. He remained here until the British evacuated New York in 1783 and was the official State Printer. Dur- ing part of his residence he appears to have lived in the neighborhood we now call Arlington. There was naturally another round-up of Tories in the fall of '78 and also a series of Courts Martial to bring the militia to a keener sense of duty. Spe- cial arrangements had to be made to provide a suf- ficient guard for the Poughkeepsie jail. Writing to Sheriff Isaac Nicholl of Goshen, Orange County in November, Governor Clinton says : "We have Claudius Smith, Austin Smith and several other Capi- tal Offenders in Prison here. They are well secured with Irons and added to this the Principal people of the Place to the -Number of thirty have voluntarily divided themselves into Parties of six each Night. They sit in the Court Room and visit the Prisoners every Hour, and mean to continue this Duty until the Goal is discharged. Let me therefore recommend similar Measures to be pursued by the Inhabitants of Goshen who I trust have at Least equal Zeal for the public Security." A little later than this, according to a reference in a Court Martial report, the neighboring militia were divided into classes by lot to furnish a guard for the Governor as well as for the jail. Stories of a British attempt to kidnap the Governor are mentioned in his correspondence, and had probably already begun to occasion apprehension. Continentals in Poughkeepsie. In the winter of 1778- 1779 a regiment of Conti- nental troops was quartered in Poughkeepsie by order of General Alexander McDougall, commanding in the Highlands. The Governor at first vigorously pro- tested against this, writing to McDougall, December 15, 1778, "This little town (now almost the only one left us) is already so full of Refugees as to afford but very Indifferent Accommodation for the Mem- bers of Legislature. * * * The public Offices of the State are now fixed at this Place. The)' cannot easily be removed to another & they must be near the Legislature." Furthermore he added, "The Forrage Masters assisted by the Civil Magistrate, have already impressed for the use of the Army, all the Forrage iFor statement of some of Holt's troubles as a Publisher, and for some of his financial views, see Clinton Papers, Vol. V, p. 622. the Inhabitants have, leaving them only a very small Supply to bring through the Winter their own stock." McDougall in reply drew a harrowing picture of the condition of the troops in the Highlands, two regi- ments being still in tents at Fishkill, about four hun- dred men in the hospitals and all much pressed for subsistence. "The severe weather is fast approach- ing. In this state of the Troops and of the Post, I was reduced, and still am, to the utmost Difficulty to cover them, and to provide them for winter ; when I was informed there were Public Buildings sufficient to cover two hundred men at Poughkeepsie ; Boards near it to aid in covering the rest and public Wood Cut on the other side. * * * As to billeting or quarter- ing the Troops in Houses, I meant no more than bare House Room for them a few Days. And if such of the inhabitants as can spare it, according to Law, will not chearfully give it, when officers and Soldiers are ex- posed to most violent Storms of Rain & Snow, they do not deserve to be free." Clinton feared the troops would interfere with the Legislature, would appropriate all the fencing for fire wood, etc., but he finally yielded and on the 3d of February, when the Regiment, which numbered less than two hundred men and officers, was about to be withdrawn, it is pleasant to find him writing : "The Troops stationed at this Place has behaved in the most orderly manner & have made themselves very agreeable to the Inhabitants & having by inde- fatigable Industry repaired their Barracks & laid in an ample Supply of Firewood their Quarters is become very comfortable & therefore extreamly loath to leave them."^ One wonders what the public buildings were that would cover two hundred men. Evidently there were rough barracks here of some sort, but in all prob- ability Christ Church, then unoccupied, was used by the troops. Their huts were somewhere on the south side of the town. The Legislature^ held three sessions in Poughkeep- sie in 1778 and the winter session of 1779. August nth to October 25th, 1779, it met in Kingston; Jan- uary 27th to March 14th in Albany (for the first time) ; April 22nd to July 2nd in Kingston ; September 7th to October loth, 1780, in Poughkeepsie; January 17th to March 31st, 1781, in Albany, and after that always in Poughkeepsie until the end of the war. The State officers evidentl)' remained here and the Governor's family remained here generally, even when the Legis- lature was in session elsewhere, as shown by incidental mention in several letters. October 5th, 1779, for in- 1 Clinton Papers, Vol. IV., p. 542. From this letter it appears that four months' pay was due the regiment. "See New York State Civil List. 52 HISTORY OF PO U GH K E E PSI E. stance, Clinton says in a letter to John Jay : "I received your favor of the 29th Ultimo on my way from Kings- ton to this Place whither I was called by the Indis- position of my little Boy, who is so extremely low as to leave us but little hope of his Recovery." Last Years of the War — The Fishkiei, Beacons. When the British advanced up the river in the summer of 1779 and fortified Verplanck's and Stony Points, most of the militia of Dutchess County was in the field and the rest was ordered to be ready to march to the defense of the Highlands at a moment's notice. The Governor, as Commander-in-Chief of State forces, went to the front himself for a time, and on his return wrote to John Jay, June 23rd : "On this occasion I have the Pleasure to inform you, that the Militia, particularly of this County, behave with an alacrity and Spirit that does them great honor." He nevertheless preserved for posterity a long list of the delinquents of some of the regiments. It was during this summer that beacons were con- structed on the hills south of Fishkill and on Butter Hill (Storm King) in order to arouse the country, without making it necessary to take the farmers from their work until the last minute. The first suggestion for this method of signalling to the country north of the Highlands was contained in letters written by General Washingon in March, 1779, to General McDougall and to Governor Clinton,^ but it appears that the plan was not carried out before the middle of June. I have seen no evidence in support of the statements of Tossing and Smith that beacon fires were lighted, or even suggested, in 1777, when Fort Montgomery fell and Vaughn started his raid to Kingston. After the gallant storming of Stony Point by Wayne in July the danger was over for a time, but the beacons were manned in the fall, when there was a renewal of alarms. There appears no record that they were ever intentionally lighted, but the brush pile on the hill near Fishkill (presumably North Beacon) caught fire accidentally on May 7th, 1780, and Captain Abraham Williams sent an express rider to Poughkeepsie to notify the governor that it was not intended for an alarm. An)' extraordinary gathering of troops and ships at New York was sure to produce uneasiness up the Hudson and cause steps to be taken for increasing the garrisons at West Point and elsewhere in the Highlands, but early in the win- ter of 1779-1780 the British, after making some feints up the river to attract attention, sailed awaj' to Charleston, and fighting from that time was mostly in the South. 1 Clinton Papers, Vol. IV, p. 636. This winter was one of the most severe on record. New York Harbor was frozen over for weeks so that cavalry and cannon were taken across the ice.^ There had been a prolonged drought in the fall of '79 and it was only with the utmost difficulty that the Conti- nental army was supplied with flour. Wheat was scarce, prices enormous, the Continental currency al- most worthless, and the mills had no water to grind with. Governor Clinton, at Poughkeepsie, was exert- ing every effort to collect and forward supplies, and his services were of inestimable value at this time, when it was necessary to enforce the recently passed act for impressing wheat from the farmers. He convened the purchasing commissaries in Poughkeepsie late in De- cember and stirred up the officials and the people, but it was scarcely possible to feed the army from day to day, to say nothing of accumulating stores to enable the garrison at West Point to stand a siege. On Jan. 6th, Clinton wrote : "Our present situation is more distressing than any Thing we have experienced since the commence- ment of the War. It has been with the utmost Difficulty notwithstanding the great Exertions of the State that we have been hitherto able to Feed the Troops Stationed at the different Posts in the High- lands by a precarious Supply brought in daily. We have now near three Feet Snow on the Ground & most of the Mills in the Country either Froze up or without water." Certainly the situation was desperate, and the soldiers at West Point and elsewhere went frequently several days without bread and with scanty rations generally, but they pulled through. An attack upon the Highlands was feared again in the summer of 1780, when some of the militia were ordered out, and in September came the treason of Benedict Arnold. The spring and early summer of this year was an exceedingly busy one for Governor Clinton. The Legislature was in session during all of May and June at Kingston. ^ At the same time Sir John John- son's Tories and Indians were so troublesome that in the latter part of May the Governor personally took the field against them in an expedition to Lake George. There were at the same time reasons why he would have Kked to spend a little more time at home, as we learn from the following paragraph in a letter written July 13th to Abraham Yates: "Mrs. iSee letter of General James Pattison to Sir Henry Clin- ton. — Clinton Papers, Vol. V, p. 448. 2The session began April 22nd, and was possibly called to meet in Kingston because of the trial in Poughkeepsie of Huddleston, the spy, captured near Yonkers. According to Lossing's Field Book (pp. 383-384), he was tried, con- demned and executed in April, 1780, the scaffold being erected on Forbus Hill. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE. 53 Clinton, after waiting till the alarm below and the great hurry of Business was over very decently pre- sented me with a fine Girl. She joins me in our best Respects, your lady and family.'' The Legislature was in session at Poughkeepsie when the news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown was received, and both houses with the Governor,! we are told, proceeded to the Dutch Church, and there offered thanksgiving to God for the great deliverance. Rev. John H. Livingston, then pastor of the Church, afterwards President of Rutgers' College, conducted the service. Cannon were fired, bon-fires Hghted in the streets and there was general rejoicing. At that time there were only iDutchess County History (1882), p. 142. These state- ments are doubtless substantially correct, though I have not found their original source. two Stores in Poughkeepsie, one kept by Beekman Livingston, on the site of the News-Press Building, corner of Market and Cannon Streets, and the other by Archibald Stewart, adjoining the Dutch Church. Stewart, it is said, was a Tory and would not illuminate his store. We should like to have a contemporary descrip- tion of the busy little town at this time, but none has been found. De Chastellux, the French traveler, passed through Poughkeepsie in the winter of 1780, but finding the Legislature in session and "all the taverns full" he passed on to Pride's Tavern, three miles north, and had little to say of the town. Farm- ing must have been still the chief occupation of the people, with tavern keeping, milling and ship building engaging the services of a number of men. State officials and lawyers added variety. V^x >r Seal used on State Commission, page 4$. CHAPTER IV. From the Revolution to the Incorporation of the Village, i 783-1 799 — James Kent — The First lyOCAL Newspaper, the ' ' Poughkeepsie Journal ' ' — Ratification of the Constitution of the United States — Early Politics in Town and County — Rival Newspapers — Slavery in Pough- keepsie — Town Development and the 1790 Map — Incorporation as a Village. When the British troops finally left New York City, November 25th, 1783, some of the families that had fled to the country returned and the Legis- lature began to hold its sessions there in 1784, though the State offices apparently remained in Poughkeep- sie for a number of years. The resumption of river traffic doubtless more than made up for any losses to local business. Dutchess was at this time one of the largest counties in the State, and its growth was continuous and rapid. From 22,404 in 1771 it had increased in population to 32,636 in 1786, and in 1790 became the second county in the State, (with Albany first and New York third), a position main- tained until Putnam"^ was set off in 1812. A con- siderable section of central Dutchess, including most of the rich Wappingers Valley, naturally shipped its produce to New York by sloops from Poughkeepsie, and the three or four crooked roads to the river were doubtless often filled with teams waiting their turn at the landings during this period. The local inn-keepers and shop-keepers profited. Between 1770 and 1790 the number of houses in the central section of Poughkeepsie about doubled (see map page 65) and there is evidence that this growth was in large part after 1783. At the same time much of the prestige as a social and legal center, gained during the war, remained. A number of the most eminent lawyers in the State continued to live here, and many others, like Hamilton and Jay, were frequent visitors during Court sessions. James Kent in Poughkeepsie. Here in November, 1 781, came James Kent to study law in the office of the State Attorney Gen- eral, Egbert Benson, then "the acknowledged leader of the New York Bar," and afterwards distinguished in several high judicial positions, though now chiefly 1 Putnam's population was only about 9,000 at that time. For statistics of Dutchess County and the town and city of Pouglikeepsie, see Appendix. remembered because of the greatness of his pupil. Kent was admitted to the bar in 1785 and for a few months tried unsuccessfully to obtain a foothold in Catron,^ a hamlet on the outskirts of Dutchess County, where we are told, a committee of citizens one day made him a visit, informed him that the peo- ple regarded lawyers as destructive of the peace and good order of the town, and requested him to leave. He soon returned to Poughkeepsie, entered into part- nership with Gilbert Livingston, then surrogate, and the same year married Elizabeth Bailey, daughter of Col. John Bailey, and a sister of Theodoras Bailey, who afterwards became a United States Senator and was one of the most prominent citizens of the State. "I was twenty-one and my wife sixteen when we were married," wrote the Chancellor many years later, "and that lovely girl has been the idol and solace of my life, and is now with me in my office, unconscious that I am writing this about her. * * * After board- ing a year and a half at my father-in-law's, I had purchased and prepared and fitted a snug dwelling house in town." His father-in-law lived a little way out and was probably the same John Bailey near whose house the first Liberty Pole was erected early in the Revolution. There is much in the Chancellor's Memoirs about his early life in Poughkeepsie : "I owned one acre of ground and fitted up, in neat style for that day," he wrote, "a snug and endearing little cottage, and I cultivated an excellent garden, and my income by practice did not reach an average above $500 a year. * * * I studied in my little cottage mornings and devoted an hour to Greek and another to Latin. I soon increased it to two for each tongue in the twenty- four hours." Indeed the amount of reading he tells us he did would fairly stagger the average young man of to-day. The snug little cottage and excellent garden, to which the great Jurist's mind so often re- verted in later years, was located where the Morgan iHistory of the Bench and Bar of New York, p. 379. HISTORY OF P OU GH KEEP S IB. 55 House now stands, on the north side of the Filkin- town Road, and a goodly mortgage was necessary in its purchase (Liber 4 Mortgages, page 335). He retained the property until 1799, when he sold to Abraham Brinckerhoff. Neither Kent nor his brother-in-law, Theodorus Bailey, who lived next east of him, was well enough known in 1790 to be named on the map of the town made in that year, though the two houses are shown, with Gilbert Livingston, Kent's partner, marked as living next to them. The fact that Livingston's office is also marked on the map throws some doubt upon the local tradi- tion that Kent's office was in the little building on Cannon Street, torn down in 1898, to make room for the Hinkley building. The map furnishes evidence, however, that the Cannon Street building was there at the time, and it is not at all improbable that Kent may have made it his office at a later date. Dr. Peter Tappen, of Revolutionary fame, lived not far east of the Livingston place — both Livingston and Tappen, it will be remembered, on property given them by their father-in-law, Bartholomew Crannell. Opposite Gil- bert Livingston lived Major Andrew Billings, also of Revolutionary fame and a noted silversmith and jeweler. Letters preserved in various collections show that Billings made silver cups or did other work for General Washington, Lord Stirling and other prominent Revolutionary leaders. He married Cornelia Livingston, sister of Kent's partner. Nearly all the prominent families of the town were related or connected with each other by marriage and they must have enjoyed some social advantages. Kent's Mem- oirs unfortunately do not describe much of the life of the time, and no contemporary letters have been found that add anything of consequence. Kent took strong ground in favor of Jay and against the counting in of Clinton in the contested election of 1792, when the vote of several counties was thrown out on technicalities, and this produced so much feeling among his Poughkeepsie friends, strong partisans of Clinton, including his partner and his wife's relatives, as to cause him to remove to New York, the climax in the estrangement coming when his brother-in-law, Theodorus Bailey, ran against him and beat him for Congress in 1793. He wrote to his brother. Moss Kent, on March 14th: "Mr. Bailey carried his election by a majority of 132 votes. The evil reports circulated on the eve of election in the newspapers * ^- * contributed not a little to this event. Besides the influence and exertions of Mr. Bailey and family, of Judge Piatt, the Hoffmans, etc. in Poughkeepsie were great. That town never gave so man>' votes before. Kycry elector turned out." Kent seems to have cherished no grudges, however, for we find him returning to visit the Baileys for six weeks in the autumn of 1795 to escape an epidemic of yellow fever then raging in New York, and in 1798, on his appointment as a Supreme Court Judge, he hoped to be able to live here permanently, and did return for a year, selling his house in New York. The increasing necessity of "riding the circuits" in the central part of the State then caused him to remove to Albany, recently made the permanent State capital. He first conducted court in Poughkeepsie June 11, 1799, according to the Oyer and Terminer Records. Poughkeepsie has been the home of many brilliant lawyers. One of James Kent's own pupils in 1788 was Smith Thompson, who practiced law here for several years, and afterwards became Secretary of the Nav}' under President Monroe, and still later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. James Tallmadge, Jr., James Emott, the elder, Cadwallader D. Colden, Thomas J. Oakley and Jonas Platt^ (son of Judge Piatt) were among young men afterwards distinguished in high office who lived, studied law and practiced their profession in Pough- keepsie at a period only a few years later. The Poughkeepsie Journal. From the spring of 1785 Poughkeepsie had a local newspaper of its own, a successor in a sense to lohn Holt's Journal, though there appears to be no definite evidence that it made use of his equipment or local subscription list. The earliest bound file begins with December 22, 1785, and extends into 1787, with many numbers missing. Few bound volumes remain for the period before 1806, but many single copies have been preserved by local collectors, and a few also are in the possession of the New York Historical Society. The first number, so far as is known, is not in existence. It is stated- that the paper began publi- cation April nth, 1785, but if that date is correct, it was not at first issued every week. No. 10, dated October 13th, is in good preservation in the Adriance Memorial Library in this city. It contains the open- ing announcement, which had probably been kept standing since the first number, as follows : To The Public. The Subscriber, being encouraged by a num- erous collection of the Inhabitants of Dutchess County, has set up, and established a Printing Office in this town, where he publishes this Pa- per once a Week every Thursday morning ; and 'Jonas Piatt afterwards settled near Utica. He married Helen, one of the daugliters of Henry Livingston. -Dutchess County History (1882), p. 401. 56 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. takes in Subscriptions at the low price of Four- teen Shillings a year, one Dollar to be paid at the Time of subscribing, or an equivalent in any kind of Grain, and the remaining Six Shillings at the end of the year. The price given by the mer- chants in this place will be allowed. He returns his sincere thanks to those Gentle- men who have already shown their Willingness to support this useful and beneficial Undertaking, and flatters himself that his steady Attention to Business, and Endeavours to give general Satis- faction to the Public, (being a young Beginner) will lead the Generous to give him every En- couragement in their Power — And while he solicits the Assistance of the learned, for the Favour of publishing their Productions, either useful or entertaining assures them this Paper shall neither be a Conveyance of Scandal or per- sonal Abuse. Any Essays, Articles of Intelligence, Adver- tisements, &c., will be gratefully received by The Public's devoted Very humble servant N. Power. The paper at this time was called The Country Journal and Poughkcepsie Adziertiser and it was printed "a few doors east of the court house." By 1791'^ it had become simply The Poughkcepsie Jour- nal and in all probability the long title had been drop- ped before this time. Kent calls it the Poughkecpsie Journal in his memoirs and tells us that he started to publish in it an abstract of The Federalist when the constitution was under discussion in 1787 and 1788. He states that it was the only newspaper published in New York State, outside of New York and Albany, at the time of the Constitutional Convention. In 1792, its editor, Nicholas Power, became the first Poughkcepsie postmaster, according to the official records in Wash- inton, and later issues of the paper bear the line "Published at the Post Office." The location of the office was on the north side of Main Street, not far above Van Kleeck's^ hat store. In calling the Journal the first local newspaper, I must not be understood as implying that it published local news. Few newspapers, even in the largest American cities, did that until a much later period, with the exception of an occasional report of a fire, a Fourth of July celebration, or a public meeting of importance. The news was mostly from Europe by sailing vessel a month or two late. One may study the French Revolution and the campaigns of Napo- leon's armies from tlic columns of the Poughkecpsie Journal and may get an excellent summary of the ^Copies for Dec. 22, 1791, and May 22, 1798, in the collec- tion of Tristram Coffin, Esq. Nov. 16, 1796, Aug. 8, 1797, Nov. 6, 1804, and March, 12, 1805, in City Library. 2 See Chap. V. debates in Congress, but there is little about Pough- kecpsie except in the advertisements. An exception is found in the paper of Dec. 22, 1785, which contains the following: "Saturday last sailed from hence the Sloop Dolphin, Captain Christopher Hughes, belong- ing to this place, with 37 horses &c. on board. And on Sunday sailed the Sloop Sally, Capt. Clark, belong- ing to Claverack, with 20 horses, both bound to the West Indies." From this and from many advertise- ments of stallions it appears that Dutchess county was largely engaged in raising horses. One of the papers in 1798 has nearly a page of stallion advertisements. Occasionally also there is news in the laws pub- lished. On the 4th of April, 1785, an act was passed by the legislature giving Isaac Van Wyck, Tallmadge Hall and John Kinney "an exclusive right of keeping Stage- Waggons on the East Side of Hudson's River between the cities of New York and Albany for the term of ten years." They were required to provide "at least two good and sufficient stage waggons, to be drawn each by four able horses" * * * jjjfj the fare "shall not exceed four-pence per mile includ- ing the liberty of carrying fourteen pounds of bag- gage, * * * and such stage waggon or wag- gons shall proceed at least once in every week." In March, 1798, the Journal proposed the establish- ment of a literary weekly "to contain sixteen pages octavo" and to be called The Rural Casket. The subscription price was fixed at $2.50 a year, and no advertisements were to be admitted, "as this work is intended to combine the flowers of fancy with the fruits of judgment, and designed alone to please and improve." The Journal of May 22nd, announced that the first nuiTiber would be issued "on Tuesday, the Sth of June next." It probably did not last very long, but its publication was characteristic of the ainbitions of the times. Ratification of thf Constitution of the United States. The Court House in which the Legislature had so often held its sessions during the Revolution was burn- ed early in 1785, the date being nearly fixed by a law passed April 4th, giving the sheriff (Harmon Hoff- man) authority to "imprison and confine certain debt- ors and criminals in the Goal of Ulster County" be- cause of the destruction of the Dutchess County jail. The records of the Board of Supervisors contain rnuch about the building of the new Court House and show that it was finished sufficiently for occupancy by the end of 1787, and in January, 1788, we find the Legis- lature returning to hold its winter session here after a long absence. That session was undoubtedly held HISTORY OF P U G H K nUP S I a. in the new Court House and it was there that the pro- posed new Constitution for the United States was sub- mitted to the members for their action. Governor CHnton had gone to New York to hve in 1784, but he may have retained a residence in Poughkeepsie. At any rate some of the State officers had remained here imtil at least 1788 and probably the statement made by Benson J- Lossing (letter published in Daily Eagle, Feb. 18, 1888), that Poughkeeiisie was still the State cai^ital is substantially true. Governor Clinton was so strongly opposed to the new constitution that in laying it before the Legisla- ture he made no reference to it whatever, and would have preferred to have it ignored by the members. Egbert Benson, of Poughkeepsie, was one of the lead- ers of the fight in favor of calling a convention to con- sider the question of ratification, but the opposition of the Governor and his friends was so strong that the resolution passed by a majority of only two votes. The convention thus called to meet at "the court house in Poughkeepsie" on June 17th, was the one con- sjiicuous historical event that has taken place here, and the only event of which there has been a local centennial celebration. Much interesting information about its deliberations, and the causes which led to the formation of the Constitution at Philadelphia, as well as to its tardy ratification at Poughkeepsie, may be obtained from the address delivered at the Centennial, July 26th, 1888, by Mr. John I. Piatt, and also from an address delivered a few years later by Rev. A. P. \'an Gieson, D. D., and pHblishe- Martha J. Lamb, who says in her History of New York (page .V'l, vol. 2), "This turned the pivot in the history of the English speaking race." The critical period, as we have seen from Governor Clinton's own letters written in Poughkeep- sie, was beginning in the se\'ere winter of T77i)-l78o, when the Continental currency would no longer pur- chase provisions for tlie arni>- and when it became necessary to seize the wheat and other produce of the farmers under impress warrants in order to keep the army together. During some of the first efforts to obtain a better form of government, insuring a stead}' revenue. Governor Clinton was favorable to in- creased national powers, but he nevertheless became "the bitterest hater of the Constitution that could be found anywhere in the thirteen states." In explana- tion of his change of ojainion, it must be remembered that after the war the relative position of the State of New York began to change until it soon became ap- parent that the revenue of her unsurpassed sea-port would afiford ample means for the payment of her own debts and if shared with the other states would contribute largely to the payment of their debts. George Clinton was not quite great enough to view the situation from a national standpoint, and his chief ob- jection to the Constitution was 'against surrendering this revenue. It has been generally conceded that all the Dutch- ess County delegates to the convention were chosen as opponents of the Constitution, but one may question whether they were not so classed largely because they were friends, and some of them former neighbors of the governor. Egbert Benson represented this district in the Assembly which met in January and was a lead- ing champion of the Constitution, as already stated. James Kent was elected to the legislature as a Federal- ist only two )'ears later. The people of the neighbor- hood of Poughkeepsie were at least open to conviction as to the merits of the Constitution and there is no evidence that they were not entirely satisfied with the \-(5tes of their representatives, Melancthon Smith, Zephaniah Piatt and Gilbert Livingston, in its favor. These were able men who had served in many positions during the Revolution, as we have seen in the last chapter, and continued to serve in high positions after the Constitution had been adopted. All three had been memliers of the Provincial Congress. Melancthon Smith and Zephaniah Piatt had been members of the Continental Congress. Smith was the first sheriff of the county after the formation of the State government, Piatt was at the time of the convention the county judge and Livingston the surrogate. Smith had been a resident of Poughkeepsie most of the time since 1777, but is said to have been living in New York when chosen a delegate to the convention. This is not singular when we remember that Governor Clinton himself sat as a delegate from Ulster. The elections of delegates for the convention throughout the State turned out "beyond exjioctation fa\ora1)le lo the Anli-Federal party. They ha\c a ma- jority of two thirds in the Conx'cntion, and according lo the best estimate I can form of about four sevenths in the eomnnuiit\-," wrote Hamilton to Madison on 58 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. June 8th. 1 On the 2ist John Ja)'" wrote to his wife as follows, from Poughkeepsie ; Mj- dear Sally A gentleman now in town, and who will set out for New York in about an hour, gives me an opportunity for writing you a few lines. The convention assembled with unusual punctuality. There are not more than two members that I can recollect absent, and the house has entered in the business with great assiduity and regularity. As yet these proceedings and debates have been temperate and inoffensive to either party. The opposition to the proposed constitution appears formidable, though more so from numbers than from other considerations. What the event will be is uncertain. For my part I do not despair on the one hand, although I see much room for apprehension on the other. On the 19th, H. Knox wrote to Rufus King,' still a resident of Boston : The majority of the Antis is so great at Pough- keepsie that I ask no questions. Some person com- pelled me to hear that Gov. Clinton was chosen presi- dent on Tuesday, 51 members present. The Antis, however, had made a serious mistake in postponing action upon the Constitution so long. Eight states had already ratified when the convention met on June 17th, and onl}- one more was needed to bring the new government into being. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist leaders were shrewd enough to take every advantage of the strength that would come from the news of ratification by New Hampshire or Virginia, where the conventions were also in session. Hamilton had written to Madison, May 19th, "As Clinton is truly the leader of his party and is inflexibly obstinate, I count little on overcoming op- position by reason. Our only chance will be the pre- vious ratification by nine states which may shake the firmness of his followers, and a change in the senti- ments of the people, which have for some time been traveling toward the Constitution.'' New Hampshire was known to be favorable to the Constitution and Hamilton had arranged that express riders should bring the news of its ratification to Poughkeepsie at the earliest possible moinent. The horseman with the expected news came galloping into town on the 24th of June, and on the 30th John Jay wrote to General Washington, "The greater number are, I believe, ad- verse to a vote of rejection. Some would be content with recommendatory amendments ; others wish for explanatory ones, * * * anil I am much mis- taken if there are not a few w'^^^ 'Prefer a separation from the Union to any na government whatever. * * * Tht people, however, are gradually com- 1 Works of Hamilton, Vol. I, p. 454. 2Jay Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 340. Of the 65 delegates 21 were classed as for ratification and 44 agninst. — Memoirs of James Kent, p. 303. 'Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, Vol. I, p. 335. ing right, notwithstanding the singular means taken to prevent it. The accession of New Hampshire does good and that of Virginia would do more." Isaac Roosevelt,' one of the New York City delegates, wrote to Hon. Richard Varick of New York, July ist: "I wish it was in my power to inform you that our Convention had agreed to adopt the Constitution or even what the probable event will be. Our oppo- nents keep themselves much at a distance from us, and we cannot collect any of their sentiments, either out or in doors, by any means whatever. In our discussion on the Constitution we have got only to the 8th Section of the first Article. The time is mostly taken up in reasoning on the impropriety of their proposed amendments. I now only can suggest that the event of Virginia may influence their determination. Should they re- ject, I think it probable our Convention will, but should they adopt I am not clear ours will. They may propose an adjournment to collect the sense of their respective constitutents." Governor Clinton was evidently afraid his sup- porters were weakening, but Melancthon Smith de- clared that the change of circumstances made no change in his views. He was the "anti-champion" in debate, adding "the subtelty of Locke to the candour of Sydney," in the words of one who described the con- vention in a letter published in the New York Journal, July 4th, 1788. The doors of the convention were open and the people of Poughkeepsie availed them- selves of the opportunity to hear the greai speakers. Hamilton was described as the "the political porcu- pine, armed at all points," and pouring a "stream of eloquence deep as the Ganges and irresistible as the Gadaraqui." Mr. Jay's reasoning was said to be as "weighty as gold, polished as silver, and strong as steel." Chancellor Livingston was also a strong in- fluence for the Constitution. The weight of eloquence and logic was certainly with the Federalists, and the debates as published- are good reading to-day. The very extravagance of the Antis, who described the Con- stitution as a "tripal-headed monster" and said that "The dagger of ambition is now pointed at the fair bo- som of liberty,' with much else of the same sort, was l)robabIy beginning to react. June 27th Hamilton wrote to Madison that "there are some slight hopes of relax- ation in some of the leaders, which authorizes a gleam of hope, if you do well, but certainly I think not other- wise." At this very moment a letter was on its way from Richmond, coming as fast as horses could, bringing the news that \'irginia had done well. Ben- ' Great grandfather of Mr. John A. Roosevelt (who has the letter quoted), and a lirother of the great grandfather of President Roosevelt. 2Fac-simile, 1905, Ijy Vassar Brothers' Institute. HISTORY OF POUGHKEUPSia. 59 son J. Lossing has published the following interview' with one who was present when the news arrived : "It was about noon, on a very hot day," said the old man, "when I saw an express rider, on a power- ful bay horse flecked with foam, dismount at the Court House door and placing his bridle reins in the hands of a negro boy standing by, hasten to the door of the Convention chamber, and deliver a sealed pack- age to Mr. Uarclay, the door-keeper. The courier was Colonel William Smith Livingston, who had ridden express (changing horses several times) from l^ew York City to Poughkeepsie, a distance of eighty-one miles, in less than ten hours. Tiie package he brought contained a despatch from the President of the Vir- ginia Convention at Richmond and a letter from Mad- ison to Hamilton, announcing that Virginia had, on the 25th day of June, unconditionally ratified the constitu- tion. The reading of that despatch gave great joy to the Federalists in the Convention, and they cheered loudly. Many people out of curiosity had gathered in front of the Court House after the arrival of the courier, and when his errand was made known, a part of them formed a little procession, and led by the music of a fife and drum, marched around the Court House several times. In the evening they lighted a small bonfire. Before sunset Power had printed an 'Extra' on a sheet of paper seven by ten inches in size which contained the form of the ratification by Mrginia." The governor's friends seem now to have begun to see that the Constitution must be ratified, and turned their efiforts towards its amendment. The celebration of the Fourth of July was a pleasant relief from the tension of daily parliamentary battle and served to pro- mote good feeling. John Jay wrote to his wife on the 5th, "Yesterday was a day of festivity and both parties united in celebrating it. Two tables, but in different houses, were spread for the convention, and the two jiarties mingled at each table and the toasts (of which each had copies) were communicated by the sound of drum and accompanied by the discharge of artillery." In the novel entitled "The Conqueror" is present- ed an imaginary picture of the scenes of the conven- tion with the statement that there were charming women and pretty girls in Pouglikecpsie then, who knew how to entertain the great men at receptions and dinner parties. Contemporary letters are uncom- monh- silent about these events. Besides the celebra- tion of Independence Day almost the only outside di- version John Jay mentions is the following: "Last night m\- .sorrel mare was taken out of the stable, and I think it is very doubtful whether I shall see her again. I am much obliged to the thief for leaving the horse. You see it might have been worse." Isaac Roosevelt, writing on the 5th of July, omits 1 Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, Feb. 18, 1888. all reference to the 4th and outlines to Mr. Varick a change of tactics on the part of the friends of the Constitution. "We now permit our opponents to go on with their objections and propose their amendments without interruption. When the)' have gone through we may more fully learn their intentions. We have now got to the 3rd Article on the Judiciary Depart- ment." Days passed in debate and then, on the 15th of July, Melancthon Smith moved for ratification "upon Condition" that a new convention of the states be called to pass amendments. Hamilton at once wrote to Madison, then in New York attending Congress, and received in reply by express messenger a state- ment that an}' condition would vitiate the ratifica- tion. The State of New York must either join the Union now already formed or take the responsibilit)' of staying out. All felt the gravity of the situation. On July i8th, "the convention met, but such was the deep sense of responsibility that no one olifered to speak. Silence prevailed and after a time the House adjourned." In New York City news from the con- vention was awaited with great anxiety and on the 2lst an imposing Federalist parade was held there planned to influence "the obstinate bod}' at Pough- keepsie." The obstinacy of some of the opponents of the Constitution was gradually breaking down. "The members generally assumed a more conciliatory tone," wrote James Kent, and what followed is well told in his own words : "The spirit of the House was liberal and cheering, and at last Samuel Jones,-^one of the Anti-Federal members, had the magnanimity to move to substitute the words 'in full confideifte' in lieu of the words 'upon condition.' He was Supported by Melancthon Smith, who had so eminently distinguished himself throughout the whole course of the session, and bv Zepheniah Piatt, then first judge of the County of Dutchess, who made a few observations expressing in a plain, frank manner, his sense of duty on that occasion and his determin^lion to follow it. The niembers who came over from .the Anti-Federal side of the house were twelve in number,. being four mem- bers from the Dutchess, four from Queens, three from Suffolk, and one from \A'ashington, and, uniting them- selves with the nineteen Federal niembers from New York, ^^'estchester, Kings and Richmond, thev con- stituted a majority of the Convention."' This does nc" '-'" ciuite the whole story. The Jones motion was ca /uly 25th b}' a bare major- ity of two votes, 31 to 20 in committee of the whole. "Mr. Lansing then moved." wrote Isaac Roosevelt the same day, "that the words should follow the ratification, 'Reserving to this State a Right to With- iLetter to Mrs. Hamilton. 1832 — Kent Memoirs, p. 311 .'; ^, -^. July 2d, 1788, f Y |: X p R E s s, The Ratification of the Np«r r> n- • .- raihe, to be exL- >-'?°''"""<'P. ought of "buiniog^A^'.^^;,''^. *■"■ ' " 'PC ""^ Ra.ifiJioo • ■""" P'"""" ■» do by ihefc p,ef.n,. jflid, ,° ^''g'°."- [H«ecom„iB.i„Coofll,„,jo-v JOURNAL OFFICE ^ "'^^"^^EPSIE Original in possession of S' I h . p ■ ,;, ;X::— ^,;^^;;.;^. .. ,. ^ ._._ "^- ^°hn A Roosevelt, ^-r;;^|^^^*f?S^;SS*#l^ i.f :^-iSj; HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. 61 draw from the Union if the Constitution is not re- vised by General Convention.' * * On this de- bates Ensued, which tool< up the day and it was not known how the 'Brittle Blades' would vote, the tak- ing of the question was waved till to-morrow." Gilbert Livingston had announced that he should vote for ratification and it was stated that Hamilton closed the debate in a speech of three hours duration. There was a majority of three against Lansing's last amendment and the final vote on Saturday, the 26th, was by the same narrow margin, 30 to 27 for un- conditional ratification, but Kent says that several other members would have voted for ratification "but could not be brought to desert Governor Clinton who remained inflexible. Had he consented to vote for the Constitution, the final ratification of it would pro- bably have been unanimous." It is perhaps not too much to add that Dutchess County saved the day. Kent pays a high tribute to the "men who made this memorable and unbought sacrifice of prejudice, error and pride on the altar of patriotism. * * * It was quiie an heroic effort to quit such a leader as Governor Clinton, and such men as Yates and Lansing, who had been mem- bers of the General Convention." Dutchess had seven delegates, and besides the three mentioned, John De- Witt voted for the Constitution, Ezra Thompson was absent and Jacobus Swartwout, the doughty colonel of the Revolutionary Minute Men, with Jonathan .Akins voted no. There seems to be no evidence that those who broke away from Clinton's boss-ship on this occasion incurred his enmity. Smith stumped the State for him in 1 792 when he ran for the sixth time, and \vc have already noted the feelings of Gilbert Livingston and Judge Piatt when Kent declared that Clinton's counting in on that occasion was fraudulent. Early Politics ot? Town and County. A year after the convention a wave of sympathy for the French Revolution, in which Lafayette was an early leader, swept over the new American Republic, and then, as the excesses of the French began to ex- cite a reaction among the more conservative, party feeling in America was greatly intensified. The friends of Jefferson, embracing most of the Anti- Federalists, continued to espouse the cause of the French, even at the risk of involving the United States in another war .with England, while the Federalists, under Hamilton's leadership, came more and more into a position of hostilil\' to the French. Governor Clin- ton, though he prevented the fitting out of a French privateer in New York harbor, was in synipathy with their ])laris and one of his daughters, in 1793, became the wife of the notorious French minister, "Citizen Genet," who remained in America. It is altogether probable that Kent's defeat for Congress in 1793 was partly at least due to the French partisanship of the governor's friends in Poughkeepsie, though the town was certainly not entirely carried away by the French craze. Men of strong English sympathies, suspected of being Tories in the Revolution, were restored to favor sufficiently to hold town offices soon after the war, and their names continue on the town books. Richard Everitt and William Emott, for example, were almost continuously office holders from 1788 until well into the 19th century. Everitt became town clerk in 1795 and Emott a justice of the peace in 1798, both offices of much importance at that time. In 1800 Squire Emott, as he was called, was elected to the Assembly. He was the father of the elder James Emott, a very prominent Federalist in the early part of the 19th century. It is difficult to tell much about the politics of Poughkeepsie before 1800, except from the few hints given by Kent's Memoirs and from items in the few copies of the earl)' newspapers. By comparison of these with the civil list of the State it is evident that the county was debatable ground and was drifting away from the control of Governor Clinton and his friends. The Federalists were likely to win in off years and not infrequently elected their .Assemblymen even when Anti-Federalists were sent to Congress. Thus the Assembly delegations of 1794. 1795. 1796 and 1797, appear to have been Federal. .\11 four in- clude Jesse Oakley, who is known to have been a strong Federalist, and the first three include David Brooks of Poughkeepsie. Theodoras Bailey, however, was reelected to Congress in 1795. but David Brooks succeeded him in 1797. In 1798 John Jay, Federalist candidate for governor, carried the county by a small majorit)', receiving 998 votes to 991 for Robert R. Livingston. The town of Poughkeepsie voted Living- ston 90 and Jay 82. To complete the see-saw, Theo- doras Bailey was again elected to Congress in 1799. It was during this period of political change and probably parti)' because of it that Zephaniah Piatt, ^ who was succeeded as Judge of the Court of Common iThere were three or four families of Platls in Dutchess County before this time. Israel Piatt, who lived in Eastern nutchess, was a captain of one of tlie militia regiments in the Rcvolnlion and was the ancestor of the late Mrs. John P. Adriance. Eliphalet Piatt, who lived near Pleasant Valley, was a militia lieutenant in the Revolution, and was the Rrandfather of Isaac Piatt, founder of the Poughkeep- sie Eagle, and also of Dr. Eliplialet Piatt, first president of the village of Rhinebeck. .A John Piatt is also mentioned ill the records Israel, liliphalet and John were probably brothers and cousins of Zephaniah. All came from the neighborhood of ITuntingtoti, Long Island, at apparently about the same time. 62 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE. Pleas in 1795, by David Crooks, left Poughkeepsie and with his brothers, Dr. Charles Piatt and Nathaniel Piatt, went to Lake Chaniplain, whither another brother, Daniel Piatt, had preceded them as early as 1792, and founded Plattsburgh. John Bailey, father of Theodoras, and probably some other Pough- keepsie people, also went to Plattsburgh. Rival Newspapers. The first rival of the Poughkeepsie Journal seems to have been the Republican Journal, started in 179s by Nathan Douglas of Danbury, Ct. It doubtless represented the party of Jefferson and George Clinton, and indicates that the older Journal, though admitting communications of all shades of opinion, was already regarded as a Federalist organ. I know of only one number of this paper, "Vol. I, No. 41," dated Wednesday, July 6, 1796. ^ It bore the motto : "Pliant as Reeds, where streams of Freedom Glide — Firm as the Hills, to stem Oppression's tide.'' and was "printed and published b}' Richard \''ander- burgh & Co., near the Court House." It contains the statement, dated June 29th, that Nathan Douglas had sold the paper to Mr. \^anderburgh "and will shortly return to Danbury, Ct., to conduct the pub- lication of the Farmer's Chro)iiclc." Fourth of July, says this paper, "was ushered in by the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells.'' There was a parade of the officers of Col. Van Bunschoten's regiment of militia, Captain ^'emont's light horse and Captain Mott's riflemen. Then one company of men con- vened at Colonel Van Bunschoten's for a banquet and another at Captain Hendrickson's. There is a suggestion of partisanship in the separation and in the lists of toasts. In this paper Nathan Myers advertised for sale a stone house "containing two large rooms on the lower floor, on the Post Road leading to --\lbany and on the road leading to the upper landing." This must have been a near neighbor of the old Van Kleeck house. \n early gazetteer states that most of the houses in Poughkeepsie were of stone at this time. \^andcrburgh evidently formed a partnershi]) with Xicholas Power and the Republican Journal was ab- sorbed by the Poughkeepsie Journal, but this partner- ship was soon dissolved, as we learn from a notice in the isstie of Nov. 16, 1796, which also contains an advertisement of a small printing office "with every necessity to begin a country newsi)aper — to be sold cheap." \^''ere it not for this advertisement I shotdd think it possible that there had been only one paper '111 the iiosscssion of Mr. Frank Van Kleeck. all the while, and that Power had sold the Pough- keepsie Journal in 1795 and taken it back in 1796, the temporary proprietors making a slight change in the name and numbering^ the issues as if it were a new paper. On January 8, 1798, another newspaper, The American Farmer and Dutchess County Advertiser, made its appearance, printed by John Woods. It did not openly support Jefiferson, and its editor announced that he should "endeavor to conduct the paper by the line of impartialit}'." The French Revolution seems to have been still the leading issue, and the following excellent example of early editorial eloquence implies that the doings of the French had not hitherto been impartially reported : While the Genius of Liberty is yet struggling with the Demon of Tyranny and oppression ; while the blood-stained steps of Slaughter are still smoking in the desolated fields of Europe ; while fell Discord with her brazen trump is sounding the alarm of zmr through our happy land where Party Spirit seems assuming the garb of General Good ; while Political Frenzy appears to predominate over each quarter of the globe and while the party mind is raised to the summit of expectation no one surely can stand an indififerent observer of these awful scenes, or not wish to be regularly informed of the im- portant events which are about to close the eighteenth and usher in the nineteenth centurv. Isaac Mitchell was the editor of this paper for a time, and he stated a few years later^ that it failed soon after he left it. Only the first copy is known to be in existence. Slavery in Poughkeepsie. Every issue of the early newspapers contains at least one advertisement ofifering a reward for the return of a runaway slave, and this one is rather surprising : FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. RUNAWAY— From the subscriber, bis Negro man. Gill, about twent\-five years of a.t{c, a short stocky fellow ; he wears a watch, a claret coloured coat, and brown cloth watch-coat lined with green baize. The above will be paid for confining him in any Goal, and notice given that he may be had with all reasonable charges, by RlCH.\RD D.wis. Poughkeepsie, Feb. 5, 1798. Watches were very much of a luxury at that time, but there is no intimation in the advertisement that this watch was stolen, or was not the rightful 'The volume and number never afford conclusive evidence as til the origin of a newspaper, and I know of no copies of the Poughkeepsie Journal for the early months of 1796. -Opening editorial Political Paromeler, June H, i8oj. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 63 property of the slave. A few letters of the period before the Revolution indicate that some of the brutal features of the institution of slavery were to be found in this neighborhood, but very soon after the Revo- lution slavery itself began to fall into disfavor. One or two of John Jay's letters as President of the Manu- mission Society were written about the time of the Constitutional Convention and probably from Pough- keepsie. He says that slaves in this section of the country were "treated as well as other servants," and many stories and traditions are handed down, show- ing their frequent devotion to their masters and the easy position they held in many families. The convic- tion was growing that slavery, no matter what its con- ditions, was inconsistent with the expressions in the constitution of the rights of human liberty, and manumissions were becoming more common. The first recorded manumissions of slaves in New York State were made under an act passed February 22(1, 1788, at Poughkeepsie, and the Legislature was careful to provide that the persons set free should not become town charges. This act, Chapter XL, Laws of the Eleventh Session, declares that : "When the owner or owners of any slave under fifty years of age, and of sufficient ability to provide for himself or herself, shall be disposed to manumit such slave, he or they shall, previous thereto, pro- cure a certificate, signed by the overseers of the poor, or the major part of them, of the city, town or place, and of two justices of the peace of the county where such person or persons shall dwell or reside * * * certifying that such slave appears to be under fifty years of age, and of sufficient ability to provide for himself or herself, and shall cause such certificate of manumission to be registered ; * * * then it shall be lawful * * * to manumit such slave without giv- ing or providing any security * * * and the clerk for registering such certificate shall be entitled to two shillings and no more." In accordance with these provisions former At- torney General, Egbert Benson, registered the first manumission in the town of Poughkeepsie, as follows : Entered tins nineteenth day of November 1790 the following Coppy of the mannmission of a negro slave i. e. We Peter Tappen & Tnnis Tappen two of the trustees of the peaec for the Counl\' of Dntchess and William Emott and William Terry overseer of the Poor for the town of Poughkeepsie in the Connty aforesaid, do hereby Certify, that it appears to ns that Erancis a Male Negro Sla\e of Itgbert r.enson of the Said Town is under the age of fifty years and of Sufficient abilities to provide for himself. Dated as above. Prn!K T.MTEN. Trxis T.M'i'i'N, \\'ii.i.i.\M Emott. \\'ll.l.(,\M Tkrrv, I the above named Egbert Benson do hereby manumit and set at Liberty the above named Erancis — dated the day and year above mentioned. Egbert Benson. John Frear, 1794, records the second manumis- sion,' "a Negro boy named Bill, aged four years, and nine months, being a Son of my Woman Slave named Susan." Judge Zephaniah Piatt's application for a certificate of manumission, the third, begins, "Agree- ably to the Republican Spirit of the constitution of our country." On March 29th, 1799, was passed an act "for the gradual abolition of slavery," and April 8th, 1801, an act "concerning slaves and servants" provided that "Every child born within this state after the fourth day of April, 1799, shall be free, but shall remain the servant of the owner of his or her mother * * * until the age of twenty-eight years, if a boy, and twenty-five years, if a girl." This act, as well as that of 1799, required the registry of all births of children in slavery, under penalty of five dollars fine, and the first person to comply with the requirement was Smith Thompson," May 26th, 1800, already a prominent lawyer and to begin his public career the same }ear as a member of Assembly. The records of births in the books of the town of Poughkeepsie extend down to 1815, and the manumis- sions down to 1825. Few of the early certificates show any family names for the negroes set free, but soon after 1800 such names were g'enerallv given. In some cases the names were of the former owners, in others, names probabl}' chosen by the negroes themselves. Abraham Adriance in 1815 set free a slave named Grace Vanderbilt. A few agreements are recorded similar to the usual apprenticing articles, showing that owners occasion- ally leased, or bound out, their slaves for a term of years, at the end of which, if faithful service had been performed, the slaves were given their freedom, and a good many slaves were freed by will at the death of their masters or mistresses. Some of the slaves who had grown much attached to the families in which they had been brought up virtually refused to accept freedom, and not a few of the older and more helpless ones were supported until their death bv their former owners, who would not allow them to become town charges. On the other hand there are two or three records of young children delivered over to the town as paupers under the provisions of one of the abolition acts. One record shows that negroes them- iFor full list of manumissions recorded, and list of per- sons recording births of slaves under act of April 8, 1801, see .\ppcndix. -Certificate in full in .\ppeudix. 64: HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB selves might hold slaves, that of "Toney Fox, a black man of the town of Poughkeepsie," who received a certificate for the manumission "of his wife and slave, Margaret," October 29th, 1804. It has often been said that slaver}' was abolished in the Northern States because it was unprofitable, but there is little, if any, local evidence that this was true in 1799 or before. Slaves were occasionally sent South for sale, indicating a better market there, but the results were not always satisfactory. Christ Church, for instance, once owned a slave left it by will. He proved a very undesirable piece of property for a church, ran away into Connecticut, and was finally sent to the South where the expenses of his sale amounted to more than the proceeds. Steady, able-bodied slaves, however, brought fair prices at home, if one may judge from the advertisements in the early papers, but there seems to have been some sentiment against selling them, as indicated by an occasional advertisement in which a slave girl is offered "partly by her own request." There are also a number of curious notices offering merely nominal rev/ards, as low as two cents, for the return of run- aways, as if their owners were merely complying with some technicality of the law. Town Duvixoi'ment. Among the laws passed by the Legislative session of the winter of 1788 at the new Poughkeepsie Court House were acts for the division of the State into counties and the counties into towns. These for the most part were merely re-enactments of earlier colo- nial laws — the boundaries of the tuwn of Pough- keepsie^ were the same as of the old precinct of Poughkeepsie, — but they were followed here by con- siderable activity on the part of the town authorities, especially in the matter of laying out new roads and improving old ones. The first street in Poughkeep- sie, as distinguished from the roads that met at the Court House or led to the river, was Cannon Street. It is described in a deed of 1786 as "the new lane or Cannon Street." Its name probably came from some Revolutionary incident, and tradition has several stories to account for it, the most plausible of which seems to be that its intersection with the Post Road was once marked with old cannons stuck upright in the ground. The name, at any rate, was evidenth' given bv common consent, before it was ratified b}' town authority. Church Street was also named in the same way only a few years later. In 1788 the Town Road Commissioners, Peter Tappen and E. Van Picnschoten, straightened out the New Plackensack road and car- ried branches to the Filkintown road and to the Post iChaptcr LXIV, Sciiiun Laws, March 7, 17S8. road. These branches became Montgomery Street, Academy Street and Hamilton Street. The main sur- vey carries the road through Academy to Cannon and down Cannon Street to the Court House. Then Academy is extended to Main Street, Church Street is laid out and the branches above mentioned. The landmarks in surveying Academy Street were Baltus Van Kleeck's "white house" on the south and Gil- bert Livingston's house on the north. Onl}- Cannon Street and Church Street are named. Academy Street was originally a lane' leading to Van Kleeck's "white house," which stood as the accompanying map shows, just south of Montgomery Street. The street is named "Ragged Lane" on the map, but deeds on record show that several efforts were made to give it other names, before the Dutchess County Academy was built on the corner of Cannon Street in 1791 or 1792. This 1790 map, the original of which was long in the possession of the late John F. Hull and is now the property of Mr. Henry Booth, has been the subject of some controversy. It is not on record and its genuineness has been disputed b)' those who believe the Everitt House to have been Governor George Clinton's residence during the Revo- lution. This matter was discussed in the last chapter, and it remains only to add that the map is of un- doubted genuineness. Reference to deeds recorded in Liber II, pp. 384-386, show that a map was made by Henry Livingston, Jr., dated September 25th, 1790, for the purpose of describing and dividing into lots the property on Church and Cannon Streets where the lots are numbered. The first of these deeds is dated November 9, 1791, and is from Thomas Ellison and George Ludlow of New York City, "assignees and trustees for the creditors of Myndert Van Kleeck, survivor of Leonard A'an Kleeck, and I^Iyndert \'an Kleeck," to James B. Clark of New York, attorney at law. V,y the second deed, dated November 10, the same property is deeded back to the assignees. The lot numbers as referred to in the deeds are not exactly the same as in the map here reproduced, but the dif- ference is trifling. There is one less number on the south side of Church Street and two more on the north side. Nine lots are convened on the north side, begin- ning at the south-east corner of the burial ground of the Episcopal Church, "being known on above map" as lots 9, 10, u, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and excepting lot No. 12. "commonly called the school house lot." The "school house" lot is not numbered in the map as here given. It is evidenll\- the same lot now occupied Mil dcfd from Lcwi^ ]Ju LSois to Myiidcrl Van Klccck (1773) referred to as "the lane leading from the farm of the late Lawrence Van Kleeck, deceased, to the Filkintown road." — Lib. 2, 269. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE 65 by School No. 2, or "The Alexander Hamilton School.'' In these deeds also the eastern boundry is "Lud- low Street," not Ragged Lane, which was evidently not acceptable as a name. In the deeds to the Academy trustees. May 8th, 1792, and December 18, 1792 (Lib. 21, pp. 466 and 530), the street is called "Charles Street," evidently an attempt to name it Van Kleeck's "white house," so often referred to, was evidently an important place. It is described in an advertisement which ran for some time in the Poughkeepsie Journal in 1785, as "situated on a very pleasant eminence, within a quarter of a mile of the town of Poughkeepsie, commanding the full view of the same. The house being two and a half stories high with four genteel rooms on a floor, and a com- - f t_ * n 5 a (fi fl M > / A ii i m from Dr. Charles Crookc, who had owned the lot. Crooke had recently died and the property was sold to pa\- his debts. Mis widow vcr)' jiromptly mar- ried William Ketcltas, and the first deed, dated May 8th, conveys her dower right to the lot "on which an Academy is now erected." The building could not have been finished mucli before this time, for the Academy was incorporated h\' the regents in i/^i. It soon gave the final name to the street. modious cellar under the whole, with good well of water, and about si.xty-two acres of good land, with a good meadow and orchard belonging to the same." One cannot but suspect that some of the important Revolutionary meetings said to have been held at "Mr. \'an Kleeck's house" may have been held here, especially if its Revolutionary owner was the same lialtus, who refused to sign the pledge of Associa- tion in 1775. At any rate the number of houses 66 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB occupied or owned by Van Kleecks in 1790 suggests doubt as to the reliability of the traditons which have assigned so much Revolutionary importance to the oldest, and probably the smallest of them all. This ""white house" property was in part at least situated on what had been "The Little Commons' (see map p. 31) and was also in part at least the property which afterwards came into the possession of Bronson French, and then into the possession of Christ Church and other parties as mentioned in Chapter VI. It used to be said that French obtained title to much of it simpi}' as a squatter and by pushing his fences more and more out into the "Common." The following advertisement dated July 12, 1802, will show that the squatting was done before French's time : The subscriber has returned to town for a few days, and offers for sale a number of lots on the Com- mon or White House lot. N. B. It has been maliciously asserted that my title to this land is not good and sufficient — I invite any person, capable of paying the costs of suit, to come forward and publicl}' declare it. Law L. Van Kleuck. There are many interesting things about the 1790 map. It will be noticed that what is now called the Swift house is among the buildings built between 1770 Mouse purchased by Governor Clinic u in lygg. Kozv the Residence of Rev. and Mrs. .1. P. I'an Cicson. and 1790, on the south side of Cannon Street. This house is particularly interesting, as the only one, so far as we know, that was ever owned by Governor George Clinton within the corporate limits of Pough- keepsie. The lawyers have traced this property back tu a mortgage made in I7()2 b\- William Piailey, merchant, to "the new loan commissioners," and the mortgage (\'o\. 2. p. 325, Loan of 1792) contains on its back endorsements showing that Clinton was one of those who ])aid interest on it. The Clinton deed is not on record but his field book tells of the pur- chase. October iCtli, 1799, and the opening sentence of the entry seems to imply that he owned a part of it before William Bailey did, and may possibly have built the house himself. The entry is as follows: House and Lot in Poughkeei'sie Dutchess County. Oil the loth day of October 1791 by Indenture of Lease and Release conveyed to William Bailey a certain Mes- suage or Lot of Land in the Town of Poughkeepsie and — Thomas Norton the 30th of March 1792 in like manner con- veyed to the said William Bailey one other Messuage or Lot adjoining the above and William Bailey being so seized in Fee of the afore- said two Messuages or Lots mortgaged the same to the Loan Officers of Dutchess County to secure the Payment of a certain Sum of Money he had taken on Loan from that Office and afterwards to wit, on the 4th day of Feb- rnray 1794 (the said Mortgage being unredeemed & in full force) by Indenture of Release conveyed the said two Mes- suages and Lots to Cadwallader D. Colden in Fee for con- sideration of £625 — and the said Colden and Maria his wife executed a Mortgage of the Premises for securing the Payment of £525 due to said William Bailey, and on The lolh November 1796 the said Cadwallader D. Colden and Maria his Wife for the Consideration of £800 by In- denture of Release duly made and executed by them con- veyed the said two Messuages & Lots to James Scott Smith Esquire in Fee Simple. — And the said James Scott Smith on the day of executed a Mortgage of the same for securing the Payment of a Debt due from the said James Scott Smith to him as will appear by the Register of the same in the Clerks Office ill said Count}'. In the Term of April in the \ear 1799 John Starks Robinson obtained a Judgment in the Supreme Court of Judi- cature of the said State against the said James Scott Smith for 18564 Dollars & eleven Cents and a Writ of Testatum Fieri Facies was thereupon issued out of the said Court to the Sheriff of Dutchess County who in virtue thereof (and for Want of Goods and Chatties of said Smith to satisfy said Judgment) seized the said Messuages and Lots of Land and having advertised the same according to Law exposed the same to sale at public Auction and the said George Clinton being the highest Bidder they were struck off to him ac- cordingly and — William RadclifF the Sheriff aforesaid by Indenture bear- ing date the i6th day of October 1799 under his Hand and seal duly made and executed as Sheriff aforesaid comeyed the same and all the Estate Right Title and Interest of the said James Scott Smith therein or thereto to the said George Clinton in Fee Simple for the consideration of 100 Dollars. The said Messuages and Lots, being bounded and described as follow^, to wit All that certain Messuage or House and Lot i)f Ground situate lying and being in the Village of Poughkeepsie in the County of Dutchess Beginning at the Northeasterly Cor- ner of the Lot of Thomas W'aruer running thence along the s.iid Thomas W.arners t,ot Southerly one hundred and sixtv five feet. Thence Masterly one hundred and one Feet to the Southwest Corner of Thomas Molt's Lot — Thence Northerly along the said Thomas Mott's Lot one hundred and si.xty five feet to the street called Cannon Street — Thence west- erl\' along the said Slreel to the Place of Beginning — Con- taining one f|uarter of an .\cre and twenty one Perches and seven thirly thirds of a Perch of Land. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. 67 Besides this there are many papers in the Clinton Manuscripts in Albany (Vol. 42) referring to this property and showing that there was considerable liti- gation over it. Clinton was out of office in 1799, and was rather closely associated with several prominent residents of Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County in real estate and other business matters. It seems likely that some tradition would have connected his name with the Cannon Street house if he had ever lived in it, but he was certainly often in Poughkeepsie from this time until his election as Vice-President in 1808. He was elected Governor again in 1801 and served till 1804, and about at the expiration of his term pur- chased of Samuel Pinkney the Casper Kill farms, where he built a house which stood until a few years ago at what is now called Clinton Point. This house he certainly lived in at least as a summer residence. The deeds for the place arc not on record, but the consent to sell, November ist, 1814, is recorded in Liber 25 of Deeds, page 66, signed by Elizabeth Tall- madge and Maria Beekman, "daughters and heirs of the late Vice President George Clinton, Esq.," George Clinton Genet, Henry James Genet, Maria Louisa Genet, Charles Alexander Genet, Cornelia T. Genet, grandchildren ; Ann \'arick, a devisee of George \Vashington Clinton, son of George Clinton, and George \\^illiam Floyd Clinton (infant), son of George W. Clinton. It remains to be said of the Cannon Street house that nearh' all its known occupants and owners were prominent men. Cadwallader D. Colden, afterwards Mayor of New York, was a law>'er of high standing, and a grandson of one of the last Colonial Governors. James Scott Smith, whose wealth is shown by the size of the judgment against him, was the first president of the Village of Poughkeepsie. The endorsements on the back of the mortgage to the loan conmnission- ers show that Jeremiah Hageman paid several install- ments of the interest before Clinton's purchase. Smith's payments are recorded, but no payment from Colden. This mortgage remained in force until it was paid by George B. Bvertsou in 1813. The big chim- neys and other features of the house are evidences of antiquity, but it seems unlikely that it was built before the street was opened. Tlic interior contains e\'idence that the western section of the house was an addition, but made at a very early period, and it is probable that the rich men who owned it during the first half of the Nineteenth Century changed it considerably. The eastern wing is of course a comparatively recent addi- tion. Returning to the 1790 map, it should be noted that Myndert \^an Kleeck lived on the corner of Market and Cannon Streets. He sold in 171)9 '" Theodorus Bailey, whose name appears there on the village map made in that year. The William Bailey mortgage, and George Clinton's field book, describe the Clin- ton property as beginning at Thomas Warner's north- east comer. Warner had purchased, in 1785 (Liber 10, 319), a lot beginning at the northeast corner of Myndert Van K^leeck's garden fence along "the new street," and this is the first deed to a lot on the street I have seen. As already noted, it was called "the new lane or Cannon Street," in a deed of the next year, 1786. (Van Kleeck to Melancthon L. Woolsey to "the second lot from the east end thereof".) The names Market, Main and Pine Streets are perhaps later additions to the 1790 map. They may have been used at that time, but were certainly not fixed, for Market Street is called Main on maps and deeds of later date. Probably none of the names had yet been given with authority, and it does not appear that any of the new roads or streets surveyed in 1788 and mapped in 1790 were actually worked b_v the town authorities before the incorporation of the A^'illage of Poughkeepsie. At any rate I have been unable to identifv them in the descriptions of roads or road sections of which pathmasters were appointed. These in 1798, were as follows: r From Court House to Baltus l^rairs Robert No.Kon ' From Frairs to Major Forts encluding the Road from Gills to .\uthonys Elias Trave 3 From Authonj' Hoffmans to John Wilsons Thomas Nelson 4 From John Wilsons to Bartholeme Ga\'S. .Abraham Pells 5 from the House of George Stewart Dec's'd to the old Store encluding by Gerret Lansings over the fall kill Joseph Bowman 6 from Court Honse to James Winans Encluding the Road to the Uning Store George B. Everson 7 from Samuel Smiths to Richard Davis Store Richard Davis 8 from Anthony Hoffmans Encluding from him to the house late of William Rider John Beckwith g from the honse late of William Riders to Clinton line Encluding to Platts Bridge Elias Delong 10 from Semones house to the medel of the bridge at Duncan Engrems Isaac Hoffman I I from Engrems stone house to Natz Brewers En- clud Booth Roads to the Crick Peter Burgan I J from Engrems to Spacken Kill Elias V. Bonschoten 13 from i\l\ndert Van Kleecks to Clinton Line Enchid from T. Frairs to Elias Dnboys John Pahnatier 14 from Casper Ivill to Mesiers Bridge. .. .Nazareth Brewer 15 from Cornelius Brewers to Peter I^croys. Peter L. Lawsin 16 from Burlingams to James Welses Caleb Bishop 17 from Bates to the Hook .Vbrahara Van W\ck 18 from Van Brnmmcls to Clinton line, near Soles.. Evert Pells ic) from Records to Clinton Line William Davis JO from John Van Anden to Theodoris Bales Enclud- ing the road to John Burums John \'an Anden 68 HISTORY OF P U GH KEEP S I B. 21 from Barnegat to Luckeys Land Encluding the Road to Major Forts Peter Miller 22 from Vanseckles to Pells Mill— No path Master Chosen. After this year roads were entered in the town book only by numbers. It is of course difficult to identify most of these roads. Nos. i and 2, how- ever, are plainly the Post Road south, as Major Fort lived near the Casper Kill, in the old stone house still standing on the east side of the road. No. 14 is another section of the Post Road to Wappingers Falls (Mesiers Bridge). No. 6 is Union Street and No. 7 Pine Street, Nos. 3, 4 and 5 are perhaps sections of the Post Road north, the last including also Mill Street. Nos. 8 and 9 may be Main Street, and the Filkintown Road, the last (to Piatt's bridge) including what is now generally called the Ayrault road. Nos. ID, II and 12 may be parts of the New Hackensack road and branches from it. No. 20 seems to include Cherry Street, "the road to John Burums." Some of the others may be studied out by reference to the map made in 1798, (see frontispiece). The Churches. The survey of the street leading to the Episcopal Church on the Post Road suggests the return of its members as the prejudices of the Revolution began to lessen. The organization of Christ Church had never entirely lapsed, for elections of wardens and vestrymen were held every Easter Tuesday through- out the war. The first rector after the war bore the Dutch name of Henry Van Dyke, who took charge of the churches of Fishkill and Poughkeepsie in 1787. For several years the church had a hard struggle and Episcopal " Parsointi^L' I louse y Photoi^raplicd /go/. in 1797 Trinit\' Church of Xew York assi.sleil it with a gift of /500 for a "parsonage house.'' ,\ building, upon which the church had taken a mortgage in 1796, opposite the Academy, was purchased in 1799 and is still standing, now used as a blacksmith shop. It was at one time the home of the Street family, and Mrs. Levi P. Morton is said to have been born in it. The Dutch Church, by dissensions over the lan- guage question, seems again to have made an oppor- tunity for the Episcopalians or for some one else. After having had the very able services of Rev. John H. Livingston during the last years of the war it remained for seven years without a settled pastor. The Dutch language was finally given up during this period and the church was incorporated in 1789, with Henry Hegeman, Peter Tappen, Isaac Romine, John Frear, Myndert Van Kleeck, Henry Livingston, Jr., Abraham Fort and Benjamin Westervelt as elders and deacons. The Presbyterians were not yet strong enough to organize permanently, and Methodist circuit riders were only just beginning to come into the neighbor- hood. The first recorded Methodist sermon^ in Poughkeepsie was in 1796. when Rev. Freeborn Gar- rettson preached in the Dutch Church. The First State Schoge Money. In January, 1795, the Legislature returned for a final and very short session in Poughkeepsie, January 6th to 14th, then adjourned to New York, where the session was resumed on the 20th. In his message, read at the organization in Poughkeepsie, Governor Clinton recommended "an act for the encouragement of schools," and in accordance with his recommenda- tion the legislation which became the foundation of the system of State aid to the schools was passed near the close of the session in New York. LTnder this act the following apportionment of school moneys was made in Dutchess County, as recorded in the town book: "Whereas. By an Act of the Legislature of this state Entitled an Act for the Encouragement of schools, Passed the ninth day of April 1795 among other things Therein contained the sum of £2,100 is distributed to the county of Dutchess, to be Appor- tioned to the purposes therein mentioned among the Several Towns of said County. In pursuance then of the act aforesaid the Board of Supervisors for said county certify that to the Town of Rhinebeck is alloted the sum of £216 55. 3d.," etc. In the record book of the town of I'ougbkeepsie the allotments are written out as aku'c. but will be ni<.irc easily read if tabulated as subsequent allotments were. lRe\ P- 13- L. M. Vincent's ''Methodism in Ponghkeepsic HiSTOkY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. 69 i s. d. Town of Rhinebeck 216 5 3 " North East 154 i o " Amenia 117 10 3 " " Clinton 181 14 o " " Frankling 81 ig 3 " " Pawling 192 1 1 3 " " Phillips 116 ID 6 " North East 1 15 10 9 " " Stanford 97 15 3 " " Poughkeepsie 152 i 6 " Washington 120 9 6 " Fishkill 267 12 3 " Carmell 109 12 3 " Frederick 80 19 6 " " Beekmans 167 17 6 "After the treasurer's fees are deducted Given under our hands and seals the 30th Day of May 1795." Tahna Morton, Richard D. Conktjn, Aaron STocKiior^M, JessR Oakley, Jgsi?pi-i Crane, Jr., Ezra Thompson, Samuel Towner, e. \''.bunsch0ten, Er.ENEzER MoTT, Edmd. Pek Lee, Joseph Noeev, WnjjAM Taper. Atte.^ts, RiciiARn En'Erett, Town Clerk. The first commissioners of schools for the town of Poughkeepsie were Jacob Radcliff, Archibald Stuart and Samuel Luckey, elected in 1796. Incorporation' as a \^iei.age. Advertisements of property for sale during this period usually refer to the "town of Poughkeepsie," as if the name "town" were popularly applied only to the central section shown on the map made in 1790, where most of the stores were located, as well as the two churches, the Court House, the lawyers offices and the homes of leading citizens. By 1798, six stores were advertising in the Poughkeepsie Journal, and also Knower & Hobson's hat manu- factory. It is probable, of course, that there were several otliers not advertising. One or two of the stores were at the river, the rest on the hill in Mar- ket or Main Streets. John P. Vemont advertised, at his store, a few doors north of the Court House, "dr\' goods, ^^'est India goods, ironmongery, car- penters' tools, Crockery, &c." ; Van Kleeck & Thorn advertised a similar assortment ; John Cooke, "a few doors east of Anthony Hoffman's," ad\-crtiscd wines, rum, sugar, teas and a general stock of groceries, with tobacco, glass and stone ware, nails, &c. ; Dr. James L. ^^^n Kleeck advertised a "Cheap Medical Store," and stated that "Dr. Van Kleeck will give his advice to farmers, who shall call at his store for medicines without expense." Anthony Ernest ad- vertised "a wholesale and retail ironmongery and hardware store," with a long and tempting list of articles, from anvils and vises to tooth brushes, tinder bo.xes and ink powder. He flattered himself that country storekeepers would "save the time and ex- pense of sending or going to New York for such goods." Boards and planks were offered at "the Col- rock landing" by William Rider, Innkeeper, and a variety of articles at the general store at the upper landing, where also Robert L. Livingston's mill ad- vertised boards and planks, plaster, etc. No name is signed to the first upper landing advertisement,'^ but it contains this interesting note at the end : "N. B. The FERRY is now established upon a regular plan, and Travellers to the Westward will find it much to their convenience to cross the River at the above place, as it shortens their journe)', and they may be assured they will meet with no detention." This doubtless indicates the beginning of regular ferry service at Poughkeepsie, though the ferry had probably been established for several 3ears. Rich- ard Davis, Gilbert Livingston, Valentine Baker, Wal- ter Livingston, Peter Tappen and Noah Elting ap- plied for grants of water lots "opposite Poughkeep- sie and New Paltz" in 1791, which seems to imply an intention to start a ferry. Gilbert Livingston and Peter Tappen then owned the Union Landing and land was granted to them in 1792. Noah Elting lived on the west side of the river and is there said to have established the first ferry, but local tradition has usually assigned the beginning of the enterprise to the Hoffmans on this side. There seems to be no record of a franchise from the State. Doubtless travellers before T798 usually had crossed at the older Van Keuren Ferry, later Theophilus .Vnthonv's (Mil- ton Ferry), four miles below Poughkeepsie. The first local ferry is said to have been a barge or scow rowed by slaves. All this shows that the little town near the Court House had begun to specialize in storekeeping, re- quired better facilities of travel and would naturally soon be looking for incorporation as a village. Just what agitation, if any, preceded incorporation, is not known. The first charter, passed March 27th, 1799, says in its preamble, "it has been represented to the Legis- lature by the inhabitants of the A'ilhige of Pough- keepsie, that the existing laws are inadequate to an- 'All tlieso are from tlie Poughkeepsie Journal of May 22. 1 70S. 70 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE swer the end of enabling them to regulate their in- terior police." The word "police" must not be taken in its present meaning ; there was no police force be- sides a watchman or two and the town constables for man}' years. The charter created a board of trustees to be composed of "five discreet freeholders" elected annually on the third Tuesday in May, by the "free- holders and inhabitants of the said village, qualified to vote at town meetings." At the same time the voters were authorized to choose "not less than three nor more than five judicious inhabitants, being free- holders, as assessors ; one treasurer, being also a free- holder ; one collector, and as many fire wardens as the trustees '' * * ma}' direct." Any one who should refuse to serve as trustee, assessor or fire warden was liable to a fine of $25.00. The trustees were given power to make "such prudential by-laws, rules and regulations, as they from time to time shall deem meet and proper, and such in particular as are relative to public markets * * * streets * * '' and draining, filling up, paving, keeping in order, and improving the same ; relative to slaughter houses and nuicances generally ; rela- tive to a town watch and lighting the streets ; relative to the number of taverns or inns to be licensed ; * * * relative to restraining geese, swine, or cattle of any kind ; relative to the better improving their common lands ; relative to the inspection of weights and measures ; relative to erecting and regulating hay- scales, and relative to anything whatsoever that may concern the public and good government of the said village ; but no such by-laws shall extend to the regu- lating or ascertaining the prices of any commodi- ties or articles of provision, except the article of bread,' that may be offered for sale." lA special section is devoted to bread. This matter is co\'ered in the next chapter. Firemen were to be exempted "from serving as jurj'men, or in the militia * * * except in cases of actual invasion of- this State, or insurrection there- in : Provided that the number of firemen do not exceed twenty." The boundaries of Poughkeepsie as given in this first village charter remain the boundaries of the City of Poughkeepsie to-day, as follows: Beginning at the mouth of a small brook fall- ing into Hudson's river, at a small distance south of a point of land commonly called ship 3'ard point, which mouth of said brook is on the land of the late Henry Livingston, deceased ; thence east, as the mag- netic needle now points, one hundred and thirty ciiains to a stone set in the ground, on which is engraven the word "Corporation ;" again, from the mouth of the brook aforesaid, northerly along Hud- son's river, including the flats or shoals between high waters' mark and the channel of the said river, to the mouth of another small brook, or where the same joins the waters of Hudson's river aforesaid, which last mentioned brook is commonl}' known b}' the name of Ividney's creek or kill, and divides the land of Robert L- Livingston from the land of Abra- ham Pells ; then from the mouth of the said brook last mentioned up the middle of the same, however it runs, to the post road ; thence due east as the magnetic needle now points so far as that on a straight line due west it will be one hundred and thirty chains from Hudson's river, to a stone set in the ground, on which is engraven the word "Cor- poration ;" and thence in a direct line to the stone set in the ground first above mentioned. Henry Livingston's map, made at the time of in- corporation, shows just what the village of Pough- keepsie was then. There is no record of a census apart from the town for a number of years but the village must have had more than 1,000 inhabitants in rSoo, for the town had 3,246. ■i^^»\ r jf \ii' III iH)i'<;iiKi:i<:i'siK in itod. .V(i/> iiituli- liy //tiny /.ii'ii/xs/n" at Hif liiiu of /iicoif oration . CHAPTER V. From the Incorporation of the Village to the Close of the War of 1812 — Village Organi- zation — The Dutch Church and the Market — The P'ire Department — The Village Streets — River Industries — Fall Kill Industries — Other Manufactories — The Vassar Brewery — Developing a Business Centre — Banks, Schools, Etc. — Churches- Newspapers and Politics, For some reason, of which I have found no record, the village of Poughkeepsie seems to have made two starts before it fairly got going. The "freeholders and inhabitants" were directed to meet annually on the first Tuesday of May and choose "five discreet free- holders" as trustees. They did so meet in 1799 and elected James S. Smith, \''alentine Baker, Andrew Billings, Ebenezer Badger and Thomas Nelson, the first of whom became president of the board. Doubt- less at the same meeting assessors, a treasurer, a col- lector and fire wardens were also elected. Several ordinances' passed by the trustees in 1799 have come down to us, among them that establishing the "bee hive" as the device on the corporation seal, an ordi- nance for the collection of taxes and "a law to prevent horses running loose in the streets and highways, to prevent racing and violent riding and driving from yards &c into and upon the streets," etc. There is therefore no doubt that the corporation was organized and that the officials elected exercised the authoritv conferred upon them by the charter. Possibly there was a drawn battle over the second election — it was a time of strong political feeling — possibly merely some technical failure to comply with the law. At an}' rate the charter was reenacted in exactl}' the same lan- guage by the legislature on April 8th, 1801. No village ordinances for the 3'ear of 1800, and no list of trustees for that year have been handed down. It would seem, however, that the corporate life of the village was re- garded as continuous, because ordinances passed in 1799 continued in force apparently without reenact- ment. Regular minutes of the proceedings of the trustees were not kept until 1803 and we have the names of only the presidents of the board for the years 1801 and 1802. That of G. B. Van Ness, 1802, 'Much of lliis information is from a pamphlet printed in 1S43 hy Piatt & Ranney, entitled "Charter and Laws of tlie Corporation of the Village of Poughkeepsie," and also from an earlier pamphlet not dated hnt apparently printed ahont 1820. was but recently found in a newspaper for that year, but not a single complete copy of a Poughkeepsie newspaper for 1800 is known to exist. The first book of minutes covers the period from the election of May, 1803, to Oct, 8th, 1817, and the first page is as follows : Records of the Corpor.-vtiox. At a meeting of the trustees of the Village of Poughkeepsie held at the Court House in said village on the third Tuesday in May 1803 the following per- sons were dut}' elected by the freeholders and inhabi- tants of said village, officers for the ensuing- )-ear, Andrew Billings Ebenezer Badger Robert Noxon Jesse Oakley & Robert H. Livingston Richard Everitt ] Robert Noxon John Manne}' Trustees Assessors Peter B. Morgan ] Matthew Caldwell I- Fire Wardens John N. Baile> J Leonard B. Lewis, Collector. William Emott, Treasurer. \^oted. That the sum of two hundred and fifty Dollars be raised in this village for the purpose of digging wells ; or otherwise supplying the fire engine with water, for repairing or procuring fire-hooks and hozen to the engine, and for other contingent purposes for the en- suing ^•ear, — On the next page is the record of a meeting "held at Baldwin's Hotel on the twenty-sixth dav of Mav, 1803, ' at which meeting .Vndrew Billings was elected President and was directed to procure "a large folio liook well bound in which are to be transcribed the Charter &• I^aws of the Village — and also a smaller book in which are to be kept the minutes of the pro- ceedings & accounts of the cori^oration." .\mong other things it was resolved : HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. 73 That that part of the Law passed March 2nd 1803 entitled "An act to prevent damage being done by swine in the Village of Poughkeepsie," which refers to the Pound Masters advertizing be and hereby is re- pealed — and that instead thereof the following is or- dained viz : That the Pound Master shall affix one advertisement at the door of the Pound, one at the Market and one at the Court House door. There was therefore, already a fire engine, a pound and a village market, perhaps all three inherited from the town organization. In fact there was also a fire company, as appears from the minutes of a meeting held July i8th, when the firemen petitioned for "the privilege of nominating persons to fill all vacancies which may happen in the said company." The market stood on the southeast corner of Market and Main Streets, adjoining the Dutch burying ground. The stalls or stands in it were sold each year at public auction and in 1803 went to John Arden, $7.00; James Slater, $3.00; Mr. Jefferies, $3.00 and George Markle $3.00. Michael Verien also rented a stall for a part of the year. The market, the firemen and the corporation wells and pumps fill up a good dead of space in the early records. The first especialh- gave trouble. In November, 1805, the Consistory of the Dutch Church gave a lease of the old grave-yard for 21 years to Tennis Van Kleeck, John Everitt and Randall S. Street, and at a special meeting of the trustees, on the 13th, these gentlemen appeared with the demand that the "Market House now standing opposite the Dutch burial ground be moved." The trustees showed fight at once and required the "applicants to produce the title Deed under which the Trustees of the Dutch Church claim the land in question." A public meeting was called for Dec. 5th at the Court House and there was a large attendance. William Emott, George P. Oaklcv and John Savers, the trustees present, made a long statement (covering more than three pages of the minutes), of their position and read a copy of the deed of 1718, whicli they said, "conveys the land in question to several persons in trust for the neighbor- hood in order that they might build a church and inter their deceased friends there." The question was at once raised as to the right of the church to use or allow the use of the land for any other purposes, and the people voted b\- a large majority not to move the market, but to raise $100 to defend their position. Suit was begun in chancer\' !)>■ the village to determine the issue, and the lessees of the proiiertv also brought ejectment suits against the lessees of the market stalls. The matter dragged along for a >-ear, the Chancellor meanwhile having granted an injunction against the erection of buildings on the ground. There was an agreement in November, 1806, to postiwne action and under date of Jan. igtli, 1807, it was "Resolved unanimously that the market be removed to the west side of Market Street opposite to where it now stands and adjoining the Court House yard." Bills for $75.85^ were audited in May for the removal, and from that time until 1814 or later the building stood in the middle of the street, though it is probable there was no roadway on the west side of it until after the Court House fence and yard were abolished. In 1814 Tallmadge & Bloom, at- torneys, advised the trustees that they could not "main- tain the market in the street in opposition to the High- land Turnpike," which then controlled the Post Road and had entered complaint. Another series of public meetings was held and finally the building was sold, Sept. 7th, for $65. It was removed but was rebuilt by order of the trustees in 1818, and some persons are still living who remember it. One or the other of these old market buildings was removed to the east side of Academy Street, No. 31, and converted into a dwelling which remains in use. Although the lessees of the burial ground seem to have won their case, only small buildings of a tem- porary nature were erected there until after 1830, and interments are said to have continued there until about 1817. Samuel Neilson, the Irish patriot, who died of yellow fever in Poughkeepsie in 1803, was doubt- less buried there, and his body was moved about 1830 by Egbert B. Kille>', then one of the editors of the Telegraph, to the Episcopal Cemetery (purchased 1828) on Montgomery Street. It was again disin- terred, Sept. 15th, 1880, and removed with appropri- ate ceremony to a plot in the Rural Cemetery. The following interesting account of Neilson's life and death is taken from The Political Barometer of Sept. 6th, 1803: "Died in this village, on Monday, the 29th ult., Mr. Sanniel Neilson, a native of Ireland, and lately from that country. He was one of those famous Irish pa- triots wlio, with Fitzgerald, Grattan. O'Connor. Bond. Tone, M'Revin, &c., headed the United Irishmen in their attempts to obtain a reform in parliament, and their subsequent struggles for liberty, which finalh- brought upon them the severest vengeance and crueltx- of the British government, after the failure of the French expedition to assist them. He, for some years, conducted the celebrated paper, the Northern Star : his oroperty was destroyed or confiscated, and he was kejjt in clo.se confinement, for the space of about six >ears, the latter part of which time, he assisted in negotiations between the United Irishmen and the British government. * * * Mr. Neilson was never liber- ated from prison until he was sent on board shi]x with a number of other prisoners, at a few hour.^ warning, without even being allowed the liberty of bidding his dearest friends adieu: he arrived in this country, we understand, about to or Ti months ago HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB "Some few weeks since Mr. Neilson issued pro- posals for publishing an evening paper in New York ; driven from thence by the calamitous disease which now prevails in the city, he was taken sick on his passage up the river, landed here on Sunday, and died on Monday morning; his remains were decently interred in the Dutch Presbyterian burying ground in this village." There was evidently an engine house for the fire engine on the Court House lot before 1803, though the first reference to it in the minutes of the trustees is under date of March 7, 1804: That the President employ some person to repair the two public pumps in this village and also the door of the Engine House by clearing away the obstructions occasioned by the ice and snow — and that the engine be cleaned and oiled. Apparenth' the engine had not been much in use during the winter. The first corporation well was at the Court House corner, and Sept. 12, 1803, a second well was ordered to "be digged * * * nearly op- posit the drain made by the turnpike company opposite the lane between the houses of James Tallmadge and Stephen Durando." This was on the north side of Main Street, the lane mentioned afterwards becoming Garden Street. Even before this the matter of a gen- eral water supply had been agitated, as appears from the following under date of July 6, 1803 : "Ordered that the trustees view the situation of the ground around the village in order to determine the practibil- ity of conducting water to the village for the purpose of extinguishing fires." At the samfe meeting two good ladders "and also one good strong fire hook on each side of which is to be affixed a chain" were or- dered. At the meeting of May 2nd, 1804, the firemen reported "the following persons as constituting their compan}- to wit : Richard Harris John Nelson John Armstrong Wm. Smith Moses Yelverton John Field Chris Marglea Joshua Degraff Simeon I. Frcar Joseph Powel Joseph Ma.xon John E. Pells Casper Hillequist James Tallmadge, Jun. William R. Barnes Geo. P. Oakley. " Mr. Joseph Powel was elected Captain of said company in the place of John Smith dec'd. The trustees also chose four firemen whose places were vacant — viz William Kidne)', John Hobson, Matthew Caldwell & John Swartwout. Messrs. Gilbert Living- ston. Jesse Oakley. John Davis, Valentine Baker, Stephen Hoyt & Lev\' McKeen were chosen "Bag Men" whose duty it is in case of fire to take charge of all property which may be endangered & deliver it over to the owner on application being made." On Jan. 3d, 180c;, it was resolved "that there shall be proper persons appointed and denominated as Hook and ladder men," and soon afterwards a new fire house was built on the southwest corner of the Court House lot " adjoining the house of Peter B. Morgan." This was evidently on Union Street. James Emott's barn on Market Street was used as an engine house in 1806 and he was paid for its use "by balancing the fine laid * * * of 5 dollars for unlawfully burn- ing his chimney.'' Well No. 3 was dug 1805, in the neighborhood of Hamilton and Main Streets opposite William Emott's. In Sept, 181 1, a second engine com- pany was organized and a house was built for it "near Mrs. Livingston's office," (north side of Main Street east of Catherine), and Well No. 4 was dug close by. April S, 1814, a third fire engine was purchased of George Booth, and a third company was organized. Along with the minutes of a special meeting held Sept. 23, 1805, the following inventory of village prop- erty is recorded : I Market House I Common Seal I Statute Book I Record Book 3 Wells — pumps I Fire Engine House I Fire Engine & Apparatus 4 Fire Hooks 1 Fire Pole 4 Ladders — No. i, 2, 3 & 4. 2 Takle blocks — with a fall & a spare piec_e of rope A Tri-Shares for the purpose of assisting in cleanmg out wells. 2 Tubs for do do I Pail I Iron pump Hook I Iron spare Pump Handle A piece of Iron part of pump aparatus — lost A parcel of Plank & Timber which was taken from the old fixtures of Well No. I & 2 A Map of the Village with Wm. Emott. A Screw for HoeS' — with do The exemplification & other papers relative to the \'illage now (June 24, 1806) with \A''m. Emott President. I Pair of Scales & Beams & Sett copper or brass weights from T-ifi oz up to 2lb inclusive for the use of the Bread Inspector. It will be noted that fire buckets are not included in the inventory. They were the property of the citi- zens and every house was required to be provided with them. There are numerous records of punish- ment or prosecution threatened for failure in this matter, and all male citizens "from the ages of 12 to (lo" were expected to turn out at fires and assist the firemen b\' forming lines and passing buckets. In an ordinance dated Jan. 27, 1806, the firemen are direct- ed "to collect all the buckets and leave them at the HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. 75 court house," after a fire. The ordinance seems to have been passed for the purpose of organizing a new company or of reorganizing the old one. It pro- vides that among the officers shall be "three fire en- gineers and four managers of hooks and ladders and eight persons to be denominated the committee of trust to take charge of the property endangered by fire." The Bread Inspector above mentioned was an im- portant officer in early village days. The first one named was John Forbus, 6th July, 1803. The charter (Art. 5) provided that the trustees should have power to enact an ordinance prohibiting any baker or other person "from selling an\' bread at any higher price or rate than bread of the like quality at the time of such sale shall be assizcd in and for the City of New York." Such an ordinance was evidently enforced from an early date, as the following notice from the Political Barometer in 1802 shows: ASSIZU Q]? BREAD. At a meeting of the trustees of the Village of Poughkeepsie, on the 4th day of August instant. Ord- rrcil That the Assize of Bread after the nth inst. shall be as follows : lb. oz. I Loaf of superfine flour shall weigh i 1 1 for 6 cts [ Loaf do do 3 6 for 12 I " com. flour 1 13 for 6 I " do do 3 10 for 12 1 " Rye -2 12 for 6 I " do do 5 18 for 12 G. B. y.\N Ness, President. Similar notices appear in the village minutes and in the newspapers for many }ears. F.very time the price of flour rose the bakers petitioned for a change, and when the price fell the citizens kept the trustees to their dut\-, of increasing the loaf or decreasin-y the price. From time to time lists of bakers were given in the village minutes. The Coueounger." Some of these streets, owing to the nature of the ground (in the neighborhood of Adriance, Piatt & Co.'s factory) have never been opened. Tulip Street was laid out from Union Street south, apparently as a result of the Winans division, and in 1812 Prospect Street was extended to meet it. At the close of the War of 1812 the frame work of Poughkeepsie was constructed, and after a charter amendment, passed May 26th, 1812, paving and grading were begun. The first paving notice published in the Journal is dated August nth, 1812, and calls for "a meeting of the owners of lots fronting on that part of Main Street extending from the east line of the parsonage lot now in the occupation of the Rev. Cornelius C. Cuyler, to the east line of the lot occupied by John Brush, Esq.'' At the meeting which was held Septem- ber loth there were not enough votes to carry the whole section, but there was a majority (for names of voters see Appendix) in favor of paving from Mar- ket to Academy Streets, and the trustees accordingly entered into contract with Lewis Relay on October 1st for the work. It was not until 1814 that a majority could be obtained for extending the pavement to W^ashington Street, and in the same year Cannon Street was paved to Academy. Market Street, on the other hand, fought shy of paving assessments 1 through meeting after meeting until the business de- pression which followed the war put a stop to what may be called the early cobblestone era. RivRR Industries and Frkichting. During this period the freighting industry in sailing vessels reached the top of its climax and the steamboat made a beginning. Spafford's Gazetteer, published in 1813, mentions the "five serpentine roads" leading to the landings in Poughkeepsie, and says the trade is very extensive, requiring eight large sloops sailing weekly to New York. That vessels sometimes sailed to much more distant ports is shown by such advertisements as the following : For Boston and Passam.vouaddy. The new Schooner Jane Barnes, Allen ^^'ard- well. Master. For freight or passage apply at the store of June 30, 1806. G. B. EvERSOx.' George B. Everson, or Evertson, owned the storehouse and landing at the foot of Union Street, as we have seen. In 1806 he purchased of John Murray the handsome house on Cannon Street, men- iSee Appendix for historical Sketch of the Evertson family. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. tioned in the last chapter as owned by Governor George Clinton. He probabl)' enlarged the house, which he occupied until his failure in 1827, when George P. Oakley, as trustee, sold it to N. P. Tall- madge. In 1835 Tallmadge sold to Anthony Rutgers and he in turn to \\'alter Cunningham in 1839. Soon after this Cunningham failed, as will appear in the next chapter, and in 1841 the house came into the possession of Henry Swift, a prominent lawyer. It has since been known as the Swift house, and is now owned and occupied by Henry Swift's granddaugh- ter. Evertson at the time of his failure owned nearly the whole block between Cannon and Church Streets. He sold the Union Landing property before 181 5, at which time he was one of the five largest taxpayers in the town of Poughkeepsie, with an assessment of $33,600. The others were Wilham Davis, $105,- 000; Valentine Baker, $40,750; Henry Davis, $30,- 000, and Levi McKeen, $25,000. Of these the first and third made much of their money in freight- ing. William Davis, or Davies^ came to Poughkeepsie before 1800 and bought considerable property in the lower part of the village, including the Kaal Rock Landing, which he greatly extended and rebuilt, fill- ing in a section of the water front. This became Main Street Landing when the street was opened through, but it seems to have been sold to Samuel Pine and then to Stephen Pardee soon afterwards. Henry Davis was a son of the Richard Davis who founded the Lower Landing. Martin Hoffman & Co. were assessed $15,000 on a farm, Mills and landing (foot of Mill Street) in 1815; Joseph Harris & Co. $12,500 on the Union Landing, Stephen Par- dee $3,500 on the dock and store house, foot of Main Street, John Pearce on store and landing, $6,000, and Thomas Sweet on houses, store and dock, $5,000. lit is difficult to tell whether there were two men, a William Davies and a William Davis, in Poughkeepsie, or whether William Davies, the father of Thomas L-, allowed his name to be spelled both ways. The familjf, at any rate, was distinct from that of Richard Davis, who with his brother John, settled in Poughkeepsie before the Revolu- tion. John apparently left no children but Richard, who died July 24. 1814, left three sons, Richard, Henry and Leonard, and one daughter, also grandchildren by another daughter, as shown by his will. As to the Davies family, in the first deed indexed William Davies, May 8, 1798, Lib. 15, p. 273, the grantee is described as "William Davis of Sharon in the State of Connecticut Gentleman," and the name is spelled Davis throughout. The property conveyed was on Main Street. A second deed, April 9, 1798, from Catherine Lester conveyed the si.xty acres in the lower part of the village, fronting on the river, which descended to William A. Davies. I find a William Davis mentioned December i, 1802, as executor of the estate of Solomon Sutherland and a William Davies mentioned in a foreclosure notice in June of the same year. One of the last mentioned may have been at Barnegat. John Drake, Jr., was assessed $9,550 on docks, store and thirty acres of land, doubtless at what i? now New Hamburgh, then called Wappingers Creek, or Wappingers Landing. Fulton's first steamboat, the Clermont, passed Poughkeepsie going north, August 17th, 1807, to the great wonderment of the people. In 1808 an adver- tisement was printed in the leading papers along the river, stating that "The steamboat will leave New York every Saturday afternoon exactly at 6 o'clock and will pass * * * Newburg 7 o'clock Sunday morning, Poughkeepsie 11 o'clock Sunday morning," etc. It adds that "As the time at which the' boat may arrive may vary an hour, more or less, according to the advantage of wind and tide, those who wish to come on board will see the necessity of being on the spot an hour before the time." The fare from New York to Poughkeepsie was given as $3.50 — some advertisements' make it $4.00 — and it was not reduced until 1824, when the courts overthrew the monopoly which had been granted to Fulton & Liv- ingston. An advertisement dated April i, 181 1, in the Poughkeepsie Journal, informs the public "that the North River Steam Boat will leave New York on Tuesday evening at precisely 5 o'clock and arrive at Poughkeepsie on or about 10 o'clock Wednesday morning." The time had therefore not been reduced during the three years. At first the steamboats did not make landings at Poughkeepsie, but had begun to do so in 181 1, as indicated by the following words from an advertisement in the Republican Herald for November 27 : "The steamboat will come to the dock, so that passengers can step on board without being exposed in a small boat, except when the wind will not permit; in which case will be prepared for the reception of passengers." In 1813 George Crawford advertised a hotel at the foot of Main Street, together with the landing of the steainboats Paragon, Car of Neptune and North River, three boats a week each way. Stephen Schofield also advertised an "Authoriz- ed Steamboat House" in the same locality in the same year. In 1814 Poughkeepsie became a steamboat terminal, and appears to have been the first town so honored between New York and Albany (see Morrison's "History of American Steam Navigation," page 155). The Fire Fly, the smallest of the Fulton & Living- ston fleet, was the first Poughkeepsie boat and was first advertised March 26th to make two trips a week. On June 13th "The proprietors of the steamboat Fire Fly, anxious to accommodate the public as far as iSee Bacon's Hudson, p. 28. HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE. S3 in their power," announced in the Journal that the boat would run three times a week, Tuesdays, Thurs- days and Saturdays from New York, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Poughkeepsie, at the same hour. "Her station in Poughkeepsie will be Pardee's dock, at the foot of Main street." Main Street Landing grew in importance with the growth of steamboat travel, but the centers of freight- ing continued at the Upper, Lower and Union Land- ings for many years and steamboats were not a strong factor in business until after the War of 1812. At the Lower Landing (Pine Street) an important group of industries began to grow early in the century. Win- ans's ship-yard, afterwards Darrow's, built sloops and schooners, and Zadock Southwick's tannery, estab- lished in 1807, soon obtained a large business. There was also a mill in this neighborhood, run by power from the small streams that converged there. Near £■-;-.., - - The IVinans House, built about 1808. (Long occupied by the Southwick Family.) the Union Landing a pottery had been established before the close of the eighteenth century. The rela- tive importance of the landings in the freighting busi- ness changed from time to time, but the Upper Land- ing soon became the most important of all, on account of the water power afforded by the Fall Kill and the increasing importance of the ferry. 11}- 1800, or soon afterwards, there were two mills in the neighborhood, a general store and probably two freighting firms. The Hoffmans, as we have seen, were there before the Revolution, then Robert L. Livingston of Cler- mont came into possession of a mill and landing there. F>y deed dated April ist, 1800, he sold to Martin Hoff- man, Isaac Hoffman and Rolicrt Hoffman, "of the town of Poughkeepsie," property "including dock and storehouse known as Poughkeepsie tapper Landing.' A blacksmith shop and a dwelling house, "now pos- session of John Starr and Joseph P.ownian," are also included. The Oakley family became interested in the indus- tries at the Upper Landing soon after 1800, when Jesse Oakley moved into Poughkeepsie from Peek- man. George Peters Oakley, Thomas Jefferson Oak- ley and John (Jakley were his sons. Jesse Oakley & Son had been in business since April 17th, 1802, "two doors west of the hay scales" (the hay scales at one time stood on the site of the Phcenix Hose Co.'s house), but dissolved partnership September 30, 1807, and on the same date George P. Oakley advertised the formation of a partnership with Martin, Robert H., Isaac H., and Abraham Hoffman, "in storing, freighting, ferrying, &c.," at the Upper Landing. The firm name was George P. Oakley & Co. On the same date also Martin Hoffman & Co. advertised to pay cash for rye and wheat at their "new mill." This mill was probably the upper mill. In a deed of prop- erty from Martin, Robert, Isaac and Abraham Hoff- man to George P. Oakley September i6th, 1807, a new mill, an old mill, and a plaster mill are men- tioned. James Reynolds, referred to in a deed from the Hoffmans and Oakley, in l8ro, as "of the village of Poughkeepsie, shipcarpenter," was .probably there before that time and soon afterwards entered into partnership with Aaron Innis in the freighting busi- ness. All of these old Upper Landing families were in partnerships with each other at various times and property was transferred back and forth among them. By 1815 there were two grist mills, a plaster mill, a saw mill and a nail factory, all using water power from the Fall Kill. The old Arnold chair factory building was built for a nail factory about this time, by George P. Oakley, who also built the large house, now generally known as the William C. Arnold house. It appears, however, that there was a still earlier nail factory in the same neighborhood, for June nth, 1805, A'oice Plinckley and Frederick Pennoyer adver- tised cut nails for sale "at the house of \" Hinckley in Market Street, or at their Xail INIanufactorv, at Hoffman's Landing." A' Hinckley's house was also advertised as a tavern, known as "The Foul Anchor," and situated about midway between Cannon and Church Streets, on the east side of JNIarket. Other M.\nui-.\cturinc. Lxhustries. Only a little way up the Fall Kill was the impor- tant woolen factory of George Pooth. who built what was afterwards called Pelton's Pond, and is said to have brought from England the first wool carding machinery ever used in this country. .-\n advertise- ment in the Political Barometer, ^lay 14th, 1803. states that "The works are erected near the bridge on the road leading to Hoft'nian's Landing." July 3rd .S4 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. of the same year Mr. Booth informed his patrons that "he is now erecting machines at Wappings Creek near Mr. Meisers Mill and will be read}' to receive wool about the middle of this month." When the embargo and the War of 1812 put a stop to all foreign importa- tion the factory in Poughkeepsie was much enlarged to manufacture a considerable line of finished woolen goods. Mr. Booth received first prize at the State fair The George Booth House. "Dutchess Cotton ]\Ianu factory" and asked for ten or twelve men acquainted with weaving, but it is not clear whether these men were to be employed in the factory or outside. Spafford's Gazetecr, 1813, says there were 50 looms in families, in the town of Poughkeepsie, "which produce 20,000 yards yearly of cloth for common clothing.'' It has been stated that no cotton factory in the United States is known to have done both spinning and weaving under one roof until 1813. Among the outlying factories was a nail factory established at Hyde Park as early as 1813 by Hunting Sherrill and Henry INliller, and Spafford gives the names of a number of little manufacturing hamlets in the town of Poughkeepsie, not now in existence. He says there were fourteen grain mills in the town, showing that the County then raised much more grain than now. Four, or possibly five of these mills were in the village, and most of the others were along the W^appingers or Casper Kills, with one, still in exist- ence, at the mouth of the Specken Kill. The first iron foundry- of which I have found any record in Poughkeepsie, was advertised as "now com- in 181 1 for the best woolen cloth manufactured in the State. His residence, in which his son, the late Oliver H. Booth was born, is still in good preservation, op- posite St. Peter's Church. His second wife was Maria Vassar, a sister of Matthew Vassar. Some of the Booth factory buildings remained until a recent period. Not far from the Booth Mill Pond, and also using the Fall Kill water power, was a thriving cotton factory established about 181 1 by David'^ and Benjamin Arnold. This was called The Eagle Factory in Janu- ary, 181 5. when the proprietors advertised to "furnish cotton yarn for forty looms during the season which tliey wish to put out to weave at liberal prices." Ap- parently at this time the factor}' did only spinning. During the cold winter of 1812 it is said that cotton was brought to Poughkeepsie by teams overland from the South at a cost of 60 cents a pound. The building, partly of stone and partly of brick, is still standing at the end of Charles Street. Above the Arnold factory was Parker's grist mill, built in 1806 on the east side of Washington Street, and still further up stream the mills at Smith Street, afterwards known as The Red Mills. There was also a cotton factory at Manchester, established by Samuel Slee. Dec. 5th. 1814, Benjamin Herrick advertised yarn for sale, made at Slee's 1 Grandfather of Ex-Mayor diaries N. .XrnoUl.— See Ap- pendix. The Old Arnold CoUon Factory. pleted and ready for operation," Nov. 9th, 1814, by David Phillips and Seth Howard, who called it the "Poughkeepsie Hot Air Furnace." It was "near the corner of Washington and Main Streets where they intend casting iron ware, machinery." etc. A neighboring Main Street industry is described in the following advertisement : FOR SALE THAT A'ALUABLE TANNERY Belonging to the subscriber, in the village of Pough- keepsie. Situate in Main Street, a few rods west of the Market. The works are judiciously arranged and suf- ficiently large for the employment of a handsome capi- tal. — The buildings are large and convenient forming HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIH. 85 a square on the north and west sides two stories high, and one-hundred and thirty-four feet in length and well calculated for the accommodation of the works, all in good repair. Between one and two thousand skins may be taken fresh from the market annually at a reasonable rate, and hides in proportion. Hudson's river running within half a mile will always supply any quantity of bark. The above works being without a rival in this populous and growing town renders the situation truly enviable. The terms will be liberal and payments made easy — possession given the first of March next, and if not then sold will be rented. The advanced age of the subscriber having induced him to relinquish the business. Also for sale — Three or four Building Lots ad- joining the above which are well calculated for the es- tablishment of either a Brewery, Distillery, Soapboil- ing & Chandlery, or Morocco Manufactory, there being on the premises a never failing spring of the best water, sufficient to supply any or all of the above branches of business. Any person inclining to employ a capital in any of the above lucrative branches of business, will do well to call and view Ebenezer Badger. June 2, 1807. Badger's tannery is shown on the 1799 map at the northwest corner of Main and Washington Streets. His name has been several times mentioned in preced- ing pages. He was a prominent citizen, and lived in a pleasant house, surrounded by a garden famous for its lilacs and other flowers, where the City Hall now stands. The tannery passed into the hands of John Gary of Troy, and a few years later David Doyd came there as a boy from Amenia, to learn the trade. Mr. Boyd afterwards purchased the tannery and lived in a house which stood on what is now the corner of 'Washington Street and Lafayette Place. This house, in which his son, the late John G. Bo^d was born, is still standing, but has been turned half around to face the newer street. The Vassau Buewery. The reference in the tanner\' advertisement to a spring and site for a brewery indicates the source of water supply for the Vassar Brewery. James Vassar came to the neighborhood of Poughkeepsie before 1798 from England, and on January 4th, 1803, inserted an advertisment in the Political Barometer stating that he had completed his brewery and was ready to suppl\' the people of Poughkeepsie with ale, etc. The location of this brewcr\' is not definitelx' known. It ma}- have been in the rear of the old \'an Kleeck house, or it ma>' have been on the site of the later N'assar Street ISrewerv. Mr. ^'assar seems to have been doing con- siderable business in 1807 when he published the fol- lowino" Notice. The subscriber wants to make a contract with some person who will agree to supply him with three thou- sand bushels of coals annually for a number of years. All kinds of hard wood burned into coals will answer his purpose. James Vassar. Poughkeepsie, Aug. 18, 1807. A new brewery, according to Mr. Lossing's "Vas- sar College and Its Founder," was built in 1809 in Vas- sar Street. This was burned May loth, 181 1, and the fire was reported as follows in the Journal of Wednes- day, May 15th: FIRE — About one o'clock on Saturday last the Brewery of Mess. Vassar in this village was discover- ed to be on fire. The alarm was immediately given and the citizens assembled with great alacrity. The build- ings were already so completely enveloped in flames as to render in a measure unavailing the utmost exer- tions of the citizens to save them. A considerable quantity of .\le and some other property was saved, but the buildings were entirely consumed. The loss is estimated at 13 or $14,000. We understand the property was insured for $10,000. Mr. Lossing says that Mr. Vassar had no insur- ance, and that he met with other losses of property at about the same time, in addition to the loss of his eldest son, John Guy Vassar, who in attempting to save some hops at the bottom of a vat among the ruins two days after the fire, was sufl^ocated by carbonic acid gas. It appears probable, however, from an ad- vertisement dated Dec. 4th, 1810, of the dissolution of the partnership of James Vassar & Co., that James Vassar may have retired from the brewing business before this fire, for persons having open accounts were ''requested to settle them with John G. and M. Vassar." James A^assar spent his last years on a farm a little north of the village and his second son, Mat- thew, made a new start. According to the accounts given by Lossing and others he sought the help of his brother-in-law. George Booth, who loaned him money and gave him the use of his dye house as a temporar\' brewery. Three barrels of ale were made at a brew- ing and Mr. Vassar carried it around to his customers. He then rented a basement room in the new Court House for a saloon and is said to have been the first to introduce oysters to Poughkeepsie. In January, 1812, the business was advertised under the firm name of "M. \^assar & Co.," but with no indication of the name of Mr. X'assar'.s partner. Jul\- r4th. 1813, Thomas Pur.ser and M. A'assar informed the public that the\' had entered into partnership ''and that they are now rebuilding the llrewery in this village, * * * which they intend to ha\'e in operation the ensuing fall." Mr. Purser was an Eni^lishman of considerable 86 HISTORY OP POUGHKEBPSIE. fortune and doubtless furnished the capital, but did not remain long in the business, for on June loth, l8i5,the Poughkeepsie papers contained a notice that he had sold his interest to J. M. and N. Conklin, jun. The Vassar brewer)' was not yet making any fortunes but it was on the road to prosperity. DuvELOPiNG A Business Centre. Although new streets were laid out in the territory between the Post Road and the river, that section re- mained open fields with only a few straggling houses along the the older roads for many years, while on the hill the village was growing more compact. Soon after 1800 it was settled that Main Street rather than Market would become the chief business street. The former was gaining, though still mostly a residence street, with a garden and the usual village group of barns and sheds about each house. Gradually the lower floors of the old houses were converted into shops or stores, their proprietors living in the upper stories and in the rear rooms. A few of these old houses remain and in one of them the same business is carried on that was established there during this period — the business of DuBois Brothers at 321 Main Street. An advertisement in the Poughkeepsie Journal in November, 1814, states that N. Conklin has removed to "the store lately occupied by Paul Schenck, two doors east from Jesse Oakley in Main Street." A part of the present building was evidently the old Schenck house, built in the eighteenth centur}'. The business had been started a few years earlier by Nathan and Mulford Conklin, and remained in the partial posses- sion of their descendants until Nathan Trowbridge Boyd retired a few years ago. The firm became Conklin & Bowne (James Bowne) in the 30's and then ISowne and Trowbridge (Stephen B. Trowbridge and afterwards Nathan Conklin Trowbridge). Several other business establishments of the present date from this period and two of them are still conducted by the same family. The Van Kleeck hat business is the old- est. It was founded by Teunis Van Kleeck in 1799, and in 1808 was removed to a location very near the ]5resent as shown by the following advertisement in the Journal : Teunis Van KlEEck. Informs his friends and the public that he has re- moved his Hat Manufactory to the house formerh occupied bv Nicholas Power, four doors east of the Hotel. Poughkeepsie, May, 2, 1808. The hats made at this time were described as "Gen- tleman and Ladies Beaver. Castor and Roram Hats.'' This establishment in July, 1853, was removed 'three doors west," and from this combination of advertise- ments we are able to determine just where Nicholas Power printed the Poughkccf>sic Journal and also where the Poughkeepsie post office was located. The following note appended to an advertisement of a partnership with John Field tells of the beginning of a business still in the same family, though not conducted continuoush' b}' its members. N. B. George Halliwell presents his respects to the public, and informs them : that from his thorough knowledge of the Watch and Clock making business, it will be much to the advantage of those who want Clocks, Watches, or repairs, to apply to him, having served his apprenticeship, and worked in some of the first shops in England, where business was con- ducted on a very extensive scale, has had a superior opportunity to most workmen in this country of per- fecting himself in general and detached branches. Poughkeepsie, May 10, 1806. Among other business men advertising during this period were David B. Lent, "Ladies' and Gentlemen's Saddles, Coach Lace, Feathers. &c., &c. ;'' Leonard Davis and Walter Cunningham, partnership in the dry goods business. May 23, 1814; Isaac Doty, Jr. re- moved, April 12, 1814, "to the brick building form- erly occupied by Joseph C. Dean two doors east of the Post Office ;" Adriance & Cook, clock and watch makers, "five doors east of Potter's book store ;" J. H. Cunningham, "corner of Main and Libertv Street and directly opposite P. Potter's book store," Nov. 8, 1814, (this is the first mention I have seen of Liberty Street) ; James Mills, cabinet maker Nov. 29. 1813, "opposite Storm and Wilson's ;" Barnes & Willoughby, drugs, etc.; Cornelius B. Swartwout and Richard Vanderburgh (dissolved partnership Sept. 23, 1814), boots and shoes, opposite the Court House ; Jeremiah Martin, l)oots and shoes, "four doors east of the hotel ;" Thomas L. Davies, hardware, "Brick store, five doors east of the hotel ;" M. & E. Bailey, hat man- ufacturers, succeeding John Hobson, May 13, 1814; Oliver Holden, fish ; E. Metzler, ladies' tailor ; Richard S. Balding and Charles B. Tallmadge (dissolved part- nership Oct. 20, 1813) ; P. Everitt and Zephaniah Pells (dissolved partnership April, 1814). Elias Triv- ett was in the drug business on the west corner of Main and Mechanic Street and Benjamin Herrick, on the opposite corner in dry goods, etc. -'\ few small maufacturing concerns beside^^ those mentioned were to be found on Main Street. On Sept. 12th, 1805, P. R. Maison and others complained to the village trustees that "Gerard S. Sloan has erected a soap and Candle manufactory in a certain section of Main Street that the ingredients used in such manufactory includes a certain quantity of putrid TUNIS \'AN KLEECK. Bom June I -I, jyyj ; Died September /, /Sj/ ; Great gnindsoii of the firsl Baltits Van Klecek. ss HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. animal substance which on being detached from the mass impregnates the air with noxious and offensive effluvia and also that he from time to time discharges into the water ways of the Turnpike Road large quantities of Salt Lye to the great annoyance of the neighborhood." Nearly all the business men mentioned were on Main Street, but Market Street had a number of shops and several small hotels or taverns. The busi- ness of the village, of course, nearly all came from the farmers, who drove into town with their produce to be shipped to New York. Many of them came from long distances and had to stay over night, which created a demand for taverns. The Poughkeepsie Hotel was apparently called Baldwin's Hotel in 1803, and I am not sure that it was ever advertised under the first name until it had been rebuilt about 1829 and came under the management of A. S. Hatch. Ebenezer Baldwin was the proprietor until its pur- chase in 1804 by a committee of Anti-Federal or Republican politicians,' headed by George Clinton, for a political headquarters. Then, or soon after, Gar- wood Cunningham, father of Walter Cunningham, took charge and the hotel became known as Cunning- Caiinon Street from Liberty ivest in iSy^. Hotel on tlie rii> Itt. Otd Dutcliess ham's. The Forbus House, I think, was not built until after 1815, but Stephen ITendricksen's tavern ' on the same site was an important place of refresh- ment and entertainment. Nearly all the taverns and hotels of the period were built \vith verandas across the whole front, the larger ones with twn-storv ^•^■r- andas. Amaziah Blakeslie advertised the Farmers T-Totel, in June, 1806, "in Cannon Street opposite the 'For a list of the names from dccfl see A|)pciidi.x. Academy," and in 181 1 N. C. Minturn announced the opening of the Dutchess Hotel, in Cannon Street, corner of Mechanic. The last mentioned is still stand- ing, and still preserves part of its verandas. It was built by Benjamin Herrick, who doubtless owned the land all the way through to Main Street, where his store was. There were a number of taverns of the old type on the east side of Market Street, one about opposite Stephen Hendrickson's, another on the north corner of Cannon, and a third, already men- tioned as kept by Voice Hinckley, between Cannon and Church. The building afterwards known as the Franklin House, on the corner of Main and Wash- ington, was possibly built by. this time, but the hotel on the corner of Mill and Washington Streets, after- wards known as "The Northern Hotel," was erected later. Some Popular A.iaseMENTs. An interesting enterprise in 1806, was the exhi- bition for several weeks of a real African Lion. "This noble animal." says the advertisement in the Political Barometer, "is between three and four feet high. measures nine feet from the nostrils to the tail, and is of a beautiful dun colour, and when he stands on his tail is nine feet high. ITe is fifteen 3'ears old and weighs six hundred weight. His legs and tail are thicker than those of a common sized ox. He was caught in the woods of Goree in Africa when a Whelp. ' * ■' It is said by those who have seen Lions in the Tower of London and other parts, that he is really worthy of the contemplation of the curious." The advertisement also includes the following: TAKE NOTICE. On the 14th day of October next a GRAND BAIT Will take place between this Lion and 6 Bears and 12 Bull-Dogs, in Capt. Hendrickson's large field, where ample accommodations will be pre- )5ared for spectators. — Admittance on that day, for grown persons One Dollar, for Children 25 cents. N. B. The subscriber will gi\-e a generous l)rice for 6 Bears delivered to him in Pough- keepsie. John .\rdi;n. Poughkeepsie. Sept. 26, 1806. Who says that our ancestors were so good that they did not not know how to enjo\' themselves? A few years later. Poughkeepsie had what was called a theatre. Se])tember i, r8i2, an advertisement a]i- l)eared in The Poiiirliheepsie loiinial as follows: "The public are respectfully informed that the Theatre HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. 89 which is building in Church Street will be ready by Friday next, Sept. 5th, when will be presented Kotze- bue's Celebrated play of The Stranger or Misanthropy & Repentence with the Musical farce of the Sprigs of Laurel. Box $1. Pitt 75 cts." A few days later, Sept. 14th, the play Guerre Ouverte was announced, "after which an entire new piece in one act written for the occasion by a gentleman of this town called The Naval Column or the Glory of Columbia's Tars, interspersed with singing. Dancing &c in honor of our great naval victories." George Barnwell was the proprietor. Banks, Schools and iNcoRPORA'njD Companies. Soon after the incorporation of the village there was enough business in Poughkeepsie to create a de- mand for banking facilities, and accordingly a branch of the Manhattan Bank of New York was established William Taber, Peter R. Maison, Henry A. Livingston, Levi McKeen, Thomas Nelson, Abram G. Storm, and Ezra Thompson, Jr., were named as the commissioners to efifect the organization in Poughkeepsie. Guy Hyde was the first cashier and Levi McKeen was probably the first president. Peter Everitt, son of Richard Everitt, became a heavy stockholder at an early period, and George B. Evertson was one of the early presi- dents. Levi McKeen was the postmaster of Poughkeep- sie from 1802 to 1819, and the post office was then on the south side of Main Street, just east of Liberty Street. He is said also to have been a private banker at one time and a good story is told of how he stopped a run on the bank. He announced that a wagon load of specie would arrive from New York on a certain steamer, and sure enough in due time a wagon filled with small kegs drove up from the steamboat landing ^yf^^tOi, Wftors &(f ? of the ) fK 'myi v,~ ■f? f'-*, I ' 'L -IkM %t m WXA w\v^ S Tra J)olI J^^JA> -i ll , /y^^ ^ear or more in the Journal, but I have not been able to find any other local reference to it. In i8j4 it was republished without the title "Asylum" and without the introduction, with Daniel Jackson, Jr., named as the author. Then its popularity began and it ran through many editions. Jackson receiving all the credit. Jesse Puol, too, was a man of ability and destined to more success. lie and Mitchell for a time published both the Barometer in Poughkeepsie and The Plebeian in Kingston. In 1805 tliey dissoh'cd partnership, Mitchell retaining the Poughkecjisie newspaper and lUiel taking The Plebeian. lUiel afterwards went to .Albany and became the first editor of The -■lr(!;i(s. He was candidate for gi)\ern()r in 1836 against William L. ]\Iarc_\-. In their opening editorial in the Barometer Mitchell and lUiel declared among other things. 'KcKvard B. Reed in New York lucniiis" Post, Dec. 10. 1904. their determination to "hold up to public ex- ecration whatever shall appear to aim at aristocratic influence upon the understanding, the actions, or the possessions of the people. * * * We shall applaud plain and simple manners even if discovered in our chief magistrate." Not long after this the Federalists became divided into factions and the Republicans obtained control of Dutchess county. The Barometer, May 6th, 1806, says "In this town the Republican ticket succeeded over that of the opposition by an average majority of 4 and 5 to I." The "Clintonians" — supporters of De Witt Clinton, then Mayor of New York, — are men- tioned as one of the factions of the opposition. 1806 was a year of general change in the local newspaper situation, probably due to part}' changes. A new paper, The Farmer, was started, but so few copies of it have been preserved that its political position is not clear. Mitchell sold the Political Barometer in August to Thomas Nelson & Son, and the Journal also changed hands. Paraclete Potter, who was des- tined to become and remain for a long time a leading figure in local journalism and politics, was one of the new owners, the firm being Bowman, Parsons and Potter, which continued until May 24th, 1815, when Potter came into full control. During this period the paper was called The Poughkeepsie Journal and Con- stitutional Republican, the latter part of the title signifying an effort of a branch of the party to shake off the name Federalist. The Jeffersonian supremacy did not last long in Dutchess, and in 1808 the county elected to the As- sembly "2 Federalists, 2 Clintonians. and 2 Lewisites," while James Emott, Federalist, received a majority of 1,100 for Congress. August 28. 181 1, the Political Barometer changed hands again, and changed its name for a second time, coming out as the Republican Her- ald, under the management of C. C. .\dams and D. Mac Duffee, who refer in their announcement to "The county of Dutchess long the sport of disunion and for some time past the seat of federal triumphs." The same sort of complaint is to be found in every new ]>aper started as a Republican organ for the next twenty-five years, while the Journal, under Potter's able management, weathered all the storms and sur- \-ived. without loss of prcstitie, even its bitter and determined opposition to the ^^"ar of 1812. The war appears to have been unpopidar with the substantial citizens of Poughkeepsie, but must never- theless have aroused considerable enthusiasm among the rank and file. There was a repetition of Revo- lutionar\- excitement to some extent, with recruiting ofiices opened, troops passing up and down the river, and express riders galloping through the village on 92 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. the Post Road. The Poughkeepsie Fusileers, a uni- formed company, were ordered out early in the strug- gle and their "former officers," T. Rudd, J. Brush and B. Herrick, gave them a banquet at Minturn's Hotel. In the Republican Herald for September 2, 1812, we read : "The uniform company of Artillery and infantry of this village, under the command of Capts. Nelson and Wilson, in compliance with the orders of the Governor, took passage on board the packet on Fri- day last for New York. After falling in with the companies from Barnegat and Newburgh and waiting the arrival of the governor with the northern com- panies on Saturday the whole proceeded together for New York. The alacrit)' with which the men composing these companies left their families, their homes, and their business, will entitle them to the esteem of their fellow citizens and the thanks of their country." These companies, I think, saw no actual fighting, but companies of Dutchess County militia were in ser- vice on several other occasions, and a considerable number of volunteers went into the arm}' from Pough- keepsie. Randall S. Street and Dr. William Thomas were among them, the former returning with the title of General. Dr. Thomas was in the Battle of New Or- leans. Some were doubtless called out by the draft, which the Journal vigorously denounced as tearing men away from the support of their families to prolong a war brought on by Jefferson and Madison for the sole purpose of increasing the power of their party. James Emott in Congress was equally outspoken in his opposition to the war, as his speeches printed in the Journal show, but this seems to have caused little interruption to his career, for after serving two terms in Congress he went into the Assembly for two terms, and then became county judge. That the Federalist control was not shaken as in so many other places, is shown by the establishment of another Republican paper, the Obscrz'er. apparent!}- a special organ of the Tammany faction, soon after the announcement of the treaty of peace in 181 5. Its opening editorial, March loth, contains this harrowing picture: Time was, when this unhapp\", deluded, and long abused County, presented a Republican phalanx to the front of its enemies, in an overwhelming majority of votes — at once the pride of the friends of the Repub- lic, and the terror of its foes. * * * No redeeming arm appears stretched forth to snatch this wandering prodigal from the error of her ways. * * * It is only to the well conducted public journal like the bow on the clouds which announces the storm is past, that the friends to Republicanism can look for as a pre- cursor to the assurement and triumph of their cause. Charles P. Barnum and Richard Nelson were the publishers of this paper. The Republican Herald passed into the hands of Stockholm and Brownjohn and continued to represent one of the numerous fac- tions of the day. It became bitterly opposed to James Tallmadge, Jr., and was sued by him for libel in 1818. It was finally discontinued after the election of 1823. Prominent local politicians during this period, be- sides those alread)' mentioned, were Thomas J. Oak- ley, Surrogate in 1810, elected to Congress in 1813; Randall S. Street, district attorney 1810 and again i8i3;David Brooks, three times County Clerk and sev- eral times Member of Assembly ; George Bloom, law partner of James Tallmadge, and Surrogate in 181 1 ; .\braham Adriance, several times Member of As- sembly and State Senator, Theodorus Bailey was per- haps the most prominent man of the early part of this period. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1803, but soon afterwards resigned from the Senate to become postmaster of New York City, DeWitt Clinton resigning the same office at the same time to become Mayor, His residence after that, I think, was in New York, Thomas J, Oqkley purchased and for a long time lived in the house on the corner of Cannon and Market Streets, where Bailey had lived. Philo Ruggles, who became Surrogate in 1813, was another prominent man of this time. He built about 1800 the fine house still standing on the west side of Mar- ket Street, which afterwards became the home of James Hooker, and is now used as an office building, George Bloom lived on Cannon Street, in a house where there is now a vacant lot, next east of the George Van Kleeck house (Dr, J, P, Wilson's resi- dence), James Emott lived on Market Street directly opposite Cannon, in the brick building still standing. Hon. WILLIAM NELSON. .-/ son oj Thomas Nelson and brother of Joseph Xe/son, editors of the "Politieal JSaronieter," William Nelson was edneated at the Dutchess County Aeadeiny. and studied la-w in the office of Thcron Rudd. After admission to the bar he remoi'cd to Peelcskill, where he became very prominent. {See Appendix for further sketch of his career.) CHAPTER VI. From tiii': Close of the War of 1812 to the Panic of 1837 — General Tallmadge on Slavery in Missouri — I^afayette's Visit — The I^ottery— Political Changes — The "Telegraph," The "Dutchess Intelligencer" and The "Eagle" — Benson J. IvOssing — New Banks — The Im- provement Party — The Whaling Industry and Other Entjcrprises — The Era of the Steam- boat — The Cannon Street Reservoir and the Big Fire of 1836 — The Fire Department — Ni:\v Churches — College Hill and Other Schools — The Real Estate Boom. In the )'ear 1815 Poughkeepsie was a vigorous, growing village, and during the period covered by this chapter was to experience a rapid development, culminating in a real estate boom of proportions which we are now accustomed to associate only with new towns in the West — a boom which left the place laid out into streets and lots almost as it is at present. In fact it required tlie work of nearly half a century to complete the improvements, and build up the streets, planned before 1837. The years immediately following the treaty of peace with England were nevertheless years of falling prices, and of considerable depression. The Hood of foreign importations ruined several thriving local in- dustries, including the Booth woolen mills, th; Arnold cotton factory and the Oakley nail factory. There was a great scarcity of currenc)', particularly of small change, which caused the printing of shinplasters by private firms and even by village corporations. D. & B. Arnold of the Eagle cotton factory and the Village of Pleasant Valley issued shinpla.sters in 1815, the lat- ter signed by Robert .\bboll, w hich have been preserv- ed in local collections. The long continued popular reckoning in shillings and pence was partly due to the large number of foreign coins' that came into cir- culation at all periods of financial depression prior to the debasement of subsidiary coinage in 1853. The first record book of the Village of Poughkeepsie shows most of the accounts in dollars and cents, but the cash book beginning at the end of the year 1817 is mostly in pounds, shillings and pence. i'efore iS.'o recovery was in progress and the vil- lage began to reach out for more trade, with an enter- prise that suggests the later days of railroad and bridge building, as the following entries in the village casli book for January 3r(l, 1 820, show : 'Eagle editorial, "Down with the Pence," April 2nd, 1853 To George P. Oakley and others. By order of a \'ote of the N'illage for iheir expenses in exploring a Route for a Turnpike Road West of the Shawangunk Mountain to intersect the Turnpike of Lucas Elmendorf at or near ^Var War Sink £5 : i8s : lod To expenses pd G. P. Oakley and others to defra}' expenses for advertising for alteration of the Turnpike West of the Hudson River for advertising in Kingston and Albany papers £2: o: o It seems rather extraordinary that the village as a corporate bod}' shoidd have been interesting itself in roads so far away, but these are by no means the only instances. The second entry seems to imply that the New Paltz road had already been made a turnpike, though Mr. LeFovre, in his History of New Paltz, says the turnpike was made after 1830. The incorporation of the Poughkeepsie and New Paltz Ferry Company in 1819, for the purpose of building "a Team Ferry Boat" to take the place of the sail ferry, also implies closer connection with New Paltz. The company organized in June. 1819, and elected Nicholas Thorne, John Green, Gilbert Wilkinson, James Reynolds and Henry Elting direc- tors. The landing on this side was "between the south side of the dock of George P. Oakley and the north side of the dock of Martin Hoffman." and on the west side of the river "at the dock of Henry D. Elting." The Team Ferry Boat was the first "horse boat" at Poughkeepsie, the motive power furnished by two horses in a treadmill, the earlier ferry having been a "periauger" or scow, with both sails and oars. Great things were expected of the team boat in the ^\■ay of bringing trade to the village from the west, and also from the eastward. One of the arguments in its favor was that it would bring this way a part of i^6 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. the stream of westward emigration. Ohio wagons, it was stated, were frequenth' seen on the Dutchess Turnpike as far west as the second toll gate, whence they made their wa)' over rough roads to Fishkill, where a team boat had already been established. The Reynolds House, built by James Reynolds near Upper Landing, {and ferry), about i&2j. sail ferry was uncertain and inconvenient, and accord- ing to a statement made many years later by Nathan Gitiford, would not accommodate more than one or two wagons, and was entered from the side. Often the horses were unhitched, and tied behind the boat to swim across. The team boat, or horse boat, was evi- dently successful, for there were two on the route a few years later, one sailed by Deyo Elting and the other by Henry Ogden. Horse ferries also ran from Milton, New Hamburgh and I-fyde Park, at a little later date. The Milton horse boat was the last on the river and ran until after 1850. In 1825 there was another strong efifort to at- tract trade from the west side of the river, and com- mittees were appointed to endeavor to make New Paltz Landing the terminus of a great state road which was expected to extend to Bufifalo. The break- down of the Fulton & Livingston monopoly of steam- boat navigation in 1824 was then also a stimulus to river traffic, and in 1830 the horse ferry was super- seded by a steam ferry. That was almost at the beginning of the period of expansion and speculation. The cholera epidemic of 1832 was a serious inter- ruption to business, and was long remembered. It gave rise to what was probably the first local board of health, comprising the village trustees, together with Elias Trivett, the druggist, and Dr. William Thomas. Cholera had been raging in New York for several weeks before it reached Poughkeepsie, and had even passed us and broken out in Albany, but in the latter part of July a few imported cases were reported in the lower part of town, and before the end of August the dread disease had claimed about eighty victims. A number of families left the village in order to escape and never returned. Says the Dutchess Intelligencer of August 15th: "From Sun- day, the 5th, to Saturday, the nth, it seemed to be at its worst and the state of things became truly alarm- ing. A general gloom seemed to rest upon every countenance, business was at a stand, and anxious inquiries were constantly made about the cholera.'' Occasionally social events attracted sufficient notice in the newspapers of the daj' to show that young people enjoyed themselves much as they do now. In August, 1819, the West Point cadets, two hundred strong, marched to Albany, and encamped for a week at Poughkeepsie, under command of Cap- tain John R. Bell. On the evening of August i6th a big ball was given in their honor, "which was at- tended by about one hundred of the Cadets and graced by most of the beauty and fashion of the village." General Talemadge and Slavery in Missourl Politics absorbed a large share of attention, and with such men as Thomas J. Oakley and James Tall- madge, Jr., as leaders, Poughkeepsie was at the front in both State and National matters. The so-called "Era of Good Feeling" which the historians tell us followed the War of 1812, was not very marked in New York State, certainly not in Dutchess County, where the Federal Party did not break down until the time of Jackson. James Tallmadge, Jr., usually called General Tallmadge, was one of the most notable of the representatives of Dutchesss Coun- ty in Congress. Elected to fill a vacancy, he at once took high rank, and in February, 1819, when the question of the admission of Missouri as a state came up, it was he who moved the amendment that pre- cipitated the first great debate over the extension of slaver}'. The amendment provided : "That the further introduction of slavery or in- voluntary servitude be prohibited, except for the pun- ishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been fully convicted, and that all children born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be free at the age of twenty-five years." The debate started by this amendment was a heated one and accompanied on the part of the Southern representatives by threats of disunion. Replying to the opponents of the amenduient, who included the speaker of the House, Henry Clay, Mr. Tallmadge, on February i6th, used these words, as reported in Ben- ton's Abridg-ement:! iBcnton's Abiidgemeiit of Deb.itcs in Congress, Vol. VI, p. 3.S0. See also p. 333 and note. HISTORY OF P U G H K E E P S I n. 97 "Sir, if a dissolution of the Union must take place, let it be so ! If civil war, which gentlemen so threaten must come, I can only sa}', let it come ! My hold on life is probably as frail as that of any man who now hears me ; but while that hold lasts, it shall be devoted to the service of my country — to the freedom of man. If blood is necessary to extinguish any fire which 1 have assisted to kindle, I can assure gentlemen, while I regret the necessity, 1 shall not forbear to contribute my mite. Sir, the violence to which gentlemen have resorted on this subject will not move my purpose, nor drive me from my place. I have the fortune and honor to stand here as the representative of freemen, who possess intelligence to know their rights, who have the spirit to maintain them. Whatever might be my own private sentiments on this subject, stand- ing here as the representative of others no choice is left me. I know the will of my constituents, and regardless of consequences, I will avow it; as their representative I will proclaim their hatred of slavery in every shape ; as their representative here I will hold my stand, until this floor, with the constitution of my country which supports it, shall sink beneath me." The Tallmadge amendment was adopted by the House, but rejected by the Senate, and the controversy was not settled until the next year — by the famous Missouri Compromise. From a local standpoint the question is, did Mr. Tallmadge correctly represent the prevailing opinion of the people of Dutchess when in the course of this noble speech he proclaimed "their hatred of slavery in ever)- shape?" He had already been defeated for re-election to Congress by Randall vS. Street eight months before he made the speech (elections were held in May until 1828) but that was simply because Street was a Federalist and Tall- madge a Tammany Republican or Democrat. His anti-slaver}' speech was published in full in the the Dutchess Observer of April 7th, which also copied from other newspapers, including the Nciv York Coliiiiibian, various notices of approval of his action, but made apparently no comment of its own. I can- not find that the Federalist organ, the Journal, made any reference whate-\'cr to the speech, or to the Gen- eral's attitude on llic admission of Missouri. The investigation of General Jackson's conduct in the Seminole War monopolized attention. The Repub- lican Herald abused Tallmadge roundly, but not be- cause of this action, so far as one can tell from the answers to its articles in the Observer. (No copies of the Herald for that year have been found). General Tallmadge was nominalcd by the Clintonian faction for the State senate in the spring of 1819, and was beaten, which seems to show at least that hatred of his constituents for slawry was not yel a moving political force. His \-ote in the town of Poughkeepsie and also in Dutchess was considerabl)- larger, howe\'er, than that of his colleague, or than that received by either of the successful candidates, but was smaller than either of the Federalist candidates received. The vote of the county was : Federalists — Philip J. Schuyler, 1,042, James Morris, 808; Clintonians — James Tall- madge, Jr., 754, Pierre Van Courtland, 527 ; Anti- Clintonians — Peter R. Livingston 680, John Town- send, 605. As senators were the.i elected on general tickets in large districts and Dutchess had been at- tached to the southern district, with New York and the Long Island Counties since 1815, the Federalist vote of the river counties was overwhelmed by the anti- Clintonian vote of New York. In 1820 the pendulum swung away from the Fed- eralists and the Observer, May 3d, said: "Dutchess Count}' has nobly done its duty. This is the first time that Republican Assemblymen have been elected in this county in fifteen years.'' At the same election the county gave De Witt Clinton, for governor, a majority of 158 over Daniel D. Tompkins, indicating the shifting of the Federalists to Clinton. In the next year General Tallmadge came to the front again and was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Conven- tion. The small total vote of Dutchess, less than 3,000 out of a population of 46,000, has doubtless been noticed. Under the first State constitution, ownership of property valued above £20, or the renting of prop- erty at 40 shillings or more a year, was required, and evidently shut out a good many votes. The local results, it must be admitted, were good. Even the smallest town offices ^\■ere filled by men of promi- nence and standing, and commanded an amount of respect from the community hard to realize no^^'. When the call for a new Constitutional Convention had gone forth in 182 1 in response to the ad\'ocates of tile repeal of the voting qualifications, Poughkeep- sie and Dutchess County contained a strong element in opposition to change and the following appeal was issued: "TO THE CITIZENS OF DUTCHESS COUNTY. "Our constitution was framed by wise and patriotic men, at a time when among the common friends of our country the spirit of genuine libertv prevailed, without the allo>- of part\- feelings or interests. Un- der this constitution the good people of the state have cnjo\ed for near half a century, all the blessings of a free government, and have arrived to a degree of national prosperity and happiness, unexampled in the history of the old world. A\^e feci and we trust you all feel, that a constitution which in its practical results has been thus happy, ought to be approached with the utmost caution ; that no alterations ought to be made, except such as experience has shown" to be clearly nccessar>-, that no wild plans of innovation 98 HISTORY OF P OU GH KEBPSIB. ought to be indulged, that party spirit ought not to be suflfered to intrude," etc. This was signed by a considerable number^ of the substantial citizens of Poughkeepsie and of the county, who called a meeting to be held June nth, at the house of Luther Gay in the town of Washington, "for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates." The party papers, Observer and Journal, waged bitter war- fare over the matter. The former said that under a show of independence "few but Federalists and de- cided Clintonians had signed this address," and in- dulged in vigorous criticism of Chancellor Kent and of all who had opposed the convention. The Journal in reply said: "We have seldom seen condensed in so small a compass so much spite and ill nature as is contained in the Observer of last week," with much in defense of the conservatives. The meeting at Luther Gay's house was duly held and nominated Morgan Lewis, James Emott, James Grant, William Taber, and Thomas Tillotson, but they were defeated by Peter R. Livingston, James Tallmadge, Jr., Abra- ham Schenck, Isaac Hunting and Elisha Barlow, des- cribed in the Journal as "advocates of a party con- vention," and also as "worshippers of St. Tammany." Lafayette's A^isit. The visit of Lafayette to Poughkeepsie^ Sept. l6th, 1824, was an event long remembered and often referred to, a pleasant interruption to the political agitation of the times. He arrived at Poughkeepsie early in the morning, on the steamboat James Kent, and was received by several regiments of militia, com- manded by General Brush, and a great crowd of peo- ple. The procession moved up Main Street to Academy and down Cannon to Forbus's Hotel, where the distinguished visitor was received by the trustees of the village. Solomon V. Frost was president of the village at that time, and it is related that being a Quaker he would not ride in the procession in which a brass band and several militia regiments took part. The address of welcome was made by Col. Henry A. Livingston, from the piazza in front of the Forbus House. "In this village," said he, "the immortal Washington was frequently the guest of the venerable George Clinton. In this village that Constitution which is the palladium and pride of United America, was adopted by the Convention of New York, nor were the resplendent talents, and commanding elo- quence of a Hamilton, the wisdom of a Chancellor Livingston, or the sagacity of a Jay, displayed in iFor list of signers see Appendix. ^Reports in the Poughkeepsie loiirnal and in the Re- publican Telegrapli, Wednesday. Sept. 22d, 1824 vain. To these prominent eras, permit us to add, as their apex, the transactions of this memorable occa- sions," etc. "To this address," says the Poughkeepsie Journal, "the General made an appropriate and feeling reply, in the course of which he adverted to his former acquaintance with the village, and to the great and astonishing changes, which, in common with our country generally, it had undergone." Neither of the newspapers of the day reported Lafayette's speech in full. From the Forbus House the party proceeded to the Poughkeepsie Hotel, where breakfast was served, at the expense of the village, for sixty-five people. Op- posite Lafayette, we are toldS sat Major Swartwout, a soldier of the Revolution, then 95 years old. Waltei Cunningham acted as marshal of the day, and among those at the table were James Tallmadge, Thomas J. Oakley, James Emott, Smith Thompson, Matthew Vassar, General Brush, Paraclete Potter, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, Alexander J. Coffin, John Armstrong, Jr., and Dr. William Thomas. Interesting side lights are thrown upon this celebration by the following entries in the village cash book, for September i6th : Samuel Henderson. To ringing court house Bell for La Fayette $ o 75 John Cornish. To ring Episcopal Church bell La Fayette i 00 Joel Du Bois. To ringing Dutch Church bell La Fayette i 00 Paraclete Potter. To printing 1,000 hand bills for La Fayette 8 50 John Cowles. To express to West Point and New- burgh 5 00 John Francis. To printing 500 Arrangements 4 00 Peter B. Myer. To sixty-five breakfasts for La Fayette and suite 65 oo Philo C. Brush. To four carrages for La Fayette . . 15 00 Charles Butler. To four carriages for La Fayette .... 15 00 Myers & Osborne. To printing 500 bills La Fayette ... 4 00 A noteworthy item in this list is that payment of $5 to John Cowles. So anxious were the villagers to have their welcome all ready that they provided an express rider to gallop up the post road and bring the good news that the steamboat was coming. The boat arrived here at 2 :30 in the morning and a great bon- fire on Kaal Rock was one of the features of its recep- tion, with salutes of artillery. Doubtless Lafayette had learned how to get along without sleep during the trying days of the Revolution. He left here not long after breakfast and proceeded to the residence oi Governor INIorgan Lewis, near Staatsburgh. The best dcscriptioiis of Lafayette's visit arc curi- ously enough not from the newspaper reports, but •Dutchess County History, p. 378. HISTORY OP P O U G H K HEP S J n. 99 from the lottery advertisements of George P. Oakley, whose geiiuis as an "ad writer" was of the highest order. He had announced in the papers of Sept. 15th, along with "New York State Literature Lottery No. GEORGE P. OAKLEY. 2," the following: "My fellow citizens will not forget that L.\ Fayette; is coming, and that he is welcome to our country, to our homes, and to our hearts. They will likewise not forget that the only La Fayette tickets in the village, are to be found at the Temple." In the papers of the next week, Oakley wrote, also in his advertising space : "On Thursday last our much beloved and much respected General honored us with his company. — lie came with the rising Sun, and exhilarated and en- nobled the moral, as that warmed and enlightened the natural world. * * * * "It is not my business to give a history of the da\'. I shall therefore be laconic, though it is difficult to be so on a subject so diffuse. * * * "The breakfast room at Myer's Hotel which I was so fortunate as to see the day before the jubilee, was splendidly decorated with an elegance altogether cred- itable to the taste and industry of the ladies who volun- teered in this patriotic employment. Brevity forbids a detailed description of this apartment of Portraits, and Banners, and Emblems, and Everg-reens, and Flowers, and Festoons, and Garlands, and Temples, and Plate, and Porcelain, and Arches, and Mottos. It was indeed a fairy scene, and the beauties of nature and of art were so happil}' combined, that, though the\- strongly vied for precedence, all was harmony. "W'ashincton" appeared in laurel leaved letters over one mantle piece, and "L.\ FavivTTE" o\'er the other, both encircled with wreaths of flowers. Over the folding doors appeared "Welcome La Fayette" in letters made entirely of the rich blossoms of the china-astor — These letters, having the symetry, and ac- curacy of beautiful types, were wrought by two sisters, 3'oung ladies of our village, who merit for their in- genuity and industry the highest encomiums, and if these desirable qualities are to be found, in the same perfection, in their domestic concerns, of which the performance in question is indicative, the man who would want a better wife than either of these, ought to live a bachelor till he should be as old as Francisco. "The General received the address of Col. Living- ston and answered it, on Forbus's upper piazza, which then, by evergreens and flowers and grace and beauty in festoons and clusters, was made more than ever an allusive picture of Eden. He received the salutations of the citizens in front of the lower piazza which likewise was tastefully ornamented. "The scene at Forbus's was highly interesting and if a view of it was permitted to the immortal Mont- gomery, he beheld it with heavenly complacenc)'. This illustrious martyr to his devotion in the American cause was brought to my recollection, at the moment, by the old sign which hung above, and which has been fanned by the breezes and bleaclied by the snows of fortj'-seven summers and winters. "Major Bailey's tree of Liberty, which grew in front of his shop, pleased me. My limits will not per- mit me to say more about it than that it was very green and flourishing, and was bending with the ricii- est fruits personifying Washington and La Fayette, all the e.x-presidents, some of the presidential candidates and all the signers of the Declaration of Independence. "The miUtary on the cal-rock, at break of day made a very martial appearence, which I understand was spoken of b}' the General and his retinue in terms of applause. The salute fired from the rock was un- commonly fine, and its echo and re-echo bounded as merril}' and proudly among the western hills as if a band of Tritons, inspired by the occasion, had left their coral groves to ramble and blow their thousand shells in the green woods of Ulster. "La Fayette Tickets are now selling rapidly at the Temple of Fortune," etc. When Lafayette died, in 1834, Poughkeepsie, in common with many other places in the countr}', ren- dered public honor to his memory. A special meeting of the trustees on June 30th, at which Alexander Forbus, Isaac I. Balding, James Mills, Richard Pud- ncy and Josiah Burritt were present, made the follow- ing arrangements which are recortled on the minutes : '".■\t Sunrise on Thursday the 3d July next a salute of 24 guns will be fired from Pines Hill, Alansion Street and one gun every half hour until sun set. At 10 o'clock .\. M. a procession will form at the Hotel and proceed through ^\^asliington. Mill, Catherine, Main and Market Streets to the Episcopal church, under G'en'l Leonard Maison. Grand Marshall of the day, in the following order X TEMPLE OF FORT05^eJ\ 1:%:., JVetB'York, Januartf 19, I8Z6. ^ Thfe^'drawi^^ttf ^e JLdterature Xott^rj^ No^ 3 for ' ■'- i '2-:i7, 21, T, 85, -6,':3^'C- The next Loltery is the Uniou Canal, No. Id, au|^ I anpteUeuded I sliould have a sujplue of tietet? left on hand, and thoreforc sci»^*|| it. mtU some others, to a worthy frieud in KeRvYoA to bo sold. Pc cndeavSOTeiJ|^ without success to effect a sale, and returned the whole to me, when they "cre o%fe>^ cd aeain and again, and when the evcningof the iBth of January ftn!>ed, I naift^r^ sniall surplus of tickets remaining, including the ofoiesaid half Vi4.t»";tftTItcd - clinsc them at a reduced price, which they declined rlheconsciuei^,^ was - as di'aw will, ll.e said hulf ticket the half of One Hundred Jbousand. i-oM^'-^^^-^iiS^: Jliavi sold In my .usio.ncr:,, besides numerous J^'^, WsUjf f^''^'^ l'?3 ;5f , thercuC oia.iv of One Hundred and scleral of Rvc IKindred Dullars,«ii^ 1 tWia >4J ll.at sJveral'r. -peeluble prizes have been drawn iB 1<« of New York on the fourth Tuesday in April ne.xt and will continue to draw Si.K Hundred Tickets per day till finished— The scheme of which contains 3 prizes of $25,000 one of $10,000 and one of $5,000, and many other valuahle prizes. Tickets, Halves, Quarters and Eighths, for sale in a variety of Nos by Stoum and Wilson. Lotteries were conducted for all sorts of causes. Churches and colleges were built from their proceeds, and the largest jirizes at the time of the Lafayette visit, or a little later, were in the Literature Lotteries for the benefits of the State schools and guaranteed by the State of New York. The early drawings seem to have been mostly on the '"Si.N; hundred tickets a day" plan, but later there were all sorts of plans and the big lotteries were often advertised to be "finished in a few minutes." Thus tlie "Washington Lodge Lotteries." under the "authority of the State of Rhode Island," advertised the "150 numbers binary combination and permutation — 28 ballots drawn." There were 22,350 tickets at $2.20 each. The numbers drawn were com- bined 1st and 2nd, 2nd and ist, etc. In another Rhode Island lottery, with 19,600 tickets, only 6 ballots were drawn. George P. Oakley was the leading lottery agent in Poughkeepsie from 1823 to 1826, and when he sold out the business he had won the largest lottery prize ever taken in this neighborhood. He was earlier, as we have seen, in the milling a.nd freighting business with his father, Jesse Oakley, at the Upper Landing. In 1819 he failed and the mills went to the Middle Dis- trict Bank and were deeded' in 1821 to James Rey- nolds and Aaron Innis, who had previously been in the freighting business. The deed included a plaster mill and a grist mill on the north side of the stream, and mentions also a nail factory and a saw mill on the south side. Oakley was a man of too much ability to be kept down and was soon engaged in keeping a gen- eral store. His "Bulletin No. i," announcing the open- ing of his "Temple of Fortune" "opposite Potter s Book Store," is dated Aug. i, 1823, and the location was about on the corner of Libert\' Street, which had probably not long been opened. In this bulletin he states that two $20,000 prizes had recently been won in Poughkeepsie and that two similar ones had pre- ceded them. In his bulletin No. 10, dated Dec. 17th, 1823, he gives the following list of "Some of the many prizes which have enriched our citizens, in the course of a few vears," as follows : I Prize drawn by Valentine Baker of $10,000 3,000 I " " " James Sands of I " " " the Fire Company & Messrs Angevine Elmore & Jay- cocks each one quarter of 1,000 I " " " .\ company of Gentlemen in Poughkeepsie of which I was one 500 I " " " A Gentleman of 500 I " " " Cornelius Wiltsie and George Brinckerhoff of 5,000 '/4 " " " The Messrs Ellirwre of loo.ooo I " " " Mr. Flagler of 1,000 I " " " George P. Oakley of 1,000 I " " " Gilbert Wilkinson 1,000 I " " " -Abm P. Knapp and others of 500 1 " " " Peter Everitt of 1,000 34 " " " A. C. \\^arner of 20,000 I " " " .\ number of Gentlemen in a package of 2nd class, of 20,000 I " " " i\lartin Hoffman Jr. of 1.500 .\nd last though not least Isaac Germond and Geo. P. ()akloy (selected by the latter) 10,000 Evidently fortime came Oakley's way with some rapidity and a good share of it went to other Pough- 'This deed (Lih. 63, p. 162) contains an interesting agree- ment as to water riglils on the Fallkill. 102 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE. keepsians. Oakley does not omit to mention the prizes sold or won by his competitors, who in addition to those already given included Isaac T. Doughty, Hayes & Adriance and Peter Everitt. Thus he tells us that W. Cunningham, whom he sometimes refers to as "Sir Walter,'' won half of a $10,000 prize, the rest of which he had sold to persons in the county. Decem- ber 28th, 1824, Oakley says: "One day last week I enjoyed the pleasure of paying to Miss Elizabeth \\'ard $8,500 and also $8,500 to Mr. Seneca Howland," both of the town of Washington. "These worthy persons are both single," he adds, "and had the good luck to purchase of me jointly." In readable qualities and cleverness Oakley's advertisements are models : "Who would pinch through life without being able to do one generous action, when with money enough and to spare he might give liberally to the oppressed Greeks, at the grand military ball which will be cele- brated in the city for their benefit on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans." Again in January, 1825, he begins a bulletin, "Any man who is fool enough to burn Lehigh Coal at the Commencement of the New Year instead of buying a ticket in this lot- tery.'' This is the first local reference to coal I have seen, and indicates that it .was a decided luxury. In fact, it was rather an interesting experiment than a luxury at this time, for many people found much difficulty in making it burn. The first Lehigh coal is said to have been much harder than most of the anthracite now in use and it could rarely be made to burn in a grate without keeping the blower up almost continuously. Coal was served to customers for a number of years in big lumps which had to be broken up with a ham- mer. Dr. Thomas was one Of the first men in Pough- keepsic to use it, and it was not generally of much service until after the Delaware and Hudson Canal had been opened and after stoves had been specially con- structed for burning it. David C. Foster was the first local dealer to make its sale a leading feature. The decline of the lottery craze, which reached such a point that it demoralized business and people, came about partly from the growth of public sentiment against it. but more from the opening of newer and larger fields of speculation with the organization of stock companies. Oakley's crowning achievement was the wimiing of a prize of $50,000 in partnership with Cjillx'rt \\'ilkinson, his brother-in-law, who, however, had brt a one-fourth interest in it. He thought it nec- essary' to explain their good luck in an elaborate circu- lar, a fac-simile of which is gi\en on l)age 100. He was not only a good advertiser, but was evidently a man of careful business methods, for all his lottery cir- culars were pasted in scrap books which have been saved. He seems to have continued in the lottery busi- ness until about 1826, and probably sold to Richard Pudney, who advertised "The Temple of Fortune" after that time. Oakley became County Treasurer and then cashier of the Poughkeepsie Bank at its organiza- tion in 1830. Party Changes — The Telegraph and the Dutch- ess Intelligencer. After the adoption of the constitution, which abol- ished most of the voting qualifications, as well as the Council of Revision^ and Council of Appointment, we find the Journal in 1824 favoring the next great step towards democracy, the proposition to allow the people to vote directly for presidential electors, which was not, however, carried in time to be available before the election of 1828. Parties were then much broken up and in a state of transition. As a result of the turmoil the Poughkeepsie members of the Re- publican party became dissatisfied with the Observer as an organ, bought an entirely new newspaper outfit and established the Republican Telegraph, placing William Sands and Isaac Piatt in charge, the latter be- ing but 21 years of age and having recently completed his apprenticeship in the office of the Journal. In one of his reminiscences, published many years later, Mr. Piatt said that most of his early education v>-as obtained in the printing office and in Paraclete Potter's book store. He had the privilege of reading many of the books in stock and was assisted in select- ing them by Horatio Potter, a nephew of the pro- prietor and clerk in the store, afterwards Bishop of N'ew York. Potter's book store was a great village institution, a sort of club where all those who were fond of literature and of discussion were wont to gather. The political committee which controlled the new paper was James Hooker, Leonard Maison, Abraham G. Storm, John S. Myers, Jacob Van Ness, Ebenezer Nye and Obadiah Titus. The first number was print- ed May 5th, 1824, "a few doors south of the Court House"." From the opening announcement we hear again the story, "For a considerable period and until within a few years past the old Federal party have had a majority in this county, which at every succes- sive election enabled them to return to the Legislature their members of Assembly," and alas, after two years of Republican success the county in 1823 had gone back to the Federalists or Clintonians again. Nor was the Republican Telegraph able to hold it. The lit is worlliy of note that in the Council of Revision which decided the fate of the act passed in 1816 for building the Erie Canal were three former Poughkeepsi.ms ; Chancellor Kent. Judge Smith Thompson and Judge Jonas Piatt. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. 103 paper started with opposition to De Witt Clinton just when his removal from the canal commission aroused i:)ublic indignation to such an extent that he was again elected governor, while in the same year the party lost the support of the national administration through the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency. General James Tallmadge was nominated and elected Lieutenant Governor at this time, and might have had the nomination for governor, according to Thurlow Weed,i if he had consented to denounce the removal of Clinton from the Canal Commission. That he con- sented to run on the ticket with Clinton shows the generally mixed-up condition of political affairs. Tallmadge then was a leader of the Tammany faction, and had strenuously opposed the Erie Canal and its chief advocate. The Poiii^^hkccpsic Telegraph sur- vived the succession of party disasters, but ceased to Ik' a party organ the next year and was sold to Charles P. Barnum, one of the proprietors of the Observer. The two papers were then combined and published as The Telegraph and Observer until 1828, when the name of the older paper was dropped. In the wreck of old parties the Journal, still published b\- Paraclete Potter, lost its moorings and drifted with the popular tide into support of Jackson for the Presidency in 1827, several months ahead of the Telegraph. Then early in 1828 another new pa- l)er. The Dutehess True American,'-' was started by I'eter K. Allen, who also shouted for the Hero of Xcw Orleans. Apparently everybody was for Jack- son, but there were a few Adams men left in old Dutchess and presently they got together a nondes- cript, second-hand outfit and established The Dutch- ess Intelligencer, which published its first number .\pril 30th, 1828. Charles F. Ames, a young man from Hudson, was hired as editor, with Frederick T. Parsons to look after the type setting. The opening editorial stated that "a great and absorbing question agitates the minds of the citizens of this vast Repub- lic * * * Who shall be our next president? John Quincy Adams or Andrew Jackson? the ac- complished civilian, the unrivalled statesman, the up- right man, and the unassuming Republican, or the \ ictorious, but sanguinary and remorseless soldier?" In another column of the same issue we read: "At the ne.xt annual election the citizens of this State will for the first time since the organization of the govern- ment, exercise the important privilege of choosing at lAutobiograpliy of Tlnrrlow Weed, p. 108. -I know of no copies of lliis paper in e.xistence, but it was discontinued after one year and moved to Ulster Couutx-, according to .1 liistorical sketcli of tlie Press of Poughkeepsie. written by Isaac Piatt for the J51I1 anniversary of the found- ing of the Eagle and published April 30tb, 1853. the Polls the Electors of President and Vice President of the United States." Ames soon retired from the editorial management of the Intelligencer and Parsons ran a few issues alone. Then the owners gave the plant to Isaac Piatt, Parsons remaining as a partner. Their announcement is in the issue of Aug. 20th. The paper now began to bristle with vigorous editorials, but Jackson's "hurrah campaign" carried the county in November by a large inajority. The Intelligencer ascribed his victory locally "to the political depravity and want of principle in a few leaders of both the old parties * * * -who formed an alliance for the sole and only purpose of bartering away the vote of this county to Gen. Jackson," and adds, "The demo- cratic party split in two nearly equal parts, leaving a small majority in favor of Mr. Adams. But the inove- ments of Messrs Potter & Co. [the Journal] carried a great majority of the federal part}' and federal in- fluence in favor of Jackson." Judge Sinith Thompson of Poughkeepsie was the nominee of the Administration or Adams party for governor in 1828, but was overwhelmed in the land- slide. He received 4,558 votes in Dutchess, and Mar- tin Van Buren, the "wizard of the Albany Regencw" received 3,257. This was the first election at which the Anti-Masonic party became an influence. Thur- low Weed in his Autobiography devotes several pages (303-307) to an effort to show that had Francis Gran- ger been noininated by the Adams men, instead of Judge Thompson, Van Buren might have been defeat- ed. Granger, however, ran for Lieut.-Governor along with Thompson. The feeling against the Free Masons was not yet a force in Dutchess Countw or in this part of the State, but was strong in some of the western counties. Mr. Weed states that after the nomination of Thompson he spent a day or two trying to recon- cile the Anti-Masons of the western section, and finding his efforts in vain came to Poughkeepsie to endeav- or to persuade Judge Thompson to withdraw in favor of Granger, so as to prevent the nomination of an Anti- Masonic ticket. He reached here by steamboat just as the committee that had notified Judge Thompson of his nomination was leaving. They had obtained the Judge's acceptance of the nomination with con- siderable difficulty, and when Mr. ^^^eed wanted them to go back with him to the Judge's residence and ask him to withdraw his acceptance they were naturally very reluctant, but at length consented, some of them for the express purpose of combatting Mr. \N''eed's ar- guments. The mission proved very embarrassing- for all, and the Judge, having once made up his mind to run, decided to stand by his decision. His vote in the State was 106,415, wiiile Van Buren had 136,78^, 104 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIB and Solomon Southwick, the Anti-Masonic candidate, 33,335. The combined Adams and Anti-Masonic votes would have elected the Adams candidate, but it is by no means certain that Granger or anyone else could have held them all. Southwick got only 113 votes in Dutchess. So discouraging was the outlook for the Intelli- gencer at the close of its first year, that Mr. Parsons declared he could not live on his share of the profits, and withdrew from the partnership, but was prevail- ed upon to remain as an employee at a salary of $7 a week.i l!y 1830 the paper had nevertheless obtained a good patronage, and maintained it in spite of the fact that the factional differences of the times gave rise to two more papers, the Inquirer in 1829 — a suc- cessor to the True American — and the Dutchess Re- publican in July, 1 83 1, started by Thomas S. Ranney as an "Anti-Regency" paper, opposed to Martin Van Buren's control of the party in the State. The Anti- Masonic movement was sweeping over the State then, and as the Intelligencer refused to become its organ, after the election of 1830, the Inquirer was purchased and its name changed to The Anti-Mason. The feel- ing locally was strong enough to close up the old King Solomon's Lodge which Washington had visit- ed and Masonry was not revived in Poughkeepsie until 1852. In 1833 ^lessrs. Piatt and Ranney united their pa- pers, beginning on the last Wednesday of April the publication of the Intelligencer and Republican, a title so awkward that the next }-ear it was changed to The Poughkeepsie Eagle. Meanwhile Jackson had carried the county in 1832 by a considerably reduced majority, and \''an Ruren carried it again in 1836 b\' a still smaller majorit)-. After that Dutchess County be- came doubtful territory, and so remained until after the formation of the Republican party, a few years be- fore the Civil War. In 1832 the Intelligencer called itself the organ of the National Republicans, but before 1836, in common with other supporters of Henry Clay, it had taken the name of Whig and was referring to its opponents as Tories. The Telegraph continued for several years to call itself Republican and to refer to Clay's party as Federalists. Egbert B. Kille_\- and Aaron Low had been publishing this paper for a number of years, but in 1835 Mr. Low sold his interest to ISenson J. Los- sing, and this marks the entry of another notable 1 Isaac Plall often used to tell t1iis story, as an illustration both of the (liffiailties of his early career and of the prevailin<>- rate of wages at that time. He received help and encourage- ment in his venture from the .Vdams committee: John H. Davis, Judge Edmund IT. Pendleton, Abraham G. Storm, .Alexander J. Coffin, Stephen Cleveland and Gen. John Brush. figure into Poughkeepsie journalism. Mr. Lossing had been before this a member of the firm of Henderson & Lossing, jewelers, advertising "Gold and Silver ^Vatches," etc. When he began newspaper work he soon saw the value of illustrations and turned his skill as a jeweler to wood engraving. Always inter- ested in history and in general literature, Mr. Lossing revived the old Poughkeepsie Casket, wrote many articles for it and illustrated them himself. In 1838 he was also engaged in editing and illustrating the Family Magazine of New York, and began writing historical articles, preserving the recollections of the old people about him of Colonial and Revolutionary events. His "Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution" made him the most popular historian of the day. Though never a very careful student of records or other original sources of accurate information, Mr. Lossing's books are always readable and served great- ly to stimulate interest in American history. Among his contemporaries in the jewelry business may be mentioned E. D. Morgan & Son, the son being William S. Morgan. Banks and Bankers. As early as 18 16 an effort had been made to pro- cure a charter for a Dutchess County Bank. Nov. 15th of that year Nathaniel Ferris. Nathan Conklin, Jr., Albert Cook, Jacob Green and Benjamin Herrick met at Balding's Hotel and signed an application. Presumably the financial depression stopped this enter- prise, but there was at least one private bank in Pough- keepsie then or soon afterwards, known as the Ex- change Bank. A note payable "at my Exchange Bank," signed b\' Henry Davis and by Walter Cunningham cashier, Sept. 15, 1819. is still in existence. This bank was probably conducted at Davis's house, which has been rebuilt as the Fallkill National Bank. Cun- ningham afterwards became prominent in politics and it was largely through his influence' at Albany that a charter was obtained, April 12, 1825, for the Dutchess Count)- Bank. The capital authorized was $150,000, but when the books were opened, in May, the subscrip- tions^ were found to amount to $700,000, and in 1836 the capital was increased to $600,000. The organiza- tion took place on July 12th, Henry Davis becoming the first president and Walter Cunningham the first cashier. ( )ther directors then chosen were James Tall- madge. John T. Schryver, Thomas L. Davies, James Grant, Jacob Shook. Gilbert Thorn, Caleb Barker. Solomon \' Frost, Matthew Vassar, Henry Conklin and James Hooker. lAutohingraidiy of Thnrlow Weed, p. 106. -Telegraph, May J5, 1825. Pouglikcepsic Bank Building, now tlic I'oiighkccpsic Trust Company, (sec Appendix) The addition to the right was recentlv built. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 107 The careers of Cunningham and Oakley were not the only ones that connect the lottery business with local banking. A. G. Storm, president of the Middle District Bank, Peter Everitt, chief stockholder of the same, James Grant, Jr., who became cashier of the Farmers and Manufacturers on its organization, and several other prominent bank officials had conducted "lottery and exchange" offices. They occupied appar- ently much the same position in the community that the leading brokers do to-day, and the transition from the lottery business to banking was not unnatural, for the lottery men nearly all advertised to deal in uncur- rent bank notes and became experts in discounts and in detecting counterfeits. A notable example was John Thompson, who first taught a private school in Mill Street, and then in 1828 advertised as a dealer in lottery tickets. He at length removed to New York, established "Thompson's Bank Note Re- porter,'' a most important publication for many >'ears, and became a leading organizer of several prominent banking institutions in the metropolis, in- cluding the First National Bank. He lived for a num- ber of years in the house still standing back of the West Shore station opposite Poughkeepsie, and was the father of the late Frederick Thompson, who has been so prominent a recent benefactor of Vassar and other colleges. The Middle District and Dutchess County banks were in business on the north side of Main Street, the former on the site of the Taylor Building, and the latter on the site of the present Merchants' National ISank. Between thcni, in 1828, was a "Plough and Stove Factory" conducted by Coffin & Schofield. The failure of the Middle District Bank, May 28th, 1829, brought to light some interesting features of the banking methods of the day. George P. Oak- Icy, N. P. Tallmadge, Fctcr Everitt and Thomas L. Davies were appointed a committee to examine the bank; they found' that $275,000 of the capital of $500,000 was held by Peter Everitt on a note, and that he also owed the Kingston branch $61,000. He had been receiving six per cent dividends on the bank stock and paying five per cent, on the loan. Truly there were financiers in those days ! The bank had deposits of $21,885.95 in Poughkeepsie, $10,104.96 in Kingston, and $140,967.00 notes in circulation. Its good resources were put down as $118,367.89 and doubtful resources at $i07,543-55- Its notes were freely taken at par as soon as the committee made its report, but afterwards went down to 75 cents on the dollar and perhaps lower. Up to March 17th, 1830, 1 Dutchess Intelligencer, June 24tli, 1829. dividends of 62 1-2 per cent had been paid to note holders and depositors, and in 1833 all the remaining effects were advertised for sale, but items in the news- papers seem to indicate that the final settlement was much later. The State held $50,000 of the stock, fully paid in. Noteholders and depositors were paid almost in full. This was the only bank failure in the history of Poughkeepsie. In the same year, 1829, the Safety Fund Act, which made New York bank notes the best in the country, was passed, and in 1830 the Poughkeepsie Bank was organized with a capital of $100,000. The first directors, elected June 17th, were Thomas L. Davies, James Thompson, Albro Aikin, Thomas Taber 2d, James Hooker, N. P. Tallmadge, Nathan Conklin, John Lockwood, Aaron Innis, Richard Pudney, Alex- ander J. Coffin, Matthew Vassar, and Gilbert Wilkin- son. Thomas L. Davies was chosen president. The Farmers and Manufacturers Bank, the second inder the Safety Fund Act, was organized as the result of a meeting held at Hatch's Hotel (The Pough- keepsie) May 23d, 1834, at which Homer Wheaton, Gideon P. Hewitt, James Grant, Jr., .\aron Innis, William Schell, Jacob Van Benthuysen and James Hooker were appointed to receive subscriptions. On the 19th of July the first board of directors, which included William A. Davies and Matthew Vassar, was elected ; James Hooker was made president and James Grant, Jr.. cashier. The old Myer Tavern, corner of Cannon and Market Streets, was purchased and torn down, and in February, 1835, the bank began business in its present building. Matthew Vassar had then become the president. The Savings Bank, chartered' April i6th, 1831. began bu.^iness in 1833 in the old Middle District Bank building. William Davies, James Emott. Fred- erick Barnard, Matthew Vassar, Teunis Van Kleeck, Thomas ^V. Tallmadge, Nehemiah Conklin, Griffin Williamson, Henry A. Livingston and Stephen Arm- strong were named as trustees. Col. Livingston- was the first president. iChapter 134, Laws of 1831. 2C0I. Henry A. Livingston was a leading man in Pough- keepsie as already indicated. He was a son of Rev. John H. Livingston and a grandson of Henry Livingston, so long the colonial county clerk. He lived in the old Livingston man- sion (see p. 29) which went to him after the division of the property in i8oo._ He was not always popular, though many times elected to important offices, and in 1806 a blackmailing attempt was made against him, the record of which was pub- lished in the New York Sun in December, 1891, and was republished in the Poughkeepsie Eagle 241)1 Feb., 1905. Co' Livingston died June qth, 1849, 108 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE. The Improvement Party. George P. Oakle}' and Walter Cunningham began to invest their lottery winnings in real estate and local enterprises soon after 1830 and, with Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, became the leaders of the Improvement Party, which pla)'ed a very important part in the devel- opment of Poughkeepsie, though its operations cul- minated in a great real estate boom which collapsed and left nearly all its promoters penniless. N. P. Tallmadge, who has been already mentioned as a bank director, was perhaps the most important man of the period. He was a son of Joel Tallmadge, and was little or no relation to General James Tallmadge. He was a Member of Assembly in 1820, postmaster of the village in 1821 ; in 1827 became president of the vil- lage trustees; in 1830 State Senator, and in 1833 United States Senator. The term "Improvement Party" seems to have been used in the newspapers of the time to designate those who favored pushing all sorts of municipal im- MATTHEW VASSAR. From a Dagutircotypc, pho/oiirap/ied by Mr. Hairy Booth. provemcnts, new streets, pavements, etc., but was afterwards applied to the promotors of the many enterprises of the day. At the charter election of 1835 what was described as the "Moderate Improve- ment Party," whose candidates for village trustees were Isaac I. Balding, Nchemiah Sweet and David Boyd, ran against J. \'an llenthuvsen, Gideon P. Hewitt and Samuel B. Dutton of the "Ultra Improve- ment Party," with Matthew Vassar and Edward C. Southwick on both tickets. The "Moderates" elected Balding and the "Ultras" Van Benthuysen and Hewitt. Matthew Vassar was chosen president of the board. Much had been done to improve the streets before this time, the second cobblestone era beginning about 1830. Isaac H. Ver Valin, who then lived on the southeast corner of Main and Academy Streets, Wil- The Vassar Street Brewery, Bridge Street front, from a draiving made by Henry Whinfield in /S;^y. Ham Thomas, Thomas Piatt and Leonard Davis peti- tioned for the paving of Academy Street between Main and Cannon, July 28th, 1830, about at the beginning of the movement. INIarket Street did not escape this time, and the pavement from Main to Church was ordered at a meeting of the trustees September 14th, 1831.' Not long afterwards the Main Street pavement was extended to the river and from Acadeni)' to Hamilton Street. Before 1837 all the principal streets had been cobbled, and excluding macadam, the area of pave- ment has not been greatly increased since. The old brick sidewalks, mostl}' discarded within the past twenty ^ears, date also from this period. May i8th, 1831, the following paper was presented to the trustees : W'e. the undersigned owners of lots fronting on Main street in Poughkeepsie between the court house and the river do hereb}' engage to pave or flag the sidewalks before our said lots in such manner as the trustees of the village shall direct as witness our hands this third day of Nov., 1830. H. CONKUN, Wm. Turner, P. Potter, Marinus Pierce, J. M. Nelson. Wm. Davies, Stephen .-Xrmstrop^g, M. Vassar, A. Beakeslee, This was evidently before the village had begun to require paved sidewalks, while they were still a iFor list of signers on Market, Garden and Mill Streets sec Appendix. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSin. 109 matter of individual enterprise, and doubtless with many intervals of gravel and mud in front of the premises of the less enterprising. The first sidewalk order I have found is dated September 8th, 1831, and requires that "the Sidewalks in Main Street from Washington to Academy Street be pitched and Flaged with Brick in good and substantial manner — under the direction of the trustees — and that they cause a tax to be assessed. Levied and collected on the owners of the Lots for that purpose." Sidewalks were ordered on "Academy Street from Washington Street to Can- non,"! at the same time. The word "flag" evidently did not imply blue stone, but the records show that stone was occasionally used. The village was lifting itself out of the mud and preparing for the great pe- riod of expansion that was to come. The following petition presents a glimpse of the old life when Main Street, at least above Academy, was a residence street, at the beginning of the improvement period. TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE VIEEAGE OE POUGHKEEPSIE. The undersigned respectfully represents that the inhabitants of that section of Main Street which lies between the corner of Isaac H. Ver Valin and the corner of Hamilton and Main Streets have been sub- jected to greater expense in paving that section by reason of the increased width of the street than the inhabitants of any other section will be subjected to. That in the section named there are no crossings ex- cept at Ver Valin's corner. The undersigned respect- fully suggests that in said section there should be at least two crossings, one nearly opposite the pump at the easterly end of said section and one opposite the brick house occupied by Doctor Tapping. The reasons therefore are as follows : My family, the families living in the two houses West of me ire obliged to get their water at the pump mentioned, their yards being too rocky to admit of wells being dug therein. The families living in the houses on the corner of Hamilton and Cannon streets get all their water at the pump mentioned. The children of almost every family living on the south side of Main Street are sent to Dr. Tapping's school. These with other con- siderations of general convenience render it desirable that there should be crossways at the places mention- ed," etc. Leon'd Maison. Poughkeepsie, 20tli Julw 1831. The "Doctor Tapping" bore mentioned was a son of Dr. Peter Tappen, the Revolutionary leader, whose widow was still living in August, 1 824, when the town commissioners laid out Cramiell Street, "by and with the consent and approbation of Elizabeth Tappen, the proprietor of the land." The surxcy began from the corner of her house and the street was of course named for her father, Piartholomew Crannell, who had 'So in origin.il. Probably means Main Street to Cannon. given the land to her husband so many years before. Catherine Street was surveyed from Theodoras Greg- ory s house (on the site of the Morgan House) in 1831, and was extended through to Cx)ttage in 1834, when Mansion Street and many of the other streets north of Mill were laid out. It was named from Catherine Livingston, Gilbert Livingston's widow, who died in 1830. Dr. Tappen built some of the first houses on Mill Street above Catherine, including what is now called the Wimpleberg house. One of his daughters married James Bowne. Leonard Maison, signer of the petition, was a famous character, a very able lawyer and politician. The real estate projects with which the leading members of the Improvement Party were most closely associated were generally on the north side of Main Street, but during the boom farms were cut up into lots K' ■ 1 ' ■Mm '^QS^ A \k*^ ' '■^.^^. i i^^y GEORGE CORLIES. and sold at auction in all sections. Dr. John Barnes, Richard A. Varick, George Corlies and Caleb Barker put through one of the largest deals, when they pur- chased the Bronson French farm, extending from Montgomery Street to Holmes and from Hamilton to Market, with the exception of the section purchased by Christ Church in 1828. the greater portion of which was used as a burying' ground, where now the church it.self stands. On this farm they mapped' and staked out the extensions of Academy and Hamilton Streets, south of Montgomery, and laid out Carroll, South iMaps 74 and 84 County Clerk's Office. Barclay and I fohiics arc mapped tbrough to MarltjrvCr iu::/:i y^^^:Wpte4t,^^i5u*?-f<«--/2'>f^y /'^?-^^=^ = =■ --i= — ==-— .///y/rcj /■ // //j: I-HOTO «T O "^ OJ-'AMAIV W-v. Slock of the l^oui^hkccpnc Silk Company. ess Foundry, east of Hamilton Street, was started still earlier, and continued in business until after 1880. As this was the period of cattle raising in Dutch- ess County the tanning business reached considerable importance. David Boyd opened a leather store in Main Street above Market (about 262) in 1821, and a few years later abandoned the old tannery on the corner of Washington Street and established one at where the leather business is still carried on by the same family. Mr. Boyd then, to meet this competition, built a small wooden building on the comer of South Clinton Street and placed his son, John G. Boyd, there to intercept the farmers as they came into town. This was soon abandoned, but the little building is still standing, having l,een moved to front Clinton Street. The Red Mills Tannery was conducted by John G. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE IIY Boyd and Abraham Wiltsie, then by Thomas Long- king, until the purchase of the property by Robert Sanford. One or two of the buildings, including the engine room and chimney are still there. The wool business also attained much importance during this period, and David Boyd dealt considerably in this staple as an adjunct of the tanning business. Conklin & Bowne were also large dealers in wool and built the brick warehouse which still bears the letters "wool'' in tlie rear of 311 Main Street. Under the heading of "Poughkeepsie Wool Market" the Bagle of June 24th, 1835, says : "The speculations in wool dur- ing the last week have been large and at good prices. We understand that at least 100,000 pounds have been sold at prices varying according to quality from 40 to 85 cents a pound cash." It was during this period that Nathan Gifford started the cutting of dye woods in Poughkeepsie, af- terwards and for many years one of the most impor- tant industries of the place. Mr. Gififord had worked for Beria Swift at Mechanic (now Millbrook), who is said to have invented the first machinery for cutting d>c woods used in America, and came to Poughkeep- sie in 1816, to work as a machinist in the Reynolds & Innis mills. Reynolds & Innis dissolved partnership, probably before the dye wood business began, James Rcxnolds and his sons taking the ^freighting and grocery business, the last of which has now become one of the leading wholesale establishments on the river, while Aaron Innis retained the mills. At Mr. Innis's death in 1838 Howland R. Sherman, who had l)cen bookkeeper at the .-itorehouse on the dock, enter- ed into partnership with Nathan Gifford and the grinding of ilye-woods was made a specialty. The firm became Gifford, Sherman & Innis in 1847, when Mr. Innis's eldest son, George Innis, entered it. The Eka of Till-: Steamboat. During this period, 1815-1837, the river steamboat reached the highest point of its commercial usefulness, a fact whicii had much to do with the growth of Poughkeepsie. In 1825, with competition for the Fulton and Livingston Company, passenger fares had begun to conic down, and by 1834 a fare of $1.00 to ,Vew York was advertised. March 30th, 1827, a Poughkeepsie Steamboat Company was incorporated by fames Tallmadge. Thomas J. <")akley, Peter Everitt, James Hooker, N. P. Talliuadge, William Davis, Sanuiel Pine, IIenr\' Conklin, .Aaron Iimis, Matthew N'assar, James Reynolds, John C. Van ^'■alkenburgh, Nathan Conklin. Jr., and Jt)hn Green, but apparently they did not carry out their plans, for in 1835 the iiaiiers were advocating the establishment of a local company, and at a village meeting held December 2nd Matthew Vassar, Peter P. Hayes, Henry Conklin, John Brush, Isaac Piatt, Gideon P. Hewitt and Elias Trivett were appointed a committee to see if they could not secure a line to the village. This mus: have been an effort for a fast passenger day line, for there were already at least four boats each week to New York towing barges and according to Gordon's Gazetteer two steamboats were principally owned in Dutchess County. Advertisements show that the steamboat Congress was towing the "tow-boat" (this was the old name for barge) Clinton from the Upper Landing, J. R. Gary & Co., every Wednesday after- ternoon ; the Union was towing the Hudson from the Union Landing, Vincent, Hayt & Co., every Friday U. Gregory & Co., who conducted the Lower Land- ing, were not advertising in 1835, in either the Baglc or the Telegraph, but in 1836 they announced a change of firm to Gregory, Hunt & Co., and also the sailings of the new and substantial barge "Poughkeep- sie." In 1836 G. I. Vincent & Co.^ advertised the "tow- boat" Union from Main Street Landing. The first mention I have seen of "Tow Boats" was in the Tele- graph, June 29th, 1825, when they were brought into use for passengers, who were thus carried "at such a safe distance as to be out of all danger should any accident happen to the boilers and free from the noise of the machinery." They were soon popular and were in use at most of the Poughkeepsie landings before 1830. Back in 1831 Ver Valin, Adriance & Co.,- at the LTnion Landing advertised that they had bought the Steamboat Richmond, which would run to New ^'ork every Wednesday for passengers and freight, and in 1837 G. Wilkinson & Co.^ at the Upper Land- ing announced the puchase of the steamboat Emerald, which would run to New York. The Newburgh and Albany Line was started in 1835, and there was also a line from Hyde Park to New York, stopping at Poughkeepsie. Gordon men- tions a steamboat pl\'ing "twice a day from Povigh- keepsie to Newburgh." Regular lines of sloops were still holding a share of the business, and in 1835 the sloop Marian, Capt. Joseph Tice, of the "Troy and Poughkeepsie Line," ran from "Marinus Pierce's Lum- ber Yard, foot of Main Street, north side of Steam- boat Mouse," and the "Poughkeepsie and Albau}' 'G. 1. Vincent, Thomas M. Vail, H. Conklin and Robert Marshall. -Isaac IT. Ver Valin, John .Adriance, Hiram H. Van Vliet, and David Ver Valin. — Dntchess Repnblican, Aug. -'4, 1831. ^Geo. Wilkinson, Aaron Innis, James R. Carv and How- land R. Sherman. — Telegraph 1837. The personnel of these freij;hting hrms changed almost from year to year. lis HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. Line," packet sloop Index, Capt. Abraham Under- wood, from the Upper Landing. The strong rivalry between the various up-river steamboats that landed at Main Street is well shown b\' an article in the £0^/1? of April 22, 1835, under die head of : STEAMBOAT DEWITT CLINTON — A MEAN TRICK. It is universally admitted, we believe, that the steamboat DeWitt Clinton is one of the best night boats in the United States * * * We therefore deeply regret to find ourselves under the necessity of recording a very mean and unwarrantable trick, per- formed by the officers of this boat on the 12th inst. * * * There were on that evening three boats coming down the river ; the North America between two and three miles ahead of the others, and the Westchester just far enough ahead of the De Witt Clinton to reach the landing first. The two first boats made their regular landings, but about twenty pas- sengers waited to take the DeWitt Clinton, not doubt- ing that she would stop. To the surprise of every- body she sent her passengers ashore at the Upper dock with a small boat, and then dashed gallantly past giving the passengers who had waited for her an opportunity of witnessing her energetic movements, and reflecting at leisure on the pleasure of being left behind till the next night. As to the freighting business the steamboats and "tow boats" did in 1835, the following from the Eagle of Dec. 1 6th is interesting: "The amount of pork and other freight taken to New York by our tow boats for the past three week.s has been almost in- creditable. They have left four times each week and have carried upon an average nearly or quite three hundred tons of freight each. * * * Our streets have been constantly crowded with teams from all ))arts of this county, with many from different parts of Columbia and Ulster Counties, and also some from Connecticut." There was a special cause for this rush, a.-; a cold snap had closed the river above Pough- keepsie, and that very day, according to the next week's Eagle, the thermometer began to go down until it reached 22 degrees below zero at the Academy on the 17th, "being the coldest weather ever known at this place since thermometers have been used except the famous cold Mondav of last \car, when it sunk to 2y." This was a period of great development for the hotels everywhere, a by-product of tlie freighting busi- ness. The Exchange House at the foot of Main Street was built in 1834, and Capt. Warren Skinner, one of the earh' proprietors, is said to have made a fortune there. It was a popular summer resort for New Yorkers. About 1831 Theodoras Gregory bought the Kastcni Tldusc, corner of Main and Catherine Street.^, developing it from a small tavern to a good hotel, later to acquire fame as a temperance house. Isaac I. Balding's Northern Hotel, corner of Mill and Wash- ington, was also flourishing. Traveling ever3'where was greatly stimulated by the steamboat, but in winter the stage coach still held sway, even on the Post Road. "Owing to the bad travelling to the north," says the ^^fB^ jSSSH^HH 0- 4- 1 .^v^s^Sal f/i/*'. »** "i^aS* ^' ''"^■^^^^^^M Ik- ^^^^ iM^.iffi^^l^SM ■f.-.*^^ ^gJgfi^'it ■ |[ g^j Northern Hotel, from photograph made about iSy^. Intelligencer of March 27th, 1833, "or to the attract- iveness of our village and the excellent hotels it con- tains, we have been favored for a few days with the presence of several gentlemen direct from Washing- ton. Among them were Hon. Silas Wright, John A. Collier, Gen. Root and Gen. Pitcher. They appeared in fine health and spirits, the recent campaign against nullification notwithstanding.'' There is ample testimony^ as to the growth of the village at this time. Gordon's Gasettecr (1836). be- fore quoted, says, "The increase of the village in the last six years has been 100 per cent," and adds : "Since 1831 more than $ioo,ooo have been ex- pended in opening, regulating and pavin»g streets ; over $25,000 in the construction of a reservoir, pipes, etc., for supplying the village with water for the extin- quishment of fires, and the following valuable im- provements have been made : 1000 feet of dock and bulkhead including the new shipyard and dock of the whaling companies (which alone have a water front of 450 feet) a new brick brewery near 200 feet long, a silk factory of brick 4 stories high, 36 x 100 feet, a new market and village hall at a cost of $20,000, 2 Episcopal churches, a new Baptist church on the site lA little volume entitled "Lctter.s about the Hudson" (l<'recni;in, Hunt & Co., New York, 18,37), contains several letters from Pouglikeeijsie describing its advantages and its growth. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. ir.i of the old one, a Roman Catholic Church, a second Presbyterian Church, a collegiate school yy x loo feet, a young ladies' seminary of large dimensions, two elegant banking houses, a new post office and raiige of offices attached, a new park or square highly orna- mented and stocked with deer, a splendid mansion house opposite and about 40 fashionable modern dwel- lings mostl}' of brick in the immediate vicinity. Four whaling ships have been built or fitted for sea, and the keel of another lately laid, besides numerous schooners sloops and tow boats. Within the last year upwards of 160 buildings have been erected, proper- t\- has risen greatly in value, and in 1835 there was not a single unoccupied tenement in the village." This quotation from Gordon indicates about the date of the erection of a new Christ Church (the old one torn down in i88c)), the building of the Con- gregational Church (first organized as a Second Presbyterian) and of the first Roman Catholic church in Poughkeepsie. Some of Gordon's items deserve more than passing notice. The "new market and vil- lage hall" mentioned was authorized at a village meet- ing in the spring of 1831. On May 24th the trustees & ^ ^n 7/i,- nilaof Hall, //or.' ///<• City J lull. PliolOiirafylicJ in iSSo, u'licii llic irnr hiiihiiiig u\u iirclcd. \oted the payment of ^6.000 to Paraclete Potter and trilbert Prewslcr for the site, and on June 13th an additional piece of land was purchased of Benjamin Ilowland at a cost of $1,000 "for the purpose of sleighting the Market site and giving sufficient room for the fish market." The corporation borrowed $12,000 for the expenses of building and lot, and July uth ordered notices published for proposals "for building a public market qo feet long and thirty-six feet wide two stories Migh to be built of brick in a good and substantial manner and the upper part to be finished for public room.^." John ?>. Forbus, lames V>. Frear and .\. J. Coffin were the building committee, and in August Ihcy contracted with John G. Sturgis and Wm. Carey, who agreed to put up the building for $7,200. It was finished before win- ter, and remains serviceable, though considerable ad- ditions have recently been made in the rear to accom- modate the city police and public works departments. The use of the lower floor as a market continued un- til about the time of the war. The Ruservoir and the Big Fire of 1836. The establishment of the first central water supply, was not effected without a long struggle. A water company was incorporated in 183 1, but seems not to have done any work, and apparently its incorporators, Walter Cunningham, James Hooker, Gilbert Brews- etr, William Thomas and Alexander Forbus, did not oppose action by the village. The first definite action recorded was the resolution of March ist, 1833, passed by a "Meeting of the Trustees together with Freeholders and inhabitants" as follows: Resolved that the Trustees be Authorized and em- powered to purchase a Lot in their disgression for the purpose of erecting a cistern or fountain sufficient to supply the village with water from the Fallkill for the extinguishment of fires and leading the same over the village in pipes, if it shall be found expedient so to tlo and the following' gentlemen shall be a committee associated with the Trustees for the purpose of determining as to the E-xpediency. Viz : James Hooker, Walter Cunningham, Matthew A'^assar, Rich- ard D. Davis and Rufus Potter. The committee began to meet difficulties at the start, the most serious from the owners of mill privileges and water rights on the Fall Kill. Henrv Swift, one of the leading lawyers of the day. gave a formal opinion that the trustees had the right In take water from the creek, and John Brush g:ave a contrary opinion at a meeting held July 25th. There was also a remonstrance from James Reynolds. Aaron Tunis and other owners of mill privileges, and another from "Thomas Sweet, Jaines Emott and ninety-one other individuals" asking that action be deferred. The trustees, under the presidenc\- of George P. Oakle\ . nevertheless went ahead. .-Vt a special meeting .\ugust 1st "it was resolved unanimously that the Trustees proceed to build the reser\-oir, and lav pipes from it to the Dutch Reformed Church." They had already chosen the Reservoir site on land purchased for St, 000 of Captain Joseph Harris on the top of the hill since known as Cannon Street Hill. .-V meeting of the "Freeholders and Inhabitants" authorized an expendi- ture not to exceed $15,000. Then there was a law suit over water rights, but finally on ^^lav iQth, 18^4. it is recorded that "Captain Harris delivered the deed to the vilkige for Reser\-oir lots" and the Eai'lc of 120 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB November 4th, 1835, rejoiced that the reservoir had at last beeen completed at a cost of $30,000, and con- troversies settled. It was to be nsed only for extin- guishing fires. The severe drought of that fall prevented it from getting any water until after the middle of December, and it was temporarily out of water again, undergoing repairs, on the memorable night of Thursday, May I2th, 1836, when "Poughkeepsie was visited by the most extensive fire that has ever been known in this place," words still true to-day. From the brick build- ing now occupied by Charles L. Dates it burned all buildings on the south side of Main Street to Acad- emy. When the fire broke out at 11.30 in the shop of Messrs. Gorman & Nelson, cabinet makers, there was a strong south wind blowing and the flames spread very rapidly. Sparks set fire to the roofs of several houses on the north side of the street "being all of wood and dry as tinder." The destruction of all the northern pa'rt of the village seemed inevitable, but, "At this critical and frightful juncture, (the forc- ing pump for supplying the reservoir having been put in operation almost as soon as the fire appeared) an abundant supply came down from the reservoir, and most fortunately at this time also the wind sub- sided to a calm." By truly heroic efforts the firemen and citizens put out the fires on the north side of the street and managed to confine the destruction on the south side to the frame buildings. Meantime people had moved out their goods and furniture from most of the buildings between Garden and Catherine streets, and from some much further away. Even Primrose Green (Brookside) the new residence of George P. Oakley, "half a mile away,'' was considered in danger at one time. The loss was given as $50,000 and the buildings burned belonged to David B. Lent, Henry Flagler, Leonard Maison, Wm. T. Livingston, N. G. Cairnes, Mrs. Leonard Davis and the estate of Charles Warner. They were occupied by the stores of J. A. Wendover, Wm. Frost and Henry Powell, the Cold- stream tobacco factory, Llaggadorn's shoe store. Lent & Bogardus's saddle and harness stores, Harvey's Confectionery, Miss Pell's millinery, Flagler & Ad- riance's grocery and several minor establishments. The Fire Departme.xt. This fire occurred just before the annual village election, of May T7th, at which a resolution was passed to establish fire limits — "the lots on both sides of the streets now paved" — within which "all build- ings hereafter to be erected shall be required to have their outer walls constructed of brick or stone and their roofs of Slate, Tile or Metal." The following appropriations were carried at this election, the last, by the way, which was held in May, later village elec- tions occurring in March : For the Village Watch $2,000 00 New Engine and for a Engine & Hook & Ladder house on the Market Ground . . 2,500 00 For a new Engine House near the Booth Pond 300 00 For a lot on which to erect the same 200 00 For a Hose house near Academy & Main Street 200 00 For contingent expenses 3,000 00 For a new Hay Scales on Market Ground . . 200 00 The fire department was already pretty well de- veloped, with three engine companies, two hose com- panies and a hook and ladder company. The hose companies appear to have been organized soon after the completion of the reservoir and hydrants on Main Street in 1835, the first mention of Hose Co. No. i being the appointment of Israel P. Hall as foreman, March Sth. Eli Jennings was commissioned as fore- man of "Engine Co. No. 5," at the trustees meeting of May 29th, but this company was organized as Hose Co. No. 2, afterwards known as Howard Hose. The organization of Engine Co. No. 4^ was authorized at the same time, but was not carried out until after the appropriations voted at the next annual meeting, quoted above, and is recorded in the minutes of Nov. 3d, 1836. The hook and ladder house erected on the Market ground as a result of the 1836 vote was prob- ably the old Phoenix house^. The village minutes do not seem to show the date of the formal organization of the hook and ladder men into a company. There was a foreman of "Hooks" as early as 181 1, and the village, October 17th, 1831, paid Paraclete Potter $67.50 for rent of a lot for Hook and Ladder House, but the ladders seem to have been carried to fires by the members up to March 25th, 1836 when the chief engineer was authorized to purchase a "Hook and Lad- der Carriage," and 1836 appears to be the first cer- tain date of "Hook & Ladder Co. No. i" in the reg- ister of firemen's certificates. The name "Davy Crock- ett" was probably given in 1838, when it was first painted on the truck. On March 30th, 1837, the trustees of the village "Resolved that another Hook & Ladder Company to be called Hook & Ladder Co. No. 2, be established and the following persons be commissioned as Firemen to be attached to said com- pany." The list is missing from the records. There are occasional reports in the papers of this period of the visits of firemen from other towns, but 'For list of cliarlcr members of No, 4, .see Appendi-K. 2Tliis buildiiiR w;is IntiU in 1837, according to a com- miltce report made April ji, 18^1. HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSin. 121 I have seen none in which the home companies were given names. Churches and Schools. The building of the new churches mentioned by Gordon indicates that the growth of the village had brought in a share of the foreign immigration then coming to America. The two Episcopal churches indicate the coming of Englishmen, and the arrival of North of Ireland immigrants and occasional Scotch- men doubtless helped to bring the Presbyterian strength up to a point where a permanent organiza- tion, a building and a settled pastorate were possible. As we have seen, the Presbj'terians were very early on the ground, but were not able to build a church. Some of them doubtless entered the Dutch Church' after the 0/d Christ Church, erected 1S33. Torn down to make rociii for the Armory, iSSg. use of the Dutch language had been abandoned, but they again formed an organization in 1817, and in 1821, acquired the little burying ground on Main Street, east of the junction of Church. This, I be- lieve, was the old Lewis famil)' burying ground. One of the headstones indicates that the first Leonard Lewis, who died in 1730, was buried there. For a time services were held in the Lancaster School building, but in September, 1826, thc\' purchased of Dr. William Thomas the Cannon Street lot next west of the Du^ch- lA recent letter from Mr. Henry J. Rnggles, who lived as a boy in the Ruggles (afterwards Hooker) house on Mar- ket Street, until his family moved away ni tRj4, says: "I do not remember any Dutch Church, so called, in Pough- keepsie. But possibly the Presbyterian Church was a Dutch Reformed. Of this a Dr. Cuyler was pastor. It was situated on Main Street on llie south side some little distance west- ward from the Court House." ess County Academy. There were then eighteen mem- bers' and Joseph Allen, David Hibbard, William Wil- liams, and Marquis de LaFayette Phillips were chosen as ruling elders. The trustees were George B. Evert- son, Nehemiah Conklin, David B. Lent, Joseph Allen, John S. Meyers, M. D. L. F. Phillips, John B. Swart- wout, Samuel Lee and John Beckwith. The building was dedicated on December 19th and the next day Rev. Alonzo Welton was installed the first pastor. In 1827 the trustees bought of David B. Lent the lot on Church Street, in the rear of the Church, and there built the first parsonage, which is still standing. Presbyterian Church, on the site of the Y. W. C. A. Building. At the time the church was built the controversy that in 1837 divided the denomination into "New School" and "Old School," was raging, and, findin;; his congregation much divided, Mr. \\'elton left in 1831. After an absence of four years he returned and organized a Second Presb3'terian Church, to which seventy-one persons were dismissed from the first church. Mr. Welton is said to have been a "New School" man, but his church had disbanded before the actual division of the denomination, and when that division took place the older organization became and remained "New School." Probably his following was largely personal. In June, 1835, the Second Presby- terian Church asked the parent congregation to give it the old \^an Kleeck burial lot, on the west side of Vassar Street — a lot which had come into the hands of the Presbyterians — as a site for a church edifice, but the trustees found that they had no legal power to do this, and the seceders thereupon obtained property on the corner of Mill Street and Vassar, and erected the building which still stands, now a Jewish Sj'nagogue. Being few in numbers and heavily in debt Rev. Jedediah Burchard, a noted evangelist, was engaged to hold a revival, which was notable not onlv as adding more than two hundred members to the new church, but because it stirred up a controversy •Sketcli of Presbyterian Church history, compiled by Mr, James B. l^latt, in Year Book for igoo. 123 HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. which created much feeling and called forth a pam- phlet from John Thompson, then a young lawyer, afterwards one of the leading lawyers in Poughkeep- sie and an elder in the Presbyterian Church, on "Burchardism vs. Christianity." The new church went to pieces in the panic of '37, and had to give up its building, but in July of that year many of its mem- bers organized as a Congregational Church^ called Rev. Almon Underwood as their pastor, and the next year were strong enough to repurchase the edi- fice. Roman Catholics were comparatively few in Poughkeepsie until the days of railroad building, but the abundance of work provided by the operations of the Improvement Party had brought enough of them by 1832 or 1833 to warrant an occasional efifort to get them together by mission priests sent out from New York. The first mass was said, according to the best obtainable information, in the old Van Kleeck house on Mill Street, about this time. It was occupied then by George Belton, who with his brother, William, came from Ireland in 1831, and settled here the same vear. The first church, where the present St. Peter's is located, was erected about 1837 on a lot conveyed by "John Delafield of the city of New York," one of the 'men who furnished capital for the Improvement Party, "to the Right Reverend John DuBois-, Catholic llishop of New York." There is no definite record of names of the first priests in charge. It was during this period that the Dutch Church, under the able pastorate of Rev. Cornelius C. Cuyler (1809-1833) built its third building, the first on the present site (1822) and again entered upon the policy of disposing of its surplus Main Street land by long leases, the previous controversy having been settled. These were made before the real estate boom had gained headway, but nevertheless at a time when the town was rapidly growing. Three lots on the north side of Main Street, where the second church had stood, were first leased to Henry D. Myers, but the principal lease was made May ist, 1830, to Gilbert Brewster for a term of 100 years at an annual rental of $550. The lot so conve^-ed had a frontage of 62 feet on Main Street and 61 feet 10 inches on Market Street. The church authorities agreed to re- move the buildings (small frame afi^airs) on the prop- erty and "to dig up and remove the corpses in the premises." Here was erected the "Brewster Block," long considered the finest business block in town, and still an important building. Of equal date and term with this lease to Brewster were leases iDaily Eagle, July 27, 1895. The information came from the late Jame.s H. Dudley, who was one of the organizers. -Daily Eagle, July 6, 1895. for Main Street frontages of eighteen feet to John B. Forbus, eighteen "feet to Griffin Williamson, eigh- teen feet to Stephen Frost and Townsend E. Gidley, each at an annual rental of $108; of 21 feet 8 inches to John Caswell at $129 and of 4 feet at $20 to James B. Freer, whose lot formed the eastern boundary of the church property. Thomas W. Tallmadge had previousl}' leased a lot between the last two. These lots are about 92 feet deep. The lessees agreed to erect substantial brick buildings of uniform height and appearance. For the church those who signed the agreements were "Cor. C. Cuyler, Minister, J. E. Van Valkenburgh, David Ver Valin, Sidney M. Livingston, Amos T. DeGroflf, Abraham Overbaugh, Isaac Roose- velt, Robert Forrest, Law I. V. Kleeck, Peter A. Schryver and Charles W. Tallmadge." The leasing of the property, and especially the removal of the "corpses" caused a heated controversy, remembered by some persons still living. The Friends, in 1820, had abandoned their old meet- ing house on Clover Street and erected a new one on the rear of a Washington Street lot^ purchased of Samuel Pine in the name of John Green and Caleb Barker. The town assessment book of the year 1818 gives a list of Quakers taxed $4 each, as follows: James Downing, Silas Downing, Zebulon Haight, Joseph Howland, Peleg Howland, Henry Kelly, Jno. Lockwood, Caleb Powell, Henry Powell, Edward Southwick, Robert B. Southwick, Jos. Thorne, Jr. William White. What the occasion of the special tax was I have not found out, but it was probably something in connection with military service, and certainly did not include all the Quakers in the neigh- borhood. After the separation of the Hicksite and Orthodox Friends, the latter were strong enough in 1829 to purchase a lot on Mill Street, not far above Garden on the north side, and there built a meeting house, which is now a dwelling on Conklin Street. The Hicksites when Lafayette Place was opened in 1841 traded their Washington Street frontage and turned their meeting house around to face the new street. It was altered into a double dwelling house in 1894. when the present meeting house was built ad- joining. Shortly after the Quakers had built on Washing- ton Street the Methodists^ followed, and in 1826 Josi- ah Williams purchased for $650 the lot where East- man College now stands, and the new church there was dedicated December 27th of that year. The Methodists at that time had but 182 members and were $900 in debt on the old Jefferson Street building, 'Daily Eagle, July 13, 1895. 2Vincent's "Methodism in Poughkeepsie,'' p. 18. HISTORY OF P O U G H K E E P S 1 E. 123 but by 1837 they had increased to 616 and were talk- ing of organizing a second congregation. St. Paul's Church was part of the plan to build up the neighborhood around Mansion Square. It was organized in August, 1835, at a meeting of the boom- ers held at the Mansion House, a new hotel" (now the home of the Jewett family) and was built in the pre- vailing Grecian Doric style in 1837 on land donated by Walter Cunningham, Geo. P. Oakley and Para- clete Potter. Part of the funds were subscribed by the real estate owners, but Trinity Church, of New York, added $5,000. The first rector was Rev. F. W. Hatch, called from Washington, and the vestry was as follows : John Delafield and George P. Oakley, wardens ; Elias Trivett, N. P. Tallmadge, Charles H. Ruggles, Paraclete Potter, James Grant, Jr., A. S. Hatch, Hiram \^eltman and Samuel Dutton. College Hill School Building. As they built churches so also the Improvement Party, built schools, and it was due to their energy and wisdom that Poughkeepsie academies and semi- naries attained something like preeminence in the state, attracting pupils from all parts of the country. The crowning achievement was the purchase and im- provement of a commanding elevation, north of the village, and the erection of that famous imitation of the Parthenon, so long known as College Hill School. This property had been improved early in the cen- tury- by Thomas Fenner, who is said to have built the fine house at the foot of the hill — the house now known as the Morgan Homestead — and also the road to the summit of the hill. His land extended all the way to the Dutchess Turnpike, and it was from his executors iWashington Davids, grandfather of the present city edi- tor of the Eagle, was one of the first proprietors. After a few years as a hotel the building was long used as a Quaker school. that David B. Lent purchased his Smith Street prop- erty. Fenner died in 1815, and Levi McKeen occu- pied the place for several years. In 1834, when Henry Whinfield made his map of the village, the house on Oakley Street and the hill were in the possession of C. P. Adriance, and the hill is marked "Adriance's Hill." It had already obtained some renown as a sightly loca- tion when the Improvement Party purchased it. The Collegiate School was incorporated in 1835 by N. P. Tallmadge, George P. Oakley, John Delafield, Peter P. Hayes, Walter Cunningham, Paraclete Pot- ter, Stephen Hendrickson, Gideon P. Hewitt, Elias Trivett, Gamaliel Gay and Jacob Van Benthuysen. Charles Bartlett, who had been conducting a school at Fishkill Landing, became its principal in 1836, when it was opened. The Poughkeepise Female Seminary was incor- porated in 1834 by almost the same men except that James Bowne, Henry Conklin and Stephen B. Trow- bridge appear among them. This compan\- purchased of Henry A. Livin'gton two lots on the north side of Mill Street, each 33 feet wide, June 9th, 1835, and in 1836 purchased an additional piece of land ex- tending to the Fall Kill (Lib. 57, p. 171 and Lib. 58, ]i. 41). There is no mention of Garden Street in these deeds and the property evidently did not include the old Levi McKeen house, Cottage Hill, which was afterwards called the "Seminary," and had been used as a school, before this time. .Apparently this incor- porated Female Seminary was merged- with the Fe- male Academy which built the large school building in Cannon Street (now the W. C. T. U. building), and opened in May, 1836, with Miss Arabella Bos- worth as the first principal. Miss Bosworth was a teacher of high reputation and had conducted success- ful girls' schools in several locations about the village, one of which was the old Dutchess Hotel building, corner of Mechanic and Cannon Streets. In 1838 Mrs. Isabella Holt was principal of the Female Acad- emy, which advertised board and tuition in English and Latin for a term of 22 weeks at $73. "Mons. -Aweng" was the teacher of French, and continued an active teacher until almost the time of his death a few years ago. Mrs. Ccjngdon's Seminary was advertised in 1833. and Miss Lydia Booth's Female Seminary^ must have started not long afterwards in the Cottage Hill build- ing. Miss Booth was a step niece of Matthew Vassar, and in "Vassar College and Its Founder" (p. 59). Mr. Lossing says the Cottage Hill building had once "ac- quired no little fame as the shelter of the exiled iThe first of Miss Booth's advertisements I have seen was in 1S38, She issued her "14th semi-annual circular" in 1S43 124 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. Bourbon of the Orleans line, Louis Phillippe, after- wards king of France, who was accompanied by Prince Talleyrand." I know of no evidence in support of this statement, but in later years Mr. Lossing lived in the house next south of Cottage Hill on Garden Street, and he may have had information not now accessible about its early history. One of the most important school improvements of this period was the building of a new Dutchess County Academy on the corner of Hamilton and Montgomery Streets, a location then pretty well out- side of the village. The old building was sold in Most of the important buildings mentioned in this chapter can readily be identified in the excellent pic- ture of Poughkeepsie in 1836, on the opposite page. The large house in the foreground is still standing, on the corner of North Clinton and Oakley Streets, though much changed in appearance by the loss of its Grecian columns and the addition of verandas. It was for a long time the home of David Arnold. At the left is Mansion Square, with the Mansion House (now the Jewett House), the large building on the southwest corner of Clinton Street and Man- sion Square, and the old Thomas L. Davies house. THE POTJOHTOBEPSXE! OOIjXiIHJIA'rB SCHOOL, lncorporatdaMay*26,T 1000 shares of 100 dollars each, jnaMiis 100,000 dollarajcjiiMi^ , :,tsth Stto U to cef fiHf f p that pqi^Jhesian ind^sed ^ .„ «.> M^-ra ordered by the mard of Trustees,, transferable OTp,y on. the books of this'Cqrporalion, at the office of the Treasurer, by fU^li/^ or /Lc^ aMor%ey, on surrender of this certificate. aSJ WaaSjaSS WSaSJaOS? "»« ^eal of this corporation, aTid the signatures of its President and Treasurer are ,$^aay If £iAnjLy isaj/ > . *^., President: ' J. . Treasurer.' ■ hereunto affixed the Stock of the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School. 1837 to John Forbus and was removed from the street to which it gave its name to the corner of Thompson and North Clinton Streets, where it still stands. One of the last principals in the old building was Eliphaz Fay, who in 1835 went to the New Paltz Academy for a time, then entered the ministry, and finally re- turned to Poughkeepsie to conduct a private school still well remembered by older residents. He died in 1854. William Jenny was the first principal of the new Academy, and at that time there were one hun- dred and twelve pupils. Many ])crsons of prominence were educated in the Academy. conspicuous. St. Paul's Church was not yet built, but a little further west is the Matthew J. Myers house, in 1836, and for several years later the home of Gid- eon P. Hewitt. More in the background are the Dutchess County Acadeni)', the Presbyterian Church, Christ Church, the Female Academy, the Court House, and the Dutch Church. The little church almost at the extreme right is probably the old St. Peter's. The picture presents in the fore- ground the chief neighborhood which the Improve- ment Party was booming, with the newest buildings particularly prominent. Mansion Square was evi- 126 HISTORY OF P OU G H KEEP S I B dently not yet inclosed and it is very doubtful if Gor- don ever had any warrant for his statement that it was "stocked with deer." (See p. 119). It is also •difficult to pick out the "40 fashionable modern dwell- ings mostly of brick in the immediate vicinity'." The exaggeration usual at a time of real estate booming was doubtless to be expected. The Real Estate Boom. A few words in closing this chapter should be said about the culminating speculation of the period. The boom was well started in Poughkeepsie by 1835. The Eagle of May 27th, says: "As an instance of the rise in real estate in this village, we will mention that two lots in the northern section, which last year were sold for $3.75 per foot, again changed hands last week and brought $20 per foot." Truly a fair profit ! Who would buy lottery tickets or speculate in stock exchange securities, with so good a chance to get rich right under his nose at home ! The Eagle of Oct. 28th, describes one of the big sales as follows : The public sale of village lots by Geo. P. Oakley, Esq. on Thursday last, went off with Spirit and activ- ity which many did not expect. Every lot advertised — sixty-nine in number — was sold and at a fair price, ranging from $12 to 75 cents a foot, the lots seilmg lowest being situated on low ground and on the mar- gin of the red mill pond. The total amount of the sales was $11,750,77. We understand that upon these sales Mr. Oakley realized an advance of more than $6,000." It was natural in the midst of such a boom that the census of 1835 should prove unsatisfactory, and fail to show as many people as the improvement party hoped. The local papers complained vigorously and even refused, to print the figures — 6,281, according to Williams's American Register (1836) compared with 5,023 in 1830. The enumerator must nevertheless have counted most of the boarding school girls, for there was a large excess of females, and Freeman Hunt', in a letter dated Sept. 25th, says : "If you have an}' 3'oung men in your goodly city in want of wives, and good ones I have no doubt — some of the fair are certainly very beautiful — I advise you to send them on forthwith to the care of our gallant young friend of the Poughkeepsie Hotel, (A. S. Hatch), as there are in the village, according to the census just completed, one thousand one hundred and thirteen unmarried young ladies, ready doubtless, to enter into the blissful state of matrimony." Apparently the advance of property continued with iLetters About the Hudson, p. 19. little interruption up to the early part of the year 1837, when Walter Cunningham was advertising as follows : DESIRABLE Village Lots eor Sale. 5 lots upon Main St. lying nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Vassar. 10 '■ " Union St. next Mrs. Taylor's residence. 5 " " Jefferson street 15 " " Academy street 16 " " Holmes " 27 " " Montgomery 30 " " Church \ 32 " " Cherry V near the reservoir and Main street 20 " " <^edar | 10 " " Mansion street near the Mansion House and Mansion square 11 " " Cottage street 8 " " Clinton 10 " " Hamilton " 15 " " Catherine " 5 " " Conklin " 9 " " Mansion street, near the Seminary property. 5 " " Washington " 18 " " Delafield 16 " '' Tallmadge " 21 " " Water " 20 " " Dock " TO " " Hudson street and the river lying directly south of the Whale dock. 5 " " Dutchess Ave., fronting on the Park near the residence of N. P. Tahnadge Esq. A credit of 5 years with interest annually will be given to those who purchase to improve. Some of these lots doubtless have not yet been built upon, and would not bring as high a price now as they did then, and some streets mapped during the boom have remained unopened or have been opened on different lines and with different names only re- cently. Despite all the activity in real estate, and the laj'ing out and grading of many new streets the village north of Mill Street and south of Montgomery was still mostly "on paper" only, a fact rather graphicalh' illustrated in the newspapers of the day whenever a circus came to town. The circus grounds were on Mill Street, "near the hotel of Isaac I. Balding" — the old Northern Hotel, corner of Washington Street. "The Green," on the opposite (southeast) corner, where the militia had trained probably as late as 1820, was only partly built up and Mill Street still show- ed vacant lots and ample space between houses. On the south side there were very few houses south of Cannon Street, except on Academy and Market and on the old part of Church Street, between Acad- emy and Market Streets. Tlie leaders of the Improvement Party, however, showed their faith in the future by building large houses for themselves in the new sections. Senator N. P. Tallmadge built on Delafield Street the house af- HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. 127 terwards purchased by Captain Luther Elting, and George P. Oakley built Brookside, then called Prim- rose Green, though he lived there only a very short time, the place passing into the possession of Judge Charles H. Ruggles. This house was originally an exact duplicate of the house built by Gilbert Wilkinson on Garden Street, afterwards for a long time the home of Abraham Wiltsie. It may interest some people to know that even in those busy times Poughkeepsie had its "haunted house.'' Henry Brush was the owner and the house was located on the corner of Pine and Tulip Streets. The words "haunted house'' appear in the occupant column of the assessment roll. Unfortunately most of the old assessment rolls are not to be found and most of those available are for the Town of Poughkeepsie. and not for the village. Of these I have found none covering' the years of the real estate boom. In 1831, however, the town assess- ment was $956,302 real estate and $699,350 personal, making a total of $1,655,652. In 1839 t'l^ '^otal had increased to $4,458,060, made up of $2,624,342 real es- tate and $1,833,718 personal. The 1839 list shows that a considerable number of non-residents had been drawn into the real estate movement. John Delafield was the largest real estate holder among these. Jethro Delano was another, and he owned among other lots several on Jay Street, the occupants of which are put down as "Blacks." The Poughkeepsie Silk Company was assessed on many pieces of property, among others on "The Hoffman farm, north of Mill Street," and "The Phillips farm." The latter, I have been told, was the property now known as the Whitehouse Knolls, where it is said the company intended to raise mulberry trees. Of course Cunningham and Oakley and Tal- madge occupy a good deal of space in the assessment rolls of the day, and among others who owned more than four lots, or parcels of property each, were John Barnes & Co., assessed on the old French farm, south of Montgomery Street (see p. 109), Peter P. Hayes, Gideon P. Hewitt, Henry Brush, Caleb Barker, Solo- mon V Frost, John Giles, Smith Thompson, Henry A. Livingston, David B. Lent, James Hooker, Joseph Harris, Uriah Gregory, Theodorus Gregory, William Davies, Thomas L. Davies, Henry Conklin, Nathan Conklin, Estate of Gilbert Brewster, Abel J. Gunn, Maria Tappen and Helen Overbaugh, Joseph Wright, Joseph Williams, Dr. Elias Trivett, James Mills, Abra- ham G. Storm, Jacob I. Eckert and Eli Jennings. The Forbus and Vassar families had large assessments, but on only a few parcels of property. T/n- X. P. 'Tathnadgf House. Long tlic Home in nrt'ii/ ]rars of Captain Lulhcr Elting. u\'ou< the home of C. U '. H. Arnold, Esq. CHAPTER VII. From the Panic of 1837 to the Incorporation of the City of Poughkeepsie, 1854 — Political Effects of the Panic — Senator N. P. Tallmadge and the Conservatives — The Panic and THE Improvement Party — Building of the Railroad — The First Free Public Schools — The Public IvIbrary and the IvYCEUm — New Churches — The Rural Cemetery — First Daily News- papers — Gas Lighting — The Village Fire Department — A City Charter. The panic of 1837 followed a period of extraordin- ar}' real estate speculation throughout the country, stimulated b_v a great extension of credit from shaky banks. In Poughkeepsie, however, and in New York State generally the banks were able to weather the storm, though some of them had backed the boomers to a dangerous extent. On the nth of May, the New York city banks, by concerted action, suspended specie payments, and the three Poughkeepsie banks of course had to follow them, as soon as they heard of the action. That same evening a public meeting at the Village Hall, presided over by Henry A. Livingston, passed resolutions ex- pressing approval of the suspension, pledging the sup- port of the people and asking the Legislature to sus- pend "until February next the operation of the law re- quiring banks to redeem their notes in specie." The real estate boom had flattened out two or three months before this and by March there were many items in the local papers complaining of the increasing hard times, and on the part of the Whig organ, charging the troubles all to Jackson's anti-bank policy and Van Buren's persistence in the same course. The final blow, nevertheless, seems to have been unexpected, and to have caused an almost total paralysis of busi- ness for a short time. In addition to the collapse of credit, the disappearance of all small change made it impossible to carry on retail trade. The Eagle de- risively asked, "Where is the boasted gold currency that appeared in the hands of the stool pigeons in 1834? Where the vaunted 'yellow boys,' 'Benton mint drops,' and 'Jackson gold' that were soon to glitter in the purses of the citizens ? Where the 'constitutional currency' that Gen. Jackson exerted his 'humble ef- forts' to restore ? ^^''hcre the prosperity of the country that was so sagely attributed to the wisdom of the ad- ministration?" The panic caused a tremendous outburst of parti- sanship and against the fierce invectives of the Whigs, who saw at last the legitimate outcome of the financial policy they had been so long denouncing, the two Democratic organs made a rather feeble resistance. The publishers of both the Telegraph and the Journal joined with Senator Tallmadge in the call for a county convention, issued a few days after the supension, to demand the repeal of the law forbidding the issuing of small bills, although that law had been passed by their own party only a few years before. In the mean- time private bills of all sorts were put in circulation to keep business going, a fact which inspired a number of satirical squibs in the Baglc, like the following from the issue of June 3d : "Our readers will please to excuse any errors they may find in this paper, for we have so many shin PLASTERS to print that we can hardly spare time to give it necessary attention. Down with the banks! !" Having taken his stand against one of the chief policies of his party. Senator Tallmadge gradually be- came the leader of a faction known as the Conserva- tives, who opposed the establishment of a sub-treasury and the withdrawal of government deposits from the banks. The Journal warmly supported him and hoisted at the head of its editorial columns the motto "Small Bills and no Sub Treasury." The breach with the regular Democracy, upon whom the term "Loco-Foco" was now fastened, steadily widened until Tallmadge was finally read out of his party, and in the spring of 1838 he was proposed as a Whig candidate for vice-president of the United States, as we learn from the following editorial in the Baglc of May 19th under the head of: HISTORY OP P U G H K BEP S I n. 129 Conservative; Nominations. The New York Times — the leading conservative paper in this state — of Thursday last, displays the flag of Henry Clay, for the next presidency, and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge for the vice presidency. This movement is an important one, and it is said by those who profess to know that it will be followed by the conservatives of Virginia. We look upon Mr. Clay's nomination by our National Convention, and subsequent election, to be as certain as any other future event. Towards Mr. Tallmadge we cherish the most friendly feelings per- sonally, but he must furnish evidence of repentance for his political sin of voting for the damning expunge of the tyrant Jackson's administration, and submit his claims to the national Convention, to obtain the sup- port of the Whigs. Presumably Senator Tallmadge furnished evidence of repentance when he supported, and virtually elected, William H. Seward governor of the State over Wil- liam H. Marcy in the fall. The Conservatives had a separate organization in Dutchess County in 1838, their central committee being Joseph Harris, Henry Conklin, Paraclete Potter, Gilbert I. Vincent, Samuel B. Button, William Broas, Peter P. Hayes, John M. Cable, Barnet Hawkins, John Adriance and Joseph H. Jackson. The last of these was the editor of the Poughkccpsie Journal, which had been in the posses- sion of Jackson & Schram since 1834, and had been a Democratic paper since 1828. In September, 1838, it hoisted Seward's name above Marcy's for governor and became thereafter virtually a Whig organ, the Telegraph meanwhile, after some wabbling, which called down upon it occasional criticism from ex- treme Loco-Focos, swung back into line before the fall election. The Democratic or Loco-Foco Central Com- mittee of Dutchess County in this campaign was Elias T. Van Benschoten, Seward Barculo, Caleb Morgan, Elias Westervelt, George C. Marshall;, Egbert B. Killey, Robert Mitchell, Elijah Baker and Isaac Nash. The Whig committee was Henry A. Livingston, Gilbert Wilkinson, John Cowles, Isaac I. Balding, Josiah Bur- ritt, Matthew Vassar, Jr., Isaac Piatt, John G. Parker, H. R. Sherman, William I. Street, and Jacob De Groff. The combination of Whigs and Conservatives car- ried everything, and the Whig legislature of 1839 rewarded 'N. P. Tallmadge by re-electing him to the United States Senate, where he had become a leader of national importance. During the summer of 1839 t>o*^''' President Van Buren and Henry Clay visited Poughkeepsie. Van Buren, who had been here several times before he became President, arrived via the post road from the south on July iSth. He was met at Channingville by iThurlow Weed's Autobiography, p. 460. Hon. Charles H. Ruggles, then a circuit judge, and a considerable number of enthusiastic Democrats from Poughkeepsie. The ardor of the reception on the arrival of the President in the village was somewhat dampened by a steady rain, but marshalled by Gen. Leonard Maison, with Col. Henry Pine and David Barnes, Jr., as assistants, the procession traversed the most important streets and ended at the Poughkeepsie Hotel, where President Van Buren remained over night. There were speeches and receptions, and the Telegraph said, "More than two thousand persons must have shaken the President by the hand during the day.'' These included very few of his opponents, for so intense was the partisan feeling that Conservatives and Whigs remained at home or came out only to jeer and taunt the Democrats. The Journal said of the President: "He comes among us like a snake in the grass, seeking under his official character to forward party measures," and the Eagle printed a long mock address to "His Majesty, King Martin I." In the morning President Van Buren drove down below town to call upon Hon. Smith Thompson, who lived where the Rural Cemetery is now located, and then paid a visit to the school at College Hill, the pride of the village. Henry Clay's visit to Poughkeepsie occurred on Monday, August 19th. He came down from the north on the Steamboat Erie, accompanied by Senator Tall- madge and Gen. Brush and was welcomed by a great crowd of citizens from all parts of the county. He was escorted to the Poughkeepsie Hotel, then kept by Leonard B. Van Kleeck, where an address of welcome was delivered by Robert Wilkinson, Esq., to which the great Whig leader eloquently responded, address- ing the cheering crowd in the streets from the piazza of the hotel. "Who that visits Poughkeepsie," said Mr. Clay, "while admiring the beauty and pleasantness of the place, can forget the gallant band of Conserva- tives in this and adjoining counties, who burst asunder the shackles of party to unite with their former op- ponents and preserve their country and its institu- tions." This prefaced a warm personal tribute to Mr. Tallmadge. There was a reception at the court house and a dinner, attended by three hundred men, at the hotel, and in the afternoon Mr. Clay must needs be taken to visit the schools. At College Hill "he was introduced by Mr. Bartlett to a large number of ladies." He next visited the "flourishing Friends' Boarding School" on Mansion Square, and "in the evening he received the calls of ladies who repaired to the hotel in great numbers to see him. The rooms were also constantly thronged until ten o'clock by citi- zens." The next day Mr. Clay drove in a barouche to 130 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. Fishkill, escorted by a cavalcade of horsemen from Wappingers Falls and a large number of his friends. The Eagle report says that a spectator on the steps of Christ Church counted eighty-six carriages in the procession at it passed down Market Street, and adds, "At no period in our history, the reception of La- Fayette included, has such enthusiasm been witnessed among our people." A rather ungracious comparison was made with the reception of President Van Buren, who was described as "a haughty aristocrat with his coach and out rider, a dandy in tights displaying a courtly grace to the aristocracy and too proud to dine with the people." The disappointment of the Poughkeepsie Whigs was keen enough at the failure of the Harrisburgh convention of December, 1839, to nominate Clay for the presidency, though the Eagle bowed to the "wis- dom of the convention" and even managed to say on the next week that the nomination of Harrison and Tyler gave "universal satisfaction." No local refer- ence seems to have been made at the time to the fact that Senator Tallmadge had refused' the nomina- tion for vice president on the ticket with General Har- rison, along with several other friends of Henry Clay. Could he have foreseen that "Tippecanoe and Tall- madge too" might have become a popular alliteration, he would probably not have thrust aside his one chance for the presidency of the United States, and Poughkeepsie's, chance of being the home of a presi- dent. He seems to have repented his rashness before the next presidential campaign, for in 1843, the Poughkeepsie Journal carried his name at the top of its editorial column with Henry Clay's. I think there is no evidence that he had any very good chance for the nomination at that time, though he would doubtless have been a stronger candidate than Frelinghuysen. It is notable that during this time of partisan bit- terness the record of long tenure of the Poughkeepsie postoffice was made^. Col. Jacob Van Benthuysen had been appointed postmaster b}' President Jackson in 1829. The extreme Loco Focos of Van Buren's administration made some efforts to prevent his re- appointment and the Whigs objected somewhat to his retention under Harrison and Tyler, but he held the office to the time of his death in July, 1846, when President Polk appointed Egbert B. Killey, editor of the Telegraph. The office, it is said, had been in the old "Lawyers' Row" — the site of the present post- office — in Market Street before Col. Van Benthuv- sen's time, but he moved it to Garden Street, doubtless to "the new post office" referred to in the quotation from Gordon's Gazetteer in the last chapter (p. 119). 'Carl Schiirz's "Henry Clay" Vol. II, p. 180. -For list of postmasters of Poiiglikeepsie see Appendix. This building stood on the east side of the street, and was a part of the property burned in the big fire of Dec. 26th, 1870. Mr. Killey continued the office there and it remained in the same place until May, 1851, when Isaac Piatt moved it back to Market Street, to the old Brush house, on the corner of Union Street, where it remained until Albert Van Kleeck took the more commotlious quarters in the lower floor of the City Hall after the war. Mr. Albert S. Pease, who succeeded Isaac Piatt as postmaster in 1853, was a clerk in the old Garden Street office during Mr. Killey's term, and with An- drew Ely, another clerk, slept in the office. He relates that Mr. Killey had "a large and very noisy bell" suspended over their bed, so that they could be awak- ened if the mail arrived in the night, the bell being connected to a knob outside. It was not long before the boys and the general public learned the location of the knob "and it soon seemed to become the duty of every person who went through Garden Street, at any and all hours of the night, to give that knob a yank and make the clamorous, sleep-murdering bell ring like — Sheol." In those days, before the building of the railroad, the mails from north and south were still brought by stage coach when the river was closed in the winter. "The stages were due to arrive at some uncertain hour in the night — hence the supposed need of that accursed bell. Sometimes the stages from the north would be a day or two behind time, by reason of depth and drifts of snow. The mail they carried was all in one great leather bag as big as a hogshead, the whole contents of which had to be dumped out upon a great table and looked over, and after all matter for Pough- keepsie and such county offices as had stage connec- tion from Poughkeepsie had been extracted, all the re- maining matter, together with that to be sent from Poughkeepsie, was returned to the great bag and hoisted upon the stage and safely secured in the 'boot,' and away she went behind four weary horses wet with ice, snow and perspiration, which steamed from their warm bodies in clouds of mist." Garden Street was a favorite neighborhood for lawyers' offices at this time, the "Law Building" on the west side of the street — where Frost & Luckey are located — having been recently erected. The Sur- rogate's office was there for some time before 1847 ; then after a contest of more than usual spirit, in which John P. H. Tallman defeated John Thompson, the little building on the corner of Market and Union Streets was erected b)' the county. It was built originally with only one room in order to prevent the Surrogate from carrying on his own law practice there. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 131 In 1845 Daniel Webster was in Poughkeepsie ap- parently for several days, but his visit was not politi- cal. The Telegraph of Nov. 26, ih its report of circuit court cases on trial at the Court House, has the follow- ing under date of Nov. 21st: "Derrick Lansing and others vs. David Russell and wife and others. This is an issue from the Court of Chancery, sent here from the third circuit to try the validity of two deeds executed by Cornelius Lansing, in his life time, and alleged by the plaintiffs to have been obtained by fraud. The cause commenced this morning and occupied all day, all day Saturday, Mon- day and Tuesday, and was still going on when our reporter left. * * * For the plaintiff Judge Buel of Troy, Messrs. ISarculo & Swift of Poughkeepsie. For the defense Hon. Daniel Webster of M^ss., Samuel Stevens of Albany- and Gen. Maison of Poughkeep- sie." was the official celebration, but each of the political parties had planned to take advantage of the occasion. The Democrats started the idea and then the Whigs determined to outdo them. Excursions by steamboat came from many river towns, and the crowd was esti- mated at from 10,000 to 15,000. The Democrats were content at length with a crowded meeting in the vil- lage hall, but the Whigs had a monster parade mar- shalled by Charles W. Swift, and a great mass meeting at College Grove, on the west side of College Hill, where Senator William C. Preston of North Carolina, and Hon. Henry A. Wise of Virginia, were among the speakers. A dinner at the Poughkeepsie Hotel, and more speaking in the evening, from a platform in front of the Court House, followed. The log cabin, raccoon and hard cider, and the To the Journal & Eagle Priiiliiig EsUiblisliiiiciil. Dr. )Hj.g W Received Payment, .^.-/l /0*IAWr- Bill of Journal and Eagle. ^^'ebster summed up for the defense, the court room being crowded with people, including many ladies. The lawj'ers are still telling stories as to how much brandy he consumed the night before, and one of the traditions is to the eft'ect that he had to be helped to the court room. There is naturally no proof in support of these assertions. The Telegraph (un- friendly to Webster's part\) said on Dec. 3d: "We think the argument of Daniel \\'ebster on that occasion not only did credit to his great abilities, but was such a feast as wo are not often treated wilh. The jury after being out but a short time came with a verdict for the defendants." The campaign of 1840 deserves more than passing notice. It included a monster celebration of the Fourth of July, often referred to in later years, and described as a sort of triple celebration. In the morning the military held the usual parade, marshalled by Col. Henr\' Pine, with William I. Street as orator. This torchlight parades, so popular everywhere, were not wanting in Poughkeepsie. The log cabin was erected on the north side of Main Street below \\'ash- ington, about where Mrs. Foster's soda bottling works are located. Robert Fanning, a respectable citizen, was raising a flag on it soon after its completion when he slipped and fell to the ground and was killed. It was the subject of numerous cartoons in Benson T- Lossing's Fire of the Flint, a paper started for this campaign only, though revived in 1844. With all the enthusiasm of. the marching and song singing Poughkeepsie was carried by the ^^lligs by but a small majority, while the county went Democratic and Rich- ard D. Davis was elected member of congress. The \\'higs did not again win the county until 1844, when Poug-hkeepsie gave Cla}- 463 majority. At the close of the year 1843 the old Poughkeepsie Journal ceased to have have a separate existence. Mr. Jackson sold his interest, William Schram entered into Hon. SEWARD BARCULO, County Judge 184^, Supreme Courl Judge 1S4J. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 133 partnership with Isaac Piatt, and on January 6, 1844, the first number of the Journal and Bagk was issued. The double title was retained until 1850 when the name "Journal" was dropped. In August, 1844, the publishers installed a new press described as a "Napier double cylinder, and calculated to roll out news at the rate of fifteen hundred or two thousand an hour without puffing at all." During the campaign of that year Messrs. Piatt & Schram published a paper called The Club in opposition to Losising's Fire of the Flint. It was advertised at 75 cents per annum or "from its commencement until Henry Clay's election to the Presidency at fifty cents." One of the young men who learned the printer's trade in Poughkecpsie, in the office of the Telegraph, not long before this' time, was Isaac Van Anden, who went from here first to White Plains, and then to Brooklyn, where, in 1841, he established The Brooklyn Eagle, named presumably from the Poughkeepsie Eagle. He was afterwards joined by Samuel W. Hester, his brother-in-law, a well-known Poughkeepsie builder. A story often told by the late Judge E. Q. Eldridge illustrates how news was obtained before there was either railroad or telegraph. A few days after the election in 1840, a big crowd of Democrats, jubilant in the knowlege of having carried Dutchess County, assembled at the foot of Main Street with a brass band to await the arrival of the steamboat from the south with the expected news of Van Buren's reelection. Presentl>- the watchers on Kaal Rock reported the steamer in sight and Van Buren cheers rent the air. As the boat drew nearer the sound of music on board could be faintly heard and it was noticed that she was decorated with flags. Surely she had the news, but what news? The crowd was silenced while all ears were strained to try to make out what the band on the boat was nlaying. Could it be — yes it was "Tippe- canoe and Tyler Too !" There was a stir in the crowd, the news spread rapidly, and a lot of people were observed making their way back up Main Street hill. By the time the steamboat reached the landing there was just as large a crowd as before and unbounded en- thusiasm, but all ^vere W^higs ! The issues growing out of the Panic of 1837 held more or less attention until 1844, by which time slavery, the proposed annexation of Texas, and the Native .American or "Know Nothing" movement were occupying much of the local editorial space. The Temperance movement was also becoming important. In August, 1S41, the Journal said: "The Temperance cause is progressing rapidly in Poughkeepie. The Young Men's Temperance Sociel)' meets once and sometimes twice a week and adds to its member- ship at each meeting from 50 to 60 members." In 1842 a paper called The Temperance Safeguard was started by G. K. Lyman. It was "devoted to total abstinence, morals, agriculture, miscellany and news," surely an attractive combination, and was published for at least five years. The fact that among its advertisers was "The New Tem- perance Grocery," 358 Main Street, Richard Aldrich, reminds us of the time when every grocery store thought it necessary to offer a customer a glass of rum. The Sons of Temperance were organized before 1847, probably by Rev. Charles Van Loan. Accord- ing to French's Gazetteer there was also a paper in Poughkeepsie called The Safeguard, distinct from The Temperance Safeguard. The Thompsonian, devoted to the doctrines of the Thompsonian School of Medi- cine, wais first published. May 12th, 1838. It was edit- ed by Dr. A. H. Piatt and owned by Thomas Lapham. The Native American movement was strong enough in November, 1845, to warrant the establish- ment of a newspaper, the Poughkeepsie American, by Augustus T. Cowman. In 1848 the paper supported General Taylor for president, and in 1849 was sold to Isaac Tompkins and became a Democratic organ. Elias Pitts purchased it in 1850 and sold it in 1853 to Edward B. Osborne, who changed the name to The Dutchess Democrat, and made it the organ of the "hard shell" branch of the party. The anti-Masonic party had in the meantime long since spent its force. The organization of the Odd Fellows in 1838 shows the decay of the general feeling against secret societies, and in 1852 Masonry was again started with the founding of Poughkeepsie Lodge, the charter members of which were Abram N. Sweet, John Broas, Samuel Chichester, George Gaus- man, John E. Eisel, Elias G. Hopkins, George Kent. Isaac F. Russell, and Andrew Gentner. The nomination of General Taylor in 1848 was an even greater disappointment to the Poughkeepsie ^\'higs than that of Gen. Harrison had been in 1840 and it was several weeks before the Eagle got squarely into line in his support but he carried the county by a large majority, the vote standing — Taylor 5,377, Cass 3,227, and Van Buren 1,294. The Free Soilers ap- parently had no local organ then, which perhaps ac- counts for the small Van Buren vote, but this branch of the party nevertheless steadily increased and not long after Cass's defeat the Telegraph became its rep- rescntati\'e. President Taylor appointed the editor of the Eagle postmaster to succeed the editor of the Tele- graph, a fact which did not deter the Eagle from vig- orous denunciation of the fugitive slave law passed in Fillmore's administration. ISAAC PI,ATT. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 135 There were some arrests of fugitive slaves in Poughkeepsie, which stirred the people considerably, notably that of a man named John M. Bolding, who had lived here four years and become well established as a tailor, but was claimed as the property of Barrett Anderson of South Carolina. The Eagle of August 30, 1851, says in its report: "He was seized therefore while suspecting nothing, hurried directly into the carriage and that driven rapidly down the street to the cars, and placed in them only two or three minutes before the whistle blew and they were off. He had been married some six months before, but had no time to speak or send a message to his wife after his arrest." Subsequent issues of the paper tell of efforts to secure the man's release on habeas corpus proceedings with- out success, and then of a popular subscription to pur- chase his freedom, "although his master exhibits a most mean and vindictive spirit, demanding for him $1,500 and $200 for his expenses, far more than he can obtain for him anywhere." The money was suc- cessfully raised in a few days and Bolding returned and lived here until his death in April, 1876. In an obituary article published then it is stated that Bol- ding had escaped from a Mrs. Dickinson, who after- wards happened to come to Poughkeepsie to live, and finding him here sold him without his knowledge to Anderson of South Carolina for $800, the dramatic arrest b\' a U. S. marshal from New York following. The Panic ano Tuii iMPuoviiMENT Party. It is time now to tuni back and study more in de- tail the effects of the Panic of 1837 on the affairs and prospects of Poughkeepsie. There seems to have been a rapid recovery of a certain amount of confi- dence after the suspension of the banks, and the panic did not at once ruin the promoters known as the Im- provement Party, or their enterprises. The schools established, as wc have seen, became the pride of the village, the whaling companies continued, and it was evidently the increasing scarcity of whales and some losses by shipwreck that caused their final suspension. The Telegraph of May 17th. 1837, has the following: "Good Voyage. — The whale ship \''ermont. Cap- tain W. H. Topham, belonging to the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company, arrived here on Monday with a full cargo, having on board 3000 barrels of oil, of which between 400 and 500 are sperm, and about 28,000 lbs whale bone. The \''ermont has been on the coast of New Holland' and New ZeaU.nd. and was just one year and eleven months from the time of leaving the port of New York to making it again." Possibly the hard times affected the market for oil and whalebone. At any rate Alexander Forbus was appointed receiver of this company in September, lOId name of Australia. 1838, but its remaining ships were purchased by the Dutchess Company which continued in business until after 1844. In the Eagle of November loth, 1838, we read that the ship A^. P. Tallmadge was spoken in May last, "when she had taken 1050 barrels of sperm, and 350 of whale oil ; with the accompanying quantity of bone, all worth at least $35,000. This sounds very well and shows that those speculators who have ex- cited the wrath of the correspondent of the New York Evening Post have not quite ruined the town yet." The Democrats, of course, charged the panic all to the speculators, and Richard D. Davis, who as we have seen was elected to congress in 1840, was defeated as a candidate for village trustee in 1838, partly perhaps because he was quoted as saying that there were a large number of men "in this town who must go down because they owe five times as much as they can pay." It does not appear, however, that the leading boomers did go down until 1 84 1, probably as a result of the second period of depression that began in 1840. The intense partisanship that grew out of the discussions over the panic affected even village elec- tions, which up to this time seem to have been general- ly decided upon purely local issues. The trustees of 1837 were all re-elected, however, in 1838, though they had scarcely paused in the levying of assess- ments for street improvement. Only two weeks after the suspension of specie payments an assess- ment of 6g cents a foot was recorded against Union Street "from the end of the pavement to the east side of Clover Street." On June ist Mansion Street was assessed for grading, gravelling, curb- ing, etc., at $r.i2 a foot from Hamilton to Catherine. This fell chiefly on the real estate boomers, the lot owners being Paraclete Potter, Gideon P. Hewitt George P. Oakley, Elan Dunbar, John CoUer, Isaac Broas, John D. Robinson and St. Paul's Church. Clinton Street, from Main to Mansion, and Smith Street, from Main "to the lane north of David B. Lent's dwelling house," were assessed for improvement in October and November. Next to ISIr. Lent. Theo- dorus Gregory was the largest landholder in this sec- tion. Church Street, but recently extended down the hill from Market, was assessed to Clover Street Nov. 16th at $2.og a foot for grading, etc. James Hooker, James Emott, Philip S. Crooke and Henry Brush ap- pear as the largest owners. There were other minor assessments on the older streets, and if all the newly opened lots were unsalable the burden must have been a rather heavy one for some persons. Clinton Street from Main south. Cannon Street from Hamilton to the Reservoir and Church Street from Hamilton to Clin- ton were laid out about this time. 136 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. In the country farm lands continued to advance. The Journal of Jan. 31st, 1838, tells of several good sales, including a 200 acre farm in Amenia "pur- chased four years since for $45, sold during the last ten days for $663^ the acre," and a farm in the town of Washington which brought $110 an acre. "It is one of the strange features of the times that while the business of the merchant has been greatly embarrass- ed, and the operation of the mechanic and manufac- turer almost wholly suspended, the products of the farm, with the single exception of wool, have com- manded a very ready market at very high prices." The backbone of business was evidently sound and with the resumption of specie payments in the spring the hopes of the boomers in Poughkeepsie were evi- dently revived. The Poughkeepsie Journal of June 13th and June 20th, contains articles on Poughkeepsie Improvements During the Pressure, which present an outline of the leading industries of the village and show conclusively that the spirit of enterprise was still alive. "Indeed so indomitable is the spirit of improvement among us, that even the severe pressure of the past season could not wholly restrain its movements." The fur- nace of Messrs. McDuffie, Sharp & Proper is men- tioned as having cast $40,000 worth of stoves during the year. It was located near the whale dock. Henry Whinfield & Co. had erected their carpet manufactory "of brick and very substantial" at a cost of more than $2g,ooo since the fall of 1837. It had 30 looms. "This establishment is adjacent to the silk factory and in the same vicinity are also Mr. Pelton's and Mr. Delafield's Carpet factories." Of Charles M. Pelton's factory the Journal says: "This establishment has been gotten up within the past eighteen months and manufactures about 30,000 yards of ingrain Carpeting per annum." Delafield's Carpet and Rug Factory made about 15,000 3'ards of ingrain carpeting "and about 300 beautiful hearth rugs per annum." Messrs. Thomas Christy & Co. made "paper hangings" in a brick building "very spacious and substantial." erected on Water Street, "by William Davis, Esq." This establishment had "sprung up in defiance of pressure'' and was "manufacturing even in these times 3,000 pieces of paper hangings per week." The Poughkeepsie Screw Manufacturing Company "commenced in a small way 5th of July last in the very midst of the panic," was now enlarging and was making "weekly 800 gross of wood screws of assorted sizes' and hoped soon to make 4,000. It was described as due to the "exerrions of our in- genious and enterprising- townsman Gen. Thoma,s W. Harvey." Williams's ^\'^oolcn Factor}', idle for a \'ear, had come into the hands of Mr, Richard Titus and was "doing a large business." Vassar's Brewery, "completed eighteen months since," was making "not- withstanding the hard times rising 20,000 barrels of ale" worth $6 to $6.50 a barrel. A revival of business at the brickyards was also noted. "Messrs. R. Tyson & Co. set up a new 3'ard last year which with the very extensive concerns of Messrs. C. Vassar & Co., of Mr. Haley and of Mr. Underbill are all fully employed in The Brewery at the River. From Lossing's Vassar College and its Founder. the manufacture of those large and beautiful pressed bricks which have latterly been so generally used in the city for the fronts of their best houses, and which are so familiarly known by the name of Poughkeepsie Stretchers." Charles Vassar lived in the large house still stand- ing on the southwest corner of Main and Clover Streets until 1837, when he sold to James Clegg, who opened a grocery store in the lower floor, which was long a prominent down-town place of resort. Mr. Vassar built the brick row of buildings on Market Street from the Armory northward, and is said to have lost heavily by the venture. His brickyard, I have been told, was on the site of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad station on lower Main Street. He was a brother of Matthew Vassar, Init Thomas Vassar, who lived where the Lumb fac- tory building stands, below Water Street, was not a near relative. Among recent improvements noted in the Journal's article was the widening of Main Street, the building of a number of houses, and the enlargement of the Dutchess Whaling Company's wharf. The Whaling Company then had five ships at sea, including the Elbe which had just sailed. The PoughkeeiJsie Locomotive Engine Company's w(jrks were given an extended notice. This was one HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 137 of the most daring enterprises of the day. The com- pany was incorporated April 6th, 1838, but this Journal article says, "The erection of the buildings was commenced a 3'ear ago last autumn" and had cost "rising $90,000. This heavy outlay has been all made during the past eighteen months of general despon- dency. The establishment has commenced operations on a limited scale, and only waits for a return of better times to go into full operation, when it will afford steady employment, in the manufacture of Loco- motives, Tenders, &c. &c. to more than 200 machin- ists." The better times evidently did not come soon enough and the company was already bankrupt. A few weeks later the notice of dissolution, signed by Henry F. Tallmadge, agent, was published. N. P. Tallmadge, Thomas W. Harvey, Walter Cunningham, Henry F. late Henry D. Myers stated in an interview (July 30, 1884) that but one locomotive was built here. It ran for a long time on the Long Island Railroad, to which it must have been shipped by boat. The completion of the Locomotive Engine fac- tory preceded the railroad by rather more than ten years, and its failure was doubtless due in part to the long delay in the realization of the various rail- road plans and in part to the failure of its promoters, who had evidently been bolstering each other up and dragging in their friends for help during several years before their final collapse in 1841. George P. Oakley was apparently in trouble by 1839, when he offered "Primrose Green" for sale, and the record of his assignments shows that a number of promi- nent men, including Charles Bartlett, were involved ]l^ood Ctil made for Barber & Howe's Tallmadge, Henry Ibbottson and Paraclete Potter were the organizing commissioners of this conipany, the purpose of which was described as "the manu- facture of locomotive engines, iron rails, plates and other iron apparatus of rail roads and rail-road cars." Mr. Lossing in an illustrated article on Poughkeepsie in The Family hiagazine (Vol. 6, p. 240) sa)'s: "This establishment is situated on the Hudson, directl)- north of the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company. It is much the most extensive of the kind in America, being cap- able of producing from seventy-five to one hundred locomotive engines with their tenders annually. It is under the direction of R. M. Bouton, Esq., one of the best engineers in the country." The main building was some two hundred and fifty feet in length. The POUGHKEEPSIE IN 1840. Hisiorieal Collections, of Ihc State of Ne:e York" published in /S41. as lenders or endorsers. It seems rather remark- able that the banks were able to hold out. Oakley was succeeded as cashier of the Poughkeepsie by E. P. Benjamin soon after the panic, and Cunningham was succeeded by James H. Fonda, father of Walter Cunningham Fonda, as cashier of the Dutchess Coun- ty, in 1841. The Farmers' Bank, it is said, did not even pass a dividend and there is no evidence that the Poughkeepsie Bank was in danger, but the Dutchess Count)- Bank was found to be so badly in- volved in the enterprises of Cunningham and his friends, that at the expiration of its charter, July ist, 1845, its business was wound up and the Merchants' Bank was organized to take its place. This was not regarded exactly as a failure, for in the course of i3s HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE time die Dutchess County Bank was able to realize on much of its security, paid all note holders and depositors and about 30 per cent, to stockholders. More than its full capital had been loaned to the members of the Improvement Party, and $317,416, or more than half its capital, to its own officers and stockholders, according to the statement of its con- dition on May loth, 1837. No bank has ever been organized in Poughkeepsle since with so large a capital. The Merchants' Bank started -July 2d, 1845, ■^ith capital of $110,000, and with Matthew J. Myers presi- dent and James H. Fonda cashier. The first direct- ors were Matthew J. Myers, Alexander Forbus, Isaac Merritt, Abraham G. Storm, Caleb Barker, John Ad- riance, Thomas M. Vail, John T. Schryver, Alex- ander J. Coffin, James Emott, Jr., Solomon V. Frost, George Pomeroy and David Arnold. The effects of the panic were long felt, but by 1852 the growth of business warranted the organization of a fifth ba^nk,' the Fallkifl. . William C. Sterling, Augustus Jillson, Henry Coffin , John Thompson, Casper D. Smith, Samuel T. Taber, Thomas R. Payne, Eleazer D. Sweet, Elias Titus, Henr}^ D. Myers, Joseph C. Doughty, William W. Reynolds and John Bloom were the first directors. Mr. Sterling was chosen presi- dent, John F. Hull cashier and Zebulon Rndd book- keeper. This bank has had but two cashiers. Mr. Hull served until 1892, when he was succeeded by William Schickle. It is not improbable that' house building continued almost as rapidly after the panic as before. Land is often too valuable to build upon during a boom. It was nevertheless a long time before there were more than one or two houses on the new lots sold at auction at such handsome advances, and many of them came back to the original owners by foreclosure or other- wise. George Corlies built the first house on South Liberty Street, now Garfield Place, in 1852, — the house now owned by Mrs. C. P. Luckey. At that time the land to the westward was all farming land, with very few trees, and Mr. Jacob Corlies tells me that the river could be seen for a stretch of several mile.^. He remembers standing at the rear of the house and count- ing as many as seventy sloops and schooners on the river. On Academy Street south of Montgomery, Caleb Barker's house, now Professor J. L. Moore's, was about the only house built by that time. There were only about three houses on South Hamilton Street, between Church and Montgomery, in 1850, when Isaac Piatt built his brick house, and most of the land thereabout was owned by Alexander Forbus. On the southwest corner of Montgomery and Hamil- ton Streets there was a swamp often flooded in winter enough for skating. The Telegraph of January 6th, 1841, says that thirty buildings had been erected during the 3'ear before, and publishes an enumeration of the buildings on every street in the village (see Appendix). It was, probably not long after this that the first village directory was published^. There were seventy-nine streets, on which there were 1,055 dwelling houses exclusive of other buildings. The population was given as 7,710. By 1841 there was a revival in street improvement, and on April 12th of that year an ordi- nance was passed for numbering the houses and lots. L. M. Arnold, W. A. Royce, E. F. Grant, D. W. Beadle, E. M. Haynes, W. C. Southwick and L. Car- penter were appointed to do the numbering of Main Market, Washington, Garden, Academy and Liberty Streets. The north and south divisions of Clinton, Hamilton, Bridge, Clover and Water Streets had not been adopted at this time. For instance: "The.num- -befing of Clinton Street shall commence at the Reser- voir of said village and run thence northwardly to the northern extremit}' of said street." A number of the leading boomers of the previous period, finding their fortunes gone, left Poughkeep- sie for the West, most of them for Wisconsin. Para- clete Potter was appointed Registrar of the United States Land Office at Milwaukee in April, 1841, Wil- liam Wilson succeeding him in the Poughkeepsie book business. Gideon P. Hewitt, Henry Conklin and Na- thaniel P. Tallmadge were ampng those who followed him, Tallmadge resigning frohi4h'e United States Sen- ate to become governor of the Territory of-iWisconsin in 1844. They settled at Green Bay. Tallmadge became a Spiritualist probablj'- before he left Pough- keepsie, for there was- at that time a coterie of Spiritualists here, among whom a tailor, Andrew Jackson Davis, called "The Seer of Poughkeepsie," became a leader. As was natural in a leading educa- tional center, Poughkeepsie was the home of many seekers for light of various kinds. Spiritualism is said to have obtained its first important foothold here, and a number of prominent men besides Senator Tall- madge embraced its doctrines and listened to its m3fs- terious messages. Even Richard D. Davis, said to have been one of the most brilliant public men in the State, was a Spiritualist for a time. Davis was a strong opponent of Tallmadge politically, after the lat- ter had become a Whig, and when Tallmadge joined the Spiritualists that was too much for him, and he left the fold. He was no relation, I believe, to Andrew lA nearly complete collection of directories, beginning with that pnblished by C. P. Liiyster in 1843, has been presented to the Adriance Library by Mr. Henry Booth. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSin. 139 Jackson Davis, "the Seer,'' who published several books, which attracted some attention. James Russell Lowell, in his "Fable for Critics,'' making fun of the cult, tells of a man whose aloe tree would not bloom unless he watered it "with the blood of hii unmarried daughter." Long the poor fellow struggled with his conscience. Lowell continues : "I told Philothea his struggles and doubts, And how he considered the ins and the outs Of the visions he had and the dreadful dyspepsy, How he went to the seer that lives in Po'keepsie How the seer advised him to sleep on it first, And to read his big volume in case of the worst, And further advised he should pay him five dollars For writing hum, hum, on his wristbands and collars; Three years and ten days these dark words he had studied When his daughter was missed and his aloe had budded." Just which of Davis's numerous volumes had such a dire influence, and attracted the attention of Lowell, I am not sure. He published among other things four or five volumes entitled "The Great Harmonium," but nearly all his books were copyrighted later than 1848, the date of Lowell's "Fable for Critics." Another local Spiritualistic author was Levi M. Arnold, who in 1852 published a voluine entitled "The History of the Origin of All Things and Particularly of the Earth." Among the celebrities of the period may also be men- tioned William H. \''an Wagner, Jr., who travelled around the country with a big tent giving temperance and other lectures, calling hiinself "The Poughkeepsie Blacksmith." Building of The Hudson River Railroad. The failure of the Poughkeepsie Locomotive En- gine Company, which built a large factory here long before there was any railroad, has already been men- tioned. What railroad did the promoters of the loco- motive factory expect their engines to run upon? Cer- tainly not upon a railroad be'iween New York and Albany along the river. Such a road had indeed been talked of, but was rather a joke than a serious propo- sition until after 1840. The New Year's address of the Dutchess Intelligencer for 1832 contains the fol- lowing doggerel : Railroads are all the rage of latter years — They talk of one to go from here to York, To quell the city people's anxious fears. And carry down the Dutchess County pork — The cars are wondrous things to load our trash on And tho' our boatmen starve we'll be in fashion. That was the 3'ear the river closed early and froze in several barges loaded with pork.' No one seriously Dailv iSoe "Memories of Eagle, April 21, 1904. Poughkeepsie, 1825-1832 proposed such a road, but on March 28th of the same year "The Dutchess County Rail Road" was incor- porated for the purpose of building to the Connecticut line. Property and persons were to be transported "by the power and force of steam, of animals, or any mechanical power or any combination of them." Wil- liam Davis (Davies?) Harry Conklin, Paraclete Pot- ter, Homer Wheaton and Morgan Carpenter, were ap- pointed commissioners to receive subscriptions, and it was stipulated that the road should be finished within five years. Apparently little money was raised during the first year imder this charter, perhaps because man}' people favored a canal across the county. The next year the following petition was presented : TO THE TRUSTEES OE THE VILLAGE 01' POUGHKEEPSIE. The undersigned deeply impressed with the impor- tance of a communication by means of a railroad or Canal, from the Village of Poughkeepsie to Pine Plains, from thence through a part of Columbia Coun- ty to the line of Massachusets, do request the Trustees will take immediate measures to have said route ex- amined by a competent and experienced Engineer. As this is a subject of such vital importance to the prosperity of this Village the undersigned do not entertain a doubt but that the expenditure of any rea- sonable amount, by the Trustees to accomplish the above object, will be sanctioned and approved of by the citizens at large. Pokeepsie, Sept. 2d 1833 Peter P Hayes M Vassar N. P. Tallmadge P. EVERITT P. Potter J Van Benthuysen Hiram Veltman W Cunningham Charles Warner A G Storm Geo Van KlEECk Elias Trivett At their meeting on Sept. 5th of that }'ear the vil- lage trustees appointed Henry Conklin and Hon. N. P. Tallmadge a committee with power to employ an engineer. It was probably under this authority that Henry Whinfield and William Dewey made their first survey, though perhaps some sort of a iireliminary examination had been made before this. The Baglc and other papers continued to agitate the matter from time to time, and in 1836 the charter was renewed under the same title, but with greater latitude in the location of the line. The first idea was to build the railroad to Amenia, and had this been done before the Hudson River and Harlem lines were built, the lii.^tory of Dutchess County and Poughkeepsie would have been considerably changed. It was, how- ever, a very difficult proposition to lay out a railroad across Dutchess County, that shoukl go throuo-h the 140 HISTORY OF P OU GH KEEP SI B. principal towns and reach any point of importance on the Connecticut line. All the hills run north and south across the county and the Poughkeepsie boom- ers seem to have been more willing to get other peo- ple to put in money than to invest their own. The project was put to sleep by the panic, though un- doubtedly the promoters of the Locomotive Engine Company expected it to be revived in time to make use of the products of their factory. Its long post- ponement, as will appear, was due to the fact that as soon as efforts were made to enlist the aid of the farmers and the people of Pine Plains and other in- terior towns, the rival plan of a terminus at Fishkill was encountered. The Hudson River Railroad was merely a dream until 1841, and was seriously discussed only when the Harlem road, then called the "New York and Albany, "1 had actually begun preparations to extend its line' through Eastern Dutchess to Albany. Matthew Vassar and a few others then began to fear that the county trade would be diverted from Poughkeepsie to the eastern towns. They employed Richard D. Morgan, an engineer, to make a cursory survey to see if it was possible to build a line along the promon- tories through the Highlands and he reported favor- abty. That there could ever have been controversies and serious difficulties over obtaining a charter and necessary capital for "America's Greatest Railroad" seems almost incredible now, but such was the case. After his cursory survey in the Highlands Mr. Mor- gan^ addressed a meeting at the Poughkeepsie Hotel, Feb. 25th, 1842, at which we are told only a very few people would listen to his arguments at all. Some thought a railroad along the river preposterous — that it could never compete with the boats — while some of the boatmen on the other hand thought it might ruin their business. The Eas^lc and the Telegraph kept the project before the people, and, according to the former, "a small body comprising about a baker's dozen, resolved to go ahead for the work, and they made an application to the legislature for a charter." Their petitions were treated at Albany "with so much contempt that those who undertook to call attention to them in the legislature were hardl}' treated with decent courtesy." In March, 1842, a convention of delegates from river towns assembled at the village hall at Poughkeepsie, but only a dozen or so repre- sented other places and there were not more than thirty persons in the hall. This meeting, nevertheless, ap- pointed a "Hudson River Rail Road Central Executive i"Tlie New York and Albany Rail Road Company have advertised for proposal for the grading, masonry and bridges on ninety miles of the road in Dutchess, Putnam and West- chester counties." — Jan. 6, 1841, Poughkeepsie Journal. Finance and Correspondence Committee," made up of the men who had already been active in the matter: M. Vassar, Thomas L. Davies, Isaac Piatt and E. B. Killey. The Telegraph gives the chief credit for the completion of the enterprise to this committee. Sub- scription books were opened and $1,450 were raised for the preliminary expenses of obtaining a complete sur- vey, and a charter. The survey was made by Rich- ard D. Morgan, but at a second attempt before the Legislature for a charter "A respectful hearing could not be obtained." "Not a village on the river aided us in the expense," says the Eagle, "and had exertions stopped here all would have been lost.'' The applicants for a charter were charged with wishing merely to head off the Harlem road, and in 1843 there was a bitter controversy between Alder- man Moses G. Leonard, of New York, and Matthew Vassar, the former charging the latter with having said "that they had no intention to construct a Rail- road along the River, but they had merely resorted to this movement in order to protect their property along the river." The Journal seems to imply, in the following, from an article in its issue of March 22d, that there was possibly some truth in the assertion : "Mr. Vassar had no authority to speak on that point for any but himself, and if he did say (which he de- nies) what is attributed to him, it furnishes no proof either of the infeasibility of the river route or of the opinions of the hundreds who have petitioned for a charter. We know that the committee of which Mr. Vassar is chairman entertain no such views." \'ery few people in New York city could be got to listen to the scheme of the Poughkeepsie committee, and the city newspapers either condemned it or con- sidered it of small importance until 1845, when John Childe, an eminent engineer' of Springfield, Mass., published a letter expressing faith in its practicability. Then going to work once more with a will, the com- mittee succeeded in enlisting a number of New York men of wealth and standing, and finally overcame objections and obtained the charter. May 12th, 1846. The enemies of the road, however, succeeded in the incorporation of a requirement that $3,000,000 must be subscribed before March ist, 1847, with 10 per cent, paid in. This necessitated strenuous exertions and while they were in progress, Oct. 19th, 1846, the first telegraph office was opened in Poughkeep.sie by "The New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Com- pany." Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, lived just outside of the limits of the 'Isaac Piatt had himself helped to keep the project alive b\' writing a series of articles, publishcj in the New York Times and signed "Civil Engineer.'' HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIB. 141 village, and there was much interest in his method of sending comunications "as quick as lightning." It was none too quick for the people during the last week or two of February, 1847, and when the dots and dashes of the tape roll in the office in Garden Street conveyed the news that the $3,000,000 neces- sary to "save the charter" of the Hudson River Railroad had been subscribed^ there was great re- joicing. The Eagle of February 27th, which printed the announcement, with a historical sketch of the prog- ress and difficulties of the original promoters, says that the excitement in Poughkeepsie was so great that even the approaching municipal election was almost forgotten. Bonfires were lighted and salutes were fired and there was a general celebration with a "splendid sup- per at the first depot, the Poughkepsie Hotel * * * prepared by the host, Mr. Rutzer, in the best style of the times. * * * The first business being com- pleted, M. Vassar, Esq. ,2 acting as chief conductor, aided by Jacob B. Jewett, Stephen B. Trowbridge and John Adriance, assistant conductors, Isaac Piatt and E. B. Killey as brakemen, started the train upon a new track." This was, of course, the speech-making, which included also D. B. Lent and General Maison. One of the chief toasts was to Richard D. Morgan, "to whose pioneer efforts the public are indebted for their knowledge of the practicabilit)' of the route." We are told that as this was a temperance banquet, there was no danger of an explosion or of any one getting off the track. In relation to the prospects for business for the railroad the Baglc of Feb. 27th, says: "We are not among those who calculate that the building of the road will take all travel from the river, but that its completion will have the effect to doable the present amount of travel there cannot be a reason- able doubt. Of this the road will get its share, ex- tending to at least half of the through travel during the most favorable seasons of navigation, and when obliged to compete with the best boats, while at the same time, of the way tra\'cl it will command by far the largest proportion, so that heavier passenger trains than have ever yet been seen in this country will run in midnsummer, even if the boats are full at the same time. But for four months, when the navi- gation at .\lbany is closed, and while railroad commu- nications extend north to Canada and \\'est to Wis- consin, not onl\' hundreds, hut thousands will fill the cars daily, and freight lines will run constantly." Sa\-s the Telegraph of Wednesday, Jan. Qth, 1850: "This great public improvement, second only to the ipor list ijf subscribers up to Ian. 23, 1847, see Appendix. ^Mr. V.issar was e\iden(ly given nuicli of tlic credit of having stalled the enterprise, though he was in Europe when the charter was obtained. New York and Erie Canal, is now completed to the station house in this village. The first train' of cars reached it on Friday evening last, and was greeted with enthusiastic cheers as it passed under the fine bridge arched over Main street near the depot." The first time table published in the Poughkeepsie papers was as follows : Hudson River Railroar Winter Mail arrangements — On and after Mon- day next ; the passenger trains will run as follows, dailj' (Sundays excepted). Leave New York for Poughkeepsie and intermedi- ate places: At 8 A, M. carrying the way mails; at 4 P. M. do through mails. Leave Poughkeepsie for New York and intermedi- ate places : At 6 A. M. carrying the way mails ; at iiyi A. M, do through do. The 4 P. M, train going North, and the iiyi A. M. train going South will not stop at Hastings, Garrison's Dock, or Low Point, A line of Stages will be found in readiness at Poughkeepsie to leave for Albany and intermediate places on the arrival of the trains from New York, Where offices of the Company are established, pas- sengers will procure Tickets before entering the cars. W, C, Young, Chief Engineer. New York, Dec, 27, 1849. The days of the stage coach on the post road were not yet over, but they were numbered. The northern section of the railroad was built from Albany down, and was opened in October, 185 1. The directors elected in June, 1849, '^^'bo finished the southern sec- tion of the road, were James Boorman, Gouverneur Kemble, Gardner R. Howland, Thomas Suffern, James Hooker, John B. Jervis, Elisha Peck, Japthet I'ishop, Edward Jones, John David Wolfe, ]\ loses H. Grinnell, Edwin D. Morgan, and Erastus Corning. Mr. Boorman, who had a summer home north of Poughkeepsie, was the president — and it was to his subscription in 1847 '^'lat the building of the road was chiefly due — Mr. Jones, vice-president, Mr. Jer- vis, chief engineer. John M. Hopkins, treasurer and George H. Butler, legal agent. The rock taken from the heavy cuttings in Pough- keepsie was i^artly used in filling along the water front and it was at this time that the territory where .Arnold's lumber yard is located, south of the Fall Kill, was mostl\' created. The Hudson River Railroad was built long after railroads had ceased to be an experiment, was well equipped and was successful from the start. The 'Trains had been nuniing before this for several weeks as far as Pine St.. where the old Hunt liousc was used as a station. 142 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB running time of passenger trains was surprisingly- near that of the present locals. The Bagle of Jan. 1 2th, 1850, contains a description of a trip to New York over the road, which includes the following: "Since the first train reached us there has been all but an avalanche of business, both in the line of pas- sengers and freight, the receipts of the Company be- ing near twelve hundred dollars per day. The cars run through between this place and 31st street, New York, regularly within two hours and a half, the run- ning time not exceeding in any case two hours, and from Chambers street within three hours. This is quicker time than is made on any other railroad ir the United States and comes fully up to the original calculations of the engineers. When the track is thoroughly settled, every trip to and from the city, will doubtless be made within two hours." In fact there were some runs of two hours within the year 1850. Four trains each way, besides a Peeks- kill train, were put on March nth, and on May 17th a freight train to leave Poughkeepsie at 7 a. m. and the "Canal street freight depot" in New York at 12 Cut of I'assar /liTiLViy. s/wioing Old-Titne Railroad Train and Sleainboat. noon was announced, with the statement that "No freight will be carried on the Passenger Trains after Tuesday, June 4th, except under special arrange- ments." The summer time table dated May 2ist, announces that trains will connect at Poughkeepsie "with the fast sailing steamers New World, Alida, Joseph Belknap, and South America." Passengers could then leave New York at 7 a. m. and arrive at Albany at 3 p. .m. The connection was made at a dock, to which a covered passagewa\' led, where the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club House stands. This prop- erty is still owned by the railroad company. The first annual statement of the road covering nine months of operation up to Sept. 30th. showed passenger earnings of $242,575.10 and freight earn- ings of $18,575.76. There was a balance above oper- ating expenses of $110,974.83. The road had then been double-tracked to Peckskill. .\t this time the right of way had not all been obtained above Pough- keepsie and John Thompson, who was employed in i)l)taining it, was having con.siderable trouble with the owners of large e.ilates along the river. The continued prosperity of the railroad was a source of much satisfaction and the local papers con- tain many items about it. On January 7th, 1854, in connection with the announcement of the purchase of six locomotives and a number of passenger cars is the following: "The road now uses thirty-six thousand cords of wood a year, which costs with the sawing, $5.50 per cord. One locomotive is in use burning coal." In 1853, when the Harlem Railroad was straining every nerve to get business away from the Hudson River Railroad, and had reduced the fare from Albany to New York to $1.00, the latter com- pany was advised not to meet the ruinous reduction. It was then, however, carrying passengers at a rate of one cent a mile. During that year the double track was completed to Poughkeepsie. A year earlier, Feb- ruary 1st, 1852, the necessity of a break in the journey from New York to Albany for luncheon had been recognized, and William S. Johnston had come here from New York to establish the first railroad res- taurant on the line and one of the first in the country. Mr. Johnston and his brothers, Theodore and Floy M. Johnston, eventually acquired control of nearly all the restaurants on the New York Central system, a control which lasted until the company took posses- sion of them in 1900. Though living in New York at the time the railroad was built the Johnstons were a Poughkeepsie family, their father, William Sherman Johnston, having been born here. Poughkeepsie continued to be a division point on the railroad, where all trains changed locomotives until the spring of 1876, when the first order was issued to run through to Albany. All trains continued to stop here ten minutes until some ten years later. The almost immediate success of the railroad could not fail to afifect the river trade, but the cutting off of the business of Eastern Dutchess by the Harlem rail- road did fully as much damage as the completion of the Hudson River Railroad. The Eagle said of the boats in May, 1853: "If we can judge at all by ap- pearance, they are doing much more business than usual, notwithstanding the amount done on the rail- road." Ruinous competition probably had much to do with this appearance of business, for in 1852 the boats were carrying passengers to New York from Poughkeepsie for one shilling. The Reindeer, Ar- menia, Ahda and Henry Cla)', then formed the day line. "Faster boats never floated," says the Press of May 13th. There was in 1841, and for some )'ears afterwards, a local day line to New York, tlie steamer Osceola HISTORY OF P OU GH KEEPS I E. 143 leaving Main Street landing every morning at 7 o'clock, and leaving New York every afternoon at 4. Probably the prospect of railroad competition caused its abandonment; at any rate while the rail- road was building, the "old Union Landing, which had been running the steamboat Gazelle twice a week to New York, and had been one of the most important of the four village landings, went out of business and its property passed into the hands of William Bushnell, who had been interested in the Dutchess Iron Works on Main Street. He built a charcoal blast furnace there about 1848. The same year Joseph Tuckerman appears to have become a partner in the business, and on Nov. 14th Tuckerman & Bushnell^ conveyed the Loiocr Furnace. Photographed about iSSo, by C. S. Lucas. property to The Poughkeepsie Iron Company. This was the beginning of the pig iron industry in Pough- keepsie. The ores smelted were hauled by mule teams from the Sylvan Lake neighborhood, and fluxed with Barnegat lime stone. The ore teams were long a familiar street feature, and without the .•snorting of the blowing engine at the "Lower Furnace" resident.s of the .-southern section of Poughkeepsie scarcely knew how to go to sleep at night. ]\v 1853 Edward Bech iLibei- 88 Deeds, p. 80. Tn this ilccd. .1 street called West Street, probably the same as Front Street, is mentioned. I believe that the large bouse about half way down the hill below Water Street dates back to the early days of the land- ing. The bricb house, with Grecian pillars, on the corner of Water and Union Streets was built by Uriah Gregory, about 1 841. had become interested and on April 2d we read that Tuckerman & Bech are building a second furnace or stack ''capable of producing 20 tons of iron per day, or 4 more than the present one." Albert E. Tower was the superintendent. Ship-building was an important industry at tjiis time, as an outgrowth partly of the freighting and partly of the whaling business. Barges, steamboats, sloops and schooners were built here by Hanry Finch, who bought the whale dock ship-yard of Tooker and Halt in 1846. Finch built the schooner M. Vassar in that year and she was chartered by the government and sent to Vera Cruz with stores for the army in the Mexican War. Returning to Poughkeepsie after the war the M. Vassar sailed around the Horn to Cali- fornia with Abraham Spencer and a party of gold hunters about 1850, and was sold in California. Finch is said to have built more than sixty sailing vessels before he left here, but possibly some of these should be credited to George W. Polk, who came here about 1850 to work for him and succeeded him in business. An item in the Eagle of .April 2d, 1853, stating that the Whale Dock and Finch's Ship Yard had been sold to Stillman & Co. for a brick yard, is incorrect. Finch continued for several years after that. The brick yard was established on a part of the Whale Dock property and was not successful. An improvement in inland transportation facilities for this period was the plank road. It was a short- lived improvement on account of the great expense of repairs when the planks began to wear out, but for a few \ears the plank roads were splendid highways. The records of their incorporation show that they were mostly started from 1847 to 1854. The Pough- keepsie and Pine Plains Plank Road Company was in- corporated in 1850, and in the same year the local newspapers were urging a plank road to EUenville as a "mighty improvement to throw open to Poughkeep- sie the trade of a vast and rich section." In 1853 the books were opened "for subscription to the capital stock of the Poughkeepsie and Salt Point Plank Road." Only a few of these many projects wore car- ried out, and the only plank road constructed in this immediate neighborhood was that leading to New Hackensack anil Stormville. This road was for a time successful and paid dividends, perhaps because of its continuous use b\' the teams bringing iron ore to the furnace at the foot of Union Street. The platiks extended into town as far as Hamilton Street. .\ part of the New Paltz turnpike, from the ferry landing u]) to llighlaml, was once planked. 144 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. Schools — The First FiueH; Schools. The schools enumerated in the Telegraph's article of Jan. 6th, 1841, were the "Dutchess County Acad- emy, Lancaster School, Poughkeepsie High School and 18 other schools." The High School was a pri- vate institution conducted by James Hj'att and some- times advertised as a teachers' institute. That the schools were prosperous is shown by many references to them in the papers. The Journal of Sept. 29th, 1841, says: "Through the boarding schools alone, not less than $70,000 per year, brought from abroad, is distributed among the citizens of Poughkeepsie. * * * Nearly one-half the amount we have named is annually dis- tributed among us by the Collegiate School. * * * The female boarding schools, and the academies in proportion, contribute their share towards sustaining the business of our village and 'tis to them more than to anything else, we may attribute the fact that Pough- keepsie has suffered less than other places from the revulsion consequent upon the over-trading and specu" lation of '36 and '37." Poughkeepsie Schools were in fact almost at their height and attracting pupils from all parts of the country. There were, however, no free schools, sup- ported entirely by taxation, though it is not quite true to say there were no public schools. As the term was then used the Academies and the Lancaster School were public schools. They received a share of the State mone^'' and were under the supervision of the regents. The tuition in the Dutchess County Academy was as low as $4 a quarter for ordinary Eng- lish branches, and the instruction was good. In this and in other like schools a few pupils were received free of charge, though they generally rendered some service in return. Since 1795, and perhaps earlier, there had been what were called "common schools," furnishing free tuition to those who could not afford to pay, and supported apparently partly by private subscription and partly by taxation. Meetings were held from time to time to devise means for improving them, and it appears from the reports that they were very indifferently conducted. The Lancaster school system also provided for the free instruction of a con- siderable number of younger children, and it was proposed at one time to so extend it as to include all who could be induced to attend ; but the s\stem was unsati.5factory, and was losing ground elsewhere, while the free public schools supported by taxation were everywhere gaining. iFor first apportionment sec p. 6g. I am not quite sure that the Lanca-^ter seliool received Stale money. In March, 1841, an educational meeting, of which David Arnold was chairman and Thomas S. Ranney secretary, received the report of a committee which had been investigating the general condition of the vil- lage in the matter of school attendance. A census had been made of the children between the ages of 5 and 16 years in the sections west of Washington and Market Streets, and the rest were estimated. Of the 1,641 children in the village tire committee stated that about 382 attended no school, though some of these had attended for a few terms. There were 300 chil- dren in the section north of Main and west of Wash- ington Street, "of whom 36 attend the Lancaster School, 51 other schools taught by male teachers, 113 attend schools taught by female teachers, and no are not attending school at present." This meeting reported in favor of an extension and improvement of the Lancaster system. The Journal was opposed to a free school system, of which it said the Eagle and the Telegraph were "the especial advocates." Abraham Bockee, who was a member of the State Senate from 1842 to 1845, introduced and advocated early in 1843 a special act creating a village board of education of twelve members, with authority to bor- row $12,000 for the erection of buildings, and to raise by taxation about $7,000 a year. Of this the Journal said : "Seven thousand a year besides the interest on the loan made for the erection of school houses and the installments of principal when they become due, will make a handsome addition to the burdens of the vil- lage, which is already encumbered with a debt of $35,000 and an annual tax of $7,000 more, besides her share of the town and county expenses and of the state tax of $600,000." The act was nevertheless passed April i8th and was approved at a special village election. May 17th, by a majority of 168 in a total poll of 976, voters. It di- rected an annual election on the first Tuesday of June each year for members of the board of education, who were at once "to build and furnish one good and sub- stantial school house, containing two rooms of suf- ficient capacity to accommodate not less than one hun- dred and twenty-five pupils each, and to rent five other rooms for primary schools." The Journal did not yet cease its opposition, charged that the law was pro- posed for political purposes "for furthering the pros- pects of T\illc\- & Co." and on June 7th said: "That which costs nothing is lightly prized, and the free schools if filled at all, will be with those indifl^erent to what they learn, !>>■ children of parents who not having the stimulus common to all of 'getting their HISTORY OF PO U G H K E E PS I E. 146 money's worth,' will send irregularly, as convenience or inclination may indicate." This prediction was to some extent fulfilled down to recent times and the passage of the compulsory law. At the election for the first board of education David L. Starr, Ira Arm- strong, Thomas Austin, Benjamin Gile, Isaac Piatt, Egbert B. Killey, George C. Marshall, Barnet Haw- kins, James Reynolds, Jr., William P. Gibbons, Chris- topher Appleton and Matthew J. Myers were chosen^ with a vote ranging from 330 to 424. The oppo- nents of the school law put an opposition ticket in the field and attempted a stratagem, withholding their votes until the afternoon, when they cast about 324 for each of the following : Charles Crooke, Caleb Barker, Nathan H. Jewett, James W. Bogardus, Nehemiah Sweet, Joseph H. Jackson, Caleb Morgan, Charles Carman, Seward Barculo, Gilbert I. Vincent, William H. Tallmadge and Geo. W. Farrington. The board organized June 20th, choosing William P. Gibbons president and Thomas Austin clerk. In July the lot on the corner of Mill and Bridge Streets was purchased and on Jan. 2gth "the first grammar school for boys under the free school act" was opened in the building, still in use (School No. i), with 119 "qualified scholars" in attendance, under the su- perintendence of Josiah I. Underbill. Rooms were rented for primary schools in August in "the build- ing formerly occupied as a theatre, situated in Mar- ket near Jay Street," and "in the building situated on the corner of Clinton and Thompson Streets (the old Academy)," at $80 per annum in each case. The Clinton Street school was No. i, the Market Street school No. 2 and in December No. 3 was open- ed in "a room in a coach factory at the junc- tion of Mill and Dutchess Avenue."== Such were the beginnings of our free public schools, which it must be confessed, have until recently remained rather backward. The private schools and academies had the prestige, and the free schools were at first expected to take care only of those children whose parents were not able to pay tuition, and did not af- ford much real competition for a good many years. iln iSyg and 1894 the hoard published historical sketches of tlic public schools and the city library with lists of mem- bers of the board, of the graduates of the high school, school enrollment and attendance. The first hoard of education does not contain the name of Matthew J. Myers. He de- clined to serve and Henry Augevine was appointed in his place. Thomas Austin and David L. Starr resigned in De- cember, 184.3, and Alexander J. Coffin and Nathan Gifford were appointed in ihcir place -1879 Report of Board of Education. At the close of the Civil War the appropriation for schools was only about $7,000. New private schools were in fact started almost every year. "The Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute'' for instance, was founded in 1848 by Dr. Charles H. P. McClellan, and is still flourishing un- der the name of "Lyndon Hall." It was organized with a board of trustees, which in 1849 was as fol- lows : Samuel B. Johnston, Howland R. Sherman, David H. Barnes, Tunis Brinckerhofif, Abraham Var- ick, George R. Henderson, Jacob Degroff, Per Lee Pine, William S. Morgan, Caspar D. Smith, John P. H. Tallman, and Rev. Charles Whitehead, all of Poughkeepsie, and William H. Bostwick, Amenia ; Nathan Barratt, Staten Island ; Rev. E. S. Porter, Chatham Four Corners ; Rev. A. Polhemus, Hope- well. This school had a vacation of four weeks in the spring and a summer vacation of six weeks be- ginning about the middle of July. The Daily Press., May 15th, 1852, contains an ar- ticle on the schools of Poughkeepsie, describing par- ticularly Mr. Bartlett's School on College Hill, "the best of its kind in America," the Dutchess County Academy, then in charge of William MacGeorge ; the Mansion Square Female Academy, Dr. W. P. Gib- bons principal, (this school occupied the building built for a hotel, now the Jewett Flouse) ; the Pough- keepsie Female Academy, Mr. J. C. Tooker, principal. On May 26th of the same year, the Press "wrote up" the public schools, with the statement: "No village in the union possesses a superior Free educational es- tablishment." There were then a grammar school and five primary schools, one of which was for colored children. The fame of the village was so great that "The State and National Law School" was brought here late in December, 1852, from Ballston, but as it was hardly fairly established before Poughkeepsie became a city, further mention of it may be deferred to the next chapter. The PuiiLic Library and the Lyceum. The Public Library was niox-ed into what was long called "The Library Building," 2^}, and 235 Main Street, early in December, 1852. and only a few weeks before the Law School began in the same building. This building in fact was long a literary center. Tomlinson's Poughkeepsie Museum occupied a part of the upper floors at this time and f impossible for his assistants to hold it up. So efforts to save the church had to be abandoned, and attention directed to the buildings around. * * * "y\s the fire progressed, the sight became fearful and sublime, if not terrible in the extreme. The en-' lire roof, being composed of wood, cedar shingles laid on pine backing, sent up a mass of red flames, crackling and roaring in the wind, the extent and grandeur of which can hardly be imagined. But the CHARLES W. SWIFT. 'Third Ufayor of Pouixlikccpsic. 156 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIB. g^reatest sight of all was the burning steeple. As the flames got hold of that they ascended with a rapidity that occupied but a few minutes until the red volume shot up beyond the ball and vane at the sum- mit, presenting a fearful column of fire ascending far up towards the clouds. Above and below all was flame and smoke for a short time ; but soon the lower timbers that supported the steeple were burned away, and then down came the loft}' spire with a tremen- dous crash, carrying what remained of the burning roof with it down to the interior of the church. There the mass of burning material was so great that the entire space inside the walls, which fortunately stood, seemed filled with flames until ten at night, although several streams of water were steadily pour- ed in by the engines." A number of the firemen were severely frost-bitten on this occasion and the piano-box engine No. 5, froze up solidly and went out of service. A few weeks later (Feb. 24th) the "Red Mills" on Smith Street were burned, — John R. Lent's plaster mill, David B. Lent's bedstead manufactory, and Sanford & Hull's machine shop, with some smaller buildings. The loss was estimated at $25,000. The present brick factory buildings at the head of Mill Street were erected soon afterwards. The most serious fire of the period, scarcely less serious than the great fire of 1836, described in Chap- ter VL broke out about 3 o'clock on the morning of July 24th, i860, in the stable attached to Ebenezer Gary's market. "In less than an hour the whole block bounded by Catherine, Main and Crannell Streets was in a blaze, and the buildings on the other side of the street were scorching and were only saved by almost miraculous exertions." It was a strenuous night for the firemen, for the Commercial Paint Works, a good sized building, just west of Pelton's factory on lower Mill Street, had burned the evening before, and the firemen had barely reached their homes when they were summoned to cope with the much greater fire on Main Street. Several buildings on Catherine and Crannell Streets as well as all those between were de- stroyed. Caleb Morgan owned four of the buildings burned, near Catherine Street, and his loss was put down as $10,000. Xathaniel Hill also owned four buildings, loss $5,000. Abraham \\'right three, loss $2,500. Andrus (!v Dudley, who had a furniture store in the block, lost $6,500.. Among others burned out were P). L. Hannah's Gazette printing office, John F. Coxhead, John W. Shields, N. Hill & Son's soap fac- tory and John P. Nelson. This fire resulted in an agitation for a steam fire engine, combatted by some of the conservative, who thought another hand engine would do as well. The hand engine proposition was voted down shortly be- fore the war, and April 22d, 1861, the taxpayers au- thorized an appropriation of $3,100 for a steamer by a vote of III to 4. The engine arrived in 1862 and was assigned to No. 4. It was of the rotary type and rather heavy, but still not too heavy to be dragged around with ropes by the sturdy firemen of the day. A second steamer, for Niagara No. 2, was purchased a few years later. New Churches and Charitabee Institutions. The present First Reformed Church was built soon after the fire on the same site and was dedicated September 7th, 1858. The tower, as originally built, was surmounted by a lofty spire, which remained un- til 1878, when it was condemned as unsafe and was taken down. The present Congregational Church was finished and dedicated June 5th, i860, and the old Congregational Church on the corner of Vassar and Mill Streets was sold for a Jewish synagogue, the Hebrews having maintained an organization here, un- der the name of "The Children of Israel" since 1848. The Church of the Hol\' Comforter was the result of meetings begun in the winter of 1854-1855, and re- vived in 1858 under the auspices of Christ Church. They were held in Shaw's Hall on Main Street, near the old No. 4 Engine House, and the attendance be- CJnmii of llic Holy Comforter before the Fences ' the Fallkill Iron Company and were torn down in 1850 when the "LTpper Furnace" was built. In the same neighborhood, near the foot of Hoffman Street, which then extended through to the river, were two cooperages, relics of whaling days, one conducted by the Lowns and the other liy Sleight & Paulding. .\n effort wa.^ made to revi\-c the project for a railroad to the eastward in 1855 and 1856, but it entered another long ])criod of rest after the panic of 1837. I'.efore the L'pper Furnace was built the local iron HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIB. industry went through a reorganization, caused by the failure of Edward Bech, who was a partner in the Cunard Steamship Company. The steamship busi- ness failed in the panic of 1857 but the local iron business remained sound and was taken over by Wil- liam A. Davies, James Emott and Charles W. Swift until matters were straightened out, when Albert E. Tower came into possession of a much larger inter- est. Judge Emott became the first president of the Fallkill Iron Company, which conducted the Upper Furnace until the consolidation. The Lower Furnace was abandoned in 1885 and scarcely a trace of it re- mains. An industry that was to become as far-famed as it was hoped that Poughkeepsie locomotives might be was just beginning at this time. John Adriance, whose name has several times already appeared in this history, had become interested in the recently in- vented mowing machines. He had been one of the partners in the old Dutchess Iron Works, and had begun to build a mowing machine called the "For- bush." In the fall of 1854 his son, John P. Adriance, who was a member of the wholesale hardware firm AVrf I\Iills JhiUdings. /'holographed about /SSo, of Sears, Adriance & Piatt in New York, became in- terested in the "Manny" mower and went for a few \ears to Worcester, Mass., where it was manufac- tured. In 1857 the firm purchased the right to make and sell, in their territory, a mower patented b}' Ault- man & Miller, of Canton, ( )hio, and in 1859 Mr. Ad- riance returned to Poughkeepsie and leased the Red Mills, newly rebuilt, for the manufacture of the Ad- riance Buckeye. Thomas S. lirown, who had become associated with Mr. Adriance in May, 1858, greatly impro\-ccl this mowing machine by his inventions and in 1864 the Red Mills property became ton small and (he present location, formerly a part of the Sonth- wick property, was purchased. The buildings were completed and occupied in 1865, as will appear in the next chapter. An important industry of this period was Louis Wiethan's piano factory, on Market Street. Mr. Wiethan's sales were largely in the south, and hig business was ruined by the war, though it was revived and carried on b}' his sons on Main Street. The large frame building on Market Street stood for many years as a tenement house, until it was torn down to make room for the Adriance Memorial Library. Ship-building at the Finch Ship-yard, foot of Dutchess Avenue, continued to flourish. The large steamboat "Reliance" was built there in 1854, the fast schooner, Matthew Vassar, Jr., in 1855-56 and the schooner O. H. Booth soon afterwards. Finch sold the yard to Charles Murphy in 1859, and removed to Bull's Ferry, and George Polk set up ways on the brewery property in partnership with Oliver H. Booth, and constructed a considerable number of vessels there. The propeller Joseph H. Barnard, was built just before the war, and was finally sold to some al- leged Cubans or Spaniards. The government sus- pected that she was wanted by the Confederates and she got to sea only after considerable difficulty. Charles Murph}', who purchased the old Finch ship- yard, made little use of it, and soon sold the ways. He owned considerable property in the neighborhood, including most of the old Whale Dock. The lime kilns, remains of which may still be seen on the north side of Dutchess Avenue, were conducted bj' him. During this period Charles Crook & Co. (Charles Crook and James Collingwood) were running the pro- pellor "Sherman" twice a week from the Lower Landing to New York, while the barge "Exchange" was run from Main Street, and the barge "Re- public" from the Upper Landing. The steamboat "Dutchess" succeeded the "Exchange" at Main Street not long before the war. The wagon and carriage manufacturing business was carried on b}' a number of firms, chief among whom were Streit & Lockwood, 426, 428 and 4283/ Main Street; Brooks & Marshall. 401 and 403 Main Street, and John \\'. Frederick. The latter advertised in Underhill's directory for 1857. "The largest and old- est establishment of the kind in Dutchess County," on Main Street, near Vassar Street. This was the same factory which, after the war, was conducted for a time liy G. C. Burnap, who built the Atwater House opposite Springside.' Hannah & Storm, 423, 425 iBuriiap was a retired mamifacturer, and purchased the pnipcrly known as "W'oodside" in 1856. ALBERT TOWER. 160 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIB and 427 Main Street, advertised in 1859 as "Silver and electro platers, manufacturers of carriage and sad- dlery^ hardware, brass and silver carriage bands, hick- ory spokes, felloes, seat spindles, &c." Among present enterprises established before the war may be mentioned the brewery of V. Frank's Sons, which dates from 1858 and is to-day the only survivor of the once great Poughkeepsie brewing in- dustry. At the time of its establishment there were several small breweries, as well as the great Vassar establishment, all doing apparently a good business. advertised the opening of their "new store," 328 Main Street, mentioning Charles P. Luckey as a partner, and also all their salesmen, "Daniel Jones, Benja- min M. Vail, Spencer C. Doty, Frank E. Whipple." This firm, the predecessor of Luckey, Piatt & Co., had been located at 245 Main Street, in the Brewster Block, and on moving to its new quarters tore out the old front, with its folding shutters, and put in the first plate glass show windows in town. Down to this time the general aspect of Main Street was much like that of the average village business street. Almost Main Slrcct in 1S60, looking West from above the corner oj Liberty and Garden Streets. Manv men, afterward prominent, began their careers as clerks about the time of the incorporation of the city, or soon afterward. Charles P. Luckey, J. DuBois Carpenter, William T. Reynolds, James H. Ward and Edmund P. Piatt were among them. The leading advertisers in the Baglc in i860 were the drug- gists. Van Valkenburgh & Coffin, James G. Wood & Co., and Morgan L. Farnum ; the dry goods firms, W. S. & W. H. Crosby, and Robert Slee & Co. ; and W. PI. Tallmadge, hardware. Mr. Tallmadge adver- tised "The oldest established house in the city," 260 ?ilain Street. Robert Slee & Co., in the spring of i860. all the store floors were up at least two steps from the sidewalk, the windows were of small panes, and the only two continuous rows of brick stores were the Brewster Block, built in 1830, and the block west of Academy Street in the district burned in 1836. Ex- cept in these two blocks most of the stores had been originally houses. Thomas L. Davies, one of the rich- est men in town, had lived on Main Street until 1853, when he sold his house to William A. Van Kleeck and moved to Mansion Square. The Main Street house retained its flights of steps fcjr a long time after it was converted into a hat store. Most of the brick build- HISTORY OP POUGHKBBPSIB 161 ings on the street were but two stories and a half high. Farmers' teams, hitched to posts, Hned the street dur- ing busy seasons, and droves of sheep and cattle going to and from the river were not unusual. Besides the firms alread)' mentioned, other promi- nent advertisers in i860 were George M. Van Kleeck, 310 and 312 Main Street, on the second floor of which the Eagle was printed until it was burned out in 1862 ; George H. Beattys, 254 Main Street, Edwin J. Wilber, 302 Main Street, dr>- good,-^ ; J. Bowne & Co., 318 Main Street, and Broas Brothers, 314 Main Street, carpets; Payne & Fowler, 339 Main Street, and F. S. Phinney, 267 Main Street, drugs ; Stephen Uhl, 279 Main Street, hardware ; J. Ransom, 330 Main Street, crock- ery and glassware ; William Frost & Son, corner Main and Garden Streets, Daniels, Briggs & DuBois, 268 Main Street, stoves and tinware ; Trowbridge & Wilk- inson, 321 Main Street, "Fanners' Store;" James Col- lingwood, Lower Landing, coal and lumber; Rieden- ger & Cairc, pottery ; S. Cleveland, 255 Main Street, books and musical instruments ; Stephen H. Bogardus, ■'nearly opposite the Gregor)' House," harness, sad- dles, etc. ; Overbaugh & Stanton, sporting goods ; Boyd & Wiltsie, leather bells, etc. ; J. H. Dobbs, mer- chant tailor, and George T. Brown, clothier. A few grocers, including John W. Dean & Son (cor. Bridge Street), John McLean, (next west of Poughkeepsie Hotel), Lemuel J. Hopkins and John W. Miller, were advertising occasionally. James Smith & Son, 1 1 and 18 Market Street, announced that they had "lately gone to a great expense in fitting up a large Dining Saloon in their new building lately erected for a first class confectionery." This marks the beginning, in its present location, of the long famous "Smith's Restau- rant," but not the beginning of the business, which was a number of 3ears earlier. The list of business men may be completed by con- sulting the directory for 1859-60, in which the leading advertisers were David S. Mallory, 359 Main; Andrus & Dudley, 351 Main, furniture; R. S. Forster, 215 Main, soda and mineral waters; Palmer & Budd, 347 Main, stoves; Joseph E. Allen, cor. Academy, stoves ; Dudley & Thompson, foot of Main Street, coal and lumber; A'an KIccck & Knickerbocker, "next north of Dudle\' & Thompson's lumber yard," box manu- facturers ; S. L. W^alker, corner Main and Garden Streets, "Poughkeepsie Gallery of Art," or "Daguer- rian Gallery:" J. S. Atkins, 321; Main, ice cream, o\-sters, etc.; William C. Arnold, Upper Landing, lum- ber; William B. \Vest, "opposite Gregory House," hardware; P. S. Rowland, 211 Main, "city bakery;' Joseph W. Gerow & Co., 10 Garden, George \V lial- liwell, 290 Main, Adam Henderson, corner of Main St. and South Avenue, Lewis C. Hammond, 283 Main, and F. F. Quintard, 7 Liberty, jewelers; Henry A. Reed, 255 Main, books and stationery ; Liberty Hyde, 295 Main, Plelms & Peters, 8 Garden, Charles Anthes, 274 Main, S. B. Reckard, 324 Main, S. Shultz, 290 Main, boots and shoes ;i Thomas Platto, South Hamil- ton, near Main, blacksmith and dealer in lightning rods ; Adam Robson, 204 Main, blacksmith ; William H. Barry, cor. Main and Garden, book bindery ; P. A. Joy, near H. R. R. R. depot, stone cutter ; William Shields, 381 Main, painter; James Mulrein, South Avenue, plumber ; Joseph H. Cogswell, 236 Main, agent for Rochester nurseries ; John R. Lent, Red Mills, plaster, flour and feed ; Hiram Haight, auc- tioneer ; L. M. Arnold, 374 Main, A. J. Coffin & Co., Mill, corner Delafield, I. H. Coller, 420, 422, 424 Main, iron foundries ; C. H. & William Sedgewick, 157. 159 Main; J. & J. Ogden, G. Sanford, Red Mills, machine shops ; E. O. Flagler, "Director of Music at the Presbyterian Church," teacher of organ and piano, residence 40 N. Clover ; E. C. An- drus, S. Clover, teacher of vocal music ; Henry C. Miller, D. Bartlett, Solomon V. Frost, insurance ; Simpson & Beesmer, coal, Southwick's dock ; Gregory House, T. Gregory ; The Poughkeepsie Hotel, John H. Rutzer; Northern Hotel, Isaac L Balding; Forbus House, E. P. Taylor ; Fowler House, cor. Main and Washington, George P. Fowler. Among the dentists advertising were Charles H. Roberts, 254 Main, J. A. Jillson, 328 Main, A. Clark, 332 Main, "over J. Bart- Ictt's bakery," A. Fonda, 265 Main. Farrington & Co., 266 Main Street, advertised crockery, etc., in the 1857 -directory, and Carpenter & Brother (successors to Leonard Carpenter), advertised groceries at 320 Main Street. James Blanchard, Underwood & Son, N. H. Canfield, Wright & Irish, R. E. Adriance & Co., and Thomas Clegg were among grocers advertising in i860. James T. Hill, 20 Catharine Street, Anna- bury & Seaman, 6 Union Street, were the advertising liverymen. D. Scott & Co.'s soap and candle factory was run- ning in 1859 at its present location, corner of T\'Iill and Bayeaux Streets, but the building had been used not long before as a public school. At about the same time the old factory building in the same neighborhood was used as a chair factory by \\'est & Depcw. The Bartlett Piakery, which hatl been started as a bakery of "pilot bread" near the river in whaling days, was at this time at 332 Main Street, the bakerx- in the rear iTIicre arc nine other 1)oot and slioe dealers named in the directory liut not ad\ ortisint;-. They inchided W. A. Candec, J5S Main; and there were also nineteen persons classed as "Boot and Shoe Mannfactnrers." HV2 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. at the present location, but it was not exclusively de- voted to the production of crackers until after the war. Joseph O. Bartlett lived over the store, and it was there that his daughter married Otis Bisbee. Bank presidents and cashiers in 1859-60 were: Bank of Poughkeepsie, Thomas L. Davies, president, Reuben North, cashier; Fallkill Bank, William C. Sterling, president, John F. Hull, cashier; Farmers' and Manufacturers' Bank, William A. Davies, presi- dent, Fred W. Davis, cashier; Merchants' Bank, James Emott, president, Joseph C. Harris, cashier; Savings Bank, John B. Forbus, president, Josiah I. Underbill, treasurer. The City Bank was organized March 3rd, i860, with John P. H. Tallman, Joseph F. Barnard, gamyel panics were to be found in many places, but nearly all of them failed, as did the Poughkeepsie Mutual, because of the difficulty of collecting assessments whenever losses were unusually heavy. The Dutch- ess Mutual had the support of strong men and was long under the presidency of James Emott, the elder, but it had its times of depression, before its reorganiza- tion as a stock company, as told in the excellent sketch to be found in the Appendix. Its present building was purchased in 1855, and has recently been much enlarged by an addition in the rear. Among persons of wealth and prominence who came to Poughkeepsie during this period, because of its attractions as a place of residence, were Henry L. Young, John de Peyster Douw and Robert Sanford. w^BB^^^B^^Kj^SSK^Mfl^^St^^^^^^^KS^^^^ & i^ ' WItii " R ^ ;>i'-ii::ij3_..^.:^:-^;: ^S" ^nn ■ . - 1 - Dutchess jVictiial Itisurancc Company. Matthews, George Lamoree, Christopher Hughes, Milton Ham, Moses G. Sands, Nicholas Strippel, Wil- liam R. Schell, Ambrose Mygatt, Wilson I!. Sheldon, David D. Vincent, Benjamin Hopkins, John Brill, Benjamin Halstead, William Doughty and C. A. \^an Valkenburgh as the first directors. Joseph F. Bar- nard was the first president and John T. Bjankcr the first cashier. (Further particulars about both this bank and the Poughkeepsie Bank are to be found in the sketch of The Poughkeepsie Trust Company, in the .Appendix). There were Iwu insurance companies at this time in Pougbkccpsie, the. Old Dutchess Mutual, the organ- ization of which was noted on page 115, and The Poughkeepsie Mutual. The office of the latter was at No. ij Garden Street, in charge of S. B. Dutton, secretary. -\t that time nnilual fire insurance com- Mr. Young's purchase of the Van Wagenen place on South Hamilton Street has already been mentioned. Mr. Douw' was of a distinguished Albany family, sev- eral of his ancestors having been mayors of that city. He came to Poughkeepsie in 1854 and rented from George B. Lent the property now owned by Robert Sanford, who purchased it a few years later, soon after Col. Douw moved to North Avenue. Mr. Sanford was a son of Hon. Nathan Sanford, one of the most prominent men in the State, and the successor of James Kent as Chancellor. Schools — Tin-; L.vw School and Eastman Collkgg. The removal of the State and National Law School to Poughkeepsie in December, 1852, has already been briefly mentioned. John W. Fowler, the president of 'See -Appeiulix for Ijiographical skclcli. ROBERT SANFORD. (Scv Appendix for biographical sketch. HISTORY OF POUGHKHUPSIB. 165 the institution, had been the first lecturer in the Ly- ceum course in 1852-1853, and spoke for two hours, "but who on Frida}' evening noted tinie,'' says the Press report of the lecture, "The man revels in the richness of fancy. There is no effort, the thoughts flow upon him eager for the drapery of his eloquence." Those were the days of oratory and "fine writing,'' and though Mr. Fowler was undoubtedl}' a man of much ability, some of the people who remember him de- scribe him as a very pompous personage who wore a much-padded coat. In his circular letter announcing the removal of the school to Poughkeepsie, Mr. Fowler says that the people had promised to raise funds to place the insti- tution on a "high and permanent basis," and to in- crease the library, "with the privilege of constant ac- cess by the students to a choice miscellaneous list of 4,000 volumes, in the same building where the school will be conducted." He adds "The village to which we have removed is much larger and more pleasant than Eallston, containing six or eight flourishing Liter- ary Institutions, of which four are Female Semin- aries." There was indeed an attraction worth men- tioning. In reference to these six or eight Literary Institu- tions I find the following schools advertised in Under- bill's directory for 1856-7 : The Dutchess County Acad- emy, ^^'illiam McGeorge, principal ; The Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute, corner of Mill and Cath- erine Streets, C. H. P. McLellan, principal ; Cottage Hill Seminary for Young Ladies, Prof. M. P. Jewett, A. M.. principal ; Bisbee's High School for boys, cor- ner of I\Iill and Hamilton Streets ; Mansion Square Fe- male Institute, corner of Mansion and Catherine Streets "adjoining 'Primrose Green' or 'Brookside,' " Mrs. H. W. Bliven, principal. The same schools ap- pear in the directory for i860, with the exception of Bisbee's. The Female Collegiate Institute had in the meantime doubled the size of its building. Otis Bis- bee had come to Poughkeepsie several years before to teach for Charles Bartlett, on College Hill, and had also taught for Eliphaz Fay before starting a school of his own. In 1857, when Mr. Bartlett died, Mr. Bis- bee sold his school on Hamilton Street to George \Y . McLellan, and went into partnership with Charles B. Warring to conduct the College Hill school. Mr. McLellan soon afterwards gave up the school started by Mr. Bisbee, and became the first principal of the "Free Academy," or High School, opened about 1859 in the old Church Street School building. G. IM. VVilber was at this time principal of the grammar school on Mill Street, with Hannah Camach as first assistant. David E. Bartlett was conducting a school for deaf mutes, in 1859-60, at what is now the Bech place, north of Poughkeepsie, the present house in- cluding part of the former school building. "The school," sa)s the advertisement, "consists of two depart- ments ; one for deaf mute children, the other hearing and speaking children — particularly brothers and sis- ters of the little deaf mutes whose parents wish them associated in education." There was hardly demand enough for such a school to make it a permanent success. The Poughkeepsie Female Academy was not ad- vertising at this time. Jacob C. Tooker died in 1856 and the school was conducted by his widow until 1859, when it came into the control of Rev. D. G. Wright, Rhv. D. G. WRIGHT. for a long time one of the notable school proprietors and teachers of the city. The Law School expanded greatly during the years before the war, and many of its students were from the South. Among its distinguished graduates was L. B. McEnery, one of the present United States Senators from I,ouisiana. Other prominent graduates were Hon. B. F. Hanchette, of \Msconsin, Judge George Van Hocsen, of New York, Col. Clark E. Carr, of Illinois, I-Ion. B. Piatt Carpenter, Hon. Edward Els- worth, Hon. Mark D. Wilber and Robert Sanford, of Poughkeepsie. Judge Conkling, of Utica, father of Roscoc Conkling, and Judge Henry Booth, of Chi- cago, were among the professors of Common Law and Practice, and Alatthew Hale was one of the pro- fessors of Pleadings, Evidence and Code Practice. When Abraham Tomlinson decamped with most of Kitj HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE the collection of curios and documents that had con- stituted "The Poughkeepsie Museum," the Law School added his rooms in the Library Building to those al- ready occupied. I have seen no record to show just when Tomlinson left. He was still here in 1855 when he published "The Military Journal of Two Private Soldiers — 1758-1775," with a partial catalogue of ar- ticles and manuscripts in the museum. Apparently the first magic lantern shows in Poughkeepsie were given b)' him about 1852. His institution was con- sidered of so much educational value that the board of supervisors was once urged to make an appropria- tion to enable him to preserve "the relics of the county, about many of which cluster so man)' historical asso- ciations." He did "preserve" some of these relics, taking them all away with him, even the documents and articles loaned to him. When the beginning of the war crippled the State and National Law School a still more important edu- cational institution was already started in the same building. Harvey G. Eastman, born at Marshall, Oneida County, in 1832, had been a teacher in a commercial school conducted by his uncle at Roches- ter, and the proprietor of schools founded by himself in Oswego, N. Y., and St. Louis. Mo., before the reputation of Poughkeepsie as an educational centre induced him to try his fortune here. His advertising elsewhere had been so extensive, before he had ar- rived here, that Postmaster George P. Pelton was in much wonderment at the great pile of letters that had accumulated for a man totally unknown. In October, 1859, Mr. Eastman inserted the following advertise- ment, four inches single column, in the Poughkeepsie papers : NOTICE TO Parents and Guardians Circulars of the Commercial College which will open in the Library Building in this city, on Wednesday, Nov. Znd, can be had at the Bookstores, News Rooms and this oflflce. This College has been established at Oswego, N. Y and St. Louis. Mo., for eight years, and we ask the atten- tion of citizens to the report of prominent men. Lecturers and patrons given in the Circular It will be open for both Ladies and Gentle.men. es- tablished as a permanent School of instruction in the prac- tical and useful arts of life. A new system of Instruction will be introduced into the Bookkeeping and Penmanship department, comlnning Theory and Practice. MR EA.STMAN will give his undivided attention tn this College, and his published \VorUs on Booklcccping, Success in Business, Money and T-ife, &c., may be had at the College Oflicc in the Library Building, after Nov. 2ti(1. Young men (rom abroad will address, for Pamphlets and Circulars H. G. EASTMAN, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Mr. Eastman's enterprise started on a very small scale in a room which he had rented for 75 cents a week. Andrew Houston, of Bellevale, Orange County, was the first student, and in November, 1890, he visited the college and told the students his experi- ence.' When he first came here with his father in the fall of 1859, ^i^'i enquired for Eastman College, no one had heard of such an institution, but b}' good fortune they happened to meet Mr. Eastman at the Poughkeep- sie Hotel, where they had gone for dinner. Houston describes the room in which the "College" began as "in what was then the Library Building on Vassar Street. This room was approached through a long, dark alley, running between the Library Building and the Jewish Synagogue." His meinory is certainly at fault here, for there was no "Library Building" on Vassar Street, nor was there any "long, dark alley' between the Jewish Synagogue and the next building. For three days Houston worked alone with Mr. East- man as the sole instructor, "then Prof. George Fred Davis came in with another student by the name of George L. Root, of Oneida County * ■' =^ and in about a month the college numbered some twenty students." Mr. Eastman was a man of great ability and en- ergy, full of enthusiasm for whatever he under- took, an enthusiasm that was contagious. He was a very clever and liberal advertiser, and in his scheme of teaching by actual business operations, using notes, bills and a fractional currency of some real value, he had an idea worth developing — it was the beginning of the educational idea we have recently been hearing much of under the title, "Learning by doing." One of his chief advertising plans from the start was to bring to the college men of the highest reputation as lecturers, and in fact he had been virtually com- pelled to leave St. Louis because his lecture course there included several anti-slavery agitators, such as Joshua R. Giddings, Gerritt Smith, Charles Sumner and Elihu Burritt. In the spring of i860 he left his small rooms in the Library- Building and opened the scliool in the old Congregational Church, corner of Mill and Vassar Streets. Founding of Vassar Coli^egi;. In previous chapters something has been shown of the rise of Matthew Vassar to the possession of a fortune. He was one of the few men, actively inter- ested in the enterprises before 1837, who was not ruined by the panic. In fact he was in a position to purchase at his own figures what others were com- iThc Eastman Journal, December, 1890. HISTORY OP POUGHKBBPSin. 167 pelled to part with, and a considerable part of his fortune was made by taking advantage of such op- portunities. Though a hard-headed, shrewd bargainer he was more than a mere money maker, and from the beginning of his prosperity became a liberal con- tributor to the Baptist Church and various local char- itable enterprises. Having no children he began at a comparatively early age to consider plans for leaving most of his fortune to found some institution. In April, 1845, leaving his business to the management of his nephews, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, he sailed for England in the packet ship North- umberland and remained abroad nearly three years, with Cyrus Swan as guide and travelling companion.^ Mr. Lossing relates that among the sights visited in London was a great hospital erected by Thomas Guy, a distant relative of the Vassars, and from this Mr. Vassar formed the idea of building a similar hospital in Poughkeepsic. The changing of this idea in favor of an institution for the education of women has been credited partly to Miss Lydia Booth, his step-niece, who, as has been stated, was long a successful teacher and school proprietor in Poughkeepsic, and partly to Milo P. Jcwett. Mr. \'assar owned "Cottage Hill," in Garden Street, while Miss Booth's school was there, and sold it in 1855 to Dr. Jcwett. The Vassar College germ may have been planted and nourished by those two, but Mr. X'assar certainly furnished a con- genial medium for its growth. He was considerably interested in educational matters long before Dr. Jcw- ett came to Poughkeepsic, as the following letter to Mr. Howland R. Sherman, of Poughkeepsie, Member of Assembly in 1851, shows: PouGiiKEEPSiiv, March loth, 1851. Howland R. Siihrman, ESq. Dear Sir : I understand a bill has been unanimously reported in your house (Assembly) by the Committee on Edu- cation to appropriate $50,000 to the University of Rochester, and as I am one of its earliest friends, and intend, at some future day, to extend my subscription I avail ni\self of the present opportunity to say that in my humble opinion the Rochester University as a matter of simple justice to Western New York, is en- titled to receive of the State appropriations for col- leges her share of the public funds. You may not be avvarc, perhaps, that in no instance in educational en- terprises of our State have any schemes been more liberalh- and promptly responded to by private con- tributions of the citizens than this institution, and if T mistake not the subscriptions amount already to some $150,000 — to accomplish their whole plan will require about $75,000 more, and it would be a serious loss i"V,i-<-^ar College and Its Founder" contains a detailed account of the trip to the entire State should it now fail for the want of a timely and generous support of the present Leg- islature. Will you and our friends, Messrs. Teller and Robinson, examine into the merits and claims of the institution and give it such support as it is justly entitled to as a great public measure. With my best regards to you and each of our re- spected representatives, I subscribe myself, Yout Obedient Servant, M. VASSAR. Howland R. Sherman, Wm. B. Teller, Ch. Robinson, / Esqrs., ( Alban\'. Doubtless Dr. Jewett was instrumental in fostering the idea of a real college for women, "an institution that should be to their sex what Yale and Harvard are to our own." Several "Ladies' Collegiate Insti- tutes" had already been founded in various parts of the country, and Mr. Vassar soon perceived that the time was ripe for something better. He sought the advice of some of the leading educators of the coun- try, and Thomas A. Tefift, an eminent school architect, was asked to prepare plans for buildings to accommo- date four hundred pupils. This appears to have been in 1856, according to ]\lr. Lossing, but it was not until the spring of i860 that Mr. Vassar finally deter- mined to proceed with the work. Dr. Jewett sold the Cottage Hill property at the close of the summer terin, that he might give his whole time to the plans for the ]5roposed college. A charter was drawn up by C\tus Swan, and was passed by the Legislature Januar}' i8th, i86r, beginning as follows : Si%CTiON I. Matthew Vassar, Ira Harris, \\'illiam Kelly, James Harper, Martin B. Anderson, John Thompson, Edward Lathrop, Charles \\". Swift, E. L. Magoon, S. M. Buckingham, Milo P. Jewett, Nathan r.ishop, Matthew Vassar, Jr., Benson J. Lossing, E. G. Robinson, Samuel F. B. Morse, S. S. Constant, John Guy Vassar, William Hague, Rufus Babcock, Cornelius DuBois, John H. Raymond. Morgan L. Smith, Cyrus Swan, George ^^'. Sterling, George T. Pierce, Smith Sheldon, Joseph C. Doughty, and A. L. -Mien, are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the name of "\'assar Female College," to be located in Dutchess County, near the city of Poughkeepsie. Bv that name the said corporation shall have perpetual succession, with power to fill vacancies, etc. The college charter, we are told, attracted the greatest attention, and the legislative reporters of the principal daily newspapers "sent abroad from the Capi- tol the most glowing details of the novel and magnifi- cent enterprise." John H. Ketcham was our represen- tative in the Senate, and John B. Dutcher and Samuel J. Farnum were the Dutchess County IMembers of As- sembly. The bill went through both houses in ad- vance of others and was "the first or second bill of that 16S HISTORY OF POUGHKEHPSIB session that received the signature of the Governor, Edwin D. Morgan." Of the twent3'-eight persons chosen by Mr. Vassar as the first trustees, Mr. Lossing says, "One-half of them were his fellow-townsmen ; and it so happened that a majority of them were Baptists, some of whom were leading clergymen and public educators of that denomination. This was an accidental result of his choice, occurring because Mr. Vassar's principal as- sociates among men of learning were of that branch of the Christian Church." The board of trustees was organized February 26th, 1861, at a meeting held at the Gregory House, with Hon. William Kelly, of Rhinebeck, who had been Democratic candidate for Governor against Edwin D. Morgan, chairman. Mr. \'assar formally turned over to the trustees a box con- taining $400,000 in securities, including a deed for two hundred acres of land as a site for the college, and made a memorable statement of his plans, in which he used the words which Hon. George William Curtis said at the twenty-fifth anniversary, "might well be carved in gold over the entrance to Vassar College." "It occurred to me that woman, having received from her Creator the same intellectual constitution as 'man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development." The funds were placed in the hands of Matthew Vassar Jr., who was elected treasurer, and Milo P. Jewett was chosen the first president. Newspaper ac- counts show that the plans were pretty thoroughly matured, not only for the buildings, but also for the equipment. Plans for the main building, drawn by James Renwick, Jr.,' architect of the Smithsonian In- stitute, Washington, were before the trustees at their organization and were accepted. An executive commit- tee, Charles W. Swift, Matthew Vassar, Cornelius Du Bois, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and Cyrus Swan, was appointed, and also committees on "faculty and stud- ies," "library," "cabinet and apparatus," "art gallery," etc. Contracts were soon entered into with Mr. Ren- wick and with William Harloe, of Poughkeepsie, for the erection of the buildings. The site had been se- lected, Mr. Lossing tells us, after due consideration of the advantages of a location on the banks of the river. The level section of the college grounds, ad- joining the highway (Raymond y\ venue), was once the Dutchess County Race Course. Mr. A^assar formally "broke ground" June 4th, 1861, and the spade full of earth he lifted is preserved in the college museum. This was just at the begin- ning of the civil war, which caused a great deprecia- iMr. Tefft, the first architect selected, had died in Europe. tion in the value of the securities of the college and also caused a great rise in the price of building ma- terials and labor, but at the close of the war the se- curities had risen again and the endowment fund was intact. Mr. Harloe, the contractor, however, was not so fortunate, and though the contract was finally taken off his hands without enforcement of penalty, he claim- ed to have lost $30,000. The main building was fin- ished at the close of the war, but had been long in construction because of the extraordinary precautions to ensure a substantial structure as nearly fire-proof as the architects of the day could make it. Brick parti- tions were carried to the roof and it was required that the walls should stand a certain length of time to set- tle. The observatory was finished at about the same time as the main building, and the riding school or gymnasium (now the museum) a few months later. Sports — Base Bai,!,, laj Yachting. It has been stated that a part of the Vassar College grounds were once the Dutchess County Race Course. The track had been in that locality since 1798"^ at least, but there is said to have been an older race course on Main Street. In the days of running races, before trotting came into vogue, there was probably more interest in horses among Poughkeepsians than there is now, though I think the town was never as thoroughly devoted to this form of sport as some other places. There were some famous races, however, on the old track. Poughkeepsie has been chiefly noted, in the sport- ing line, as a centre of rowing and ice yachting. The ice \'acht, in fact, first came into existence here as a racing craft, and was made known to the world through the reports of the early races of the Pough- keepsie Ice Yacht Club. Zadock Southwick is said to have built the first ice boat not long after he came here (1807), but there is no evidence that the sport was of much consequence until just before the war. The first boats were set upon skates for runners and were small, clumsy affairs, the principal frame work being a triangle of 13 foot joists with a centre timber into which the mast was stepped. The Vassar Brcw- erj- office was the club house where all the river sportsmen gathered to discuss matters and partake of Mr. Booth's specially brewed ale. About 1858 the possibilities of the development of the skate-boats was under consideration among the brewery coterie, and experiments of various kinds were tried with steel runners, heavy and light centre timbers and various cuts of sails. George Polk and Jacob Buckhout were 'See 1798 map, frontispiece. MATTHEW YASSAR. 170 HISTORY OF ROUGH KEEPSIE. among the men who worked out the plans, and the lat- ter became the creator of the modern ice yacht. The Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club was organized in 1861, the charter members being Oliver H. Booth, Aaron Innis, John A. Roosevelt, Theodore V. Johnston, Theo- dore Van Kleeck, William C. Arnold, Hudson Ta}'- lor, H. G. Eastman, J. E. Buckhout, Walter Van Kleeck, Henry S. Frost, John R. Stuyvesant. This OLIVER H. BOOTH. ap])arently was the first formal organization of the sport, and it was onl)- after this organization that items appear in the newspapers about ice yachts, except very rarely. Ice yachting in the early days was not particularly expensive, but as the rivalry created by the races stimulated improvements, the expenses naturally in- creased. The .sport has been at its best on an average only two or three weeks each wintt'r, liut Poughkeep- sie is a better location for it than many places further north because winter rains and thaws can gen- erally be depended upon to remove snow from the river. Down to a recent periotl all local races were held in front of the city, but with the ach-ent of a more powerful ferry, keeping an open track, the headquar- ters were transferred first to John A. Roosevelt's, about three miles north, and then to Hyde Park. The leading rivals in the period of the Poughkeepsie Club's supremacy were John A. Roosevelt and Aaron Innis, whose "Icicle" and "Haze," as remodelled after the "Robert Scott" about 1884, have not been very greatly improved upon. Most of the same men who formed the first ice- yacht club were interested in rowing, which had been a popular means of recreation at Poughkeepsie for many years. Before 1837 there was a local four- oared crew known as the Washingtons, who entered races with Newburgh and other river towns, and at- tracted considerable newspaper notice. Large crowds attended these races, which seem to have been of a semi-professional nature. There were a good many amateur scrub races, purel}- for fun, during the period just before and just after the war. Interest in rowing was greatly stimulated in i860 by a two-days regatta held at Poughkeepsie, Sept. 5th and 6th. Arrangements for this event Avere started at a public meeting held at the City Hall August 4th, at which Samuel J. Farnuni presided. The following ward committees were appointed to solicit funds : First Ward — Nelson J. Pardee, S. J. Farnum ; Second Ward— James T. Hill, C. C. Hofif; Third Ward— Wil- liam .V. Fanning, John R. Cooper; Fourth Ward — Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings), Edward Post. There were all sorts of events at the regatta, singde and double scull races, fours and sixes. The course was five miles, two and a half miles u]) the river from I\aal Rock and return. "Josh" Ward was one of the lead- ing oarsmen and the favorite in single sculls, but was badly beaten. The great race of the first (kn- was the si.x-oared, in which Newburgh was entered against Poughkeepsie, and was beaten, in spite of the fact that Josh Ward rowed with Newburgh. The victor- ious Poughkeepsie crew was : William Stevens, John Best, Ezekiel Beneway, Homer Wooden, Daniel LeRoy and Madison Eagan. The time was ;>,2 :4o. The four- oared race, the second day, again occasioned great ex- citement. Three crews were entered, representing Poughkee])sie, Newburgh and Brooklyn. The Pough- keepsie crew, which won in 32: 10, was Homer Wooden, William Stevens, Ezekiel Beneway and John Best, and the Newburgh crew, Dennis Leary, John Biglin, James Biglin and Bernard Biglin. called the Biglm crew. Thousands of people came to Poughkeepsie to see this regatta, and the £(7.;'/c said of it : "One day with its excitements would do \'ery well, but two days for a quiet town like Poughkeepsie was rather too much." The Poughkeepsie crews had been organized chiefly from among men employed in the cooperages and were backed heavily 1))- local sportsmen. Ceorge Polk made for them the first spoon oars used at this place. The HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 171 four-oared crew at a later period rowed in a boat called "The Stranger,' and came to be known as "The Stranger Crew." The excitement of the i860 regatta, with its crowd of professional gamblers and toughs, was small indeed compared with that which at- tended the final race of "The Strangers," July i8th, 1865, with the Biglins, who then represented New York. The Poughkecpsie crew was the same as that at the i860 regatta, except that William Burger had taken the place of John Best. The course was the same, two and one-half miles and return, and the race was for a purse of $6,000 and the championship of America. According to newspaper accounts, this memorable event brought ten thousand people to Poughkecpsie, and as much as $100,000 was wagered on the result. The New York men led at the start, but on the home stretch the Poughkecpsie crew gained and at- tempted to pass them. Excitement ran high, and the Biglins steered their boat so as to head off the Stran- ger and so finished first. The Poughkecpsie crew and all who had money wagered upon its success claimed a foul, and the decision rested upon the referee, Charles Gausman, who with the judges, were driven at once to the Poughkecpsie ITotel and attempted to get into a room by themselves. The late Isaac H. Wood, last proprietor of the Exchange Plouse, was one of the judges. "As thev entered the room crowds of thugs and roughs pressed in after them, and they also crawled into the room through the windows. The apartment was packed to suffocation with as murderous a set of villains as the eye ever gazed upon, who at once be- gan to intimidate the referee, and pistols, knives and clubs were drawn. Joe Coburn, who was then a fa- mous prize fighter, had bet heavily on the Poughkecp- sie crew and shaking his ponderous fist at the referee and crowd yelled, 'I want a fair thing! You can't murder us here ! It is a fair foul and I can lick any of vou single handed !' There were cries of 'Shoot him!' 'Give up the money!' and even 'Fire the Hotel!' Gausman at length decided that the New Yorkers had won in 37 minutes 20 seconds, and barely escaped with his life, an experience shared by some of the stake holders. For two days and nights the cit\- was filled with desperate thieves and pickpockets, and the night before the race Thomas L. Davies' residence was robbed of $5,000 worth of jewelry. "^ The day after the race Stevens of the Poughkecpsie crew, while in a down-town saloon, knocked down and killed a man named Thomas DeMott, who had ac- cused him of selling tlie race. The hislor>' of this event illustrates well the rough- ness of the times. On every such occasion, and even at I Eagle, April 29, t886, many elections, the crowd owned the town, and drunkenness and street fights were more than common. The city police did not attain an efficiency sufficient to stop street fights until well into the '70s. Base ball as an organized sport began in Pough- kecpsie in 1859, when Joseph II. Cogswell came here as an agent of the Rochester nurseries. He had been a member of the "Flour City Ball Club," and pro- ceeded to form a similar club here. The Poughkecp- sie Base Ball Club, in strong contrast with the pres- ent clubs, appears to have been strictly an amateur or- ganization, perhaps the first amateur athletic club in the city, and comparable with the golf and tennis clubs of to-day. The members played ball for fun and ex- ercise, paid initiation fees and dues as at other clubs, and the rules provided for the choosing of sides as nearly equal as possible when enough members came upon the field for a game. A "first nine" was made up of the best players and occasionally met outside teams in match games. The first of these "first nines'' was as follows: A. F. Lindley, p., Edwin Marshall, c, T- H. Cogswell, 1st b., John Trowbridge, 2nd b., Aaron Innis, 3rd b., Edward Vincent, s. s., G. P. Lansing, 1. f., X. O. Chichester, c. f., S. H. Conklin, r. f. Other charter members of the club, as given in the interesting little pamphlet of "Constitution and By- Laws with Rules and Regulations," published by Os- borne & Killey in 1859, were James C. Aikin, George S. Brown, J. C. Babcock, B. S. Eroas, George H. Beattys, Wm. Collingwood, B. Piatt Carpenter, A. H. Champlin, Oscar A. Fowler, Morgan L. Farnum. James Haggerty, William Highet, J. A. Jillson, E. B. Killey, D. R. Norman, E. B. Osborne, George H. Parker, Charles Place, Charles C. Peters, John C. Pa\'ne, Henry W. Shaw, Edward Storm, C}'rus Swan Charles Towle, Isaac Tompkins, Hiram W. Wood, George S. Wilson and Charles H. S. Williams. The "Rules and Regulations" contain much that would interest base ball players, but it is enough to note here that the game was substantially the same as that of to-day, except that the ball was "pitched," not thrown to the batter, and a third strike or a foul was "out" if caught on the first bound. The base ball field was between Main and Cannon Streets, opposite where the power house of the electric street railroad now stands. The newspapers of i860 contain several reports of games played with Ncwburgh and other places. Politics Bufori; the War. When the great question of slavery became of paramount importance there was the same readjust- ment of political lines in Dutchess County as else- HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. where in the North. The "soft shell" Democrats first became the dominant faction and then lost many of their members to the new Republican party. The "hards" ceased to be important enough to support a newspaper in 1856, when the Democrat was consoli- dated with the Telegraph, Mr. Osborne forming a partnership with Egbert B. Killey, Jr. In 1852, how- ever, the county went Democratic by a small majority, Franklin Pierce obtaining 105 more votes than Gen- eral Winfield Scott, while Horatio Seymour for gov- ernor had a majority of 99. Gilbert Dean, a promi- nent Poughkeepsie lawyer, was elected to a second term in Congress at this time, but resigned in 1854, and was appointed to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court caused by the death of Seward Barculo, who had been a Justice in the second district since June 7th, 1847. Barculo was one of the great Poughkeep- sie lawyers, and was first elected county judge in 1845, in which office he was followed by Abraham Bockee. In 1854 when there were four party candidates for governor the vote of Dutchess was : Myron H. Clark (Whig) 3,411, Horatio Seymour ("soft" Dem.) 3,150, Daniel Ullman (American or "Know Nothing") 1,849, Green C. Bronson ("hard" Dem.) 724. Pough- keepsie city gave Clark 818, Seymour 532, Ullman 215 and Bronson 78. On Assemblymen the two Demo- cratic factions combined and elected their men, the Whig candidates being handicapped, as many persons thought, by their pledge to support a prohibitory liquor law. There was much more about prohibition in the newspapers of that day than there is now, but its ad- vocates were generally called "Maine Law" men. They had carried the Second Assemblv District in 1853, electing George W. Sterling to the Assembly. A big meeting for "Freedom and Prohibition" was held in the city hall in July, 1855. There were also some Abolitionists in Poughkeepsie, but I have seen no record to show that they had an organization. George W. Sterling was in full sympathy with them, and is generally credited with having been an officer of "the underground railroad." The Abolitionists had no local organ and were generally denounced by the party papers. Theodorus Gregory was one of the leading prohi- bition advocates of this time. For several years after his purchase of the Eastern House he conducted it as an ordinary countr}' tavern, selling liquor, and filling up with ■ gamblers on horse racing days. Then he was converted and became a temperance man. He was told that he could not run a hotel without a bar, but he decided to try and was successful. The old Eastern House burned in March, 1853, and the new building, finished in the spring of 1854, was opened as the Gregory House. It became, of course, the best hotel in the city, far surpassing the Forbus House and Poughkeepsie Hotel, but Mr. Gregory conducted it as a temperance house, and also had family prayers every day in the parlors, and grace before meals in the dining room. The hotel was sold after the war to George Morgan, and became the Morgan House. James Bowne was another leading temperance man. Some years before this time the old firm of Bowne & Trowbridge sold a great deal of liquor, and Mr. Bowne signalized his conversion by knocking in the heads of the rum barrels and spilling the contents into the gutter. In 1855 the Republican party was organized in Dutchess County and formally consolidated with the Whigs, the parties holding a joint convention at Emigh's Hotel, Washington Hollow, on the 17th of October. The Whig county committee was John H. Ketcham, Smith Cronk, J. A. Underbill, C. Swan, Ed- gar Thorn, Edwin Hall, Edward Hunting, D. C. Marshall and George W. Paine. Thirty-seven names were signed to the Republican call, headed- by A. J. Coffin, George Van Kleeck and Cornelius Du Bois. Most of the names seem to be those of former Whigs, though some were Free Soil Democrats. They in- cluded Isaac Tice, Wm. C. Southwick, L- M. Ar- nold, Aaron Frost, Wm. S. Morgan, John Thompson, Augustus L. Allen, Richard Kenworthy, Isaac Sisson, Stephen Baker, A. Van Kleeck, E. M. Swift, Henry W. Morris, James S. Post and Charles E. Bowne. In the fall of 1855 John H. Ketcham was first elected to the Assembly, and the Republicans were also successful in the 3rd district, electing Jacob B. Carpenter, but in the 2nd, including the city of Pough- keepsie, George Wilkinson was defeated by Daniel O. Ward, of Pleasant Valley. The presidential campaign of 1856 was a notable one in Poughkeepsie, on account of the great public meetings held on Forbus Hill. The Democrats held a great rally for Buchanan on October 1st, to which it is said fifteen steamboats ran excursions. Amasa J. Parker, candidate for gt)vernor, was the chief speaker. The crowd on this occasion, though large, is said to have been far eclipsed by the Fremont rally of the river counties on the i6th, at which Hon. Charles H. Ruggles presided. From 9 o'clock in the morning until after noon there was almost a continuous proces- sion of teams and of horsemen coming in from the country, "until the town was full," sa\-s the Eagle. The railroad, the steamers Oregon, from .\lbany. South America from Hudson, and Thomas Powell from Kcw York, added thousands. When the delecra- HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 173 tions from neighboring counties marched from the steamers, the horsemen from the country were drawn up in close order, facing the street, and extended from the Exchange House to Hamilton Street. There were 800 of them, it is said. In the great open field consti- tuting Forbus Hill four stands had been erected, and there was continuous speaking from each one for more than three hours. From the principal stand, around which there were seats, Senator Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, spoke for two and one-half hours, and was followed by Joseph Hoxie, of New York, for one hour. At the central stand, for which no seats had been provided. Governor Ford, of Ohio, spoke two hours, and Joseph Blunt, of New York, an hour and a half. At other stands there were five German speak- ers. The Rhinebeck Glee Club, the Albany Glee Club, Messrs. Sherwood and Cone, of Albany, and Mr. iVthcrton, of Poughkeepsie, furnished music. The county gave Fremont 5,512 votes, Buchanan 4,039, and Fillmore 2,013. John Thompson was elected to Con- gress, and John H. Ketcham returned to the Assem- bly, though by a majority of only one vote, over Al- bert Emans. The second district elected Franklin Dudk'}' to the Assembly. The city voted Fremont 1,120, Buchanan 656, and Fillmore 318. B. Piatt Car- penter began his political career soon after this, and ijecamc District Attorne}' in 1858, succeeding Silas W'odell. The Eagle contained many strong anti-slavery edi- torials at this time, and the "dough faces," as well as the "slaveocracy" were vigorously denounced. It was an ardent supporter of William H. Seward for the presidential nomination in i860, and Isaac Piatt, in a letter dated Chicago, May 26th, describes the methods b}' which Seward was defeated in the convention, and expresses his opinion of those who combined against him very freely, adding : "But while I feel bound to say these harsh things of the active enemies of Senator Seward, and feel that even more severe language would fail to do them jus- tice, it would be doing a great wrong to the majority of the convention if I failed to add that the choice fell upon the next licst man that could have been se- lected. The very last one whom the poltroons of 1 'cnnsylvania, and Indiana and the sneaks of New England — who could have rendered Mr. Seward's nomination certain had they been true — would have fallen back upon was Mr. Eincoln, had they had any- thing but Hobson's choice in the matter." The campaign of i860 was a memorable one everywhere, and not long after the nomination of Ein- coln and Hamlin, Republican marching clubs called "Wide Awakes' were organized all over the North. The Poughkeepsie club was organized in July with John Trowbridge president, William C. Arnold, C. C. lloff, James McKinney and J. W. Vincent vice- presidents ; George H. Beattys, recording secretary ; Davis Van Kleck, corresponding secretary, and John T. Banker, treasurer. Daniel H. Turner was elected captain at a subsequent meeting, and Robert E. Tay- lor lieutenant. There was also a Lincoln and Hamlin Club, of which J. V. W. Doty was president. The chief Democratic marching clubs were called "The Little Giants," from Stephen A. Douglas's favorite nickname. In Poughkeepsie Benjamin Atkins was their captain, and both he and Turner were officers in the Twenty-first Regiment. Party feeling ran so high that stones were sometimes thrown at the parad- ers in hostile wards, but the two captains were friends. The Wide Awakes had their headquarters in the base- ment under Rowland's bakery, opposite the end of Market Street, and it is related that on one occasion when the)' had just returned from a parade and were storing away their torches and capes, the order came to turn out again. They hurried up the steps, and there were the Little Giants coming down the street. Some of the boys thought there were prospects of a fight, but "Dan" Turner lined them all up along the curb, and as their opponents approached gave the order "Present torches," and then "Three cheers for Ben Atkins and the Little Giants!" The order was prompt- ly obeyed and the Little Giants returned the courtesy. After that it is said there was never any trouble be- tween the two organizations. Occasionally they would meet on parade, when one would open order and al- low the other to march between them, presenting torches. The Bell and Everett men also had a marching club which paraded around ringing a large bell obtained from one of the foundries. In general this campaign is described by those who remember it as the greatest on record, with something going on almost every day for several months. The Wide Awakes and Little Giants often visited other cities to take part in parades there The Republicans held a great meeting on Forbus Hill, October 19th, which was addressed in the after- noon for two hours by Hon. Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio. Gen. Thomas L. Davies presided at this meeting, and the vice-presidents were: Hon. Charles H. Ruggles, William C. Sterling, John G. Ilalstead, F. R. Johns'ton, J. \Veslcy Stark. Edward H. Simmons, Herrick Thornc, D. Lewis, James Winslow, Hon. Morgan Car- penter, George H. Knapp, James Ketcham, Hiram \'ail, Orson Graves. E. D. Sweet, C. \Miite. The sec- retaries were: .Alfred B. Smith, George Sweet, iU li 1 ST RY OF I'OUGFlKEEPSlU. George Lamoree, B. Piatt Carpenter, R. D. Cornell, and James McCarthy. I think this was the last great meeting on Forbus Hill. Grand Street had been laid out across it several years before and building was beginning to encroach on the neighborhood so long devoted to circuses, poli- tical rallies and military reviews. At one time, before the railroad was built, there was a lookout back of the Forbus House, on which observers were stationed to watch for the coming of steamboats, so that the hotel stage could leave for the landing without running the risk of long waits. Many stories are told about events which took place on Forbus Hill, but the ground has been so changed by grading and building that no one thinks of it now as a hill, apart from the general slope of the ground. The city in i860 was still to a considerable extent divided into sections, with stretches of open fields be- tween. The Upper Landing and the Lower Landing were rather isolated communities connected with the business section on the hill by a fringe of houses along Mill and Union Streets. Lower Main Street consisted of "Blakesleeville," on the flat between Bridge and Clover Streets, with only a few buildings immediately above. or below, except at the landing. Then there were the suburban settlements of Freartown, in the southern section, Boicetown, near the junction of Cherry Street and Hooker Avenue, and Leetown, af- terwards Bull's Head, now Arlington. Nor was For- bus Hill the only hill named. Christian Hill, near Pine Street, Crow Hill, South Hamilton Street, south of Montgomer}', and others were familiar to the people of the day, and arc still occasionally named. Many meetings were held throughout the county during this campaign, and the Poughkeepsie Republi- can speakers mentioned in the papers were John Thompson, William Wilkinson, Col. George Bisbee, J. Spencer \^an Cleef, Charles H. S. Williams and John L Piatt. This was Mr. Piatt's entrance into poli- tics, and was probabl}' not far from the first appear- ance on the stump of most of the others named, except Mr. Thompson and Mr. Wilkinson. Dutchess County gave Abraham Lincoln a majority of 692 over the Fusion (Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell) Democratic ticket, and in Poughkeepsie Lincoln carried the 2nd Ward by 182, the 3rd by 28 and the 4th by 139, the ist Ward alone going Democratic by ~,/. Stephen Baker, of Poughkeepsie, was elected to Congress. Occasionally an item like the following, Sept. 5th, 1857, attracts attention in the local papers: "Pfee-^ It is said that a colored man recently passed through this place on the underground railroad, having made his escape from slavery in a Southern State. He is probably now enjoying freedom in Canada, under the protection of the British Queen." On Aug. 29, 1857, the Eagle tells of the breaking of the first Atlantic cable "after having paid out suc- cessfully 335 nautical miles of cable, and the last 100 miles of it in water over two miles deep." In spite of the political agitation at home there was much interest in foreign news and the completion of the cable was awaited with eager anticipation. When it was ap- parently finished in 1858 all the bells in Poughkeepsie were rung in celebration of the event. Before the cable foreign news was always headed "Three days later from Europe," "Four days later from Europe," or whatever the interval was between steamers. After reading under this heading "There is nothing later from India" for several weeks, it is with something of a thrill that one reads on Nov. 28, 1857, "Gen. Have- lock with 2,500 men crossed the Ganges from Cawn- pore Sept. 19 and relieved Lucknow residency on the 25th, just as it was ready to be blown up by the be- siegers." When the city was incorporated, both the Eagle and the Telegraph had planned to issue dail}' papers, but ventures in that line had not been particularly suc- cessful. The first daily started had lasted but a short time, and the Press, without any well-established week- ly behind it, was struggling along with no very great profit to its publishers. The Telegraph tried the ex- periment of a daily edition for three weeks, beginning Nov. 28, 1854, and then gave it up, while the Eagle found in the financial depression of that year a suffi- cient reason for the abandonment of its plans. In i860, however, the city had a population of about 15,- 000, and the interest in public events, in the great is- sues which were soon to plunge the country into civil war, and in local matters, had greatly increased, and another daily was fully warranted. On Tuesday morn- ing, December 4th, Vol. i No. i of the Daily Eagle was issued. It bore the motto, "Neutral in nothing," and its strong editorials and excellent telegraphic ser- vice soon gave it a commanding position and an in- fluence that was more than local. The Daily Press, which had been a morning paper up to this time, soon changed to an afternoon paper, and so remained as long as it had a separate existence. CHAPTER IX. The Civil War — Early Meetings and Enlistments — The 128TH and 150TH Regiments — The 159TH Regiment and the Draft — Echoes of the Draft Riots — Home Events — Politics, Including THE Campaign of i860 — Eastman College — The Return of Prosperity — The Sanitary Fair. The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter was pub- lished on Saturday, April 13th, 1861, and there was intense excitement in Poughls:eepsie as well as else- where. The Uaglc issued "extras" which were eagerl)' snatched from the press on Saturday evening and again on Sunday. On the 15th President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers was published, and on the same day a small item recorded that "Matthew Vas- sar, Jr. has tendered his fast sailing schooner, The Matthew \'assar, Jr., to the United States govern- ment." On the i6th "Messrs. W. W. and J. Rey- nolds tendered to the government their substantial and well arranged steamer Reliance." Both of these offers were accepted. The Matthew Vassar, Jr. was one of Farragut's fleet of mortar boats at the taking of the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and the Reliance^ served as a gun boat in the llurnside expe- dition and also as a transport. The steamboats Dutchess from Main Street Landing and Sherman from the Lower Landing were also sold to the govern- ment, as were many other river steamers. April 17th there was a brief report in the local papers of a meeting of the 21st Regiment, with the statement, "We have ascertained that there are one liundred volunteers ready to answer the government's call." Loj-al citizens ever\ where began to displa}' the flag in front of their homes and places of business, and we read that "political feelings are fast disappear- ing in this cilw" On the 1 8th a call for a meeting to be held at the Cit)' Hall for the purpose of organiz- ing a volunteer comjiany was published over the sig- natures of John R. Cooper, John H. Otis, J. Spencer \'an Clcef, James IT. Seaman and R. E. Taylor. Gc- romc Williams and A. ]',. Smith were among those who addressed this meeting, which resulted in a pre- liminar}' organization in the following form: "We hereby form ourselves into a volunteer com- pany to be offered (o the Gox-ernor of this State for iFor list of Poiighkcepsie men wlio «'ent out with the Reliance see Aiipendi.x. immediate service, under the provisions of the act lately passed by the Legislature of this State in refer- ence to the raising of a volunteer force." April i8th, 1861. R. E. Taylor, ' Nathaniel Palmer, S. H. Bogardus, Jr.," Alfred Atkins, P. J. Palmatier, John Sanders, John H. r>artlett, Joseph Williams, Herbert Stearns, John N. Longfield, John 'Cox, G. 'V\'. Underwood, Alfred Sherman, Isaac Van Wagner, ISenj. Slater, Daniel Johnson, Sr., Albert R. Heennancc, Joseph Rosell. Cornelius Ferdon, Martin Riggs, Nathaniel Gayton, D. B. Morris, George C. Smith, John Ward, Daniel Brinckei-hoff, Wm. H. Clark, Marcus B. ^^'hite, Andrew Holitzer, Wm. Conklin, A. B. Smith, ' James B. Jones, Dewitt C. Underwood, las. T. Clear, Patrick Akins, R. N. Bush, Thomas Walker. F Schwandel, Beitung Fedrick, Joseph Heidel, Carl Hardenburgh, Anson Morey, John H. Filkins. Edward Post, Patrick \\'halen, Thomas Eagan, Jas. Nicolson, Wm. Upham, John H. Moreland. These did not all enter the service, but certainly all were willing to enlist, at least for three months. There was no dearth of volunteers under the first call, however, and as a rule only militia companies fully equipped, were accepted. The 20th, of Kings- ten, enlisted for three months, and the fact that the 2ist was not ready to offer itself caused sotne com- ment in which the statement was made that the military spirit had not been greatly culti\-atcd in Poughkeepsie. Tlie independent company formed at the meeting of the 1 8th went on to perfect its organization. On the 20th, when \\'illiam Berry was made temporary captain, there were seventy-five names on the roll. C^n the 23rd the company was reorganized with Har- rison ]lallidn\- as cajitaiiL but was rather slow in get- ting ready to leaxe. and some of the bovs became ini- 17(J tilSTORY OF POVGHKEEPSIB. patient. A few managed to get into militia regiments alread}' at the front ; these inchided James E. Schram, who sailed in the steamer "Daylight" on the 24th to join the Seventh Regiment,^ Alfred Way and Alfred Dunlap, who went out with the 13th of Brooklyn. Adam Schuster and Charles Couterier enlisted in the 20th N. Y. Vols., (the Gennan Turner regiment) and April 24th the following men left Poughkeepsie to join them: Rudolph Schwickard, Rudolph Prellwitz, Joseph Mayer, Charles Solger, George Kahn, Adam Barthel, Charles Propson, Henry W. Kohn, Augustus Long, John Me3'er, Gottsfried Kuhn, Nicholas Schop- pert, Andrew Simon, Reinhold Polieke, Henry Klages, Professor W. Sinnhold, Friedrich Blume, and Fried- rich Breitung. Most of these names are to be found on the published roll of Company D. Captain Joseph Otto. Couterier went as ensign and Sinnhold as first sergeant. The next day, April 25th,- Alfred Atkins, Stephen H. Bogardus, Daniel Brinckerhoff, C. Becker and Isaac Van Wagner went to New York and en- listed in the 5th Regiment, Colonel Abram Duryea's Zouaves. They were joined soon afterwards by ^^'illiam F. Boshart, Wm. H. Disbrow, Albert O. Cheney, James C. Albro, Cyrus Hagadorn, Alphonzo C. Morgan, Joseph Tyndall, C. E. Dennis, D. S. Bradley, James W. Shurter, C. Jewell, A. Conover, James Van Wagner, W. Stall, H. Lyons, G. F. Law- rence, Godfrey Winzeureid and H. Stearns,-'' according to the newspapers of the day. Not all these names appear in the imperfect muster rolls published by the State, but some of them may have joined after the roll, dated May 9th, was made up. William De Groot and James Morissy, of Poughkeepsie, appear on the roll, but were not mentioned in the newspapers, and I am informed'' that William F. Davidson, James Denton, Michael Krieg, Isaac Blythe and Theron Van Keuren were certainh- in the regiment, though neither on the Ma}' 9th muster roll nor mentioned in the news- papers up to the time of the departure of the regiment lA letter describing the trip of the 7th to Annapolis, pub- lished in Eagle May 2, signed "Brother George," seems to imply that other Poughkeepsians were in this regiment. 2Names in Eagle April 26. ^Second list of 21 names in Eagle May 14 ■♦Captain William F. Boshart has furnished much of this information. The failure of the contemporary newspaper lists, the muster rolls and the recollections of the veterans to agree is easily explained. The newspaper lists indicate the supposed intentions of the men when they left Pough- keepsie. A few men when they reached New York joined other organizations, or did not enlist at all. The veterans naturally remember the men who were with them in camp or on the battlefield. The State muster rolls are imperfect any- wa}', containing r^)nly 60 or 70 privates in each company-, and furnishing no indication of later enlistments. for the front. The 5th was in active service early enough to take part in the battle of Big Bethel. Van Keuren, Denton, Davidson and Hagadorn were killed in battle in 1862. Meanwhile there were stirring times at home. On Sunday, April 21st "Almost every clergyman in this ^,;^y * .+ * preached on the subject of the national crisis, calling upon the people to sustain the govern- ment as a sacred duty." On the 19th a call was pub- lished over the signature of several hundred men for a mass meeting in Pine Hall, then but recently completed on the site of the old Franklin House, and the leading place for lectures, meetings and theatrical performances in the cit}'. The meeting was held on the evening of the 24th, Hon. James Emott presiding, and among those named as vice-presidents were sev- eral prominent Democrats, including Edward B. Os- borne, then editor of the Telegraph, Judge Charles H. Ruggles, James H. Weeks, and Hon. William Kelley of Rhinebeck. Rev. Francis B. Wheeler, of the Pres- byterian Church, opened the meeting with prayer, and stated that "The ministers of the Church are with you in their sympathies and if need be will mingle their blood with yours in defense of the right.'' There were addresses by Judge Emott, Hon. Wm. Kelley, Hon. George W. Sterling, Homer A. Nelson (then county judge), Hon. John Thompson, Hon. George T. Pierce, Joseph F. Barnard, Rev. F. D. Brown, Rev. Samuel Buel, of Christ Church, and Rev. M. Wakeley. Charles Wheaton, who became county jtidge when Judge Nelson was elected to Congress in 1862, was chairman of the committee which prepared a series of strongly patriotic resolutions, including the following : Rcsoh'cd, That no efifort is too severe, no contest too long, no expenditure too great, that will put down and crush out, now and for all time, an armed resist- ance to the authority of the Constitution, the Laws and the chosen Officers of the Government. A resolution was also passed, on motion of Charles W. Swift, asking the Common Council to borrow $10,000 on the credit of the city, the money to be placed in the hands of a committee of five "for the relief and support of the families and dependents" of those who enlisted in the army. Mayor James Bowne, Gains C. Pmrnap, Dr. Per Lee Pine, James H. Weeks and Edgar M. V^n Kleeck were named as the committee. The Common Council carried out this suggestion, and the fund was supplemented' by many contributions from the citizens. A few days later the ladies began to organize for the purpose of making iThe girN of Dr. Rider's School (Cottage Hill, Garden Street) raised $75 fur this fund by a concert. tilSTOkY OP P OU GH tCBUP S t B. Ill shirts and other clothing for the soldiers, many of whom were in sorry condition, government supplies proving entirely inadequate. In May the Woman's Relief Association was organized, with Mrs. John Thompson president, and Mrs. Henry L. Young sec- retary. Many of the men who first volunteered were mem- bers of the fire companies, and Cataract No. 4, A. J. Valentine, foreman, at a special meeting, April 25th, offered its services in connection with the 21st Regi- 2d Corporal — John R. Brockway. 3d Corporal — Alonzo Case. — - 4th Corporal — Frank C. Fiiik. CHARI^ES WHEATON ment. Captain Halliday, meanwhile was enlisting most of the members of old Protection. Colonel Wil- liam Berry was appointed mustering officer, and the company went into barracks in the old Methodist Church (afterwards Eastman College) on the 28lh, and on the 4th of May left town for yVlbaiiy, tii be- come Company E of the 30th New York \'olunlocrs, commanded by Col. Edward Frisbie. The following were given as its members at this time : Captain — Harrison Holliclay. Lieutenant — Edgar S. Jennings. Ensign — Nathaniel Palmer. 1st Sergeant — Alfred Sherman. 2d Sergeant — Joseph D Williams. 3d Sergeant — Natliam'el Gayton. 4lh Sergeant — Jolni C. Ecker. 1st Corporal — Marcus L- White. Adams, John Q. Akins, Patrick Allen, Egbert D. Baker, Chas. Bartlett, John H. *Beals, Elijah *Bnrns, Hugh Bush, Robt. M. *Buys, George Cambot, Wm. Case, Chas. H.'' Clark, Wm. H. Cummings, James Dahn, Joseph H. Daley, James Davis, Ferris Decker, Robt. G. *DeGroot, Win. H. Dixon, Jacob B.' *Downs, Alme Dnsenburyj Jno. W. Egan, Fergus' ■■'Ferguson, Uriah L.' Gilman, Wm. G. Gladdin, Geo. Hall, Chas. W. H. ■'Harrington, John ITeidel, Joseph ''Hemingway^ John ■Henderson, Hugh Hermance, Albert R. Hicks, Andrew L. Hogan, Martel Holthizer, Andrew Hunt, Chas. A. *Hyde, Edwin M. Jay, Clairck M. Jones, Wm. D. Kinderhurg, C. F. W. Kip, Daniel Kip, Wm. H. Kirby, Stephen M. Lake, James L. Lake, Wm. D. nicFarland, Wm. H. McKenna, Mitchell Morris, David G. E. Morey, Anson Myrich, Geo. Murphy, James ^ Moseley, Ben. F. Marshall, Moses ^Marshall, John R.- McCord, Jno. D. *McIntyre, Chas. Nicholson, James *Odell, James W. *01droyd, Job Ostrom, Wm. H. '- Palmatier, Peter J. *PahTiatier, Wm. G. Price, Chas. Rowlands, Nelson H. '-' *Roberts, John Rosell, Joseph *Rider, James B. Riggs, Martin Rogers, Charles Stanton, Coles Schmadel, Ferdinand Stickels, Edward ''Sprague, Wm. Sanders^ John Smith, Geo. C. Slater, Benj. F. Storms, Everett Sleight, John Tuill, John Underwood, George Walker, Thomas Weaver, Chas. E. *Wright, Wm. K. Whalen, Patrick H. Ward, John *Wakeman^ Norman *Wright, Wm. H. Williams, Louis H. *Wilbur, Wm. H. Welsh, Mitchell White, Wm. T. This was the first Poughkeepsie compan_v, and was mustered into the United States service June ist and left for the front June 28th. The names marked with a star in the above list do not appear in the muster rolls, but some of them are found on the rolls of other regiments. A few were deserters, of whom the government took little notice at this time, as recruits were offering faster than they could be accepted ; others probably did not pass the medical officers, and still others on account of illness were not able to go with the compau)-. U. L. Ferguson, for instance, was Its History of poughkhepsib. in the hospital at Albany when the company left. He came back home and enlisted in the 57th New York Regiment, Company K of which was largely recruited in Poughkeepsie, sixty-two names being on its roll from this city. Wm. H. De Groot, William Sprague and James Riding ( ?) are also on tlie roll of the 57th, which went into the United States service Sep- tember 4th. Long before this time, recruiting offices for the many regiments had been opened in Pough- keepsie. One of the first of these was opened about April 24th in Market Street, in the interest of Colonel James H. Van Allen's regiment of Rangers, one of the earliest volunteer cavalr\- regiments to enter the service, though according to the muster rolls of this regiment, the 3rd, no enlistments were made before Au- gust, and none are recorded from Poughkeepsie. Un- til after the call for 400,000 troops that followed the Battle of Bull Run, branch depots for enlistments were not authorized by Governor Morgan, and the early muster-rolls show only the places of rendezvous. During Ma}' local patriotism was manifested in flag raisings and in meetings throughout the county. Count of Main and I\faikit Stints m jS6/, showing Ltbeiiy Pole, Poughkeepsie Hotel and old flforris Building. {Froin Passing's I'assar College and its Founder.) Benson J. Lossing was a frequent speaker at these meetings, and contributed a series of signed articles to tlie newspapers un3. with Professor 'Captain Woodin was the Eagle's correspondent during a large part of the service of the 150th Regiment. William H. Crosby chairman. Addresses were made by S. W. Stebbins, president of the association in New York, Charles C. Whitehead, Rev. Howard Crosby and Cephas Brainerd. The officers elected were : President — John H. Mathews. Vice-President — James S. Case. Cor. Secretary — Frank L. Stevens. Recording Secretary — John I. Piatt. Treasurer — Wm. B. Fox. Directors — George Berry, Alfred Atkins, Jacob B. Jewett, Lithgow T. Perkins, George R. Brown, Wil- liam C. Dobbs, Walter L Husted, J. S. Van Cleef and Thomas H. Leggett. The members included most of the young men who had been in the older Young Men's Christian Union. Meetings were held at first in a room over the City Bank on the corner of Market and Main Streets, and continued there until the association felt itself strong enough to purchase Pine Hall in 1872. One new church was built during the war, the Friends' Meeting House on Montgoinery Street, in 1863. The old Orthodox Meeting House on Mill Street was sold, and a few years later was moved to Conklin Street and converted into a dwelling. It stood where the Theodore Johnston houses were built about 1870. Politics — Tiie Campaign of 1864. Li politics the Republicans did not always have everything their own way during the war. The Dem- ocrats carried the State in the fall of 1862, but Horatio Seymour, who was elected Governor, did not quite carrjf Poughkeepsie, James S. Wadsworth obtaining a majority of 117. Judge Nelson, as alread}' noted, was e'ected to Congress at this time, obtaining a majority in the city of 4 votes, and Charles Wheaton, also a Democrat, was elected Count}^ Judge. The next spring, at the charter election, the Republicans won with George Innis^ as a candidate for mayor against James H. Seaman, but the majority was only 71. In 1865, however, when the city had been divided into six wards. Mayor Innis was re-elected without opposi- tion. This was repeated in 1867, an honor shown to" no other mayor of Poughkeepsie. The election of November, 1863, brought Joseph F. Pjarnard into the Supreme Court, to succeed James Emott. He was twice re-elected, and was one of the iMr. Innis not long hefore the war purchased and rebuilt the Davies house, opposite the railroad station on Main Street. The original house was built bj' William Davies (see p. 82) probably before 1800. William A. Davies is said to have been born there in 1807. JUDGE BARNARD. lad n I ST ky OF POUGHKBEPSI^ most notable of the many Supreme Court justices that have hved in Poughkeepsie. During the war a feehng of antagonism between the cit}' and the county resulted in a proposition before the Board of Supervisors to remove the county poor house to the interior of the county. The Common Council on January 19th, 1863, appointed the Mayor and Alderman Coffin a committee to confer with the Supervisors about this, and it was decided to separate the cit}' from the rest of the county in the matter of support of the poor. Accordingly April 29th the Legislature passed an act providing for the change and naming James Emott, James H. Dudley, James Bowne, Joseph F. Barnard, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and Jacob B. Jewett "Commissioners of the Alms House of the City of Poughkeepsie," with all requisite authority. All excise mone3's and all fines from the Recorder's court were to be appropriated for the support of the cit)- poor under control of this board. In the division of property with the county the city purchased the old county. house grounds and in 1868-69 the present main Alms House building was erected. The old county alms house, it may be added, was in its early days a noteworthy institution. Dorothea Lynde Dix, in the report published in 1844, of her famous visits to the alms houses of the State, said : "The Dutchess County House at Poughkeepsie is a model of neatness, order and good discipline. The household arrangements are excellent ; the kitchens and cellars complete in every part. I have seen nothing in the State so good as these. Every apartment in the almshouse was exceptionally clean, well furnished and neatly arranged. Such of the insane as were highly excited were in clean, decent rooms." This was high praise, doubtless merited at the time, but probably the condition of affairs was very different when the build- ings had become old. It was so with'- the various Poughkeepsie jails. Each one was pronounced a model of excellence when new, but condemned as un- fit for human beings at the end of its career. The county house must have been pretty seriously crowded at times, for an item in the Eagle in 1 85 1 says there were between four and five hundred inmates. These included of course the pauper insane, but it is hardly possible that there were proper accommodations for so large a number. The Presidential campaign of 1864, while not so livelv as that of i860, was more notable for intensity of party feeling. The Republicans had plenty of am- munition for their stump speakers in the victories of the Union armies in the field, and bitterly denounced all who opposed the re-election of President Lincoln as Copperheads and enemies of the Union. The Dem- ocrats strongly resented this charge. Their genetal policy is well shown in the appeals to voters published in the Daily Press, where headings like the following were repeated from day to day : "A vote for Lincoln is a vote for more drafts," "A vote for Lincoln is a vote in favor of continuing the abolition war," "The abandonment of slavery is Lincoln's condition of peace," "Elect Lincoln and you endorse emancipation." Colonel Ketcham, for the first time a candidate for Congress, was vigorously denounced, chiefly for cer- tain alleged acts while a Member of Assembly before the war, and Captain Woodin was accused of forging soldier votes. The Democrats had an organization of "Little Mac'' Guards, captained by C. A. Dimond, with Daniel Clifford first lieutenant, and Frank Heng- stebeck second lieutenant. There was also a McClel- lan Guard, captained by James Daly. They raised a McClellan and Pendleton banner "between Pine's Hall and the Democratic Club opposite," October 8th, with Gilbert Deane and Owen T. Coffin as principal speak- ers, and party feeling ran so high that some one cut the banner rope during the day. Among their chief speakers at the county meetings were C. J. Gaylord, Gerome Williams, Hon. Gilbert Dean, John Moore, Esq., A. M. Card, G. G. Titus, C. B. Brundage and Edgar Thorne. The Democrats held no large out-door meetings, but on the afternoon of October 25th the Republicans had a grand rally at the corner of Mill and Washing- ton Streets, the speakers. Governor Morton and Judge T. J. Barnett, of Indiana, Hon. James Emott, the chairman, and Captain William R. Woodin, of the 150th Regiment, occupying "a spacious stand erected in front of Piatt's Hotel." The Northern Hotel was at this time conducted by Isaac I. Piatt, son-in-law of Isaac I. Balding. An imposing parade under the mar- shalship of Thomas Parish preceded the speaking and "the glorious Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze from almost every available point in the city." While passing Hengstebeck's store some one in the ranks fired a pistol, and the Press charged that this was an effort to shoot a prominent Democrat. The incident was the subject of many bitter newspaper articles. The Press also charged that Judge Barnett was drunk when he spoke at the meeting, and occupied a good many col- umns in support of the statement. This gives a fair idea of the nature of the campaign. The Republican speakers at the smaller meetings throughout the county included Colonel O. T. Beard, then a newspaper editor at Detroit, Mich., but some twenty-five years later a resident of Poughkeepsie, Chaunccy M. Depew, then Secretary of State (New- York State), William I. Thorn, John Thompson, HISTORY OP POUCH KBBPSIE 191 Rev. J. L. Corning, John I. Piatt, Allard Anthony and Mark D. Wilber, of Poughkeepsie. The Eastman College Band, then recently organized, was a leading feature at many political meetings. At the election in November Lincoln and Johnson received a majority of 249 in the cit}'. General George B. McClellan carrying only one of the four wards, the Third. Reuben E. Fenton, for Governor, had 247 majority over Horatio Seymour, while Colonel John PI. Ketcham, for Congress, led Judge Nelson by 305. The largest majority in the city was obtained by Al- lard Anthony, 406, over Ambrose Wager, for County Judge. The Republicans of course carried the county and Congressional district by substantial majorities. It was customary at this time to celebrate victories, and on November 23d there was "a grand Union pa- rade" under the marshalship of John P. Adriance. Eastman CorxEGE — Business Conditions. At this time Eastman College was experiencing a tremendous boom, as the result of Mr. Eastman's lib- eral advertising among the soldiers whose terms were expiring. With tables all laid at the big Buckeye building, he did not miss the chance of holding a banquet there, larger than that of the Loyal Legion, two days later. The anniversary of the College, al- ways a rather moveable feast, was celebrated at Pine Hall on the evening of December 21st, when Horace Greeley gave his famous lecture on "The Self-Made Man." On the next evening came the banquet, with "tables spread for 2,500 students and guests." It is hard to see how even Smith Brothers could have served such a crowd as that. The "Brigade of the College" numbered 1,500, according to the newspapers. The Eagle's description of the event begins: "It is now P \: ^!^:^lf:Sr~r :.■'■■■:.,. x'L. '' '■ :■ -■ ■! ,' . i" •,- ': ■.■■ ^"- ■'■■■• "-^^^XiS^ Oiic of the First S/iiiip/astos of the City of Poughkeepsie. ( Originally printed in red. ) Main Street was fairly ablaze with fireworks and tar barrels. A further and more notable celebration \\'as the banquet of the Lo3'al Legion "in the New Buckeye Mower and Reaper Building of Adriance. Piatt & Co., South Water Street," on Tuesday evening, December 20th. There were over one thousand men at the tables, spread through the lower floor of the main building, 211 feet long. The members of the Loyal League, six hundred strong, marched in headed by the Eastman College Band. Hon. George W. Sterling presided, and speeches were made by Rev. J. L. Corn- ing, Hon. John Stanton Gould. Mark D. Wilber, Re\'. DeLos Lull, William I. Thorn. Allard Anthony, Re\'. P>. M. .Adams and Pierre Giraud, U. S. N. Smith Brothers were the caterers, and received a generous puff in the newspapers for their ser\ice. an established fact that no College or Educational In- stitution on this terrestrial globe has met with success equal to that of Eastman National Business College." and this statement is probabh' not much exaggerated. Rev. Samuel D. Burchard — the same man whose "Rum. Romanism and Rebellion" alliteration created such a sensation in the P>laine campaign of 1884 — Joseph H. Jackson, Allard ,\nthony and Rev. J. L- Corning were among the speakers. This great increase of students naturally added ma- terially to the business of the city, which, in spite of the fact that the war had ruined several local indus- tries, was generally sound and prosperous. A consid- eralile number of men were employed during much of the war on new building enterprises, including the r.uekeve Works of .\driance. Piatt & Co., A'assar Col- 192 HiSTOkY OP P 6U G ti KEEP SI P. lege, and several new business buildings on Main and Market Streets. The Morgan Block, on the district east of Catharine Street, burned in i860, was built just at the beginning of the war, and the Collingwood building on Market Street, in 1863. This did not in- clude the Opera House, which was not completed until about six years later. The new dry goods store of George Van Kleeck & Co., described as "the finest structure of its kind between New York and Albany," was built in 1864. Up to this time the George Van r BSSKfflSaSS^**^ -^i:^."":— ■■ >a, Poiighkeepsie City Shiiiplasicrs, second series. (From collection'jif II '. F. Booth . ) Kleeck store had been on the west corner of Liberty Street. At an earlier period in the war all industries and all business had been seriously affected, and the phenome- non of the disappearance of all small change, alread\' noted as liaving taken place during the War of 1812, and during the panic of 1837, again occurred. As on the earlier occasions business firms printed shinplaster.-* in large numbers. The Eavlc was among them, and some of the checks then issued have never yet been presented for redemption. The City of Poughkeep- sie issued two sets of shinplasters, the second hand- somely engraved by the American Bank Note Com- pany. The United States government at length put a stop to all this private currency by issuing its own shinplasters. Much of the apparent prosperity of the latter part of the war was due to the constantly rising prices incident to the depreciation of the paper cur- rency, but there are plenty of local instances of the serious hardships caused by the high prices and by the constant efforts at readjustment as the price of gold fluctuated with the varying fortunes of the Union armies. On the 25th of April, 1864, a sixth bank was or- ganized in Poughkeepsie. This was the First Na- tional, the first bank to be organized under the Na- tional Banking Act, then recently passed. The or- ganizing directors were Cornelius DuBois, Levi M. Arnold, George B. Lent and Daniel H. Tweedy. At the first annual election Robert Slee, David Harris, George B. Lent, H. G. Eastman, Jacob B. Carpenter, Hudson Taylor and James A. Seward were added. Mr. Eastman remained a director of this bank until 1870, when he was succeeded by John P. Adriance. The present cashier, F. E. Whipple, has been employed in the bank since its organization, having served as teller until the resignation of Zebulon Rudd in 1889. The older state banks of the city were all reorganized as National Banks, not long after the opening of the .First National. Poughkeepsie was holding its own also as a place of residence. John O. Whitehouse, a prosperous shoe manufacturer of Brooklyn, came here in i860, and in 1863 purchased of George Wilkinson the handsome place on Southeast (now Hooker) Avenue, still known as the Whitehouse Place. This place had been owned before the war by Benjamin W. North, who in order to make access to the settled portion of the town a lit- tle easier constructed a tan bark sidewalk all the way to the corner of Hamilton Street. He sold the place to Mr. Wilkinson, who was a New York merchant not related to the Wilkinson family of Poughkeepsie, in October, 1859, and Mr. Wilkinson built the present house. A few years after Mr. Whitehouse's purcha.sc of the place "Springside" was added to it b}' pur- chase from Matthew Vassar. Hudson Taylor, 1 who had spent most of his boy- iConceniing Hudson Taylor's residence in Washingon, the following from the Antobiography and Reminiscences of Moncnrc D. Conway (vol. i, p. 249) is intcre.sling and cliar- actcrislic. Conway had just liecu dismissed (1S56) from the pastorate of the Unitarian Church in Washington because of pronounced anti-sl.ivery sermons : "In the afternoon of HiSTOkY OP POtlGftKEEPSiU i§rj hood in Poughkeepsie, returned here in 1863, after many years of successful business in Washington, D. C, and purchased "the magnificent residence of WilHam Barnes, Esq., on Academy Street," for $20,- 000. He was an uncle of Robert E. Taylor, the Re- corder. James Winslow had purchased property a short distance south of the city — now the Taft place — ^before the war, but his brother, John F. Winslow, was at this time associated with Erastus Corning in the iron busi- ness at Troy, and did not purchase the Crosby place on the Hyde Park road until 1867. John F. Winslow was one of the owners of the first patents upon the Bessemer steel process, and was one of the chief finan- cial backers of Ericson when the first Monitor was built. The; Sanitary Fair. Just at the close of the war the Sanitary Fair, a memorable event which set the whole cit}' at work, was held March 15th to 19th, at 178-180 Main Street. This building was described as "a large unoccupied coach factory," owned by Matthew Vassar. It had been Frederick's carriage factory, but was transformed by the decorators into a most wonderful fairy land. Weeks before the great fair opened the newspapers were filled with notices of committee meetings, de- scriptions of proposed attractions, etc. It is impossi- ble to read them to-day without catching some of the enthusiasm of the times. Evcrj'body was vitally in- terested and everybody was at work. The officers of the Fair, as given in the pamphlet published soon af- terwards, were : President — Mrs. James Winslow. \'ice-Presidents — Mrs. Thomas L. Davies, Mrs. G. C. Burnap, Mrs. George Innis, Mrs. Benson J. Los- sing, Mrs. William S. Morgan, Mrs. John Tliompson and Mrs. Dr. Beadle. Secretary — Mrs. Charles H. Ruggles. Treasurer — Miss Sarali M. Carpenter. These, with Mrs. Charles H. Swift, Mrs. Van Val- kenburgh. Mrs. Le Grand Dodge, Mrs. C. W. Tooker, and Mrs Haydock, made up tile executive committee. There were also twenty-two managers, and forty-five that Sunday on which I had spoken my farewell words, a number of my friends called, and Hudson Taylor— who, with his lovely wife, had given me such a beautiful home — could not repress sonic reproach that T had by a few discourses shat- tered sucli happy relation.sliips. His niece, Charlotlc Taylor (now Mrs. Rohlc}- Evans) said that I had to obey my con- science. But Hudson cried "Damn conscience !" The tear in liis eye did not blot out the oath, but embalmed it in my memory as the loving farewell of as faithful and generous a friend as 1 ever had." committees to look after the attractions, booths, etc. The whole county was represented, and gifts of articles to sell came in from all sides. A special Buckeye mow- ing machine was made by the men of the factory and contributed. Before the fair began there was a series of auxiliary entertainments in the schools and churches and in Pine Hall, including a lecture by Rev. Henry Ward Beechcr, and these netted a considerable sum. It was reported that 4,000 people visited the fair on one of the nights. "The crush of crinoline and the smash of hats was terrible," said the Eagle, but "ev- erybody was happy." * * * "You could hardly turn about without meeting tlie glance of a pair of eyes that would make any person hand out any amount for anything offered for sale." Nine hundred and seventeen quarts of ice cream, 50 gallons of lemonade and 46,000 oysters were consumed. In the midst of it all the Eagle was ungracious enough to object to the raffling, which was a leading feature, and was de- fended by Mrs. Benson J. Lossing. Rev. Mr. Lull, of the Washington Street Church, preached a sermon on the subject, but then the fair was over and it had taken in $18,640.87, with expenses of only $2,358.15, leaving net proceeds of $16,282.72 for the Sanitary Commission, truly a good showing for a small city in war time. Thiv Ci,osiv 01? Tiiiv War. A few weeks later, on Monday, April 3rd, came the news of the capture of Richmond, which was received with great rejoicing. Says the Eagle: "Men threw up their hats, boys shouted and women joined the gen- eral jollification. In the afternoon the splendid band attached to the Eastman College, followed b)- a large concourse of citizens paraded the streets, and sere- naded all public places, including this office and the residence of our reporter. Not a few highly elated individuals purchased masks, and dressing themselves up fantastically paraded the streets with the utmost unconcern, blowing on tin horns, ringing bells, etc. Shortly after i o'clock, in accordance with an order from the city authorities, a salute of 100 guns was fired and the church. Court House and City Hall bells were rung. It is impossible to describe the enthusi- asm that existed." Events followed each other in rapid succession then. Less than a week later, on Sunday evening, April 9th, came the news of Lee's surrender at .\p- pomattox. "At ten o'clock on Sunday- night," says the Eagle, when the first dispatch was received at this office an- nouncing the surrender of General Lee, our sanctum was crowded with prominent citizens, who greeted the news with deafening cheers, and immediatel}' or- 194 HISTORY OF P OU GH KBEP S I E. ganized themselves into squads to awake the slumber- ing inhabitants and inaugurate a grand rejoicing. Bonfires were started, bells rung, etc. Prof. Eastman got out his drum corps and ver}- soon arranged a pro- cession. The jubilant crowd called on Judge Emott, Hudson Taylor, Esq., and other prominent citizens, and although the night was far advanced, were re- ceived by each of the above named gentlemen in the most enthusiastic manner. A delegation also pro- ceeded to Provost Marshal Johnston's residence below town and imparted the good news to him. Fire com- panies paraded the streets and immense crowds con- gregated in front of the Eagle to get the dispatches as fast as the}' were received." A great celebration was planned in honor of the close of the war, but arrangements were cut short on the following Saturday by the announcement of the assassination of President Lincoln, which created the greatest consternation. Many people thought the war was to be prolonged in a sort of reign of terror, as- sassins taking the place of armies in the open. "Pough- keepsie on Saturday was draped in mourning. Men pale with anxiety walked the streets with horror de- picted on their countenances. Many shed tears. The female portion of the community, especially those who have sacrificed fathers, brothers, husbands, or friends on the altar of their country, received the awful news with emotion pitiful in the extreme. All the flags of the city were placed at half mast, and public and pri- vate buildings were draped in mourning." There were not wanting, however, a few individuals who took oc- casion to express their satisfaction at the terrible deed, and they were naturally roughly handled by the •crowd. One woman was arrested in order to protect her. and several stores had to be closed for a time until the excitement wore off. On Sunday all the churches were draped in mourn- ing and were crowded with people, and the sermons were all, we are told, appropriate to the occasion. President Lincoln's funeral also, on Wednesday, April 15th, was observed by services in the churches, and by a procession and public out-door meeting in front of the Court House. The procession, marshalled by John P. Adriance, was made up as follows : Mayor and Marshal, and Provost Marshal. Provost Guards. Officers 2 1 St Regiment. Drum Corps. Common Council. Military and Military Schools. Fire Department. Eastman Business College. Eastman Band. Clergy. Citizens. Sons of Temperance. Singing Societ}', Germania. German Turners' Association. Free Masons. Odd Fellows. A great stand had been erected on the Main Street side of the Court House, and in front of it the crowd filled the street. The services were opened with pra3'er by Rev. Dr. Hageman, of the Second Reformed Church, and closed by prayer from Rev. G. M. Mc- Eckron, of the First Reformed Church. Hon. Allard Anthony made the funeral oration, which was pro- nounced a very eloquent effort. On the 25th the train bearing the remains of the martyred President passed through Poughkeepsie, on its way to Illinois. All business was suspended and practically the whole population assembled along the tracks to see it pass. Draped in black, and with the wheels so muffled that it ran almost noiselessly, except for the tolling of the engine's bell, it was a most im- pressive sight, and was long remembered as "The ghost train." Hon. JOHN H. KETCHAM. CHAPTER X. From the Ci,ose of the War to the Panic of 1873 — Return of the Soldiers — Wonderful Suc- cess OF Eastman College — Eastman Park — Opening and Organization of Vassar College — Changes Among City Schools — Politics— Churches, Charitable and Religious Institutions — The Hudson River State Hospital — Manufacturing and Other Industries — Growth and Municipal Improvement, the Water and Sewer Systems — The Poughkeepsie & Eastern and THE City Railroads — The Poughkeepsie Bridge — Social Eife, Sports and Clubs. At the close of the war Poughkeepsie, hke other Northern cities, began to settle down to the ordinary affairs of life, and started upon a half decade of the most rapid growth in its history. The soldiers came home, were warmly welcomed, and found that return- ing business prosperity had opened opportunities for most of them to find immediate employment. The 150th Regiment arrived in Poughkeepsie about mid- night of Saturday, June loth, 1865, and "although the hour was late, nevertheless thousands of men and women and children assembled to greet the veterans. * * * The news of the arrival spread like wildfire and in almost an instant Main Street was in a glare of flame from burning tar barrels and fireworks." The great reception came on Monday, when people poured into the city from all the surrounding counties, until one estimate sa\'s there were "nearly if not quite 50,- 000.'' "Having witnessed all the great occasions here from the visit of Lafayette in 1824 up to this time," wrote Isaac Piatt, "we can safely assert that no day or occasion like it has before appeared in our annals." There was, of course, a great parade, and Main Street, "from Water Street to the Red Mills was one vast sea of handkerchiefs fluttering wildl^r in the breeze." Banners and even arches of flowers were stretciied across some of the streets. The public school children were all assembled on the wall of Ma-\()r Innis's residence, in lower Main Street, and the regiment halted while the children sang and presented each veteran with a bouquet of flowers. Groups of ladies from many towns in the county came in cos- tumes of National colors, and one of the special fea- tures was "a wagon load of young ladies from Salt Point representing every state in the Union." The procession ended at Mansion Square Park, where Judge Emott made the address of welcome, and Col- onel A. B. Smith, who was in command of the regi- ment, the reph', followed by General Ketcham. "The grand winding up of the affair took place in front of the residence of Prof. Eastman, in Washington Street, in the evening." This regiment was one of the few allowed to mus- ter out at home. The 128th, less favored, returned in detachments somewhat later, and no general wel- come could be extended to it, though a few companies were given special receptions here and there. A num- ber of Poughkeepsie boys, who had enlisted in other regiments remained in the service considerably longer. Nathaniel Palmer, for instance, was with the 20th Regiment in the occupation of Richmond, and was contributing letters to the Telegraph as late as Sep- tember. Captain William Platto, who was with the 128th Regiment, organized a company of veterans soon after bis return that was called "The Independent Veteran A^olunteers," and they often paraded in Zouave uniform. They remained in existence until a few }ears ago. The opening of Adriance, Piatt & Co.'s large new factory, and the great popularity of Eastman College were leading factors in producing excellent local busi- ness conditions. The opening of Vassar College con- tributed its share, though it was by no means so im- portant, even relatively, as now. Several small man- ufacturing enterprises were started and some large ones were planned, and labor was in good demand in building, though the building boom had not vet be- gun. One of the improvements of the year l86s which deserves notice was the reconstruction of the lower floor of the Cit>- Hall for the Post Office. Its use as a market had ceased several years before, and partitions had been erected dividing it into a Re- corder's court roouL an office for the Superintendent of the Poor and a meeting room for Protection i>^o. i Engine Company. These partitions were now taken 198 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE Market Street in iS6^. The old Forbus House veranda can be seen at the tefl. out and the work of refitting was finished in the fall or early winter, when Albert Van Kleeck/ the post- master and local Republican leader, moved the office from the old Baker or Brush house, on the corner of Union and Market Streets, where it had been since 185 1. The Common Council at this time met in the second floor room on the northwest corner — after- wards the City Chamberlain's office, and now the Mayor's office — until the present council room was fitted up in 1869, when the old public hall was divided by partitions. Referring to the changes in the City Hall the Tel- egraph of October 7th, 1865, says: "The upper hall, which has so often resounded to the clamor and plaudits of excited public assemblages, where cau- cuses full of momentous interest to aspiring candidates for public favor, have met to 'deliberate,' where the voices of political orators have s\va\ed nniltitudes for and against pul)lic measures, and where the people's weapon of re\'olution, the ballot, has so often been iSon of Tunis Van Kleeck. Sec pp. 86 and 87. cast — has for months formed one of the Eastman Col- lege rooms of instruction." Eastman College was then at the top notch of its popularity, the number of students being "more than 1,700," if reports are trustworthy. The Eastman Col- lege Band, already mentioned in connection with the events of the campaign of 1864, was one of Mr. East- man's most successful advertising features. It had taken prominent part in the progression at President Lincoln's second inauguration, where it immediately preceded his carriage down Pennsylvania Avenue, and a few weeks later, when his body was carried, amid the tears of the nation, from Washington to its last resting place in Illinois, this band formed the escort in tlie parade up IJroadway through New York, jour- neyed to Albany on the funeral train, and again played solemn dirges as the body was borne to and from the State Capitol. The concert tours of the band in the ^\^est attracted favorable notice, and students by hundreds followed it to Poughkeepsie to enroll them- selves in Mr. Eastman's wonderful institution. ALBERT VAN KLEECK. Jlorn December 2^, iSo6. Died Kovctnher y, iS66. •200 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE Many of these young men expressed surprise and disappointment on their arrival to find that the college had no magnificent buildings — in fact had no college buildings at all — but was scattered throughout the town in all sorts of rented rooms. The rooms in which the college began in the so-called Library Building were not long retained, but besides the upper floor of the City Hall a floor of the McLean building, oppo- site the Court House, and three churches were rented — the old Methodist Church, finally incorporated in the permanent college building, the old Universalist Church, originally Presbyterian, on Cannon Street, and the old Congregational Church (now the Jewish Synagogue) on Vassar Street. For a while Bryant and Stratton tried to run an opposition school, but Mr. Eastman bought them out, and then for some time leased their rooms in the Wright Building, above Catharine Street, where the Y. W. C. A. is located. The resources of the city were taxed to their utmost to find boarding places for all these young men, rents advanced and building received considerable encour- asrement. Eastman Park, showing Skating Park flooded , about iSy^. It was in 1865 that Mr. Eastman purchased what was generally called the Robert Forrest property on the corner of Market and Montgomery Streets, most of it from the widow of Herman Jewett. He added several other lots to it and laid out the beautiful grounds, so long known as Eastman Park. Much of the land was swamp}', bordering the brook that wound through it from be_vond Montgomery Street (see map page 71), and an elaborate system of undcrdrains was put in carrying the brook underground to a circular pond, constructed with an island in the centre, upon which a band stand was erected. This brook was also made to flood the large athletic field bordering Tcffcrson Street, which was used as a skating park in the \vinter. A small fortune was spent in grading, constructing the drives and in planting trees and shrubbery. The grounds were thrown open to the public to be used as a park, I believe, in September, 1867. That at any rate appears to have been the first year of a public anniversary celebration there for the college. The grounds were decorated with Chinese lanterns and there was a fine display of fireworks in the even- ing with six thousand people present, according to the reports. Horace Greeley was the chief speaker at this anniversary, his subject being Temperance. Earlier in the same year the movement had been started which resulted in the erection of the Soldiers' The Soldiers' Fountain, as photographed in iSy^. Fountain, though the original plan was for a monu- ment. A "Great Monument Celebration" took place on the Fourth of July with "the largest parade in the history of the city or of any city outside of New York, in the state." General Ketcham was the grand marshal. Two militia regiments, the 21st and 22nd, firemen from nearly all the river towns, and many fraternal organ- izations, including three labor unions (brickla.yers and masons) took part. Meetings had been held through- out the county in the interest of the monument and the crowd in the city was very large. All proceeded according to programme until afternoon, when the chief feature was to have been a grand open-air din- ner on Mansion Square, \vith an oration by General Stewart L. Woodford, then Lieutenant Go\-ernor, but "Proceedings at the dinner table on Mansion Square were brought to a close b\' a succession of the sever- est thunder storms ever witnessed in this section of the country." There was no oration, no balloon ascension, no fireworks. "The thousands in the city were driven by the pitiless storm to every conceivable place of HARX'ICV G. I'.ASTMAN. 1'02 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE. shelter, until every store and private hall on Main Street was filled with males and females." Among the distinguished persons present were Lieut, ^^^orden, who had commanded the Monitor at the memorable defeat of the Merrimac, and Surgeon Parsons, a sur- vivor of the War of 1812, who had served on Perry's flagship Lawrence on Lake Erie. Though the elements interfered sadly with the celebration the luonument fund continued to grow, helped by the proceeds of many small entertainments, including scrub boat races on the river. Mr. East- man's enterprise was recognized in the location and also in the change of plan to a fountain. At the dedi- cation in 1870 there was another notable Fourth of July celebration, with Major General McMahon, of Brooklyn, as orator. The crowd assembled at East- man Park and the weather did not prevent the balloon ascension or the fireworks. Opening and Organization of A'assar Coli^ege. Without so much advertising, but with a great deal of notice and comment from the press of the whole country, Vassar College opened in September, 1865, with 353 students, eight of whom were from Poughkeepsie, Catharine Rogers Boardman, Maria Louisa Booth, Elizabeth Anderson Cramer, Catharine Rogers Jones, Mary Carrington Raymond, Emma Corning Sweetser, Carrie Elizabeth Vassar and Mary Elizabeth Wright. Others from Dutchess county were Evelyn Angell, Salt Point ; Elizabeth Reynolds Beck- with, Stanford ; Jane Maria Cookingham, Rhinebeck ; Sarah Jane Herrick, Salt Point; and Lily Swift, Amenia Union. Students were arranged in the first catalogue alphabetically, and as they were in all stages of advancement, no attempt could at once be made to sort them into classes. When the second catalogue was issued, 1866-67, four girls had been picked out as seniors, Maria Loraine Dickinson, Detroit, Mich. ; Elizabeth Louise Geigcr, Marion, O. ; Harriette Anna Warner, Detroit, Mich. ; and Helen Douglas Wood- ward, Plattsburgh. The summar\' of students was as follows : Seniors 4 Juniors, full standing 18 Juniors, conditioned g 2y Second )'ear, full standing 29 Second year, conditioned 13 42 First year 46 L'nclassified 78 Specials 189 386 Before the third catalogue was issued the prepara- torv department had been organized with 73 students. and there were 25 seniors, 36 juniors, 43 second 3'ear girls, 37 first j'ear and 123 specials. The first use of the words "sophomore'' and "freshmen," instead of "second year" and "first year," occurs in the cata- logue for 1872-73, in which also three Poughkeepsie girls are included among the seniors : Grace Bayle}' Jewett, Mary Carrington Raymond and Elma Dore- mus Swift. The difficulties of classification of the students of the first few years show very plainly the general conditions of woman's education at the time the college was opened. There was no such thing as a preparatory school for girls and it was very diffi- cult to get the various female seininaries and colle- giate institutes to conform to the requirements, as each was bending its energies towards a complete course of its own. The college was forced to establish a pre- paratory department in order to furnish a model for ^j jgjy. __&- ^ j^^^ji;} 1 WwESSB!¥ yr aBB wBmaSSSBL I 1 1 / 'assar College, pliotographcd about iSjo. other preparator\- schools, as well as to take care of students already entered who were not found suffi- ciently advanced for the first year, or freshman class in a regular college course. It was nevertheless a step which aroused the opposition of the schools, many of whose principals began to cry down the col- lege, instead of conforming their courses of study to its requirements. Some other institutions for the higher education of women had called themselves col- leges before Vassar was opened, and one or two were conducting courses that bore some resemblance to those of the colleges for men, but A''assar neverthe- less was the pioneer, had all the problems to solve, and had to live down all the opposition and ridicule that assail e\'er\' new institution as soon as it begins to get well t'nough started to show that it will inter- fere with older institutions. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 203 In the selection of a scheme of educational courses for Vassar College the contrast between President Jewett's plans, which were rejected, and those finally adopted under President Raymond, is interesting. Af- ter his visit to Europe Dr. Jewett made a report in which he said : "A careful examination shows that in our colleges one-third of the whole time is consumed on the Dead Languages alone. Another third of the course is de- voted to Mathematics ; while only one-fifteenth is given to the whole circle of Natural Sciences, and only I3-I20ths to the study of English Language and Literature. * * * We would therefore abridge the college course in Mathematics and Metaphysical and Political Philosophy, and thus secure more time to be devoted to our own and other modern languages ; to Natural Plistory, Domestic Economy, Music, Draw- ing and Painting." Dr. Jewett recommended a University System of arrangement, "all the branches to be taught under nine ditTerent schools, as follows : 1. The School of Religion and Morals. 2. The School of Natural History. 3. The School of Physical Sciences. 4. The School of History and Political Economy. 5. The School of Language and Literature. 6. The School of Psychology, including Mental Philosophy and Aesthetics. 7. The School of Mathematics. 8. The School of Art and l^hilosophy of Education. 9. The School of Art, including Music, Drawing, Painting, etc. The order of numbering represented Dr. Jewett's idea of the importance of the subjects. Four testi- monials from each of the schools were to entitle a student to the final degree of M. A. "Mistress of Arts." This interesting scheme was doubtless suggested by the German Universities, but much of it was original, and in many points Dr. Jewett was clearly some twenty-five years ahead of the times. His plans were doubtless too radical for their day, and the trustees felt that \'assar must first make known the ability of women to compete with men on substantially the lines of the older .American colleges, but the final reason for the rejection of Dr. Jewett was a personal dis- agreement with the founder, quite apart from aca- demic matters. Some traces of his plans are found in the "School of Vocal and Instrumental Music," the "School of Design," and the "School of Physical Training," the two former of which were maintained until 1892. They were designated "Extra Collegiate Departments," besides which there were eight regular collegiate departments, each with a professor at its head, though the department of History and Political Econom)' was not at once organized. The officers of government and instruction are given in the first catalogue as follows : John H. R/Wmond, LL. D., President, and Pro- fessor of Mental and Moral Philosophy. Hannah W. Lyman, Lady Principal. William I. Knapp, A. M., Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages. Charles S. Farkar, A. M., Professor of Mathe- matics, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. Sanborn Tenney, A. M., Professor of Natural History, including Geology and Minerology, Botany, Zoology and Physical Geography. Maria Mitchell, Professor of Astronomy and di- rector of the Observator)'. Alida C. Avery, M. D., Professor of Physiology and Hygiene and resident Physician. Henry B. Buckham, A. M., Professor of Rhe- toric, Belles-lettres, and the English Language. Edward WiEbe, Professor of Vocal and Instru- mental Music. Henry Van Incen, Professor of Drawing and Painting. Louis F. Rondel, Instructor in the French Lan- guage. Delia F. Woods, Instructor in the Department of Physical Training. Jesse Usher, Teacher of the Latin Language. Lucia M. Gilbert, Teacher of the Greek Lan- guage. Priscilla H. Braislin, Teacher of Mathematics. Eliza M. Wiley, Teacher of Music. Emma SaylEs, Teacher of Chemistry, Mathematics and the English Language. Sarah L. W'S'man, Teacher of the Latin Language. Caroline H. Metcalf, Teacher of the French and English Languages. Barbara Grant, Teacher of Mathematics and Chemistry. Kate Fessenden, Teacher of the French Lan- guage. Sarah E. Scott, Teacher of Rhetoric and Mathe- matics. Emily A. Braddock, Teacher of the Latin Lan- guage. Mary Dascomb, Teacher of Mathematics. Julia Wiebe, Teacher of Music. Emma L. Hopkins, Teacher of Music. Caroline S. C. Wiebe, Teacher of Music. SopHi.v L. Curtis, Teacher of Music. A. Amelia Judd, Teacher of Music. Fanny J. Small, Teacher of Music. Of these the most notable was Maria Mitchell, the astronomer, whose discoveries and writings brought the college much prominence. In the second catalogue appears Leopold Von Sel- (leneck, master of horsemanship, Truman ]. Backus, in place of Henry B. Buckham at the head of the English department, Elizabeth M. Powell, physical training, and Fanny A. Wood, teacher of music. ■204: HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. Miss Wood, now the college librarian, is the only one of the original teachers remaining in service. LeRoy C. Cooley, now the senior professor, came to Vassar College in 1874. Matthew Vassar's death occurred dramatically as he was reading his annual address to the trustees of the college in June, 1868. His birthday, April 29th, was first celebrated by the students in 1866, and has ■been observed as Founder's Day ever since. If he could return to visit the institution he would find it grown far beyond his greatest expectation ; but the development of the new Vassar College belongs to the next chapter. The first bequest to the college was from the will of Jacob P. Giraud, who left $30,000 in 1870, to found a Museum of Natural History. With this fund James Orton, who had become Professor of Natural History and Geology in 1868, created the Museum and made the collection of South American birds, which is still one of its leading features. Charles J. Hinkle, about whose memory many stories have clustered, became Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages in 1868. The office of Master of Horse- manship appears last in the catalogue for 1872-1873, and not long after the close of the Riding School the building was altered to accommodate the Museum, first established in the main building. Changes Among the City Schools. The period beginning with the close of the Civil War was marked by many changes in the schools of Poughkeepsie. The public schools, though the amount of money appropriated for them seems now ridicu- lously small, were gradually gaining, and the private schools were beginning to lose ground. It was a time of transition from Academies to High Schools throughout the State, and the Dutchess County Acad- emy felt the force of the movement, which was strengthened locally by the passing away or retirement of some of the most notable teachers of the previous period. William McGeorge was succeeded by his son-in- law Stewart Pelham in 1864, and though Mr. Pelham was an excellent teacher of the old pattern, and long successful afterwards as proprietor of a private school, the Academy lost ground, probably mainly because of the establishment of the Free Academy or High School in Church Street. The High School was dis- continued for one year, 1865, after the war, apparently as a measure of economy, but the demand for its re- establishment was strong. The Academy trustees ap- preciated the situation and realizing that both institu- tions could not continue, did what they could to fa- cilitate their union. In 1866 the Academy building was rented to the city and the High School was re- opened there. Thus the famous old Academy, after three-quar- ters «f a century of honorable existence, was finally given up, and a few years later the building ceased to be used as a school. A demand soon arose for a new building in a more central location, and the trus- tees, in response to a petition from the citizens, de- cided to sell the Academy and donate the proceeds to the Board of Education to be used towards the con- struction of a High School and Public Library. The opportunity came in 1870 through the generosity of Jonathan Warner, who purchased the building and founded there the Old Ladies' Home. The Board of Education purchased the property on the corner of Washington Street and Lafayette Place in March, 1870, for $13,000, and the High School was opened in its present home in April, 1872, having in the mean- time found temporary lodgment in the second floor of the Mulrein Building, then recently finished on Market Street. The city library was removed also in 1872 to the lower floor of the High School. An equally notable change in the school situation was the abandonment of College Hill, another relic of the days of the Improvement Party. This did not come about from any idea that the location was too remote from the city, but simply because the property had to be sold to settle the estate of Charles Bartlett. Mr. Otis Bisbee, who was Mr. Bartlett's successor, was one of the bidders at the auction, which was con- ducted by Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings), November 24th, 1865, but had decided not to go above $30,000, at which figure the property was struck off to George Morgan. The school was continued on the hill until the spring of 1867, when the new Riverview Academy, in the southwestern section of the cit}' was finished. In June of that year Mr. Morgan opened the College Hill Hotel, which was not successful, in spite of its commanding location. Following Dr. Warring, whose school on Smith Street was a strong competitor, Mr. Bisbee had introduced militar)' drill several years be- fore leaving College Hill. Stewart Pelham, the last principal of the Dutchess County Academy, purchased a boys' school that had been starte^b^ ^V-. 1 1 ' ''"^^^^^m i' '^^^^^BHHBP^ R|'^\ . '*' '/SPwpBPi / » * f'nfc 'v' / w '' --V^ \ 1 ^F^ • -"Xk,k two present Poughkeepsie ministers who have been longest in service here were installed. Rev. A. P. \'an Gieson at the First Reformed (Dutch) Church and Rev. Robert Fulton Crar\- at the Church of the Holy Comforter. Both of them soon became and remained important forces in the life of the city. The charitable institutions established at this time were the House of Industry, the St. Barnabas Hospital and the Old Ladies' Plome. The first of these was an outgrowth of the woman's association formed during the war for the relief of the wives and widows of soldiers. It was organized in the fall of 1865 with Mary Ferris, president, Julia M. Crosby,, secretary, and Sarah Bowne, treasurer. In 1873 ii was able to purchase a house in Liberty Street, which it still occupies, conducting a modest little store for the sale of the handiwork of its beneficiaries. Its aim has l)een to promote independence and self-sup- port as well as to furnish relief, and every winter it provides remunerative labor, mostl\- plain sewing, to Dr. EDWARD H. PARKER. {See Appendix for biographical sketch.^ many applicants. From time to time it has conducted sewing classes for the children of the poor, and has in many ways endeavored to help its beneficiaries to learn to depend upon themselves. St. Barnabas Hospital, incorporated March 16th, 1871, was started by Dr. Edward H. Parker, one of the leading ph>'sicians of his day and noted also as the author of the widely-quoted poem "Life's Race \\'c\\ Won." The first trustees were Rev. P. K. Cadv, rec- tor of Christ Church, Rev. R. F. Crary, of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Rev. S. H. Synnott, of St. Paul's Church, W^m. A. Davies, S. ]\I. Buckingham, R. Sanford, Dr. E. H. Parker, Benjamin \-&.\\ Loan, and ^^'inthrop Atwill. The hospital was first opened in Garden Street, then in 1S73 was transferred to 108 North Clinton Street, which was purchased for $5,200. Although St. Barnabas Hospital was aban- doned when \^assar Hospital was opened, the organiza- tion is still in existence as the custodian of funds used for the relief of the needy sick at their homes. L'uy HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIB. The Old Ladies' Home has already been men- tioned in connection with the passing of the Dutchess County Academy. The building was purchased by Jonathan Warner for $14,000, and he also started the endowment fund with a contribution of $10,000. Mr. Warner was a member of the old Poughkeepsie War- ner family,^ and had returned here to live after mak- ing a modest fortune elsewhere. The Home was in- corporated December i, 1870, with the following trus- tees : Jonathan Warner, George Van Kleeck, and Charles W' . Swift, of the Reformed Church ; James H. Dudley and Abraham Wiltsie, of the Congrega- tional Church : Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John F. Hull, of the Baptist Church ; Stephen M. Buckingham and Edgar M. \''an Kleeck, of the Episcopal Church ; Wil- liam W. Re\'noIds and Albert B. Harvey, of the Methodist Church ; Joseph Flagler and George Corlies of the Friends Society. The building was of course considerably altered for its new use, but the only change in its external appearance was the veranda in front of the second floor. The Hudson River St.\te Hospitae. The erection of a State Hospital for the Insane somewhere along the Hudson River was authorized by the Legislature in 1866. but its location was left to a commission with power to obtain the most advan- tageous terms from the rival counties. It was brought to Poughkeepsie only after a considerable struggle on the part of the enterprising men of the day. When the Dutchess County Supervisors met in November the contest had narrowed down to Poughkeepsie and Newbin-gh. The site most favorably considered com- prised two hundred acres belonging to James Roose- velt, about a mile north of the citv. The city and county were asked to pa)' $30,000 towards its purchase and on November i6th a paper, signed by Mayor fu- nis, the aldermen and a committee of citizens who pledged themselves to raise this amount, was sub- mitted to the Supervisors, who were asked to issue county bonds for two-fifths of the amount. The al- dermen who signed this paper were S. B. Wheeler, Sidney Fowler, Daniel Clifford, Robert Slee, Oscar ,\. Fowler, \\'illiam Shields, Jfjseph Yi. Marshall, E. P. I'lOgardus, P. G. Beneway and Samuel Tuthill, and the citizens Cornelius Duliois, B. J. Lossing, George Corlies, E. L. Beadle, J. P. H. Tallman and George Lmis. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Dc- iSee p.ige 67. One of Jonatliaii Warner's sistcr.s married Henry Swift, the well known attorney mentioned several times in Chapters VI and VII. cember 4th, to issue $12,000 of county bonds, but Orange County raised its offer, and after overcoming considerable opposition from Eishkill and other towns whose Supervisors did not see how their sections could be benefited, the board reconsidered its action and voted to issue bonds for two-fifths of the amount need- ed, "said two-fifths not to exceed $34,000." The ex- penses of the site were stated to be $80,000. By the time it had been definitely ascertained that the re- quired amount would be raised it was too late on Sat- urday afternoon, December 29th, to catch a train for Newburgh, where the commission was in session, and about to decide the question of location. Nothing daunted, a telegram was sent asking the commission to wait for the arrival of a committee from Pough- keepsie. George Morgan brought out two of his "quick steppers," and a two-seated sleigh, and with John P. H. Tallman, Alderman Slee and George W. Davids, began at 6 p. m. a memorable drive to New- burgh. Mr. Davids, describing it a day or two later, wrote : "The night was a terrible one, the wind blow- ing a perfect hurricane and the snow drifting heavil)'. Twice we got off the road, the snow blinding us in such a manner, and the track blown so full, that it was utterly impossible in some places to find the way." Reaching Fishkill Landing after 9 o'clock thev found that the ferry had ceased its regular trips and was only running occasionally to keep the ice from block- ing it. The captain was at length found and informed the party that he would probably start in about an hour. "He was persuaded to go at once." Mr. Davids does not mention the persuasive force, but the story afterwards told placed it at $50. The commis- sion had about given up the Poughkeepsie committee when they finally arrived, and after a conference last- ing until I a. m. at the Orange Hotel, Poughkeepsie secured the prize. Work began at the hospital site the following summer, and in 1871 a part of the main building was opened. In June, 1872, sixty patients were reported and a large amount of work was still in progress. The State Hospital has been constantly increased in size until now it has a population of something over 2,000 patients. The money disbursed to laboring men in its construction has been a factor of importance in local business, and its large force of physicians, nurses and attendants add much to the life of the city. Dr. Joseph M. Cleaveland was made the superinten- dent at the opening and remained until about ten years ago, when he was succeeded by Dr. Charles W. Pilgrim. The first board of managers, in 1867, was HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE 209 Dr. Charles R. Agnew and Dr. A. Cook Hull, of New York, State Treasurer William A. Howland, of Mat- teawan, Mayor George Clark, of Newburgh, Flon. A. W. Palmer, of Amenia, Dr. Bedell and Cornelius Du- Bois, of Poughkeepsie. The architects were Vaux, Withers & Co., of New York. Manufacturing and Othur Industries. Naturall}^ during this period all local manfacturing industries that survived the war were prosperous and many new ones were started, some of which survived the panic of 1873, ^"d have continued to increase in importance. The sash, blind and door manufacture and the wheelbarrow industries are among these. There were sash and blind manufactories before the war, William Beardsley being one of the pioneers. Swart & Lumb began the sash and blind business in 1866 on North Water Street, where it is still carried on b}' George W. Lumb' & Son. The Levi Lumb factor\-. opposite the railroad station on Main Street, is a later offshoot from the same business. William THOMAS McWHINNIE. Harloe began making wheelbarrows in South Water Street in 1865 and in 1869 the factory came into pos- session of the present proprietor, Thomas McWhin- nie.2 The Barratt paper factory started in 1866 in the Red Mills and afterwards moved to Rose Street. One of the new industries from which great things were expected but in which many Poughkeepsie peo- ple lost money was the Eureka Mowing Machine Com- U'or hiographical sketch see Appendix. ■'See Appendix. pany, also located in the Red Mills buildings. John D. Wilber was the inventor of the Eureka and its chief promoter was his brother, Mark D. Wilber. Its capital was $300,000, and the officers in March, 1870, when the company started business, were : Isaac W. White, president; M. D. Wilber, vice-president; W. W. Hegeman, secretary ; F. K. Stevens, treasurer ; John D. Wilber, superintendent. Directors : Isaac W. White, C. S. Van Wyck, W. W. Hegeman, IMilton A. Fowler, Francis K. Stevens, Nathaniel Lamoree, John D. Wilber, Elias S. DeGarmo, Christopher Hughes, Robert Sanford, Thomas Doty, Paul Flag- ler and M. D. Wilber. The Eureka Mower was built upon a new principle, cutting by direct draft be- hind the horses, which were driven wide apart, one of them walking in the standing grass. The cut grass was left untouched, and the claim was made that it would cure more quickly and evenly than grass cut by other machines. Another important enterprise that failed was The Hudson River Iron Company, incorporated in 1872 with a capital of $400,000. Its officers at the perma- nent organization in August of that year were : Rich- ard P. Bruff, president; Thomas S. Lloyd, vice-presi- dent, and George Parker, secretary. The first named was described as "of the firm of Russell & Erwin, manufacturers," and the last two of Poughkeepsie. The company projected a large plant to include rolling mills and blast furnaces, and purchased the old Liv- ingston place south of the city, the last of Colonel Henry A. Livingston's daughters having died a few years before. The rolling mill and puddling furnaces were erected and in operation before the panic, but the company was not able to carry out all its plans. A much greater factor in the prosperity of Pough- keepsie for many years was the Whitehouse Shoe Fac- tory, the contract for the erection of which was given in December, 1870, to J. I. \^ail. Mr. ^^^^itehouse, as already stated, was the owner of shoe factories else- where and with an established reputation his Pough- keepsie factory was soon employing a large number of hands. The original buildings were struck by light- ning and burned in 1879, but were rebuilt, and arc now in the possession of the American Cigar Com- pany, the shoe business having declined after the death of Mr. Whitehouse, as explained in the next chapter. Minor establishments of this period were the -Vl- bertson Edge Tool Works, started in 1868 opposite the gas works in Bayeaux Street, by B. Albertson, and the plow factory incorporated in 1870 by C. W. Swift, William .\. Davies, George Innis, John F. Winslovs , 210 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. J. O. Whitehouse, M. Vassar, Jr., E. L. Beadle, F. W. Pugsley, S. M. Buckingham, Isaac Piatt Smith, John Brill and John T. Hooper. This company manu- factured the L,. Green patent p'.ow at the old Coffin foundry, corner of INIill and Delafield Streets, near where No. 4 Engine House now stands, but in spite of the array of prominent men among its incorporators was never a very conspicuous success. Some local industries that have been curtailed by the competition of the West, or by that of greater and more favorably located establishments were ap- parently at the height of their prosperity before 1873. The wagon and chair making, and cooperage indus- tries were among these. The Chichester Chair Fac- tory, on South Front Street, was one of the chief es- tablishments of the kind in Poughkeepsie, and the building of a railroad from Kingston into the Cats- kill Mountains brought new sources of supply of suit- able materials, and also caused the establishment of a plant at Chichester, where a number of Poughkeepsie men found employment, and from which they occa- sionally contributed accounts of their adventures with bears and wildcats to the Poughkeepsie newspapers. The Chichester factory was once or twice burned and rebuilt. Along the river front the era of railroad building, which reached its climax between 1870 and 1873, ^^'^^ beginning to make changes. The Hudson River Rail- road was double-tracked from Poughkeepsie to Al- bany soon after the war and freight rates from the West began to fall. ^V. W. Reynolds & Son gave up running a steamboat to Alban\- and in 1871 built their brick warehouse and elevator opposite the rail- road station, abandoning the river as a means of ob- taining western grain and flour. William T. Rey- nolds, ^ now the senior member of the firm, had been a partner in the business since i860. The three com- peting firms running freight boats to New York had begun to show signs of approaching consolidation about 1867, when the Upper and Main Street Landing firms bought the Lower Landing. The steamboats Hasbrouck and Miller had been built in 1862 and 1864, to take the places of the boats sold to the gov- ernment during the war. The former was running from the Upper Landing and the latter from Main Street. The steamer Transit had been running from the Lower Landing under the management of John H. Mathews, and when the attempt was made to close this landing a new firm was organized, with Isaac G. Sands, Joel Winans, James Collingwood and Pat- rick Mclntvre as partners, in May. 1867, to take the 1 For biograpliical skctcli see Appendix. boat and run it from the old Southwick dock, next north of the former landing place. This competition was apparently not very successful, and in 1871 Doughty, Cornell & Co., of the Upper Landing, and Gaylord, Doty & Co., of Main Street, were in combi- nation to serve the Lower Landing by leaving the Has- brouck or Miller there a part of each day for freight. In 1872 the Lower Landing was abandoned entirely. In 1873 Joseph C. Doughty, of the Upper Landing firm, died and his interest was purchased by Homer Ramsdell, of Newburgh, who formed the Poughkeep- sie Transportation Company, putting both boats in service from Main Street the next 3'ear. Growth and Municip,\l Improvement — The W.^TER AND Sewer Systems. From 1865 to 1870 the population of Poughkeep- sie increased twenty -five per cent, a rate more rapid than for any previous half decade. The census figures for 1865 were 16,073 ^"d for 1870, 20,088. Some doubt has been thrown upon the accuracy of the fig- ures for 1870, because of the difficulty of increasing them in subsequent census )'ears. It has been said that the census of 1870 was padded in order to obtain free postal delivery, and the figures were certainly rather surprisingly large. Said the Eagle in Septem- ber, 1870: "Few, however, of our citizens supposed wc could reach 20,000, and the result is all the more gratifying because unexpected." Possibly some por- tion of the large transient population of students may have been counted — the real population was at that time 1,200 or 1,500 more than the legal population, and the number of people actually living in Poughkeepsie since the war has alwa3'S been considerably greater than the census figures have shown. It seems strange that the city could have got along without a water supply suitable for household use up to this time. The matter had several times been con- sidered, but events had conspired to postpone action. In 1855 James Emott, Henry D. Varick and William H. Talhnadge, appointed by the Common Council, employed an engineer to examine all available sources of supply, and published an interesting report in which they favored "Morgan's Pond," which was not Mor- gan Lake, but the old mill pond referred to in earlier chapters and now called \^assar College Lake. Bas- ing their calculations on an average daily per capita consumption of 35 gallons, and allowing for an in- drease of population of 15 per cent every five years, the committee estimated that this body of "pure spring water ' would supply the city's needs until 1880 at least. It was perhaps fortunate that the panic of WILLIAM T. REYNOLDS. 212 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE 1857 and the war prevented the carrying out of these plans. Soon after the war the matter came up again, and an act providing for a board of water commissioners, with power to borrow $200,000, was passed in 1867. Again financial stringency caused delay and in 1869 another act was passed by the Legislature, naming Dr. Edward L. Beadle, Stephen M. Buckingham, Ed- ward Storm, Abraham Wright, Edgar M. Van Kleeck and James H. Weeks as commissioners, with authority to borrow money, if a taxpayers' vote, to be held July 13th, should be favorable. Then began a series of public meetings, two of which were held in the Opera House, at which Mr. Eastman, Assemblyman W. W. Hegeman, Judge Allard Anthony and Mayor Clark, of Newburgh, were among the chief speakers. One gathers froin some of the speeches that Poughkeepsie had a rather unpleasant reputation for fevers at that time. Mr. Hegeman said, "He did not believe there was a natural well in Poughkeepsie that was fit for use for family purposes," and Mr. Eastman said that when he was expatiating upon the advantages of Poughkeepsie in New York he was frequently met with the statement that Poughkeepsie had fine schools, churches, etc., "but, oh, how sickly!" The taxpa)'ers were all but unanimous at the special election, voting 544 for water, and only 43 against. Ma5'or Morgan was given a good deal of credit for the result, and when the votes had been counted he was serenaded at his home at College Hill Hotel. It was somewhere about this time that he constructed Morgan Lake, on the east side of College Hill, for the purpose, it is said, of selling it to the city as a part of its water sup- ply. The board organized by electing Dr. Beadle presi- dent, and employed J. B. G. Rand as engineer, asso- ciating Theodore W. Davis, son of Frederick Davis, cashier of the Farmers' and Manufacturers' Bank, and James P. Kirkwood, of New York, with him. Kirkwood was a well-known engineer and a specialist in the installation of water supplies. He had visited and studied the water supply systems abroad, and was particularly familiar with the systems of slow filtra- tion through sand emplo3ed by some of the water companies at London, England. It was on his ad- vice that the Hudson River was selected as the source of supplv, after a careful examination of the Fall Kill and Wappingers, with the installation of a system of slow sand filtration. The two filters constructed by John Sutcliffci at that Innc at the pumping station, on land previously belonging to the Swain estate, a mile north of the city, were the first of their kind in the country, and are about the only filters which have survived all changes of expert opinion from that da)' to this. The)' have been continuously in service until the close of the year 1904, and during 1905 will be reconstructed and covered. Originallv expected only to clarify the water, iFor hiagrapliical skclcli sec Appendix. The Filter Beds, p/wlographcd about iSy^. they have been found equall}' serviceable in the re- moval of harmful bacteria. The choice of James P. Kirkwood as a consulting engineer in 1870 was, there- fore, an exceedingly fortunate one. The pumps were started for trial July 4th, 1872, but it was not until several months later that the first water tap was put in to serve the house of the president of the water board, Mr. Edward Storm, in South Liberty Street. Physicians, like Robert K. Tuthill, who remember the conditions preceding the introduction of the water supply testify that the health of the city was consider- abh' improved by it, though the prejudice against the river water was so strong that wells and cisterns were abandoned by very slow degrees. Theodore W. Davis remained in charge of the water and sewer systems until t88i, when he was succeeded by the present City Engineer, Charles E. Fowler. The installation of the water and sewerage systems was the most notable public improvement of the period, but the Fall Kill improvement was also a great and very expensive change, and destroyed almost en- tirely the old-time usefulness of the stream for water power. I'elton's Pond, earlier Booth's, was the only one left, and even its area was greath' restricted. Its waters once extended across \\hat is now Duane Street, and on the early maps it is called "The Great Reservoir.'' The size of this pond was cut down again , in 1SS4, and it was finall\' filled in, when the dam was taken down in 1899. Not far above it was "Swift's Pond," which furnished power for the old factory at the end of Charles vStreet. This pond was some- JOHN SUTCUFFE. •214 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. times called by the boys "The Baptiser" from some former use as a place of immersion by the Baptists. Above Washington Street and extending to Garden was Parker's Mill Pond. Garden Street had been given its eastward bend from the corner of High Street to get around this pond, the upper end of which was most of the time a swamp and the stream emptied into the pond a hundred feet or more north of the present bridge. The Parker Mill had been burned a short time before the pond was filled up and the new mill was built not long afterwards, on the east side of Garden Street, where part of its ruins are incorporated into the building of the Ilygcia Ice Com- pany. Next to Pelton's the most important of the storage ponds was Lent's, or the Winnikee (originally Crannell's),! which furnished power for the Red Mills. By 1870 all of these water powers had decreased con- siderably in value and steam had come to be regarded as the only reliable force for driving machinery, but the owners of the ponds nevertheless received big damages from the city. In the report of the City Treasurer for the year 1871 the cost of walling and filling in the ponds was given as follows. Lent's Pond $21,415 90 Parker's Pond 20,597 39 Swift's Pond 8,817 61 Pelton's Pond 21,776 08 The cost of the water works up to the beginning of the year 1873 was $427,698.45, of the Fall Kill im- provement and draining the mill ponds, $114,923.40. and of the sewers $263,350.76. The Fall Kill im- provement was a public health measure, but it was a mistake to undertake it along with the water works, when all prices were high, and with interest at seven per cent. The rate of interest does not seem to have been considered at all, and probably few people had any idea the time would come when the c\'(-\ could bor- row at less than half the rate then prevailing. Nor were' these two works of municipal nccessit\' the only causes of the great debt under which the city so long staggered. At about the same time $600,000 in city bonds was pledged for the building of the Pough- keepsie and Eastern Railroad. The Pougiikeepsih .xnd E-\stern' and City R.\il- RO-\DS. A'arious attempts lo revive the project of 1832 for a railroad eastward from Poughkecpsie have already been mentioned. It came up with every period of good times, was urged in the newspapers and at meet- ings both in the cil\' and county. During and after iSee pp. 30 and 31. the war the iron mines in northeastern Dutchess and in western Connecticut were worked at a good profit, as were also the blast furnaces at Poughkecpsie. ISIost of the Harlem vallej' ore was smelted in char- coal furnaces in the neighborhood and shipped to New York by the Harlem Railroad, but as wood be- gan to grow more scarce an outlet to the Hudson River was sought, and in 1865 the mine owners built a piece of track about five miles long from the neigh- borhood of Boston Corners and announced that they would extend it to Pine Plains, there to await the de- cision of the rival schemes for a river terminus. "Will Poughkeepsie sleep and lose this grand prize?" asked the Eagle of November i8th. "Will you co-operate with the country and regain the trade of all that sec- tion of country which wishes to again come here, or will you disregard the opportunity?" Mark D. Wil- ber, then just elected Member of Assembly, was a strenuous advocate of the Poughkeepsie terminus, and so were Mayor Innis and H. G. Eastman, but the op- portunity was nevertheless disregarded at the critical time. Poughkeepsie capitalists were not at all sure they wanted to build to Pine Plains. It was a time of great prosperity among the farmers of Dutchess, and the enlistment of their capital seemed the princi- pal thing to be considered. The question of the east- ern terminus was almost as complicated, viewed from Poughkeepsie, as the western terminus was when viewed from the interior. Fanners from all the southern section, and from Hart's Village eastward, seemed to favor a railroad to Fishkill, and many Poughkeepsie people thought that they could be won over by building through the neighborhood of the Dutchess Turnpike to Amenia and Sharon, a section generally much better known here than that from Pine Plains to Boston Corners. Wassaic was also fre- quently' mentioned, though the several preliminary sur- veys always carried the road northward to the neigh- borhood of Copake or Boston Corners. As a result of a few enthusiastic meetings at Washington Hollow and elsewhere, P. P. Dickinson made a survey and his reiwrt, published in February, 1866, contains some in- teresting items. The total cost was estimated as $1,002,206.00, the chief items of which were: Graduation of road '. $338,190 00 Track superstrrcture ... 336.976 80 Right of way and fencing 55.040 00 Salaries, office rents, etc.. during con- struction 20,000 00 For purchase of 4>< miles of railroad of Columbia Co. Iron Mining Co 95,00000 Loconintiycs, cars, tools, etc 157,000 00 HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE. 215 Among the estimated annual receipts were : Transportation of mill< 58,400 00 Transportation of hay 32,000 00 Transportation of iron ore 87,000 00 Passengers' fares 41.558 40 The name "Poughkccpsie and Eastern" seems to have originated witli tlie Eagle, which said on Janu- ary 20th, 1866, "We have heretofore, in speaking of the railroad from this city to Copake and Boston Corners, called it 'The Poughkeepsie and Copake Railroad.' " Continuing, the article mentions the probability of the extension of the railroad to Salis- bury and Falls Village, in Connecticut, or to Great Barrington, in Massachusetts, and concludes with the statement that the Eogic would hereafter name the road Tlie Poughkeepsie and Eastern "unless the com- pany when finally incorporated shall decide to give it another." The incorporation was completed in April with the following directors: George Innis, Isaac Piatt, James G. ^Vood, George Morgan, Harvey G. Eastman, and Robert F. Wilkinson, of J^oughkeepsie ; Pomeroy P. Dickinson, Birdsall Cornell and William Corwin, of New York; William Eno, Pine Plains; Piatt G. Van X'liet and Stephen T. .Angell, Pleasant X^alley ; James M. Welling, Washington; EHhu Griffin, Clin- ton ; Isaac Carjienter, .Stanford ; George IV-asley and Conrad N'iver. Ancram. At a meeting on April 28th, George Innis was elected President; George Morgan, Vice-President ; Isaac G. Sands, Treasurer ; Robert F. Wilkinson, Secretary ; Mark D. Wilber, Attorney, and P P. Dickinson, Chief Engineer. The campaign of meetings continued and the chief efiforts seem to have been still directed towards the farmers. Ma\or Innis, Mark D. Wilber, li. G. East- man and Isaac Platl were nearly alwa\s among the speakers at these meetings and occasionally others, in- cluding James Bowne, -V. L. Allen. Theodorus Greg- ory, Otis Bisbee, Jeremiah Eighmic, Lewis F. Streit and James Mabbelt were heard. The plan included a branch from Salt Point to Wassaic. to pass through or near \\'ashington Hollow and Hart's \'illage, but the promoters were never able to satisfy the people of those neighborhoods that this branch would be built. .'\s a bait to secure their support it was not success- ful, though a railroad to Hart's Village continued to be agitated up to the time of the beginning of the construction. In the meantime George 1 1. Brown and other promoters of the Fishkill railroad obtained substantial support, and managed to get their railroad well started before the panic of '07 came as a check to both enterprises. The Poughkeepsie and Eastern directors reported subscriptions of $220,000 in August, 1867, "leaving but $80,000 wanting to enable the directors to com- mence work." Had they started their efforts for sub- scriptions a little sooner, and a little more vigorously and with less division of counsel, they might have headed off the Dutchess and Columbia, but then it was too late. When the project was again pushed, a year or two later, the effort to obtain the amounts needed b}' subscription was given up for the favorite scheme of bonding towns and the city. Construction was be- gun in the spring of l86g on the first section, from Poughkeepsie to Salt Point. In July the work met a serious interruption in the defalcation of Walter Welsh, one of the sub-contractors, near Pleasant Val- ley. i\ccording to the newspapers, he managed to swindle the men in his employ, and various persons with whom he had dealings in the city and county, out of sums aggregating more than $20,000, and then dis- appeared. The workmen at the \"alley were in a riot- ous mood and one of them. Jack McDonald, seized a horse and wagon belonging to Welsh, and refused to give it up when it was demanded by Sheriff Ken- worthy. Company D, of the 21st Regiment, com- manded by Captain William Haubennestel, was finally called upon to restore order, and by its aid the property was recovered and McDonald and some others were arrested. \\'ork was resumed, but the directors had not de- cided just what direction the road should take from Salt Point until January, 1870, when the contract was J'oiig/ikt'ffisif t^J Eas/i'ni Station. given out for the section from Salt Point to Slissing. "Large and Enthusiastic" meetings were still held in favor of a proposed branch to ,\nienia and Sharon. The first locomoti\-e for the new railroad arri\'ed in P(_Highkeepsie in September, 1870, and was hauled b\' horses on a timber track to its destination. It was landed from a boat at the Lower Landing and George Polk, the ship builder, had the rather strenuous 216 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIIi. contract of hauling it up the hill, via Pine Street and Montgomery to Hamilton, and thence across to the station. The railroad was completed to Stanfordville not long after this, the first cars were hauled up on the tracks of the Poughkeepsie City Railroad, and regular trains began running. On January 17th, 1871, regular trains, three in each direction, began running to Stissing, and on the 24th there was a grand celebra- tion of the opening of the first division of the road. This included an excursion and a banquet at the Opera House, at which George P. Pelton presided. Hon. Charles Wheaton, John F. Winslow, Hon. Homer A. Nelson, Hon. John Thompson, Hon. B. Piatt Car- penter, Hon. W. W. Hegeman, Col. George Parker, Rev. F. B. Wheeler, Rev. A. P. Van Gieson, Isaac Piatt, M. D. Wilber, H. G. Eastman and Dr. E. H. Parker were the local speakers, and George H. Brown, president of the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad, Grinnell Burt, vice-president of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, Daniel Thompson, president of the Middle- town and Crawford Railroad, Joel Benton, represent- ing Eastern Dutchess, and P. P. Dickinson, represent- ing the proposed bridge across the Hudson River, also spoke. After this outburst of enthusiasm and oratory there was a long halt before the railroad was continued to Boston Corners, and it was not until October, 1872, that trains began running to State Line, making di- rect connections through to Hartford. The years '69 to '73, when the P. and E. was finally constructed, form an era of railroad building all over the country. Poughkeepsie people were not confining their investments to local enterprises by any means, and long advertisements of Union Pacific and other western railroad bonds appeared in all the local papers. The bank cashiers usually acted as agents for these bonds and made a good deal of money from commis- sions. Besides the P. and E., the Dutchess and Co- lumbia and the Boston, Hartford and Erie, other neighboring manifestations of the craze were the Wall- kill Valley Railroad, the Rondout and Oswego (now Ulster and Delaware) and the Rhinebeck and Con- necticut. The new railroads made many changes in the coun- try and in the towns. Poughkeepsie streets were no longer lined with farmers' teams, and the steamboat lines gradually went out of the commission business. New settlements were created, including Millbrook, which was laid out in the summer of 1870 by Isaac Merritt, who owned the land and had succeeded in ob- taining the location of the Dutchess and Columbia station midway between the older hamlets of Hart's Village and Mechanic. As soon as the Dutchess and Columbia and Boston, Hartford and Erie were ac- complished facts Hopewell Junction made a begin- ning and old Fishkill began to lose standing. A rail- road from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell was then fre- quently urged in the Bagle, and also a railroad to New Paltz to recover the lost trade of the Wallkill Valley. A street railroad in Poughkeepsie was projected as soon as it became reasonably certain that the Pough- keepsie and Eastern would be built, and was first char- tered in 1866. Like other enterprises it was postponed by the panic of 1867 and finally organized under a charter granted May 6th, 1869. Its first directors were Plarvey G. Eastman, Aaron Innis, Oliver H. Booth, Alfred B. Smith, Homer A. Nelson, Isaac W. White, Pomero)- P. Dickinson, Robert W. Frost, John I. Piatt, Edward Storm, Mark D. Wilber, John P. H. Tallman and George H. Beattys. Efforts were made to prevent any one person or combination from obtaining control of the road, and in February, 1870, the directors announced that no subscription for more than $5,000 would be accepted. Evident!}' there was no very great difficult}' about raising the money, for in April a contract was made with Leach & Co., of Philadelphia, to build the entire line from the Hudson River Railroad depot to the Poughkeepsie and Eastern depot, and on May 14th it was stated that the work was progressing finely and the entire track would be laid in nine days. As already indicated it was finished in time to furnish an easy means of hauling up the first cars used upon the Poughkeepsie and Eastern railroad. The extension to Vassar College was made two years later and was rather a result of the real estate boom in the section east of Cherry Street than an effort to obtain fares from the College. March 2nd, 1872, at a meeting of real estate owners interested John Grubb, Andrew King, M. H. Hitchcock, John Wing, Caleb Ballard, J. Hevenor, J. I. Pultz, J. Bar- nett and U. L. Ferguson were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions. Other meetings were held and by September the work of building the tracks "to Bull's Head and Vassar College" was nearly finished. Then it was decided that "Bull's Head" was not a sufficiently dignified name for a suburb of such a thriv- ing city as Poughkeepsie, and the name was changed to East Poughkeepsie, now officially Arlington. The Rkai. Estate Boom. During the period between 1868 and 1873, with new enterprises constantly coming to the front, with important municipal improvements in progress, and with real estate advancing, comparison was often made with the da3's of the unfortunate Improvement Party HISTORY OP POUGHKEEPSIE SI'; of the 30's. The parallel was in many respects a good one. In H. G. Eastman, George Innis, Mark D. Wil- ber and others were to be found leaders quite as ag- gressive and sanguine as Oakley, Cunningham and Tallmadge, and if the later period produced no men of as much national prominence as Tallmadge, that was largely because Poughkeepsie was of far more relative importance in the State in 1830 than in 1870, though four times as large at the later date. Mr. Eastman had abundant faith in the future of the city. He expected to live to see Poughkeepsie a city of 80,000, and perhaps even 100,000, and indeed if the place could gain twenty-five per cent, in population between 1865 and 1870, it seemed not unreasonable to suppose that with all the improvements made, with the new factories in full operation, the new railroad to the eastward and the great bridge giving it westward connections, the rate of growth after 1870 might be even more rapid. A Board of Trade was formed in April, 1872, and leased rooms in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion building. By the 27th 160 members were re- ported, each of whom paid an initiation fee of $5. Matthew Vassar, Jr., was elected president, and the other directors were Otis Bisbee, Joseph C. Doughty, James H. Dudley, Charles Heath, E. H. Sedgwick, De Witt Webb, Edward Elsworth, George P. Pelton, M. J. Myers, James B. Piatt, George Innis, H. G. Eastman, J. Parker Heath, John P. Adriance, W. A. Fanning, Isaac W. White, Edward Storm, George Parker, R. W. Frost, James Marshall, George D. Hull and Richard Kenworthy. This board has contin- ued until the present time, but the social feature has been abandoned. Real estate was in good demand before 1867, and in 1869 the demand began to assume something of the proportions of a boom. A number of streets that had been forgotten since they were mapped in 1835- 37 were graded, and provided with houses, and new sections of farm lands were divided into lots and sold at auction. This was the period of the opening of the eastern section of the city, as already implied in the account of the extension of the Cit\- Railroad. The Easilc of April 17th, 1869, under the head of "City Improvements," says, "The spirit of improvement seems reccnll\' to have taken possession of the holders of property in that section of the city lying east of Clinton Street," and adds "Virginia Avenue has been handsomely graded and a number of elegant houses erected thereon. * * * A gang of men is busily at work grading Church Street from Clinton Street east to its junction with Main Street." Old Cherry Street is described as "bracing up" and "a spacjous avenue has been opened from Cherry Street to Vassar College." This was, of course, "College Avenue," the east end of which was not ready for use until June. Robert N. Palmer and Cornelius DuBois were among the leading property owners on the new avenue. Jew- ett Avenue was put through, from Main Street to the Alms House, about the same time, and on May 12, 1869, a part of the Alms House property (the old County House land) bordering on Main Street was sold at auction in lots. Mark H. Hitchcock bought the old "overseer's residence" on Main Street for $3,315- J- H. Horsfall purchased about $3,000 worth of these lots and in 1872 sold them at auction for $7,524-50. The chief impetus to the opening of this section of the city was given by the division of the estate of William Worrall, who had lived in the house which JACOB CORUES. (Si'c Appendix for biographical skclcli.) was originally built for the "Glebe House," or resi- dence of the first minister of Christ Church (see p. 24). The sale of that part of the Worrall property lying south of Main Street, June 24th, 1869, was de- scribed as "the largest sale of real estate at auction that has ever taken place in this city." One hundred and ten acres were sold, including thirty-six lots on Worrall Avenue, si.xteen on the south side of ]\'Iain Street, and a number on College .-Vvenue. George Innis, Walter Corlies, Henry D. Myers, A. J. Hans- com and F. Ulrich, were the largest purchasers for 218 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSLE. speculation. The sale realized $72,911.75, and the highest prices paid were $13.55 a foot on College Avenue, and $11.75 o" Worrall Avenue. Messrs. Andrew King and Jacob Corlies purchased 42 acres of land on the north side of Main Street, and George Innis bought a similar tract adjoining. Innis and Corlies Avenues, Maple Street and King Street were laid out and planted with trees not long afterwards. Hammersley Avenue was an example of a street sur- veyed, and planted with maples, but not opened until some fifteen years later. Thomas Clegg and Robert N. Palmer were the executors of the Worrall estate, but John Grubb, Mr. Worrall's son-in-law, was the leading promoter of the neighborhood. Main Street beyond Clinton had been until this time in the control of the Dutchess Turnpike .Company, which was described in the article of April i6th, 1869, as "standing in the way of all improvements," but was now "pushed beyond the city limits." In 1872 the street was curbed and guttered and flagged (on the north side) to the city line at a cost of $7,638.15, for the north side, and $3,814.15 for the south side. Blue stone or flag walks were characteristic improve- ments of this period, and several of the streets upon which lots had been sold were provided with them well out into the country. North Hamilton and North Clinton Streets, for example, were flagged on both sides through to North Street, though a large part of the property fronting the northern section of each has remained unimproved, and the sidewalks there have often been called "relics of the Eastman boom." An ordinance was passed at this time forbid- ding the repair of the brick walks in the older streets and providing for their replacement by stone when worn out. Only a very few patches of irregular bricks remain to-day, as reminders of the past. In 1872 an attempt was made to enlarge the bound- aries of the cit}^ — the only serious attempt, I think, since the incorporation of the village in 1799. On January 27th James Marshall, John I. Piatt and C. S. Van Wyck, who had been appointed a committee to consider the subject, reported in favor of the follow- ing lines : "Commencing at the center and west side of the culvert crf)ssing the Hudson River Railroad at the southwest corner of the Poughkeepsie Rural Ceme- tery, thence easterly in a direct line to the junction of the New Hackensack and Vassar College roads, thence northeast in a direct line to the elm tree on the Manchester road near the Dutchess Turnpike, thence northerh' in a direct line to the junction of the Salt Point road and a cross road near the Roman Catholic Cemetcrv, thence northwest in a direct line to the centre and east side of a culvert crossing the Hyde Park road over Ware's Creek, north of the Hudson River State Hospital, and following the said creek to the river." This report was accepted by the Common Council, but the effort to pass it in the Legislature was defeated by the opposition of some of the leading residents in the section it was proposed to annex. In architecture this was the period of the Mansard or French roof, just as the fashion of the 30's de- manded Grecian pillars and porticos. Many an old gable-roofed building was given an additional story by aid of the Mansard and most of the new houses were so built, three stories high, generally, with basements. It became the highest enterprise to build rows of brick basement houses. John Gager was one of the leading promoters of such buildings, and the row of houses on the southeast corner of Mill and Garden Streets are still sometimes called the Gager houses. Eastman Terrace in iSj^. as are also some of the houses on the north side of Mill Street near Conklin. Gager was in financial straits as early as November, 1872, when he sold "the Gager Club House," in Garden Street, which is said to have cost $14,000, to Joseph N. Corliss for $10,- 000. The most notable folly of the day was Mr. East- man's splendid block known as Eastman Terrace. Facing his beautiful park he planned an imposing block of twenty-three four-story-and-basement houses, to cost in the neighborhood of $400,000. Ground was graded and excavations made for all, but only ten were started. These had been finished in the spring of 1873, at a cost of about $150,000. Mr. Eastman expected to be able to sell them to New York people at about $18,000 each, and failing in this he undertook to sell them at auction early in July. lienry W. Morris was the auctioneer of the period, and did his best, aided by the Eastman College Band, and an elaborate luncheon, served in one of the houses. There was a large crowd present, but the prices offered were HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 219 so far short of Mr. Eastman's expectations that he stopped the sale. Ten thousand dollars was offered for No. I, and Mr. Eastman declared that he had re- fused $12,000 for it at private sale. The houses were not finally disposed of until 1874, and represented a loss of at least $60,000. Probably by the time of the auction real estate had already begun to decline, though earlier in the year many sales were reported in the news- papers. The Eagle of February 15th said: "We do not remember when there has been more activity in real estate than this spring." Among the sales of business property at that time were the following: Hon. James Emott to James Collingwood, old Emott place on Market Street, "now occupied by W. R. Woodin,' opposite the end of Cannon Street; "Man- sion House," corner of Main and Clover Streets, to James Mulrein at auction for $11,000; store of Deyo Smith, Main Street, to P. M. Howard, $18,000 ; build- ing corner of North Hamilton and Main Streets to N. Hoffman, $26,000. The new buildings erected on Main and Market Streets during this period gave those streets nearly their present appearance in some sections. A notable change was occasioned by the burning of the old Corner 0/ li/aiii and harden Streets, after the Fire oj December 26, iSyo. wooden stores on the north side of Main Street, east of Garden, on Monday evening, December 26th, 1870. The fire started in the saloon of George \V. Cannon, and "in about two hours 'i' * * all the buildings from Frost & Parish's building to the corner of Gar- den Street were gutted." Archibald Wilson's book- store, founded by Paraclete Potter, Morgan E. Far- num's drug store and Liberty Hyde's shoe store were among the leading places of business burned out. Mr. Wilson reopened in Liberty Street, at the site of the present Eagle building. The Eoi^le wa? already lo- cated in Liberty Street, having erected the building now occupied by the A. V. Haight Printing Company in 1868. Morgan L. Farnum reopened his drug store in the Morgan House block. He was one of the lead- ing characters of the day and some of "Morg" Far- num's stories are still current. Among other losers at the fire were M. Shwartz, already located where he has since remained. The Poughkeepsic Adi'crtiscr, R. Dann, John S. Myers, J. D. Melrose, R. Spring, E. R. Pease, Miss E. Bates, P. Lamper, H. Kimball, H. Zimmer and Thomas Wyatt. Mrs. Enoch Pardee owned the corner buildings and her loss was given as $15,000. This fire was fought with the old water supply and had its influence in hastening the con- struction of the new system. Judge Nelson was re- Old Buildings on the site of Kirchner Hall. ported as having worked long and faithfull)' on the brakes of old Protection No. i Engine. The building of the present Pardee Block of hand- some stores added considerably to the activity of the times. James S. Post had the contract for the corner building, which was finished in April, 1872, when Reed & \'an Vliet opened a bookstore where Peter r>. Havt is now established. The Kirchner building was finished at the end of the same year, and the 21st Regi- ment, which had been quartered at the old carriage factory, where the Sanitary Fair had been held, took possession of the upper floors. After the war Mr. Burnap had for a time revived the carriage industry in the old "armorx," but in 1870 he sold his handsome place opposite "Springside" to Dr. John P. .Atwater, of New Haven, Ct., and moved awa)- from Pough- keepsic. In Market Street the Mulrein building was built in 1869 and 1870, and the Savings Bank in 1870- 71. (Sec article in Appendix about the Savings Bank). The PouGHKEEPSie Bridge. The crowning enterprise of the period was the beginning of the great bridge across the Hudson, i-2(i HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE suggested'^ as soon as the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad became a certainty, and from 1868 on dis- cussed from time to time in tlie newspapers. It seem- ed evident that a bridge would be constructed across the river somewhere in or north of the Highlands, and enterprising residents of Poughkeepsie immediately went to work to show the advantages of the location here. P. P. Dickinson took it up as an engineer early in 1 87 1, and then Harvey G. Eastman went into the project with all his tremendous energy. On the 15th of February he wrote a letter, published in the Eagle, in which he said, "I am satisfied that this project can be accomplished and secured to our city if we are awake to our own interests." On the 7th of March Mr. Eastman was elected Mayor, following George Mor- gan, then State Senator, and, assisted by P. P. Dick- inson and John I. Piatt, at once went to work to draft a charter for the proposed bridge company. It was pushed rapidly through the Legislature and became a law on May nth, 1871. The incorporators were Harve)' G. Eastman, George Innis, John F. Winslow, John O. Whitehouse, Homer A. Nelson, John I. Piatt, Isaac W. White, George R. Gaylord, Oliver H. Booth, William A. Davies, John M. Toucey, John P. Adri- ance, Alfred B. Smith, Charles Wheaton, Henry D. Varick, Abraham Wright, Charles Kirchner, Charles W. Swift, George Corlies, James Mulrein, Robert Slee, Allard Anthony, Edward Storm, George P. Pel- ton, P. P. Dickinson, James G. Wood, Aaron Innis, Hudson Taylor, Mark D. Wilber, George Parker, James Collingwood, Matthew Vassar, Walter Van Kleeck, Charles H. Roberts, Lawrence C. Rapelje, Anning Smith, Abraham Hasbrouck and George Corn- well. The first officers of the company, elected on May 31st, were John F. Winslow, president; Harvey G. Eastman, vice-president ; Robert F. Wilkinson, sec- retar}' ; and George Innis, treasurer. The executive committee, John F. Winslow, H. G. Eastman, J. M. Toucey, George P. Pelton, Homer A. Nelson, Isaac \y. White and Charles Wheaton, went ahead with pre- liminary surveys, appointing Horatio Allen chief en- gineer. Up to this time nothing but a suspension bridge had been thought of, and an amendment had been incorporated in the charter, through the influence of the boatmen, prohibiting piers in the river, but as no bridge of that kind had ever been built with a span of more than 1,000 feet, capable of sustaining railway trains, Mr. .Mien declined at the outset to sanction a single span bridge. His plans called for two piers in iThe first suggestion that attracted notice was an article written by John I. Piatt, in the Eagle of January 22, iS58. This started a discussion. For full history of the Bridge en- terprise see Souvenir Eagle issued October, i88g. the river, with a span of 1,200 feet between them, the shore anchorages to be 700 to 725 feet from the river piers. The estimated cost for a single track bridge was $2,300,000. Further legislation was necessary in order to sanction any piers in the river, and Captain James B. Eads, whose great St. Louis Bridge over the Mississippi was then nearing completion, strongly ad- vised a truss, instead of a suspension bridge, and urged that an effort be made to get the Legislature to au- thorize the placing of four piers in the river. The op- position of all the river steamboat and towing interests was sure to be strong and determined, and Mayor Eastman was nominated and elected Member of As- sembly in the fall of 1871, in order to place him in a position to exert his utmost influence for the amend- ment. The story of the great legislative battle which followed has been fully told in the Souvenir Eagle, and it is sufficient to say that after many hearings the op- position was overcome and the amendment was signed by Governor John T. Hoffman on May 25th, 1872. The frontispiece in Philip H. Smith's History of Dutchess County, a view of Poughkeepsie from Col- lege Hill, .shows the suspension bridge first planned, as well as other things planned but never built. Then came efforts to raise money, and the rail- roads west of the Hudson showed a friendly spirit in strong contrast with their attitude after the bridge had been built. The Erie, however, was then laid with a six-foot gauge, and the Midland, later the Ontario & Western, was in financial difficulties, but the Pennsyl- vania, the most important of all, was looking for a New England connection and had already appointed a committee to find one. A. L. Dennis, of Newark, N. J., was chairman, and Andrew Carnegie one of the members of this committee. John I. Piatt was au- thorized to negotiate with them and as a result they made a careful investigation, and recommended that the Pennsylvania should subscribe to the bridge stock. I'ooks were opened June 30th, 1873, by H. G. East- man, George P. Pelton and Hudson Taylor, commis- sioners. A. L. Dennis and J. Edgar Thompson, president of the Penns\lvania Railroad, headed the subscription list with 5,500 shares each, aggregating $1,100,000, and as the total capitalization then was but $2,000,000, this gave them control and apparently as- stired the success of the enterprise. September 5th a new board of directors was chosen: J. Edgar Thompson, Thomas A. Scott, Andrew J. Cassatt and Strickland Kneass, of Philadelphia ; A. L. Dennis, of Newark; Andrew Carnegie, of Pittsburgh; Charles G. Francklyn, David Solomon and Gardner F. McCand- Icss, of New York; H. G. Eastman, George V Pel- HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIE 221 ^ ' O c f^ B R « OCC*^ THE WORLD fcT LAKof, ' Kf»T. ' I"' ,^ utRf >«"■'- ""' ■WatWCRf ^^Y TOIL. COAixor-Tcin ,iit.i>n^ BOW« EAiT WiJ.;, RBi,L „ LASCL /(NO SMALL, . W. Adriancc, William \'an Anden, George 1!. Lent and Henry A. Sleight. On Novem- ber 6th thc\- published a report that fills five or six columns of the newspapers. In the meantime the Board of Trade called a mass meeting at the Opera Plouse, October _'c)tli, at which Matthew Vassar, Jr., was chairman. Mayor Eastman defended the expenditures of his administration and showed by comparisons that the per capita taxation was not so high as in many other cities. The necessity of amendments to the charter limiting the powers of expenditure of the various city boards, each of which was at this time virtually independent, was de- bated and the meeting adopted resolutions asking Judge Joseph F. Barnard and Judge Henry M. Tay- lor to name a committee of two from each ward to in- vestigate city affairs and prepare charter amend- ments. The two judges accepted the responsibility and reported, November 12th, the following commit- tee : First Ward, Stephen M. Buckingham, Leonard B. Sackett ; Second, George Innis, Otis Bisbee; Third, Charles W. Swift, Robert E. Taylor; Fourth, George H. Tompkins, Richard C. Meeks ; Fifth, Jacob B. Jewett, Jacob B. Carpenter; Sixth, John L Piatt, J, O. Whitehouse. They organized by the election of C. \\'. Swift chairman and John I. Piatt secretary. Sub- committees for investigation were appointed, and made a number of reports, and at length early in 1874, an entire new charter had been prepared, in large part by John I. Piatt, and was debated by the Common Coun- cil, and also by a citizens' meeting on March 5th. This charter contained the first local recognition of the principle that the Common Council should ha\'e su- pervisory power over all expenditures, through sub- mission to it of the estimates of all the boards. The boards were also deprived of the power of issuing bonds on their own authority alone, and there were restrictions upon the extension of water mains, sewers, flagged sidewalks, etc. The Water Board was made practically a Board of Public \\''orks, and \yas given the care of the streets as well as the appointment of the city engineer. To these last provisions the Coun- cil strenuously objected, and the>' were at length stricken out. Allard Anthony, as Corporation Coun- sel, submitted an outline of another charter, and the Council appointed two conference committees to confer with Charles \\". Swift, Jacob B. Carpenter and [ohn 224 HISTORY OF P OU G HKBEP S I H I. Piatt, of the citizens' committee, before matters were straiglitened out. The charter was finally debated at a citizens' mass meeting at tlie Y. AI. C. A. building March 24th, in which Professor W. H. Crosby, Rob- ert West, Edward Elsworth, C. H. S. Williams, Henry D. I\I_\ers, Jacob B. Jewett, John McLean, Rev. A. P. \'an Gieson, O. D. M. Baker, Leonard B. Sackett, Robert F. Wilkinson and others took part. Some mod- ifications were adopted, and it was then sent to the Legislature, where it was speedily enacted into law. It was the only city charter of recent times thoroughly discussed, and many of the principles established still remain, though the mass meeting method resulted in some imperfections that were likened to patchwork. The public improvements undertaken could not be entirely stopped at once, and as payments for work done fell due the city debt continued to increase. The tabular view printed with the City Chamberlain's re- port of 1874 shows it at $1,932,897.70, which included $600,000 Poughkeepsie and Eastern bonds, $550,000 "water stock," $60,000 Fallkill Lnprovement bonds, and $320,000 sewerage bonds. Soon after this report was made $85,000 more sewerage bonds were sold, bringing the total above $2,000,000. ^Vhen the next tabular view was published, with the report of 1876, the debt had fallen to $1,976,997.70, and thereafter continued to decrease. The charter of 1874 intro- duced a period of economy and for a long time little more than mere maintenance could be attempted until population and taxable property' had considerably increased. The census of 1875 was not encouraging, as it showed an actual, though slight, decrease in population ; and the assessed vaulation of property in the city had been decreasing since 1866. The assessment rolls of this period are interesting enough to warrant a little study. Li 1866 real estate had been assessed at $2,803,600, and personal property at $2,781,321, a total of $5,584,921. War taxes had hardly 3'et come down much, and people were accus- tomed to paying on all sorts of personal property. Real estate continued to rise with the increased devel- opment, but personal property began to decrease more in proportion. Li 1873, when assessments might nat- urally have been expected to be at the highest, they stood: Real estate $3,262,345, personal $2,109,675. The total did not approach the figures of 1866 until 1878, when it reached $5,572,145, including real es- tate $3,686,670, personal $1,885,475. Real estate was assessed only at about one-third of its estimated value, a policy which did not prevent the Board of Super- visors from raising the cit_y almost ever)' year in mak- ing up its equalization tables. At this time the Ea^^Jc and others strongly advocated a radical change in the method of assessments, and in the fall of 1878 Charles M. Colwell and Andrew King were elected assessors, for the purpose of inaugurating a new system. In 1879 the assessments jumped to $11,518,865, made up of $8,934,165 real, and $2,584,700 personal. The high- est city tax of this period was $232,844.21 in 1876. The charter of 1874 changed the time of holding city elections from March to December, so as to make the terms of office correspond with the fiscal and cal- endar years. Consequently in 1874 there were two city elections. Only minor offices were to be filled in the spring, and the election is noteworthy merely be- cause the politicians decided not to spend any nione)' in the purchase of votes. Says the Baglc of Wednes- day, March 4th, "The election in this city yesterday was a very remarkable affair. On election days here- tofore by at least four o'clock in the afternoon each polling place had been the scene of drunkenness and disorder to some extent." This time there were no such scenes, but the "strikers" stood gloomily around waiting for some one to bu}' them, and many of them did not vote at all. Robert E. Taylor, Republican, was re-elected Recorder, but F. W. George, Demo- crat, was chosen City Treasurer, defeating Col. James Smith. Mr. George served a number of terms as City Treasurer, and was several times elected in strong Republican years. One of the candidates against him was Courtland S. Howland, the present City Chamber- lain. The office of City Treasurer was created by the charter of 1869, the previous corresponding official having been called the Collector. W. Morgan Lee, the present City Attorney, was City Chamberlain in 1874. As was natural during a period of growing finan- cial stringency, and high taxes, the political drift was away from the party in control of the National admin- istration, and in November Samuel J. Tilden was elected Governor of the State, leading General Dix in Poughkeepsie by 648 votes, an extraordinary Demo- cratic majority, partly accounted for by Mr. White- house's 717 majority for Congress over Charles L. Beale. The Democrats elected their whole ticket, and Mr. Eastman declined to be a candidate either for Member of Assembly or for Mayor. The former of- fice went to Benjamin S. Broas, of Poughkeepsie, and at the December election Jacob B. Carpenter, who had been Member of Assembly' between Mr. Eastman's iMcmliers of Assembly from the Second District, from 1875 to the present, were as follows : 1876 and 1877, Dr. Dc Witt Webb; 1878, rolcr Hulmc; 1879 and 1880, Cornel- ius Pitcher, who liad previously been slieriff ; i88t, James E. Dutcher, also previously Sheriff; i,S.S2, Joint O'Brien, D., of History oP poughkebpsiU 225 two terms, was chosen Mayor without opposition. O. D. M. Baker, at the same time became the first City Attorney, this office having been created by the new charter. Before this time there had been a ''corpora- tion counsel" appointed by the Mayor and Aldermen, and each of the city boards had employed its own at- torney, often at considerable expense. An incident of the fall of 1874 was the opening of the Driving Park in October, with a grand review by Governor John A. Dix, of the regiments comprising the 5th Division, New York State National Guard, commanded by General James W. Husted. This was followed by "the first annual fair of the Hudson River Agricultural and Driving Park Association," which brought a great crowd to the city. The Driving Park Association was nevertheless destined to failure, and the propert}' passed through a number of hands before it came into the possession of the present owner, Jacob Ruppert. Several noted horsemen, including Edwin Thorne, were among its owners. By 1875 things were looking better for the Re- publicans, and B. Piatt Carpenter was elected to the State Senate, and Dr. DeWitt Webb to the Assembly. In 1876 Hayes received a majority of 597 over Tilden in Poughkeepsie, and at the December election East- man was again elected Mayor, defeating William Har- loe b>- 536. Mayor Eastman had not fully recovered from his financial losses, and his health was failing He died in Denver, Col., July 13th, 1878, and Dr. John R. Cooper was appointed to serve the remainder of his term. In December Dr. Cooper was defeated by Mr. Harloe, though at the same election the Republi- cans elected Robert F. Wilkinson Recorder over Frank Ilasbrouck, then entering politics for the first time. In November, 1880, Garfield received a majority of 811 votes, and the next month Ezra White, who had succeeded Mr. Eastman, his brother-in-law, as presi- dent of Eastman College, was elected Mayor for the first time, defeating Dr. Guy C. Bayley by 585. Sen- eca V. Halloway, teller of the Poughkeepsie Bank, was County Treasurer at this time, and in 1881 was re- elected, but in December was found short in his ac- Rhiiiebeck; 1883. Edgar A. Briggs; 1884 and 1885, Edward P,. Osborne, D. ; 1886, '87 and '88, John I. Piatt; 1889 and 1890, Johnston L. dePeystcr, of Red Hook; 189T, Edward B. Osborne, D. ; 1892 and 1893, John A. Vandewater, D. ; 1894 '95, '96 and '97, Angnstus B. Gray; l8g8, 1899 and 1900, Wil- liam A. Tripp, of Rhinebeck; 190T, '02 and '03, Francis G. Landon, of Staatsburgh; 1904, Robert Winthrop Chanler, D., of Red Hook; 1905, Augustns B. Gray. All e.Kcept those marked D. were Republicans, and all except those oUierwise designated li\ed in the cily or town of Ponghkepsie when elected. counts. His defalcation was one of the chief sensa- tions of the period. The last December elections were held in 1882, when Mayor White was re-elected with a lead of 395 votes over Dr. W. G. Stevenson, though Recorder Wilkinson was defeated by Frank B. Down. This was the year of Grover Cleveland's enormous majority for Governor in the State, and Cleveland had carried Poughkeepsie by 128, in spite of the fact that B. Piatt Carpenter, the local Republican leader, was a candi- date for Lieutenant Governor and received 15 more votes than his Democratic opponent, David B. Hill. Mr. Carpenter's disappointment over this election was so keen that he obtained an appointment as Governor of the Territory of Montana, and removed from Poughkeepsie." He was succeeded in the local leader- ship of his party bj' Robert H. Hunter, who had been appointed postmaster in 1880. James L. Williams^ was at this tiine one of the local Deinocratic leaders, and was appointed b)' Governor Cleveland State Assessor. The Legislature elected in 1882 was naturally Demo- cratic, though Edgar A. Briggs had defeated John O'Brien, of Rhinebeck, chairman of the Deinocratic State Committee, for Member of Assembly in the Second District of Dutchess, and the Democrats, evi- dently thinking that the}' had nothing to lose from a consolidation of city, State and National elections, passed a new charter in 1883 abolishing the December elections. During the winter and spring of 1883 a number of suits were brought by the city against former office holders, including William I. Thorn, who had been City Attorney, and Abrahain Wiltsie, who had been City Treasurer. They disclosed con- siderable irregularit}' in the keeping of accounts, but no criminality, and had no practical results, except greater carefulness. Reorc.\niz.\tion and Re.-vdjustment. Although many local business men lost heavily as a result of the panic, there were few failures, and me stateinent is not true that most of the losses were made from local investments. More Poughkeepsie mone^• had been invested in western railroad stocks and bonds, and farm mortgages than in the new local enterprises. Man)' of the former proved worthless and left nothing behind, while most of the latter left something in the nature of fixed capital at home to provide a basis for future profit. The Hudson River Iron W^orks, for example, soon went through a reorganization that wiped out investments in the stock, but the plant was there, and the puddling furnaces and rolling mill con- ipor bioi;raphical sketch see .Appendix. FRANK B. LOWN. lyFor biographical sketch see Appendix.) tilSfORY OF POUGliKEBPSin. 22? tlinied to turn out wrought iron bars and bolts until 1878. After a period of idleness the plant passed into the hands of the Phoenix Horse Shoe Company, was doubled in size and became a greater contributor to the business of the city than its original promoters expected. The City Railroad failed to pay fixed charges and was sold December nth, 1876, for $40,000, to the bondholders, but the little old "bob-tailed" cars were a great convenience and did their part, even with ten cent fares, or "six tickets for a quarter," towards re- storing prosperity. The company reported net earn- ings of $2,008.96 in the year ending September 30th, 1873, but soon after that abandoned its old stables near the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad, and built the new brick stables in Main Street. In the winter of 1875 tl""-' expenses of removing snow absorbed a large iSys Siioui Sci'iw — Main Street, near I'assar. part of the earnings of the road. There was a succes- sion of big storms, the worst of them on March 4th and 8lh. On the 8th the City Railroad tracks had only been dug out as far as the Morgan House by night. The accompanying picture, probably taken on the gth, shows that the depth of snow was not much less than in the memorable blizzard of March 12th, 1888. The City Railroad was reorganized in Octo- ber, 1877, with Aaron Innis president, and thereafter b\' strict ocononi)- of management kept out of financial difficuU.\-. Though returning nothing to the stock- holders for a long period, those who held on ultimately got most of their original investment back when the road was sold for equipment with electricity. The Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad doubtless absorbed more local capital than any of the other en- terprises of the day, but with two railroads Icachng to Fishkill, it had to be built if the city was to retain the trade of the county. Its failure is more to be at- tributed to the postponement of construction until af- ter the Dutchess and Columbia was built than to any- thing else. The Eagle of May 17th, 1873, said: "If the Poughkeepsie and Eastern had been built when we and others strove to have it done, there never would have been any Dutchess and Columbia, the Delaware and Hudson Company would have established a great coal depot here, as it agreed to, and there never would have been an}' Rhinebeck and Connecticut. The whole business between Western Connecticut and Eastern Dutchess and the Hudson River would have passed over our line." "Never is doubtless too comprehen- sive a word as applied to the construction of competing lines, but the statement is substantially true. The railroad was first sold under foreclosure April 14th, 1875, to George P. Pelton, as trustee for the bondhold- ers, for $50,000, and was reorganized in May as the Poughkeepsie, Hartford and Boston Railroad. "^ It managed to pay bare running expenses, but could make no improvements without borrowing. In 1884 there was another foreclosure, and the section from Bos- ton Corners to State Line was sold to the Hartford and Connecticut Western, and was made use of by the latter for consolidation, not with the railroad to Poughkeepsie, but with that to Rhinebeck. This was a serious blow to P. and E. interests, for closer connection with Hartford and New England was one of the motives in the construction of the railroad. A fatal mismanagement at critical moments characterized the P. and E. from the outset, and resulted ultimately in its hopeless isolation. Building the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Efl^orts to make the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad pay, by giving it a through traffic, constitut- ed a leading motive for the revival of the great bridge enterprise which had been so near to success. Reor- ganization of course followed the death of President Thompson, and the withdrawal of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the bridge promoters, particularly Mr. Eastman, Mr. George P. Pelton and j\Ir. Piatt, turned to New England for help. They succeeded in arousing the interest of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and in January, 1875, a committee of nineteen from that body, accompanied by leading men from other sections of New England, visited Poughkeepsie, went over the ground thoroughly and reported in favor of the bridge. The proposition then began to attract the attention iThe stury of the sovoral reorganizations is told in the pe- tition of William P. Rockwell. 14th Febrnarv. t8SS. and in ~ -'"■ George r. Pelton s answer. ^c^ ■22S HISTORY OF POVGHKBBPSIB of bridge consruction companies, and at length an offer was accepted from "The American Bridge Company," of Chicago, to build the bridge and help raise the mone)'. Work began November 14th, 1876, on the first of the timber cribs upon which die piers were to be built "on the wa}s of Mr. George W. Polk, almost at the exact site that was used b}' the ship builders employed b}- the Continental Congress in the Revolu- tion." Three cribs or caissons were successfully launched and two of them were placed in position and weighted down with concrete, when an unfortunate accident caused suspension of the work and another long wait. It was then deemed necessary, in order to lay masonry upon the cribs, to build coffer dams upon them to be pumped out.^ When the first caisson, nearest the west shore, had reached this stage the pumping out of the coffer dams caused so great an upward pres- sure that it broke the caisson apart, and lifted the Bridge Caisson, Ready to float to Position, iSyy. whole mass on the north end above the bottom line of caulking. The damage was successfull)' repaired, and the masonry was carried up to the required height before winter, but the accident proved so expensive that, combined with misfortune elsewhere, it ruined the American Bridge Company. There stood the pier for another ten years before work was resumed, and it was often referred to as H. G. Eastman's monument, as he died July 15th, 1878. A few persons never lost faith in the enterprise, and continued their efforts to interest capital. The time limit in the charter was extended by legislative action from January ist, 1879 to 1883, and then to :888 against some opposition. At length J. C. Stan- ton, of New York, a well known contractor and pro- moter, was enlisted in the work, and induced W. W. Gibbs, of Philadelphia, to undertake its completion. He and other capitalists organized the Manhattan ipor details of con.slruclion .see paper read by John F. O'Rourke before Ibe American Society of Ci\il Engineers. Bridge Building Compan}', at the head of which was John W. Brock, of Philadelphia, to finance the bridge — provide funds, market securities, etc. Charlemagne Tower, U. S. Senator Simon Cameron, H. C. Frick and William B. Scott were among the prominent Pennsylvanians interested, and J. H. Appleton, of Springfield, the most prominent of the New England- ers. The actual work of construction was sublet to the Union Bridge Compaii}', of New York, comprising the eminent engineers Charles F. Macdonald, Thomas C. Clark, George S. Field, Edmund Hayes and Charles S. Maurice. The success of the cantilever bridge at Niagara, built by the same company, sug- gested another change of plans, and the final adoption of the combined cantilever and truss system. Work was begun for the third tiine October 8th, 1886. The charter now required the completion of the bridge January ist, 1888, leaving but little more than a year, and a further extension of time was necessary. Against this the most determined opposition sprang up on the part of the boatmen, rival cities and the Storm King Bridge promoters. All the newspapers of Albany and Troy and most of those in New York joined this movement, and the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trade and Transportation, the Produce Exchange and other bodies, sent repre- sentatives to Albany to lobby in favor of a bill intro- duced by Mr. Devereaux, one of the Albany Members of Assembly, to repeal the act of 1872 and compel the removal of the piers already partly finished. John I. Piatt had been Member of Assembly since 1886, and the contest this time was quite as bitter and obstinate as that in 1872, when Mr. Eastman represented Pough- keepsie. Mr. Piatt had taken a prominent part in the earlier contest, had been a leading force in ever}' move- ment to bring the great enterprise to completion, was familiar with every point the opposition could make, as well as with ever3-thing in favor of the bridge, and eventually defeated the Devereaux bill and carried through the bill granting an extension of time, which was signed by Governor Flill June 25th, 1888. By this time the work was in full progress. Messrs. Dawson, Symmes and Usher had charge of the found- ations and masonry, and Ross, Sanford & Baird, of the superstructure. John F. O'Rourke, now widely known as the contractor for the great Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels under the North River at New York, was the chief engineer in charge of construction, while Arthur B. Paine had general supervision for the Man- hattan Bridge Building Company, and P. P. Dickin- son for the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company proper. There were, of course, many changes in the direc- torate of the Bridge Company itself during the reor- :5> 23() HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE ganizations. A. B. Stone, of New York, succeeded John F. ^^'inslow as president when the American Bridge Company had charge, and continued in office until Januar}', 1886, when J. H. Appleton, of Spring- field, ]\Iass., became president. August 27th, 1886, Mr. Appleton was succeeded by Watson Van Ben- thuysen^ of New Orleans, who in turn gave place to W. W. Gibbs, of Philadelphia, in 1887. Then, as the bridge approached completion, it became necessary to look up a practical railroad man of large experience to take charge, and John S. Wilson, of Philadelphia, general traffic manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was selected. The other officers elected in 1888 were : John I. Piatt, vice-president ; W. R. Carlisle, secre- tary and treasurer ; P. P. Dickinson, chief engineer. On the 29th of August, 1888, the last pin was driven in the cantilever span between pier No. 5 and the east shore, making the connection from shore to shore complete, though the viaducts or approaches were not finished until well into December. The first train crossed December 29th. When the bridge became a certainty those who were furnishing the capital tried to acquire the Pough- keepsie and Eastern,' but Mr. H. D. Cone, a paper manufacturer of Chicopee, Mass., who had purchased it before the reorganization of 1887, refused to sell, though offered double what he had paid for it. Rather than submit to his traffic proposition a new railroad • was built to parallel the P. and E- from Poughkeepsie to Silvernails, on the Hartford and Connecticut West- ern, which had been purchased as the eastern connec- tion. The western line to Campbell Hall and May- brook, where it meets the Erie, Ontario & Western and Lehigh Railroads, was built, and then the east and west lines were consolidated as the Central New Eng- land and Western. Partly perhaps by bad manage- ment the Springfield connection was delayed beyond the limit of its charter and the railroad was "bottled up" at Hartford until 1903, when the Springfield line was pushed through after several notable legislative and legal battles at Hartford. In the meantime the Dutchess County Railroad to Hopewell Junction, to connect with the New York and New England (now Highland Division N. Y., N. H. & H.) was construct- ed, thus carrying out another favorite project of earl- ier days. The bridge and connecting railroads have been of considerable benefit to Poughkeepsie, but have so far 'Under Mr. Cone's management this railroad was named the "New York and Massachusetts Railroad." Mr. Cone bor- rowed money of Russell Sage, and at length Mr. Sage had to take the railroad, which he still owns. He restored the origi- nal name. fallen very far short of expectations. Of course all early subscribers to the stock lost their monej', as the whole system has been twice reorganized, but the bonds, though not paying, have generally been worth upwards of 60. In 1892, when Archibald A. Mc- Leod, president of the Reading Railroad, undertook to carry out a bold scheme of consolidating the Reading, Jersey Central, Central New England and Boston & Maine railways, the future of the bridge seemed as- sured, but Mr. McLeod's gigantic plans created con- sternation among the managers of other older systems, other capitalists combined against him and the plans failed. Now, in 1904, the Central New England has fallen into the control of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, greatest of New England railroad combina- tions, and the bridge has become the "connecting link" its promoters so long predicted between the Pennsylvania coal fields and New England. The change has brought increased passenger and freight facilities to Poughkeepsie, and the great bridge across the Hudson River may yet prove of as much advan- tage to the city as had been expected. The Old and the New — The River Front. The building of the Poughkeepsie Bridge marks the triumph of the railroads over the river, and by the time it was finished many changes had taken place or were in progress along the river front. More than half of the prosperous establishments once there have now gone out of existence, and others are slowly taking their places. Locations fronting both river and railroad are valuable, but locations accessible only by river are not frequently sought. The consolidation of all the river freighting at Main Street was noted in the last chapter. It is said to have been originally the intention of Homer Rainsdell and his friends to make the Upper Landing the terminus of the boats, which were to connect there with the Poughkeepsie and East- ern Railroad, but it is difficult to see how the railroad could have been brought there, even if its funds had been ample. It remains to be noted that Captain John H. Brinckerhoff,' who purchased control of the Trans- portation Company in 1878, completed the downfall of the Upper Landing in 1879, when he abandoned the old ferry landing, and brought the ferry also to Main Street. One of the old Upper Landing storehouses was torn down about the time of the building of the bridge, but the largest was burned in July, 1891, and on its site was erected in 1894 the new power house of the electric lighting company. Main Street Landing, too, has been the scene of a number of recent changes. 'See Appendi.x for biographical sketch. CapT. JOHN H. BRINCKERHOFF. HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. 233 When the Poughkeepsic Transportation Compan)' had been merged into the Central Hudson Steamboat Com- pany the old Exchange House was purchased and torn down, and the present waiting room was erected in igoo. The last proprietor of the Exchange House was Isaac H. Wood. The (iN'e wood mills of Gifford, Sherman & Innis kept the upper neighborhood busy with frequent ship- loads of log wood arriving from the West Indies for some time after the removal of the freight boats and the ferry, but in 1884 this firm, whose business had been one of the most profitable in Poughkecpsie, failed, and though reorganized and continued for some fif- teen years, lack of capital and the increasing competi- was again contracted in 1884 and was finally filled and drained in 1899. The great Vassar brewery after the death of Mat- thew \'assar, Jr., and John Guy N'assar, gradually lost its trade, partly owing to complications of ownership, and partly to Mr. ( )liver H. llooth's interest in boat- building and other outside matters. About ten years ago it ceased operations, and the buildings have re- mained idle, except for temporary occupation of the Water Street front as a county jail in 1902. Their pur- chase was contemplated a few years ago by a cold storage company which failed to obtain enough capital to carry out its plans. The ship-building industry has almost ceased since The Poughkecpsie Iron Works. (Sec Appendix.) tion of chemical dyes caused its downfall, and in 1902 the mills were dismantled. The oldest of the build- ings, north of the Fall Kill, passed into the hands of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad CompauN' recently, and was torn down in 1905. Three of the buildings arc still in use by other manufacturing concerns, but of the old Upper Landing industries only the chair factory and the Arnold lumber }ard re- main, and the chair factory is the only establishment in the cit\' still using water power from the Fall Kill. A little farther up stream the manufacture of carpels by the Peltons was abandoned in 1891, though the main building is occupied by smaller manufacturmg establishments. The old Pelton Mill pond, much re- duced in size when the other ponds were destroyed. the failure of the second bridge company, which made use of George Polk's shipyard and never paid him for it. He had been established there since 1867. Dr. C. D. Miller has built a number of yachts and George Buckhout occasionally builds boats, though mainly oc- cupied as an ice yacht builder, at which no one in the country excels him. Iron smelting still flourishes intermittently at the Poughkecpsie Iron Works, though much of its glory has departed. The old Lower Furnace (See page 143) has disappeared completel}'. and its once busy wharves, piled high with ores, coal and limestone, are slowly rotting. The last iron \vas made there in July, 1885, and the buildings _were pulled down a few years later. Mr. Frank P>. Lciwn. who purchased the property, has 234 HISTORY OF POUGHKBBPSIE. improved the houses, which were formerly tlie homes of furnace operatives, and tliey are still occupied. In the old days, before the competition of western and southern iron became so keen, the Poughkeepsie fur- naces were operated almost continuously, and when the iron market was low thousands of tons of pig iron were piled along the river front, awaiting a rise in price. A small fleet of barges, canal boats and sloops was often moored at the furnace wharves loading iron, or discharging ore, coal or limestone. One of the stacks at the Upper (now the only) Furnace has been rebuilt and is alone capable of producing more iron than the four stacks of both establishments formerly turned out. Since the death of Albert E. Tower, in lingwood property, south of the Lower Landing. This factory makes machines for separating cream from milk, machines for which there is a steadily increasing demand, and hence the factory has been rapidly grow- ing until it now occupies twice the territor)^ originally given it, including the old Polk shipyard, and employs three or four times more men than when first opened. Its power is transmitted b}' electricit}' from a dynamo driven by the only turbine engine so far installed in the cit)^i In the same neighborhood is Lane Brothers' manu- factory of hardware specialties, brought to Pough- keepsie from Millbrook in 1882, by John G. and Wil- liam J. Lane. This business, like the cutting of dye DeLaval Separator Company's Plant. 1891, the property has been owned by his son, A. Edward Tower. Two large new industries ofl the river front go far towards making up for the loss Of the older estab- lishments. The Poughkeepsie Glass Works^ (See il- lustration p. 118) were started on the site of the old whale dock buildings in March, 1880, and have grown to considerable proportions. The original plant was nearly all burned in 1897 and was rebuilt soon after- wards, with much enlargement and improvement. The De Laval Separator Company, of Stockholm, Sweden, built a branch factory here in 1892, the Board of Trade raising by subscription from citizens $10,000 for the purchase of the site, a part of the Col- iFor further particulars sec Appendix. woods in Poughkeepsie, (sec p. 117) was an out- growth of Beriah Swift's inventions, and the Swift coffee, spice and drug mills were long a leading fea- ture. The Lane door hangers are perhaps the most widely known of the productions of this factory. The manufacture of the Lane steam automobile is now an important branch. Adnance, Piatt and Company's business has con- tinued to expand steadily, and large buildings have re- cently been added to the plant. Until 1892 the general offices of this company had been located in New York, but in that year an office building was erected in con- nection with the factory, and the office force was brought here. The importance of this neighborhood il'or fiirlher particulars see .'\ppendi.x. HISTORY OF P OU G H KEEP S I E. 235 was considerably increased by the removal of the rail- road freight house and office from Main Street to Tulip Street, near Pine, in 1885. The tanning industry continued on a small scale at the old Southwick yard until 1889, long outlasting the up-town tanneries conducted by the Boyd family. Passing along the river front one finds most of the lumber business still centred there, but only two firms continue the coal business there, one of which also has an up-town yard connected with the bridge system of railroads, where all the others are located. A^. }'.€.& H. R. R. R. Station at Main Street, before the Freight House was moved. The Old and the New — Up-Town Industries. Many changes have taken place among the smaller manufacturing industries of the city, away from the water front. Adam Caire died in i8g6, and the mak- ing of pottery was abandoned a few years later. Wagons and carriages are still made by a number of firms, and Horace Sague has recently built a new shop on Church Street, but the competition of the machine- made wagons of the great western factories has caused a great decline in the business. Most of the buildings on upper Main Street, east of Hamilton, once devoted to wagon making, have now been converted into stores, and nearly all the down-town factories long since ceased operations. Others have been converted into selling agencies and repair shops. The Edward Storm Spring Company, which in the early part of the period under consideration was doing a large business on the north side of Main Street, 437-441, above Hamilton, has passed away. Streit and Lockwood, one of the oldest wagon-making firms, sold out in April, 1885, and Lewis F. Streit died in March, 1891. The selling and repairing of bicycles and automobiles has grown to considerable proportions, but is hardly likely ever to occupy so important a position as the old wagon and carriage factories once held. The old Main Street foundries that used to pro- duce a wide variety of cast iron ware, have gone, but the Poughkeepsie Foundry and Machine Company only abandoned its Main Street plant in 1904, and continues on a larger scale than ever at its new north side plant erected on grounds that had been used for several years as a baseball field. The erection of another new north side factory has just been started (May, 1905) on Parker Avenue, by the Chapinville Wheel Company, which had been located in the old Red Mills buildings since 1894, when it was removed to Poughkeepsie from Chapinville, N. Y. A. J. Glass is the president. A rather inconspicuous but very important indus- try is the manufacture of Smith Brothers' cough drops in Church Street, east of the Armory. This business has grown up since 1873, and has long been very profit- able. A considerable part of the profits have been contributed every year to the various charitable insti- tutions of the city, as stated elsewhere. The Whitehouse shoe factory is one of the largest of the establishments which have passed away. Mr. Whitehouse died in August, 1881, but the factory con- tinued in apparently prosperous condition under the management of his son-in-law, Eugene N. Howell, until i8gi, when it failed. The plant was purchased b)' Wallace, Eliot & Co., and shoe manufacturing was continued there until about 1900. After standing idle for a short time the buildings passed into the hands of the American Cigar Company, and are now devoted to cigar manufacturing. A valuable off-shoot of the Whitehouse business was the prosperous shoe factory at Main and Water Streets, started by George M. Hine (the present Mayor) and C. E. Lynch, both of whom had been associated with Mr. Whitehouse and Mr. Howell. This factory occupies what was for- merly the Beardsley sash and blind factor)'. Cigar making has been and still is an important in- dustr\- carried on by many persons. The most exten- sive manufacturer of hand made cigars has been John Schwartz, and next to him Court B. Cunley. Some A'cry important industries were started soon after the panic. This seenis, in fact, to have been the time of the beginning of the manufacture of clothing in Poughkeepsie on any considerable scale, and also the beginning of the extensi\e employment of women and girls in local factories. Lasher, Haight & Kelley, wbo were in the dry goods business at 332 Main Street, formed the Dutchess Manufacturing Company, leased a brick building on CheiTv Street, opposite the White- house factory, and began the manufacture of skirts in 1875. T'le building had been erected a few years before for the tanning and dressing of French kid, b\' a patented process, which was not successful. In 1878 George D. Eighmie erected a good-sized building on Crannell Street and began the manufacture of Factory of t/ic Poughkccpsic i 'ticici'2ui-ai- Company. ti I ST kV OF POVGHKEBPSIB. 237 shirts on a large scale. In 1888 the Dutchess Manu- facturing Company purchased this building, and has since been located there. Lasher and Kelley had sold their interest to William Forb>', and at his death in 1- the Pou.gbkeepsie Electric Light and Power Company, whicli filed its certificate of in- corporation April 2nd, 1885, with John H. P.rincker- bolT, C. A. Fowler, James H. Ward, F. J. Allen, Ed- ward H. Goff, i\lartin \'. P.rady, \\'illiam Kaess, John R, Lent and General Alfred I!. Smith named as direc- tors. All were residents of Poughkecpsie except Messrs. GolT, P.rady and Fowler, who in 1880 sold their interests to Mr. .\. Al. Young and a party of genllemen from Waierhnry. Ct., including D. S. IMume, P. G. I'.rvan and E. T. Turner. Capt. Princk- erhoff, who had been the first jiresident. was succeeded by Lames H. \\'ard, and the iilant on \\'innikee Avenue creeled bv Mr. Goff was doub'ed in size. Says the Souvenir /;<( »,V : "The comjiauy is chieny indebted to Gen. ,\. r.. Smith. James II. Ward. Peter L. \'an Wagenen, Willard PI. Crosby, Peter 1'.. Hayt and John R. Lent, of Poughkeepsie, and Mr. A. M. Young, of Waterbury, Ct., for the success of the enterprise." In April, 1886, the company secured the contract for lighting the streets at $18,000 per annum, and since June 1st of that year the}- have been continuously lighted by electric ares. John N. Candee became man- ager of the company at its organization and remained until the consolidation with the .gas company in lyoi. Telephones were introduced into this cit)' b\- the Automatic Signal Telegraph Company in June, 1878. The company had been organized in October, 1877, by John I. Piatt, Henry S. Frost and Samuel K. Rupley to handle the patents of William B. ^\'atkins "for im- provements in fire and burglar alarms, telegraphs and other inventions." An automatic fire alarm was the leading feature, but had not been sufficienih' perfected to be commercially successful when the telephone be- gan to attract attention. John I. Piatt was the first .t/iu'ii S/ni/ ill /SSo. president, and under his leadership the stock held by the promoters of tlie Watkins patents was purchased, their interests extinguished and telephones introduced instead. The idea of a central system connecting the peoi)le of a town was. so far as is known, suggested by Mr. Piatt, and the "exchange" constructed here was the third in existence, having been preceded b\- New I lawn and Albany. The first telephones connected with it were the /idi^/e office, Mr. Piatt's bouse, the of- fice of the city water board and the pumping station. .\ few prixate telephones had been put in, chiefly as ex- periments before this. The telphone company was suc- cessful from the start, and by May, 1880, there were too subscribers in the exchange. The name "Hudson Ri\-er Telephone Companv" came into existence niit long after this to designate the joint ownership of a JOHN I. PLATT. tiisTokv OP pouGtiKnnPsm 289 AI,I,IS()N BUTTS. cable laid across the river at New Hamburgh, b}' the Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Fishkill telephone com- panies, each of which built lines to connect with it. The consolidation of the various river companies under this name was effected later by Mr. H. L. Storkc, representing the parent Bell Telephone Company. A rival telephone company, the Dutchess County, was incorporated in 1900, and obtained a franchise from the Common Council on condition that its wires in the main streets should be placed underground. Since that time both companies have laid conduits in Main and Market Streets, and it is cxpcdcd that within the next few 3'ears all telephone and telegraph wires will be put underground. Much of the best enterprise of roughkeepsie has al- ways been devoted to retail trade, which has attained a development greater than in many cities of even larger size, in spite of the competition of the metropo- lis. I have seen no record of an organization of mer- chants earlier than about 1883, when the Butchers and Grocers' Association was formed, with J- DuBois Carpenter president, and James H. Ward treasurer, but it is probable that something of the sort had ex- isted before. This association was reorganized as the Retail Merchants' Association in February, 1886, and soon obtained a much enlarged membership. It fre- quently takes action on public questions, not political in their nature, and joins in all efforts to improve the city. In 1887 and again in September, 1888, the as- sociation brought itself before the public by parades that attracted a great deal of attention. TiiR Charter of 1883 — Recent Politics. The Charter of 1883, already referred to, was passed through the influence of Judge Nelson in the Senate, and made some important changes besides the consolidation of elections. It increased the power of the Ma}or, making the water board appointive, and contained among other things a provision for a Board of Police Commissioners to take the control of the police force out of the hands of the Common Council. The new hoard organized in Jul\- with the following- members: Allison Butts. Theodore Y Johnston, John F. I-Iull and Dr. Edward F. Parker. The first new patrolman appointed was Charles McCabe, the present chief of i)olice. The election in November of that 240 HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE Hon. martin HEERMAKCE. \ear was somewhat notalilc as one in which the Eagle supported a Democratic candidate — Thomas Newbold — for vState Senator against Lewis F. Pa}!!. Newbold was elected by a large majority. The first city election in November was in 1884. It was a Democratic year — the lilainc-Cleveland campaign — but lilaine carried I'oughkeejjsie by 235, and Ezra White was elected for a third term as Mayor, defeating O. D. M. ISaker, the author of the new charter. ;Mr. White was nominated for a fourth time in 1886, but was defeated In' Edward Elswurdi' by 458, though at the same time John I. Piatt, nominated for his second term in the /Vssembly, carried the city b}' 462 over his Democratic oi)ponent, Martin W. Collins, and Cvrenus P. Dorland defeated ]\ir. I^own for Re- corder bv 2,^4. Mr. Collins, it should be said, had no expectation of being elected and had in fact been a supporter of Mr. Piatt. In the first 1 larrison-Cleve- land campaign, 1888, Mayor lUsworth was defeated by Cliarles M. Rowley, but in 1890 he was again elected Ma\iir, receiving 447 more votes than Hudson Taylor. Charles Morschansir was chosen Recorder at this time. The campaign of 1888 was characterized 1)\- one old-time out-of-door meeting, the Iv. X. How- ell barbecue, held not far fmm the Driving Park- out- See p. 249. riN(i Appendi.x. side of the city limits. Chauncey M. Depew was the chief speaker. Martin Heermance,' then of Rhine- beck, was elected District Attorney in 1888, and there- after for the greater portion of each year became a resi- dent of Poughkeepsie, This was the period of James W, Plinkley s control of the local Democratic organization, in Gov. I-Iill's administration. Mr. Hinklev purchased the Poiigli- kccpsic Xc-d's in 1883 and also the Weekly Telei^raph and the Daily Press, so long published by Edward P.. Osborne. He consolidated these newspapers, which still retain the double title Xe7i.'s-Press, and News- Tel- egraph, and created a strong personal organ just at the time when the Democratic partv was largeh' in the ascendency. The Xeivs had been published, after Mr. Whitehouse's death in 1881, bv a compan\' organ- ied among its emplovees, including Samuel P. Flagler, who remained at the head of the job printing depart- ment for a long time after Mr. Hinkle\"s purchase, and \\'illiani I". I^eary, who continued to ser\-e as fore- man until his death in l'P5. The discontinuance of The Press as an afternoon newspaper left the iield open for a new pa|)er, and /Vu- gust 6tli, 1883, the first number of the BTeiiliig En- Mlc \v;ts :iii|niiii1c<1 Slate .is^i-ssor. or tax coniniissiuner. ill |X<)1) aiul became eliairnian of the boaifl. See .'\ppcndi.v. S:^Mf'- JAMES W. HINKLEV. 2i2 HISTORY OP POU GHKEBPSin terprise was published by W. C. Lansing, Edward Van Keuren and Derrick Brown. Messrs. Lansing and \'an Keuren had the year before purchased The Dutchess Farmer, an agricultural weekly, started April 6th, i86g, by Egbert B. Killey, Jr., and Mr. Brown, who had been the editor of The Ncivs, joined them when it was decided to start a new daily. The Enter- prise has always been, under Mr. Brown's editorship, an independent Democratic paper, and has continued in the same building on Main Street where the Telegraph was published in the time of Edward B Killey, Sr., and where the Dutchess Fanner was published by his son. This building is said to have been a newspaper office for more than 75 years, but in 1904 was com- pletely changed in appearance and rebuilt with an additional story and a new front. Uld TfU-grapli (later linlcrpnse) Building. Returning to politics, the Democrats in 1890-91 were concentrating their efforts upon the capture of the State f^cgislature. At the election of 1891 they obtained a majority in the Assembly, gaining one member in Dutchess, where John A. \'anear, bringing Grover Cleve- land again to the presidenc\-. Harrison carried Pough- keepsie by only 113, and A. Y Haight, the Republican candidate for j\Ia)'or, was defeated by William M. Ivetcham b)' 94, while in the vote for Aldermen the Democrats carried the First, Second, Third and Fourth Wards, giving them the board. The campaign of 1892 was notable from the fact that General John H. Ivetcham, who had been returned to Congress at every election after Mr. Whitehouse's second term, declined to be a candidate. He was apprehensive of the Cleveland sentiment, and of the vote of Ulster County, which had been joined with Dutchess in the Congressional apportionment following the census of 1890. The Republicans nominated Jacob Lefever, of Xew Paltz, under the leadership of Lewis H. A'ail, president of the Dutchess County Mutual Insurance Company. Mr. Lefever served two terms, after which Gen. Ketcham was again chosen, and has served con- tinuously till the present time. During Mayor Ketcham's administration J. \V. Hinkley purchased the City Railroad, which was then controlled by a syndicate headed by William H. Young. Mr. Hinkley obtained additional franchises from the Common Council, built the north and south side loops and the line to Wappingers Falls, and changed the motive power to electricity. At about the same time the agitation in favor of smooth pavements to replace the old cobble stones arose. The first street to tear up the cobbles and lav asphalt block was Libert}' Street (1893), where the move- ment was led by the publishers of the Boi;lc. Main Street \\'as repaved from Washington to Clinton when the City Railroad tracks were rebuilt to provide for the electric service. The first trolle\' car was run over the line Oct. ist, 1895. By 1894 the political drift was strongh- towards the Republicans again, and they elected Charles N. Ar- nold Ma\or with a majority of 817 . r8fj;v The Benrf.vctions of Matthew \^\ss.\r, Jr., and John Guy \''ass.\r. The John Guy Vassar will case deserves more than passing notice, as several of the benefactions of ...c \^assar brothers were involved, and nearly all the prominent lawyers of I^oughkeepsie were retained. One of Mr. \'assar's chief projects was the founding of an orphan asylum on College Hill, which he had purchased. This proposed asylum, and the Vassar Brothers' Hospital, which had been founded by Mat- thew Vassar, Jr., were made residuary legatees with \'assar College. As the asylum was not yet incorpor- ated the legal question of indefinite suspension of own- ership arose, and the executors, Benjamin M. Fowler, Oliver PI. Booth and Edward A^an Kleeck sought a judicial construction, making the next-of-kin par- ties to the action. Various other questions, one of them as to the right of \'assar College to receive more mone\' than its charter authorized, were raised. The college had an income from invested funds, at this time, of about $25,000 a year, and its holdings were limited to an amount sufficient to yield $40,000 a year. Judge Homer .\. Nelson went very fully into this part of the case, consulting Joseph H. Choate, now U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain, and at length in March, 1891, the college settled with the next-of-kin by paying them $146,000, which is to be deducted from its share of the residuar\' estate given below. At this time, when the case was about to be argued before the Court of .\ppeals at Albany, appearances were noted as follows : For the executors — Frank B. Lowni and H. .K. NlKoh. For Vas.sar College — Cyrus Swan and Rol)ert E. Taylor. For Va^^ar Brothers' Hospital — Allison Butts. For Vassar Orphan As\ lum — Frank Hasbrouck. For Vassar Brothers' Old Men's Home— John P. H. Tall- man. For the Baptist Chmxh — Walter Farrington. h'or Vassar Brothers" Institute — llerrick & Losey, Plenry M. Taylor (County Judge 1871-1877), Fred- erick W. Pugslex', Cyrenus P. Dorland (Surrogate), William R. \\'oodin, Hackett & Williams, J. H. Mil- lard, Leonard 1!. Sackelt, and two or three New A'ork lawyers represented the next-of-kin. In ,\pril the court handed down its decision declaring the orphan as\lum clauses invalid and also a bequest of $10,000 to the Piaplist Chtirch, thus greatly increasing the residuary estate. In the final accounting N'assar Col- lege and the \ assar I lospital each received about ,$503,000, in addition to the special bequests. 'Mr, Lnwn's (wo partners, Jolui Tliompson and J.iuies H. Weeks, 1]ntli died after the d.ate of the will— Mr, Weeks, one 'li the nri.niual e.xeeutors, in i,'-S,H, and Mr. Thompson in Jime, iSi^o ^F SSTfflBiEAit) J^^^^K^^ViW^ .^ :'-i^jHB 1 H ^^ H H 1 H|'-'. ^ ^H| HB^ T^ ^ H ■k^ ^^^w^ii^ 'liil^^^^l ^/Jl B^^' 3 m 1 I aBk-^^ \^^ 1 Hon. l^DWARD KLSWORTH. TiTitsi/irr of I 'itssar Col/ci;i- mid /;rirt- J/nroi' aj /\>iii;/i/;t\-psii\ I'OU HISTORY OF ROUGH KEEPSIL The \^assar Brothers' Hospital had been the resi- duary legatee of the \\ill of Matthew Yassar, Jr., and thus became one of the best endowed hospitals in the country. The main building was erected in 1884 on what had been once Livingston property, in a com- manding location overlooking the river. Additions nearly doubling its capacity have since been built, and its grounds and gardens are celebrated for their beauty. Dr. Guy C. Ba>ley has been the superinten- dent since the opening. The library and laboratory building was erected in 1899. The A^assar Brothers' Home for Aged Men was finished in August, 1880, on the site of the residence of Matthew \'assar, Sr., corner of Main and Vassar Streets, at a cost of about $45,000. The building will accommodate fifty men, but its endowment did not provide income sufficient to support the full number, until the death of Mrs. Matthew Vassar, Jr., in 1903. A'assar Brothers' Institute was planned before the death of Matthew Vassar, Jr., but carried out by John Guy \'assar. The building was erected on the site of the old Vassar Street brewery in 1882, at a cost of $30,000, to provide a home for two local societies. The Roughkecpsie Literary Club and The Ronghkcepsie Society of Natural Science. The first of these had been organized October 18, 1869, with Dr. E. W. Avery as president, and its discussions had been at- tracting such large audiences that meetings were held in Y. M. C. A. hall, then in the Congregational Church, or in the I^afayette Street Baptist Chrrch for a time. The second was organized October 27, 1874, with Cor- nelius \'an Brunt president. Dr. W. G. Stevenson vice- president, \\'. R. Gerard secretary, and Charles N. Arnold treasurer. Each society met every two weeks to discuss papers prepared by their members, and a few men like Dr. Stevenson were prominent in both, l^ro- fessor Truman J. Backus, ^ of \'assar College, the last president of the Literary Club, became the first presi- dent of the Institute in November, 1882, and the other officers were Rev. J. Elmendorf vice-president. Dr. \\". G. Stevenson secretary, Edward Elsworth treas- urer, Professor William B. Dwight curator of the museum, Professor Henry Van Ingen art director, Edward Burgess librarian. The first officers of the sections were: Scientific Section — Professor Le Ro^ C. Coolcy chairman, C. N. Arnold secretary ; Literary Section — Rev. E. A. Lawrence chairman, Henrv V. PcUon secretary: Art Section — Professor Llenry A^an [ngcn chairman, George E. Bissell secretar\'. The Institute has been and still is an important 'Truni.111 J. Backus resigned liis professorship at Vassar College in 1XX3, and became presideiit of Packer InstiUite, Brooklyn. educational force, though the decline of interest in public lectures has decreased its audiences. Its dis- cussions of such questions as good roads, the water suppl_y, etc., have helped on several occasions to arouse public opinion, and through its collections of local in- sects, birds, minerals, etc., it aims to be of service to fruit growers and farmers, as well as to students. Mechanical drawing classes have been conducted by the Art Department. The Literary Section meetings were abandoned for a time, but were revived some ten years ago under the chairmanship of John C. Sickley, and have since been maintained. The rooms are often in use for school exercises, and sometimes for the meetings of literar}', musical or other societies not affiliated with the Institute. The most notable of these is the Tuesday Club, comprising a membership of about fifty women, many of them \^assar graduates. This club was started in 1899, chiefly through the ef- forts of Miss Elizabeth Schermerhorn and Mrs. Henry V. Pelton, the latter of whom became the first presi- dent. The Choral Club, a chorus of about fifty women, gives a private concert in the Institute every spring under the leadership of Professor George C. Gow, of Vassar College, and the Symphony Society, led by William Lyon Dobbs, holds its rehearsals and gives an annual concert there also. Other Benefactions and Organizations. Nearly every institution in Poughkeepsie received aid at some time or other from the Vassars, but the city has had and still has other men of wealth who have given large amounts. Chief among them is Wil- liam W. Smith, who came forward, when John Guv Vassar's plan for an orphan asylum on College Hill had been overthrown by the courts, bought the prop- erty in October, 1892, for $11,600, and turned it over to the city with plans for its improvement as a public park formed and the work started. The movement for a College Hill Park was instigated largely by Rev. Frank Heartfield, then pastor of St. Paul's Church, and the property was at first held by a committee of citi- zens, backed by Mr. Smith. The Young Men's Christian Association has been one of Mr. Smith's chief beneficiaries, and the many recent alterations and improvements have completely transformed the old Pine Hall. The gymnasium was for a number of years on the top floor, the same room being used for an auditorium. A new gymnasium was installed on the first floor and basement after a time, and in 1905 a handsome swimming pool was added. .-\ billiard room was added to the attractions of the building in 1904, and many other changes have been made within the past year or two. Presidents of the HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIE. '>:>[ Young Men's Christian Association have been J^luL H . Mathews 1863-1869, Leonard C. Winslow 1869- T^o, John I. Piatt 1870-1872, Mitchell Downing 1872-1875, Edmund P. Piatt 1875-1879, Benson Van Vliet 1879-1882, William W. Smith 1882-1888, Charles P. Angell 1888-1892, William W. Smith 1892-1893, Gilford Dudley i893-i89r), James B. Piatt 1896-1899, D. Crosb}' Foster 1899-1900, D. C. Matthews 1900 — . The Young- Women's Christian Association has also benefited greatly from Mr. Smith's help, and is now erecting a building in Cannon Street on the site of the historic old church (see p. 121) erected by the Pres- byterians and used by so many different denomina- tions of Christians. The Association was organized in 1881 and incorporated in 1884. Its incorporators were Helen J. Nelson, Harriet R. Howard, Mattie F. Johnston, N'ictoria L. Johns, Roberta S. Ackert, Jennie Bushnell, Winnifred F. Bisbee, Mary Beattys, Anna C. Howland, Kate Smith, Sarah Bowne, Mary E. Piatt, Emma B. Piatt, Emma Flagler, May Gurney, Lavinia Dudlc\', Annie Brewer, Mary Underbill and Angelica Griffin. Miss Harriet R. Howard, Mrs. Edwin D. Baright, Mrs. Homer A. Nelson, Mrs. Egbert D. Clapp, Mrs. J. Frank Hull, Mrs. Edmund P. Piatt and Dr. Grace N. Kimball have been presidents of the association. Its rooms have been since the start at Xo. 361 Main Street, in the Wright Building. Mr. Smith has always been much interested in Temperance work, and long ago became a leader in the Prohibition party. He has been its candidate for Governor and other high offices. The Women's Chris- tian Temperance Union has been one of his benefi- ciaries and largely through his aid was enabled to purchase the Poughkeepsie Female Academy in 1889. The Union was organized as a simple prayer circle in 1873, in aid of the Women's Crusade then in pro- gress in Ohio, and has accomplished much towards the spread of temperance sentiment. Mrs. Homer A. Nel- son was one of its recent presidents. A Charity Organization Society, started in June, 1879, deserves mention, though no longer in existence, because it was an effective agency in the breaking up of house-to-house begging, at that time very common. The first officers were: President, S. M. Bucking- ham ; vice-presidents, Dr. E. H. Parker, Rev. J. Nilan ; secretary, John H. Mathews ; treasurer, Alson \\'ar(l. This society was organized b>' Rev. b'dward A. Law- rence, who succeeded Rev. James C. Beecher. brother of Henry Ward Beecher, as pastor of the Congrega- tional Church, in 1875, ^"'1 served until 1883. The purposes of the Charity Organization Society were to centralize the charity of the city, investigate the claims of applicants and stop indiscriminate giving. It en- countered considerable opposition and after Mr. Law- rence left Poughkeepsie ceased active work, but was revived by Rev. William Bancroft Hill, who became pastor of the Second Reformed Church in 1889, and finally succeeded in the accomplishment of considerable good. The Union Rescue Mission was organized, in 1894, as a result of meetings started at the Friends Meeting House in Montgomery Street, under the following committee : Sylvester Pier, Christ Church, president ; Per Lee A. Lee, Trinity Methodist Church, vice-presi- dent ; Alfred L. Cartland, Friends Church, treasurer; Charles R. Dickinson, First Reformed Church, secre- tary ; Mrs. Horace Sague, Christ Church, Mrs. Mar_\ H. Bedell, Friends Church. It was at first called "The Peoples' Union Mission," and rented an old sa- loon at 42 North Clover Street, where Superintendent Charles H. Madison held the first meeting November c)th, 1894. The corner-stone of the new building was laid in October, 1896. Ne.w institutions which contribute something to the life and business of Poughkeepsie are the Gallaudet Home for Deaf Mutes, established about six miles be- low Poughkeepsie in 1885, and the Novitiate of St. Andrew, about three miles north in 1902. The latter is a Roman Catholic Jesuit institution brought here from Maryland, and occupying a large building, on what was formerl}' the Stuyvesant place. The Gal- laudet Home was burned in February. 1900, and re- built on a larger scale in 1903. Mrs. C. M. Nelson has long been president of the board of lady managers. New Churches. The principal change in the religious situation since 1873 'iss been the increase in the number and strength of the Roman Catholics, brought about largely by the settlement of immigrants from Ital}' and Poland. Man\' of the older Catholic families have grown in prosperity and have moved from the First to the Fifth Sixth and Seventh ^^'ards. St. Mary's Church soon outgrew the old Cannon Street building and October 22d, 1893, the present church, corner of Hamilton and Church Streets, was dedicated in the pastorate of Rev. Terence J. Farley. This church cost a great deal more monev than was expected and has strugeled under a ver\' heav\' debt, now reduced to about $^0,000. The Church of the Nativity in I'nion Street has been rebuilt, and in 1903 a Polish C?itliolic Church was organized and took pos- session of the old Baptist Church in Lafayette Place. The onlv other new congregation in the city with sufficient ftrength to own a building is the Christian Scientist, organized April 27, 1898. This church, or HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE chapel, on Market Street, was erected in 1902. Miss Julia Frost and Charles H. Barnes were among the first persons interested, and J. Edward Smith and Mrs. Brewster were the first readers of the church. Several other important additions have been made to the church buildings of the city, the first of which was the new Baptist Church, erected in 1879, '" '^'''^ pastorate of Rev. J. Ryland Kendrick, when the old Lafayette Street Church was abandoned. John Guy and Matthew \'assar, Jr., were leading contributors to the new building, which is one of the largest and best built churches in the city. Mill Street was then and for a number of \ears afterwards considered the most fashionable residence street. The building of the new Christ Church, eight years later, marks the drift of well-to-do residents to the South Side. The old burying ground, bounded by Montgomery, Carroll, Barclay and Academy Streets, and surrounded by a high picket fence, had been prac- tically abandoned since 1871, when the Common Council forbade further interments there, and had grown up into a dense forest. When the rectory was built on the corner of Hamilton and Barclay Streets, it was intended that a new church should some day be erected adjoining it on Barclay Street, and maps are on file showing the lots there so marked. This prop- ertv, however, remained unimproved until about 1880, and was often made use of by the boys as a baseball lot. A few 3'ears later the lots were sold and the church authorities resolved to build upon the the cem- etery ground. The corner-stone of the new church was laid September 25th, 1887, and it was consecrated Mav 15th, 1888, b\- Bishop Scarborough, who had been the first rector of the Church of the Holy Com- forter. More than half its total cost of $120,000 was contributed by Mr. Albert Tower, whose son in 1903 built the new rectory adjoining. The creation of this beautiful church and park has produced the greatest of recent changes in Poughkeepsie, and the tearing down of the old church in 1889, removed a memorable landmark. Rev. Henry L. Ziegenfuss was the rector, having served from 1874 until his death in February, 1894, greatly beloved by his parishioners. Another new church in the same neighborhood, and marking also the growth of the southeastern section of the city, was the Trinity Methodist Church, corner of Hamilton Street and Hooker Avenue, built from plans made bv Corydon \\^heeler, and dedicated April 24th, iS<;2, in the pastorate of Rev. G. H. Gregory. In September, 1904, the Methodists celcl)rated the centen- nial of their establishment in Poughkeepsie by services in this church in charge of Rev. John J. Reed, and also bv a bancjuet at which Mr. Reed read a poem com- memorating the growth of the town and the church. The Friends, or Quakers, have probably changed more in the past thirt}- years than any other denomi- nation. In spite of a loss of membership the Hicksite branch erected a new Meeting House in Lafaj'ette Place in 1894, and the orthodox, or Montgomery Street Church, has been modernized. Elmer D. Gildersleeve, of this church, is recognized as the second in length of service among the ministers of the city. The latest new church, now in progress of con- struction, is the Presb3'terian, expected to be the hand- somest church in the cit}-. This building is to cost $115,000, and is largely due to the energy of the pas- WILUAM W. SMITH. tor, Rev. William P. Swartz, Ph. D., and to the geuer- osit_\- of William W. Smith, though Mrs. John F. ^^'inslow and others have been large contributors. Percival M. Lloyd is the architect. The commodious manse adjoining is also the gift of Mr. Smith. Chapels were built by St. Paul's Church, at Ever- green Park and Arlington in 1891 and 1892, but the former has been abandoned and added to the latter, which may in time become a separate church. The Second Reformed Church has established a chapel at Freertown, and additions have been made to several churches. Ri-XitxT Puiirjc Improvements — Schools. The beginning of the iieriod of smooth jjavements Ikin already been noted. One street, Academv, has HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. V>: been macadamized at the expense of adjoining prop- ert}', from Montgomery Street to Livingston, and near- ly all others have been top-dressed with stone and rolled. The purchase of a heavy steam road roller by the Board of Public Works marks about the be- ginning of this improvement. The demand for better public schools and school buildings and for new fire company houses began at about the same time as the demand for better streets. T/ic Firsl Dutchess County Academy. {Sec page 6j ). {/■^eprodicctio7i, enlarged, of tlie original seal of'the Academy. The existence of this interesting relic ivas not knoivn to the writer until all references to the Academy had been printed. ) The City Library occupied the whole lower floor of the High School building until October, 1898, when the present beautiful Adriance Memorial Library was completed and presented to the city by the children of John P. Adriance* (died January i8th, 1891) as a memorial to their father and mother. Up to this time the librar}- had been in charge of the Board of Edu- cation, but the charter was amended to provide for a Board of Library Trustees, and Mayor Isaac W. Sher- rill in 1899 appointed as the first members L Reynolds Adriance, who had long been chairman of the library committee of the ISoard of Education, Frank Van Kleeck, Edmund I^latt, John P. Ambler and William H. Frank. In 1872 the library contained less than 5.000 volumes and the number of books loaned was less than 20,000, but at the time of the death of Hon. James Emott in 1884 it had grown so that there was not suf- ficient accommodation for the 5,000 volumes he be- queathed to it, and rather than spend $5,000 to pro- vide additional room the ta.xpayers foolishly rejected the gift. In 1897, the last complete \-ear in the High School, the nrmlxT of books was 21,488 and the cir- culation 49,707. In 1904 the books numbered 40,101) and the circulation bad risen to 88,276, exclusive of U. Reynolds .Vdriaiice, John E. Adriance, Marion, wife of Silas W'odcll, Ks(i , William A. .'KdriaiKC, Rev, Hiirris E. Adriance, and Francis H. .Adriance. 9,305 volumes loaned in the public schools. John C. Sickley has been the librarian since September, i\- many leading citizens, and "The Eight" were vigor- ously denounced. Religious and political questions be- came mixed in the controversy. Since 1873 what was widely known as ''The Poughkeepsie Plan" had pre- vai'ed in connection with two schools, Numbers 11 and 12, which had been built and conducted as parochial schools by St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church. The buildings were taken by the city at a nominal rental of $1 a year and were conducted as publia schools, though out of school hours they could be used bv the church for religious services, and this was under- stood to permit opening exercises before school time •n the morning. The teachers appointed in them were aU members of the Catholic Church, and some of them members of orders wearing a uniform or garb. Ob- jection had been made to the plan from time to time by Catholics as well as by Protestants, but it had gen- erally worked smoothly, and during the long and able pastorate of Rev. James Nilan at St. Peter's religious animosities had been greatly softened. Now, however, the questions came up again, and the Board of Educa- tion passed a resolution prohibiting the wearing of a garb of a religious order by any teacher in the public schools. This resulted in the withdrawal of "the Sis- ters," as they were called, from the teaching force, in the leasing of School No. 12 at an annual rental of $1,000, and in the abandonment of No. 11, which was then reopened as a parochial school. Political complications were caused bv the factional contest in progress for control of the local Repub- lican organization between the supporters of Lewis H. X'ail's leadership and the friends of Robert H. Hunter. The Reptiblican members of "the Eight" or majoritv of the Board of Education, Dr. Horace R. Powell. Helmus W. Barratt and \\'illiam .\. Lawrence, were classed as liunler men. whi'c George E. Cramer, J. Spencer Van Clcef and I. Reynolds .Adriance were \'ail men. As the Hunter men were gaining and in 1808 iMr. Van Cleef had lont; Ijcen a most active member of the board. George Kriei;er was tlie only Democratic men', mcr of tlie minorilv. 2.->4 HISTORY Of POUGHKEBPSIE obtained complete control, the Republican members of "The Eight" were able to maintain themselves, while the Democratic members were in a like position through the influence of William H. Wood, a leading force in the local organization of his part}'. Indepen- dent school tickets were run in l8g8 and 1899 and polled a large number of votes, but were not able to overcome the combination of the two part}' organiza- tions. The controversy continued to rage around the MARTIN W. COLLINS. (For biographical sketch see Appendix. ) personality and policy of Edwin S. Harris, until his removal in 1902 and the appointment of the present superintendent, William A. Smith, but in the meantime the charter was amended in 1900, reducing the Board of Education to seven members, appointed by the mayor. Hon. James L. Williams became the first president of the new board, which was organized in May of that }ear. The others were Martin W. Col- lins. Willett Ho}-sradt, Frank C. I^own, Ilelmus W. Barratt, \\'illiam H. Wood and Albert (). Cheney. Opinions naturally still differ as to the merits of the original dispute, but the resultant focusing of pub- lic scrutiny upon the schools disclosed the necessity of spending more money on them. During the years immediately following the panic of 1873 strict econo- my had been the rule. The schools had not advanced as in some other p'aces, and the buildings especialh were generally old and ill-suited to their purpose. In 1899 a start towards something better was made in the construction of the Central Grammar School adjoining the High School, while some of the older buildings were re-fitted, including the Warring School, purchased in 1902. In 1901 a new building was erected on Lincoln Avenue, and another in 1904 on Delafield Street. All these improvements were paid for outright by taxation, the city having no power to borrow money. Meanwhile the increased efficiency is particularly to be noted in the increased attendance at the High School, which during the past few years has been preparing students for college. All the schools have recently been given names. Something of the history of each of the leading private schools has been given in former chapters. Eastman College has apparently done better than its founder anticipated. If Mr. Eastman had an abid- ing faith in the permanency of his institution, it is singular that in the time of his prosperity he did not invest some of the earnings of the college in perma- nent and suitable buildings for its accommodation. The present building was erected in 1883, in the presi- dency of Ezra White, who was succeeded a few years later by Clement C. Gaines, who had married Mr. Eastman's widow. Under Mr. Gaines's management the college has broadened its curriculum and has been kept fully abreast of the times. It has now the loyal su]5port of a large body of graduates, who have been successful in business, and Mr. Gaines keeps in close touch not only with them, but with the requirements of the leading commercial institutions in the country. He has also brought the college under the supervision of the Regents of the State University. In 1885 occurred a notalsle change in the school situation when Rev. D. G. \\'right (see p. 165) gave up the old Poughkeepsie Female Academy. The purchase of the building by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union has already been mentioned. Dr. Wright serv- ed one year as principal of the High School. Mean- while Samuel Wells Buck, who had been principal of the High School for several years, had purchased what was originally the Poughkeepsie Female Col- legiate Institute, then known as Cook's Collegiate In- stitute, and changed its name to Lyndon Hall, which it still retains. Miss Mar}- C. Alliger, who had been one of Dr. Wright's teachers, purchased the Ouincy School, which had been started in 1882 by Miss Caro- line Silloway, and these two remain. The Warring School building, before its purchase b}- the city, had not been in use for several }ears. Dr. ^\'arring sold the I'oughkcepsie Militar\' Institute about 1871 to Henry Jewett, who conducted cij';i\ri-;NT cARKiNc/rox g.\ini';s. I'lisnlciil ill liashiiiui (.'ollcoi-. (h'or hloi^ivp/iiia/ skiirli srr . l/>/i,iiJiA ."j I'jr, HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE it for several _vears and then transferred it back to Dr. Warring, who continued it until his retirement. Ef- forts were made by others to conduct a school there without success. All the smaller schools for boys had already disappeared under the competition of River- JOSEPH B. BISBEE. view, and of the improving public schools. River- view, with its splendid equipment, and corps of teach- ers, continues as prosperous as ever. Otis Bisbee died in February, 1885, leaving the school to the manage- ment of his son, Joseph Bartlctt Bisbee and Harlan Page Amen, who kept it fully up-to-date. Mr. .Vmen made a specialty of preparation for college, but in 1895 became principal of the famous Phillips Academy at Exeter, Xcw Hampshire, leaving Riverview to the sole management of iNIr. Bisbee, who has continued and improved its high standard. New IUjildinc.s .\m) Rijai, Kst,\tic Extensions. Great improx'ements have l)een made in the busi- ness streets. Although man_\- buildings remain on Main and Market Streets that were built before Pough- keepsie became a city, so many more have been erected or rebuilt since the war, even since 1873. that the ap- pearance of the streets has been entirely changed. A glance at some of the photographs of street scenes taken not more than twenty-five years ago slmws this plainly. Since the fire of December 26th, 1870, very few buildings have been burned on Main Street, and changes have come slowly, but year by year the old gives place to the new. The Johnston building, west of the Morgan House, was finished in 1875, and the first store in it was opened in April of that year by Don- ald, Converse & Ma^nard, three young men who had come from Hartford. Peter M. Howard's marble front building at 265 Main Street was finished in the same year. This building was designed for a corner lot, and Mr. Howard intended to put a street through from Main Street to Mansion, to be continuous with Balding Avenue, then recently opened. It would have been a notable improvement, but Mr. Howard's money and health did not'hold out. The Elting building on the corner of Liberty Street replaced in 1892 one of the old landmarks of early days, long the store of George Van Kleeck. 7/ic Biiildivg- of I.mi;cy, I'latt kt ( <;. Finall\-, Luckew Piatt & Co. made the greatest change and improvement of recent >ears when in 1901 the\' tore down the old stores that had been 336, 338 and 340 Main Street and erected a complete depart- ment store building, designed for sales-rooms on all four floors. These, connected with 332 and 334. which had been partialh' rebuilt in 1890, and with 342, formerly the TIerrick furniture store, now form one great establishment. Dr. CHARLES E. LANE, President of the Common Couneil . GEORGE W. LUMB. President of the Hoard of Ptiblic Works. HISTORY OF POUGHKBEPSIB. 259 Market Street's business block has changed much more than Main Street ; in fact nearly all the west side is new. The old Forbus House was sold in No- vember, 1874, to Judge Nelson, who purchased it for his sister, Mrs. E. P. Taylor. It was torn down the next year, except the three-story brick addition which was built several years earlier, and forms the southern part of the present house. The new hotel, The Nelson House, was formally opened May 19th, 1876, with a banquet at which Mayor Carpenter presided. Its first proprietor was Peter Poland, who came here from Albany, and was succeeded after a short time by Capt. A. F. Black. In 1885 the whole row of old buildings between the Nelson House and Union Street, including the old Baker or Brush house, dating back to the days of the Revolution, was destroyed to make way for the new United States Government Building. These build- ings had been given a mansard roof after 1870, and so did not appear when torn down as shown in the pic- ture on page jd. The new government building was read\' for occupancy by Xovcmber, 1886, when Post- master Robert II. Hunter moved the Post Office there from the City Plall. As already shown, this was a re- turn of the office to the same location occupied from 185 1 to 1865. The lower floor of the City Hall, then \acated, was rented b\- J. \^'. Hinklc>-, who published his newspapers there until he finally settled on the corner of Cannon and Market Streets, and erected a ■lew building there. In the same year that the "Law>'ers' Row'' was de- stroyed, 1885, occurred another important change in the appearance of the neighborhood of Market and Main Streets. The Poughkeepsie Hotel verandas (see page I'jS), from which Henry Clay had spoken, were torn away, the first floor lowered to side- walk level, and the building was partially rebuilt, and consolidated with the Nelson House in management. The old hotel had been se\eral times damaged b>- fire. After John H. Rutzer's' death in 1867, Richard P. Morgan, who represented .Mrs. 'Rutzer's interest, be- came the proprietor. He altered the building by tak- ing ofif the lower veranda about 1878. Then it was leased to Milton Bain, with whom was associated his son, H. N. I'.ain, for a term of six years. In the mean- time Judge Nelson bought the hotel, and made the final alterations. Mr. I'.ain removed to the Nelson House in 1884, and before the con.solidatiou Isaac N. Seaman ran the Poughkeepsie for a time, and was its last actual proprietor. The Nelson House has since iRut/cr canio here from Kingston in 1841 and was for a shorl lime pioprielor o( Ibc I'orhns llon.sc. He was proba- l)lv the n^o^t fanions of oUl-linic liolcl men in Pouglikccpsie. that time been greatly increased in size and improved in many ways. The climax of change in the neighborhood was the building of the new Court House in 1902. Many peo- ple regretted the destruction of the old building, and thought that it should have been postponed until the city and county could join in the erection of a com- bined Court House and City Hall, to take the place of all the buildings bounded by Market, Main, Washing- ton and Union Streets. A new Court House, however, was one of the necessities of the near future, and the jail had been condemned as unfit for use. The archi- tect of the new Court House was 'WiUiam J. Beards- ley, and the building committee from the Board of Su- l^ervisors was Miles K. Lewis, John W. Delamate r, James H. Kipp, Reginald W . RivFs'and Klsworth 1^. Winans. Lower Main Street has been considerably changed during the past twenty years. The Lumb factory building, below Water Street, displaced an old house, once the residence of Thomas \'assar, and said to have been once the home of James \'assar, and the Levi Lumb building, east of the railroad station is part'y on the site of an old stone house that dated back to early da^'s. In the other older streets there have been less changes, but Mill Street and Washington Street are not aS they were. The sale of the Northern Hotel to Henry Webendorfer in 1FS9 was followed by a wid- ening of Washington Street from Mill Street a shoit distance north, cutting off a part of the building, which was then dismantled of its verandas and left an un- sightlv shell. In 1903 the Congregationalists tore down the old Pine house and built the present parson- age, and a few years earlier the Baptists rebuilt their parsonage. Washington Street near iNIain is greatly changed in appearance h\ the erection, just coiupletcd, of Columbus Institute for the Knights of Columbus. This building was formally opened May 22d, 1905. Though the holding of lots for speculation has been unprofitable since 1873, with few exceptions, the settled area has continued to increase. The niost not- able change has been the opening of the old Living- ston's XN'oods to settlement. Rev. Plenry A. Loomis and some other people thought this delightful piece of woodland, partlv in the eil\- limits, should be preserved as a public park, but the necessary funds \vcre not forthcoming. The property was purchased July ist, 1891. for $1 1,000, from \\'illiam S. Johnston, trustee for the bondholders of the defunct Pludson River Iron Companx, bv Ferdinand R. Bain, who formed a syndi- cate which included ^^'illiam H. Young, H. N. Bain and Robert McCatTerty. Gradually the old time at- 260 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIE. tractiveness of the neighborhood was destroyed, first bv the digging out of the moulding sand which formed a large part of the soil, and finall}' by cutting down the trees. Streets were opened through it, and though not very many dwellings have yet been built there the ground has been so completely altered as to leave lit- tle indication of its former appearance. The property east of Clinton Street, opened be- tween 1869 and 1873, as described in the last chapter, has been steadily built upon and though considerable sections of fields remain to be divided, it seems only a question of a few j^ears when the cit}' will extend to the grounds of Vassar College. The finest residence in this neighborhood is that of Frank B. Lown, erected on College Avenue in 1901. On the north side of the city Balding Avenue and Marshall Street (named from James Marshall, but originally called West High Street) have been almost entirely built up since 1873, and several new streets, such as Bain Avenue and Taylor Avenue, have been opened and settled beyond the Bridge Railroad. In the northeastern section of the city a large tract, north of the Fall Kill and east of Smith Street has been opened to settlement by John R. Lent since 1873, ^'""i '^ now mostly covered with buildings. Winnikee Avenue is on made land, once a part of the old Mill pond. Between 1880 and 1890 the movement for the re- moval of fences gathered headway and produced so great a change in the appearance of many residence streets that photographs taken before 1880 are almost unrecognizable now, even where the buildings remain almost as they were. Every house, not actually on the sidewalk line, formerly had its fence in front. Now very few fences remain except as dividing lines at the rear of lots. The most notable extension and improvement of the past ten years has been the opening of the White- house property to settlement. Mr. Whitehouse's son- in-law, Eugene N. I-Iowell, planned there an extensive suburban park settlement, to resemble some of the suburbs of Philadelphia, and began the construction of the Dwight Street houses in the winter of 1895-96. He employed Horace Trumbauer, of Philadelphia, as architect, and the houses erected were on lines different from anything yet built in Poughkeepsie. Like many other enterprising Poughkeepsie boomers, Mr. Howell lost by his venture, though his collapse was caused more by unfortunate outside speculation than by this. The remaining lots were finally sold at auction, and much of the property came into possession of Smith L. DeGarmo, who has continued the development. Outside of the Whitehouse property almost all the houses on Hooker Avenue, Forbus Street, Virginia Avenue, Hammersley Avenue and many of those on Academy, Hamilton and other neighboring streets have been built since 1880. The houses of W. A. Adriance and L R. Adriance on Academy Street were built in 1893 and 1894. The Fire Department and the Military. After the installation of the new water supply with its high pressure, the necessit_y for fire engines was much diminished. The purchase of steamers for No. 4 and No. 2 had caused No. 5 Engine Company to dis- band in 1863 and reorganize as Lady Washington Hose Compan)' No. 3. Old Protection No. i was dis- banded in i&fi, and in 1881 Young America No. 6 Engine Co. was reorganized as Young America Hose Co. No. 6. This corapan\- owes its name to the fact that originally its membership was limited to native Americans. Within the past ten years new houses have been built for all the companies except Lady Washing- ton, though the houses of Niagara Steamer Company and of Booth Hose are only partially new. Cataract's new house was built in 1897-8, Davy Crockett's in 1898-9, Young America's in 1900-01, and Phoenix Hose Compan3f's in 1901. The last mentioned super- seded the venerable old building at Union and Washington Streets, where the City Library and the hook and ladder company were once located. (See p. 150). No. 4's new house is the only one in an en- tirely new location. The old house at 100 JMain Street was sold and the new house was built on a part of the lot corner of Mill and Delafield Streets, occupied in old times by the Coffin foundry, and later by a plow fac- tory already mentioned. The new location, however, is within a stone's throw of the place where the com- pany was first organized in 1836. A volume could be written about the old days of the fire department, and many interesting events would fall within the present period. There were tourna- ments in 1873, 1875 and 1890, with trials of engines, foot races and great parades, and man)' minor events, such as excursions, receptions to visiting firemen and celebrations. The 50th anniversaries of the organiza- tion of Phoenix Hose Company, 1894, and of Booth Hose Company, 1903, were duly observed, and among the excursions probably the most notable was that of Davy Crockett Llook and Ladder Company to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1891. Parades are still frequent and form an important feature in the life of the city, but the\' are no longer considered important enough to require special apparatus, and are not quite what they used to be before the advent of horses. The first horse per- manently established in the fire department was pre- sented to I'hocnix Hose Company In- William LI. r ■ 1 ■ II ^ '^ K J|k»N 0^ .: 1 A ^^HHH^^^^^K^ 9^^ *'* p^ 1 ^^^R^^^H^^^ 1^) fV j ShRhi^^^ Hi ?f^', GivORGE nagknc;ast. Chief lin«hu-i-y of the Fire Depart men/. (For biographical sketch see Appemti.v. ) '2C>'2 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIB. Dr. H. F. CLARK. {For biographical sketch see Appendix. ) Frank in 1891, when a duty carriage of the present type was purchased. Since then the old hose reels and the parade carriages have disappeared, and mod- ern apparatus drawn by horses have been installed in all the fire houses. The handsome parade carriage of Phoenix Hose Company was put in a glass case, as an interesting relic of the past, in 1901. The fire companies no longer fear the "corporation lock," which in old times so often brought an abrupt end to rowdyism and caused reorganization. With their handsomely furnished houses they are in reality' ver\' pleasant clubs and an important feature in the so- cial life of the citv, but each has its nucleus of enthusi- astic fire fighters and keeps in touch with the most ap- proved methods. The present organization and dis- cipline are largelv credited to Frederick Bieber and his successor, the present chief engineer, George Nagen- gast. Mr. Bieber had been a member of the New \'ork department, and brought the home companies to an efficiency, which, measured by results, certainly compares favorablv with the paid de])artmcnts of many cities. Here onh' the drivers are paid. The city has long enjoyed immunit}- from serious fires. The burn- ing of the \Miitehouse factory in tS7<), caused by light- ning, the glass wijrks fire in 1897, the James Reynolds Elevator fire and the Gas Works explosion and fire in December, l8g8, were the most notable. The \'cteran Fireman's Association was organized Nov. loth, 1886, with Oliver H. Booth as its first president. The association owns the old "Goose- Neck" engine, formerly used by No. 4 and No. 6, a valued possession, presented by \\'m. F. Booth after the death of his father in 1896. Greater changes have been made in the local mili- tary organizations than in the fire department of the city. In the days of general training at least two regi- ments seem to have met here, and a 22nd Regiment is mentioned occasionall}' even after the war, though apparently only a skeleton organization. The 21st Regiment had no regimental armorj' until it took pos- session in 1865 of the old carriage factorw so often referred to in Chapter IX as "the armory building." Before that was taken the com])anies were scattered. Some of them had quarters in the Wright lUiilding, where the present Young Women's Christian Associa- tion rooms are located, and others were in the lower Kirchner building. After the war Colonel [ames Smith, brother of Messrs. W ^^^ and ,\ndrew Smith, was in command, with Dr. II. F. Clark as Lieutenant Colonel, to 1878. Then Colonel .\lfred F. Lindley took command. When the ne\\' Kirchner bvilding wps built the upper floors became the armor\- and so re- mained until the regiment was ilisljanded, .\pril 6th. 1882. Two companies. D and A, were retained as the HISTORY Of POUGHKEEPSIE. !'(;;! iQtli and 15th Separate Companies. The 19th, com- manded by Captain William Ilaubennestel, traced its history back to one of the early villag^e militia com- panies once commanded by Matthew Vassar. The iSth, commanded by Capt. B. F. Me\er, was origi- nally the Elsworth Grays of war times. In 1891 a new armory was built by the State with ample ac- commodations for both companies, but in 181)7, in ac- cordance with a policy of still further reducing the National Guard, die 19th was disbanded, and the 15th alone remains. One of the notable celebrations in which the mili- tary companies of Poughkeepsie and of neighboring cities took part was the Centennial of the ratification of tile Constitution of the United States, July 26, 1888. In the spring of i8()8 the 15th, then commanded by Captain John K. Sague, volunteered for the Span- ish War, and became Company K of the First New York N'olunteers. It was sent to the Hawaiian Islands, and returned to Poughkeepsie December 27th, 1899. During its absence a temporary conipan\', known as the ii5tli. was organized under command of Captain F. I?. Warring. The 19th Separate Company still keeps its organization as an independent association, and the U)th Separate Conipan>- Drum Corps is an important feature of all parades. Soci.M, Lii'iv, Clubs, Fr.\ternities, Utc. This has been a period of organization, and the number of fraternities and societies has increased greatly. In 187c) a second Masonic Lodge, Triune, was organized with \\'illiam I\Iorgan Lee as the first Master. The other charter members were Oliver S. Atkins, William Atkinson, Frank E. Baslew Henry Hasbrouck, William B. Hull, Charles D. Johnson, Charles C. More, Casper L. Odell, Samuel K. Rup- lev, Peter L. \'an Wagenen, Jere D. Wright and Henry L- Ziegenfuss. The first two candidates raised in the lodge were John t^.. Collingwood and J. Arthur Lock- wood. In i8()4 the two Masonic lodges united in the pur- chase of the old Cannon Street Methodist Church (See p. I4'i) which they rebuilt with an extension in front to make the present Masonic Temple. Be- sides the large temple alio\-e, the old Sunday School room, on the ground floor, was converted into a hall which has become the favorite place for small dancing assemblies and other social gatherings too large for private houses. Masonic Hall was dedicated on Wash- ington's liirthdaw in 181)5. Poughkee|isie Lodge Xo. 21. Independent ( Irtler of C )dd Fellows, which had been meeting over the /:j;:/.- ottiee in Libertv Street, since the building was finished in 1868, was incorporatd by act of the Legislature in 1869, with P- S. Rowland, A. G. Rothery and F. J. Nesbitt as trustees empowered to hold property for it. In 1885 it bought the building 261 and 263 Main Street, and moved into it in 1898. Fallkill Lodge, No. 291, was organized December isi., 1871, with Stephen Schofield, Lawrence \V. Dutcher, Augustus \'an Sicklen, John H. Caldwell and Gerijge W. Bayer as its first ofiicers. A third lodge of Odd Fellows, known as Adler Lodge No. 388, has since been organized. The Knights of Pythias also have three lodges — Poughkeepsie No. 43, Armour 107, and Triumph 165. The d-vnights of Columbus, one of the newest fra- ternities in Poughkeepsie, and one of the strongest, has just erected a handsome building on ^Vasllington Street on the site of the old Lewis (afterwards IMc- Curdy) stables, .next to the Young Men's Christian Association. The order was instituted February 6th, i8i)S, with the following officers: Grand Knight, John J. Mylod ; Deputy Grand Knight, John F. Ring- wood ; Financial Secretary, John H. Cusack ; Record- ing Secretary, John T. Nevins; Chancellor, P. C. Doherty ; .Advocate, Joseph A. Daughton ; Lecturer, James A. Kerr; Warden, Thomas J. Ward; Inside Guard, Thomas .\. Powers ; Outside Guard, R. J. McGee; Trustees, Dr. John -\. Cotter, William R. Ma- loney, R. J. McGee, Jr., Charles T. Hughes. All the present out-of-door clubs were organized since 1873, though some were reorganizations from older clubs. The Shatemuc Boat Club was primarily a racing organization, rather exclusive in membership and in time most of the members lost interest. Finally in 1871.1 Tristram Coffin, Aaron Innis, Floy M. Johns- ton and William C. Hill alone remained. They took the property and turned it over to James Reynolds (3d), who represented a set of younger men. who were organizing the "Apokeepsing Boat Club," the first of- ficers of which, elected in September, were Frank Has- brouck, president; J. E. .Vtlriance, vice-president; J. Re\no!ds, secretary ; Thomas H. Ransom, treasurer ; Norman Wright, captain; C. ^\^ Swift, Jr.. lieutenant. This club was not fully organized until the next s]iriiig. when in addition to the officers already men- tioned Peter Hulnie, Frank ^^'. Halstead, Emmet A. Wilber, John G. Slee, .\lonzo H. \'ail, John G. CoL lingwood and William R. Innis were elected to the board of directors. This club has had but two presi- dents. Charles F. Cossuni succeeding Mr. Hasbrouck in i8()(i. Messrs. Wright and Reynolds were its lead- ing oarsmen, and frequently entered and won races on the Harlem and elsewhere as single scullers. .\t pres- ent interest in racing is not strong, but the club owns many pleasure boats and has a large membership. Mi HISTORY OF POUGHKEBPSIl The Poughkeepsie Yacht Club was organized in September, 1892, at a meeting held on board the 3'acht Beatrice. It has a club house, and storage place for sail boats, launches, etc., on the site of the old Revo- lutionary Ship Yard on the South Side, and in the coves near-by are anchored most of the sail boats, yachts, steam and motor launches owned in Pough- keepsie. Messrs. W. H. and Valentine Frank have been among its leading supporters. The first officers were Powell Hobert, commodore ; William Hartman, vice-commodore ; R. W. Haupt, recording secretary ; Edward Laufersweiler, financial secretary ; William Furman, treasurer ; John Haubennestel, measurer. The interest in rowing fostered by these organiza- tions led to the negotiations which secured the first race of the university eights, representing Columbia, Cornell and Pennsylvania, June 24th, 1895, on the Poughkeepsie course. Sufficient money to build boat houses, make necessary arrangements for crew quar- ters, for surveying and marking the course, etc., was raised by subscription through the efforts of the follow- ing finance committee : William Schickle, representing the Board of Trade ; A. O. Cheney, Retail Merchants' Association ; James Reynolds, Apokeepsing Boat Club ; Grant Van Etten, Poughkeepsie Yacht Club. There was also an executive committee, of which William F.. Booth was chairman, Plarris S. Reynolds secretary, and William H. Frank treasurer. Since 1895, with the exception of 1898, the college regatta has been a most important event of early summer, bringing great crowds of visitors to Poughkeepsie. Harvard joined in the regatta for two years, in 1896 and 1897, and Yale in 1897. In 1899 the University of Wisconsin first entered a crev^', and in 1900 Georgetown Uni- versity was added. S\'racuse sent her first crew in 1901. Recently sports of all kinds have formed organiza- tions. The first lawn tennis playing in Poughkeepsie was in Eastman Park, when an organization known as the Out-Door Club was started, somewhere about 1879 or 1880. This club introduced archery also among its pastimes. The Poughkeepsie Tennis Club was organized in April, 1890, by consolidating two smaller clubs, one of which had its courts on the corner of Market and Montgomery Streets, where the Jones block stands. John C. Sickley was the first president. The club's courts were at first in the rear of Eastman Terrace, and were moved to South Hamilton Street, corner of Dwight, on the invitation of E. N. Howell. The first club house stood on a knoll surrounded by cedar trees on the corner of Dwight Street. It was burned in 1893, and the hill was afterwards entirely cut away. The club then purchased its present prop- erty on the opposite side of Hamilton Street, and erect- ed the present club house, largely through the efiforts of Robert M. Ferris. The Dutchess County Golf Club was organized in April, 1897, and the first board of directors was Wil- liam A. Adriance, John E. Adriance, Robert M. Fer- ris, Hiram S. Wiltsie, William H. Young and Dr. W. G. Dobson. In 1901 it was incorporated as The Dutchess County Golf and Country- Club, when George CoUing- wood, Fred R. Newbold, John W. Pelton, George Sea- man and Alonzo H. Vail came on the board. John E. Adriance has been president of the club since its or- ganization. The club house was built in 1902. Several social clubs important enough to maintain club houses have been organized in recent times. The Amrita Club has generally been conceded to be the leading club, but it conducts no restaurant, and in 1888 it was found that there was room for a club man- aged more on the lines of clubs of other cities, and the Dutchess Club was formed, at first as a Democratic Club. Its first president was Judge Homer A. Nelson, who served until his death, when he was succeeded by James L. Williams, still in office. This club numbers among its members most of the leading politicians and public men of both parties, and occasionally entertains prominent men from abroad. The name "Dutchess Club" had been used as early as 1828 by a social organ- ization, of which Alexander Forbus was secretary. During the rise of -the bicycle into popularity two or three bic3'cle clubs were formed, the first of which was called the .^riel Wheel Club. The Poughkeepsie nicycle Club occupied the handsome Thomas L. Davies or B. Piatt Carpenter house on Mansion Square for a few years, and then became chiefly a social club It is the only one that survives and is now the Pough- keepsie Club. In 1903 its present club house on Mar- ket Street was leased and fitted up. The Century Cycle Club occupied a large house on Washington Street for a few years, but did not long survive the decline of the bicycle craze. The Dutchess County Horticultural Society is prac- tically a Poughkeepsie institution, though containing many members from adjoining sections of the county, interested in the profitable industry of growing violets and other flowers for the New York market. It con- ducts every year late in the fall a notable flower show, largely devoted to chrysanthemums, and also holds an annual banquet, the first of which was at the Morgan House, January 8th, 1896. There was a Poughkeep- sie Horticultural Societ_\' as long ago as i860, of which tlie present organization is perhaps an outgrowth. The New England Society, organized by Rev. William Herman Hopkins, recently pastor of the Congrega- FRANCIS G. LANDON. Member of Assembly, igo/ — /poj. (See Appendix.) 266 HISTORY OF POUGHKEEPSIF tional Church, also holds an annual banquet, with much orator\' — on Forefathers' Day in December. The leading patriotic organization in Poughkeepsie is the Mahwenawasig Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, chartered in April, 1894, with twelve members, Mrs. Edward S. Atwater, Mrs. Frank Hasbrouck, Mrs. Martin Heermance, Miss Myra Avery, j\Irs. D. Crosby Foster, Mrs. Horace D. Huf- cut, Mrs. Milton A. Fowler, I\Irs. William A. Miles, ;\Iiss Helen W. Reynolds, Mrs. Robert Sanford, Mrs. J. Spencer \'an Cleef, Miss Mary Varick. In 1897 the Everitt house (see page 47) was purchased from Charles Kirchner, for the chapter, by Mrs. Atwater, who was the first regent, Mr. Tristram Coffin and Mr. Frank Van Kleeck. Finding considerable difficulty in raising the necessary money, an auxiliary committee of citizens was organized in 1899 to hold the property, and in 1900 the State appropriated $5,000 for its pur- chase, largeh' through the influence of Miss Avery, then regent, and placed it in the care of the society, thus preserving the only remaining building of Revo- lutionary associations in Poughkeepsie. The use of the house in the Revolution has been fully discussed in Chapter HI. In 1904 the D. A. R. rendered a still further service to local history by the erection of a tablet on the cast side of the new court house com- memorating the constitutional convention of 1788. The musical organizations of Poughkeepsie de- serve notice, for despite the occasional failure of high class musical ventures, the city has always been ready to welcome good music. Choral societies were organ- ized here as early as 1838. Oratorios were sung by some of them certainlv before i860. A considerable impetus was given to musical appreciation by the com- ing of the Germans, and the Germania Singing Society was organized in 1850, with .A.. Kiihn, L Bantle, P. Meinecke, P. Kiesslcr, Charles Peters, L. Schlosser, C. Ranch. L. Hassclberg, A. Ulrich, P. Zimmer, F. Grimling, Otto Rohr and Joseph P)auer as charter members. March 2(1, 185 1, a concert was given at the Presbyterian Church by "The Poughkeepsie Union Musical .Association," assisted bv ''an orchestra of the best instrumental talent of the village, under the direc- tion of the Messrs. Grube." This orchestra is said to have been called at one time "The Concordia." Charles Grube, who celebrated his 91st birthdav, April 12th, 1905, was the leader of Germania in 1851. The Mendelssohn Societ}' was perhaps the greatest singing society ever organized in Poughkeepsie, and was sup])orted with a great deal of enthusiasm by all the leading music lovers for more than ten \ears. It was started in 1866 with Charles Martin as its leader, and gave concerts ever)- \car in the ' )pcra House. Walter D. Gilbert and M. S. Downs were its later leaders. In May, 1876, this society sang the oratorio of Elijah under Mr. Downs's leadership, with Theo- dore Thomas's Orchestra accompanying. The soloists were Fannie S. Myers, Poughkeepsie, soprano ; Ade- laide Phillips, New York, contralto ; John D. Ahreet, Poughkeepsie, tenor ; Myron Whitney, New York, bass. Somewhere about 1880 the Mendelssohn So- ciety disbanded and in 1881 The Poughkeepsie Vocal Union was organized on the same lines, with Pro- fessor Frederick Louis Ritter of the then Vassar School of Music, as leader. This society sang Haydn's Creation at its first concert, November Sth, 1881. Its officers then were Willard H. Crosby, president ; Edward W. Valentine, vice-president ; By- ron M. Marble, secretary ; Charles A. Brooks, treas- urer. The Vocal Union disbanded after the season of 1883-84, and in 1885 some of the young men who had been among its members organized The Euterpe Glee Club, with Charles H. Hickok leader and Robert E. Taylor president. This society gave a concert in the Opera House in 1887, but generally gave its early concerts in Vassar Brothers Institute. In 1890 T. J. Macpherson was the leader, but during an interval of absence from the city Edward W. Valentine led the club. Clarence J. Reynolds has been one of the club's leading supporters from its organization. Since the organization of the Euterpe Club no large mixed choral society has been maintained except for a season or two, and in 1891 the women organized The Rubinstein Club, with W. R. Chapman, of New York, as leader. The society was reorganized as The Chorai Club in the fall of 1899, and came under the leadership of Professor George C. Gow, of Vassar College. Conclusion. In the preceding pages an effort has been made to show the progress and (le\'elopment of Poughkeepsie from its earliest settlement to the present ; to give some account of the part its citizens have taken in all of the great National political movements, as well as in the solution of various local problems ; and to show the beginnings and something of the progress of all important local enterprises and institutions. The re- sults of all these things make up the Poughkeepsie of to-day. with its equipment of streets and buildings and population. We have seen something of the little colonial county seat, slowly emerging from the woods, and of the busy town of Revolutionary days springing into sud}■ conii)etent judges at \ari(ius inter- national exhibitions than i)robab!y to any other dentist in the world, and yet to-day he still takes the same pride in pursuing his private practice in this city as he ever did, and' is still foremost in devising further improvement and development. Early 'in 1862 he be- came a member of Company A in the Twenty-first Regiment, was soon elected a lieutenant and steaddy rose through the intermediate grades to the rank of Lieutenant'-Cnlonel in i^^yCy He resigned in 1878 m order that he might have more time for long range rifle practice. He became an expert and an authority on the rifle, and was selected by the National Rifle .\s- sociation (if America in 1880 to represent it at Dolly- mount, Ireland, in the great International Rifle Match, in which his success made him famous as a rifle shot throughout the world. In 7886 he was appointed as- sistant quartermaster general of the State, \\ith the rank of col.mel, bv Governor Hill, and during the same \ear he went to luiropc- to represent a company which" had been formed to exjiloit his inventi.ins. Re- turning t.i Poughkeepsie in iS-jC, he has again given his attention to the practice of scientific dentistry, first at his old office in Liberty Street, and since 1904 -it 52 iMarket Street. MARTIN W. COLLINS. (See portrait, page 254). Martin W Collins, manufacturer, was born at Pleas- ant \-alle\, X. v., October I4lh, 1847. t'l^' S'-^'-'t ;-''""l- son of loslni.i Collins, who came Irom Providence, K. 1 and' settled at Rhinebeck in the latter part of thc eio-hteenth centnrv ; the grandson ol Martm W. Col- lins, who was a lieutenant in the War of 1812, and the son of Isaac Collins, the noted engineer and surve}', 1856-1858, and was a director in the Mer- chants' iBank. He died in May, 1892. J.\COB CORLIES. (See page 217.) Jacob Corlies, only son of George Corlies, was born in New York, April 4th, 1830. and was sent by his father in 1842 to the Friends' Boarding School kept by Samuel Smith, on Mansion Square, his sister at the same time being a pupil at Mr. Gibbons's school near by. After the completion of his course of study he returned to Xew York and entered the hosiery busi- ness. In 1854 he came to Poughkeepsie to live, and in 1866 built for his home the house on the east side of South Hamilton Street, next north of Henry L. Young's. At that time there was an orchard on the adjoining part of the Young place running through to Hooker Avenue. Mr. Corlies has many interesting recollections of the old times. He went to Chicago in 1848, going to Troy by boat, from there to Utica by railroad, from Utica to Buffalo on the Erie Canal, and from Buffalo to Chicago 1)\' coasting" steamer on the lakes. Chicago was then a small village of the type of buildings now called "shacks." Opportunities did not seem to be greatly better than at home on the Hudson. Mr. Cor- lies was associated with his father in the development and management of his large real estate interests, and also became one of the leading real estate owners in the city himself. At the sale of the \\'orrall property in 1869 he and .Andrew King purchased a tract of 42 acres on the north side of Main Street, and George Innis purchased a similar tract adjoining to the east- ward. Innis Avenue was laid out between the two holdings and Corlies Avenue, Maple Street and King Street on the tract first mentioned. This property is in large part still owned by Mr. Corlies, and is now beginning to build up. .\ new street, to be known as Roosevelt Avenue, is about to be opened between Cor- lies and Innis .V venues, from Main Street to King. Mr. Corlies became a director in the First National Bank in January, 1867, and succeeded Robert Slee as president in January, 1894. He has been a trustee of the Savings Bank since February, 1887, when he suc- ceeded Henry D. l\hcrs, and is also a trustee of The Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery Association. Besides these many activities he has served the city well in a number of public offices, including those of alderman, member of the Alms House Board, and member of the Board of Education. Mr. Corlies was married, September 6th, 1855, to Edith W. Haines, of New York, and they have had four children, Franklin H., Eliza (married J. Arthur Lock- wood, October 23, 1884), George and Walter. All are living except Franklin. George (married Minnie Osborn, of Poughkeepsie, in 1901). is in business in New York; Walter (married Ella Hitchcock, of Sing Sing in 1887), and Mrs. Lockwood live in Poughkeep- DR. JOHN H. COTTER. John Henry Cotter, M. D., was born at Pleasant \'alley, Dutchess County, N. Y., April 6th, 1851. He was practically thrown upon his own resources at the age of twelve years, when he went to work at East Park, but studied at night and attended school in the winter months. In 1866 he was admitted to the Dutchess County Academy, but was forced to leave one month before graduation in 1869 and return to work as a farm hand. In 1874 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Denny and afterwards with Dr. Hoyt. He then attended the Albany Medical College and graduated with high honors therefrom as M. D., February 3d, 1878. He began practice at once at Mt. Ross, but removed to Jackson Corners in 1880, where he established a lucrative practice, which he turned over to his nephew in May, 1894, and came to Pough- keepsie, where he now enjoys a large and increasing patronage. He is now the physician of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company. Dr. Cotter is a firm believer in the principles of Democracy, but is not a politician. He was health officer at Milan, and also at Gallatin for several years, and was postmaster at Jackson Corners, but his abilit)- as a physician and recognized integrity as a man had much more to do with his incumbency of those offices than political influences. Fie is a member of the Dutchess County Medical Society, New York State Medical So- ciety, Alumni Association of Albany Medical College, the Medical Philosophical Society of Northern Dutch- ess and Southern Columbia, St. Peter's Roman Catho- lic Church, of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Knights of St. George, the Benevolent Order of Elks, and the Knights of Columbus, of which latter he has been one of the trustees since the organization here. He is also an active member of Young America No. 6 Engine Company. Dr- Cotter has been twice married ; first in .\ugust, 1880, to Miss Mary Smith, of Galla- tin, N. Y., who died in July, 1885, and in February, r888, to Miss Mary Frances Calvey, also of Gallatin. THE DEL AVAL SEPARATOR COMPANY. (See page 234). The Aktiebolaget Separator, of Stockholm, Swed en, having been introduced to American farmers, a plant for its manufacture in this country was estab- lished in 1891, at Bloomfield, N. J., but soon removed to Poughkeepsie, where the works were started in June, 1892, with a force of fifty employees. The separator is a mechanical device constructed for the purpose of BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 277 separating- the cream from the milk when still warm and as it leaves the cow, thereby doing away with the old system of cooling with ice or setting in pans. It practically takes care of all the fatty substances in the milk, and the consequent increase in yield of butter, gained by its use, represents an average of ten dollars per cow annually, which in an average dairy will pay for the first cost of the machine in one year. It is the invention of Dr. DeLaVal, of Stockholm — the same master genius who has produced the steam turbine, which is destined to revolutionize the steam engine as completely and successfully as his separator has changed and developed the old dairying methods. In establishing works here, the American Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jerse)', as "The DeLaval Separator Company." Their business has increased ver>' rapidly, especially in the past five years, so much so that they are now employing about five hundred men and producing about fifty thousand separators annually. The original works here have been constantly- enlarged by the erection of additional buildings and machinery, a new power plant on the verv best improved methods being built in 1903. For the past ten years the company has been under the management of Mr. Oscar Bernstrom, who, ably assisted by Mr. T. H. Miller, the present supermten- dent, and an efficient office staff, has proven himself to be the right man in the right place in every respect. The sales department and general offices of the company are in New York City and branch offices and repair shops in Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg, and agents in all parts of the countrx-. Our illustration shows the com- pany's street, with their various buildings on both sides thereof. JOHN DE PEYSTER DOUW. John dc Pcvster Douw (1812-1901) was the son of John de Pevster Douw ( 1735-1836) and Catharine Douw Gansevoort ( 1782- 1848), and grandson of X'olck- ert Pietcr Douw (1720-1801) and Anna de Pcvster ( 1723-1794). His grandfather was Mayor of Albany, as was also his great-grandfather, Johannes de Peys- ster (i()()4-i779), and his great-great-grandfather, Mvndert Schuvlcr ( 1672-1755). His grandfather was \'ice-President of the First Provincial Congress, which met in New ^wk Citv May, 1775, and his grand- father, Leonard Gansevoort. Jr., (1754-1834) was a member of the Congress that assembled at Kingston, 1777, and assisted in the formation of a State govern- ment' for New- ^'ork. He was born at 82 State Street (now \'olckert P.uilding), Albany. New York, and educated at the .Albany Academy, Flushing. L. I Military .Acadcmv ( kept b\- Lindley Murray Moore), and Chittcnango ' Polytechnic Institute, Madison County. N. Y , kept by Rev. Andrew \'atcs, D. D. Mr. Douw-'engincered one vear on tlic Albany and Schenec- tady Raiiroad. In 1835 he went lo Europe, and the ne.xt vcar studied law and was in the office of the Mas- ter of Chancerv. was appointed Judge .Vdvocate of the Third P.rigade" Light Artillcrv. with the rank of Major in 1.8^:;, '"taking 'the oath AprU 30th— William L. Marcy, Governor. He was appointed inspector with rank of Colonel in the First Division of Cavalry May 23d, 1842, and took oath August 4th — William H. Sew- ard, Governor, on whose staff he was. His resigna- tion was granted by John Taylor Cooper, Major Gen- eral, July 29th, 1844. Colonel Douw was in Europe 1847-8, and then settled at Millburn or Hudson Bush, eight miles south- east of Hudson, N. Y., the former home of Colonel Henry J. \'an Rensselaer (1742-1814), nephew of his great-grandmother. Anna Van Rensselaer (1696- 1756). In 1854 he came to Poughkeepsie, and rented from George B. Lent the property now owned by Rob- ert Sanford, Esq., on North Hamilton Street. He took title of the property on North Avenue — west side — in May, 1855, where he lived until his death in Jan- uary, 1901. He married Marianna Chandler Lanman (1826-1884) in 1854, and had five children: Mary Lanman, Margaret Livingston, Charles G., Helen Louise and Henry Chandler. Was warden of Christ Church in 1878. " THE DUTCHESS INSURANCE COMPANY. (See page 162.) On May 20th, 1836, was held the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the Dutchess County Mutual Insurance Company. The members present were James Emottt, Alex. Forbus, John M. Ketcham, John Schryver, James Mabbett, Thomas Taber, Silas Ger- mond and Homer Wheaton. The first officers elected were as follows : President — James Emott, father of the first Mayor of Poughkeepsie. A'ice-President — James Mabbett, of Mabbettsville. Secretary — James E. Slater, M. D. General Agent — Elijah Haight. Attorney — Alex. Forbus. owner of the old Forbus House property. The first year's cash premiums amounted to $2,556.- 72. Expenses and losses, $249.29. The net prem- iums received in 1846 amounted to $4,908.17: in 1856 to $14,828.74; in 1866, to $38,558.29; in 1876, to $66,- 622.85; in 1877, to $71,371.76; in 1878. to $65,391.13; in 1879, to $58,857.57; in 1880, to $55,105.51. It will be seen that the 41st year of the company's business under the old management reached the top notch, and from 1877 to 1880, inclusive, fell off about one-third. In 1881 a new Board of Directors was elected, who made a change in the officers of the company. In 1886, after five years under the new management, which was the 50th \-ear of the company's business, the premiums amounted to $187,859.27. The past year (1904) was the largest of the company's business, the ]M-emiums amounting to $605,838.39. Ten of the directors, who were elected in 1881, have passed away, namely: Peter R. Sleight. Jacob Hagadorn, David Br\-an, John J. A'anderburgh, George T. Doughty. Oliver J." Tillson. L. C. Rapelye, John' G. Schultz. Jacob G. \'an Wyck, and Jacob Lefever. In the Near iSi)2. after a series of xerv bad years. BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. the re-insurance reserve became impaired to a small extent. There were some members of the Board of Directors, whose names have been placed on the Honor Roll, who came to the front and said the "Old Dutchess" must not go to the wall, but must be continued ; and these gentlemen paid out their money, with nothing to show for it, bridging the company over this critical time. Their names are as follows : Mil- ton A. Fowler, Hon. Jacob Lefever, O. J. Tillson, Eu- gene Ham, William S. Ketcham, Willard H. Mase, Jacob B. Carpenter, John N'. Lewis, L. H. Vail and David Bryan. Five of these gentlemen have since gone to the "Long Flome," Messrs. Tillson, Mase, Carpenter, Le- fever and Bryan. There were some hard struggles for existence during the past twenty years, but it weather- ed the storm, and to-day is recognized as one of the Insurance Companies of the cotmtry, even though not as large as some. It does not have to beg for patronage and take almost anything that is offered, but the busi- ness comes of its own volition, and the companj' is able to choose the desirable and reject the undesirable risks. One of the greatest helps to the success of the company has been the manner in which the Board of Directors has stood behind the president and upheld his hands in his efforts for the success of the company. In the twen- ty-two years that President L. H. Vail has been con- nected with the company as one of its officers he has never asked anything of the Board in the interest of the company that has not been granted, and one of the bright spots in his memor)- is the manner in which the Hon. Jacob Lefever came to the front with a rattling speech and braced the backs of some of the weaker members at the time it was necessary to put up some money, for had this not been done at that time the "Dutchess" would have been one of the companies of the past — would have gone down in the great raid made b)' the large stock companies against the "Mu- tuals." Mr. William S. Ketcham is the oldest director, and was elected in 1854. Mr. John N. Lewis comes next, elected in 1875. ^^^- L. IT. Vail was elected presi- dent in 1888, and ,Mr. J. J. Graham secretary in 1888. The Insurance Building, recently enlarged and otherwise modernized, has been occupied since 1855. THE EAGLE. The career of the Ea\^lc is so interwoven with the general history of Poughkeejisie and has therefore been mentioned so often that little remains to be said about the paper. The stor\' would not be complete, however, without gi\'ing some details which pertain espcclalh' to it. Its distinct and separate existence has always been considered by its ]iresent jiulilishers as dating from the year 1828. when Isaac Piatt founded the Dutchess Intclllij^ciiccr. hut that pa]icr was after- wards consolidated with two others — tlie Diitclicss Rc/^iiblicaii and the Ptuiii^likccf^sic Jniinial — and thrungli its absor]ition of the latter, which dated from r/S.S. it is undouljtedly b^- far the oldest news])ai5er published in PouglikeeiJsie, and has some claim upon succession to the earlier journal ])ublished b\- John Holt in Xew York and removed to Poughkee]wie when the British took that city in the Revolutionary war. John Holt's journal was the direct successor, in unbroken line, from the Gasctte, established in New York by William Bradford, in 1725, which was the first newspaper printed in that city and the third in America, the first having been printed in Boston and the second in Philadelphia. Both of those earlier papers long ago ceased to exist, and the Journal, which was removed back to .New York after the evacuation of that city by the British, also ceased to exist manj' years ago, while the Poughkccpsic Journal was started here after a short interval by Nicholas Power to take its place. It was always an important factor in the promotion of every important interest in Poughkeepsie, and the Eagle has never failed to retain the same char- acteristic down to the present time. Isaac Piatt continued activel}' engaged in writing editorials for the Eagle and in control of its polic}' al- most up to the time of his death, June 17th, 1872, and the influence of his long continued labor is still felt in Poughkeepsie and in Dutchess County. William Schram was one of the owners of the Journal at the time of the consolidation with the Eagle, in 1844, and remained a partner with Mr. Piatt until April I, 1865, when he was succeeded by Mr. Piatt's eldest son, John I. Piatt, and removed to Newbttrgh. James B. Piatt, second son of Isaac Piatt, became a member of the firm April ist, 1869, and Edmund Piatt, eldest son of John I. Piatt, Julv ist, 1892. Since 1872 the style of the firm has been Piatt & Piatt. The paper was for many years published at 310-12 JMain Street. In November 1862, that building was par- tial!) burned, and until it could be repaired the Eagle was temporarily published in the City Hall. In i868 the building at 10 and 12 Liberty Street was completed and the plant remo\-ed there. In 1878 the job print- ing business connected with the paper was sold to .\n(lreas V. ITaight, previously of Rondout, an^l in 1883 the building was enlarged so as to extend from Libert\' to Mechanic Streets, covering an area of 40x100 feet. In 1903 the present Eagle building at 8 Liberty Street was erected, and the older one leased for a term of years to the .\. V. Haight Company. The first nuiul.)er of the Daily Eagle was printed Decemlier 4th, i860, and was the first newspaper in Poughkeepsie, and for a long time the only one, which received news b>- telegraph. The beginning of the war for the Union in the spring of 1861, made this news of so great importance that it brought the paper at once to the front and gave it a leaclership which it has ever since retained. The l]'cekl\' Eagle was con- tiniied luitil 1889, when it was chaiiged to a Semi- Weekb'. lloth editions ha\-e been repeatedly enlarged. In July. T883. the AA'eekly was made an eight page !)aper, and in r888 the Daily made the same change. In December, 1894, the Eagle installed the first linotype machine in Poughkeepsie, and in 1895 introduced a second machine and enlarged both editions to the present size. A characteristic of the business manage- ment of the Eagle has lieeu the loni.;- continued personal relations which have been maintained hv its publishers with its em]-ilo\-ees. Diu-ing the sevent\--seven years since the fouiidation of the Duteliess TuicUii^eiicer the Eagle has had but two editors. Isaac Piatt ha\-ing oc- 'I'lic /iai;/i- /liii/iiiiiQ. 280 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. cupied that position for forty-four years, and John I. Piatt for forty years, the first seven of which were in association with his father. With the exception of two persons, every man in the establishment began his newspaper career on the Eagle, and has continued in its emplo}' ever since. The senior of them all is the night foreman, Mr. Samuel C. Chase, who began in 1857, and has therefore been continuously employed for forty-eight years. When the war began in April, 1861, George W. Davids was employed as local re- porter, afterwards city editor, and continued in that position till he died, February ist, 1894. His son, George W. Davids, took his place and in 1904 suc- ceeded John H. Swcrtfager, who had been for eighteen years night editor. Of those who assisted in getting out the first number of the Eagle, three, Mr. Chase, and the two senior proprietors, are still members of the force, while two others, Edward W. Shurter and John Maher, continued in the same service during the re- mainder of their lives, Mr. Maher having been stricken with paralysis while at his case in 1903. In policy the Eagle has always been independent, dominated first of all by loyalty to what its editors have considered the best interests of Poughkeepsie and its vicinit}'. During the years when the Whig party was a power in the country it was a supporter of that party, but when the irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery began it was uncompromising in its advocacy of all measures for the restriction and ultimate extinc- tion of slavery, and when the Republican party was born the Eagle enthusiastically adopted its principles and has steadily supported them. Locally, every pub- lic improvement has received its best help, and in ad- vocacv of many of them it has been the leader. Its field has necessarily been limited by the proximity of the metropolis of America, but notwithstanding this, few papers have been able to make themselves more influential, and none have received more hearty and appreciative support. HON. EDWARD ELSWORTH. (See page 249.) Hon. Edward Elsworth, ex-Mayor and leading financier of Poughkeepsie, was born in New York City January 6th, 1840, being the son of John and Martha (Van \^arick) Elsworth, and lineal descendant of Christofifel Elswaert, a New York City freeholder in 1655. Mr. Elsworth was educated at Rutger's Gram- mar School, and at the Dutchess County Acadenw. He then attended the State and National Law School, from which he was graduated in 1858, and continued the study of law in the offices of Thompson & Weeks, and Homer A. Nelson. He was admitted to the bar in 1861, and became managing clerk in the office of Ticrnard Roelker, in New York City. Returning to Poughkeepsie he practiced law for several years in Dutchess and Rockland Counties, and then entered into partnership with Guilford Dudley in the hardware and iron business, continuing in this connection for many years. He was chosen a trustee of the Poughkeepsie Savings P)ank in 1876. and president of the Fallkill National Bank in 1801. resigning the latter in Janu- ary, 1903, to assume the presidency of the Poughkeep- sie Savings Bank, which position he now holds. Mr. Elsworth's parents having settled in Poughkeepsie in 1848, he has practically been identified here for over fifty years. As a staunch Democrat and influential leader in his party councils he has made a lasting im- pression upon the political life and municipal progress of Poughkeepsie. He served in 1874 as Supervisor of the Third Ward ; from 1880 to 1887 he was an active School Commissioner, and in 1886 was elected Mayor for two years. Charles M. Rowley succeeded him to that office, but in 1890 Mr. Elsworth was re-elected for the second term. He was judge advocate of the 8th Brigade, N. G. S. N. Y., for several years, and in 1902 he was elected chairman. Group 6, of the New York State Bankers' Association. Mr. Elsworth is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Holland Society, the Reform Club of New York City, the New York State Bankers' Association, and the Reformed Dutch Church. He has for several years been vice- president of the Ho'land Society for Dutchess County, is trustee of Vassar Brothers Institute and has been its treasurer since its organization. He has been trus- tee of Vassar College since 1892, the }ear he received the degree of A. M. from Rutgers, and succeeded Willard L. Dean as treasurer. He was married November 26th, 1867, to Miss Mary, daughter of Sam- uel B. Johnston, who for many years was vice-presi- dent of the Fallkill Bank. He was a cousin of General Albert Sidney Johnston, a descendant of Archibald Johnston, of Revolutionary memory. HON. JAMES EMOTT. (See page 152.) Judge James Emott \\as the son of James Emott who was also formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, and a resident of the Cit^• of Poughkeep- sie, when James Emott, his son, was born on the 23rd of April, 1823, in the homestead, now known as l\'o. 46 Market Street. Judge Emott, after a successful career at the bar and on the bench, died at his residence on Academy Street, in Poughkeepsie, on September 12th, 1884. He married Mary Crooke, daughter of Charles Crooke, at one time a leading business man of the cit}-, engaged in freighting at the old Lower Landing. Judge Emott left surviving at the time of his decease, his widow and two children, a daughter, Laura, and his son. Charles C, all of whom are still living. Judge Emott was graduated from Columbia College, and immedi- ately entered upon the study of the law. and after his admission to the bar, commenced practice in the Citv of Poughkeepsie. He soon acquired a leading position at the bar of the county, besides being largeh' engaged in business affairs outside of his ]5rofession. Lie was made president of the Merchants liank in the city in July, 1852. and retained that jiosition until his decease. 1 Ic was the first Mayor of the Cit\' of Poughkeep- .sic, chosen under its newly acquired charter, as else- where stated in this history. To the discharge of all the duties of his professional and business life he de- voted a clear an-." January 22. 1776, Elizabethtown, X. J. Captain and Deputy Commissary of Military Stores, i8th January, 1777. 2. Margaret, who married Captain James jNIorgan and had Major-General James Morgan, of the Revolu- tion. 3. Mary, who married Rev. Wheeler Case, and had Walter Case, who married Sarah Hasbrouck. 4. Susannah, who married Joseph Ellason. 5. Elizabeth, who married William Buckalew. (1. John, who married and had issue, and Jacob Evertson, born at South .\mboy. New Jer- sey, [anuarv 3, 1734; died May 1, 1807; married October 2<), 1761, Margaret Bloom, born .\ugust 2c), 1744, died November 18, 1807, daughter of George Bloom. He moved to .\nienia, X. Y., in 1762, where he came into possession of about 1,700 acres "laying in the Nine Partner Patent. Dutchess County. X. Y.," and in 17(13 built a large brick house in a superior man- ner, which is well preserved. He removed about 171)5 to Pleasant \'allev, Dutchess County, X. Y., where he died, and was buried in the graveyard of the Presby- iS2 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. terian Church. He was elected a Deput}' from Dutch- ess County to the second Provincial Congress of New York, 1775, 1776. [Calendar of Historical Manu- scripts, Albany, N. Y. Revolutionary papers, 1886, \'o!. I, p. 190] , and had : I. John; married Julia Matthews, and had: i. Mar- garet, married John Nitchie, who had Sophia Lewis, married Sanford Cobb ; 2, Sarah, married Wm. Phil- lips, who had John Evertson, married Elizabeth T. Wisner ; 3, Julia Ann, married Rev. Abram D. Wilson, who had Henry M. B. ; 4, Jacob Reuters, married Eliza Phillips, who had John Reuters, married Louisa Weir ; 5, Nicholas, married Clarissa Hasbrouck, who had Elizabeth, married Eager, and Julia, married H. A. Field. IL Margaret, married Gov. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, and had William Mather Smith, married Helen Livingston, who had Rev. Gilbert L., Dr. Rob- ert, married Gertrude Bolden, and Hon. John Cotton Smith. HL Nicholas, married Eliza Howe, and had: i, Margaret, married Henry Richards, who had James and Henry ; 2, Edgar, married Adeline Dickinson, who had Eliza, married Francis H. Saltus ; 3, Marj^ Ann, married John Givan, who had Mary, married first, Henry Richards, 2nd, Dr. George H. Moore, and Mar- garet, married Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby. IV. Catharine, died young. V. George Bloom, died 3'oung. VI. George Bloom Evertson, born near Amenia, Dutchess County, N. Y., February 20, 1773; died at Ithaca, Tompkins County, N. Y., August 12, 1829. He inherited a handsome property from his father, and resided in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in the fine old gambrel- roofed mansion on the south side of Cannon Street, nearly opposite Liberty Street. The lot was 75 feet wide and extended through to Church Street. He owned "Springside," afterwards sold to the late Mat- thew Vassar, founder of the college, and several farms in the vicinit)-, on which he raised sheep. As early as 1806 he was proprietor of a ship-yard at the foot of Union Street, where he built sailing vessels and trad- ed with New York, Boston and Passamaquaddy. He was president of the branch bank in Poughkeepsie of the Manhattan Bank, New York City, and his corre- spondence with Henry Remsen, Esq., President, ex- tended from 1809 to 1825. About 1820 he was ap- pointed Judge of the Quarter Sessions of the Peace. Having become involved by endorsing for a friend he sold out his property in 1827, and in May, 1828, moved with his family to Ithaca, N. Y., where he died the next ^■ear. He married first, November 18, 1794, Cornelia, daughter of Dr. Peter Tappan, born March II, 1774. died January 29, 1808. Children: i, John, died young ; 2, Elizabeth ; 3, Peter Tappan, died young ; 4, John Reuters, married and had John, Clinton and Evert; 5, Cornelia, married Dr. Benjamin S. Halsey, who had Mary Elizabeth, George Timothy, Clinton Smith, married Eliza S. Ayres ; Helen Maria, married Granger: George Evertson, married Alphonsine Plungerford ; Tappan, married Mary King, and Wm, Davies, married Louise Seymour. He married secondly, April 3, 1809, Francis Mar}', daughter of Dr. Samuel Nicoll, born December 17, 1785, died March 24, 1861. Children: i, Anne, died young ; 2, Frances Mary, married Wm. Amos Wood- ward, who had George Evertson, married E. B. Deo- data Mortimer ; Francis William, married Anne Jay Delaplaine ; Mary Nicoll, married Erastus Gaylord Putnam, and Harriet Bowen, married John Wylie Bar- row ; 3, Margaret Maria Bloom, married Hart G. Lee, who had James Wright, married Rhoda Carlton, and Georgiana Frances, married James M. Douglass ; 4, Adelaide Elizabeth, married Samuel M. McKay, who had Robert Riddell, married Eliza Hun Cox ; Margaret Greenwood, married Harmanus Barkulo Hubbard,; Adelaide Elizabeth, married William L. Hubbard ; Mary Woodward, married Franklin Quimby ; 5, Cath- arine Lewis, married John D. Dix, who had Adelaide Frances, Wm. Woodward, Mary Evertson, George Woodward (married EHse Woodruff) John James, Lena Augusta and Ellen Elizabeth ; 6, Helen Smith, died young; 7, Walter Davies, and 8, Eliza Ann, twins ; Walter married Ann Mary Fatheree, who had Alice Nicoll, married J. R. Gwynn, David Barrow, married M. McLaren ; George James, married Susie Davis ; Mary Eliza, married J. R. Oldham ; Walter Lee, Annie Elizabeth and Adelaide McKay ; 9, William Nicoll, died young; 10, George, died young; 11, George, died )'oung. VII. Catharine, married Rev. Isaac Lewis, and had : I, Margaret Maria, married Dr. Harvey P. Peet, prin- cipal of N. Y. Institution for Deaf and Dumb, who had Dr. Isaac Lewis Peet, principal ditto, married Mary Toles ; 2, William Evertson, married Adeline Donald- son, who had Catharine Louisa, married Edward H. Mann, and William Mount, married Ann Eliza Phelps ; 3, Louisa C, died young; 4, Mary Elizabeth, married Wm. M. Smith, who had Walter Evertson, married Mary Clarkson ; Catherine Lewis, married Edward P. Buffet ; .Mary Mason, married Wm. H. Sampson, and Sarah Mather, married Cornelius H. Clark; 5, Eliza Sophia, married David Van Nostrand ; 6, Isaac, mar- ried Cornelia Donaldson. VIII. Jacob Reuters, died of 3'ellow fever in the Is- land of Tobago, W. I,, at the age of 25. IX. Mary or Maria, married first, Justin Foote, of Newburgh, N. Y. ; 2nd, William Davies of Pough- keepsie ; one child, Walter Evertson Davies, died young. X. Walter, married Eliza Roosevelt, and had: i, Henry Holland ; 2, Maria Elizabeth, married Dr. John C. Brigham, who had John Clark, Eliza Roose- velt, Walter Evertson, married Fannie B. Armstead ; Mary Douglass, married John H. Cooke ; Amariah Ward, married Emma J. Wilde, and Antoinette Gib- son, married James B. Hopper. CLEMENT CARRINGTON GAINES. (Sec page 255.) Clement Carrington Gaines, President of Eastman Business College, is a native of Charlotte County, Virginia, of English ancestry, and a descendant of several of the earliest Virginia families. One of his BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 288 ancestors was one of the first governors of the Col- ony; two others were members of the House of Bur- gesses in Colonial times, representing Charlotte County, Virginia, and were among the supporters of Patrick Henry in his heroic efforts in the cause of independence. The family still own extensive plan- tations, and are prominent in their locality ; but, like the majority of the Southern people, they suffered financially from the Civil War. Mr. Gaines enjoyed exceptional educational ad- vantages, and had a wide experience as a teacher and business man before coming to Poughkeepsie. He graduated from Hampden Sidney College at the age of eighteen, with the degree of A. B. The next five years he devoted to teaching, beginning as instructor in Latin and mathematics at the Fincastle (Virginia) High School, and afterward becoming principal of a public grammar school near Walton, Boone County, Iventucky, of the Oakland Institute near Pembroke, Christian County, Kentucky, and of the Charlotte County High School at Charlotte Court House, Vir- ginia. When he iiad saved the amount of money needed in this way, he entered the University of Vir- ginia in 1880, and graduated in 1882 with the degree of B. L. In the same year he completed the business course at Eastman College, Poughkeepsie, New York. With this excellent business and professional train- ing, Mr. Gaines began the practice of law in Chi- cago, associating himself for that purpose first with Thomas Cratty and afterwards with Colonel George L. Paddock and Owen F. Aldis, of the firm of Pad- dock & Aldis. Little more than a year had passed however, when he was oflrered a position as a teacher in the Banking Department of Eastman Business College ; and this he decided to accept, feeling that the work there would be peculiarly congenial. After act- ing as an instructor for a year, he became, in Novem- ber, 1884, the president of the college. It speaks well for his ability and energy that the reputation of this school has been full>- mainained under his leadership. So successful was he, indeed, in the management of the older school, that he established, in 1892, the New York Business Institute in the City of New York, and has since continued to conduct both institutions. The new school, which was opened December 12, 1892, at 81 East 125th Street, (now removed to 119 West i2Sth Street) grew so rapidly that increased accommo- dations soon became necessary; and more tiian 350 pupils are now in dailv attendance, with an enrollment of about 600 a year.' The Poughkeepsie school re- cently had on its membership roll pupils from thirty- eight different states and territories and seventeen foreign countries. In addition to the care of his two schools, Mr. Gaines is actively and effectively- interested in "every- thing that has any good in it," to borrow his own phrate. Church work, the Young Men's Christian Association, social problems, politics (in a broad sense) in short, all the live, practical questions of the day, receive a share of his attention. He organized and was first president of the New York State Association of registered business schools, the first Building and Loan'^'Association in Poughkeepsie, and has been for many years a member of the executive committee of the Board of Trade here. He is a also a member of the Harlem Board of Commerce, and was for years in the Poughkeepsie Board of Education. He is also a member of the Syllabus Committee and Chairman of the Commercial Education Committee of the State Association of Academic Principals. He delivers fre- quent addresses and essays on special occasions. He has edited a book entitled "Simplified Phonetic Short- hand," founded on the Pitman system, and is the author of the works on accounts and arithmetic used as a text-book in his own and other schools. He has been elected to membership in many organizations, among which may be mentioned the University, Am- rita, Dutchess, Golf and Country Clubs, of Poughkeep- sie, the Reform Club and Southern Society of New York, the Sons of the American Revolution, the American Society of Christian Philosophy, and the American Institute of Civics. Who's Who in America, (1904-5) contains the fol- lowing synopsis of Mr. Gaines' career: President of Eastman Business College ; born March 15, 1857; was graduated from Hampden-Sid- ney College, 1875, and University of Virginia. 1882 ; taught school in Fincastle, Virginia, in 1875-6, and near Walton, Kentucky, in 1876-7: at Pembroke, Ken- tucky, in 1877-8; at Charlotte C. H., Virginia, in 1879-80; practiced law in Chicago, 1882-83; married October 29th, 1884, IMrs. M. M. Eastman; president of Eastman Business College since 1884; established the New York Business Institute in 1892, and has car- ried on the same since. (A list of organizations, same as those above follows.) STEPHEN G. GUERNSEY. Stephen Gano Guernsey, lawyer and president of the Poughkeepsie Trust Company, was born in Stan- ford, Dutchess County, .Kpril 22, 1848, son of Stephen Gano Guernsey and Lienor (Rogers) Guernsey, of that place. He was educated in the common schools and at Fort Edward Institute. In 1870 he came to Poughkeepsie and read law in the offices of Judge Charles Wheaton, and also with his brother. Judge Daniel W. Guernsey, being admitted to the bar in 1872. In 1876 he commenced the practice of law here, and has so continued up the present time. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never held public office ex- cept as School Commissioner from 1890 to 1894, and as U. S. Loan Commissioner for a number of \-ears. He was elected president of the Poughkeepsie National Bank in i8q2. and of the Poughkeepie Trust Company in 1901, which position he now holds. Mr. Guernsc\- was married April 18, 1877, to Miss Marianna Hicks, of Poughkeepsie, and has four chil- dren, Raymond G., Homer W., Louis G. and Eme- MARTIN HEERMANCE. (Sec page 240.) Martin Heermance, lawyer, was born in St. Joseph County, Michigan. December 17, 1852. but can justly claim an ancestry in Dutchess County dating back to -'N4 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. almost the first settlement. The first of his family to come from Holland to America was Jan Heermance, who arrived in New York in 1659. and his descendants settled in Dutchess County, Hendricus Heermance be- ing married to a daughter of Gerrit Artsen, who was one of the men who made the first purchase of land from the Indians at Rhinebeck in 1686, and who in 17 16 purchased from his father-in-law what is now known as Ellerslie, the property of Levi P. Morton, former vice-president of the United States. Martin Heermance's great-grandfather, Jacob Heermance, a grandson of Jan, married a daughter of Jan X'osburgh, and one of his eight children, Martin Heermance, married a daughter of Dr. Hans Kiersted, a direct descendant of the Dr. Hans Kiersted, who, in 1642, married Sarah Roelofife Jans, daughter of Aneke Jans, from whom Trinity Church, New York City, re- ceived its now enormously wealth)' endowment. Mar- tin was a leading citizen of the county and a Brigadier- General in the War of 1812. His son, the father of our subject, was the Rev. Harrison Heermance, of the Dutch Reformed Church. He was settled in Lenawee County, Michigan, but resigned his pulpit and served as chaplain of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry and then of the 128th N. Y. \"olunteers. At the close of the war he settled in Rhinebeck, his native town, and died there in 1883. Martin Heermance was, therefore, reared in this county, and was educated at the De- Garmo Classical Institute. In 1881 he was elected Supervisor of Rhinebeck, and re-elected in 1882. In 1883 he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Poughkeepsie. He was elected District Attorney in 1888, and in i8g6 was appointed one of the three State Assessors of New York by Governor Morton. Bv his colleagues he was elected chairman of the board. He recently served two terms as President of A'assar Brothers Institute, and for a number of years has been regarded as one of the leading lawyers of the Dutchess County bar. He is a member of the Holland Society, and was Master of Rhinebeck Lodge, F. and A. M., for two consecutive terms. For two years he was president of the Social Reading Club, of Pough- keepsie. Mr. Heermance was married in 1881 to Miss Nina RadcHffe. daugliter of the late David A^an Ness Rad- cliffe. of Albany, and has one son, Radclifte Heer- mance, who was recently graduated from Williams College. Mrs. Heermance died in March, 1905. DR. JAMES I-IOYT. Daniel James Ho>-t. M. D., the youngest ph\sician now practicing in Poughkeepsie. and \ct one of the most successful, his ability both as a phvsician and surgeon having well satisfied and retaincfl the laree c'ientage established by the late Dr. \\'alter R. Case, whom he succeeded in 1902. was born at Galway, Saratoga County. N. Y., January 29. 1872. He was educated at the Rochester high school, and at Prof. Edick's private academy of tiie same place. Thence he went to Princeton I'niversity for one year, and Union University for three years, graduating as A. I!. from tlie latter in the class of 1899. After a course at the Albany Medical College, during which time Dr. A. Vander Veer was his preceptor, he attended the medical de])artment of the Universit}' of N'^ermont for one year, and graduated therefrom as M. D., in igo2. He also took four )'ears" reading in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle of Chautauqua, N. Y. After the death of Dr. Case in 1902, Dr. Hoyt took up his practice in the office thus made vacant, and prac- tically succeeded him. Dr. Hoyt is a member of the Phi Chi Medical Society of Burlington, \''t., the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Alumni Association of Sche- nectady, and the Dutchess County Medical Society, the Presbyterian Church, and Fallkill Lodge, I. O. O. F. On June 17, 1903, he was united in marriage with Miss Ida S. Mitchell, daughter of S. S. Mitchell, of Albany. N. Y., and resided first at the corner of Mill and A\'ashington Streets, but afterwards moved to Cannon Street. GEORGE INNIS. (For portrait, see page 187.) George Innis, man of afifairs of Poughkeepsie and thrice mayor, was born in this city June 7, 1822, and died November 25, 1903. He was the son of Aaron and Martha (Smith) Innis, who came here from Orange and Ulster Counties, N. Y. Mr. Innis was educated and prepared for Columbia College at the Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute, on College Hill, but his father dying in October, 1838, he abandoned the idea of entering college and took charge of the d)'e woods business his father had established, and which under his management flourished until 1898, when the d\'e woods industry was forced to give way to aniline dyes. Mr. Innis was president of the Fa!lkill Bank for sixteen years ; a trustee of the Poughkeepsie Sav- ings Bank and a member of its executive committee for many years ; a director in the Farmers and Manufac- turers Bank for several years ; a director of the Na- tional Park Bank, of New York City, for a long per- iod. He was a trustee and a member of the executive committee of Vassar College for sixteen years, and was one of the first ten men to subscribe capital to start the First National Bank of New York City. Po- litically, and as a public-spirited citizen, Mr. Innis was exceedingly active and popular. Every public improvement has depended upon him to take a leading part in advocating and in pushing it to success. He was the first president of the Pough- keepsie and Eastern Railroad, one of the executive committee of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company, and an officer or director in nearly every organization which had for its object the benefit of Poughkeepsie and its people. \"er\' few men in the whole history of the city have done more for its welfare or contributed more for its prosperity. A staunch Republican, he was chosen president of the village in the middle fifties and elected mayor of the city in 1863. To this office he was re-elected in 1864 and again in 1866. He is known as the patriotic mayor of the Civil War period. \\'hen the first re- cruits were ready lo move, he furnished $30,000 of his own money to equip them, trusting for re-imbursemcnt BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 285 which came in time. When $50,000 had to be raised to buy the g;ronnd and other necessaries for the Hud- son River Hospital for the Insane (in order to secure that State institution for Dutchess County), he per- sonally borrowed it from John Jacob Astor, the 2d, and became responsible for the loan until the amount had been fulh' subscribed. Many other notable and patriotic acts distinguish Mr. Innis as one of the best mayors Poughkeepsie ever had. In 1868 he was one of the Republican presidential electors in the first can- didacy of General Grant. Mr. Innis married, in 1855, Miss Anne Bevier Has- brouck, of New Paltz, Ulster County, N. Y. Their daughter Martha is now the ivife of William H. Young, a prominent New York city lawyer ; and their son, Hasbrouck Innis. is one of the popular young men of Poughkeepsie. Mr. Innis, with his family, have resided in the old mansion which occupies the high ground on the south side of Main above Water Street, since he purchased the property in 1857. It is prob- ably the oldest residence now occupied in the city. Mr. Innis was the oldest ex-ma>or of Poughkeepsie for some time before his death, and the only ex-presi- dent of the village living. HON. JOHN H. KETCHAM. (See page 195.) Hon. John H. Ketcham, many times already men- tioned in this history, a native of the County of Dutch- ess, N. Y., was born December 21st, 1832. in Dover. He is a scion of one of the oldest and most distin- guished families in Eastern New York, being the sec- ond son and child of John M. and Eliza A. Ketcham, of Dover. His education was received in part at Suf- field. Conn., and in jiart at Worcester, Mass., from whence he graduated in 1851. -\t the conclusion of his studies, he returned t' Juilt;e of Pough- kecpsie, was born at Hyde Park, N. Y., March 30, 1863. He aUcndcd the district school of his native place and finished his educatiun under the private tu- torshi]) of Miss Helen W. Everett, of Poughkccpsie. He then studied law in the office of Judges D. \V. (^lUernscv and Charles Wheaton, and was admitted to the bar in September, 18.S4. Although (nie of a family of sixteen children, he rejoices in being the only Republican among them, and is a stalwart of that part\'. He was elected justice of the peace in 1886, and re-elected in i8<)0, serving eight years as such, was civil ser\'ice commissioner under Mayor Rowley, and in i8<)8 was elected Recorder of Poughkecpsie. In March, 11)03, the new law was adopted by which the office of recorder and justice of the peace were merged into one functionary known as city judge, and Recorder Morschauser was appointed to the position by Mayor Hine. The new court has given much sat- isfaction to the bar and the general public. Judge Morsciiauser is devoted lo his profession, and as a law\er as well ;is a judge he is une of the most popular members of the bar. In his prix'ate practice he has speciallx' earned the eslceni of the laboring classes by the able service rendered to the several trade unions who ha\'e em]ilo\ed him as their attorney. .\s a judge iie is ([uick In distinguish an honest worker in search of employment from the professional tramp, and no unfortunate but honest laborer has e\er been harshh- dealt with by him. [lis decisions are prompt and terse, but singularl\- correct and just. Judge Miirschauser is a member of se\er.il societies, but takes his best enjoyment in domestic life. Me was married fanuarx- 27, i88(), to Miss Katherine \\'., daughter of the late fosc])!! Pi.-iner, of Poughkeepsie. The\' ha\e one son, Jose'ih C. 1 1. Morschauser. C.Vs )RC.\l XACd'.Xt^AST. ( See page J'u.) George Nagengast, the efficient and popular chief of the Poughkeepsie I'ire Oepartnient, was born in this cil>- June 10. 185J, the son of Charles Xagengast, who came from llaxaria in 1840 and who for man\' years was foreman for the blasting furnaces here. !\lr. Nagengast learned the cigar making trade and remained in that calling until early in 1881. when he embarked in the meat business for a short time. He then returned to his trade, but in (Vtober of the same vear he began life as a hotel kee|ier in what is now known as the lindson Ri\er House, lie con- ducied this placi' ne.irlv seven \ears. when he pur- chased .Mrs. Kunkel's store at 435 Main Street, where he remained over five years, and then purchased his present place, 403 Main Street. He has been very successful in business and in real estate investments, and is now the owner of a number of valuable proper- ties in Poughkeepsie. He is a public spirited citizen, and one ever ready and foremost to promote the real welfare and prosperity of his native city. Republican in politics and at times a hard worker in the ranks of his party, he has never sought nor accepted office, but has alwa\s devoted all his spare time to the inter- ests of the fire department. He joined the Niagara Company when only eighteen years of age, and the O. H. Booth Hose four years later. He returned to his old company in 1882, and has been its treasurer for many years. He has been the chief of the department since 1 90 1, and is now rounding out his thirty-third year of continuous active service as a fire-fighter — a record for both work and achievement not equalled by any other citizen of Poughkeepsie, nor probably of any other city in the countr\'. Mr. Nagengast was married November 2, 1878, to Miss Caroline L. Swartout, daughter of William and .Vdeline (Martin) Swartout. HON. WILLIAM NELSON. (See page 93.) Hon. William Nelson (born June 29th, 1784, died October 2, 1869), was one of the thirteen children of Thomas Nelson and Sarah (Wright) Nelson, all of whom were born in what is now the town of Hyde Park. The first member of this branch of the Nelson famiK- to settle in Dutchess County was Francis, son of John and Hendrickje (\'an der \'liet) Nelson, about 1740, and grandfather of Thomas Nelson, who served in the Revolution, and became probably before the Revolution a resident of Poughkeepsie. Thomas Nelson is several times mentioned in Chapter \' of this historx- as a village trustee and as the editor of the Political Barometer. He was president of the village in 1804. His son, William Nelson, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the Dutchess County Academy, studied law in the office of Theron Rudd, who was af- terwards clerk of the District Court of the L'nited States. He formed the acquaintance of all of the dis- tinguished group of lawyers then practicing their pro- fession in Poughkeepsie, including Smith Thompson, General James Tallmadge, Jr., Thomas J. Oakley, Gil- bert Livingston, James Emott. Sr., Nathaniel P. Tall- madge. James Hooker and Alexander Forbus. He was admitted to the bar in 1807, his diploma being signed b\- W'illiam Kent. After completing his studies Mr. Nelson went to llufi^alo on horse back and intended to settle at that lilace, but chance led him afterwards to Peekskill. where he remained, and soon became known as "the honest Dutch lawyer." He readily acquired a large practice and a wide reputation. In 1S15 he was ap- pointed district attorney for the district then comiiosed of the counties of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland, which office he he'd for thirt\-two years, the longest record for continuous service, though after 1818 the district compriseil only the county of Westchester. In l/-»^a^K>-« 21)0 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. tl- 1819 he was elected to the Assembly, and in 1823 to the State Senate, where he served for three terms. In 1848 he was elected to Congress, and continued to rep- resent his district until 1851, after which he was one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals. He was an old time Whig, a personal friend of Henry Clay, Dan- iel W^ebster and Abraham Lincoln. He was one of the first Masons in Peekskill, and was universally esteemed in that organization. Mr. Nelson married Cornelia Mandeville Hard- man, daughter of John Hardman, of New York City. She died in Peekskill in 1869. Their sons now (1903) living are Joseph, a lawyer of Milwaukee, Wis., George P. and Thomas, both lawyers in New York ; daughters, Sarah A., widow of J. Henry Ferris, a lawyer of Peekskill, Elizabeth, widow of Rev. John^Johnson, of Upper Red Hook, and Cornelia Mandeville, widow of John Peter Nelson, of Poughkeepsie. The last men- tioned is the active president of the Board of Lady Managers of the Gallaudet Home for Deaf Mutes. She resides at the old Nelson mansion, at Cannon and Liberty Streets, in which her late husband was born, and which has been in the family since before the Revolution. DR. STEPHEN PALMER. Stephen Palmer, D. D. S., was born in Coxsackie, N. Y., August 25, 1867. He was educated at the Dr. STEPHEN PAI^MER. Union Free School of that place, and graduated from the Ft. Ivlward Collegiate Listitutc in 1888. He then took his full course at the New York Colleuc of Den- tistry, from which he received his degree in 1890. Com- ing to Poughkeepsie he at once commenced the prac- tice of his profession and has gained a large clientele among discriminating people who recognize talent and appreciate scientific work. In politics Dr. Palmer is a Republican, but he is not a politician in the general sense of the term, although he has served the Third Ward as Alderman. The time not required by the demands of his profession is spent almost entirely in religious and philanthropic work, the doctor being a member of the Congregational Church and of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a director of the Rescue Mission. He holds honored membership in the New York State Dental Society, and also in the Second District Dental Society, of which he is the Dutchess County representative of the Law Committee. Dr. Palmer was married November 14, 1894, to Miss Addie E., daughter of the late George H. Stanton, of Madison county, N. Y., and has two children, Alletta Beatrice and Waldo Emerson Palmer. DR. E. H. PARKER. (See page 207.) Edward Hazen Parker, M. D., born in Boston, Mass., in 1823, and died in Poughkeepsie November 10, 1896. was a very prominent physician and surgeon in this city for thirty-eight years, having been trustee and visiting surgeon of St. Barnabas Hospital from 1870 to its close in 1887, surgeon of Vassar Brothers Hospital from its opening in 1887 to his death in 1896, president of the latter's medical board for eight years, and noted for his skillful practice among a large private clientele. Dr. Parker graduated from Dart- mouth College in 1846, and from the Jefferson Medi- cal College in 1848. He was lecturer on anatomy and physiology at Bowdoin Medical College in 1849, re- ceived the degree of A. M. from Trinity College in 1854, was editor New Hampshire Medical lournal 1848 to 1857, was called to the chair of Physiology and Pathology of the New York Medical College in 1853, established the New York Medical lournal in 1854, and edited it many years, was in private practice in New York City with Dr. Fordyce Baker from 1853 to 1858, was president of the New York Medical Society in 1862, was volunteer surgeon in the field in 1862 and 1863, leaving a fine practice he had established here in 1858 to give his eminent services to the Union army, and was a leading physician, surgeon and pathologist in Poughkeepsie from 1864 to 1896. His first wife was Miss Sarah Heydock, who died in 1880, leaving three daughters and one son, Dr. Harry Parker. In 1883 he was married to Miss Jeannie C. Wright, of Poughkeepsie, by whom he has had one son. He was refined, cultivated, suave, very liberal and sympathetic, and is remembered as a poet as well as a |ihysician and medical writer. A verse of one of his poems reads : "Life's race well run; Life's work all done ; Life's victory won ; Now Cometh rest." BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 291 This verse was translated b}^ a friend into Latin be- cause of its euphonious rhythm in that language. The translation was picked up by an English editor, trans- lated back into English and published anonymously. It now appears engraven on President Garfield's tomb erroneously credited to "an unknown English author." The poem was written by Dr. Parker in the early part of 1879. DR. A. H. PECKHAM. Alva Lawrence Peckham M. D., secretary and treasurer of the Dutchess County Homeopathic Medi- cal Society and a leading physician and surgeon of that school of medicine in Poughkeepsie, was born at Sche- nectady, N. Y., November 25, 1874. He graduated as B. S. from Lhiion College in 1896, and received the degree of A. M. therefrom in 1899. He took the full course at Hahnemann College, of Philadelphia, and graduated therefrom in 1899. He then served three months at the Philadelphia Lying-in Charity Hos- pital and received a diploma from that institution. In his collegiate career he took special honors in biology at Union, was chief executive officer Chi Psi fraternity in LTnited States in 1897; was editor-in-chief of the Centennial Garnet at Union, and a member of the Alpha Zeta fraternity in the Union Classical Institute. He has built up a lucrative practice since making Poughkeepsie his home. He has been visiting physi- cian to the City Home since April, 1902 ; is chairman of the scientific section of Vassar Brothers Institute ; an officer in Triune Lodge, F. and A. M., and Pough- keepsie Chapter, R. A. M. ; a member and trustee of the First Congregational Church ; member of the Uni- versity Club ; member of the New England Society of Dutchess County ; member of the Homeopathic Medi- cal Society of New York State, and secretary and treasurer of the Dutchess County Homeopathic Medi- cal Society. Dr. Peckham was united in marriage June 15th, 1899, to Miss Mary, daughter of Prof. Charles S. Halsey, who for twenty-two years was the principal of the Union Classical Institute at Schenec- tady, N. Y. They have one child, a daughter, whom they have named Elizabeth. DR. J. WILSON POUCHER. J. Wilson Poucher, M. D., widely known in this section of the State as an eminently successful surgeon and gynecologist of Poughkeepsie, was born at Clav- erack, Columbia County," N. Y., July 24, 1859, a de- scendant of a Huguenot family that came to America in 1658 and settled near Albany. Melancthon Smith, one of the most active spirits in the Constitutional Convention that met at Poughkeepsie in 1788 (de- scribed in Chaper IV), was a brother of one of Dr. Poacher's great-great-grandfathers. He perpetuates their memory by holding membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, the Plolland Society, the Society of Co- lonial Wars and the Sons of the Revolution. Dr. Poucher received his early education in the public schools of his native place, and graduated from Claverack College in 1879. He taught school for one year and then entered the medical department of Union University, from which he graduated in 1883. He practiced medicine for two years at Modena, Ulster County, and then went to Europe to prosecute the studies of surgery and gynecology in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. Returning in 1887 he commenced practice in Poughkeepsie, and has established a reputation and a lucrative patronage second to none other in this section of the State. At the breaking out of the Spanish War in 1898 Dr. Poucher offered his services to the gov- ernment and was commissioned lieutenant and as- sistant surgeon of the 201st Regiment, New York Volunteers, in June, 1898. He was detached from the regiment in July and given charge of the division hos- pital at Camp Black, Long Island, when an outbreak of typhoid fever was imminent. In addition to his medical duties he was obliged to act as propert}' officer, commissary of subsistence, and in fact assume respon- sibility for every department. Unsuccessful in get- ting a transfer to his regiment, he resigned his com- mission in October. Dr. Poucher is a consulting surgeon on the staff of Vassar Brothers Hospital, and an active spirit in both the State and County Medical Societies. He is a fellow of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is an enthusiastic athlete and a popular member of the Dutchess Count)' Golf and Country Club, also of the University Club of Pough- keepsie, the Amrita Club, and the Dutchess Club. In politics he is a Republican — has been alderman of the Fifth Ward, and for the past eight >'ears a member of the Board of Public Works of the city. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a prominent member of Triune Lodge, Poughkeepsie Chapter, and a Past Com- mander of Poughkeepsie Commandery, the M^'stic Shrine, and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of New York. He married in 1892 Miss Catharine D. LeFevre, daughter of the former member of Congress, the late Jacob LeFevre, a descendant of Andreas Le- Fevre, one of the Patentees of New Paltz. POUGHKEEPSIE GLASS WORKS. (See illustration page 114.) The Poughkeepsie Glass Works, located at the foot of Dutchess Avenue, in the City of Poughkeepsie, was started for the purpose of utilizing iron slag in the manufacture of glass. Bashley Britten, an English- man, had obtained Letters Patent in England and in the United States which were controlled by Sir Sam- uel Canning, who had been knighted for his great ser- vices as an engineer in connection with the laying of the first successful Atlantic cable, and Dr. Edward Bishop, of London, England. Several gentlemen from Clyde and Rochester, New York, purchased a controlling interest in the American Patent, organized a corporation, called the Anglo- American Glass Company, and in July, 1879, purchased from the Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank, that part of the Whale Dock propert)' lying at the foot of Hoffman Street, which had been used for a cooperage and \'arious other purposes, but which was :]92 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. then unoccupied. Utilizing some brick buildings on the property', a factory was constructed for manufac- turing hollow glass ware, intending to use the molten scoria or slag from the adjacent blast furnace. The use of this slag as an ingredient in the manufacture of glass not proving a success it was abandoned. The first successful continuous tank for the manu- facture of glass ever constructed in the United States was erected and the making of glass commenced in March, 1880. December i, 1881, the factory was nearly destroyed by fire, and a large quantity of ware was lost. The tank, however, was not materially in- jured, and in one month the buildings were rebuilt and work was resumed. Later another tank was added and the works enlarged. In April, 1897, the factories and most of the storage buildings were destroyed by fire and a large amount of ware was ruined. The company then bought the lot lying betw een the original purchase on Dutchess Avenue, also a large vacant lot on the south side of Dutchess Avenue, and constructed the present iron and brick buildings, which are regarded as models for glass works. There are three tanks which can run continuously day and night, and the output has increased from about 30.000 gross to about 130,000 gross per annum. The product consists of prescription and druggists ware, beers, sodas, minerals, wines, brandies, flasks, proprietary medicine goods, milk jars, packers and pre- servers' ware. During the bus}' part of the year, which is generally from September i to July i, about 350 hands are employed, man}' of them skilled work- men who receive very large wages. The corporation, the Poughkeepsie Glass Works, was organized November, 1880. Before that time the business had been conducted as a partnership, but un- der the same name. Mr. Charles W. Reed had ac- tive charge of the construction and early operation of the works until his health failed. The first Board of Trustees consisted of William C. Ely, Charles W. Reed, Charles D. Ely, George O. Baker and George H. Hoyt, of Clyde, Henrv C. Wisner, of Rochester, and Evan R. Williams, of Poughkeepsie. The officers were William C. Ely, President ; ITenrv C. Wisner, Vice-President ; George O. Baker, Secretary, and Evan R. Williams, Treasurer and Superintendent. William C. Ely was President until his death in September, 1886, and was succeeded by Charles D. Ely, who held the ofiice until he died Mav, 1903. The 1903 direc- tors are Henry C. Wisner, George O. Baker, Charles P. Buckley. Robert Good, George H. Hoyt, William G. Baker and George K. Diller. H. C. Wisner is Presi- dent ; Charles P. Buckley, Vice-President ; George O. Baker, Secretary and Attorney ; William G. Baker, Treasurer and Superintendent. Mr. Robert Good is General Eactory Manager. THE POUGHKEEPSIE SAVINGS BANK. The Poughkeepsie Savings Bank was organized in 1831, the charter members being William Davies, IMat- thew A^assar, Jr., Griflin Williamson, James Emott, Thomas \\'. Tallmadgc, Stejihen .Xrmstrung, Nehe- miah Conklin, Frederick Barnard, Tennis Van Kleeck, James Hooker, Henry A. Livingston. The bank was not opened for business until May 4th, 1833, when it commenced in the office of Mr. Raymond, its treasurer, in what was known as the "Burritt House," No. 273 Main Street. In 1853 it removed to Market Street, where it has ever since been located. In 1871, the present commod- ious building was erected at a cost of about one hun- dred thousand dollars. Colonel Henry A. Livingston, of Revolutionary fame, was the first president. He was succeeded by Thomas W. Tallmadge, who retained the position until his death August nth, 1856. His successors have been John B. Forbus, 1856 to 1865, Henry D. Varick, 1866 to 1877, David C. Foster, 1877 to 1903. In Jan- uary, 1903, Mr. Foster was succeeded by Edward Els- worth. In 1869, thirty-six years after the bank opened for business, its deposits amounted to $1,791,256, and its total resources were $1,936,445. In 1899, thirty years later, its deposits had increased to $8,692,929.28, and its total resources, based on the par value of its securi- ties, were $9,394,416.84. On the first day of January, 1905, its deposits were $10,595,944.65, and its total resources, based on the par value of its securities, were $11,428,268,42. THE POUGHKEEPSIE TRUST COMPANY. (See page 106.) The Poughkeepsie Trust Company, one of the leading financial institutions of the City of Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., was organized September i6th, 1901. The City National Bank and the Poughkeepsie Na- tional Bank were consolidated prior to the organization of the Poughkeepsie Trust Company. The business of said banks was acquired by and merged in said Trust Company, which conducts its business in the old banking building formerly occupied by the Pough- keepsie National Bank, which is shown on page 106. The Poughkeepsie and Citv National IBanks were both old and strong financial institutions. The Bank of Poughkeepsie was organized in 1830. Thomas L. Davies was its first president. After the passing of the National Bank Law in 1865, it became the Pough- keepsie National Bank. The City Bank was organized in i860. Judge Joseph F. Barnard being its first president. In 1865, the City Bank was merged into the City National Bank. In 1879 Hudson Taylor was elected its president, and continued in office until its consolidation with the Poughkeepsie National Bank. The following are the present officers and trustees of the Poughkeepsie Trust Company: President, Stephen G. Guernsey ; \'ice- Presidents, Hudson Tav- lor, Charles W. Pilgrim ; Treasurer, Thomas W. Bar- rett ; Secretary' and Counsel, C. W. H. Arnold. Trus- tees, Hudson Ta>Ior, Sanuiel K. Rupley, J. W. Hink- lev, Jr., Frank J. Lefevre, R. H. Hunter, Benjamin P. \\'a\"Te. Joseph Morschauser. A. G. Tobev, George ?il. nine, l.saac W. Sherrill, T. W. Barrett. C. W. II. Arnold, /\dna F. Heaton, J. Wilson Poucher, BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 293 J. L. Williams, E. T. Hulst, S. G. Guernsey, Andrew C. Zabriskie, Cecil E. Parker, William H. Frank, P. H. Troy, Charles W. Pilgrim, Hudson L. Taylor. The Poughkeepsie Trust Company is authorized to transact a general banking business and to act as ex- ecutor or administrator of estates, and as guardian, re- ceiver, registrar, transfer and financial agent for States, cities, towns, railroads and other corporations, and to accept any other trusts in conformity with the laws of an>' State or of the United States. It is a legal depository for State, city and court funds. It also has a savings department. The company is under the supervision of the Banking Department of the State of Now York. The success of the company has dem- onstrated the need and usefulness of such an institu- tion in this city. POUGHKEEPSIE UNDERWEAR CO. (See page 236.) The Poughkeepsie Underwear Company was in- corporated under the laws of New York in September, 1899, with authorized capital of $80,000; and com- menced business January i, 1900. Mr. Robert J. Stuart is president, Mr. F. A. Conklin vice-president, and Mr. Frank Manser secretary and treasurer. Messrs. Samuel G. Rowles, Arthur Manser and Henry T. Lumb, together with the officers, comprise the board of directors. This company manufactures ladies' and children's undergarments, known to the trade as "Queen Under- muslins," and their goods are now sold all over the United States, and shipments have been made as far away as Australia. Fine quality of material and work- manship, combined with progressive and up-to-date management have each year fully doubled the trade, this vear's business (1903) exceeding $250,000. Since their start, the company have never shut down except about ten days each .August for renovating and re- pairs, and now employ one hundred and fifty hands, with a pav-roll of about $1,000 per week. The begin- ning was in the Edward Storm building on Mill Street, but in i<;02 the company purchased the Taylor propertv on North Cherry Street, and after rebuilding and equipping the same started their new plant in De- cember of that vear. Their building covers 50 by 150 feet of ground, is substantially constructed of brick, three stories in height, well lighted, ventilated and heated. The machinerv is operated by electric power furnished b>- the Poughkeepsie Light, Heat and Power Company. willia:m thacher Reynolds. ( See page 211.) \\'illiam Thacher Reynolds, senior member of the firm of W. T. Revnolds & Company, was born in Poughkeepsie December 20. 1838; he was educated here? and began his business career in the emplo\- of his father, familiarizing himself, step by stei), wiUi each phase of the wholesale flour and grain trade. In 1 860 he became a member of the firm of Reynolds & Com- pany, in partnership with his father, \\illiam W. Rev- nolds. and his uncle, James Reynolds, Jr. James Reynolds, grandfather of William Thacher Reynolds, born in Rhode Island April 7, 1777, in the fourth generation of descent from James Reynolds, the first of the name and one of the earliest citizens of the Narraganselt country, was the son of William Re\nolds, ensign in a Rhode Island Regiment in the Revolutionary war. Through one of his grandmoth- ers, Elizabeth Greene, wife of Francis Reynolds, he was cousin to General Nathaniel Greene. The sur- name "Reynolds," meaning "son of Reginald" or "Re}nold," originated with the introduction into Eng- land by the Normans of the font name "Reynauld" or "Renaud." James Revnolds came to Poughkeepsie about 1800 and soon entered into partnership with Aaron Innis in the operation of a line of packet sloops, running from what was known as the "Upper Landing" to New York. In 181 1 two sloops, the "Mary" and the "Driver," left for New York on alternate weeks, car- rying freight and passengers ; they were replaced in 1816 by the "Huntress" and "Counsellor," and they still later, by the barges "Clinton" and "Republic." Revnolds and Innis, in i8t8, gave notice in the col- umns of the Poughkeepsie lournai "to the Farmers and Merchants of Dutchess County that the subscribers have taken the mill latel>' occupied by Martin Hofi^man and Co., and tender their services to the customers of that firm in the milling business." About 1820. James Reynolds added a general store which, with the mill, were natural outgrowths and feeders of the transporta- tion line. The location of the Upper Landing, at the point where the Fall Kill empties into the Hudson, was a ])articularh- desirable one under the business conditions of that da}' : before 1800 Robert L. Livingston had a store and mill there, and the hill since known as Rey- nolds' Hill, on which the east end of the Poughkeepsie bridge rests, was called "Slange Klip"; the mouth of the Fall Kill, on a map dated 1799, was marked "Pond- akrien." presumably in reference to the cascade which turned the mill and which an old deed calls "Pendan- ick Reen." James Revnolds was a Friend, and never interested himself in public affairs, but one of the historians of Dutchess County wrote: "Messrs. Reynolds and In- nis were the most prominent and reliable business men of their period, not onlv in the city, but in the entire countv. Thev were men of strict integritv. and their character and standing as business men ha^'e not been surpassed here to the present day." The two sons of James Reynolds, William \\\ and James Re\nolds, Jr.. succeeded their father about 1840, as W. W. and J. Reynolds, and later developed the wholesale llonr and grain branch of the business. The Erie Canal was then of much more importance than the railroads as a carrier of western produce, and ,\lban\' was the great distributing point for this part of the country: \\'. \\'. & J. Reynolds had special agents in Albanv who bought western produce for them and shipped it by their own line of sloops to Poughkeepsie. For several years there were three sloops in this line : but the business continued to in- crease until sailing vessels became too slow, and in 294 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 1854 the firm had the steam propeller "Reliance" built by Henry Finch at his ship-yard at the Whale Dock; she was run between Poughkeepsie and Albany twice a week for freight and passengers, until 1861, when she was sold to the United States to be used as a trans- port. In 1849 ^^^ warehouse at the Upper Landing was built, and the business conducted there until 1871. In- creased railroad facilities and through freight lines had then changed the methods of transacting business, and a location where freight could be received by rail was necessary, which led to the erection of the present warehouse opposite the passenger station of the New "S'ork Central and Hudson River Railroad, in 1872. At the death of James Reynolds, Jr., in 1865, the firm became Reynolds & Son ; in 1869, when John R. Reynolds, son of James Reynolds, Jr., entered it, W. W. Reynolds & Co. ; in 1874, at the addition of George E. Cramer, Reynolds & Co. ; in 1889, at the death of John R. Reynolds, Reynolds & Cramer; and in 1899, when George E. Cramer died, W. T. Reynolds & Co. William W. Reynolds married a daughter of the Rev. William Thacher, a descendant of Hon. John Thacher, of Yarmouth, Mass. The latter served with distinction in King Philip's war, 1675, and was for many years a member of the Governor's Council. Their son, William Thacher Reynolds, the subject of this sketch, is President of the Board of Trustees of the Washington Street Methodist Church ; President of the Vassar Brothers Home for Aged Men ; trustee of the Old Ladies' Home, of Vassar Brothers Hospital, of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, and director of the Fallkill National Bank, and of the Poughkeepsie Sav- ings Bank. He married July 6, 1864, Miss Louise Smith, and has two children, Harris Smith Reynolds, a graduate of Yale, and a member of the firm of W. T. Reynolds & Co., and May Louise Reynolds. RIVERVIEW MILITARY ACADEMY. (See page 256.) Riverview Military /Vcademy, under the name of the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School, was organized and established in 1836, on College Hill, by Charles Bartlett. In 1857 Mr. Bartlett was succeeded by C)tis Bisbee, who introduced, in 1862, military instruction and erected, in 1866, new buildings at Riverview. In 1867 the entire school marched in a body from College Hill to these new buildings, delightfully situated on high ground overlooking the Hudson River, and yet only a short walk from the centre of the town. The school provides every modern im])rovement and con- venience. It thoroughly (jrepares its pupils — about 175 — for college or busincs.s life amidst pleasant and healthful surroundings. There are ten resident in- structors and an army officer, s])cciall_\- detailed by the Secretary of War. The school is a family school. The principal and his family reside in the main build- ing, and each student comes into daily contact with them. Otis Bisbee, to whom the school owes its present character, was born at Chesterfield, Mass., February 74, 1822. He was a descendant of the "Besbidgc" family who settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1734. He left Union College in 1849 to become a teacher in the Collegiate School, but was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society in 1851. Upon Mr. Bartlett's death Mr. Bisbee, in partnership with Mr. Charles P!. Warring, took the direction of the school. The change in the character and location of the school has been already noted. In 1850 Mr. Bisbee married Frances C, daughter of Joseph Barlett, and had two daughters and one son. Major Joseph B. Bisbee, the present head of the school. Mr. Otis Bisbee died at Poughkeepsie February 12th, 1885. Joseph Bartlett Bisbee, A. M., principal and pro- prietor of Riverview Military Academy, was born in Poughkeepsie December 15, 1853. He was prepared for college under his father's own instruction, and en- tered Amherst College in 1876. In 1879 he returned to assist his father. In 1884, however, Amherst Col- lege, recognizing his work and ability, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Since his father's death he has conducted the school in accordance with the principles that first, under his father, gave it emi- nence, so that to-day it ranks among the foremost pre- paratory schools of the countr}'. Major Bisbee was married in 1880 to Miss Sarah M. Pangborn, of Albany, N. Y. She died in March, 1884. Mr. Bisbee married in December, 1885. Miss Winifred Dana Wheeler, daughter of the late Francis B. Wheeler, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie for thirty-seven years. Mr. Bisbee is a member of the Masonic fraternity and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church. DR. J. E. SADLIER. James Edgar Sadlier, M. D., President of the Dutchess County Medical Society, and one of the most prominent physicians and surgeons of Poughkeepsie at this time, was born at Walden, Orange County, N. Y., March 18, 1865, the son of the late James Sadlier, for many years a leading merchant of New York Cit\-, and highly esteemed citizen of Walden. Dr. Sadlier received a thorough education in the public schools of his native village, and in the academics of Montgom- ery and New Paltz, N. Y. His uncle, Dr. William Woodruff, an eminent physician of Pine Bush, then became his preceptor and gave him practical, as well as theoretical training in the medical profession until 1884, when he entered the Medical Department of Union College at Albany. Lie graduated therefrom in 1887, and was immediately ap- l>ointed to the stafif of the Albany Cit)' Hospital, in which he served with marked ability until April i, 1889, when he left to establish a residence and private practice for hiiuself at Poughkeepsie. Although only twenty-four years of age, at that time, his acquired knowledge, thorough training and experience gave him at once a high standing in the profession, and he was ajjpointed on the stafi" of \'assar Brothers Hospital in 1891. He enjoys to-day a large and lucrative practice. In the medical profession he is recognized as a physi- cian and surgeon of the highest al)ility, and he has been popular with his associates ever since taking up his residence in Poughkeepsie. He was chosen Sec- retar)- to the Dutchess County Medical Society in BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 295 January, 1891, and served as such continuously until 1897, when he resigned because he was elected State delej^atc to the New York State Medical Society for the ensuing three ^ears, after which he was duly elected member of the New York State Medical Society. He was elected President of the Dutchess County Medical Society in lyoi. Dr. Sadlicr is also a member of the American Association of Gynaecologists and Obstetri- cians. During 1899 he spent a portion of the year doing post graduate work at the Alcdical Department of the Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, Md., and during 1902 he went abroad for the sake of study- ing surgery at the Clinics in Europe. For the last several years he has devoted himself more especially to that department of work pertaining to surgery, and gynaecology. The most of his work of that character being performed at his own private hospital in this city. Dr. Sadlier was married on June 18, 1891, to Miss Hattie C. Millspaugh, daughter of Theron L. Mills- paugh, of Walden, N. Y. ROBERT SANFORD. (Sec page 163.) Robert Sanford. retired lawyer of Poughkeepsic, was born in ^Mbany, December 10, 183 1, the son of Nathan and Mary (Buchanan) Sanford, of Albany; the grandson of Dr. Thomas Sanford, who settled at I'ridgehampton, Eong Island, and the great-grandson of Thomas McKcan, Chief Justice and Governor of Pennsylvania three terms and a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence. Miss Mary Buchanan, the granddaughter of Justice McKean, and mother of Rob- ert Sanford, was married to Nathan Sanford in the \\'hite House at Washington, President John Quincy Ailams being her nearest living relative, giving away the bride. Nathan Sanford was a prominent lawyer, I'nited Stales District .AttorncN', State Assemblyman, State Senator, twice United States Senator, commis- sioner for framing the new Constitution and candidate for Vice-President with Henry Clay. He was ap- pointed Chancellor to succeed James Kent, and he was the last speaker of the Assembly who wore a cocked hat. He died at Flushing, Long Island, in 1838. When nine years old, Robert Sanford commenced at- tending school in Hartford, Conn., and remained five years. He then spent foiu" years under the tutorship of Dr. Muhlenberg, the celebrated instructor at Col- lege I^oint, Long Island, and two >ears under Dr. George H. Houghton, the rector of the famous "Lit- tle Ciuirch Around the Corner," an astute Greek tutor, who one day said to his pupil, "Bob, you are the most stupid jackass I ever saw." Robert respected him very much, and in years afterward, when he thought he was somewhat liroficient in the ancient language, he wrote the doctor a letter in Greek, but the worthy tutor characterized it "as .still possessing assinine qual- ities." iMr. Sanford, however, pursued his education, becoming a student at Kingsle>' Mililar)' Institute at West Point, and spending two years at Union College, Schenectadv, N. Y. lle\hcn traveled extensively with his mother ihroughout Europe, and located in Pough- keepsic in 1857. Graduating from the New York State and National Law School in 1858, he spent two years in the law office of Joseph H. Jackson, then started on another extended European trip, during which he attended a course of lectures at the Sarbonne in Paris, and was formally presented to Napoleon III. He practiced law in Poughkeepsie from 1862 to 1866, and then made his third trip to Europe, and was pre- sented to the Queen of England by his cousin, Charles Francis Adams, then U. S. Minister to the Court of St. James. He returned to Poughkeepsie in 1867, and re- tired in 1894 after an active legal career of twenty- seven years. Though seventy-two years of age he pos- esses a stalwart frame, is of medium height and much resembles John Quincy Adams. He is an active ath- lete, fond of fresh air, walker and rider. Sanitary matters and pure air are his hobbies. His residence in the heart of Poughkeepsie, No. 29 North Hamilton Street, is surrounded by nearly six acres of lawn and beautiful shade trees, with winding walks and the bub- bling water of the Fallkill flowing through the grounds. He abandoned court practice mainl}' because he regard- ed the court rooms in the old building as unhealthy. As school commissioner, 1862 to 1866, he made a rec- ord for sanitary improvements which was most ser- viceable and important. He was interested with Henry Bergh in the work of prevention of cruelty to animals and was once vice-president of the society. He has been a delegate to the convention of the Diocese of New York for thirty years ; is a member of the Sigma Phi Fraternity ; the Aztec Society (a Mexican war association) ; the Amrita Club, of Poughkeepsie; the Dutchess Hunt Club ; Union League Club, of New "\'ork ; American Geographical Society ; Church Club of New York ; trustee of the Church of the Holy Com- forter of Poughkeepsie, and is connected with several social associations. In politics he is a Republican, but always declined elective office. Mr. Sanford was mar- ried 'May 2^. 1867, to Miss Mary Helen Hooker Stuy- vesant, daughter of John R. Stuyvesant, of Hyde Park, and great-granddaughter of Peter Stuyvesant, Colon- ial Governor of New York. Thev have had five chil- dren, four of whom are now living: Mary Buchanan, Henr\- Gansevoort, Helen Stuyvesant and Desiree. Their son, Stuyvesant, died in 1890, at the age of sev- enteen )'ears. JACOB SCHRAUTH AND HIS SONS, EDW^\RD L. AND WILLIAM H. SCHRAUTH. Jacob Schrauth, the founder of an extensive ice cream and confectionery industry of Poughkeepsie, was born at Kreuznach, in the Rhine Province, .\pril, 1834. He learned the trade of a cooper anil came to .America in 1854, learning the baker's trade in New York City. He came to Poughkeepsie in 1857, and for nine years worked as a baker. In 1866 he established business for himself at 153 Main Street, first as a baker, but soon adding the manufacture of ice cream and confectionery. On May i, 1897, his sons, Edward L. and \\'iniam H., ]5urchased the business and have since conducted it nntler the firm style of J. Schrauth's Sons. Mr. Schrauth is Republican in politics, and for two Years was a member of the Board of Water Commis- •296 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. WILLIAM H. SCHRAUTH EDWARD L. SCHRAUTH. JACOB SCHRAUTH. sioners. He was for twelve 3'ears president of the Germania Singing- Society, is a member of the Odd Fellows and of the German Lutheran Church. He was married in i860 to Miss Kate Schneider, a native of Bavaria, and has had seven children. Edward L. Schrauth was born in this cit)' in 1869, and was married September 30, 1903, to Miss Georgia Van Wyck, of Poughkeepsie. He is a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows and Siloam Encampment, the Phoenix Hose Company and Royal Arcanum. William H. Schrauth was born in 1876, and mar- ried in 1895 to Miss Matilda Seeholtzer. daughter of Berthold Seeholtzer, of Poughkeepsie. He is a mem- ber of Fallkill Lodge, L O. O. F., Siloam Encamp- ment, Royal Arcanum and Poughkeepsie Lodge No. 266. F. and A. M. Since assuming charge of the business here they have continually enlarged and have now built up the most extensive ice cream industr}- in this section, their trade reaching far beyond the limits of this city. In December, 1902, they opened their present retail sales- room and ice cream parlors at 149 and 151 Main Street, adjoining the old store. It is the handsomest estab- lishment of the kind on the Hudson River, and in some respects exceeds any other in the countr\'. Our illus- tration shows the front of the store, the two sides being devoted to a display of fine confectionery- and fancv cakes, the long circular counter in the centre being used for the dispensing of soda and other waters from modern as well as beautiful fountains. The ice cream parlors are in the rear, the manufactor^- of con- fections, ice cream bricks and an endless varietur of fine cakes being in the basement and also in the rear of the parlors. Interior i'iciL' of Jacob Sclirautk's Sons' Ice Cream I'arlors and Salesroom. BIOGRAPHICAL APPBNDIX. 297 OSCAR NELSON SEAMAN. Oscar Nelson Seaman, from whose excellent pho- tographs many of the illustrations in this book were made, was born in Poughkeepsie March 25th, 1871, and is the son of Henry H. and Sarah A. (Colwell) Seaman, who have lived in this city since their mar- riage at Verbank in 1857. Henry H. Seaman is the last survivor of a family of six, of whom Isaac, James Harvey and Nelson were the other sons, all well- known residents of Poughkeepsie. Their father, Sam- uel Seaman, came here from Staten Island in 1833, his two brothers. Hicks and Stephen, going to the neigh- borhood of Saratoga at about the same time. The family is of English descent, and was settled on Eong Island before the Revolution. Oscar N. Seaman was educated at the Poughkeep- sie Military Institute under Dr. Charles B. Warring, and at the Housatonic Valley Institute at Cornwall, Ct. After a thorough apprenticeship of twelve years at photography, he began business for himself at 327 Main Street, and has met with gratifying success. In politics Mr. Seaman is a Republican, but has never sought public office. He is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of Fallkill Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Harvey G. Eastman Council, No. 97, (incor- porated) Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and of Young America Hose Company No. 6. He was married October 12th, 1892, to Emma C. Cramer, daughter of Jerome B. Cramer, of this city, and they have one daughter, Ivah Cramer Seaman. JOHN SUTCLIFFE. (See page 213.) John Sutclifife, consulting, civil and mining engi- neer, and mechanical expert in iron works and sew- erage, was born at Stainland, near Halifax, England, July 29, 1837, the son of Eli Sutcliffe, who settled in "Poughkeepsie in 1840, and was well known as a gro- cer and soap manufacturer. Mr. Sutcliffe was edu- cated in the local schools of Poughkeepsie, and at the Dutchess County Academy. In 1861 he became as- sistant manager of the Peekskill. N. Y., blast furnace. He made plans for a new and improved furnace in Cold Spring, N. Y., then erected and started it as the Phillips Iron Works. He left this concern and went to England to perfect himself in the details of iron manufacture, and in iSCh began building new iron works at \'erplanck's Point, N. Y., but owing to the financial panic they wore never finished. In 1865 he erected the building at Clover and Union Streets for his father and started in the woolen business with his uncle. In 1866 he took charge of the Eagle Slate Company's Iron Works at Hydevillc, \'t. In i8(.8 he went to Wales to make a study of slate, and return- ing worked up refuse slate into billiard table tops, en- larging the Eagle works for that purpose. In 1870 he remodeled the slate mill at Chapman, Pa. In 1870 and 1871 he constructed the filter beds for tlic Poughkeepsie Water \\'orks. In 1872, after a trip through iron works in the south and west, he liuilt tlic Hudson River Iron Works at Poughkeepsie, now known as the Phoenix Horse Shoe Works. In 1S73 he took contracts to build sewers and lay water pipes in Poughkeepsie, and successfully managed the Frank- lin Iron Works, near Utica, which had two blast fur- naces, with iron mines, etc., at the same time building the Bcllevue Terrace block of brick buildings in Pough- keepsie. In 1874 he was called upon to settle up the business of the Pond Eddy Blue Stone Company, in Pike County, Pa., in which he displayed much ability and arranged all matters satisfactorily. He then operated successfully for fen 3'ears the mines of the Vallecillo Silver Mining Company in Mexico. Returning to Poughkeepsie in 1884, he was soon appointed general manager of the Steel Company of Canada, organized a new company as the London- derry Iron Company, and as general manager made it a great success in four years' time. He resigned and again returned to Poughkeepsie, where he has since remained as consulting engineer and constructor of sewers, etc. He has had many contracts here, includ- ing the wall about the grounds of Vassar Brothers Hospital and the dam at the State Hospital, and has been a potent factor in the modern upbuilding of the cit}', while he is also frequently called in as an expert by the various iron works in this section. In politics he is a strong Republican and served two terms as Police Commissioner. He is a member of the F. and A. ]\I., the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, Ameri- can Institute of Mining Engineers, Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, and the Engineers' Club of New York City. He is universally esteemed for his personal in- tegrity, good judgment and keen business and me- chanical ability. He was married July 26, 1876, to Miss Sarah E., daughter of William Beekman Swart, of Poughkeepsie. They have three sons, Paul, Allen and John W. ALBERT TOWER. (See page 159.) Mr. Albert Tower, one of the best known iron men in the Ignited States, was born in Paris, Oneida County, New \'ork, November 8, 1817, but commenced his career in the iron business in Ohio, where he accumu- lated quite a fortune b\- the time he «as little more than thirty years of age. He came to Poughkeepsie in 1850, to become superintendent and part owner of the Poughkeepsie Iron Works at the foot of LTnion Street, which had been organized by Joseph Tucker- man and others in 184S. The present plant at the Old Whale Dock, foot of Hoffman Street, illustrated on page 2},},. was built in i860, and operated under the name of the Fallkill Iron Works, with Hon. James Fmott as president, although the capital of both works was very nearly wholly controlled by the same parties. The present Poughkeepsie Iron Company was a reorganization March 26, 1875, "'^O'" the manu- facturing of pig iron and products thereof," l\Ir. Albert Tower being its president and manager, and the two ]")lants becoming actually one property. The lower furnace, howexer. was abandoned and the new plant enlarged in the earl\- eighties. For several years prior to his death, Mr. Tower, owing to ill health, had large- ly gi\cn up the management of the works and the 2'J.s BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. mines to his two sons, Albert Edward and Joseph T. Tower, the first named being now the head of this im- portant industry, which not only manufactures pig- iron, etc., but owns and operates iron mines at Port Henry, N. Y., and a hematite mine in Union Vale, N. Y. Mr. Tower was an unassuming but a thoroughly upright and Christian gentleman. He was a member of the vestry of Christ Church, and to him the congre- gation of that church and the City of Poughkeepsie are chiefly indebted for its beautiful building, his gifts to the church amounting to nearly $80,000. Mr. Tower was married in i860 to Miss Anna M. Un- derbill, daughter of Josiah Underbill, of the Pough- keepsie Savings Bank. He was the vice-president of the Merchants' Bank, and a citizen whose loss was sin- cerely mourned by the entire community. He died in this city December 24, 1891, after his return from Den- mark, whither he had gone in the previous fall in the hope of benefiting his health. ROBERT K. TUTHILL, M. D. (See page 180.) Robert K. Tuthill, M. D., son of Samuel Tuthill, M. D., who came to Poughkeepsie in 1848, and was a leading physician here for many years, was born in Newburgh, N. Y. He was trained to follow in the footsteps of his father by thorough classical and pre- liminary courses, and graduated from the New York Medical College in the class of 1859. He commenced practice here that year, but responding to the call of his country early in j86i, was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 80th N. Y. X'ols. In April, 1863, he was promoted to the post of Regimental Surgeon of the l4Sth N. Y. Infantry, and in June of the same year was advanced to Brigade Surgeon of the First Brigade (six regiments), First Division, Twelfth Army Corps. Early in 1864 he was made Surgeon in Chief of the First Division (fourteen regiments) of the Twelfth Army Corps. He was in all the princi- pal battles of the Army of the Potomac, and also did duty in the Army of the Cumberland. By his devo- tion to sanitary regulations, and his general ability as a surgeon he made and kept his regiment and brigade in such a healthy and efficient condition that he re- ceived special commendation from the War Depart- ment therefor. Resuming private practice in Pough- keepsie in 1864, Dr. Tuthill soon attained the highest eminence in his profession by the same watchful and faithful care which won him distinction in the field. Dr. Tuthill's hospital service has been extensive and notably successful. He had charge of the Fred- ericksburgh Hospital in 1862, was member of the surgical staff of St. Barnabas Hospital in Poughkeep- sie from its organization in 1870 until its close in 1887; was one of the surgeons selected by the 'founders of X^assar Brothers' Hospital, on its opening in 1887, and served until 1898, and has since been a member of its consulting staff. He has visited many hospitals and attended many clinics in Europe, viz: in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, seeking to gain new methods and experience for home work. In politics Dr. Tuthill is a staunch Republican, but never sought or desired public office, and accepted none except the position of Health Officer of the city, which post he filled for four terms. He was president of the Dutchess County Medical Society for two terms, has been a member of the New York State Medical Society since 1880, is also a member of the New York Commandery, Loyal Legion of America, and is a char- ter member of Hamilton Post, No. 20, G. A. R. He also affiliates with Masonry, and is a Knight Templar. Dr. Tuthill has many friends who believe in him, be- cause he has proved himself a true and sincere man and a conscientious, faithful and vigilant physician and surgeon. DR. DAVID B. WARD. David B. Ward, M. D., prominent physician and leading microscopist of Poughkeepsie, was born at Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y., March 13, 1853. He prepared for college at the Riverview Mili- tary Academ}', spent three years at Dartmouth College, and graduated as A. B. from Hamilton College in the class of 1873. He commenced the study of medicine under the advice and tutorship of the eminent Dr. Parker, of Poughkeepsie, and then took the course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, graduating therefrom in the class of 1876. After practicing at Wheeling, West Virginia, for three years he came to Poughkeepsie, and has acquired a very ex- tensive general practice and a wide reputation for scientific and microscopic investigation and research. He is a Republican, but b}' no means a politician. He was cit)' physician from 18S0 to 1888, and has always interested himself in furthering every improvement de- signed for the benefit and preservation of the general health, and has been a member of the Board of Health since 1895. He is a member of the Amrita Club and Fallkill Lodge, I. O. O. F. He is noted for his genial spirit, and has a veritable host of personal friends, but up to the present time has remained a bachelor. HON. CHARLES WHEATON. (See page 177.) Hon. Charles Wheaton, distinguished lawyer and County Judge, of Poughkeepsie, was born in Lithgow, Dutchess Count}', May 21, 1834, and died after a brief illness May 11, 1886. His grandfather, Augustus Wheaton, came here from Connecticut in 1802, and his father, Rev. Homer Wheaton, was rector of Christ Church until his death in 1894. His maternal grand- father, Isaac Smith, was County Judge of this county and also Member of Assembly. Judge Wheaton graduated from the College of St. James, at Hagerstown, Md., and was then a tutor there for two years. He came back to Poughkeepsie and studied law with Thompson & Weeks, and on his admission to the bar began the practice of law in this city. He was Assistant District Attorney under Silas W'odell, and was elected County Judge in 1863 to suc- ceed Judge Homer A. Nelson, who had been elected t- virtue of a writ of dedimus potestatem to him and others for that purpose issued under the great sea! of the State of New York. Dated October 2d, 1786. GENERAL APPENDIX. 303 I, A. B., do solemnly swear and declare, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will bear true faith and allegiance, to the State of New ^'ork, as a free and Independent State, and that I \\'ill in all things, to the best of my knowledge and ability, do my duty, as a good subject of the said State ought to do. So help me God. 1786. November 6tli, Consider Cashmaii, Lieulenant. Nathan Lane, Ensign. November 7tb, Jesse Smith, C.iptain. Ebenezor Boyd, Jnnior, Ensign. Isc. Pennoyer, Captain. John Drake, Junior, Captain. Calel) I^agen, Captain. John Berry, Lieutenant. Danial \Vilson, Ensign. Ezra Gregory, Lieutenant. Henry C^iarrisou, Adjutant. Thomas Sears, Captain. Solomon Hopkins, Captain. Ebjah Townsend, Captain. Elijah Bebee, Captain. James Townsend, Lieutenant. November 2gth, Wm. Wilkinson, Lieulenant. Oetober 7th, Abm, Lent, Major Brigade. October 15th, Abm. B. Rapalje. October 16, Abm. Brinckerboff, Colonel. 1790. October ig, James Burton, Major. October 23, John Patterson, Captain. July 10, Samuel -\nguslus Barker, Lt. Colonel Com. 1792. Jul)- 10, Coller Chamberlain, Lt. Colonel. Com. 1790. .•\ugust 2(1. John B. Van W'yck, Captain. " Jan Dullingor, Lieutenant. Peter W'aKlron. September 6th, David Morehouse, Captain. September loth, Isaac Swartwout, Lieutenant. " Timis Hanson. October 8tb, Taber 13entley, Captain. 1791. Ma\- loth, Cornelius Van Wyck, Lieutenant. " Lsaac Vail, Captain. Philip Van Der Bill, Ensign. Elisha Brown, Lieutenant. .Archabill Swinton, Paymaster. James Cook. Captain. Benajab Beardslcy, Lieutenant. Samuel Berry, Ensign. Josiab Baker, Qu.artcrniaster. William Weill, Ensign. John Drake, Lieut. Colonel Command. " Elcazer Hazen, Ensign. Gilbert Drake, Ensign. Wiliam I'earce, Lieut. Colonel Commandant. Samuel Augustus I'.arker, Major. Benjamin Elliot, M.ijor. Zaccbcus Marsbel. Captain. Jethro Sherman, Lieutenant. Caleb llanes, Jr., Ensign. Benjamin Titus, Captain. Stephen Riley, Lieulenant. Dax'id Baldwin, Ensi.gn. Jonathan Crane, Captain. Ezra Richards, Ensign. Nathan Paddack, Captain. Samuel Crosby, Lieutenant. John Penney, ICnsi.gn. Thomas Ste\ens, Captain. James Stark, Lieutenant. Elisba Shelden, Ensign. Ephraim Manin, Captain. Solomon Crosby, Lieutenant. Matthew Beale, Ensign. May loth, Daniel Davis, Captain. Stephen Mitchell, Lieutenant. Abul Sherman, Ensign. James Burton, Captain. Peter Crosby, Lieutenant. John Herriek, Ensign. Stephen Barnum, Captain. John Patterson, Lieutenant. Ira Crane, Ensign. Lemuel Crosby, Quartermaster. Joseph C. Field, Paymaster. Joseph Chandler, Captain. Elisha Sill, Lieutenant. Peter Talman, Adjutant. William C. Mills, Ensign. Henry Ludington, Jr., Ensign. 1787. May 17th, James Cook, Major. Erinton Paine, Lieut. Colonel Commandant. May 30th, Tbeodorus Bailey, Major. Stephen Hendrickson, Captain. Gilbert I. Livingston, Captain. Jacobus Sleght, Captain. Daniel Smith, Captain. Elias Frost, Captain. Henry Humphrey, Captain. Jared Rundel, Lieutenant. Stephen Marshall, Ensign. William Bailey, Lieutenant. John M. Thurston, Lieutenant. William Terry, Lieutenant. Scudder Piatt, Ensign. Jesse Bell, Captain. James J. Stoutenbergh, Ensign. Peter I. Van Kleeck, Ensign. James Cooper, Lieutenant. James Rent, Paymaster. Julv 5th, Isaac Bloom, Lieut. Colonel Commandant. 17S8. Juh' 2 1st, Benjamin Noxon, Infantry Captain. The following persons qualified by Gilbert Living- ston, by virtue of dedimus to him and others. Dated, March l2Lh, 1788. 1788. May 3rd, James Coopen, Captain. Wm. F. M. Piatt, Ensign. May 2ist, James V. D. Burgh, Lieut. Colonel Commandant. June 3rd, Barthw. Vanderburgh, Major. William Edmund, Infantry Captain. Peter V. D. Burgh, Adjutant. 1789. June i6th, Cornelius .'\driance. Captain. Theodorus .\driance. Captain. John Adriance, Captain. John Forbus, Captain. Benjamin Hasbrook, Lieutenant. George Brinckerhofl:. Ensign. Theodorus R. Van W^'ck, Ensign. Selah Brush, Lieutenant. Ram. I. .'Xdriance, Lieutenant. James \'. D. Burgh, Jr.. Ensign. Cornelius R, Vanwyck. Lt. Infantry Captain. John S. Brinckerboff, Lieutenant. John Storm, Ensign. June I7lh, Nehcmiah Oakey, Captain. June igth, Zachariab X'anvorhees, Captain. John Myer, Jr., Lieutenant. Benjamin Roe, Ensign. Jul\- 31st, William Swartwout, Captain. " C- the name of Main Street. 3. The street beginning at Alain Street between the lot of Mrs. Broom and the tan-yard of Ebenezer Bad- ger, and leading thence northerly to the extent of the corporation limits, to be known by the name of \\'ash- ington Street. 4. The street commencing on the south side of Main Street between the lots of Andrew Billings and Leonard Davis, and running thence southerly till it meets the road leading from (Iswcgo to Market Street, to be known by the name of .Academy- Street. 5. The street commencing at .Academy Street in front of the Academ>', and terminating at Market Street, to be distinguished by the name of Cannon Street. 6. The street commencing on the eastern side of Market Street at the southwest corner of the Episco- pal Church lot, and leading thence to Academy Street, to be distinguished by the name of Church Street. 7. The street commencing at Pludson's river at Hoffman's landing, and running easterly till it unites with Main Street, to be known by the name of Mill Street. 8. The street commencing on the west side of Mar- ket Street at the southeast corner of the court-house lot, and terminating at the union store of George B. Evertson, at the Hudson's river, to be known by the name of Union Street. 9. The street leading from the west side of Market Street at the lot of John Tappan, and terminating at the landing of Richard Davis, on Hudson's River, to be distinguished by the name of Pine Street. 10. The street commencing in the northeast corner of a lot assigned to Helen Piatt on the west side of Market Street, and leading thence to Hudson's River near John Read's landing, to be distinguished b}- the name of Livingston Street. 11. The street beginning at the south side of Union Street opposite the lot of John Arden, leading thence in a southerly direction to Livingston Street, to be known bv the name of Jefferson Street. 12. The street commencing at the landing of John Read and running thence northeasterly to Jefferson Street, to be called by the name of Columbia Street. 13. The street leading from INlill Street at Joseph Bowman's lot, southerly across Main Street to Union, to be known b)' the name of Clover Street. 14. The street commencing at the north side of Mill Street opposite the lot of Nathan Myers, and lead- ing northeasterly to Washington Street, to be known by the name of Bridge Street. 15. The street commencing onposite the south- easterly junction of Pine and Jefferson Streets, and terminating at the village bounds, to be distinguished by the name of Montgomery Stre'et. Passed September i6th, 1806. 16. That the street commencing at Pine Street near the house of Francis F. Leroy, and terminating at Union Street, shall be named Latirel Street. 17. The street commencing at Pine Street at the house of Josiah Broas. and terminating in Union Street, shall be named Tulip Street. 18. The street commencing at jNIontgomerv Street and running across Main Street bv ^^^illiam Emott's, and terminating at Mill Street, is named Hamilton Street. ig. The street commencing at Main Street opposite Tcdediah Benjamin's and rinming northeasterly to the village bounds, near Miiiard \'an de Bogart's, is named Smith Street. 20. The street commencing at Mill Street by the mills of IMartin Hoft'nian & Co., and running parallel with Hudson's Ri\-cr across Main and Union Streets till it terminates at Pine Street, is named \\'ater Street. 21. The street commencing at Union Street near its junction with Laurel Street, and terminating at \\'ater Street, is named John Street. 22. The street commencing at Montgomery Street and running across Main Street near the house of John Boerum, and across the Fall-kill, till it terminates at Smith Street, is named Cherry Street. 306 GENERAL APPENDIX. 23. The street commencing at Main Street and terminating at Cannon Street, is named Mechanic Street. 24. The street commencing at Main Street by well No. 2, and running across Mill Street to the gate of Levi McKeen, is called Garden Street. Passed September 13th, 1833. 25. That the street commencing at Washington Street next north of Warren Skinner, and running easterly to the village bounds, shall be called North Street.' Passed May 6th, 1834. 26. That the street which runs from Bridge Street across the Fall-kill, and to and around Mansion Square, and thence to Smith Street, shall be called Mansion Street. 27. That the square surrounded by Mansion Street shall be called Mansion Square. 28. That the street which runs from Catharine Street to Smith Street parallel with and next north of Mansion Street, shall be called Cottage Street. 29. That the street which runs from Mill Street across the Fall-kill and across Mansion Street to Cot- tage Street, shall be called Catharine Street. 30. That the street which runs from Mill Street, being a continuation of Hamilton Street across the Fall-kill to North Street, shall be called Hamilton Street, excepting such part of it as passes the west end of Mansion Square, which part is called Mansion Street. Re-enacted ist February, 1843. 1698 1714 1723 1731 1737 1746 1749 1756 1771 1786 1790 1800 1810 1810 1814 1820 1825 1830 1830 1835 1840 184s 1850 i85,S 1S55 i860 t86s 1870 1875 1880 i8go 1900 POPULATION STATISTICS. (Page 54.) Dutchess and Ulster Counties Dutchess County (first separate census) . . . . Dutchess County Town of Pouglikeepsio Village of Poughkeepsie Town of Poughkeepsie.. Town of Poughkeepsie . . Village of Poughkeepsie. Town of Poughkeepsie.. " '* (city taken out) Citv of Poughkeepsie, Ward i 4,099 Ward 2 2,663 Ward 3 3.461 Ward 4 2,540 City of Poughkeepsie 1.384 445 1,083 2,259 3,418 8,806 7,912 14,157 22,404 32,636 2,529 3.246 4,669 2,981 5,673 5.726 5-935 7,222 5,023 6,281 7,710 1 1. 79 1 13.944 3.1 10 12,763 14,726 16,073 20,080 20,022 20,207 22,206 24,029 1900 Dutchess County 81,670 1S90 Town of Poughkeepsie 4,782 1900 " " 6,820 A considerable part of the recent growth of the Town of Poughkeepsie is in neighborhoods just out- side the limits of the city, particularly at Arlington, and near X'assar College. POUGHKEEPSIE HOTEL SALE IN 1804 FOR POLITICAL HEADQUARTERS. (Page 88.) This indenture made the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and four, between Robert Wil- liams, of the Village of Poughkeepsie, in Dutchess Count}', and Abigail, his wife, of the first part, and Gilbert Livingston, Nathan Myers and John Brush, esquires, of the second part. Whereas, at a respectable meeting of a number of Republicans of the County of Dutchess, it was unani- mously agreed that it would be greatly to the Re- publican interest of said county that a liberal suin of money should be raised by subscription and appro- priated to buy and build or purchase a suitable lot and building in the Village of Poughkeepsie, to be occupied as a stand for a Public Inn. It was also agreed that the sum of twelve thousand and five hundred dollars be the sum for the purpose aforesaid, and that it be divided into shares of $50 each. It was also further agreed that Gilbert Livingston, Ephraim Paine, Nathan Myers, James Tallmadge, Jr., and John Brush, be a committee to obtain such subscription from the Re- pttblican interest disposed to favor the plan aforesaid. That said committee shall have power to apportion the shares subscribed by reducing the number of all or any who may have subscribed more than one share so that there may be a general distribution thereof to all our Republican friends, and call a meeting of the stockholders to take other proper measures to effect the premises. Acting under the above and agreeing to it the fol- lowing named, signed and purchased as follows : Name. No. of Shares. George Clinton 15 Morgan Lewis 10 Smith Thompson lo Gilbert Livingston 10 Rohert W^illiams 10 10 5 Garwood H. Cunningham. Thomas Tillotson Daniel E. Verplanck Theron Rudd John P)rush John A\''inans James Tallmadge, Jr Robert Johnston Derrick W. Brinckerhoff. John Sayres The following purchased two shares each : Peter R. Maison, Jonas Trivett, Nathan Mvcrs, John r. Stoutenburgh, John A'an Benthuysen, Edward N. James, Martin Isaac Robert, ,\braham Hofl:man, Samuel \'an Wvck, Elisha C. Barlow, Plarrv Garri- son, .Abraham H. Schenck, John McKinlcy, \\'illiam Beslc)', John Storm. GENERAL APPENDIX. 307 The following purchased one share each : George Crawford, Thomas Nelson, John Arm- strong, Patrick Collins, Aaron Stockholm, Isaac Mitchell, Ephraim Paine, Abraham G. Storm, Abra- ham Adriance, Samuel Myers, Benjamin Herrick, Frederick Knox, Jonathan Gazly, Joshua Ward, Wil- liam W. Bogardus, Edmund Per Lee, Ira Winans, James L. Winans, Joseph C. Field, James De Long, James Norsson, Elias Beers, Peter Gurnsey, Ezra Thompson, Robert Willson, Caleb Thompson, Peter Fish, Jorden Norris, William Vradenburgh, Cyrenus Crosby, Lemuel Conklin, Simon S. Frare, John Hob- son, Casper Hillequist, Josiah Smith, Bronson French, Cornelius Wiltsie, James Gazley, Joseph Powell, George Booth, Abraham B. Rapalje, James Slater, Garrit Adriance, Joseph Broas, John E. Pe'.ls, Eben- ezer Haight, Thomas Barlow, Devaux Bailey, Stephen Bailey, Sheldon Munger, Joseph Harris, Theodorus R. \'au \\'yck. James Collin, John Patterson, John Rich- mond, John Cox, Jr., John Thompson, Isaac Hunting, Rudolphus Hasbrook, Allard Anthony, John Bedford, Ezra Thompson, Jr., John Myre, Christian Dubois, Jacobus Swartout, Adrian Munford, Theodorus W. \'an Wyck, Abraham Huslc)', Wihiam Van Wyck, Adam Montross, Theodorus Adriance, Thomas G. Storm, Rem .\driance, William Thorn, George Bloom, Elnathan T^'ler, Daniel Burton and Jonathan Sanford. After the above shares were sold a regularly ap- pointed committee set apart Tuesday, the fourth of September, 1804, for a meeting of the stockholders at Baldwin's Hotel, at 2 p. m., to vote for Trustees to manage the concerns of the stockholders. The meet- ing was presided over by Peter R. Maison, as Chair- man, and John Brush as Secretary. The Trustees elected were Gilbert Livingston, Nathan Myers and John Brush. They were invested with full power to purchase and build, or purchase suitable lots and buildings to be occupied as a stand for a Public Inn, to provide for the safet\- thereof, to make necessary al- terations and repairs, to lease and make leases of the same, to collect the subscription for the stock and to govern the Association. These Trustees purchased of Robert Williams "the House, Lott and premises known 1)>- the name of the Poughkeepsie Hotel," and also took an assignment of a lease held by him "from the consistory of the Dutch Church in Poughkeepsie," for all of which the Trus- tees paid $9,000. N.AMES OF \-()TERS FOR P.AVING ON MAIN STREET. (PageSi.) .August nth, 1812. 1"|. froiita,nc. Storm and Wilson 38 Abraham C.. SUinn, for the Middle District Bank 34. 3 Jesse Oaklev 4,S William Cromwell 23 David and Benjamin Arnold -i -6 Benjamin Arnold, as attorney for Sarah \'an Ness... 53 Tnnis Van Kleeck, by bis attorney, B. Arnold 3,=i William Plummer 3° Leonard Davis, bv B. Arnold, attorney 17S William Green, bV B. Arnold, attorney 5° Gertrude Hoffman, by B. Arnold, attorney 108 Elijah Morgan, Jr 18.6 William Smith, by N. Conklin, Jr., attorney 30.4 Benjamin Herrick 52 James Talmadgc, Junior 60 Joseph C. Dean 23 . g John Thomas, by B. Arnold, attorney 70 John Giles, by B. Arnold, attorney 24.2 Peter B. Morgan 33 Samuel Slee, by his attorney, Gilbert Ketcham 42.6 972 Owners of lots who did not vote for paving and improving : Dutch Church 238 Moses Hobson 25 Jabish Bosworth 36 Mrs. Mary Hillequist 39.6 Mrs. Johanna Holthuysen 36 I. Rivington 89 Peter Deriemer 56 Peter R. Maison 116 Frederick Merkle 37 Smith Thompson 44 Paul Schenck's assignees 57 Heirs of .Anthony HotTman, property in possession of James Slater and Joshua Y. Racket 83 Baltus and Thomas Carman 50 907 Garden Street, 17 feet; Mechanic Street, 9 feet 26 \'C)TE ON CANNON STREET PA\TNG. 20th day April, 1814. Those who voted for paving and improving : Ft. frontage. Benjamin Herrick 125.5 John B. Swartout 35 John E. Canfield 44- 10 George Bloom, home lot 40.6 Samuel Slee 59.5 Daniel Coolidge, for man. tan office 219.6 Daniel Coolidge and George Bloom 120.7 Thomas W. Talmadge 37.7 George B. Evertson loi John Davis 64.3 George Bloom's lot next Academy 66 922.6 Names of owners of lots who did not vote for paving and improving : Ft. frontage. Joseph Farrington 30 Peter De Rcimer lot shown 42 . 3 Peter Dc Reimer, vacant lot 55-2 I-Iannah Nelson 62.8 John Peter DeWint 244.2 Dutchess Academy lot 132 Thomas Warner 66 Jabez Wadsworth 47. 6 Jeremiah Martin 50.2 Hannah Boernm 50 u Adriana Mott 57.1 887.9 (■;.\RDEN STREET PA\TNG VOTE. (Page 108.) Main to Mill, April 3d, 1833, the resolution pro- viding also for brick sidewallcs : Frontage. Peter P. Ha> cs 172 Stephen Scofield 32 308 GBNBRAL APPENDIX. Solomon V. Frost 156 James Mills 30 George Mead 50 Israel B. Hall 32 David B. Lent 100 A majority of 446 feet. MILL STREET PAVING VOTE. "From Crandell Street to Washington Street," lOth April, 1833. Feet. A. J. CofSn 42 David B. Lent 55 Elias Trivett 42 A. G. Storm 75 Lsaac M. Newcomb 50 Samuel Pine 90 Aaron Frost 5914 Charles Wood t,t, Gertrude Hoffman 42 Adam Henderson 44 Stephen Frost 50 Richard Pudney 44 James Mills 38J4 Theodore Bailey 25 John R. Bailey 25 James Grant, Jun 48 Solomon V. Frost 102 John Depew 150 G. Williamson 50 William Frost 45 William G. Odell 42 Edmund B. Bailey 42 Willis Haviland 4654 Paraclete Potter 311^ Philip S. Crooke 25 James Tallmadge 218 1,581 Majority given at 128 feet. MARKET STREET PAVIXG A^OTE. "From Main Street to the English Church," Sep- tember 14th, 1 83 1. No. Feet. In. Henry Swift 32 9 John Barnes go Gilbert Brewster 267 John B. Forbus, A. Forbus, J. D. Robinson, M. Forbus, Estate of John Forbus 77 John P. Dewint 87 6 Edward Hopkins 2t William Broas 39 Stephen Cleveland 40 6 Jeremiah Banker 20 Henry Ale.x. Field 13 James Flooker 122 John Brush Robert Forrest Not voting Majority . 138 45 1,092 • 393 LOWER MAIN STREET P.WT^lMEXT \'OTE. Meeting at the honse of Thomas Swift, in Market Street, September T4th, 183 1. No. Feet. In. Gilbert Brewster 150 6 Paraclete Potter 1 1 :; John G. Sturges 40 Stephen Cornell, per M. Cornell 30 William Da\ie5 i,54S William Turner .40 Elias Trivett 150 A. Gun, Jun 40 Matthew Vassar 329 Zebulon Reynolds 42 Peter Everitt 5° A. Blakeslee 139 J. M. Nelson 40 Marinus Pierce 72 Henry Conklin 658 3,440 Not voting 2,557 Majority 883 CLINTON CATECHISM. (From the Political Barometer, April 24, 181 1.) (Reference to "Manhattan Bank at Poughkeepsie," 1 6th question, from page 89.) The second edition of a new catechism, founded on modern practice, calculated to show the faculty of pro- viding for a family in an elective government, by the discovery of a drop of Clintonian blood ; and how it qualifies a man for office, or for any number of offices, to the exclusion of their fellow citizens, whatever be their talents or merits. Question. Why is DeWitt Clinton Mayor of the City of New York, Commissioner of Fortifications, and of the Western Lock Navigation Company, director of the Manhattan Bank, and Regent of the University? Ansiver. Because he is the political head of the C'intonian family. Q.. How did he become so ? A. By deserting his political father, George Clin- ton, to whom he owes his political existence, and by all the acts of a demagogue and an intriguing poli- tician. Q. Why is George Tappen Clerk of Ulster county and Notary Public. A. Because his father's sister married George Clin- ton, who is the brother of James Clinton, who is the father of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is Pierre C. \'an Wyck Recorder of the City of New York, Commissioner of Bankruptcy, and why is his brother Notary Public? A. Because his mother was sister of Pierre Van Cortlandt, who married the daughter of George Clin- ton, who is the brother of James Clinton, who is the father of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is Samuel A'an Wyck a justice of the peace of the City of New York? A. Because he is cousin of Pierre C. \'an Wyck, whose mother was sister of Pierre A'an Cortlandt, who married the daughter of George Chnton, who is the brother of James Clinton, who is the father of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is Matthias B. Tallmadge Judge of the District Court of the United States, for the New York District, a manager of the Lottery, etc. ? A. Because he married a daughter of George Clin- ton, who is the brother of James Clinton, who is the father of DeWitt C'inton. Q. Wh^• is Theodorus Bailev Postmaster of the City of New Yoid. Tallmadge, who married the daughter of George Clinton, who is the uncle of DeWitt Clin- ton. Q. Why is Obadiah German a Senator of the United States, and a Judge of Shenango county? A.. I'ecause he is a cousin of Matthias B. Tall- madge. who married the daughter of George Clinton, who is the uncle of DeW'itt Clinton. Q. Why is Philip S. Parker Recorder of the City of Ilud.son, and a Commissioner of Bankruptcy? -'/. Because he is the nephew of Ambrose Spencer, who married the sister of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is John Taylor commissioner for the budding of the state-house in Albany, commissioner for Indian Affairs, President of the State Bank, etc.? A. Because he is the cousin of George Clinton, who is the uncle of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is Francis Bloodgood Clerk of the Su- preme Court, and Clerk of the Board of Regents? A. Because he is the nephew of John Taylor, who is the cousin of George Clinton, who is the uncle of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Why is Abraham Bloodgood Clerk of the county of Oneida, and director of the Manhattan Bank at Uliea? .-/. Because he is the brother of Francis Blood- good, and the nephew of John Tayler, who is the cousin of (ieorge Clinton, who is the 'uncle of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Wh\- is Charles D, Cooper Clerk of the count\- of Albany? ./. Because he married the adopted daughter of John Tayler, who is cousin of George Clinton, who is uncle of DeWitt Clinton. Q. Win- is Samuel Osgood naval officer of the port of New York? -•/. Because his step-daughter is the wife of De- Witt Clinton. Q. Why is John Townsend promoted from a sub- altern to a Brigade-Quartermaster, to rank with Major? A. Because he married the daughter of Ambrose Spencer, who married the two sister's of De^\'itt Clin- ton. Q. Wh\- is Henry A. Townsend Clerk of Steuben county ? A. Because he is the brother of John, who married the daughter of Ambrose Spencer. Q. Why are Benjamin DeWitt and Isaac Dennis- ton Lotter)' Agents, who by their speculative mode of selling tickets, may make more than an\- salary offi- cers in the government? A. Because they are the relations of John Tayler, who is the uncle of DeA\'itt Clinton, and cousin to George Clinton. 0. ^\l^^' is De^^'itt Clinton the leader of the Clin- tonian party in the State of New York, and whv is he to be Lieut. -Governor and candidate for the chief magistracN of the state and nation? A. Because it enables him to trace out all the con- nexions of his family, and provide ever\- one of them with offices. O. How many offices and places of profit are in the possession of DeWitt Clinton and his family con- nexions ? ./. Without counting any office which is held by the immediate \oice of the people, I find the Clinton- ian family and its connexions in the possession of aiKn-e fort\- offices or places of profit, many of them the most lucrati\-e in our countr\-, and that this ag- gregate amount of emoluments of these offices will he as great as the em- the Charter of 1869. The corresponding officer before that time was called the Cit\- Collector. Frederick \\^oodrufif was Collector from 1854 to 1867, followed for one vear by Joseph G. Frost. The first City Treasurer was Daniel B. Marsh, who resigned De- cember 29th, 1869, when Richard E. Lansing was ap- pointed for the remainder of the term. Subsequent City Treasurers were : 1870 Elias G. Hopkins. 1871-1872 Solomon B. Wheeler. 1873-1878 Frank W. George (died in office). 1879-1880 Byron L. Heath (Apptd. to fill vacancy). 1881-1884 Abraham Wiltsie. 1 885- 1 886 Owen Ward. 1887-1888 Frank Hasbrouck. 1889-1890 Ezra White. 1891-1892 Henry V. Pelton. 1 893- 1 894 Edward S. Haight. 1895-1896 Charles R. Dickinson. 1897-1898 D. Crosby Foster. 1899-1900 Charles E. Schou (resigned). 1901- Clinton D. Parkhill. CITY ATTORNEYS. (Office created b>' the Charter of 1874.) Allard Anthony had been Corporation Counsel from 1 869- 1 874. 1875 O. D. M. Baker. 1876-77 William I. Thorn. 1878-86 Wm. Morgan Lee. 1887-88 Charles B. Herrick. 1889-90 William R. Woodin. 1891-94 Charles B. Herrick. 1895-96 P. Edgar Ackert. 1897-98 James L. Williams. 1899- Wm. Morgan Lee. CHIEF ENGINEERS OF THE POUGHKEEPSIE FIRE DEPARTMENT. VILLAGE. John Brush. John Cole. Peter P. Ha-\es. Alfred G. Wainright. loseph ^^^right. C. W. Adriance. Oliver H. Booth. William Berry. CITY. 1854 William Berry. 1855-59 Edward P- Tavlor. 1860 ' George H. McLean. 1861 Stephen Armstrong. 1862 George H. McLean. 1863 William C. Arnold. 1864 John |. Keech, Res. 1864-65 Robert W. Frost. 1866-67 William T. Swart. 1868 Edward W. Shurter. 1869-72 Isaac H. ^^'ood. 1873-75 Charles H. Shurter. 1876-77 Edward ^^' Shurter. 1878-79 ^\'illiam Howard. 1880-87 ^^'illianl Kaess (died in office). 1S87-88 Charles D. Fitchett. 1889-92 John Bright. 1893-96 Lewis Thompson. 1897-00 Frederick Bieber. 1901-05 George Nagengast. ADDENDA AND ERRATA. On page 20, seven lines from the beginning, 181 5 should read 1715. On the same page the statement as to the connec- tion between the \'an den Bogart and Heermance families is unwarranted, at least it does not apply to any present Heermance families so far as known. The name Van den Bogart was used by Myndert Harms's father and probably dates back of the arrival of the family in this country. There seems to be no certain evidence that any of his descendants took the name Heermance. On page 92 should have been added a statement that Isaac Mitchell purchased the Republican Herald September i6th, 1812, and changed the name to "The Nortlicrn Politician." Mitchell died in November and the next owners of the paper doubtless restored the former name. On page 154, near the end of the first column, the word "brother," in reference to Mayor George Wilkin- son, should read 'nephew." On page 156 there should be mention of the build- ing of the present Washington Street Church in 1858. On page 205 there should be mention of the last school conducted on Cottage Hill by John Miley. The old school buildings were torn down by Mr. Mark Shwartz, who purchased the property' in May, 1890, and built the present block of brick buildings on the street front. On page 209, second line, William A. Howland should be Joseph Howland. On page 244 George Card, near the bottom of the first column, should read Silas Card. On page 251 there should be mention of the organ- ization of an English Lutheran Church in October, 1901, by Rev. Charles S. Rahn, the present pastor, in co-operation with Rev. H. D. Kraeling, then pastor of the German Lutheran Church. The new congregation is known as St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and purchased its property at 176 Church Street, in 1903. It is a growing church with a present (1905) membership of about 100. INDEX. The Names Occurring only in the lists of Civil War Enlistments, Pages 175-182; in the list OF THE FIRST PROFESSORS AND INSTRUCTORS AT YASSAR COLLEGE, PAGE 203; AND IN THE LISTS OF THE General Appendix, pages 300-313, are not individually indexed. Abbott, Robert — 77. Abell, C. Pierre— 222. Academy — See Schools. Academy Street — 32, 64, 65, TJ, 108. Acken, A. T. — 205. .Vckert, P. Edgar — 244. Ackert, Roberta S. — 251. Ackert, William Samuel, M. D. — 270. Adams, Rev. B. M. — 191. Adams, Charles C. (editor 1811) — 91. Adams, Jolin — 50. Adriance, Abraham — 63, 92. Adriance, Charles P. — 123, 147. Adriance, Cornelius — 39, 303. Adriance, Francis H. — 253. Adriance, George B. — 151, 12},. Adriance, Rev. Harris E. — 253. Adriance, I. Reynolds — 253. 260. Adriance, John (father of John P.) — 117, 129, 138, 158. Adriance, John E. — 253, 263, 264. Adriance, John P.— 158, 186, 191, 192, 194, 206, 217, 220, 223, 253. Adriance, Piatt & Co.— 191, 197, 234. Adriance, R. E. & Co. — 161. Adriance, William A.— 253, 260, 264. Agnew, Dr. Charles (N, Y.)— 209. Agricultural Association, Hudson River — 222. Ahreet, John D. — 266. Aikin, Albro — 107. Aikin, James C. — 171. Akin, Daniel D— 115. Akins, Jonathan, Constitutional Conven- tion, 1788—61. Albertson, B. — 209 Albertson Edge Tool Works— 209. Aldrich, Richard — 133. Allen, Augustus L.— 167, 172, 215, 237. Allen, Flavins J.— 237- Allen, Horatio — 220, 237. Allen, Joseph, 1S26— 121. Allen, Joesph E.— 161. Allen, Peter K.— 103. Allen, William, marriage 1744—30. Alliger, Mary C— 254. Alms House, city -190, tsI board— 190. Ambler, John P. — 253. Amen. Harlan Page — 256. Amenia — 6g, 136, 13c), 214. Ames, Charles F. — 10^. Anderson, Barrett (of S. C.)— US- Anderson, Martin B.— 167. Andrus, Charles H.— 206. Andrus & Dudley— 156, 161. Andrus, E. C— 161. Andrus, Sxlvester — 270. Angell, Charles P.— 251. Angell. Evelyn — 202. Angell, Stephen T.— 215. Angevine, Elmore & Jaycocks — loi. Angcvine, Henry — 145. Annabury & Seaman — 161. Anthes, Charles — iGi. Anthony, Judge AUard — 178, 191, 194, 205, 212, 220, 223. Anthony, Theophihis — 40, 43, 67, 69. Anti-Rent War — 27. .Apokeepsing — 9-15. Arlington (Bull's Head)— 51, 174, 216. Appleton, Christopher — 145. Applcton, J. H. (Springfield, Mass.) — 228, 230. Arden, John — 73, 88. Argus (Albany newspaper) — 91. Armstrong, Ira — 145. .\rmstrong, John — 74. Armstrong, John, Jr. — 98. Armstrong, Stephen — 107, 108, 153. Arnold, Benjamin — 84, 90, 270. Arnold, Charles N. — 243, 250, 270. Arnold, C. W. H.— 127, 247. Arnold David — 84, 90, 124, 138, 144, 270. Arnold, Levi M. — 138, 139, 161, 172, 192. Arnold, Nathan — 270. Arnold, William— 78 Arnold, William C— 83, 161, 170, 173, 270. Assembly, Representatives in. Colonial —20, 33; State— 57, 61, 92, 97, 108, 172, 224, 225. Assessments, earlv lists — 21, 32; 1831- 1839—127; 1866-1878—224. Associators (Revolution) — 36; list of signers — 300, 301. .\sylum, or "Alonzo and Melissa" (novel) — 91. Atkins, Alfred— 176, 188. Atkins, Benjamin— 173. Atkins, J. S. (i860)— 161. Atkins, Olixer S. — 263. .Atkinson, William — 263. .Atwater, Edward S. — 24J. Atwater, Mrs. Edward S. — 248, 266. Alwater, Dr. John P.— 219. Alwill, Winthrop — 207. Alwill, Mrs. \\'inthrop — 206. Austin, Thomas — 14s. Avery, Dr. E. W — 250. .A\ery, Honry N. — 222. .\vory. Miss Mvra L.— 50, 266. Aweng, Adolphus (French teacher) — 123. Ayrault, George — 222. B Babcock, J. C— 171- Bahcock, Rev. Rufns— go, 146, 167. Backus, Truman J.— 203, 250. Badger, Ebenezer — 36, 72, 85. Bagnall, John J. — 247. Bahret, Jacob — 146. Bailey, Edmund B. — 146. Bailej', Elizabeth, marries James Kent — 54- Bailey, John, Jr. — 32, 54, 62. Baile}', John N., fire warden 1803 — 72. Bailey, M. & E.— 86. Bailey, Richard — 222. Bailey, Theodorns — 54, 55, 61, 67, 92. Bailey, William (1792) — 66. Bain, Ferdinand R. — 259. Bain, Horatio N. — 259. Bain, Milton — 259. Baker, Elijah — 129. Baker, O. D. M. — 224, 240. Baker, Stephen — 172, 174. Baker, Valentine — 50, 69, T2, 74, 82, 90, lOI. Balding, Joseph, Pawling 1802 — 77. Balding (Baldwin) Isaac — 32, 38. Balding, Isaac I. — 99, 108, 118, 126, 129, 161, 190. Balding, Richard S.— 86. Baldwin's Hotel, 1803—72, 88. Ballard, Caleb— 216. Banker, John T. — 162, 173. Banks — City — 162, 292. Dutchess County — 104, 107, 137. Exchange, (Henry Davis's) — 104. Fallkill— 138. Farmers' and Manufacturers" — 107. First National — 192. Manhattan Branch — 89. Merchants' — 137, 138. Middle District — 89, loi, 107. Poughkeepsie — 107, 292. Poughkeepsie Trust Co. — 292. Savings — 107, 292. Bantle, L. — 266. Barculo, Judge Seward — 129, 132, 145, 148, 271. Barculo, Mrs. Seward — 183. Barculo & Swift — 131. Bard, Dr. Samuel — go. Baright, Mrs. Edwin D. — 251. Barker, Caleb — 104, log, 112, 122, 127, 138, 145- Barlow, Elisha (1821)— 98. Barnanl, Capt. Frederick — 107, 112, 271. Barnard, Judge Joseph F. — 162. 176, 1S2, 188, 190, 223, 271. Barnard, Robert A. — 151. Barnegat — 82, 92, 143. Barnes, Charles H. — 252. Barnes, David H. — 145. Barnes, Dr. John — 109. Barnes, William — 193. Barnes, William R. (1S04) — 74. 316 INDEX. Barnes & Willoughby (1813)— 86. Barnett, J. — 216. Barnse, Balthazar (Van Kleeck) — 18. Barnum, Charles P — 92, 103. Barnum, Dr. H. W. — 272. Barratt, Helmus W. — 253, 254. Barratt, Nathan — 145. Barry, William H.— 161. Bartlett, Charles— 123, 137, :4s, 148, 165, 204. Bartlett, David £.—165. Bartlett, Dudley— 161. Bartlett, Rev. Edward O.— 183. Bartlett, Joseph O. — 161, 162. Base Ball — 171. Basley, E. F.— 153. Basley, Frank E. — 263. Bates, Miss E. — 219. Bayeau-x, Henry — 26. Bayeaux, Thomas — 78. Bayer, George W. — 263. Bauer, Joseph — 266. Bayley, Dr. Guy C. — 225, 250. Beacons, in Highlands — 52. Beadle, D. W.— 138. Beadle, Dr. Edward L. — 208, 21c, 212. Beadle, Mrs. Edward L. — 193. Beadle, John, surveyor of turnpike — 77. Beadle, Timothy — 77. Bear Baiting— 88. Beard, Col. O. T.— 190. Beardsley, Rev. John, First English (Episcopal) minister — 23, 30, 31, 37, 38. Beardsley, William — 209. Beardsley, William J. — 259. Beattys, George H. — 161, 171, 173, 216. Beattys, Mary — 251. Beck, Edward — 143, 158. Beckwith, Elizabeth Reynolds — 202. Beckwith, John — 67, 121. Bedell, Dr. — 209. Bedell, Mrs. Mary H.— 251. Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward — 193. Beecher, Rev. James C. — 251. Beekman, Cornelia (wife of Henry Livingston) — 29. Beekman, Henry, Justice 1735 — 25. Beekman, Maria, daughter George Clinton — 67. Beekman, town of — 6g. Benjamin, E. P. — 137. Beneway, Ezekiel — 170. Beneway. P. G. — 208. Benton, Joel — 39, 182, 216. Berry, George — 188. Berry, Peter N. (Stormville) — 222 Berry, William — 175, 186. Benson, Egbert— 35, 36, 39, 41, 54, 57, 63. Best, John — 170, 171. Beutel, Martin — 186. Bible and Tract Society — 147 Bieber, Frederick — 262. Biglin, Bernard, James, John (oarsmen) 170, 171. Billings, Cornelia — 78. Billings, Major Andrew — 39, 49, 55, 6s, 72, 78. Bi.sbee. George — 174. Bishcc, Joseph Bartlett — 256, 294. Bisbee, OiIn — 162, 165, 204, 215, 217, 223, 294. Bisbee, W'innifred F. (Mrs. Joseph B.) —25 1 . P.ishop, Caleli — 67. Bishop, Japthet — 141. Bishop, Nathan (Vassar trustee) — 167. Bishop, S. H. — 204. Bissell, George E. — 250. Black, Capt, A. F.— 259. Blakesleeville — 174. Blakesley, Amaziah — 75, 88, 108. Blanchard, James (i860) — 161. Bliven, Mrs. H. W.— 165. Bloom, George — 90, 92. Bloom, John — 138. Board of Public Works — 244. Board of Trade — 217, 223, 234. Boardman, Catharine Rogers — 202. Bockee, Abraham (1775) — 36. Bockee, Abraham, 1836 and later — 115, I-I4, 157- Bockee, Dr. Jacob — 205. Bogardus, E. P. — 208. Bogardus, James W. — 145, 147, 153. Bogardus, Stephen H. — 161, 17s, 176, 185. Bolding, John M., fugitive slave — 135. Bonker, Benjamin (1807) — 90. Bonker, Ruth (1807) — 90. Boorman, James — 141. Booth, George— 74, 78, 83, 84, 85. Booth, Henry — 64. Booth, Judge Henry (Chicago) — 165. Booth, Miss Lydia — 123, 167. Booth, Maria Louise — 202. Booth. Oliver H. — 84, 149, 150, 158, 168, 170, 188, 216, 220, 222, 233, 248, 262, 272. Booth, Richard— 81. Booth, William F. — 262, 264, 272. Boshart, Capt. William F. — 176. Bostwick, William H. (Amenia) — 115, MS- Bosworth, Miss Arabella — 123. Bottolph, Edward A. — 153. Bounties, civil war — 182, 185. Bouton. R. M.— 137. Bowman, Joseph — 67, 83. Bowne, Sarah — 207, 251. Bowne, James (Mayor) — 86, 109, 123, 148, 154. 172, 176, 183. 190, 215. Bowne, James, Jr. — 157, 222. Bowne, J. & Co. — i6r. Bowne, Charles E. — 172. Boyd, David— 85, 108, 116. Boyd, John G.^5. 116, 206. Boyd. Nathan Trowbridge — 86. Boyd & Wiltsie (i860)— 161. Brad\-, Martin V.— 237. Brainerd, Cephas (N. Y.)— 188. Braman, Samuel H. — 222 Brant, Andrus — 182. Bread Inspector — 74. Brett, Francis — 25. Brett, Albert — 147. Brewer, Annie, Y. W. C. A. — 2.SI. Brewer, Cornelius — 33, 67. Brewer, Nazareth — 67. Brewer, Thomas M. — 146. Brewster. Gilbert — 112, ipo, 122, 127. Brickyard.s — 136, 143. Briggs, Edgar A. — 225. Brill. John — 162. 210. Brinckcrhoff, Dirck — 33. 36. Brinckerhoff, John H. — 230, 237, 272. Brinckcrhoff, Tunis (1849) — 145, 147. Brinkerhoff, Abraham — 23, 38,' 55. Broas, Benjamin S. — 171, 182. Broas Brothers — 161. Broas, Isaac — 135. Broas, John — 133. T'.roas, \\'illiam — 129. Brock. John W.— 228. Brooks, Charles A.— 266. P>rooks, David — 61. Brooks, John J. — 223. Brooks & Marshall — 158. Brower, Rev. Cornelius — 78. Brower, James — 153. Brown, Derrick — 242. Brown, Rev. F. D. — 176. Brown, George H. (D. & C. R. R.) — 215, 216. Brown, George R. — 188. Brown, George S. — 171. Brown, George T. — 161. Brown, Samuel H. — 244, 274. Brown, Thomas S. — 158. Bruce, Wallace — 244. Bruff, Richard P.— 209. Brundage, C. B. — 190. Brush, Henry — 127, 135. Brush, John— 81, 90, 92, 98, 104, 119. Brush, Philo C. (1824)— 98. Bryant & Stratton — 200. Buck, Samuel Wells — 254. Buckhout, George — 233. Buckhout, Jacob E. — 168, 170. Buckingham, Stephen M. — 167, 206, 207, 208, 210, 212, 223, 251. Palmer & Budd— 161. Budd, Samuel — 153. Buel, Jesse — 91. Buel, Judge, of Troy (1845) — 131. Buel, Rev. Samuel — 148, 157, 176. Buildings in 1841 — 310. Bulkley, Rev. Benjamin — 78. Bullard, Henry W. — 244. Bull's Head — See Arlington. Burchard, Rev. Jedediah — 121. Burchard, Rev. Samuel D. — 191. Burgan, Peter — 67. Burgess, Edward — 222, 250, 253. Burgoyne, Gen. — 41, 42, 43. BurHng, Lancaster — 49. Burnap, G. C— 158, 176. Burnap, Mrs. G. C. — 193. Burns, Dr. Edward M. — 274. Burritt, Josiah — 99, 129. Burt, Grinnell (W. V. Ry.)— 216. Burton, Naomi ( 1807) — go. Bushnell, Jennie — 251. Bushnell, William — 143. Butler, Charles (1824)— 98. Butler, George H. — 141. Butler, L. P. (Mayor of Boston)— 221. Butts, Allison — 239, 248, 274 Butts, Ralph F.— 274. Buys, Hendrick — 21. Cable, John M. — 129. Cady, Rev. P. K.— 207. Cairnes, N. G. — 120. Caire, Adam — 235. Caldwell, Matthew, fire warden 1803 — 72, 74- Caldwell, John H— 263. Call Rock, also Caul Rock— See Kaal Rock. Cameron. Simon (Pa.) — 22S. Canal to Pine Plains — 139. Candee, W. A — 161. Candce, John N. — 206, 237. Cantine, Peter, Jr. (Revolution)— 41. Camach, Hannali — 165. Campbell Hall — 230. Canajoharie — 148. Canfield, N. H. (i860)— 161. Cannon, Arnout — 182. Cannon, George W. — 219. Camion Street— First mention and name — 64; houses on— 65, 66, 67; extended— 78, 135; paving vote (1S14)— 307. INDEX. 317 Card, A. M. — 190. Card, George — 244. Carey, Egbert — 204. Carey, William — 119. Carlisle, W. R.— 230. Carman, Charles C. — 153. Carmell, town of — 69. Carman, Charles — 145. Carnegie, Andrew — 220. Carpenter & Brother (i860) — 161. Carpenter, Hon. B. Piatt — 165, 171, 173, 174, 205, 2i5, 225. Carpenter, Isaac — 215. Carpenter, Jacob B. — 172, 182, 192, 223, 259. Carpenter, J. DuBois — 160, 239. Carpenter, Leonard, Sr. — 138, 161. Carpenter, ]\1organ — 139, 173. Carpenter, Miss Sarah M. — 183, 193. Carr, Col. Clark E. (111.)— 165. Cartland, Alfred L. — 251. Cary, Ebenezer — 156. Cary, James R. — 117. Cassatt, Andrew J. — 220. Case, James S. — 188. Case, Dr. Walter R.— 244. Casper Kill — Indian names and early settlement — 10, 12, 16; Gov. Clin- ton's place — 48; other references — 68, 84. Celebrations — 4th of July — 59, 131, 200, 202; Civil War — rgi, 193, 197; Pok. Centennial — 263. Cemeteries — See graveyards. Chadwick, Thomas — 21. Chain, to obstruct river navigation. Fort Montgomery — 40, 41 ; West Point — 49- Chamberlain, William — 182. Champlin, Albert H — 149, 171. Chanler, Robert Winthrop — 225. Chapman, W. R. (N. Y.)— 266. Chapinville Wheel Co. — 235. Charities — Charity Organization Society —251- Home for the Friendless — 157. House of Industry — 207. Home for Aged Men (Vassar) — 250. Old Ladies' Home — 204, 208. Charlotte precinct — 23, 35. Charier — First village — 70; first city— 150-151; 1874—223, 224; 1883—239; recent amendments — 244, 247. Chase, Hon. Salmon P — 173. Cleaveland, Dr. Joseph M. — 208. Cleveland. Stephen — 104, 161. Cheney, Albert O.— 176, 254, 264. Chichester Chair Factory — 210. Chichester, N. O.— 171. Chichester, P.— 182. Chichester, Samuel — 133. Childs, John— 33, 38, 39. Choral Club — 250, 266. Christy, Thomas (1838)— T36. Churches — Baptist, Mill Street— 90, 206, 252. Lafayette Place— 146. 206, 252. Catholic, St. Peter's— 122, 147; Ger- man — 147; St. Mary's — 206, 251; Polish — 251. Christian Science — 25T. Congregational — 122, 156, 166, 251. Dutch "(Reformed)— 22. 23, 53, 65, 68, 73. 122. 206, fire 154-156; Second Reformed — 25T. En.glish (Episcopal) — 23-24. Episcopal, Christ Church — 23, 24, 38, ST, 64, 68, 99, 119, 121, 252; St. Paul's — 123, 206 ; Holy Com- forter — 156, 207. Friends — 90, 122; Lafayette Place — 122, 252; Montgomery Street — 188, 251-2. Lutheran — 146, 206, 314. Methodist, ist — 90, 122, 314; Can- non St. — 146, 252; Hedding — 147; Trinity — 252; Zion — 147; German — 146. Presbyterian — 23, 121, 147. Universalist — 146. Church Street — 64, 77, 135, 217. Citizens' Gas Co. — 237. City Court, created — 247. City Hall — irg, 197, 198. City Officers, list of — ^312, 313. Clapn, Mrs. Egbert D. — 251. Clark, George (Newburgh) — 209, 212. Clark, Dr. H. F. — 262 ; biog. sketch — 275. Clark, James B. (N. Y. attorney 1791)— 64. Clark, Thomas C— 228. Clay, Henry — visit to Pok. — 129-130; steamboat disaster — 148. Clegg, James — 136. Clegg, Thomas — 161, 178, 218. Clifford, Daniel — 190, 208. Clinton Catechism (1811) — 308, 309. Clinton, DeWitt — T03. Clinton, George W., son of Gov. George . —67- Clinton, Gov. George, Revolution — 39, 41, 42, 43, 44; residence in Po'k. — 45, 48, 65 ; letters written in Po'k. — 46, 48, 53 ; Constitutional convention — 57, 61 ; daughter marries Citizen Genet — 61 ; buys house on Cannon Street — 66, 67; buys Casper Kill farm — 67; head com. to buv hotel — 8S. Clinton, Mrs. George — 42, 43, 53. Clinton House (Clinton Museum) — 32, 4^. 48. 64. no, 266. Clinton, Sir Henry — 41. 42. 43. Clinton, Gen. James — 39, 41. Clopper, Mrs. Catherine — 38. Clubs— Amrita — 222. Apokeepsing Boat — 263. Bicycle clubs — 264. Dutchess — 264. Golf and Country — 264. Ice Yacht — 170. Poughkeepsie — 264. Shatemuc Boat — 222. Tennis — 264. Cockburn, Will, surveyor — 31, 32. Coetus and Conferentie dispute — 23. Coffin, Alexander J. — 98, 104, 107, 119, 138. 145. 161, 172. Coffin, Owen T. — 190. Coffin, Tristram — 47, 206, 222, 2O3. Cogswell, Joseph H. — 161, 171, 182, 183. Colden, Cadwallader D. — 55, 66, 67. Collcr, T. H.— 161. Collcr, John — 135. College Hill — in, 123, 125, 129. 131, 145, 165, 204, 212, 248, 250. College Rowing Races — 264. Collingwood, George — 264. Collingwood, James — 158, 161, 192, 210, 219, 220, 222. Collingwood, John G. — 263. Collingwood, William — 171. Collingwood, Wm. A. — 222. Collins, Martin W. — 240, 254, 275. Colwell, Charles M.— 224. Commercial Paint Works — T56. Committee of Safety (Revolution) — 39. Commons — 30, 31, 32, 33, 66. Common Council — 153, 198, 210, 244. Cone, H. D. — 230. Concordia (musical soc.) — 266. Confiscations in Revolution — 301. Conklin & Bowne — 86, loi, 117. Conklin, Henry — 104, 108, 115, 117, 123, 127, 129, 138, 139- Conklin, Jacob — 36. Conklin, John — 23, 26, 29, 32, 36. Conklin, J. M.— 86. Conklin, Matthew (1775) — 36. Conklin, Nathan — 86, 104, 107, 112, 117, 127. Conklin, Nathaniel (i77s) — 36. Conklin, Nehemiah — 107, 121. Conklin, Richard D. — 69. Conklin, Storm H. — 171. Conklin, Susan (wife of Henry Living- ston) — 29. Conkling, Roscoe — 165. Constant, S. S. (Vassar trustee) — 167. Constitution, protest vs. change 1821 — 97-98; list of signers — 310. Continental troops in Po'k. — 51. Contraband business (Revolution) — ^49. Cook, Albert — 104. Cook, Temperance (1804) — 78. Cooke, John (1798) — 69. Cooley, LeRoy C. — 204, 250. Coolidge, Daniel F. — 89. Cookingham, Jane Maria — 202. Cooper, Ananias (1775) — 36. Cooper, Ezekiel — 39. Cooper, Dr. John R. — 170, 175, 225. Copake — 214. Copeman, John (1804) — 78. Copperheads — 186, 188. Cordwainers Society — loi. Corlies, George — 109, 138, 208, 220, 275. Codies, Jacob — 138, 217, 218, 276. Corlies, Walter — 217. Corliss, Joseph N. — 218. Cornell, R. D.— 174. Corning, Erastus — 141. Corning, Rev. J. L. — 191, 222. Cornish, John (1824) — 98. Correspondence, committees in Revolu- tion — 34, 35, 40; first Poughkeepsie committee — 39, 40. Cornwallis, surrender celebrated — 53. Cornwell, George — 157, 220. Corwin, Wm. (N. Y.) — 215. Cossum, Charles F. — 263. Cottage Hill — 123, 124, 165, 167, 176, 205, 314- Cotter, Dr. John H. — 263, 276. Counties comparison of, in Revolution — 48, 49. County House — 190. Court House, first — 19, 20; second — 20, 28; in Revolution — 37, 49, 51; burned — 56 ; Const. Convention — 56, 57 ; burned, 1806 — 75, 76; last — 259. Courts, General Sessions established — 20; suspended during 1777 — 44; conducted by John Jay — ^49; by James Kent — 55. Courts Martial — 51. Cowles. Col. David S.— 182. Cowlcs, John — 98, 129. Cowman, Augiistus T. — 133. Coxe, Robert E. — 157. Coxhead, John F. — 156. Cramer, Elizabeth Anderson — 202. Cramer. George E. — 253. Crane, Joseph, Jr. — 69. Crandler and Crawler, Peter — 25. 318 INDEX Crannell, Bartholomew — 24, 30, 31, 36, 37, 38, Crannell House, evidence as to its oc- cupation by Gov. Clinton — 47, 48, 65. Crary, Rev. Robert Fulton — 157, 207. Crawford, George (1813) — 82. Crego, Josias (1718) — 21. Cronk, Smith — 172. Crooke, Dr. Charles — 65. Crooke, Charles — 145, 158, 280. Crooke, John — 29. Crooke, Philip S. — 135. Crosby, Rev. Howard — 188. Crosby, Julia M. — 207. Crosby, Willard H. — 237, 266. Crosby, W. S. & W. H.— 160. Crosby, Prof. William H.— 188, 224. Crosby, Mrs. William H.— 183. Cruger, John C. — 182. Crumniey, Edward — 182. Cunley, Court B. — 235. Cunningham, Garwood — 88. Cunningham, J. H. — 86. Cunningham, Walter — 82, 86, 88, 98, loi, 102, 104, 108, 112, 123. 127, 137, 139. Currency, State, printed in Po'k. — 50; Continental — 52; scarcity after 1815 -7-95; 1837 — 128; Civil War — 192. Curtis, Hon. George William — 168. Cusack, John H. — 263. Cuyler, Rev. Cornelius C. — 81, 90, 121, 122. r> Daly, James^i90. Daniels, Briggs & DuBois (i860) — 161. Daun, R. — 219. Danskammer, deeds to land opposite — II. Darrow, Samuel K. — 188. Daughton, Joseph A. — 263. Davids, George W. — 186, 208, 222, 280. Davids, Washington — 123. Davies, Thomas L — 86, 104, 107, 112, 124, 127, 140, 14S, 157, 160, 162, 173. Davies, Mrs Thomas L. — 183. 193. Davies, Thomas — 222. Davies, William A. — 82, 107, 156, 158, 162, 188, 207, 209, 220. Davies, William (see also Davis) — 82, 108. Davis, Andrew Jackson, "seer of Pough- keepsie" — 138, 139. Davis, Fred W. — 162, 212. Davis, Prof. George Fred — 166. Davis, Gerret — 26. Davis, Henry, son of Richard — 82, 90, 104. Davis, John — 34, 74. Davis, John H. — 104. Davis, Leonard, sou of Richard — 65, 82, 86, 108. Davis, Richard — 28, 31, 32, 36, 44, 62, 67, 69; children of — 82. Davis, Richard D. — 119, 135, 138. Davis, Theodore W. — 212. Davis (Davies?) William — 67, 82, 90, 136, 139- Dawson, Symmes & Usher — 228. Dean, Hon. Gilbert — 172, 182, 190. Dean, John W. & Son (i860)— 161. Deanc, Gilbert A. — 242. Debt, city 1873-1876 — 224. de Duiser, Rollef, marriage 1738 — 30. Dc Graef, Jan. — 21. De Grafif, AbrahaTu, marriage 1741 — 30. De Grafif, Hester, marriage 1735 — 30. De Grafif, Joseph (1804)— 74. De Grafif, John (probably son of Jan) — 26, 28, 31, 36. De Grafif, Moses — 26. De Grofif, Amos T. (1830)— 122. De Groflf, Jacob — 129, 145. De Garmo, Elias S. — 209. De Garmo, Smith L. — 260. Delafield, John — 122, 123, 124, 127, 136, de Lang(h) Louwerens, marriage, 1738 —30. De Laval Separator Co. — 234 ; sketch — ■ 276. De Lavergne, Benjamin — 90. Delemater, John W. — 259. De Long, Elias — 67. Dennis, A. L. (Newark, N. J.) — 220. Dennis, G. L.— 188. Depew, Chauncey M. — 190, 240. de Peyster, Johnston L. — 225. de Reimer, Marthe (wife of Robert G. Livingston) — 29. Deremer, Peter, 1804 — 78. De Witt, Jacob, leftenant, 1734 — 25. De Witt, John, Const. Convention, 1788 —61. Dewey, William — 139. Deyo, Jerome V. — 222. Dickinson, Charles R. — 251. Dickinson, Pomeroy P. — 214, 216, 220, 230. Dimond, C. A. — 190. Dix, John A. (Governor) — 225, Dobbs, Ely R.— 181. Dobbs, J. H.— 161. Dobbs, William C— 18S. Dobbs, William Lyon — 250. Dobson, Dr. W. G.— 264. Do'dge, Mrs. LeGrand — 193. Doherty, P. C— 263. Donald, Converse & Maynard — 237, 256. Dorland, Cyrenus P. — 205, 240. Dorland, Peter — 205. Doty, Isaac, Jr. — 86. Doty, Spencer C. — 160, 182. Doty, Thomas — 209, 222. Doughty, Augustus — 222. Doughty, Cornell & Co. — 210. Doughty, Isaac T. — 102. Doughty, Joseph C. — 138, 167, 210, 217. Doughty, Sterling — 222. Doughty, William — 162. Douglas, Nathan, of Danbury, Ct. — 62. Douw, John de Peyster — 162, 277. Downing, A. J., landscape architect — 148. Downing, James — 122. Downing, Mitchell — 251. Downing, Silas — 122. Downs, M. S.— 266. Draft Riots— 186. Drafts in Civil War— 183, 185. Driving Park, Doty's Union — 222. Driving Park, Poughkeepsie — 222, 225. Du Bois Brothers — 86. Du Bois, Cornelius — 167, 168, 172, 192, 208, 209, 217, 222. Du Bois, Elias — 67. Du Bois (Duboys), Gideon — 26. Du Bois, Joel (1824) — 33, 98. Du Bois, Lewis — 20, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 36, 38, 64. Du Bois, Metthis — 25. Du Bois, Pieter, elder Dutch Church — 22, 24. Dudlej', Guilford — 251. Dudley, James H. — 153, 190, 208, 217. Dudley, Lavinia (Mrs. Guilford) — 251. Dudley & Thomp.son (i860) — 161. Duerstein, Rev. Daniel — 146. Du Lang, Frans, capt. 1729 — 24. Dunbar, Elan — 135. Duncomb, Charles H. — 90. Dungan, Charles B. — 148. Durando, Stephen — 74, yj. Durlin, John (Revolution) — 40. Dutch, compared with English, first as- sessment — 21 ; language in church service — 23, 68. Dutcher, James E. — 224, 244. Dutcher, John B. — 167, 182. Dutcher, Lawrence W. — 263. Dutchess County, organization — 19, 20, 21. Divisions into Wards and Precincts —21, 25. Early politics — 57, 61. Division after Revolution — 64. Division of school mone}' — 68. Dutchess County case (1891) — 242. Dutchess County Telephone Co. — 239. Dutchess Hotel, Cannon St. — 88. Dutchess Manufacturing Co. — 235. Dutchess Ins. Co. — 90, 115, 162, 277. Dutton, Samuel — 123. Dutton, Samuel B. — 108, 129, 163. Dwight, William B. — 250. Dyckink, Gerardus — yj. B Eagan, Madison — 170. Farley, Rev. Terence J. — 251. Eastman College — 166, 191, ig8, 200, 225, 254- Eastman Park — 200. Eastman, Harvey G. — 166, 170, 191, 192, 194, 197. 201, 206, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 225, 22H. Eastmead, Charles — 222. Eastmead & Osborne — 237. Ebstein, Ludwig — 157, 188. Eckert, Jacob I. — 127. Eden Hills — no, 148. Education (see schools). Education, Board of, first elected — 145; first appointed — 254. Egerton, John — 21. Eighmie, George D. — 235. Eighmie, Jeremiah — 215. Eisel, John E. — 133. Elmendorf, Rev. Joachim — 250. Elmendorf, Lucas (of Ulster) — 95. Eldridge, Judge Egbert Q. — 133. Electric Light — 230, 237. Elections (see politics). Ellison, Thomas — 64. EKworth, Edward — 165, 217, 224, 240, 249, 250; biog. sketch — 280. Ellsworth Greys— 178, 181, 1S6, 188, 263. Elting, Abraham & Son — 131. Filing, Henry D. — 95. Filing, Irving — 18. Elting, Capt. Luther — 127. Elting, Noah — 69. Ely, Andrew — 130. Emans, Albert — 182. Emans, Storm — 242. Emerson. Ralph Waldo — 146. Emott, Judge James, Sr. — 55, 74, 90, 91, 98, 107, 11.^, I3.S. Emott. Judge James, Jr. — 138, 152, 153, 162, I7rt, 178, iSj, 188, T90, 197, 210, 2T9 ; biographical sketch — 280. FmoU, Mrs. James — 183. I'.moll, (Sciuirc) William — 36, 38, 49, 61, 63, 65, 72, 73, 74, 77, jio. Fngrrni (Ingrahani?) Duncan — 67. Enlistments, Civil War — 175, 183. INDEX. 319 Eno, William (Pine Plains) — 215. Ernest, Anthony (1798) — 69. Erskine, Robert, letter to Geo. Clinton, i77ti— 39. Esopus Island (Cline Sopas Island)— 25. Eureka mower — 209. Euterpe Glee Club — 266. Everitt, Clear — 26, 29, 30, 32, 36, 48, 65. Evertson ancestry — 281. Everlson, George B. — 67, 75, 80, 81, 82, 89, 90, 121. Everitt House (see Clinton House). Everitt, John — 73. Everitt, Peter — 86, 89, loi, 107, 117, 139. Everitt, Richard — 32, 36, 69, 72. F Fall Kill (Relation to name Poughkeep- sie) — Chap. I. Fall Kill Improvement — 212, 214. Fallkill Manufacturing Co. — 237. Family Magazine — 137. I^'anning, Robert — 131, 304. Fanning, William A. — 153, 170, 217. Farnum, Morgan L. — 160, 171, 219. Farnum, Samuel J. — 167, 170. Farrington & Co. — 161. Farrington, George W. — 145. Farrington, Walter — 248. Farrington, W. R. — 247. Fay, Eliphaz — 124, 165. Federalists — In Const. Convention — 57, 6i. Political campaigns — 61, 91, 96, 102. Downfall of part}' — 103. Fenner, Thomas — 123. Ferdon, Jacob — yj. Ferdon, Johannes — 24. Ferguson, Uriah L. — 177, 216. Ferris, Mary — 207. Ferris, Nathaniel — 104. Ferris, Robert M. — 264. Ferris, William L. Jr. — 222. Ferry — Estal)lished— 69. Incorporated (horseboat) — 95, 96. Moved td Main Street — 230. Field, George S — 22S. Field, John— 38, 74, 86. Fifteenth Sep. Co. — 263. Filkin, Elizabeth, marriage — 30. Filkins. Frans, judge, etc. — 25, 30. Filkins, Henry (Sheriff)— 26. Filkintown Road — 24, 26, 32, 55, 70, 78. Finch, Henry — 143, 158. Fires— Court House (1785)— 56; (1806) -75- Vassar Brewery, 1811 — 85. Big lire of 1836—120. In 1849-1852— 149. Dutch Church — 154, is6. Lent's (Red) Mifls— 156. Morgan-Wright block, i860 — 156. Pardee block, 1870—219. Whiteliouse factory — 262. Glass Works- 262. Reynolds Elevator — 262. Gas Works — 262. Fire Companies, first mention— 70; ap- paratus in 1805 — 74- Bag Men — 74. Engine Co. No. i (1804)— 74; name "Protection" — 150 : disbanded — 154, 260. Engine Co. No. ' (Niagara)— 74, 150, 156. 2(X) Engine Co. No. 3 (Washington) — 74. i.SO, 154- Engine Co. No. 4 (Cataract)— 120, 149, T50, 154. 156, 2(10; charter members — 310. Engine Co. No. 5 (Neptune)— 120, 149, 154. 156, 260. Engine Co, No. 6 (Young America) — 154; reorganized as Hose Co. — 260. Hook and Ladder Men — 74; Davy Crockett — 120, 149, 150, 260. Hose Co. No. i (Red Rover) — 120; Reorganized as Phoenix — 149, 260. Hose Co. No. 2 (Howard) — 120; reorganized as Booth Hose — 150, 260. Hose Co. No. 3 (Lady Washington) — 260. Fire Department — 74, 119, 120, 149, 150, 260; list of chief engineers — 313. Fire Engines — 72, Ji, 74, 149, 154; steamers — 156, 260. Fishkill — In Revolution — 43, 51, 52; af- ter Revolution — 69, 130, 140, 208, 215. Fishkill Landing — 123. Fishkill and Poughkeepsie churches united — 22, 23. Flagler, E. O.— 161. Flagler, Emma (Mrs. E. O.) — 251. Flagler, Henry — 120. Flagler, John P. — 147. Flagler, Joseph — 208. Flagler, Paul — 206, 209. Flagler, Samuel P. — 240. Flegelar, Zacharias — 21. Flegelar, Getrui, marriage 1738 — 30. Poland, Peter — 259. Fonda, A. (i860) — 161. Fonda, James H. — 137, 138. Fonda, Walter Cunningham — 137. Forbus, Alexander — 99, no, 115, 135, 138, 264. Forbus Hill — 172-174. F'orbus, John — 75, 90. Forbus, John B. — 119, 122, 124, 162. Forby, William — 237. Forman, William — 36. Forrest, Robert — IJ2, 200. Forster, R. S.— 161. Fort, Major Abraham — 46, 68. F'ort Constitution — 40, 42. Fort Montgomery — 40, 41, 42. Foster, David C. — 102, 223. Foster, D. Crosby — 251. Foster & Gale — 149. Foster, Thomas — 222. Fowler, Benjamin M. — 24S. Fowler, C. A. — 237. Fowler, Charles E. — 212. Fowler, George P. (i860)— 161. Fowler, John W. — 162, 165. Fowler. Milton A. — 205, 20Q. Fowler, Oscar A. — 171, 20S. Fowler. Sidnev — 208. Fox, Wni. B.— 18S. Francis. John (1824) — 98. Francklyn, Charles G. — 220. Frank. Valentine — 160: Jr. — 264. Frank, William H.— 253. 2b2. 264. Franklin, Town of — 69. Frear, James B. — 119, 122. Frear, Simeon I. (1804) — 74. Freartown — 174. Frederick, Town of — 69. Freer (Frorc), Abraham — 26. 31, 33. Freer, Baltus (1798)— 67- Freer, Jacobus — :s},. 44. Freer, John— 32. 38, 30, 63, 68. Freer, T.— 67. Free Masons, Solomon's Lodge — 50: see also IMasons. French. Colonial wars with — 26. 27. French, Bronson — 66, 109 F;rick, H. C. (Pa.)— 228. Frost, Aaron — 172. Frost, Henry S. — 170, 237. Frost, John (1771) — 32. F'rost, Joseph G. — 205. F'rost, Miss Julia — 252. Frost & Parish — 219. Frost, Robert W. — 216, 217, 222. Frost, Solomon V. — 98, 104, iio, 138, 161. F'rost, Stephen — 122. Frost, William (1836) — 120. Frost, William & Son, i860— 161. F'uller, Benjamin (1807) — 90. Furman, William — 264. G Gager, John — 218. Gaines, Clement C. — 254. 255 ; Biograph- ical sketch — 282. Gallaudet Home — 251. Gary, John — 85. Gas lighting — 148, 237; first lamp dis- trict — 312. Gausman, George — 133. Gay, Bartholomew — 67. Gaylord, Charles J. — 183, 190. Gaylord, Doty & Co. — 210. Gaylord, George R. — 182, 220. Gay, Luther (Town Washington) — 98. Gebrants, Lowerens, marriage 1737 — 30. Genet, "Citizen," French minister, mar- ries daughter of George Clinton — 61 ; children of — 67. Centner, Andrew — 133. Gerard, W. R. — 14, 250. Germania Singing Society — 194, 266. Germond, Isaac — loi. Germond, Silas — 115. Gerow, Joseph W. & Co. — 161. Gibbons, William P. — 141. Gibbs, W. \\'.—22?.. 230. Gidlev. Townsend E. — 122. Gilbert, Walter D.— 266. Gildersleeve, Elmer D. — 252. Gilderslceve, Henry A — 182, 183. Gile, Benjamin — 145. Giles, John — 127. Gifford, Nathan — 117, 145. Gifford, Sherman & Innis — 149, 157, 233. Gill Place, below Pok.— 43. Giraud, Jacob P. — 204. Giraud, Pierre — 191. Glass, A. J. — 235. Glass Works, Poughkeepsie — 114. 234; sketch — 291. Glebe House (Eng. Church) — 24. Goetschius, Rev. John PI. — 2^. Goff, Edward H.— 237. Goshen — 27, si. Goss. Sarah (1807)— 90. Goss, \\'illiani (1807) — 90. Gow, Prof. Geor.ge C. — 250. 266. Graham. Charles (Revolution) — 39. Graham, Col. Morris (Revolution) — 35, 38, 40. 42. Graham. William — 153. Granger, Francis — 103. Grant. E. F.— 138. Grant. James — oS. 104, 107, 123. Gray. ,\uo-ustus B. — 225. Graves, Orson — 173. Graveyards — 23. 73, 76, 90, 109, I2i ; Rural Cemetery — 14S; Inscriptions in Dutch Burial Ground. Main St. — 300: Original plot holders Dutch Reformed Burial Ground, Hyde Park Road — 311: B.aptist Burial Ground, Garden St. — 312. 320 INDEX. Great Barrington (Mass.) — 215. Greelej', Horace — 200, 205. Green, Jacob — 104. Green, John — 95, 112, 117, 122. Green, John L. — 182. Green, William H. — 153. Gregory, Rev. G. H. — 252. Gregory, Theodorus — 118, 127, 135, 161, 172, 215. Gregory, Mrs. Theodorus — 148, 157. Gregory, Uriah — 117, 127, 143. Griffin, Angelica (Y. W. C. A.)— 251. Griffin, Elihu (Clinton)— 215. Grimling, F. — 266. Grinnell, Irving — 222. Grjnnell, Moses H. — 141. Grube, Charles — 266. Grubb, John — 146, 216, 218. Guernsey, Daniel W. — 205. Guernsey, Stephen Gano^244; biograph- ical sketch — 283. Gunn, Abel J. — 127. Gurney, May — 251. H Haber, Fragharys — 25. Hackett & Williams— 248. Haff, William, Revolutionary story — 27. Haggerty, James — 171. Hague, William (Vassar trustee) — 167. Hagenian, Rev. Charles S. — 194. Hager, Mrs. Eliza — 148. Hager, J. Henry — 157, 186. Haight, A. V. — 219, 244, 278. Haight, Hiram (i860) — 161. Haight, Zebulon — 122. Hale, Matthew — 165. Hallock, Nathaniel (Milton)— 222. Halloway, Seneca V. — 225. Hallidav, Harrison — 175, 177, 185. HaUiwell, George (1806)— 86. Halliwell, George W. (i860)— 161. Hall, Edwin — 172. Hall, Israel P. (1835)- 120. Hall, Tallmadge — 56. Halpin, William — 157. Halstead, Benjamin — 162. Halstead, Frank W. — 263. Halstead, John G. — 173. Ham, Milton (i860)— 162. Hamilton, Alexander, visits Pok. — 50; in Const. Convention, 1788 — 57, 61. Hammond. Lewis C. (i860) — 161. Hanchette, Hon. B. F. (Wis.)— 165. Hannah, B. L. — 156. Hannah & Storm — 158. Hanscom, A. J. — 217. Harbottle, John (1807) — 90. Harloe, Matthew— 178, 181. Harloe, William — 168, 209, 225. Harper, James (N. Y.) — 167. Harris, David — 192. Harris, Edwin S. — 253. Harris, Ira — 167. Harris, Joseph^^2, 119, 127, 129. Harris, Joseph C. — 162. Harris, Peter — 24, 32, 33. Harris, Richard (1804) — 74. Harris, Stephen (1804) — 78. Hartford, Ct. — 216, 227, 230. Hartman, William — 264. Hart's Village — 215, 216. Harvey, Albert B.— 20S. Harvey, John C. — 153. Harvey, Gen. Thomas W. — 136, 137. Hasbrouck, Aliraham — 220. Hasbrouck, Dr. Alfred— 1S8. Hasbrouck. Frank — 222, 225, 248. Hasbrouck, Mrs. Frank — 266. Hasbrouck, Henry — 263. Hasselberg, L. — 266. Hatch, A. S.— 123, 126. Hatch, Rev. Frederick W.— 123. Hatch, Mrs. Frederick W.— 147- Hatton, Robert (Revolution) — ^49. Haubennestel, John — 264. Haubennestel, William— 188, 206, 215, 244, 263. Hawkins, Barnet — 14S. Haupt, R. W.— 264. Haydock, Mrs. — 193. Hayes, Peter P.— 112, 117, 123, 129, I39- Hayes & Adriance — 102. Hayes, Edmund — 228. Hayman, Capt. R. R.— 188. Haynes, E. M.— 138. Hay scales — 83. Hayt, Peter B.— 219, 237. Heartfield, Rev. Frank— 250. Heath, J. Parker— 217. Heath, Charles— 217. Heermance and Van den Bogart tradi- tion — 20, 314. Heermance, Martin — 240 ; biographical sketch — 283. Heermance, Mrs. Martin — 266. Hegeman, Henry — 68. Hegeman, Isaac, marriage 1740 — 30. Hegeifian, Sara, marriage 1744 — 30. Hegeman, Wallace W. — 205, 209, 212, 216, 222. Helms & Peters (i860)— 161. Henderson, Adam — 104, 161. Henderson, George R. — 145. Henderson, Oliver S. — 153. Henderson, Samuel (1824) — 98. Hendrickson, Stephen — 49, 65, 88, 123. Hengstebeck, Frank — 188, 190. Hermans, Hendricks, Capt. (1729) — 24. Herrick, Benjamin — 84, 86, 88, 92, 104. Herrick & Losec — 248. Herrick, Mrs. Mary — 205. Herrick, P. 181. Herrick, Rufus (Revolution) — 39. Herrick, Sarah Jane — 202.', Hevenor, J. — 216. Hewitt, Gideon P. — 107, 108, 116, 117, 123, 124, 135, 138. Hibbard, David (1826)— 121. Hickok, Charles H.— 266. Highet, William — 171. Highlands, defense of up to fall of Fort Montgomery — 40. 41, 42; new de- fenses — 46, 48, 52. Hill, David B. (Governor) — 228, 240. Hill, James T. (i860) — 153, 161, 170. Hill, Nathaniel — 156. Hill, N. & Son— 156. Hill, Rev. William Bancroft — 251. Hill, William C. — 222, 263. Hillequist, Casper (1804) — 74. Hills, named about town — 174. Hinckley, Voice — 83. H inkle, Charles J. — 204. Hinkley, James W. — 240, 242, 244, 259. Hine, George M. — 235, 244. Hitchcock, Mark H. — 216, 217. Holiart, John Sloss — 49. Hobart, Powell — 264. Hobson, John (1804, 1814) — 74, 86. Hoff, C. C— 170, 173. Hoffman, Abraham — 83. Hoffman, Anthony — 36, 67, 69. Hoffman, Rev. E. — 146. Hoffman, Isaac — 67, 83. Hoffman, Martin (1755) — 29, 83. Hoffman, Martin, Jr. — 95, 101. Hoffman, Martin & Co.— 77, 82, 83. Hoffman, Robert — 32, 81, 83. Hoffman, Theodore A. — 242. Holden, John G. P.— 148, 186. Holden, Oliver— 81, 86. HoUey, A. H. (Gov. Ct.)— 221. Holmes, Obadiah (Holmes St. named from) — no. Holt, Miss Isabella — 123. Holt, John, printer in Rev. — 50, 51. Home for the Friendless — 157. Home Guards (Civil War)— 186. Hoogeboom, Bartholomeus — 21. Hooker, James — 92, 102, 104, 107, no, 127, 141. Hook Landing — Old name of New Ham- burgh— 33. Hooper, John T. — 210. Hopewell Junction — 216. Hopkins, Benjamin — 162. Hopkins, Elias G. — 133, 153. Hopkins, John M. — 141. Hopkins, Lemuel J. (i860) — 161. Hopkins, Col. Roswell— 36, 38. Hopkins, Rev. William Herman — 264. Horse racing — 168, 222. Horsfall, J. H.— 217. Horticultural Society — 264. Hospitals — Hudson River State — 208. St. Barnabas — 207. Vassar — 207, 248, 249. Hotels— Early— 88, 107. Eastern House — 118, 161. Exchange House — 118, 233. Forbus House — 98, 161, 174, 259. Franklin (Fowler) House — 88, 161. Gregory House — 172, 206. Mansion House — 123. Morgan House — 172, 206. Northern Hotel — 118, 126, 161, 190, 259. Nelson House — 259. Poughkeepsie Hotel— 78, 86, 88, 98, 126, 129, 131, 140, 161; list of purchasers in 1804 for political headquarters — 306. Houghton, Charles L. — 222. Houston, Andrew — 166. Howard, Harriet R. — 251. Howard, Seth, 1814 — 84. Howard, Peter M. — 219, 256. Howell, Eugene N. — 235, 240, 260, 264. Howland, Dr. Anna C. — 251. Rowland, Gardner R. — 141. Howland, Joseph — 122. Howland, Joseph (State Treas.) — 314. Howland, Peleg — 122. Howland, Seneca — 102. Hoysradt, Willett— 254. Hoyt, Dr. James — Biog. sketch — 284. Hoyt, Stephen (1804) — 74. Huddleston, the spy, hanged — 52. Hudson — 182, 183. Hudson River — Efforts to obstruct in Revolution — 40. Hudson River Iron Co. — 209, 225. Hudson River Railroad — See Railroads. Hudson River Slate Hospital— ^oS, 209. Hudson River Telephone Co. — 237 Hufcut, Mrs. Horace D.— 266. Hughes, Charles T. — 263. Hughes, Christopher (1785) — 56. Hughes, Christopher — 1C2, 209. Hughes, Col. (Revolution) — j^ Hull, Dr. A. Cook— 209. Hull, George D. — 217. Hull, John F. — 138, 162, 208 '^g Hull, J. Frank (John F. Jr.)— 222, 2^7. 244. ' ^ Hull, Mrs. J. Frank— 251 Hull, William B.— 263. Hulinc. Peter — 224, 263. Humphrey, Cornelius (1775) 36, INDEX . 321 Humphrey, Col. William — 38, 41, 42. Hunt, Freeman, quoted — 1 18. Hunting, Edward — 172. Hunting, Isaac (1821) — 98. Hunter, Robert H. — 206, 225, 244, 253, 259. Hussey, James (Capt. 1729) — 24. Husted, Gen. James W. — 221, 225. Husted, Walter I.— 188. Hustis, H. H.— 182. Hyde, Gny — 89. Hyde, Liberty — 161, 219. Hyde Park — 43, 84, 117, 170. Ibbottson, Henry — 137. Ice Yachting — 168-170, 221. Improvement Party — 108, 115, 123, 126, .135, 138. Indian names — Chapter I. Indians — 21, 26. Innis, Aaron, Sr. — 83, lOi, 107, 112, 117. Innis, Aaron, Jr. — 170, 171, 188, 216, 220, 222, 227, 263. Innis, George — 117, 182, 186, 187, 188, 208, 209, 215, 217, 220, 223; biog. sketch — 284. Innis, Mrs. George — 193. Innis, William R. — 263 Insurance Companies — 90, 115, 162. Iron Foundries — 116, 136, i5i. Iron Furnaces — 143, IS7, 233- Jackson, Charles — 178, 181. Jackson campaign, 1828 — 103. Jackson, Joseph H. — 129, 131, 145, 147, 151- Jarmon, John — 30. Jay, John — Sent to Pok. 1776—40; holds court in Pok. — 49; Constitutional Convention — 58, 59; vote of County for Governor — <5i. Jennings, Edgar S. — 177- Jennings, Eli — 120, 127. Jenny, William — 124. Jervis, John B. — 141. Jewett, Grace Bayley — 202. Jewett, Henry — 256. Jewett, Herman — 200. Jewett, Jacob B.— 141, 148, 151, 188, 190, 223, 224. Jewett, Milo P.— 165, 167, 168, 203, 205. Jewett, Nathan H.— 145. Jewish Synagogue — 156. Jillard, Thomas — 247. Jillson, Augustus — 138. Jillson, J. A.— 161, 171- Johns, Victoria L. — 251. Johnson, Albert— 178, 181, 183. Johnson, Charles D. — 263. Johnson, Samuel (Wap. Falls)— 222. Johnston, Mattie F. (Mrs. Floy M.) — 251. Johnston, Floy M.— 142, 222, 263. Johnston, F. R.— 173. Johnston, Theodore V.— 142, 170, 222, 239. Johnston, Samuel B. — 14S, 148- Johnston, William S.— 142, 182, 185, 194, 259. Jones, Catharine Rogers— 202. Jones, Edward — 141. Tones, Daniel — 160. Jones, Samuel (1788)— 59- Joy, P. A.— 161. Joyncr, Nathaniel — 91. Juffrow's Hook — 18. Kaal Rock (many spellings) — 9, 26, 44, 69, 98. Kaess, William — 237. Keep, Jan (widow of) — 21. Kelly, Henry — 122. Kelly, Hon. William (Rbk.)— 167, 168, 176, 182. Kemble, Gouverneur — 141. Kendrick, Rev. J. Ryland — 252. Kent, George — 133. Kent, James, in Pok. — 54, 55, 57 ; de- scribes Const. Convention — 59, 61. Kenworthy, Richard — 149, 172, 205, 215, 217. Kerr, James A. — 263. Ketcham, James — 173. Ketcham, John N. — 115. Ketcham, Gen. John H. — 167, 172, 173, 182, 190, 191, 195, 197, 200, 205, 244 ; biog. sketch — 285. Ketcham, William M. — 244. Keteltas, William— 65. Kettel, Rev. G. F.— 178. Kidney's Creek, northern boundary city —70. Kidney, William (1804) — 74. Kiessler, P. — 266. Killey, Egbert B., Sr. — 73, 104, 129, 130, 140, 141, 145, 146, 148. Killey, Mrs. Egbert B. (Julia A.)— IS7- Killey, Egbert B. Jr. — 171, 172, 242. Kimball, Dr. Grace N.— 251. Kimball, H. — 219. King, Andrew — 216, 218, 224. Kingston — Burning of — ^43, 44; Legis- lature there — 46, 51 ; other refer- ences — 27, 39, 89, 91, 107, 210. Kinney, John — 56. Kip, Matewis — 26. Kip, Jacob, Jr., Capt. 1729—24, 25. Kip, Rd., justice 1729 — 24. Kipp, James H. — 259. Kirchner, Charles — 220, 266. Kirchner Hall — 2ig, 262. Kirkwood, James P. — 212. Knapp, Abraham P. — loi. Knapp, George H. — 173. Kneass, Strickland — 220. Knickerbocker, Lowerens, Capt. 1729 — 24. Knights of Columbus— 259, 263. Knights of Pythias— 263. Knower & Hobson, hat manufacturers, 1798 — 69. Korner, Lieut. — 188. Kosciuszko, visit to Clinton at Pok. — 49. Kiihn, A. — 266. Labout, Sovryn, "the Baker," reference _ in Sanders-Harmse patent— 13, 16, 17- , Lacounte, Boudewyn — 23, 25, 31, 70. Ladd, Rev. H. O., ref. to "Founding of the Episcopal Church in Dutchess county" — 2T,. 24. Lafayette, visits Clinton at Pok.— 49; visit to Pok., 1824—98, loi. Lamp District, ist— 312. Lamper, P.— 219. Lamoree, George — 162, 174. Lamoree, Nathaniel— 209. Lancaster School— 90, 144. Land grants, patents — 12-18, 32. Land titles questioned— 32. Landings — Lower (R. Davis's, Pine St.) — 28, 31, 82, 117, 174, 210; Main St. (Kaal Rock) — 26, 69, 77, 82, 83, 117, 210, 230; Reade's Landing — 77; Union — 28, 69, 81, 82, 117, 143; Up- per (Hoffman's, Mill St.)— 82, 83, 95, 117, 174. 210, 230; others — 82. Landon, Francis G. — 225, 265, 285. Landon, Jonathan — 36, 286. Lane, Dr. Charles E. — 247, 257, 286. Lane, John G. — 234. Lane, William J. — 234. Langdon, John (Revolution) — 39. Lansing, see also Lassing. Lansing, Derrick vs. D. Russell — ^^131. Lansing, Gerret, Indian mortgage — 11, 17. Lansing, Gerret (1798) — 67. Lansing, Gerret P. (1859)— 171. Lansing, W. C. — 242. Lansingh, Pieter, Indian deed to 1683 — 10; petition for patent — 12; "Peter the Brewer," ancestor of Lansing, Lawson and Lossing families — 16. Lapham, Thomas — 133. La Roy, Simeon — 26, 30. Lasher, Haight & Kelley — 235. Lassing (Lassen), Abraham — 26. Lassing, Isaac — 26, 30. Lassing, Isaac, Jr. (1771) — 33- Lathrop, Edward (Vassar trustee) — 167. Laufersweiler, Edward — 264. Lawrence, August, shipbuilder, Revolu- tion — 39, 49. Lawrence, Rev. Edward A. — 250, 251. Lawrence, Daniel — 49. Lawrence, William A. — 253. Lawson, Peter L. — 67. Leach & Co. (contractors) — 216. Leary, Dennis (Newburgh) — 170. Leary, William F. — 240. Lee, Ann, imprisoned in Pok. — 48. Lee, Per Lee A. — 251. Lee, Samuel (1826) — 121. Lee, William — 157. Lee, William Morgan — 224, 263. Lefever, Jacob — 244. Leggett, Thomas H.— 188. Legislature — Meetings at Pok. in Rev- olution and later — ^47, 49, 51, 56, 64; see also Assembly. Lloyd, Percival M. — 252. Lloyd, Thomas S. — 209. Lent, David B. — 86, 120, 121, 123, 127, I3S. 141, 156. Lent, George B. — 162, 192, 223. Lent, John R. — 153, 156, 161, 237, 260. Leonard, Moses G. (of N. Y.) — 140. Le Roy, Daniel — 170. Le Roy, Francis — 33, 78. Le Roy, Fransoy (Frans) — 21, 24, 26. Le Roy, Peter— 67. Lester, Catharine — 82. Leslie, Col. John R. — iSi, 204. Lewis, Barent — 25, 32. Lewis, D. — 173. Lewis, James (i77S) — 36. Lewis, J. F. — 157. Lewis, Jonathan (1775) — 36. Lewis, Leonard, judge, etc. — 20, 21, 28, 30, 31, 78, 121. Lewis, Leonard B., collector 1803 — 72. Lewis, Miles K. — 259. Lewis, Gov. Morgan — 98, 306. Lewis, Thomas — 21. Liberty Poles (1775) — 35, 54; Civil War— 178. 322 INDEX Library, Pok. — go, 145, 146; Adriance Memorial — 2S3 ; Library Trustees — 253. Lindley,. Alfred F. — 171, 188, 262. Littamore, Francis — 26. Littel, Emlen T. (N. Y. architect) — 206. Little Britain — 43. Little Giants — 173.- Livingston, Beekman — 53, 77. Livingston, Catharine, widow of Gilbert — 109. Livingston, Cornelia, marries Andrew Billings— 55. Livingston, Gil., Major 1734 — 25. Livingston, Gilbert (son of Henry) — 29, 30 ; in Revolution — 36, 48 ; part- ner of James Kent — 54; Const. Convention — 57, 61 ; later — 65, 69, 74, 304. Livingston, Henry (Colonial County Clerk) — 25, 26, 29, 32, 148; children of — 30; division of property, 1800 — .39, 77- Livingston, Henry, Jr., surveyor — 64, 65, 68, 70. Livingston, H. A. (on map) — 71. Livingston, Henry A. — 89, 90, 98, 107, 127, 129, 209. Livingston, Col. Henry B. (Revolu- tion)— 38, 39. Livingston, James — 23, 31, 32, 33, 36. Livingston. James G. (Sheriff 1761-69) 26, 29. Livingston, Rev. John H. — 53, 68, 107. Livingston Mansion, built — 29; struck by shot. Revolution — 44. Livingston, Peter R. (1819) — 97, 98. Livingston, Philip J. (last Colonial Sheriff)— 29, 33, 35. Livingston, Robert Henry — 29, 72. Livingston, Robert R., Jr. (Chancellor) — 3S; Const. Convention — 58; can- didate for Governor — 61. Livingston, Robert G. (son of Robert . .I-)-29. Livingston, Robert L (of Clermont and Pok.) — 29, 69, 71, 83. Livingston, Samuel, in British Navy. Letter from to Henry Livingston — Livingston, Sidney M. (1830) — 122. Livingston, Walter (1791)^)9. Livingston, William T. — 120. Lockwood, J. Arthur — 263, 276. Lockwood, John — 107, 122. Locomotive Engine Factory — 136, 157. Looniis, Rev. Henry A. — 259. Lossing, Benson J. — 104, 167, 178, 182, 208. Lossing, Mrs. Benson J, — 183, 193. Lottery, The, in Pok. — 99, 102. Louis Pbillippe, in Poughkeepsie — 124. Low, Aaron, 104. Low, Jacob^26. Low, John — 33. Lowell, James Russell (quotation) — 139. Lown, David — 157, 286. Lown, Frank B — 222, 225, 226, 2^2, 240, 248, 254, 260; biog. sketch — 286. Loyalists (see also Tories) — 35. Lucas, C. S- — 143. Luckey, Charles P. — 138, 160. Luckey, James — 26. Luckey, Piatt & Co.— 160, 256, 286. Luckey, Samuel — 69. Ludlow, Gabriel H. — 26. Ludlow, George — 64. Ludlow, Rev. Henry G. — 147, 148. Linnl), George W — 209, 258, 287. Lumb, Levi — 209, 259. Lull, IJev. De Los — 191, 193. Lyceum — 145, 146, 165. Lyman, G. K. — 133. Lynch, C. E. — 235. Lyster, Peter — 33. M Mabbett, James — 115, 215. Macdonald, Charles F. — 228. MacGeorge, William — 145, 165, 204. Mack, John E., biog. sketch — 287. Macpherson, Thomas J. — 266. Madison, Charles H. — 251. Magoon, E. L. (Vassar trustee) — 167. Maison, Gen. Leonard — 99, 102, log, 120, 129, 131, 141. Maison, Peter R.— 86, 89, 90. Mallory, David S.— 161. Maloney, William R. — 247, 263. Manchester — 84. Mann, Rev. Alexander M. — 147, 148, 154. Mann, Mrs. Alexander M— 148. . Manney, John, assessor 1803 — 72. Mansion Square — 123, 125, 200. Manufacturing, before 1815 — 83, 84, 86; 1815-1837—95, 115-117; 1837-1854— 136, 143; 1854-1861-157, 158, 161; 1865-1873 — 209, 210; recent — 233- 237. Maps of Pok., 1798—8; 1770 — 31; 1790— 65; 1799—71; 1837—111- Marble, Byron M. — 266. Marble, James F. — 112. Marglea, Chris (1804)— 74. Marill, Dr. J., biog. sketch— 288. Market, village dispute over — 73. Market St. named-— 67, yy, 305 ; paved — 108, 310. Markle, George (1803)— 73. Marriages (Colonial) — 30. Marsh, Silas (1775) — 36. Marshall, D. C— 172. Marshall, Edwin — 171. Marshall, Ejihu (Revolution) — 49. Marshall, George C. — ug, 145. Marshall, James — 217, 218, 260. Marshall, Joseph H.— 208. Marshall. Robert — T17. Martin, Charles — 266. Martin, Henry S. — 153. Martin, Jeremiah (1814) — 86. Masons, Free — 50. 103, 104, 194; Pok. Lodge — 133 ; Triune Lodge — 263 ; Masonic Temple — 263. Mathews, John H.— 188, 210. Matthews, Samuel — 162. Matthews, DeWitt C— 257. Mawenawasigh, Indian name of Wap- pingcrs Creek — 12, 15, 266. Maxfield. John — 25. Mayors, list of — 312, 313. Maxon, Joseph, 1804 — 74. Maurice, Charles S. — 228. McCabe, Charles — 239. McCaffertv, Robert — 259. McCandless. Gardner F. (N. Y.)— 220, McCarth}', James — 174. Mccgriery, Ened, marriage 1738 — 30 McClellan. Charles H. P.— 145, 165. McConnell. Robert— 182. McDonald, Jack — 215. McDougall, Gen. Alexander — 51. McDuffee, D. (editor 181 1)— 91. McDuftie, Sharp & Proper — 136. McEckron, Rev. G. M.— 194. McEnery, Sen. L. B. (of La.)— 165. WcEuen. Malcom — 49. McGee, R. J.— 263. Mclntyre, Patrick — 210. McKeen, Levi — 74, 76, 89, 90, 123. McKesson, John (Revolution) — 41. McKinney, James — 173. McLellan, George W. — 165, 183. McLean, John — 161, 224. McLeod, Archibald A. — 230. McSweeny, Rev. Edward — 206. McWhinnie, Thomas — 209; biog .sketch —288. Medical Society, Dutchess County — 90. Medlar, Aaron — 33. Meeks, Edgar M. — 222. Meeks, Richard C. — 223. Meetings (public), village — 73, 119, 128, 148, 198; political — 131, 172-173, 198; Civil War— 176, 178, 183. Meinecke, P. — 266. Melrose, J. D. — 2ig. Mendelssohn Society — 266. Merritt, Isaac — 112, 138, 216. Metzler, E.— 86. Meyer, Capt. B. F.— 263. Meynema, Rev. B., 2nd pastor Dutch Church — 22. Michaels, Lieut. — 188. Miles, Mrs. William A. — 266. Militia, Dutchess, Colonial officers — 24, 25, 27; Revolution — 38, 40, 41. 42, 51, 52; Officers, 1786-1799 — 302, 303; War of 1812 — 92; 2ist Reg. — 175, 188, 262; 19th and 15th Sep. Go's.- 262, 263. Millard, J. H.— 248. Millbrook — 216, 234. Miller, Alex. Litch— 49. Miller, Dr. C. D.— 233. Miller, Henry — 84. Miller, Henry C— 161. Miller, John W. (i860)— 161. Miller, Leonard C. — 222. Miller, Peter— 68. Mill Ponds — 31, 83, in, 212, 214. Mills, first saw mill — 10, 16, 18; early grist mills — 28, 30; in Revolution — so, 52; after Revolution — 69, 71; af- ter 1800 — 77, 83, 84. loi, 156; see also Red Mills. Mills, James — 86, 99, 127. Milton Ferry — 69. Mitchell, Isaac, editor and author — 62, 91- Mitchell, Maria — 203. Mitchell, Thomas — 77. Mitchell, Robert— 129. Mohonk (Lake) — 205. Montgomery, Gen. Richard — 36, 39. Moravian Mission to Indians — 26, 27. Moore, James (1803) — 76. Moore, J. Leverett — 138. Moore, John — 190. More, Charles C— 263. Morehouse, Col. Andrew — 38. Morgan, Caleb — 129, 145. 156, 210. Morgan, Edwin D. — 104, 141, 168. Morgan. George — 204. 206, 20S. 215. Morgan Lake — 210, 212. Morgan, Peter B., fire warden 1803 — 72. Morgan, Richard D. — 140. Morgan. Richard P. — 259. Morgan, William S. — 104. 145. 172. Morgan. Mrs. William S.— 183. 193. Morris. Henry — 149. Morris, Henry W. — 172, 218. Morschauser. Charles — 240. Morschauser, Joseph — 244. 247 ; biog. sketch — 289. Morse. Prof. S. F. B.— 140, 147. 167 Morton, Mrs. Levi P.— 68, 78 INDEX 32^ Morton, Thana — 69. Morton, Thomas (Newburgli) — 222. Moss, Joshua — 33. Mott, Capt. of riflemen 1796 — 62. Mott, Ebenczer — 69. Mott, John— 77. Mott, Thomas (1799) — 66. Mullcr, Frank— 188. Mulrein, James — 161, 219, 220. Muntross, John, Capt. (1729) — 24. Mnrphy, Charles — 158. Murray, John — 81. Museum, Poughkeepsie — 166. Myer, Peter B.— 98. Myers, Fannie S. — 266. Myers, Henry (Pine Plains) — 222. Myer.s, Henry D. — no, 122, 137, 138, 217, 224. Myers, John S. — 102, 121, 219. Myers, Matthew J.— 138, 145. Myers, Michael J. — 217. Myers, Nathan — 90. Mygatt, Ambrose — 1(12. Mylod, John J.— 242, 2(>i. N Nagengast, George — 261, 262, 2S9. Nash, Isaac — 129. National Guard — Sec Militia. Neilsdu, Samuel, dies in Pok. 1803 — 73. Nelson, Mrs. C. M— 251. 289. Nelson, Homer A. — 17(1, 182, 183, 184, I9r, 205, 216, 220, 248, 259, 264. Nelson, Helen J. (Mrs. Homer A.) — 251. Nelson, Nelson, Nelson, NcKon, Nelson, NelsDii, J. M.— 108. John P.— 156. John — 74. Capt. Joseph — 91, 92. Richard — 92. Thomas — 67, 72, 78, 89, 91. -•Al. 289. Nelson, Hon. Williani- Nesbitt, F. J.— 263. Ne\illc, Uorsey — 237. Ne\ ins, John T. — 2(13. Newlinid, Fred R.— 2ederick F. — 107, 248. Thompson, James — 107. Thompson, Jesse (Revolution) — 39. Thompson, John (father of Frederick F. Thompson) — 107. Thompson, John — 122, 130, 138, 142, 148, 151, 167, 172-174, 176, 190, 216. Thompson, Mrs. John — 177, 183, 193. Thompson, Mrs. Mary Thaw — 248. Thompson, Judge Smith — 55, 77, 78, 98, 102; candidate for Governor — 103; other references — 127, 129, 148. Thorn, Edgar — 172, 190. Thorn, Gilbert — 104. Thorn, Herrick — 173, 182. Thorn, Joseph (Sheriff 1806) — 75. Thorn, Stephen — 115. Thorn, William (1802) — 77. Thorn, William I. — 190, 205, 225. Thome, John S. — 182. Thorne, Joseph. Jr. — 122. Thorne, Nicholas (1S19) — 95. Thorne, Piatt M.— 182. Tice, Isaac — 172. Tice, Capt. Joseph — 117. Ticonderoga — 40. Tillotson, Thomas (1821) — 98. Titsor, William — 21. Titsorl, Jacob — 21. Titus, C. G. — r9o. Titus, Elias — 138. Titus, Obadiah — T02. Titus, T^latt — 49. Titus, Richard — 136. Tobey, A. G. — 205. Tompkins, George IT — 223 Tompkins, Isaac — 133, 14S, 171. Tomliusdn, Aliraham — 745 165 Tooker, Mrs. C. W.— 193. Tooker, Jacnl) C. — r4S, 165. Tooker. William Wallace " (authority as to Indian words) — 11, T2, 13. 14, 15. Topham, W. H. (whaling Capt. 1837) — .135. Tories, in Dutchess County — 36, 37, 38, ,39, 40, 4T, 47, 48, 51; position after Revolution— 6r. Toucey, John M. — 220. Tower, Albert — 150, 234, 252, 297. Tower, A. Edward — 234, 252, Tower, Charlemagne — 228. INDEX. 327 Towle, Charles — 171. Towner, Samuel — i- Tnnnbaner, Horace — 260. Trumbull, Gov. (of Conn.) — 49. Trust Co. oi Poughkeepsic — 106, 1(12, 202. Trustees, village of Tok — 72, 304. Tuckerman, Joseph — 143. Tudor, Samuel — 39, 49. Tuesday Club — 250. Turick, .\ugustus — 2(1. Turner, Daniel H. — 173. Turner, William — 108. Turnpikes, nuubess ^;o, yy, 88, 218; Highland (I'.isi Road)— 73, 78; Heekman and I^awling — 78; Wawar- sing— 95; New I'all/- <)5. Tulhill. Robert K. — 1S3, 157, l^'o. iSi, 212. 2., 8. Tutbill, Sanuiel— 208, 298. Tvveedx'. Haniel H. — 192. Tyler, Rev. Moses Coil — 178. U Uhl, Stephen — 161. Ulricb, .\.— 20(1. Ulrich, I'".— 217. Ulster Counlv, Dutchess attached to — 19. Underbill, J .A— 172. Underbill, Josiaii 1. — 145, 1(12. Underliill, M.ir\ -251. Underwear Co., Poughkeepsie- 23(1, 237; sketch -2'),\ Underu.. 25. Van Beiischoten, F.lias T. (1.838)— 120 Van Beiischoten. IClias, Jr. (Revolution^ — 39, 62. O4, 07.