^^- ^^^^^.^ .b^^°^o %^W-^/ ,0 ^^ i^ « » ■'* .^"^ ^*^°^ % "*^^'-" aO- '•o- ^o^ ^0^ oio'* -^'*' X^* J" ^^.. • .'^^'V «' •y ^ " A Second Memorial OF HENRY WISNER BY Franklin Burdge, 3/25 west 57t11 street, NEW YORK. 200 COPIES PRINTED. MAY, 1898. Nothing of the Memorial of 1878 is here reprinted except to correct errors and to make new statements intelligible. According to Capt. 0. B. Dalilgren, whose wife is a descendant of Henry Wisner, Johannis Wisner, the Swiss soldier, was 38 years old when he arrived in America early in 1714. His son Adam was not born on the sea voyage, as stated by Judge William Thompson, but was (accordmg to a document possessed by Harrison W. Nanny) S6 years old in 1785, and remembered his first sail up the Hudson with Capt. Phillips. He learned the Indian language and served as interpreter. Johannis Wisner prospered in Orange Co., and in 1732 bought a farm of 150 acres of Barent Bloom, which went by his will to his daughter Mary, wife of Joseph Barton. His original farm of 100 acres, at Mount Eve, went to Adam Wisner. Perhaps it is partly the farm now owned by Frank Houston. An adjoining farm to the South of 50 acres, ''near a place called Florida," was conveyed by a deed (now possessed by Mr. Nanny ) from Samuel Clowes to Hendrick Wisner, March 12, 1715. As according to Capt. Dahlgren, Hendrick lived from 1698 to 1767, probably his father Johannis paid for this farm. It was, apparently, here that his son Henry Wisner was born in 1720, in the present town of Warwick, and the old precinct of Goshen. Precincts were political divisions like our modern towns, but much larger. Hendrick Wisner made two purchases of land in Cioshen townsliip in 1726, and one in 1733. This town- shi}), which had no political character except that of being a centre for the precinct, was of rectangular shape and contained about 20 square miles. It was, therefore, much smaller than the present town of (xosheu, and much larger than the present incorporated village. Running through it, parallel to its shorter sides, and dividing it unequally, was a load nearly four miles long, now represented by Main Street and the West Florida road as far as Mount Look Out. Hen- drick Wisner lived in the part northwest of the main road, which part was about two miles wide. According to Henry Wisner's cousin, .Judge William Thompson, "The country being new and few schools, the education of the children was but barely common. Henry, however, as he grew up discovered strong, nat- ural talents and an insinuating address." Remarried in 1739 a daughter (Sarah or Mary) of George Norton and Mary Helmes, of Brookhaven, Suftolk Co. The Nortons are said to have been remarkable for tiieir dark complexion, physical activity, mental vigor and excit- able temperament. The family came to Long Island from New England and traces it s origin to one of the followers of AVilliam the Conqueror, the Lord de Nor- ville, time having translated the last syllable. Old deeds mention several mysterious divisions of Goshen township. In "the southwest divisions" — near Hendrick, his father, and John, his brotlun — lay Henry Wisner's first farm. It was composed of 33 acres, bought of Daniel Cooley, for £'40. in 1741, and 52 acres for which he gave his father the same sum in 1743. The situation is, apparently, on the ci'ossroad to Dentoi], which starts from the West Florida road, two miles from Goshen Court House. The farmers in this quarter depended laigely for support of their stock on the drowned lands of the VVallkill. They began in New Jersey, but extended live miles in New York to a gorge with a rocky bed called the outlet, because the river flowed there with a per- ceptible current, while above in New York its bed had scarcely any descent. The outlet was sutHcient for only the ordinary stream. In spring freshets and protracted summer storms the water from the many surrounding hills poured into the full and sluggish river and spread over the wide tracts of low country bordering it and its tributaries, converting over 20,000 acres into marsh and sometimes into a lake for weeks at a time. This fertil- ized the laud but interfered with its use and caused fever and ague. The farmers' boys in summer watched the cattle feeding on these rich but treacherous meadows and warned their owners in time to drive them to the up- lands ; and sometimes the water rose so rapidly that they could come only in boats. Some eminences, still called islands, a survival of a once appropriate name, fur- nished the cattle a temporary refuge. One of many useful letters received from Jeremiah M. Pelton says : "I still believe that few cows were there pastured, for two reasons : first, the stickiness of the black soil to the udders of the cows would be tionblesome to the milkers, and the swarms of flies and mosquitoes would harass the cows too much. I think as before that the cattle would be principally young heifers and steers." These farmers were prosperous, as cattle, butter and cheese found a sure market in New York City, which was reached by boat from New Windsor. In 1Y53 Wisner bought 600 acres at Greycourt for £300. Eleven years later he discovered a mistake in the deed and revealed it to the parties injured and made them satisfactory compensation. Wi&ner was a large ])urchaser of land, speculatively, and frequently ne- glected to record his deeds, and some of them are not now to be found. When, in 1604-, New Jersey was taken from New York the deed fixed the eastern end of the boundary at 41 degrees latitude on Hudson River and the western end "to the northward as far as the northermost hranch of the said l)ay or river of Delaware, which is in 41 degrees 40 minutes of latitude.'" On the Hudson the latitude is expressly made the boundary end. If the latitude given for the Delaware end had been intended itself for the boundary it woidd not have been intro- duced by the word "which,'' and it would hardly have descended to minutes, a particularity which implies an effort to suit some natural feature. The latitude is. therefore, merely descriptive of the branch. But the branch cannot, as described, be found in nature or mod- ern maps. It is found, however, in Visscher's map, wherein a river enters the Delaware from the west, in latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes. It must be meant for the Lehigh, as the Lehigh and the Schuylkill are the only western tributaries of any size, and the former is not elsewhere on the map. According to Vanderdonck, the Delaware River above the Lehigh was unknown. His map is like Visscher's, but gives no' latitudes. It seems clear that the place the Duke of York des- ignated is what is commonly called the Forks of the Delaware, though the deed describes it one degree too far north, probably because the map maker took his miles from the boatmen and made his liver bend too little. If the legal rule preferring designated bounds to quantitative descriptions applies to places located erron- eously by the map followed, a legal interpretation of the Jersey deed would put into New Yoi'k all north of a line from Tappan to Easton in 40 degrees 40 minutes, as was done by Vaugondy's map. In 16S6 the surveyors of both provinces favored New Jersey by fixing the western boundary station at 41 degrees 40 minutes on the upper Delaware (also called the East Branch and the Fishkill), assuming that *'as far as," meant up and on. But no boundary line was run. The patent of Wawayanda, granted by New York in 1703, about covered the present towns of Goshen, Wawayanda, Minisink and Warwick, and ex- tended to the Jersey Kne, without saying where that was. But the Minisink patent of 1704 expressly ex- tended to the south end of Great Minisink Island, which is in the Delaware Eiver in latitude about 41 degrees 17 minutes. On the principle of splitting the difference, the line from there to Tappan was a fair compromise between 40 degrees 40 minutes and 41 degrees 40 minutes. Without proper warrant from the Crown (as the Lords of Trade, instigated by New York, decided in 1753) Royal Commissioners and the Surveyors- General of both provinces, in pursuance of an act of both legislatures, fixed in 1719 the western boundary station about as before (near the present Cochecton). The deputy sur- veyors did not run a line from it, but went back 30 miles southeast to Mahackamack (near the present Port Jervis) and then went insufficiently far to a point 120 chains northeast, and ran a line thence to Hudson River, crossing Mount Eve on the way. As this boundary line transferred to New Jersey nearly the whole Mini- sink patent and a large part of the patent of Wawa- yanda, many land owners, as soon as they found that out, determined to stop the settlement. A pretext for not perfecting the boundary proceedings, as New Jersey demanded, was furnished by Allan Jarratt, the New York surveyor, who objected to the correctness of the line on account of imperfect instruments used for determining the 1 Jtitude of the boundary stations. They were, in fact, pretty accurately located, and the line gave less land to New Jersey than these stations called for, as was made known in 1738 by the Chesekook patent line and its prolongation. If we can trust Jeffreys' map,- the true line between the boundary stations ran about a mile and a half north of Florida. In the disputed territory, which consisted of about 400,000 acres, both colonies had settlers and tried to exercise Court jurisdiction, muster the militia and col- lect taxes. Some people were frightened away from their estates and some were robbed, beaten and jailed ; and John Herring, an old Quaker, in 1753, had his blood drawn with his own walking-stick for indiscreet sur- veying in De Kay's neighborhood. But nobody was killed except Mrs. Swartout, who died about 1730 in con- sequence of eviction from her home. As it was con- sidered a limited liability war, one Jersey army was routed about 1740, by hearing Major Swartout's son ask, "Father, shall we aim at their legs!^'* and receive the loud reply, "No, shoot to kill I '' According to a report to the proprietors of East Jersey, it appears that on the 17tli day of May, 1753, "a fourth irruption of the Minisink and Wawayanda people was made into New Jersey, consisting of the Deputy Sheriff of Orange Co,, and of thirty-one persons more, armed with swords, hangers and other weapons of war ; whereof the said Deputy and ten more were apprehended by the authority of New Jersey and being examined for what cause such a number came there armed in a hostile manner, the Deputy Sheriff' owned he had orders for apprehending sundry magistrates, officers and other persons of New Jersey and said he had sworn to execute the orders he had received and thought it his duty to endeavor it ; the others appi-e- hended (except one Henry Wesenar, who escaped after he was apprehended and committed) excused theuj- selves as men i)ressed to assist the Deputy Sheriff in the executing his orders." In June, 1754, William Knap deposes that he had heard of some Jerseymen who were coming to take Henry Wisner, one of his near neigh- bors, and saw the whole company (one of whom he thought was Joseph Barton) ride down the hill towards Wisner's house. They do not appear to have taken Wisner, though some of the Jerseymen at the siege of De Kay's house boasted that "they had strength enough to take all Groshen and would do it in time." According to an uncertain tradition, Wisner built in 1758 a grist mill at the place now called Phillipsburg, where the Wallkill is a considerable stream and falls six feet. Some of this structure is said to be the middle portion of Marsh's mill at the southeast end of the dam. How he first got land here does not appear, but he owned a tract of land on the northwest side of the Wallkill in 1760, when he l)ought of Cornelius and James . Van Home 580 acres more, and 100 acres on the southeast side. Indians visited this neighbor- hood, sometimes to sell skins and sometimes to take scalps. In the summer of 1758, Samuel Webb was killed by them two miles from* Goshen court house as he was fetching home his cows. Henry Wisner and his brother John were captains in the militia of the frontier. As there is a deed signed in 1760 by Henry Wisner, and not by his wife, perhaps she was then dead. She is probably buried alongside of her' husband, but the gravestone has disappeared. In 1761, perhaps to escape Indians and Jerseymen, Wisner changed his residence to that part of Goshen township called the village of Goshen. It was a pecu- liar village, consisting of about 1 6 narrow farms on each side of the main road for two miles. A number of them contained 80 acres and were a mile deep and 660 feet front. Tlie liousos were near the road, and hence near enough together for the early settlers to readily assist one another if attacked by Indians. John Stewai d owned the first of these village farms on the north- westerly side of the West Florida road, and also the meadow land opposite. The next farm was that of Samuel Smith. It consisted of 70 acres and was bought by Wisner for £500. The place where Wisner's house stood is midway between the present houses of C. Steward and Mrs. D. J. Steward. Here still stands the "one mile'' stone from the court house. Near that building and the Presbyterian Churcli there was a cross-road and the farms had begun to sub- divide and form an ordinary village. In the Minisink angle Wisner bought in ITdG of Oliver De Lancey and David Johnston 840 acres for £1,260, and gave them a mortgage for the full amount. In 1777 he paid Johnston his moiety of this debt and paid into the State Treasury over £723, being the portion, with arrear of interest, he owed to Oliver De Lancey, a Tory brigadier-general. He also bought 799 acres of Oliver De Lancey and John Morin Scott for £100 and 118 acres of George McNish. The New York General Assembly (of which Wisner was a member) in December, 1768, declared that the late Acts of Parliament imposing duties on the Colonies with the sole view and express purpose of raising a revenue are utterly subversive of their constitutional rights, and that the Act for suspending the legislative power of New York on account of its refusal to make provision for quartering British troops is unlawful and unconstitutional and still more dangerous and alarm- ing. This provoked Gov. Moore to dissolve the Assembly 11 and special efforts were made to elect a more subser- vient one. Voters had to possess a freehold estate of £40. A man might vote in several counties if qualified in each, and to enable him to do so elections were at different times in different counties. The voting was by word of mouth and continued several days at the few polling places. The inspectors of the poll could (and probably at this election did) exercise some unfair- ness in admitting votes. The patriotic candidates in Orange Co. were John Haring and Henry Wisner, but two Tories (as supporters of Government began to be called), John De Noyelles and Samuel Gale, were re- turned. John Morin Scott, a Van Wyck and two Liv- ingstons, the patriotic candidates in New York City, were defeated in January, 1769. The new Assembly thus got a conservative majority and partially recon- ciled itself to the British Government. In March, 1769, for the consideration of natural affection, Henry Wisner deeded 175 acres at Phillipsburg on the northwest side of theWallkill "to Moses Phillips, carpenter, and my daughter Sarah, his wife," who had married in January, 1768. One-half acre of land, at the northwest end of the dam, was retained, but the deed conveyed a fulling mill with the raceway and enough land to dye and dry the cloth dressed at tlie said.mill. There was an eminent doctor in New York City named John Bard who was interested with Wisner in Orange Co. land. He was his bondsman for i;500, when Wisner, by license dated April 5, 1769, married Mrs. Sarah Waters, He got a farm in Queens Co. , not with his first wife, but with this second wife, who was the 12 widow of Daniel Waters of Hempstead and the daughter of Thomas Cornell. I am indebted for several facts concerning her and her children to Isaac S. Waters and Mrs. Sarah T. Matthews, her great granddaughter. Her eldest son Daniel Waters probably died young. Her eldest daughter Mary (afterwards Mrs. Latham) and her married daughter Sarah Thorne remained in Queens Co. Elizabeth Waters, aged 15, Hannah, and Thomas, aged 9, went to Orange Co. Wisner did not bring im- mediately his new family under the old roof, but went to live in Cornwall precinct, perhaps near Greycourt. He was appointed one of the assistant justices of the Court of Common Pleas in 1769 and returned to (loshen in 1771. This led to the marriage of his son Cabriel to his step-daughter Elizabeth about 1772. Soon after, in return for £'200 of her mone}'', Wisner conveyed to Gabriel an undivided half of 600 acres, situated at the outlet of the drowned lands, but the deed was not recorded. Henry Wisner's eldest son Henry Wisner, Jr., was born June 11, 1740, and married Sarah Barnet (not Waters) in 1762. His father gave him land in Cornwall precinct (probably near Greycourt, and about 1769), which he sold about 1772. On New Year's Day, 1774, Wisner deeded to this son considerable land on both sides of the Wallkill, and also the grist mill. Henry Wisner, Jr., lived then and in the days of powder mak- ing, probably where Mr. Bauer lives now. In June, 1775, Moses Phillips paid Wisner t'120 for 8o acres more land. Commissioners to determine tht^ boundary between New York and New Jersey, appointed by the Crown in pursuance of Acts of both legislatures, met in New York City in 1769. John Morin Scott was the chief manager of the New York case, and according to Fernow, Henry Wisner and Capt. Samuel J. Holland were New York surveyors. The commissioners (six being present) unan- imously decided that " the northermost branch " of the Jersey deed was the Mahackamack-- creek (now Never- sink) which enters the Delaware from the north in latitude 41 degrees, 21 minutes, 37 seconds. John Morin Scott appeared before the New York General Assembly in 1771 in opposition to this settlement, and a letter was read by the speaker from Henry Wisner, directed to the House, offering his reasons why a law of New York should not pass for confirming the said partition line. Nevertheless it was ratified, and in 1772 by New Jersey. The king approved in 1773, and the present boundary line was surveyed in 1774 by James Clinton and Anthony Dennis and marked by milestones and blazed trees. In 1772 Wisner and William Wickham expended money in clearing the outlet of the drowned lands. An Act of the New York General Assembly in 1773 pro- vided for raising by assessment on the property bene- fited £1,500 to repay Wisner and Wickham and do further work, and constitutes as trustees these two and Samuel Gale, Gilbert Bradner and William AUison. Another Act, passed in 1775, adds £500 more, and pro- vides in addition for draining swamps and bog meadows by cutting large ditches to the Wallkill and clearing out tributary brooks. These efforts were partially success- ful, but to be completely so needed liberal expenditure in blasting a wider and deeper passage through the outlet. Commissioners in 1829, however, preferred the cheaper plan of providing for the surplus water of flood 14 times by digging around the outlet a ditch three miles long. But the ditch allured the Wallkill to desert its original bed, where is now a series of malarious pools amid trees and bushes. The ditch, after some adventures with gates and bulkheads, broadened and deepened in the yielding soil until it became the river. In 17Y3 all patriotic America united to resist tea taxation, by means of committees of correspondence. They were links in a great chain, and a movement in any one was felt throughout. When the throwing of the tea into Boston harbor provoked the British Parliament to shut up the port, instead of paying for the tea, as Dr. Franklin advised, Boston, like the fox that had lost his tail, demanded of the continent a general stopping of trade with Great Britain. New York refused, but requested Massachusetts to call a Continental Congress. For this Congress the New York City Committee of Cor- respondence, called the Committee of Fifty-One, nomin- ated five conservative delegates and refused to nominal e John Morin Scott. They feared his patriotic eloquence. Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death I" was bettered by Scott : ' ' Who can prize life without liberty i! It is a bauble only fit to be thrown away.'' The nominees were unanimously elected by the free- holders and freemen of the city and the other counties were invited to choose the same or delegates of their own. Wisner was a member of the Orange Co. Commit- tee of Correspondence, and it is very likely Scott advised him not to accept the city delegates. There were about 1,000 freeholders in Orange Co., but less than twenty per- sons attended the meeting of committeemen, which, on August 16th, 1774^ at the house of Stephen Slot (perhaps the stone tavern at Sloatsburg), elected Wisner and Haring. The instructions were "to consult on proper 15 measures to be taken for procuring the redress of our grievances." To strengthen Wisner's credentials, he was elected again at a meeting of the inhabitants of the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall, held at Chester on September 3d, to go "to Philadelphia to meet the Gen- eral Congress and consult with the rest of the delegates on proper measures to be taken with respect to the claims made by the British Parliament of taxing Amer- ica in all cases whatsoever.'' At this meeting there was a majority of only two votes in favor of sending a delegate to the Congress, and William Wickham and David Matthews wrote to Isaac Low great complaints about the election. Low, in a letter dated Philadelphia, September 20th, 1774, replied: "Gentlemen — I did not receive your favor of 16th instant time enough to answer it by return of the post. Mr. Herring has not yet made his second appearance ; nor did we imagine Mr. Wisner would have had the confideDce to present himself as a delegate after knowing the circumstances which were communicated to us relative to his election. It was therefore thought by my colleagues most advis- able to show him your letters on that subject. He was not in the least disconcerted, but expressed great satis- faction at being treated with so much candor, and in return thought himself bound in gratitude to show us with equal frankness the certificates on which he founded his pretensions, leaving us at full liberty after- wards to make such use of the intelligence received from you as we thought proper. From the face of his certificates, the one signed by Col. [Vincent] Matthews, the other by Bathazar De Hart (copies of which I now enclose), we were of opinion his election would appear too regular to be set aside by anything we could produce to the contrary ; especially as the fact we principally relied on, as related in a letter to you from Col. Matthews, th^ 16 (chairman, might seem to be in a great measure invali- dated by his certificate as chairman 'at a meeting of the inhabitants of the precincts of Goshen and Corn- wall.' And Mr. De Hart's certificate might probably pass for those others of the county. Upon the whole it was our unanimous opinion that we could not with any prospect of success oppose Mr. Wisner's qualifica- tions on the evidence we were yet possessed of, but to wait for the vouchers which you seem so determined to exhibit against him, which we must submit to your dis- cj-etion." I am indebted for tliis interesting letter to Mr. Nannj^ The failure of this attempt to get the Continental Congress to exclude Wisner and Haring was important, as without Orange County the conservatives Avould have controlled the vote of New York, which was cast as a unit, and Galloway's plan of accommodation with England would have been adopted. It proposed an English president-general and a continental con- gress, elected for three years by the Colonial Assem- blies, to rule America in general concerns in concurrence with the British Parliament. But the ultra-patriotic party was determined not to trust the right of taxation to any power except their own Colonial Assemblies, and would pay nothing to the crown, except in response to reciuisitions that met their approval. Bancroft says of Galloway's plan that "not one colony, unless it may have been New York, voted in its favor." There never was any vote taken on the adop- fion of Galloway's plan, but the vote to cut it out of the minutes was practically the same thing, as the intention was to mask dissensions by having nothing in the min- utes except what was adopted. That five colonies voted against cutting it out, and not one of them was New York, is shown in the "Magazine of American His- tory" for April, ISTO. Bancroft says there were fifty-five members of tliis Congress, which is one short. Wisner apparently had lodgings at the house of William Will at the corner of Second and Arch Streets. The Continental Congress recommended the forma- tion of vigilance committees to carry into execution the American Association it had made, not to import, pur- chase or use goods from Great Britain and its dependen- cies, until the obnoxious Acts of Parliament were re- pealed. These committees were called Committees of Inspection or Observation, and in New York City the Committee of Sixty. On receiving news of the battle of Lexington (April 19th, 1775), the Committee of Sixty called a Provincial Congress and the form of a New York Association was signed by the freeholders, freemen and inhabitants of the city and sent throughout the Colony, "to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution what- ever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon by our provincial conven- tion." This forced the Tories to go on record and they proved to be about one-third of the population. The refusers of the pledge of allegiance were a majority in some places, but few in patriotic Goshen. The name of Henry Wisner heads the list of 365 signers on June 8th. Committees of Safety and Corrrespondence were formed in many places. Henry Wisner was a member in Goshen ; Henry Wisner, Jr., and Moses Phillips in Wallkill. In New York City this Committee was called .the Committee of One Hundred, and in May, 1775, one of its members, John Morin Scott, supported Marinus Willett in prevent- ing the British troops carrying off with them to Boston several cart loads of arms. This irregular government of Congresses and Committees boycotted all the refusers of the Kevolutionary pledge and finally deprived them of their guns, imprisoned Tories jurlged to be dangerous 18 and prepared the militia for vv^ar. It did not sup- press the regular Government of the Colony, hut intimidated it and was a practical declaration of inde- pendence, hut only as a temporary expedient, i)reliniin- ary to a reconciliation on constitutional principles. The Battle of Lexington convinced all patriots of the necessity of supplying themselves with plenty of gunpowder. The New York Provincial Congress on June 9th, 1775, offered a premium for one year (afterwards extended to January 1st, 1778) of £5 per hundredweight on the powder delivered by New York manufacturers to the committee of each county. This was in addition to the price, which was £25 ($62.50) per hundredweight. In small quantities powder usually sold for six York shillings a pound. The first New York pow^der manu- facturer .was Judge Robert R. Livingston. His mill was begun early in May and started late in June, 1775. It was situated in Rhinebeck precinct of Dutchess Count}'^, near Hudson River, and probably in the present town of Red Hook, at the mouth of the Sawkill, where there is much water and a forty-foot fall. One of its first jobs was the cure of a lot of damaged powder captured at Ticonderoga. Charcoal was abundant and sulphur sufficient, but saltpetre, the chief ingredient of gunpowder, was very scarce. In June, 1775, the whole quantity in New York City amounted to only 287 pounds. Yet his powder maker arrived from Pliiladelphia late in June witii 180 barrels. This saltpetre was apparently bought by Robert R. Livingston, Jr., of a Philadelphia importer, though there is a story that the mill's first supply was obtained from an agent of the English government unaware of tlie purpose. Afterwards 900 pounds came from Connecticut and -lOO pounds from Albany. 19 Judge Livingston was the owner of one of the lai'gest estates in America and lived at Clermont, six miles north of his powder mill. He gave his powder maker half of the profits of the business for his services. He had sent his carpenter to examine the powder mills of Pennsylvania, but yet some faults were committed in the construction of his mill, and it did not turn out half as much powder as expected. It had four mortars and twelve pounders. The intention was to dry the powder by sunshine, but in October, 1775, it was found neces- sary to build a stove room. Livingston died of apoplexy December 9th, 1775, and about this time the mill was destroyed in some manner not mentioned, but which can be guessed. Wisner's first powder mill was built about as early as Livingston's. It was four miles northwest of Goshen, at the place now called Phillipsburg. There is an un- certain tradition that it was situated at the third dam of a little stream that enters the Wallkill just above the bridge on the northwest side of the river. Very little saltpetre could be obtained, though Henry Wisner, Jr., made some out of stable dirt. In January, 177(), the whole quantity of powder in New York City was less than three tons, not sufficient to act hostilely against the British ships of war in port. The State Committee of Safety on "a due consideration of the danger of resting the liberties and future happi- ness of this large and growing country upon foreign supplies which will be extremely precarious and at all events very expensive " printed for public distribution 3,000 copies of a pamphlet on the manufacture of salt- petre and gunpowder, the latter part of which was written by Henry Wisner. On January 27th, a letter was written by John R. Livingston (third son of Robert and not yet 21 years 2(t ■ old) that the Rhinebeck mill was again built, but was obliged to be idle for want of saltpetre. The Continen- tal Congress in February sent him ten tons, part of an importation of sixty tons at Philadelphia. Up to March 12th, 1T76, Wisner's mill had made only 200 pounds of powder. Then a supply of saltpetre was procured and before it was exhausted probably ten tons came from the Continental Congress. 800 pounds of powder were made the first week and 1,100 the second week after the above date. Wisner's account of how to make powder probably represents the method pursued at his mill. His propor- tions were 15 pounds of sulphur and 18 pounds of char- coal to 100 pounds of saltpetre. The ingredients were made as fine as possible and well mixed, and wetted to the consistency of dough. Then by power derived from a water wheel they were pounded in mortars for twenty hours. Graining was done by rubbing the lumps of powder through sieves of difiierent finenes ; srounding and smoothing by rolling the unshapely grains of pow- der in a barrel rapidly turned by the sliaft of the mill. ' ' The powder must be put in flat trays or dishes and set by to dry either in a small room kept warm with a large stove, or if the weather be dry, in the sliining of the sun." The powder magazine is said to have been on the Slauson place, tiien owned by Moses Phillips. Henry Wisner, Jr., in a letter of April 24th, 177G, mentions the powder mill ' ' belonging to my father and self, in which we make 1,000 pounds per week'. The weather being very changeable, we are much troubled to get it dry ; but have above three tons made, which we shall send to Fort Constitution as soon as dry. " As he also says, "^ my father being sick I could not leave the ])()wder mill without great inconvenience," they prob- ably had no })ovvder maker to supervise the workmen. 21 By the 9th of June, 1776, this mill had made 9,184 pounds of powder and then probably discontinued operations, as the stream supplied insufficient water. In March, 177(5, the New York Provincial Congress offered for a recommended powder manufacturer in each unsupplied county a new inducement of a loan of i'1,000 for two years without interest. It also offered to new powder manufacturers a premium of £100 for each powder mill erected before the 20th day of May, and less for later erections ; such mills to be capable of making 1,000 pounds a week. Though John R. Living- ston had a mill already in Dutchess he was appointed to build a second. It was erected in May, 177(5. It was probably near the first, which continued in operation. Wisner's second powder mill was at Phillipsburg on the Wallkill, and probably on the southeast side at the end of a raceway (still visible) which started above the dam and went to the wheel 200 feet below. One of the builders was James Butler. It is first mentioned on April 24th, 1776 : " We have got timber and framed a powder mill, which will be constructed in such a manner as will make much faster.'' It was completed and put in operation on May 20th. It made about 1,000 pounds of powder a week and could reach 1,500 pounds. Henry Wisner, Jr., and Major Moses Phillips were the nominal owners of the powder mill. They lived in Ulster County (which then included Phillipsburg), and got the recommendations of the Ulster County Com- mittee "as proper persons (having the convenience of a good stream, etcV They secured a loan of £150 and a premium of £100 from the Provincial Congress. In April, 1776, Henry Wisner and John Carpenter received the recommendation of the Orange County Connnittee as proper persons to build a powder mill " at 23 or near John Carpenter's saw-mill, near Greycourt." It was on Cromeline Creek, at the place now called CraigsviUe, seven miles east of Goshen. When com- pleted in May it passed into the hands of John and Col- vill Carpenter. They received a loan of i'200 from the Provincial Congress in July, 17T<'), when their mill was inspected and found going with 18 stampers, a good stone house and yard, and many other things necessar}' for drying and securing the powder. Wisner, in 1777, stated in the New York Provincial Congress that he had completed two powder mills in May, 177C, upon the encouragement formerly given, whereby he was entitled to £2,000 as a loan, instead of which he would accept £70 as a gift. It was so ordered. Henry Van Rennselaer & Sons of Claverack (then in Albany County) applied for a loan, but apparently erected no powder mill. In April, 1776, committees were appointed in every county to erect saltpetre works and purchase at the rate of six shillings a pound any saltpetre made in the State. In Orange County, this committee consisted of William Allison and John Haring. In August, Henry Wisner was authorized to purchase saltpetre in Orange County, and Henry Wisner, Jr., in Ulster County, for the use of the State. There were saltpetre works at Goshen erected by James Webster, Daniel Crane and U/.al Crane, who, with two other workmen, were engaged in carting, attending the tubs, boiling, etc. Some salt- petre was made in families, and a man made fourteen pounds out of three bushels of earth. There came to Wisner's mill a letter fiom Indians of tho Susquehanna dated June 4th, 1776, beginning : "Brother: We received your letter with joy, wherein you manifest your great satisfaction with our disj^osi- tion to lie still and bear no part in your disputes ; this is :23 our determination. We are concerned for your welfare and lament your distressed circumstances. We return you thankcj that in the midst of your troubles you re- member us still and are devising means to supply our wants, both of powder and goods. We thank you for the sample of powder you sent us ; we judge the powder is good. You inform us that you have erected powder works and that you hope shortly to be able to supply us. We wish you success and bid you welcome to trade with us both in powder and goods. We hope you will bring powder, lead and flints, as soon as you can ; for if we do not find these we shall not have any skins to buy goods with in the fall.'' The New York Provincial Congress ordered this letter answered with a present of powder, lead and flints, being anxious to keep the Indians from espousing the cause of the king. The Americans began the Revolutionary War, not for secession, but to secure their rights in the British Empire, which they regarded as the world's bulwark against Popery and despotism. They gloried in the name of Englishmen, and preferred, as the Canadians do now, a constitutional monarchy to republican institu- tions. But after January 8th, 1776, America was rap- idly converted to independence and democracy by the forcible arguments of Paine's ' ' Common Sense. " I have a copy of the first edition, with the following letter written on the margin of the first page : "Sir, I have only to ask the favor of you to read this pamphlet, consulting Mr. Scott and such of the Committee of Safety as you think jDroper, particularly Orange and Ulster, and let me know their and 3^our opinion of the general spirit of it. I would have wrote a letter on the subject, but the bearer is waiting. Henry Wisner, at Philadelphia. To John McKesson, at New York." Wisner, who was then a member of the Second Continental Congress, must 2A have read with great satisfaction Paine's abuse of mon- archy, for according to his intimate ac([uaintance, Judge William Thompson, he "seemed to possess from his ancestors a strong predilection for republican institu- tions." The Committee of Safety mentioned was a State body composed of members of the New York Pro- vincial Congress, exercising its authority between the sessions. At a later period Wisner was a member of it. John Morin Scott, alarmed at the boldness of "Common Sense," suggested a small private meeting in the evening for the purpose of writing an answer. They accord- ingly met^ and McKesson read the pamphlet through, and found it unanswerable. The Second Continental Congress made two enact- ments of independence in the same words. The first was on July 2d, and The Pennsylvania Eveuiny Post then announced, "This day the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States." All the New York members refused to join in tho vote, as it was considered inconsistent with their instructions from the convention that had elected them. But this vote of July 2d, by settling the question oC independence, nullified the instructions. Wisner said to the New York Legislatuie in 17S1 in defence of James Duane: "Our insti'uctions from our constituents were particularly pointi'd towards bringing about a reconciliation with Gieat Biitairi agieeably to the Eng- lish Constitution. While that object appeared to be within the reach of our hope, Mr. DuaiK^ was a faithful advocate of it. When it was given up he appeared to me to be as faithful an advocate for the freedom and independence of the United States." Congress met on Thursday, July 4th, at !> o'clock, and soon resolved itself into a committee of the whole to continue its work of amending the language of the 25 Declaration that Jefferson had reported. The chair was occupied by Harrison, whom John Adams calls "an indolent, luxurious, heavy gentleman of no use in Con- gress or Committee." Jefferson left the defense of the Declaration to John Adams and sat silent, "writhing a little," he says, "under the acrimonious criticisms." In the three days' debate one-third of his draft was stricken out, and Dr. Franklin consoled him with the story of John Thompson's sign. A curious amendment was striking out the language in which independence was enacted in the Jeffersonian draft, and inserting instead of it the resolution respecting independency, which had been passed on July 2d, and had not been authentically published, thus manifesting the intention of Congress to reject that day as Independence Day. The weather on the fourth was not very hot (the thermometer reaching only 76), but the members were annoyed by insects of the air and perhaps there was no adjoui'nment for a meal. Lossing, who is followed by Chamberlain and Buchanan, says the Declaration passed at 2 o'clock. But I can find no evidence of this, and Bancroft says nothing on the subject. As the Declara- tion is not mentioned in The Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 4th, Jefferson's statement is probably nearer correct, that it passed in the evening. Perhaps it was so wearisome a day's work that the Report to the regular session was not a fair copy of the Declaration as amended, but was merely a reading of the Jeffersonian draft, erased and interlined and enlarged to suit the motions that had prevailed in the Committee of the Whole. If the Jeffersonian draft and the Declara- tion reported to the regular session were two distinct papers, the difficulty of accounting for their loss is doubled. It is particularly hard to believe, if the Declaration adopted was a fair copy properly written 26 out, that any American would have been reckless and shameless enough to destroy it, as in fact has been done. In the regular session the Declaration did not receive the vote of the New Yorkers, who prudently waited for new instructions. But Wisner personally voted for it, according to Thomas McKean, who wrote in 1814 of himself and Wisner: "both were present in Congress on the 4tli of July, and voted for Independence." McKean was a judge and consequently accustomed to weigh his words, and he was not interested in Wisner, and his testimony was deliberate and given four times, as mentioned in 1878. As the vote of each colony counted for one on the side of its majority, Wisner 's vote for Independence was sentimental rather than ettective, and it is more astonishing that we have such good evidence of it tlian that we have so little. For most of the voters of Independence we have no positive evidence. None are named in the Journals of Congress and the members of Congress were pledged to keep secret everything not published by the authority of the House. The list of 40 voters of Independence I published in 18Y8 retained as many of the signers from elsewhere than New York as possible. Eead, of Delaware, is well knoAvn to have voted against Independence ; and I dis- covered that Hooper did also, by the following reasoning: John Adams, in a letter dated June 22d, 1819, says: " The unanimity of the States finally depended on the vote of Joseph Hewes, and was finally determined by him.'" As there were three North Carolinians, tliis shows that Hooper and Penn took opposite sides. A letter of Hewes' (in Force's "American Archives"), dated July 8th, 177G, says : " My friend Penn came time enough to give his vote for Independence." Jefferson, in a letter dated 27 July 9th, 1817, says : " Now you remember as well as I do, that we had not a greater Tory in Congress than Hooper.'' It is well known that Robert Morris was opposed to de- claring independence, and withdrew from the vote, and that R. H. Lee and Wythe were absent from Philadelphia; and that Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor, Ross, Carroll, Cliase and Thornton were not members of Congress when the vote was taken. Of non-signers George Clinton is asserted to have voted for Independence, by Washington Irving, Lossiiig. Dawson, Ruttenber, Stone, Roberts, and other writers, but unfortunately this evidence is not contemporary. Scharf asserts that Rogers, of Maryland, voted for Inde- pendence, but his not being re-elected to Congress is an indication to the contrary. As soon as the Declaration passed in regular session it was ordered to be authenticated and printed, and that the committee that prepared it superintend and correct the press. Then Congress dropped into humbler busi- ness, and empowered Mr. Wisner to send a man to Orange County for a sample of flint stone. The Declaration was printed, probably, on the morn- ing of July 5th. Dunlap's broadside has "Signed by order and in behalf of the Congress. John Hancock, President. Attest, Charles Thomson, Secretary.'' Their printed signatures imply that their names were in the printer's copy, but not necessarily autographic. The printed copy was then wafered in the Rough Journal in a blank space Thomson had left for it, on July 4th. (See Buchanan's McKean Genealogy, 1890.) No mention is made, either in the Rough Journal or in the Smooth Journal, of the members signing the Declaration, and in the Smooth Journal the Declaration is written without signatures. 28 John Adams, in a letter to Samuel Chase on July 9th, 1776, said : " As soon as an American Seal is prepared, I conjecture the Declaration will be subscribed by all the members, which will give you the opportunity you wish for of transmitting your name among the votaries of Independence/' These facts and the positive statement of McKean that the members did not sign on the 4th, have led almost all investigators to reject the state- ments made by Jefferson and Adams in their old age that the members signed on the 4th, as a mistake based on tlie printed journals of Congress, wherein the sign- ing of the parchment Declaration on August 2d, is put under July 4th. The conflicting evidence on this point can, however, be reconciled by conjecturing that after the adjournment of Congress, on July 4th, McKean was absent from the room, and the members of the voting colonies present, except Dickinson, signed the Declara- tion informally by a spontaneous patriotic impulse. Jefferson, in his Autobiography, and in a letter dated May 12th, 1811>, states that the New York members signed on July 15th, the paper copy of the Declaration. As no contemporary contradicts this, we ought not to doubt his word, though it is usual to do so. In fact, it was the best way of manifesting the belated adhesion of New York to the cause of United Independence. More- over, Paul Ford has a copy of Aitken's Vol. 2 of the Journals of Congress, believed to have belonged to Charles Thomson, in which is written in what is thought, by Ford and other experts, to be his handwrit- ing, opposite the names of William Floyd, Philip Livingston and Francis Lewis, "signed July 15.'' Wisner must have signed then, if he refrained from signing on July 4th. The secret journal of Congress has "July ll>th, 1776, Resolved, that the Declaration passed on the 4th be 30 fairly engrossed on parchment, and with the title and style of ' The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress." Wisner left Philadelphia about this time (probably two days before) and never returned. Wisner received a letter dated at Newton, N, J., July 9th, 1776, fi'om his "loving and affectionate cousin, Joseph Barton," stating that an Indian war was ex- pected, and begging for a little powder, as his neighbors had nothing but axes or sticks to fight with, also say- ing that Flint Island, in the drowned land, abounded in excellent gunfiints, and offering to undertake working a good lead mine there was at Neponah. "Sir, it gives a great turn to the minds of our people, declaring our independence. Now we know what to depend on. For my part I have been at a great stand. I could hardly own the King and fight against him at the same time ; but now these matters are cleared up. Heart and hand shall move together." He or some other of the same name afterwards became Lieutenant-Colonel of New Jersey Tory Volunteers. Wisner's powder was usually taken in wagons twenty miles to New Windsor and shipped there. Thus on May 23d, 1776, 22 barrels and 4 half-barrels of powder were put on board the schooner "Resolution" by Henry Wisner, Esq., on account the Continental Con- gress, addressed to Philip V. Rennselaer, of Albany, un- der guard of Lieutenant Peter Elsworth. In October 1776, Moses Phillips took powder to General Washing- ton, at Kingsbridge, and, on account of the enemy's ships in the Hudson, was compelled to leave the vessel at Peekskill and proceed by land. The New York Provincial Congress answered Wisner's request for a guard for his first powder miU 30 by referring him to General Washington ; but in July, 1776, ordered a guard of a sergeant and six privates for Livingston's mill ; and in May, 1777, ordered to be raised three companies of one lieutenant, three sergeants and twenty-four privates to guard the powder mills of Rhinebeck, Wallkill and Cornwall precincts under the command of the proprietors. Henry Wisner, Jr., was usually in charge at Phillips- burg, but he appears to have been absent sometime in 1777, as Henry Wisner's memorandum book (possessed by Mr. Nanny) has the following entry: "I have taken three hundred and sixt}^ dollars to go to Boston. — Henry Wisner, Jr." Command of soldiers implies some com- mission and military title, I find Henry Wisner called Major in 1777, and a commission to Henry Wisner, Jr., as Major, is said to have been in existence until recently, by Captain Lewis S. Wisner, his great-grandson, to whom I am indebted for valuable information and the use of many family papers. The society of Sons of the Revolution considers that the Lieut. -Col. Henry Wisner of Hathorn's regiment was the son of Capt. John Wisner. Powder mills in those days had usually short lives. How long the Craigsville mill continued in operation does not appear. A receipt given by John Carpenter to Henry Wisner on June 9th, 1777, for i;370 for saltpetre purchased for the State of New York, and another on July 10th, for £100, may indicate that Carpenter soon changed his business from powder to saltpetre. In June, 1777, Tories stole 900 pounds of Livingston's powder, apparently reaching the mill by boat. In October his mills were destroyed by the British under Gen. Vaughan, during Clinton's raid uj) the Hudson to help Burgoyne. In January, 1778, Wisner stated to the New York Provincial Convention that he had sundry accounts with 31 the State for saltpetre, and also for bounty on gun- powder, and that the Auditor-General objected to them. A committee appointed to examine them reported that that part of the saltpetre which Mr. Wisner hath pur- chased for the use of this State, consisting of 2,4 20| pounds, is unattended with vouchers of its being made of materials collected within this State, but, neverthe- less, from the local situation of the several manufact- urers, the Committee are satisfied that it was so made ; that as to the gunpowder manufactured at Mr. Wisner's mills, it appears that near 2,000 weight hath been delivered to the order of the Convention of this State, and that the remainder was delivered to the several orders of General Washington and General Schuyler ; that the said powder, agreeable to a resolution of Provin- cial Congress, should have been delivered to the Com- mittee of the respective counties where it was manu- factured, but that the aforesaid applications and orders prevented a compliance therewith ; that Mr. Wisner's answer to the demands of the Generals was highly expedient, as a speedy supply of that article was indis- pensably necessai-y to promote the public good ; and that he has fully complied with the spirit of the said resolution. Gen. Washington considered it of vital importance to keep the British below the Highlands of the Hudson. Wisner was on a secret committee (Robert Yates, chair- man) empowered to take private property for this pur- pose. Several vessels were sunk near Fort Washington, l)ut the English ships ran past on October 9th, 1776, with no great loss from the shore batteries. They pro- ceeded but a short distance up the river and allowed time to fortify the Highlands ; in doing which, the committee had to incur personal liability, as their ex- penses far exceeded the sum furnished by the Provincial 32 Congress. Wisner wrote on October 18th: *'The hill at the north side of Peekskill [Gallows Hill | is so situated with the road winding along the side of it, that ten men on the top, by throwing down stones might prevent 10,000 passing. I went on top this morning and rolled some stones down: it made a most violent appearance: some of them sprang twenty feet high. I believe nothing more need be done than to heap great quantities of stone at the different places where the troops must pass, if they attempt penetrating the mountains." He went over the river the same day^ to Fort Montgomery and brought Engineer ]\Iachin to Peekskill, and they agreed that to build fortifications there "would be labor badly spent and worse than lost." On November 2d, the State Committee of Safety authorized Henry Wisner and Gen. James Clinton to mount cannon and erect small works on the banks of the Hudson to annoy the enemy's ships if they at- tempted to pass. Early in November, Gilbert Livingston, with the co- operation of Henry Wisner, Jr., brought down the river from Poughkeepsie a chain, most of which had been made for the i-iver Sorel. Livingston and Henry Wisner, Sr., with the assistance of Captain Hazel wood, stretched it across the Hudson from the north chop of Poplopen's Kill to Anthony's Nose— 1,800 feet. It was made of iron 24 inches thick, bat the combined force of the current and the ebb-tide against the bulk of the logs by which it was supported heajied up the water and quickly broke a swivel, and that being mended, the chain soon })arted again by breaking a clevis. Late in November, Wisner and Livingstou sounded the river from Stony Point tbrough the Highlands, and found the main channel nowhere less than 80 feet deep, 88 except near Polopel's Island, and gave their opinion that that was the best place for sunken obstructions. They were undertaken bu-t never completed. On November 30th Wisner was in Goshen and found several of his neighbors had collected 450 cattle to be salted for the use of the American army. Buying beef and fat cattle were among Wisner's minor patriotic activities. He wrote to the State Committee of Safety on December 24th, 1776, from Orang^town: " A large number of cattle in Orange have lately been bought up for the Philadelphia market, which, I am afraid, will cause a scarcity of beef. I beg your advice whether it will not be best to stop the cattle for the use of the army. I am determined to stop them until I hear from you.'' About this time the militia of Westchester, Dutchess and Albany Counties were to be called out to defend the passes in the Highlands on the east side of the Hudson, and the New York Convention resolved that they be stationed at such posts and obey such orders as they shall from time to time receive from Eobert R. Living- ston, Henry Wisner and Zephaniah Piatt, who are also empowered to discharge from the militia such mechanics as the public service or the necessity of the inhabitants may render expedient. It is not known that Wisner was ever in active military service, but I find him called Colonel in 17S1. Machin had charge of the iron chain during the winter, and as soon as the river was open in the spring of 1777, he re-stretched it, reduced the amount of sup- porting timber and anchored it to sunken cribs of stone. To blunt the shock of a ship in full sail before it could come on the chain, bulky obstructions of wood had been originally put in front of it, but Machin replaced them, perhaps by a small chain loosely stretched, to which L.ofC, M logs were fastened at their ends. This barricade is said to have cost $250,000. The British fleet did not dare to force it under the fire of shore batteries and forts, and the five ships of war behind it, which had been procured by a committee of which Wisner was chairman. But on October 6th, as Forts Chnton and Montgomery, by error of Gen. Putnam, were garrisoned by only GOO men, they were carried at nightfall by British and Tory assault in the rear. Col. William Allison and Micah Allison were in Fort Montgomery; the fp-ther was captured and the son was slain. According to Simms, Machin managed a cannon in Fort Montgomery effectively. He received a bullet in his breast, and, joining in the retreat, asked for help of a soldier, who replied, "It is a damned good fellow who can help himself." Like Gov. Clinton and some others he clambered down the rocks to the river side and es- caped by boat behind the barricade, which paid for itself by saving them from the British fleet. Mofly Pitcher and Gen. James Clinton escaped by land from Fort Clinton. Bancroft erroneously puts him in Fort Mont- gomery. One of the American w^ar vessels was cap- tured and four were burned by their crews. After ineffectual attempts the next day to break the great chain by running their ships upon it, the British cut it by filing. It was taken to England and sent to Gib- raltar. When the British hoard of the sui-render of Burgoynethey retreated to New York City, having done immense damage. In January, 1778, Wisner was on a committee to confer with Gen. Putnam relative to constructing works for the defense of the passes in the Highlands, and in February on a committee to assist Gen. Gates in obtain- ing artificers and materials for accomplishing tlie se- curity of Hudson's river. Wisner concurred in the wise selection of West Point as the best position to fortify, and advanced considerable sums and contracted debts in making it an American Gibraltar, A chain was made at the Sterling Iron Works of 2^-in. square bar iron, and it was carted in sections to New Windsor, where it was put together, fastened by staples across logs and floated down the river. It reached West Point in April and was secured in its proper place, where the river is 1,500 feet wide. In front of the chain was put a wooden boom. The river was commanded by Fort Arnold and shore l)atteries. To guard against a land attack a strong fort was erected in the rear, called Fort Putnam, for CoJ. Rufus Putnam, whose regiment built it. The engineers employed were Radiere, Machin and Kosciuszko. The formidable preparations thus made for defense and the sufficient garrison kept there deterred the British from attack, except by corrupting Gen. Arnold. Wisner's only sister married John Allison, who was apparently the uncle of Col. William Allison. One of his sons, Henry Allison, occupied in 1777 a farm owned by Wisner. Another of his farms was occupied by his son-in-laAv, John Denton. An adjoining farm of 1,000 acres belonging to him west of Goshen township was occupied by his son Gabriel Wisner. Gabriel Wisner had three children, Sarah, born in 1773, Henry, in 1777, and Gabriel, in 1779, after his father's death. Gabriel Wisner was not Lieut. -Colonel, as stated in the "Life of Brant.'' When he went to the battle of Minisink his wife and children were at his father's house. Thomas Waters, 19 years old, had charge of the horses used to convey some of the Goshen volunteers to the fatal field, and he brought the horses back to Goshen. A black nurse girl had Gabriel's son Henry out on the place when Gabriel's horse came trotting in the yard, which was the first intimation to the family of the defeat. 86 In the State Senate in 1779, Wisner voted for John Morin Scott's Attainder and Confiscation Act, against all New Yorkers who adhered to the King. It con- victed by name, without trial, the more prominent Tories, especially those of large estate, including a few women, clergymen, Britons and absentees. In November Wisner bought a New Jersey confiscated Tory estate of 200 acres for £3,778 depreciated Continental money. The last survivor of Wisner's powder mills (probably the second) was in operation as late as March, 1781, when Wisner was paid £800, to be expended for sulphur and saltpetre and on account for manufacturing gun- l)0wder for the use of the State. Shortly after, it is said that his mill was destroyed by fire and his moderate fortune crippled beyond recovery. In November, 1781, there was reported to the Legislature a total want of gunpowder in the State. Luckily the war was about over. "In the year 1782, while the American Army was lyijig on the bank of the Hudson, I kept a classical school in Goshen. I tliere completed two small elemen- tary books for teaching the English language.'' These were Noah Webster's famous spelling book and an Eng- lish grammar. Henry Gabiiel vVisner attended this school. He became a prominent lawyer and was the father of Mrs. Ambrose S. Murray, to whom lam much indebted for traditions and family documents. AVebster before publishing, endeavored to get copyright laws passed, and in the autumn of 1782 he called on Governor Livingston in Trenton with the following lettci-, which I find in Ruttenber and Clark : 37 *■ ' Sir: — The bcarur, Mr. Noah Webster, luis taug'ht a grammar scliool lor some time past iu this place, mucli to the satisfaction of l)is employers, lie is now doing some business in the literarj^ way, wiiich will, in the opinion of good judges, be of great service to posterity. He being a stranger in New Jersey may stand in need of assistance of some gentlemen with whom you are acquainted. He is a young gentleman whose moral as well as political character is such as will render him worthy of your notice. Any favor which you may do him will be serving the public and acce]it('d as a favor done yoin- friend and very ]iuml)le servant, Henry Wisner. " In 1784 Wisner was chosen one of the Regents of the University. He exerted himself to have an Academy erected in Goshen by subscription, on land anciently given for that purpose. The building was nearly com- pleted in 1784:, but work on it stopped for a few years by reason of the very great scarcity of cash in Goshen. A lottery was proposed by Wisner and others and possibly resorted to. The school was finally opened as Farmers' Hall Academy. Wisner's name appears in the charter, dated a few days after his death. Wisner continued to serve as Justice of the Peace to the end of his life. He acted as appraiser of the value of confiscated land. He had rather high ideas of the value of land and bought it too freely. He also got into pecuniary troubles in connection with draining the drowned lands. In February, 1786, he mortgaged his residence for £387, 1 3s to William Beekman. On April 14th, 1787, perhaps in consequence of a suit that William Wickham began against him, he conveyed to his son Henry all his lands in the County of Ulster and several pieces in the County of Orange. On January 14th, 1788, the remainder of his property was sold by the sheriff on an execution. Gabriel Wisner's widow bought (probably for a trifling sum) two negroes, Saul and Ben, and two cows. These purchases, which were left in Henry Wis- ner's possession till his death, were made to secure a claim she had against Wisner for an undivided half of 3P GOO acres situated at the outlet of the drowned lauds. At this public vendue Henry Wisuer, Jr., bought all the Orange Co. land liable to the execution, all the farm-ng utensils, all the household furniture, pair of oxen, four cows, horse, a negro man Tom, and two small negro sisters, Lana and Mary, for trifling sums, for the pur- poses of securing a debt due him of £827, and likewise to protect himself for having been his father's security for large sums. After parting with his property Wisner does not soem to have been troubled by his creditors, and Wick- hani appears to have proceeded no further against him. The land that Henry Wisner, Jr., got by his father's deed and at the vendue was, after his father's death, disposed of for the benefit of his father's creditors, and provision was made for transferring 800 acres at the outlet to Gabriel's children. Hannah Waters and Thomas Waters, having mar- ried and left Wisner's house, Gabriel's widow followed in July, 1789 (marrying Coe Gale), and Wisner's family was reduced to his second wife and his three grand- cliildren, who w^ere also her grandchildten. James Everett, the Surrogate of Orange Co., husband of Hannah Waters, lived on the East Florida road, nearly a mile from Goshen Court House. Wisner was calling at his house and complained of being unwell, and strode directly across the meadows to his own house on the West Florida road. He took to his bed, called in Dr. Klnier (and probably Dr. Austin ) and died in a few days, perhaps of pneumonia. He was buried in Hopper Hill Cemetery at Phillii)s burg, which consists of an acre of land given by him to the Goshen Piesbyterian Cliiuch for a free l)urying ground. A gravestone ol led sandstone bears the fol- lowing inscription ': Sacred to the Memory of HENRY WISNER, Esq., who departed this life March 4th, 1790, in the 70th year of his age. 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