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CHAPTER I.
IN THE BK(iIXNlN(! — Al!nl!l(;iXAI, KRA THE WARS E()R I'OSSESSION.
1492 -1664.
"In the beginning." ry^HE world wliicli gave birtli to tlic discovery of AiiHM'ica was lit-
r
orally an Old World. Its iiistory began with auci(nit time; its territories were bounded by the Sacred Records; its prophe+s and sages had foretold, under Divine Revelation, the coming of the Son OF Man; its kings had called their hosts to battle, traversed its plains and valleys and erected monnments oi' stone and of tiie lioncsof their victims; vice, in all the forms oi man's invention, had swept its tidal waves over its inhabitants; whatever of good had been evolved from the experiences of the human race, was written on its annals, — it was old in its civilization, in its theories, in all its history. It Avas not, therefore, a poetic fancy which gave to America the title of the New World. European civilization iiad not touched it; physically, its fields and foi'ests, its mountains and valleys, were yet
"Wrapped iu :i inaiitlc, thick and black. That o'er its miglity frame had crept Since stars and angels sanir, and eiirth Shot, from its Makir, into Itirth."
It was a world to be moulded and fashi(»n(M]; to be developed under the ins|)iration of new theories; to take its im]n'ess from men of thought and action bronglit togetiicr \>\ tlie art of printing; to be forever, — in its histoiy, in its discoveries, in its tiieories, in its poM- tics, in its inlluence upon the human race, — a New Woi'ld.
For the change that awaited it the full time had not come wlien Columbus folded the sails of his siiallops, under the welcome cry of "Laud! Land!" which was echoed from tiie decks of the Pinta, on tiie evening of Septendu'r 25th, 1492. New thoughts were yet to be developed from the experiences of the old civilization before the records of tlie new could be opened. The freedom of man had not been born among tlie nations; religious intolerance had not reached
6 GiJNJERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
its culminating point; the Word of God had not been unshackled. White-wing"ed messengers of the coming change hovered over the coast ; the Cabots discovered Newfoundland ; Verazzano explored, wtih his boat, the "most beautiful" bay of New York; Cartier pene- trated the Saint Lawrence. But Spain obtained from tlie Pope the sweeping edict that its sovereigns, should hold, as a gift in perpetu- ity, all the heathen lands found or to be discovered to the west of a meridian one hundred leagues westward from the Azores; enterprise was arrested; the nations became discordant, and the great heart of the New World waited under the influence of these, shall it be said natural causes, till a purer faith should recognize the hand of the Mighty One among the nations, and an unerring finger trace the pro- cesses of man's elevation.
But the full time came. England denied the exclusive pretensions of Spain, in virtue of first visitiition, and of the Pope's donation, and affirmed the principle that discovery and prescription, unless accom- panied by possession, were of no avail. Speedily the bold naviga- tors of England, and France, and Holland, pressed their vessels more closely to the long stretches of sandy shore, more closely to the wood- ed hills and the open bays, more closely to the rocky blufis that for slumbering ages had known no music but the grand anthem of praise which the soa had rolled up to Him who had set its bounds. Swept onward by the spirit of discovery which had risen to the occasion demanding its office, the coast line was passed, and the bays and the rivers running to the sea yielded their secrets. The great barrier to progress was br^jken down; the New World was opened to the em- brace of people of all nations to be welded togetlier in the furnace of common interests.
Interesting as is the study of the successive approaches of discov- ery, and the influences which alternately retarded or impelled its progress, philosophy pauses in the presence of the practical; and that which enables us to say, "On //lis day, or on this spot, some great discovery was made, some signal achievement was accomplished," or some monumental record was inscribed, commands the attention. More adventurous than many of his contemporaries, Henry Hudson, sailing under the flag of Holland, anchored his vessel, the Half Moon, in the bay which now constitutes the harbor of New York. Remain- ing there a week, on the morning of the 12th of September, 1609, he commenced the exploration of the river which now bears his name, and, on the morning of the 15th, sailed into what is now known as Newburgh bay. As he passed the giant hills that sentinel the north- ern portal of the Highlands, the sun came out and kissed with its beams the magnificent primal forests and awoke to life their gorgeous
IN THE BEGINNING. 7
autumnal hues. Before liim the river mirrored the rocky heights and the waving verdure; around him "the lethargy of uncivilized nature reigned in undisturbed solitude;" the wild game sprang from their familiar retreats startled by the sound of cannon and the inspiring peal of trumpets; the circling eddies from the vessel's prow bore with them to the adjacent shores the advent of the new era, and gave to them their part in the history of the discovery of the New World.
After spending several days in the northern part of the river, he reached Newburgh bay, on his return voyage, on the afternoon of the 29 Lh of September, and again cast anchor, or as his Journal states, "turned down to the edge of the mountains, or the northermost of the mountains, and anchored; because the high lands hath many points, and a narrow channel, and hath many eddie winds. So we rode quietly all night." What a night was that ! Forcibly remarks Moulton: "If the morning scene was grand, how beautiful must have been that of the night. His was the tirst European A'essel which had been encompassed by the Highlands.
'One still And solemn desert, in primeval garb, Hung round his lonely bark.'
The departing sun rested in beauty upon the hills, and left the shad- ows of the mountains to deepen into the night, when the solemn gloom became interrupted only by the scream of the catamount, as it leaped from the forest to the jutting crag, glanced for a moment at the ship, as its port-lights glimmered on the waters, and then plunged into the thicket; or by the shrill screech (jf 'each wild throat, in this incumbrance of horrific woods.' And now the fiill-orbed moon rose from behind the mountains and opened to full view the grand ampi- Iheatre of hills. At their base lay the ship embosomed in a tremu- lous gleam of light, while the surrounding rocks glistened with the reflected moonbeams, or presented in traces of shade the cavern- gorges, whither the grim, gainit wolf hastened with stealtiiy tread, when, prowling along the bank, his glare first fell upon the alarming- wonder." Anon the forest was hushed and its tenants mute, and as the hours passed on, the mountain sides again sparkled with gems and dew-drops as the morning sun awoke the scene to life.
The spectators of that wonderful scene were not confined to civil- ized men and beasts of prey. The New World had a people, if not a civilization, — a people with laws and customs the most perfect type of democracy, into whose hands possession had been given by the Creator; a people dressed in costumes of feathers and furs, arm- ed with rude weapons, uttering a strange language, worshiping a strange God. They were not strangers to Hudson in the sense that
8
GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
tlieir existence was not knowM, for their name had reached Europe throiig-li the earlier voyag-ers; nor perhaps to many of them were those wlio now visited them in their own waters entirely unknown, fur on their coast the P]uropeans had been seen; long years before, the adventurous Verazzano had surveyed a j)ortion of their domin- ions; l)ut never before^ had the then living- gi'Uc^ration stood face to face with people of the Old World. The young were filled with wonder, the old with awe. 'J'he signals of a change, they kn(»w not what, floated before them.
With this people Hiidson's experiences were varied. VVhei'ever he cast anchor they visited his ship with presents, and maniiested in many tonus their desire to render acts of kindness. More hospita- ble men and women never lived, — all that they had was at the ser- vice of tlieir visitant. Constant was their intercourse, — increasing tlieir gifts; but in many cases their kindness was mistaken, and their confidence abused. Below the Highlands, Hudson confined two of them, intending to take them to Holland; but when the opi)ortunity came they escaped, and called from the shore to their captor in scorn. At the Ivatskills he met loving- people and old men, from whom he
received ofilerings and ti> whom he gave brandy. When in Newbnrgh hay (Sept. 30), he says "the pcojde of the country c;ime aboard us, and brought some small skins with them, which we bought for knives and triMes. At tiiree o'clock they departed." On the 1st of October,
ABOniGINAL ERA.
when achured ofi' Stony Point, "the people of the mountains" visited him, " wondering- at the ship and weapons." They, too, sold skins for tritles. In the afternoon a canoe "kept hanging under the cabin windows," and its occupant was detected pilfering. He had taken a "pillow, and two shirts and two bandaliers," when tiie "mate shot him, and struck him in the breast and killed him." His companions were umch frightened, and fled away, some in their ca- noes, others jumping into the water. A boat was lowered to recover the stolen articlet?, when one who was in the water seized hold uf it, " thinking to overthrow it," but " the cook seized a sword and cut ofl' one of his hands, and he was drowned." When Hudson reached the place where he had betrayed the young men, when going up the river, lie was shot at with bows and arrows, to which he replied with six muskets " killing iwo of them." " Yet they manned olf another canoe with nine or ten men." A falcon shot was sent through it and one of its occupants killed, while the sailors with their muskets " killed three or four more." From this contlict he sailed for Europe, bearing with him not only his surveys, but an epitome of tlie future inter- course of the people of the Old World with those of the -New. The conHict of the opposing civilizations had been joined.
But the struggle was delayed. Meanwhile Dutch navigators divi- ded the river into reaches and gave names to them, as well as to the people with whom they traded, and planted their outposts of posses- sion. This crude geography and its nomenclature was gatiiered up by the Dutch historians and embodied in papers for the intbrmation of those desiring to embark in trade in the New World or to emigrate thither. In a paper written by DeLaet, who has been called the first historian of New York, it is said: " Within the first reach, on the west bank of the river, where the land is low, dwell the Tapijans. The sec- ond reach of the river extends upward to a narrow part named by our people Haverstroo," at which place the natives were called Haverstroos. They were the chieftaincy some of the members of which sought to pilfer from the cabin windows of Hudson's ship on the afternoon of October 1st,— were the " people of the mountains." From Stony Point h) the Dans-Kammer were the Waoraiiecks, " the people of the country" who sold the "small skins" to Hudson on the 30th of September, and who were subsequently known as " the Murderer's i Creek Indians." Their castle was on the north spur of Schunemunk ' mountain, and their place of worship the Dans-Kammer. Above them were the Warranawonkonga, subsequently known as " the Esopus In- dians," whose hunting grounds extended through the valley of the Wallkill. West of the Warranawonkongs, and occupying the country drained by the Delaware and its tributaries, were the Minsis or Min-
10 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
nisinks. Those who are familiur with the topography of the district will require no more precise designation of the territory occupied by these native tribes or clans than its water-sheds afford; but it may be added that the designation given is essentially contirmed by the deeds which the aboriginal lords executed for the lands which they sold; and it may also be stated in this connection, that the names by which these tribes were known were not those which they had given as belong- ing to themselves, but were those which they had given to the Dutch as the names of the streams on which they lived. The Warranawon- kotig was the Wallkill;* the Waorannck, the Murderer's Creek.
Later, the tribal and national organizations of this people appear- ed. It would be no violation of fact to say that their political con- stitution was similar to our own. They had villages or towns, counties or enlarged cantons, tribes or states, nations or united tribes. Each in its sphere was independent, yet the whole strongly and firmly bound together. The sub-tribes or villages south of Stony Point were Unulactos, or the Turkey tribe; those north, were Minais, or the Wolf tribe, with territorial jurisdiction extending through the Miunisink country of Pennsylvania and New Jersey; south of the Minsis they were Unainia, or the Turtle tribe, f The tribes named constituted the Lenui-Lenape naticm, wiiich held its council-fire at what is now Philadelphia. Prom the Unamis was selected invariably, by the ruling chiefs of the other tribes, the King or Sagamore of the nation; a King both with and without power; a sovereign whose rule was perpetuated only through the love of his people; a monarch the most polisiied, the most liberal, the poorest of his race; one who ruled by permission, who received no salary, who was not permitted to own the cabin in which he lived or the laud he cultivated, who could receive no presents that did not become the property of the nation, yet whose larder and treasure chest were never empty.
To treat the history of the Lenapes at length would require several volumes. Briefly stated, they were the head of the Algonquin nations at the time of the discovery, but by a succession of wars with the Dutch, the English, and the Iroquois, were compelled, sometime about 1670, to yield to the latter and become a "nation of women" — i. e. a nation without power to make war or peace on their own account, or to sell or convey lands. In this condition they remained until 1755, (having, in the meantime, become generally known as the Delaware^); when they threw off the yoke of subjugation, and, under alliaivees
* No documentary evidence is claimed. The statement is on the authority of exam- ples in multiplied instances. The word Esopus, by which the cUstrict was subsequently known, is a corruption of Seepu, an Algonquin generic term for river.
t Tribal organizations were known by the Totems or emblems which they painted upon their cabins, their persons, etc., as the Turkey, the Wolf, the Turtle.
THE WABS FOR POSSESSION. H
with the Shawanoes, Mingoes, etc., were enabled to place themselves at the head of the western nations, and contest every inch of soil east of the Mississippi.
But while these facts were being ascertained, — years before many of them were known, — tliere came the hurrying to and fro of armed men, and the terribly echoing battle-cry of the woodland lords, " Woach, Woach, Ha, Ha, Hack, Woach .' " with which the settlers subsequently became familiar. The Dutch began their settlement at New Amster- dam (now New York) in 1626. A few years later, settlements were commenced at Paulus' Hook (now Jersey City), then called Pavonia, and at Breucklen, now the city of Brooklyn, and a few small neigh- borhoods were scattered along the river north of Paulus' Hook. These settlements brought with them frictions of opposing customs. In 1640, it is said, the Indians began to steal and destroy the cattle of the settlers; but the Indians claimed that the cattle of their neigh- bors, permitted to roam at large, destroyed their unfenced fields of corn, and that they killed them having no other remedy. Pending these complaints came an order from Director Kieft, demanding trib- ute of corn, furs, etc., " from the Indians in the neighborhood of Fort Amsterdam." The latter remonstrated, but Kieft insisted, and sent a sloop up to the Tappans to exact compliance, but without success. About this time from a plantation on Staten Island a number of pigs were taken by a company of Dutch sailors; but the Indians were credited with the wrong, and a number of them were killed. Their tribe retaliated, burned a plantation and killed four of its occupants. Kieft wished to declare a war of extermination, but was restrained by his Council, who preferred to wait until " God and the opportuni- ty " should favor them in their wrongful slaughter.
The opportunity was not long delayed. In the winter of 1643, a company of Mahicana^ from Fort Orange, "each with a musket on his shoulder," came down to collect tribute from the Weckquaesgecks of Westchester. The latter suffered terribly. Several were killed, and many men, women and children fled to Fort Amsterdam for safe- ty. At Pavonia large numbers of them collected, and also at Cor- lear's Hook. Utterly defenceless as they were, Kieft determined to add to their misfortunes. On the night of the 25th of February, by his direction, his soldiers fell upon the homeless, trusting red men and killed eighty of them. " Neither age nor sex were spared. Warrior and squaw, sachem and child, mother and babe, were alike massacred. Daybreak scarcely ended the furious slaughter. Man-
* The documentary proof is clear that this incursion was by the Mahicmis, not the Mohmvks, as stated by some histoi-ians. The lower eastern Hudson chieftaincies (the old Manhattans, etc.) were conquered tribes and had probably neglected to pay the annual tribute due to the Mahicans.
12 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
gled victims, seeking safety in tlie thickets, were driven into the river; and parents, rushing to save their children whom the soldiers had thrown into the stream, were driven back into the waters, and drowned before the eyes of their unrelenting murderers."
But this horrible scene had scarcely faded from the air, ere the hand of revenge was made red with the blood of the Dutch. Kieft, in his exultation, sent out foraging expeditions to collect corn. One of these expeditions seized two wagon loads of maize from the Long Island Indians, who lost three of their number in endeavoring to save their property. In retaliation the Long Island tribes made conmion cause with the Weck-qtiaesgecks< and other river cantons, who had now learned that the Dutch, and not the 3Iahicans, had been the principals in the massacre at Pavonia. Eleven chieftaincies rose in open war. The farmer was killed in the field, and women and chil- dren swept off into captivity. A temporary peace .ij^ass secured in the spring, but in September came a renewal of hostilities, and the Dutch were driven from every foot-hold outside of Fort Amsterdam. The war-whoop of the Minds rang along the Highlands, and through the wilds of Long Island and New Jersey, and was taken up by the out- lying clans of Mahicana, and at a single blow, from the Highlands of Neversink to the hills and valleys of the Tappam, the whole country was once more in the possession of its aboriginal proprietors. The Dutch colonists who escaped slaughter, fled to Fort Amsterdam, and terror kept watch with them for days. Sending to New England for succor, it came in the person of Capt. Underbill, a man more savage than the savages. His coming roused the courage of the Dutch and they sallied out and turned the tide of war. Large numbers of Indians on the east side of the Hudson were killed— at Stamford, Connecticut, from five to seven hundred were slaughtered.
Again came temporary peace in the spring — the Indians desiring to plant; but war, with disaster to the Dutch, was renewed in the winter. Kieft now adopted a new course. He went to Fort Orange (now Albany) and secured the intercession of the Mohawks and Mahi- cavs, with whom the Dutch there were in alliance, and on the 30th of August, 1»645, through their influence, a treaty of peace was concluded. The chiefs of the Hackinsucks and Tajypans, delegates from the Long Island tribes, and a Mahican chief who spoke for his own people on the easterTi bank of the river, met the Dutch, and the Mohawks actcid as arbitrators. Tlie terms were arranged and peace restored.
Ten years of quiet were now enjoyed by the settlers, but during that period the Indians suffered many wrongs which they brooded over and burned to avenge. The excuse for a fresh appeal to arms occurred in the autumn of 1655. A squaw, detected in stealing
THE WARS FOR POSSESSION. 13
peaches from tlie garden of Van Dyck, at New Amsterdam, had been killed by him, and her tribe, the Weckquaesgeck.'<, determined to avenge lier death. To make their determination more eifectnal, they appealed to a war party of their friends, then on an expedition, to aid them. Learning that Director Stuyvesant, who, in the meantime liad succeeded Kieft, was absent on a visit to South River, some eight hundred armed men suddenly appeared before Fort Amsterdam in sixty-four canoes. Landing before the break of day, they scattered through the streets and, under the pretence of looking for their ene- mies, broke open several houses. The Council and the leading inhab- itants immediately assembled at tlie Fort, called the chiefs before them and exacted a promise that they would leave the towrj at sun- set, but l)efore the hour came they fouifd Van Dyck and left him dead, as they supposed. This act aroused the town, and the burger guard rallying out from the Fort attacked the Lidians as they were embark- ing in their canoes. This appeal to force was regarded by them as a declaration of war, and they resolved to strike while they had the opportunity. Passing over to the Jersey shore, they laid waste Hoboken and Pavonia, and killed or captured most of the inhabitants. In three days "one hundred of the settlers were killed, one hundred and fifty made prisoners, and three hundred more ruined in estate."
Again the settlers fled to Fort Amsterdam as to a city of refuge. Director Stuvvesant was sent for, and shortlv after arrived witli liis soldiers. Meanwhile the Lidians had retreated with their captives — a portion to New Jersey and the remainder to the Highlands. The Hactms^acks soon after oflered their prisoners for ransom, and nego-, tiations being opened peace was concluded with them.
The scene was now changed to the Esopus country, with the Warra- naioo7ikongs as principals. Hitherto difficulties had been confined to the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam, for the very obvious reason that the Dutch had not extended their settlements north of Hackinsack. Li the district between Fort Orange and Fort Amsterdam, the Lidians had been mainly visited by traders in sloops, although it is said that on Kingstt)n point a Dutch trading post was established as early as 1617. Occupation of the Esopus country by permanent settlers, however, was first begun in 1652, when Thomas Chambers and some of his neighbors removed thither from Rensselaerwyck. With these settlers the Indians soon came in collision, and during the war of 1655, th<^ former abandoned their plantations. In 1656, they returned and continued for some time unmolested, but, as in other places, they soon devoted the largest portion of their time and means to the pur- poses of trade, and, with a view to secure the largest amount of furs, imprudently made free with the sale of brandy and other liquors,
14 OENEBAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
under the iiiHueiice of which the Indians became troublesome and re- sorted to violence. " One of the settlers was killed, the house and outbuildings of another were burned, and the settlers were forced, by threats of arson and murder, to plow up the patches where the sava- ges planted their maize." Tlie settlers wrote to Stuyvesant, who re- sponded by innnediately visiting the scene of disturbance with fifty of his soldiers, and, the day following his arrival (May 31, 1657), called the people together for council. The result of this conference was the establishment of a stockade village for defensive purposes, and an interview with the Indians. The latter was h(>ld in an open field. The chiefs denied that the murder which liad been connnitted was by one of their number, but " by a Minnisink " who was then " skulking among the Haverstraws," and charged that the whole of the disturbance arose from the "drink" which had been sold them by the Dutch. They also recounted the losses which had been inflicted upon them in Director Kieft's time (1G45). Stuyvesant replied that the acts of his predecessor in the massacre of Pavonia, had been settled in the subsequent treaties, and if they had not. that he was not responsible for them; that no violence had been connnitted by the Dutch since he came to the Province; that the Indians had not consulted him in the treatment of Van Dyck, and altogether made out quiet a case against them, concluding therefrom that tlie latter should sell to him the whole of the Esopus land, " and remove furtlier into the interior." The Indians asked time to consider the matter, and on the 4tli of June returned with their answer. They would give the Director the land he asked "to grease his feet, as he had taken so long and painful a journey to visit them." * The stockade was soon completed, and the Director returned to Fort Amsterdam. The Indians, however, were far from being satisfied with the new order of things, and in ct)mmon with other tribes, were ready, on even slight provocation, to commence war. Unfortunately it Avas no slight cause which led them to take up the hatchet in 1659. Thonuis Chambers, of whom we have already spoken, in September of that year, employed several of them to liusk corn, " and at the end of their day's work gave them some brandy for which they asked." A carouse followed, in the midst of which a party of settlers issued from the village and assailed the unsuspecting red men, killed two of their numbin-, 'and wounded the third who escaped. This dast- ardly act provoked a terrible retaliation. War was again declared; "houses, barns, and harvests were burned up; cattle and horses were
* The land conveved was called AtkarK-arton, or the Great Plot. It has been assumed that an Indian village was located there from the fact that the Dutch called their settle- ment " \N'iltwyck." "or Indian village. We conclude, however, that the Indian \ illage was that kno^\'n as " Wiltmeet," about two miles west from Aikarkarton.
THE WARS FOR POSSESSION. 15
kilh^l." Four or five hundred savages invested the stockaded village, and after vainly attempting to set fire to it, avenged themselves by burning at the stake eight or ten prisoners whom they had taken. A courier was immediately sent to Fort Amsterdam for assistance, and anotlun- to Fort Orange asking the intercession of the Mohan-la^ and Mahicans. Stuyvesant hurried to the scene with about one hundred m(!n, and the Mohawla^ and MahicanH sent down five of their number to act as intercessors. The latter visited the Warranawonkovg chiefs, procure(l th(^ release of two ])risoiieis, and persuaded the sachems to a truce, — an agreement to peace they could not obtain.
The war was renewed in the spring of 1660. Ensign Smith made frequent incursions into the interior, and, on the I8th March, reduced the palisaded village of WiltmcH* and took twelve prisoners. Subse- quently the place was again visited, an encampment which had been lorined there broken up, and /'reummalcer, "the oldest and best " of the Esopus chiefs, killecl. The Indians y)etitioned for peace in June, and Stuyvesant went up to Esopus to meet them. He Arrived on the 11th of July and found delegates from the Mohaivl'i<, Wappingen^, and other tribes to assist in the negotiations; but the WarranaionnkongH were not represented. Messengers were sent to the interior to induce their attendance, and on the 15th, four sachems arrived, a grand council of all the inlial)itants was held, and terms of peace arranged. In compensation for damages, the Indians conveyed "all the lands of Esopus" to the Dutch, and th<> latter paid ransoms in corn for the captives in the hands of the Indians. But the captive Indians from Wiltmeet were not restored; l)y Stuyvesant's order they had been sent to Curacoa as slaves.
Scarcely had "the WarranmvurjJcongs agreed to this treaty before new causes of grievance were found. They held that the Dutch had com- menced their New Village on land which had not been given to them; that the New Fort, as they called the Ronduit,f boded them no good; that if their white neighbors w(;re sincere in their professions of friend- ship, they would restore to them their enslaved kindred. To quiet them, Stuyvesant promised to visit them and bring them the presents demanded by their customs, but this promise he failed to keep. He renewed this promise in June (1663); but without faith in him and, regarding the offer as only a delay for a more favorable opportunity to make war upon them, they attacked the settlement on the 1th. On the morning of that day, the settlers went forth to their fields as usual. About noon, bands of Indians entered the gates of both villa-
* Situated some distance above the second fall (or creek) flowing into Kit Davit's Kill (now called the Esopus creek), "about nine miles from the Hudson." — Brodhead.
t This Ronduit or Eedoubt was on the bluff of land called Ponckockie, and is perpet- uated in the name of Rondout.
16 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
ges, and scattered themselves among the houses, ostensibly for the purposes of trade Suddenly they attacked the New Village and de- stroyed it at a blow. "Some people on horseback escaped" and reached the Old Village, but their arrival was the signal of attack upon the latter, for scarce had the alarm been given when the Indians uttered their war-whoop and commenced the work of death. "The people were murdered in their houses with axes and tomahawks, and by firiiig on them with guns and pistols." Women and children were seized and carried off prisoners; houses were plundered, and men, rushing to the defence of their families, were shot down by foes con- cealed in their own dwellings. To aid in the work of destruction, the Indians set fire to the village on the windward side. The flames spread rapidly, but when at their height, the wind suddenly changed to the west and prevented further devastation. The panic occasioned by the sudden attack having subsided, the settlers rallied and drove the Indians out. By evening all was still again and the bereaved in- habitants kept mournful watch during the night. TM^Mity-ono lives were lost, nine were wounded, and forty-five carried off captive; the New Village was annihilated, and at tlie Old Village twelve houses were burned.*
Immediately on the receipt of tlie intelligence of this disaster, Stuyvesant dispatched Col. Martin Kregier with a company of sol- diers to assist the settlers. Kreiger arrived at the Ronduit on the 4th of -luly. In a few days five Mohatok and Mahican chiefs arrived from Fort Orange, and by their mediation some of the Dutch cap- tives were released; but the Warranawonkongs would not listen to propositions for peace unless the Dutch would pay "for the land named the Great Plot," and reward them with presents within ten days. The Dutch commander replied by sending out scouting par- ties, who succeeded in bringing in a few prisoners from whom it was learned that the Indians had retreated to their castle; and thither it was determined to follow them. The expedition reached its destina- tion on the evening of the 26th of July. The castlef was a formida- ble structure. It was "defended by three rows of palisades, and the houses in the fort encircled by thick cleft palisades with port holes in them, and covered with bark of trees;" in form it was quadrangular, but tlie angles were " constructed l)etween the first and second rows of palisades" — the third row of palisades standing "full eight feel;
* The New Village was about three miles fi-om the Old Village and the Ronduit about the same distance. Both villages are territorially included in tlao bounds of the present city of Kingston.
t The location of this fort, or palisaded village, is defined in the boundary lines of lands conveyed by the treaty of 1665: " L^-inq: and being to the west and south-west of a certain creek or river called by the name of Kahanksen, and bo up to the head thereof where the Old Fort was."
THE WARS FOR POSSESSION. 17
off from the others towards the interior," the whole being " on the brow of the hill" surrounded by table land. But the object of the expedition was not accomplished. Warned of the approach of their enemy, the Indians retreated to the Shawangunk mountains and took their captives with them. From a captured squaw it was learned that the Indians were some four miles distant, and a force was sent thither; but when they arrived at the designated place, it was found that they had again retreated. Kregier, however, destroyed the Kahanksen castle by fire, cut down the corn-fields which the In- dians had planted, and destroyed " about a hundred pits full of corn and beans," which liad been preserved from the crop of the previous year. This work accomplished, he returned to Wiltwyck.*
The settlers now engaged in harvesting their grain, and the sol- diers guarded them while at work. Offensive operations were not re- sumed until September, when a force of fifty men was sent out to reduce a new castle which the Indians were said to be erecting, situ- ated "about four hours farthor than their first fort," wliieli liad been burned. Tiie expediti(ui reached its destination on llic 5th of Sep- tember. The Indians wert; taken by surprise, but made a stout re- sistance. They were busy completing their fort, and had left their arms at their liouses " about a stone's throw from the fort." Alarmed by a squaw, who had discovered the approach of the Dutch, they rushed to secure their arms, but were only partially successful so closely were tliey pursued. Retreating across the kill, tlicy threw l)ack the T)utch fire with such spirit that it was found necessary to send a strong party to dislodge them. " In this attack the Indians lost their chief Fapequanaehan, fourteen warriors, four women and three children." On the part of the Dutch three were killed and wounded. Thirteen Indians were taken prisoners, and twenty-three Dutch captives released. The Dutch found plunder sufficient to " well fill a sloop," but were obliged to leave it. Everything was de- stroyed that could be. "The fort was a perfect square with one row of palisades set all around, being about fifteen feet above and three feet below ground," but it was not completed. Two angles of " stout palisades, all of them about as thick as a man's body, having two rows of port-holes, one above the other," were done, and, when surprised, the Indians "were busy at the other angle." The victori- ous expedition returned to the settlement laden with spoil, and the Indians fled to the mountains to brood over their defeat and loss.
On the Ist of October, another expedition was sent out on the same route and arrived at the fort last destroyed on the 2d. The In-
* By a formal charter of date May 1(5, 1661, the settlement was ordered to be called ■ Wiltwyck," or Indian Village. Tlie English changed the name to Kingston.
18 GENERAL HIS TOBY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
dians had meanwhile returned to it and thrown the bodies of their dead comrades into five pits, from wliich "the wolves had rooted up and devoured some of them. Lower down on tlie kill four other pits were found containing bodies; and further on, three Indians with a squaw and child lay unburied and almost wholly devo.ured by wolves." A terrible picture of desolation was spread out on either hand, where, but a few days before, the native lord had exulted in his strength, but wlio now, crushed and broken, had retreated southward among their kindred Minsis. The Dutch forces completed the destruction of the fort; the palisades were pulled down, the wigwams burned, and all the corn cut up and cast into the kill.
The Warranawonkongs, upon wliom this chastisement had principal- ly fallen, solicited peace in the fall, and an armistice was granted. They had suffered severely; their villages, from Wawayanda to Eso- pus were not without moui-ners; their store-houses were rifled, and their crops destroyed. Nor were their allies, the Waoranecks, more fortunate. Although their territory had not been invaded, nor their villages burned, they were not the less subdued; the embers of their forest worship, which had for ages been lighted on the Dans-Kammer, were extinguished forever. In the spring following, Sewackenamo, in conference at Fort Amsterdam, lifted up his voice in prayer to his God — Bachtamo — that ''something good" might be concluded with the Dutch, and there executed a treaty by the terms of wliich all that had passed was to be forgiven and forgotten; the lands claimed by the Dutch, and now conquered by the sword, were to remain the property of the conquerors, and the vanquished were not to approach the Dutch settlements with arms. This treaty was ratified (Maj^ 16, 1664,) amid the roar of cannon, and was celebrated by a public thanksgiving. With its conclusion was also closed the struggle of the aboriginal clans for the possession of their ancient seats on the western slope of the valley of the Hudson. Their retreating foot- steps were yet to -be marked on advancing frontiers by blazing torch and branding tomahawk; but from the blue hills of Katskill to the southern verge of the Highlands they only awaited the granting of title deeds to their successors. The fertile fields of those who, a half century before, had gazed in awe upon the sleeping navigator's ship beside the " northernmost of the mountains," were prepared for the sturdy immigrants from Europe.
LAND TITLES-FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 19
CHAPTER II.
ABORIGINAL DEEDS — -LAND PATENTS — FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
1664—1709.
THE Eng-livsh succeeded the Dutch in the g-overnment of New Neth- evland on the 6th of September, 1664. The latter had performed the task assigned to them; had introduced the religion, the jurispru- dence, the customs of the Fatherland; had prepared the way for the mingling of creeds and races, and the development of the principles of civil liberty. A stronger hand was now to take the direction; a common flag to float from the rugged cliflFs of the north to the savan- nas of the south; a fresh impulse to be given to immigration. The title of the province was changed; New Amsterdam became New York; Fort Orange was christened Albany; changes were made in the administration of the government; treaties were renewed with the Indians. When this work was accomplished. Governor Nicolls wrote: "The lands which I intend shall be first planted, are those upon the west side of Hudson's river, at or adjoining to the Sopes;" and having, in his treaty with the Warranawovkongs, secured a clear definition of the bounds of the tract which the Dutch had previously " conquered by the sword," he added: " The Governor hath purchased all the Sopes land, which is now readj^ for planters to put the plow into, it being clear ground." The declaration was not a literal fact; the tract which the Indians had been compelled to yield embraced scarce three townships; but practically there was no substantial im- pediment to the occupation of the territory designated.
While this preparation was going forward, in the Old World relig- ious intolerance was scattering its victims broadcast. France sent forth her thrifty Huguenots; Scotland, her implacable Presbyterians; the Palatinate, her impoverished husbandmen. On the banks of the Hudson fragments rent from these nationalities met, and carved out, in the forest depths, new homes. The " Christian patented lands of Haverstraw," as they are termed in tlie records, were the first to re- ceive immigrants under the new regime. Balthazer de Hart and his brother Jacob, among the earlier immigrants from Holland, had loca- ted in New Amsterdam, and there subscribed their names to the oath of allegiance to the Duke of York. The former, engaged in trade,
02
20 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
had secured a comfortable subsistence, his house being rated at two thousand florins. Prior to July 31, 1666, he had purchased from the Indians, " all that tract of land lying on the west side of Hudson's river called Haverstraw, being on the north side of the hills called Verdrietig hook, on the south side of the Highlands, on the east side of the mountains so that the same is bounded by Hudson's river and round about by the high mountains." Presuming that the tract was included in the boundaries of New Jersey, he obtained from Car- teret and the council of that province, a patent,* and transferred his interest to Nicholas Depuy and Peter Jacobs Marius. On subsequent purchase and patent he acquired (April 10, 1671,) the "parcels of land called by the Indian names of Newai<:inL, Yandakah, Caquaney and Aquaonak, bounded on the west by a creek called Mcni>iakcungue, on the east and north by Hudson's river, and on the south by the mountains," which became the property of his brother, Jacob; and also a tract "known by the name of Ahequerenoy," which, with a portion of the previous purchase, came to the possession of Hendrick Ryker, — the whole becoming the basis of the boundaries ol' all sub- sequent grants in the district.
The second settlement was un the extreme north of the district the history of which we are considering. Louis DuBois, a Hiiguenot pioneer, driven thither by the pending persecutions of the people of his faith in France, located, with some of liis friends, at Esopus in 1660. Contributing the captivity of his wife and children to the In- dian war of 1663, he siibsequently induced several families of his countrymen, who were more recent innnigrants, to unite with him in establishing a French town. Twelve men, known as the "Twelve Patentees," w(U-e selected to obtain title to lands, who, after an ex- amination of the country, jiurchased from the Indian proprietors (May 26, 1677,) a tract of 36,000 acres, lying immediately south of the " Redoute creek," as the Warranawonkovg came to be called. On the 29th of September, following, a patent was obtained from Governor Andros, in the name of " Louis du Bois and his partners, that is. Christian Doyau, Abraham Hasbroucq, Andre le Febvre, Jean Hasbroucq, Pierre Doyau, Louis Beviere, Anthoine Crespel, Abraham du Bois, Hugue Frere, Isaac du Bois, and Simon le Febvre, their heirs and others," — men whose names live in the annals of their adopted country. On this patent nine families immediately settled, and laid, in the faith which they professed, the foundations of New Paltz.
The third settlement was about midway between those already de- scribed. Patrick MacGregorie; his brother-in-law, David Toshuck,
*The grant was subsequently confirmed by the Governor and Council of New York.— The patent is of record in New Jersey.
LAND TITLES— FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 21
wlio subscribed his name " Laird of Minivard," aiid twenty-five others, principally Scotch Presbyterians, entered upon lands at the mouth of the Waorane.ck. It was their tn-iginal intention to settle in New Jersey, but they were persuaded by Governor Dongan to take up lands in New York. Obtaining- a license for that purpose, Mac- Gregorie, acting as their representative, purchased for his people a tract of four thousand acres, embracing lands on both sides of Mur- derer's creek, " and so settled themselves, their families and sundry of their servants on the land so purchased, and were not oidy the first Christians that settled and improved thereon, but also peaceably and quietly possessed and enjoyed themselves during the term of their natural lives." On what is now known as Plum Point, but which was then called, from its abm-iginal owner, Comvanham's Mil, Mac- Gregorie reared his cabin, and in the same vicinity were the cabins of his associates, William Chambers, William Sutherland, and one Col- lum, while on the south side of the creek the " Laird of Minivard," and his servant, Daniel Maskrig, established a trading post.
Unfortunately, MacGregorie did not perfect his title by patent. Trusting to Governor Dongan to protect his interests, he entered the service of the state, while Dongan obtained by purchase on his own account (Oct. 25, 1684), from " Mangenaett, Tsema, Keghgekapowell alias Joghem, three Indians native proprietors and principal owners, with the consent of Pemeranaghiv , chief sachem of Esopus Indians," a tract described as extending from " the Paltz along Hudson's river to the land belonging to the Indians at the Murderer's kill, thence westward to the foot of the high hills called Pithixkal-er and Aia^Jca- wastivg, thence southwesterly all along the said hills and the river called Peafradaxavk to a water pond lying upon said hills called Meretange, comprehending all those lands, meadows and woods called NeMcolank, Chawavgon, Memoradvfr, Kakoghgetawnarnuch, and Ghitta- tmvaghr The consideration was the sum of ninety pounds and eleven shillings, in the following goods: "10 fathoms blue duftels, 10 fathoms of red duffels, 200 fathoms white wampum, 10 fathoms stroud water (red cloth), 10 fathoms blue cloth, 10 blankets, 10 guns, 10 kettles, 10 duifel coats, 10 drawing knives, 10 shirts, 10 tobacco boxes, 10 children's duifel coats, 10 children's shirts, 10 pairs of hose, 50 lbs. powder, 50 bars lead, 10 ]iair shoes, 10 cutlasses, 10 hatchets, 10 hoes, 10 scissors, 10 tobacco tongues, 100 flints, 2 I'olls tobacco, 20 gals, rum, 2 vats strong beer, and 1 barrel cider."
To this purchase he added (April 16, 1684), by deed from Were- kepes, sachem, Sackaghfvieck , SeioiMamock alias Hans, Apiskaeuw, Cashoros, Csquavieck, Morivgamaghan, Pughghock, and Kaghtsikoox, the lands owned by " themselves and copartners," being a tract begin-
22 GENEBAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
ning " at about a place called tlie Diincing Chamber, thence south to the north side of the land called Haverstraw, thence iiortli-west along: the liill called Skoonnenoghhy to the bounds of his purchase from the Esopus Indians aforesaid, including the Murderer's creek." The con- sideration was: 150 fathoms of wampum, 120 royals, 20 fathoms duf- fels, 6 guns, 7 brass kettles, 8 blankets, 6 i'athonis strouds, 2 cloth coats, 2 broad axes, 5 pair shoes, 6 children's shirts, 20 knives, 50 lbs. powder, 30 l)ars lead, 25 lbs. shot, 2 rolls tobacco, 4 iron pots, 10 to- bacco tongues, 10 tobacco boxes, 4 lbs. bood, 2 half vats single beer, 2 half vats double beer, 5 glass bottles, 5 earthen jugs, 2 pew- ter dishes, 2 bottles witli rum, 100 tobacco pipes, 10 luitchets, 6 draw- ing knives, 4 addz, 10 lioes, 10 pair stocking's, 8 shirts, 6 pistols, 10 cliildren's blankets, 2 boys' cloth coats, 6 boys' duffel coats, 20 gallons rum, £2 * paid Frederick Phillipse, i£2 paid Stephanus Van Ct)rtlandt.
Not only had the Indians previously sold to MacGregorie a portion of the lands which by this sale they conveyed to Dongan, but Step- hanus Van Cortlandt held their deed for a tract opposite Anthony's Nose. Tiie purchase was made July 13, 1()83, and the tract describ- ed as " beginning on the south side of a creek called Sankapogh, and so along said creek to the head thereof, and then northerly along the higli hills as the river runneth, to another creek called Aamiapink, and thence along the said creek to Hudson's river again, together with a certain island and parcel of meadow land, near or adjoining the same, called Manaliaivaghkin, and by the Christians, Salisbury island." Sackaghemeck, sachem of Haverstraw, Werckepen, and Kaghfsikoos, were the grantors. Luckily, he preserved his deed, and under it succeeded in obtaining a patent attaching his purchase to his manor, on the opposite side of the river.
But the MacGi'egorie colonists were not so fortunate. Governor Dongan conveyed his two purchases to Captain John Evans, by pat- ent, Sept. 12, 1694, under the title of the Lordship and Manor of Fletcherdon. MacGregorie, after serving the province in the capaci- ty of Muster-General of the militia and as its agent among the north- western Indians in a district of country which had not been previously visited, had yielded up his life in the Leisler revolution of 1691; and a peaceful death had closed the earthly cares of David Toshuck in the bosom of his family at Plum Point. To dispossess the heirs was the first work of Evans, to whose shame it is written that he compelled MacGregorie's widow, Margaret, to sell to him the house in which she lived for " £30 or £S5, to the ruin of herself and family." To her and to her surviving neighbors he then granted leases, thus pre- serving title and possession as well as the continuity of the settle-
* The pounds of this period were of about the vahie of an United States dollar.
LAND TITLES— FIRST SllTTLEMENTS. 23
ment. The Scotch settlers who remained in possession under these leastjs obtained no subsequent patent titles, except in the case of the heirs of MacGreg'orie, to whom, some years later, a patent was grant- ed for tiie Plum Point farm, and also for a mountain tract, in conside- ration of their claim.
Tlie fourth settlement, and by far the most considerable, was made adjoining the "Christian patented lands of Haverstraw." It was com- posed of immigrants from Holland, principally members of the Re- formed Dutch Church. Among them were descendants or relatives of David Pieterson de Vries, who had occupied a conspicuous position in the earlier history of the province, and had established a plantation which he called Vriesendael, situated " in a beautiful valley just be- low the mountains." Driven thence during the war of 1645, he had taken to Holland a memory which had been treasured by his family and neighbors, whu, on their arrival, selected a location in the vicinity of if not embracing the site of his ancient "little bouwerie." Ob- taining, through trustees selected for that purpose, a title from " the native Indian proprietors," and being in numbers sutficient to demand it, they were granted (Marcii 20, 1(JS6,) a township patent, "under the name of the Town of Orange," with all the powers "practiced or belonging unto any town within this Government." The trustees of the grant \yere: Cornells Claessen Cuyper, Daniel de Klercke, Peter Harnich, Cattis Harnich, Gerritt Steumetts, John de Vries, Sr., John de Vries, Jr., Claes Mannde, Jan Stratemaker, Staaes de Groot, Arean Lannneates, Lamont Arianuis, Huybert Gerryts, Johannes Gerrits, Eide Van Vorst, and Cornelius Lammerts. The boundaries of the tract were defined as " beginning at the mouth of Tappan creek where it falls into the meadow and running from thence along the north side of the said creek to a creeple bush and falls into Hack- insack river, northerly to a place called the Greenbush and from thence along said Greenbush easterly to the lands of Class Janse and Dowe Harmanse,* and from thence southerly along said land upon the top of the hills to the afoi'ementioned mouth of Tappan creek where it falls into the meadow afuresaid." The center of tlie township was at Tappan, where a Glebe for the support of a minister was laid out and a church organized."]"
A vacant tract of land, immediately west of Haverstraw, was conveyed by deed and patent (the latter, June 25, 1696,) to Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon. This tract, which is described as being
* Probably Harmau Dowson who had taken up a tract called Pessatinck, on Hackin- sack river.
t The Kefurmed Protestant Dutch. It was organized Oct. 24, 1694. The first preacher ■ was the Rev. Guilliam Bartholf. The first cliurch edifice was erected in 1716. The Glebe consisted of 55 acres.
24 GENERAL HIS TOBY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
known by the name of Kuck-quack-ta-wake (Kixkisite) , was " bounded on the east by the Christian patented lands of Haverstraw, on the north by a creek called Shamorack or Feasqua, which runs under a great hill, from which it continues a west course until the west-south-west side of a barren plain called Wishpegivrap bears south, thence to the west- south-west side of aforesaid plain, from thence south-south-west until the said line comes to a creek that runs to David Demaree's creek to the south side of the land called Marranchaw, and thence down the said creek to the Ciiristian patented lands." Adjoining- this tract on the south, Samuel Bayard was granted certain tracts called Whori- nims, Ferseck, Gemackie and Narrashunck, " bounded north by the land of Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon, south by the parting- line of this Province and the Jerseys, west by Saddle river, and east by Demarree's creek," containing two thousand acres. The Indian deed for this and several other purchases, was covered by one to Lucas Tienhoven, embracing by survey one hundred thousand acres, but for which no patent was issued.
Between the township of Orange and the Haverstraw lands the rocky bluff known as Verdrietig hook, by the Indians called Quas- peeck, including Rockland lake, became the subject of controversy be- tween "John Hutchins and Company," and " Jarvis Marshall and Company." Both parties obtained deeds, but the latter apparently had priority in date of purchase and were granted (Sept. 27, 1694,) the patent, the patentees being Jarvis Marshall and William Welch. At a later period (April 23, 11 0«,) a patent to Lancaster Syms, Rob- ert Walter, and Hendrick Ten Eycke covered the vacant river front, described as " beginning by the south bounds of Haverstraw, thence west to the northerinost end of the land or island called Mattasink or Welch's island, thence southerly to the southermost end of said island, then east to the creek that runs out of the pond upon Verdrietig hook and along the same to the Hudson, then north to the place of begin- ning, except the grant to Honan and Hawdon."
The patents described covered the entire district on the Hudson from the New Jersey line to New Paltz, and extended west to the line of the Shawangunk mountains. While they were being taken up, some entries had also been made on the Delaware river. Arent Schuyler, employed by the government as an interpreter of the Indian language and as an agent among the Indian tribes, obtained (May 20, 1B97), on previous deed from the Minnisinks, a patent for one thousand acres, more particularly described as a " tract of land in the Minnisink country called by the native Indians Sankhekeneck, other- wise Mayhawaem; also, another tract called Warinsayskmeck, situa- ted upon a river called Mennessincks before a certain island called
LAND TITLES-FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 25
Menagnock, which tract is adjacent or near to a tract f)f land called llaghaghkemekJ' In tlie same year (Oct. 14,) a patent was granted to Jacob Codebec, Tliomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernar- dus Swartwout, Jan Tyse, Peter Gimar, and David Jamison, tor " a certain quantity of land at a place called Maghaghkemek, being- the quantity of one thousand two hundred acres; beginning at the west- ern bounds of the lands called Nepenec.k, to a small stream of water called by the Indian name of Assawaghkemeck, and so along said run of water and the lands of Manxjoor the Indian."
It has been claimed that there was a settlement in the vicinity of the Swartwout patent sometime prior to the date of that instrument. At an early period that known as "the old mine road" was open- ed between Esopiis and the Delaware, constructed, it is said, by a company of Dutch miners. This road ran through the Mamakating valley, north of the Shawangunk mountains, was continued in the valley of the Maghaghkemek branch of the Delaware, and penetrat- ed the Minnisinks proper east of that river. Here, it is added, the company discovered copper, w^orked a mine and transported its pro- duct over the road which they had constructed to the Esopus settle- ment. Unfortunately for the value of the tradition, the road was simply the enlargement of an Indian trail which had been followed for ages, while tlie mine referred to was in what is now the town of Warren, Sussex county. New Jersey. The boundaries of the ques- tion are still further circumscribed by the fact that the Dutch at ' Esopus, during the war of 1660,-'63, had little knowledge of the country even east of the Shawangunk mountains, and that the Min- nisink country was penetrated, if at a much earlier period, by the way of the Delaware river.
Nor is it true that the first settlement was on the Swartwout pat- ent. At the date of issue of that patent, Jacob Codebac, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout and Peter Gimar* were residents of New Paltz or of Kingston. They certainly had not made settlement on the Delaware in 1690. But there was settlement there, about that time, by one William Tietsoort,f a blacksmith, who in a petition to the governor and council of New York, dated April 10, 1708, states that he was formerly a resident of Schenectady, and that from the massacre at that place, in 1689, he barely escaped with his life; that
* Peter Guimar, a native of Moir Saintonge, was married to Esther Hasbroucq, native of the Palatinate, at New Paltz, April 18th, 1692. He left his native place in company with Codebec in 1685, or rather the families of Abraham Giimiar and James Codebec, of which he and Jacob Codebec were minor members, came out together.
t It is by no means an improbable presumption that the Jan Tyse, named in the Code- bac patent, was the son ot William Tietsoort. There is a similarity in the sound of the names indicating clerical error in the orthography of the entry. Errors of this kind are not uncommon.
26 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
having' friends in the Esopus country he removed thither, where, being known by 'the friendly Indians, he was invited by them to take up his residence in the Minnisink country, the Indians voluntarily grant- ing- unto him a tract of land situate and being at Maghaghkemek, named and known by the name of Schaikaeckamick, in an elbow; that he obtained license to purchase, Oct. 15, 1698, that he so pur- chased, and that his possessions were subsequently assumed to be included in a purchase by and patent to Matthew Ling, against which he asked protection. There is very little room to doubt that he was the first settler on the western border.
Active competition in the obtaining of patents sprang up at the opening of the succeeding century. Associations were formed, not unfrequently mainly comp(jsed of those holding official positions under the goveriuBent, and large grants obtained. Three principal patents of this class, necessarily require notice in this connection. The first, the Chesekook Patent, was included in a purchase from " Moringamaghan, Skawgas, Ughquaw, Onickotapp, and Aioqhquaherae, native Indians, proprietors," December 30, 1702, by " Doctor John Bridges, Hendrick Ten Eycke, Derick Vandenburgh, John Cholwell, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Syms, and John Merritt," of a " certain tract of upland and meadow called Chesekook, bounded north by the patent line of Captain John Evans, to the west by the high hills of the Highlands, to the south by Honan and Hawdon's patent, and to the east by the lands of the bounds of Haverstraw and Hud- son's river," and for which they received a patent March 25, 1707. The second, the Wawayanda Patent, was on a purchase (March 5, 1703,) from Bapingonick, Wawadawa, Mogkopuck, Cornelawaw, Nan- awitt, Arawinack, Rombout, Glaus, Chouckhass, Chingapaiv, Oshasque- memus, and Quilapaw, native Indians and proprietors," by "Doctor John Bridges, Hendrick Ten Eycke, Derick Vandenburgh, John Chol- well, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Syms, Daniel Honan, Philip Roke- by, John Merritt, Benjamin Aske, Peter Mathews, and Cornelius Christianse," for a "certain sum of money and goods," of "certain tracts or parcels of vacant lands named Wawayanda, and some other small tracts or parcels of land, being bounded on the eastward by the high hills of the Highlands and the patent of Capt. John Evans, on the north by the division line of the counties of Orange and Ulster, on the westward by the high hills to the eastward of Minnisinks, and on the south by the division line of the provinces of New York and East Jersey." The patent was granted April 29, 1703.
The third grant, the Minnisink Patent, was still more extensive. It was issued August 28, 1704, to Matthew Ling, Ebenezer Wilson, Philip French, Derick Vandenburgh, Stephen de Lancey, Philip Roke-
APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF ORIGINAL PATENTS.
LAND TITLES— FIRST SETTLEMENTS. /27
by, John Corbett, Daniel Honan, Caleb Cooper, William Sharpas, Robert Milward, Thomas Wenham, Lancaster Syms, John Person, Benjamin Aske, Petrus Bayard, John Cholwell, Peter Faiiconier, Henry Swift, Hendrick Ten Eycke, Jarvis Marshall, Ann Bridges, (widow of John Bridges), and George Clark, and conveyed to them " all that part of Orange and Ulster counties, beginning at a place in Ulster county called Hunting House, or Yagh House, lying to the north-east of land called Bashe's land, thence to run west by north until it meets the Fishkill or main branch of Delaware river, thence to run southerly to the south end of Great Minnisink Island, thence due south to the land lately granted to John Bridges and Company (Wawayanda), and so along that patent as it runs northward and the patent of Captain John Evans, and thence to the place of begin- ning." The grant consolidated two grants, one to Philip French and Company and one to Ebenezer Wilson and Company, and only ex- cepted from its sweeping boundaries the tract called Sankhekeneck or Mayhawasin, with a parcel of meadow called Warinaayskmeck, pre- viously granted to Arent Schuyler, and a tract called Maghaghkemek, near Nepenevk, granted to Jacob Codebac, and others.
Had the purchasers a deed from the Indians ? Not only is there none on record, but Sir William Johnson writes: "An elderly man who lived in the Highlands, and at whose house I dined on my way from New York some years ago, told me that he lived with or in the neighborhood of Depuy, and was present when the said Depuy * pur- chased the Minnisink lands from the Indians; that when they were to sign the deed of sale he made them drunk and never paid them the money agreed upon. He heard the Indians frequently complain of the fraud, and declare that they would never be easy until they had satisfaction for their lands." f When, in 1757 the wronged red men swept the western border with devastation, it was their declaration that they would never " leave ofl" killing the English until they were paid for their lands, mentioning Minnisink almost to Hudson's river."
The boundary lines of the Chesekook, Wawayanda, Minnisink, and Evans patents, were, for a long time, a disturbing element. They were entirely undetined, except in general terms. The west line of Chesekook and the east line of Wawayanda was designated by a mountain range; the east line of Minnisink and the west line of Wawayanda was also a mountain range, and so in part was the north line of both the Chesekook and the Wawayanda, or rather the south-
* Samuel Depuy was settled on the west bank of the Delaware, three miles above the Water Gap. He was one of the Walloons who came to New York about 1()97. He be- came a large land owner in Pennsylvania, and was well known to all who traveled " the mine-road." It is possible that he is referred to in the text.
t MSS. of Sh Wm. Johnson, XXIV., 14.
28 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
west line of the Evans patent to which they ran. In the subsequent adjustment of the latter, together with that of the county line, a por- tion of the territory claimed by the Wawaj'^anda patentees was cut ofl', while on the west an angle was formed, known as the Minnisink Angle, embracing a tract of one Inmdred and thirty thousand acres.
The granting of immense tracts of land aroused the attention of the English government, in 1698. Investigation followed and result- ed in annulling the patent to Capt. Evans, by Act of the Assembly, May 12, 1699. Notwithstanding the policy of issuing patents for small tracts, upon which the repeal of the Evans patent was predi- cated, was abandoned in the almost immediately following issue of the Wawayanda, Minnisink, and similar large grants, the territory which the Evans patent covered was conveyed in small tracts by patents, issued at different periods from 1701 to 1775, but principally prior to 1750. The location and settlement of these patents, as well as extended reference to the settlement of the Chesekook, Wawa- yanda, and Minnisink patents, will be given in connection with the history of the towns in which they were embraced or which were formed from them. It is through them that w(,' may trace the foot- steps of the pioneers as they advanced from the Hudson on the east, along the valley of the Wallkill from the north, from the Delaware on the west, and from Haverstraw and Orangetown on the south-, — a race of bold men and bra^ve women.
In the eimmeration of first settlements falling properly in this con- nection, that of the Palatine Parish of Quassaick requires notice. This settlement was composed of Germans from the Palatinate of the Rhine who, if not impoverished as principals were reduced to that condition in consequence of the devastation of their native district by the order and armies of Louis XIV. Accepting the overtures of the English government, a pioneer company reached London and was from thence sent by the government to America, supplied with imple- ments required for the construction of cabins and the clearing of land, and located on the vacated Evans patent, immediately north of Quas- saick creek, in the spring of 1709. This settlement formed the fourth principal centre of population in the district.
The progress of settlement of the district during the century suc- ceeding the discf)very, aside from the extinction of the aboriginal title and the issue of patents, is aproximately conveyed in the census of 1702, by which it appears that the population at that time, exclu- sive of the MacGregorie settlement, consisted of forty-nine men be- tween the ages of sixteen and sixty; forty married women; fifty-seven male and eighty-four female children; thirteen male negroes, seven negresses, and thirteen negro children.
CIVIL GOVEBNMENT. 29
CHAPTER III.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES, PRECINCTS, AND TOWNS.
1683—1798.
ry^MIE civil government of New York, under the Dutch, was an _L extension of the laws and customs of Holland. Holland was an ag-greg-ate of towns, each providing for its own defense, administering its own finances, and governing itself by its own laws. The inhabi- tants of the towns were not, however, all upon an equality. To en- title a resident to every municipal franchise, burghership must be ac- quired. This was generally obtained by the payment of a sum of money, and the registry of the citizen's name upon the roll of burgh- ers. It was a hereditary francliise; it could pass by marriage, and it could be acquired by females as well as males. Foreigners, also, after a year's probation, could become burghers. The burgher right gave to the citizen freedom of trade, exemption from toll, special privileges and favors in prosecutions, and an exclusive eligibility to municipal office. The government of each town was administered by a Board of Magistrates, or burgomasters, and a certain number of schepens, or alderinen. The former provided for the public safety, at- tended to the police, mustered the burgher guard in case of danger, administered the finances, and assessed the taxes to be paid by each individual. In general, the term of office was annual. The burgo- masters and schepens were chosen by eight or nine " good men " elected by the wethouders, or inhabitants possessed of a certain prop- erty qualification. There was also another important officer, named the schout, who, in early times, was appointed by the court, out of a triple nomination by the wethouders, whose duties were somewhat analagous to those of balifl or county sheriff, combining with them some of the duties of a prosecuting attorney.*
Among the inducements offered by the burgomasters of the city of Amsterdam, to those who were "willing to settle- in New Netlier- land," was the assurance that the place "allotted for the residence of the colonists," whether called "a city or town," should be regulated, "respecting the police or distribution of justice, and especially in the
* Brodhead's New York, I., 453, etc.
30 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
matter of descents, in the same manner as in Amsterdam;" that each town should "have one schout, or officer, as the head of justice," appointed as in Amsterdam; three burgomasters, who should be "ap- pointed by the common burghers out of the most honest, fit and rich;" and " five or seven schepens, to be appointed by the director-general out of double that number of persons who should be nominated by the wethouders. The schepens were to have jurisdiction in causes "for all sums under one hundred guilders," and to " pronounce sen- tence in all criminal causes," subject to appeal to the director-gen- eral. Towns of two hundred families were to be empowered to choose a common council of twenty-one persons" to take the direc- tion of the local government, appoint the burgomasters, and nomi- nate the schepens.
The civil governments established by the English were of two classes. The New England colonies were under charters, or grants of the crown, enabling the people to elect their own governors and legislative assemblies, and establish courts of justice. Virginia, New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, and Georgia, had royal or provincial governments possessing no power except that conferred directly by the king; their governors held their offices at the king's appointment and during his pleasure; councils, selected from the principal men of the provinces, acted as advisors of the governors and constituted one branch of the legislatures; no laws were valid unless approved by the king. The government of New Yoi'k differed from that of Virginia in this, that while the latter had been founded as an English province, the former was a conquered territory in which the existing laws and customs could not be inunediately and radically changed without serious difficulty. Nor was the attempt made. When the English succeeded the Dutch, the latter were left for some time undisturbed in the franchises which they had enjoyed, and were permitted to grow into the new system by gradual process. The changes which were immediately made were more in terms than in substance. "A Court of Assizes was established, which, like its New Netherland prototype, was the supreme tribunal uf the province, having both law and equity, as well as appellate jurisdic- tion. In this court the governor and his counselors possessed the same powers that had formerly been exercised by the Dutch director and his counselors, while the court itself was invested with the su- preme power of making, altering, and abolishing any law in the gov- ernment."*'^?Local laws were left untouched.
But there was an English element in the province to be consulted and strengthened. A considerable portion of Long Island, Staten
* Brodhead 11., 62, etc.
CIVIL OOVEBNMENT. 31
Island, and Westchester, had been settled by English families, of whom those living on Long Island were already organized under the charter of Connecticut. To continue their privileges, as well as to form the basis of the new system, they were erected into a shire or county under the name of Yorkshire, and divided into ridings, dis- tricts or precincts. These ridings were thi-ee in number: "East Riding," including what is now Suffolk county, " West Riding," in- cluding Staten Island, Kings county, Newtown and part of West- chester county, and " North Riding," including the present county of Queens, over which the governor and council were to appoint a high- sheriff" every year, to be taken from each riding in succession. To each riding was given justices of the peace, who were to continue in office during the governor's pleasure, and who were to hold in their respective jurisdictions a court of sessions three times in each year. Besides their local duties, the high-sheriff" and the justices were to sit with the governor and his council in the Court of Assizes, which was to meet in New York once in each year. In the deliberations of the court the Dutch towns of New York, Albany, and Esopiis had no voice.
In establishing a code of laws the same distinction in population was observed. Instead of inviting delegates from the several towns of the province to meet in convention, the people of Long Island and Westchester were asked to do so; New York, Albany, Esopus, and other Dutch towns, were excluded. Tlie code which was adopted by this convention, — which met at Hempstead on the 28th of February, 1665, — was known as the "Duke's Laws," and while general in most of its provisions, so far as its future application was possible in the organization of towns, was primarily local in its force. The Court of Assizes was recognized as an existing institution, and was to hold a session in New York once in each j'^ear; but in pressing capital cases, the governor and council might issue commissions of Oyer and Terminer. Inferior Courts of Sessions, composed of the justices of the peace, were also continued as they had been estab- lished. Trials by jurymen, who were not to exceed seven, except in capital cases, were provided for. Arbitrators might be appointed in small causes between neighbors. Wherever the law was silent in any case, the Sessions were to remit it to the next Assizes, where matters of equity were to be decided and punishment awarded "ac- cording to the discretion of the bench, and not contrary to the known laws of England." Each town was given " a local court for the trial of causes under five pounds, which was to be held by the constable and six overseers, and from which there was an appeal to the Ses- sions." Eight "men of good fame and life," were to be chosen as
32 OENEBAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
overseers of each town by a majority of the freeholders. Pour of these overseers retired at the end of each year, and from them a con- stable was to be annually chosen, on the first or second of April, by the freeholders, who was to be confirmed by the justices at the next Sessions. Tiie constable and overseers had power to make local or- dinances in their several towns. A high-sheriff" was to be annually appointed by the governor from each riding in rotation, and also an under-sheriff or high constable in each riding. Justices of* the peace were to be appointed by the governor and continued in office during his pleasure. Assessments were to be made in every year, after the first of June, by the officers of each town. Provision was made for the enforcement of the rates imposed; and general regulations in re- gard to the tenure of lands and other matters, were adopted.
No material changes were made in this system until 1682, when, yielding to the demand of the people for a representative govern- ment, the king appointed Colonel Thomas Dongan governor of the province and gave him instructions to organize a new council, to be composed of not exceeding ten of "the most eminent inhabitants," and to issue writs to the proper officers for the election of "a gener- al assembly of all the freeholders by the persons who they shall choose to represent them," in order to consult with him and his coun- cil " what laws are fit and necessary to be made and established " for the good government of the province " and all the inhabitants there- of." On the nth of October, 1683, the assembly thus authorized met at Fort James in New York. It was composed of delegates from all parts of the province, and during its session of three weeks, passed fourteen several acts, which were assented to by the governor and his council. Among these laws was one " to divide this Province and dependencies into shires and counties," and one "to settle Courts of Justice." Twelve counties were established by the former: New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Westchester, Albany, Ulster, Duchess, Orange, Duke's, and Cornwall, which, with the ex- ception of Duchess, which was placed under the care of Ulster, and Orange, which was similarly associated with New York, were to be entitled to representation in future general assemblies. The law re- lating to courts established four distinct tribunals: Town Courts, for the trial of small causes, to be held each month; County Courts, or Courts of Sessions, to be held at certain times, quarterly or half yearly; a General Court of Oyer and Terminer, with original and ap- pellate jurisdiction, to sit twice in every year in each county, and a Court of Chancery, to be the " Supreme Court of the Province," com- posed of the governor and council, witli power in the governor to de- pute a chancellor in his stead, and appoint clerks and other officers.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 33
The Court of Assizes having "ceased and determined," was replaced by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. This system continued until 1691, when courts of justices of the pc^ace were organized in every town, and one of Common Pleas for every county- One of the leading features in the early civil divisions established by the English, was the organization of precincts. Cities and towns had been established by the Dutch prior to English occupation; a few English towns existed on Long Island, as already stated, and a few town charters were subsequently granted, by the governor and coun- cil, to companies or associated colonists; but precincts were entirely different in their constitution and government, and of necessity be- came more numerous. Primarily, they were composed of the scat- tered settlements of contiguous territory organized by the courts as court districts, and attached to some adjoining town for assessment and local government. Their boundaries were crude; their popula- tion small ; their officers such as were known only to the county at large. Subsequently, as population increased, their boundaries were more clearly defined, and officers assigned to them. So numerous did these divisions ultimately become that towns were almost entirely lost sight of, until after the Revolution, when the distinction, which then existed only in name, was removed.
In 1701, the Assembly, by act of October 18, provided that the jus- tices of the peace of the several counties, " or any five or more of them, two whereof to be a quorum," should, once in the year, at a court of general or special sessions, supervise, examine and allow the public and necessary charge of their respective county, and of every town thereof," including the "allowance made by law to their representative or representatives." For the assessment and collec- tion of the accounts allowed by them, they were "empowered to issue their warrant to the several towns for the election of two as- sessors and one collector in each town. The act further provided that the "justices at the respective general sessions," should, "once in the year, make provision for maintenance and siipport f)f the poor" of their several towns or precincts.
This law continued in force until June 1703, when it was enacted, that there should be " elected and ciiosen, once every year, in each town, by the freeholders and inhabitants thereof, one of their free- holders and inhabitants, to compute, ascertain, examine, oversee, and allow the contingent, public, and necessary charge of each county, and that eacli and every inhabitant, being a freeholder in any manor, liberty, jurisdiction, precinct, and out-plantation, shall have liberty to join his or their vote with the next adjacent town in the county, where such inhabitants shall dwell, for the choice of a supervisor."
34 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
The law also provided tliat thei-e should be annually chosen " in each town, ward, manor, and precinct, by the freeholders and inhabitants thereof, two assessors and one collector." The elections were to be held " on the first Tuesday in April," or on such other days as were " appointed by their charters and patents." The supervisors were required to meet annually, " at the county town in each respective county, on the first Tuesday in October; and at such other time and times as they should "judge and fkid necessary and convenient," and then and there "compute the public necessary contingent charges against their respective counties," together with " such other sum and sums of money" as should be "brought and exhibited to or be- fore them," to be levied on their respective " counties by the laws of the colony." When the computation was "perfected, and the propor- tion of each town, manor, liberty, jurisdiction, and precinct, ascer- tained and appointed," it was to be transmitted to the assessors, who were "required, equally, duly, and impartially, to assess and make a rate for their respective proportions," being first sworn to make such assessment equally and impartially. The assessment, when com- pleted, was to be delivered to the collectors, who were empowered to collect and pay the same to the county treasurer," who was to be " annually chosen in each county by the supervisors."
The changes which, up to this time, had been made in the civil gov- ernment, it will be observed, consisted in substituting courts of jus- tices of the peace, for the courts held by overseers under the law of 1665. Constables were continued in each town, and in addition the towns were authorized to elect supervisors, assessors and collectors. Officers equivalent to the present commissioners of highways were given to the towns in 1691, by an act " impowering " the freehold- ers "to nominate and make choice in each of their respective towns, annually, three persons to be surveyors and orderers of the work for laying out and the amendment of the highways and fences within the bounds and limits of their respective towns." This law also gave power to the freeholders of the towns, when assembled for the elect- ion of the officers to which they were entitled, " to make, establish, constitute, and ordain, such prudential orders and rules, for the better improvement of their lands in tillage, pasturage, or any other reason- able way," as the majority should deem "good and convenient."
It was under these general laws that the district of country now forming part of Ulster county, and the whole of Orange and Rock- land counties, had its organization and development. The act of 1683, dividing the province into shires and counties, provided: "The County of Ulster to contain the towns of Kingston, Hurley and Mar- bletown, and all the villages, neighborhoods and Christian habitations
ORIGINAL COUNTY OF ORANGE.
From Sauthier's Mai), 1779.
COUNTY AND FBECINCT OROANIZATIONS. 35
on tlie west side of Hudson's river, from the Murderer's creeke, near the Hig-hUmds, to Sawyer's creeke. The County of Orange"^ to be- ginne from the limitts or bounds of East and West Jersey, on the west sid(> (if Hudson's river: along the said river to Murderer's creeke, or hounds of the county of Ulster; and westward into the woods as far as Dehiware river." These boundaries, though crude and ilhistrative of the imperfect knowledge of the country which then prevailed, were destined to be substantially maintained for over one hundred years.
The organization of towns and precincts in the county of Orange began with that of the town of Orange in 168G.f Soon after its or- ganization the inhabitants of the adjoining patents, including Haver- straw, were attached to it, for court jurisdiction and assessment. By act of the assembly, June 24, 1719, — in response to a petition of the inhabitants of Haverstraw, reciting the inconveniences of asso- ciation with Orangotown, — the northern settlements were included in a precinct under the title of the Precinct of Haverstraw, thereby cre- ating two precincts, viz: Orangetoivn with Tappan as its center, and Ilaverdraiv with the "Christian patented lands of Haverstraw" as its center. The boundaries of the latter were "from the northermost bounds of Tappan to the northermost bounds of Haverstraw." Its inhal)itants were authorized to elect, on the first Tuesday in April annually, the officers common to a town, viz: "One supervisor, one collector, two assessors, one constable, and two overseers of high- ways," who should be " invested witli all the powers, and be obliged to perform sucli services and duties" as pertained to similar officers.
The settlements of Goshen, Warwick, Gray Court, etc., on the Wa- wayanda patent, were given (organization as the Precinct of Goshen sometime about 1114, the township of Goshen becoming the political center. | Under the general law of 1703, it was entitled to two assessors, a collector, overseers of highways, and a constable. It remained without change until 1743, when it was empowered to elect, in addition to its other officers, two c(mstables, one of whom should be "from and out of sucli of the inhabitants" as had their residence in the south i)art of the precinct, "commonly called Wawayanda," and the otlier from "the inhabitants to tlic northward, near the meet- ing house commonly called the water-side meeting house." The terri- tory embraced in the precinct included the entire county, with the
* " So called in compliment to the Dutch son-in-law of James Second."— £?-od7!ead. Known as the Prince of Orange — subsequently William Third of England.
t Ante p. 2.S. "
t Goshen was founded as a township, precisely as was Orange town, and was similarly included in the subsequent precinct organization with other settlements. It should be observed, however, that in these and similar cases of prior to^vnship organizations tho adjoining settlements were the "precincts of the town to which they were attached.
03
3G OENEEAL HISTORY OF OBAKGE COUNTY.
exception of the Haverstraw and Oranf^etown districts, and extend- ed from tlie Delaware to Hudson's riv<M-.* By act of assembly, Octo- ber 20, 1764, it was divided by " a straig-iit line to be run, beginning at the borders or verge of the county of Ulster, near the new dwell- ing house of John Manno, thence on a course which will leave the house of Barnabas Horton, Jr., ten chains to the westward, to the most extreme parts of said precinct ;f all the lands lying to the west of said line to be Goshen Precinct, and all eastward to be called Neio Cornwall Precinct. These two precincts, with the precincts of Hav- erstraw and Orangetown, constituted the political divisions of the county until after the revolution. Subsequently and prior to 1797-98, the following changes were made: The title of precinct was changed to that of town in the cases of Orangetown, Haverstraw, Gt)shen, and New Cornwall, in 1788, | at which time the towns of Warwick and Minnisink were erected i'roiii Goshen; from Haverstraw the towns of Clarkstown and Ramapo were erected in 1791; New Cornwall chang- ed its title to Cornwall in 179T. These changes gave to the county, in 1798, the towns of Orangetown, Haverstraw, Clarkstown, Ramapo, Goshen, Warwick, Minnisink, and Cornwall.
From this survey of the c;ounty of Orange we pass to notice the civil divisions of Ulster county so far as they were embraced in the district which we are considei'ing. Immediately north of Murderer's creek there was no civil organization until the advent of the Palatines in 1709, § wlien \he Precincl of the Highlands wds erected and attached to New Paltz At the same time or soon after, and evidently by order of the court, the Precinct of Maghaghkemek \\ and the Precinct of Sha-
* That portion of the precinct lying west of the Minnisink mountains was subjected to several political changes : By act of October 18, 1701, " for the more regular proceedings in Election of Representatives,'" the inhabitants of " Wagachcmeck and Great and Little Minnisink" were " impowered to give their votes in the cotinty of Ulster." By act of November 12, 1709, " to determine, settle, and ascertain the bounds and limits of the county of Orange," the act of October 15, 1701, was repealed so far as it related to the settlements named, which were in effect declared to be a part of Orange county. By subsequent survey Maghaghkemek (Curtdebackville) was found to be north of the line of Orange, and hence passed to the jurisdiction of Ulster, appearing on the tax-roll as the "Neighborhood of Maghaghkemek." It remained in this ])olitical relation until 1798, Avhen the town of Deerpark was erected as one of the consequences of the reorganization of Orange county, of which it became part. The other settlements were included (after 1709) in the precinct of Goshen ; subsequently in the town of Minnisink (1788), from which they were taken (1798) and included in the boundaries of Deerpark.
t This line is said to have been parallel with the west line of the present town of Monroe.
f The erection of towns at this date, wherever situated in the state, was under a gen- eral law passed March 7th, 1788, entitled, " An act for dividing the coimties of this state into towns."
§ So much of the district as was embraced in the Evans patent, was, by the terms of that instrument, erected into the " Manor and Lordshii) of Fletcherdon," \vith the usual authority conferred in manorial grants, but, in the absence of other population than that included in the MacGregorie settlement, it is not prol)ablo that even the civil jurisdiction of a manorial court was established during the few years the grant was continued.
II Tlie correctness of this statement having been questioned, we qiiote from the act of December 17th, 1743: "And whereas Shava/igunk, Highlands and Maghaghkemek have formerly been deemed and esteemed three precincts, and have been assessed by their own assessors," &c. It was subsequently included in the Precinct of Mamakating.
COUNTY AND PRECINCT ORANIZATIONS. g?
wangvnk were coiistiTuted, the latter attached to New Paltz. Under this limited org-anizatioii the territory which these precincts covered remained until 1743, when, by act of December 17tli, three full pre- cincts, having all the officers of towns and exercising- all their duties, were established. These precincts wei'e to be known and called "by the name of the WallJcill Precinct, Shawangunk Precinct, and High- land PrecincfJ^ Tlie tirst, the Precinct of Wa/lkiU, was bounded on the north " by the north bounds of ten thousand acres of land grant- ed to Jeremiah Schuyler and others, by the south bounds of four thousand acres of land g-ranted to Gerardus Beekman and others, by the north bounds of three thousand acres of land granted to Henry Wileman and others, by the east bounds of three thousand acres of land g-ranted to John Johnson, and l)y the east bounds of two thou- sand acres of land g-ranted to Cadwallader Golden;" on the south " by tlie north b(juiids ()f two thousand acres of land g-ranted to Patrick Hume, by the north and west bounds of the land granted to CorneHus Low and others, and by the north-west and south-west bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Phineas Mcintosh, and by the line dividiug the counties of Orange and Ulster to Sha- wangunk mountains." In more general terms the district was de- Hned as "bounded westerly by the Shawangunk mountains as they run from the county of Orange to a creek or river called the Platte- kill, then along the Plattekill to Sliawangunk river, then all along Shawangunk river to the north bounds of the ten thousand acres granted to Jeremiah Schuyler aforesaid." The freeholders were re- quired to "meet at the house of Matties Millspaugh, on the first Tues- day of April yearly," or at such other place as should be selected by the inhabitants after the first meetiiig, and elect one supervisor, two assessors, a collector, a constable and an overseer oi" the poor. One (^f the assessors was to be located on the west side of the Wallkill, " and because the said Wallkill river, which crosses the said precinct, is sometimes dangerous to pass," one collector and one constable were added to the officers of the precinct " for that part thereof which Heth to the westwartl of said river."
The second, the Precinct of Shawangunk; was bounded on the west " by the foot of Shawangunk mountains; on the south and west by the precinct of Wallkill; on the east by the line or bounds of three thousand five hundred acres granted to Rip Van Dam and others, by the east bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Barbaric, and by the east bounds or line of two thousand acres of land granted to Huddleston ; and on the north by the north bounds or line of the said two thousand acres granted to Huddleston, by the north bounds of two thousand acres granted to Peter Matthews and others;" on
38 GENEBAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
the south, by a line "crossing the said Wallkill river to the moutli of Shawangunk river, and running- thence south-westerly all along the north-west side of said Shawangunk river to the south-west corner of the land granted to Colonel Jacob Rutzen;" aud on the west by the " westerly bounds or line of said land granted to Rutzen to a salt pond, called 'the great salt pond,' and from thence upon a west line to the foot of Shawangunk mountains aforesaid." The first pre- cinct meeting was to be held at the house of Benjamin Smedes, Jr., at which a supervisor, two assessors, and the usual precinct officers were to be chosen, and the place of subsequent meetings designated. The Precinct of the Highlands embraced tlie patents lying along the Hudson from Murderer's creek to New Paltz, and was more par- ticularly described as "bounded on the east by Hudson's river; on the south by the line dividing the counties of Ulster and Orange; on the west by the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk and the neighborhoods annexed to the New Paltz,* and on the north by the bounds or line of New Paltz town." The precinct meetings were to be held " at tlie house of John Humphrey, Jr., on the first Tuesday of April, anniially," for the election of precinct ofiicers.
The same act gave primary constitution to the Precinct of Mama- kating, in which was included "all the land to the southward of the town of Rochester as far as the county of Ulster extends, and to the westward of the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk as far as the county extends." The first precinct meeting was to be held at the dwelling house of Samuel Swartwout, at which one constable, two assessors, two overseers of the poor and two surveyors of highways were to be elected. In the election of supervisor tlie freeholders were associated with the town of Rochester. Under the law of 1798, the northern part of the territory included in the then town of Deerpark was taken from this precinct.
The precinct of the Highlands continued in existence until 1762, when it was divided into the precincts of Newburgh and New Wind- sor, " by a line beginning at the mouth of Quassaick creek, and run- ning thence along the south bounds of a tract* of land commonly called the German patent, to another tract granted to Alexander Baird, and then along the southerly bounds of the said last mention- ed tract to the Wallkill precinct; all the lands heretofcn-e compre- hended within the said Highland precinct lying to the southward of
* The "neighborhoods annexed to New Paltz," were "Guill'ord, and several other patents, from the south bounds of New Paltz to the north bounds of Shawangunk pre- cinct, and from the foot of the high mountains eastward to the east line of the patent granted to Thomas Garland, and by the south and east by the land granted to Hugh Freer and others, and to the eastward by an east line from the said Hugh Freer's bounds to the bounds or line of New Paltz." The freeholders were to vote with the freeholders of New Paltz and in all respects to be considered a part of that town.
f
COUNTY AND PRECINCT ORGANIZATIONS. 39
tlie aforesaid dividing line to be called by the name of New Wmdsor Precinct, and all the lands heretofore comprehended within the said Highland precinct lying to the northward of the said line to be called by the name of Newbiirgh Precinct." The latter was divided, in 1712, by a line running along the north bounds of the Harrison, Bradley, Wallace, Kip and Cruger, and Jamison patents, to the precinct of Shawangunk, " all the land lying to the northward of said line, to be called and known by the name of New Marlborough Precinct, and all the land south of said line to continue to be called Newburgh Precinct."
The same law divided the precinct of VVallkill by a line beginning at the s(.)uth-west corner of the Mcintosh patent and the south-east corner of McKnight's, "thence along the south-west bounds of Thom- as Noxon, the south-west bounds of Harrison and Company, the south- west l)ounds f)f Philip Schuyler, to the Pakadasink river or Shawan- gunk kill;" all north-east of this line "to be called tlie Precinct of Hanover and all the land south-west of said line, heretofore compre- hended in the precinct of Wallkill, to continue to be called the Pre- cinct of Wallkill."
The precincts named carried with them their designative titles in their organization as towns under the act of 1788, with the exception of Hanover, whose inhabitants, for the purpose of attesting their de- testation of the English government as well as their appreciation of the heroic services of General Richard Montgomery, obtained consent, from the provincial convention of the state, in 1782, to change the precinct name to Montgomery. By the act of 1788, they were seve- rally erected as the towns of Newburgh, New Windsor, New Marlbo- rough, Shawangunk, Montgomery, and Wallkill. The changes which had been made from time to time in their organization were the out- gr(jwth of increasing population and the necessary convenience of local administration. But their sub-division, especially after the war of the revolution, did not entirely meet the emergencies which the rapid increase of population demanded. The people of Newburgh and the neighboring southern towns of Ulster county, were requir- ed to transact their county business at Kingston, while those of Cornwall and the north-eastern part of Orange were compelled to at- tend courts and enter their records at Orangetown. In either case the county seat was tlMrty miles or more distant, and in precisely op- posite directions, Avhile the facilities for communication, for a large pi)rtion of the time, were most exceptionable. The inhabitants of the western part of Orange were better accommodated, Goshen having been made, at .an early period, a half-shire district; still their records were kept at Orangetown, and a considerable portion of their court
40 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
business was necessarily transacted there. To inaugurate the correction of these inconveniences a convention of delegates from the several towns interested was held at Ward's Bridge * on the 6th of April, 1793, but without other result than the agitation of the question, and the hall-expressed willingness of the delegates from Goshen to a union of the northern towns of Orange and the southern towns of Ulster in a new county organization, with courts alternately at Newburgh and Goshen. A second convention was held at the house of John Decker, at Otterkill, in February, 1794, with no better result, the delegates from Newburgh being instructed to decline " any union at all " unless it should be agreed that a court house be erected and courts held at Newburgh and Goshen alternately,f a proposition which the Goshen delegates were not fully disposed to concede.
Here the matter i-ested until 1797, when a third convention assem- bled, similarly composed, at Kerr's hotel in Little Britain. At this convention, General Wilkin and General Hopkins, from Orange, and Daniel Niven and Isaac Belknap, 8r., from Ulster, appointed a com- mittee to report terms upon which a union should be formed, agreed to a stipulation that the courts should be held at Newburgh and Goshen alternately, and the convention ratified it. The subject came before the legislature in the winter of 1797-98. Two bills were presented — one entitled "An Act for Dividing the County of Orange," the other, " An Act for Altering the bounds of the Coun- ties of Orange and Ulster." The first was passed on the 23d of February, and enacted: "That all that tract of land in the county of Orange, lying north-west of a line beginning at the mouth of Poplo- pen's kill, on Hudson's river, and running from thence to the south- eastermost corner of the farm of Stephen Sloat, and then along the south bounds of his farm to the south-west corner thereof, and then on the same course to the bounds of the state of New Jersey, J shall be and hereby is erected into a separate county, and shall be called and known by the name of Orange;" and, "That all that part of the said county of Orange lying southward of the above described line shall be erected into a separate county,' and shall be called and known by the name of Rockland." The act also made provision for holding courts, fixed the number of members of assembly, etc. The second act was passed on the 5th of April following. , It enacted, " That the
* Now the village of Moutgomery.
t Newburgh Town Records, Feb.'l, 1794.
X Act of April 3cl, 1801, gives this Une as from the middle of Hudson's river "west to the mouth of Poplopens Idil, and from thence on a direct course to the east end of the mill dam now or late of Michael Weiman across the Bamapough river, and from thence a direct course to the twenty-mile stone standing in the said division line between this state and the state of New" Jersey."
COUNTY AND PRECINCT ORGANIZATIONS. 41
towns of New Windsor, Newbuvgh, Wallkill, Montgomery and Deei'- park, now in the c<iunty of Twister, sliall be and hereby are annexed to the county of Orange," and made provision for holding courts al- ternately at Newburgh and (losheji, the latter being the county seat. With these enactincMits the records of the original county were closed, and from the heart of tlie patents and precincts covering the district described " in the beginning," was erected the present county, bearing, under the title of Orange, the colonial and revolutionary history of the territory wiiich it embraced, the most populous * and fertile of the lands oi' the original district, and more than two-thirds of its wealth, — elements which gave to it inunediate prominen(;e in state and national p(;litics, and which, under subsequent and pro- gressive developement, have maintained its rank among the first counties of the state. Tiie b(nindary lines of the new county were definitely tixed by the general law of April 8d, 1801, entitled : "An x\ct to divide this State into Counties," as follows: "The county of Orange to contain all that part of this state bounded easterly by the middle of Hudson's river, southerly by the said county of Rockland and the division line between this state and the state of New Jersey, westerly by the river Mongaapf and the division line between this state and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and northerly by a line drawn frtmi a point in the niiddle of said Hudson's river opposite the north-east corner of a tract of land granted to Francis Harrison and Company, called the five thousand acre tract, to the said north-east corner, and running from thence westerly along the north bounds of the said tract and the north bounds of another tract granted to the said Francis Har-
* The population of the original county of Orange, and that part of Ulster included in the district, was (1790) as follows:
ORANGE COUNTY : ULSTEB COUNTY :
Cornwall, 4,225 Mamakating, 1,763
Goshen, 2,448 Montgomery, 3,563
Haverstraw, 4,826 Newburgh, 2,365
Minnisiuk, 2,215 New Windsor, 1,819
Orangetown, 1,175 New Marlborough, 2,241
Warwick, 3,603 Shawangunk, 2,128
Wallkill, 2,571
Total, 18,492 16,450
The following were the towns included in the new county, under the same census :
TOWNS FROM ORANGE : TOWNS FROM ULSTER :
Cornwall, 4,225 Montgomery, 3,563
Goshen 2,448 Newburgh, 2,365
Minnisink, 2,215 New Windsor, 1,819
Warwick, 3,603 Wallkill, 2,571
Total, 12,491 10,318
The census of 1800, immediately following the erection uf the now county, gave its pop- ulation as 29,368, and that of the towns not included as 14,807— showing the population of the district at that tune to b§ 44,175.
t Originally known as tlie Mingwing. Mongaap is presumed to be Dutch. It is en- tered on Hauthier's map, " Mangawping." Whilo the old county line ran to the Delaware river, the new line stopped at the Mongaap; it was also further north than the old line,
42 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
rison to the tract of land commonly called Wallace's tract, then along the lines of the same northerly and westerly to the north-easterly bounds of a tract of land granted to Jacobus Kip, John Cruger and others, commonly called Kip and Cruger's tract, then westerly along the north-easterly and northerly bounds thereof, and then westerly to the north-east corner of a tract of three thousand acres granted to Rip Van Dam and others, thence southerly along the same to the north-east corner of a tract of three thousand acres granted to Henry Wileman, and running thence along the north bounds thereof to the Paltz river, commonly called the Wallkill, then southerly up the said river to the south-east corner of a tract of four thousand acres of land granted to Gerardus Beekman and others, then westerly and northerly along the southerly and westerly bounds thereof to the north-east corner tliBreof, and then north-westerly along the north bounds of the land granted to Jeremiah Schuyler and Company to the Shawangunk kill, thence southerly along said kill to the north part of the farm now or late in the occupation of Joseph Wood, Jr., thence west to the river Mongaap." By act of the 7th of April of the same year definite boundary lines were given to the towns com- posing the newly constructed county, namely: Blooming-Grove, Chesekook, Cornwall, Deerpark, Goshen, Minnisink, Montgomery, New Windsor, Newburgh, Wallkill, and Warwick.*
Incident to the history of the original county, it is proper to re- mark, in this connection, that although organized in 1G83, it was only a county in name — a district in the wilderness with boundaries upon paper. It was not until nearly twenty years later that it became a county de facto. True, it was assigned a sherift' and a clerk, and had a jail, but it was attached to New York in other re- spects in the character of a borough. Governor Leisler, in his ill- starred rebellion, attempted to use it (1691) by appointing, as one of his council, William Lawrence of New York, as representing Orange, and when it was given representation in the assembly (1699), it was not as a right due to population, but to serve another purpose. Prac- tically, the organization of the county began in 1703, when the first session of the court, and the first meetino- of iustices actina- as a board of supervisors, was held.f Such local administration as it had.
* From the territory embraced in the towns named, the following additional towns were erected: Chester, 1845, from Goshen, Warwick, Blooming-Grove, and Monroe; Grawtord, 1823, from Montgomery; Greenville, 1853, fi-om Minnisink; Hamptouburgh, 1830, trom Goshen, Blooming-Grove, Montgomery, New Windsor, and Wallkill; Mount Hope 1833, trom Wallkill, Minnisink and Deerpark; Wawavanda, 1849. from Minnisink; Highlands, irom Cornwall, 1872; the city of Newbnrgh, 1866, from Newbm-gh. The county now embraces eighteen towns, one city, and six incorporated villages.
t The record book contains this entry: "Begister kept for Orange county, begun ye 5th day ot April, Anno Domini 1703." The earUer records were probably kept in New York to which the county was attached.
COURTS AND COURT HOUSES. 43
aside fi'om the officers of its precincts, may be brie% stated. Miniiie Johannes was its first sherifl", 1685; Floris Willenise Croni, in 1690; Stanley Handcock, in 1694; John Patersen, in 1699, and Theunis Toleman in 1701. The h\tter was not held in very high esteem by Governor Cornbury, who apparently regarded the ability of a man to write his own name as a qualification. Dirck Storm was the county clerk, or clerk of the court, in 1691, and William Huddleston in 1703. Judges of connnon pleas came in in 1701, William Merritt being the first judge. The first session of the court was held at Orangetown, April 28, 1703, — present: William Merritt and John Merritt, judges. The first recorded session of justices of the peace, acting as a board of supervisors, was held April 27, 1703, — present: William Merritt, John Merritt, Cornelius Cuyper, Tunis Van Houton, Thtjuias Burroughs, Michael Hawdon, justices; John Ferr}', sherifl'; William Huddleston, clerk, and Conradt Hanson, constable. From this time the record is continuous.
Many franchises were dependent upon population. Of this char- acter were surrogate's courts. The first law of the province relating to estates gave to courts of common pleas power to take proof of wills and grant letters of administration in remote counties. Other coun- ties, including Orange and Ulster, were required to transact such business in New York. This was changed by act of November, 24, 1750, which relates that whereas, at the time of the enactment of the law providing that in remote counties courts of common pleas should be authorized to take the examination of witnesses to any will, on oath, and to grant letters of administration, the " county of Orange was not considered and esteemed one of the remote counties," but that since the passage of the said act, " the north-west parts of the said county, being nearly one lumdred miles distance from the city of New York," had "increased greatly in number of inhabitants, as well by families removed to those parts, as otherwise," who were laboring under " the like inconveniences as those of said remote counties," that therefore the judges and justices of the said court of common pleas, and the clerk of the said county, be vested with au- thority to take such examinations and issue such letters of adminis- tration. This arrangement was continued until 1754, when William Finn was appointed surrogate and a surrogate's court established.
The courts iield their sessions at Orangetown exclusively until 1727, when Goshen was given alternate terms. The first county buildings were erected at Orangetown, sometime about 1703. At the first court of sessions held l)y justices of the peace, April 5th, 1708, an examination of the "common gaol of the county" was or- dered and directions given to complete the same. By act of the as-
44 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
scnibly, Deceinbor KUh, 1737, "the Justices of tho peace of that part of Oraiin-e county lying to the northward of the Highlands," were " authorized to build a court house and gaol for the said county at Goshen." This buihling was coinph>tcd under act of November 3d, 1740, by wliich one hundred pounds w-ere authorized to be raised for the purpose on the portion of the county already named. It was a structure of wood and stone; was repaired in 1754, and was torn down in 1775 or 1776, a new stone court house having been erected. The hitter was on the site now occupied by tlie office of tlie county clerk in Goshen. Its erection was provided for under an act of the assembly, March 12th, 1713, by which one thousand pounds were raised for th(^ purpose on the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall. Four liundred pounds additional were raised in 1774 to finish it, and prisoners were removed to it under act of April 1st, 1775. It was originally two stories high. A third story, it is said, was added to it in 1801-2, the first story being occupied by debtors' cells, the second by the court room, and the third by cells for criminals. It was re- moved in 1842, wlien the present court house was erected. Mean- while the old court house at Orangetown was replaced by a new structure in 1704, the expense being borne by the "southern part of the county." It was subsequently destroyed by fire.
Aside from their town and precinct officers and representatives in the asserid)ly, the people had no voice in the selection of their rulers. The sherift's held the elections for representatives and the choice was determined by the viva voce* vote of the freeholders, who were required to be twenty-one years of age, and to be possessed of " land or tenements improved to the value of forty pounds free from all incumbrances." Freeholders having property in more than one county, could vote in as juany counties as they had property liable to taxation, and for their accommodation the elections were so ordered that opportunity was given them to cast the full number of votes to which they were entitled. It could scarcely be called a representa- tiv(> system, so far as representative systems are understood to ex- press the popular will; it was more properly a property representa- tion under which power was given to a few persons. The districts were large; the population was scattered; the electiims were held at the "cniinty towns;" the polls were kept open several days to enable all to vote who might wish to do so. Where the conveniences existed for transit tVoiii point to point, as they did along the Hudson, a free- holder residing in New York was enabled to vote in half a dozen counties if holding property therein, while those occupying more in-
* Until iit'tor the aduptinn of the Constitution of 1777. Voting by ballut ■was regarded by the framers of tliat instrument as an experiment.
COLONIAL POLITICS. 45
land locations were in most cases necessarily deprived of a voice in elections.
Until 1699, the lieoliolders of the county were associatcid with those of New York in tlie selection of representatives, but were not obliged to visit New York in order to give their votes. Tiie sherift" of tlie county held the election at Orangetown, and made return to the sheritf of New York, who declared the result. In 1699 the county was given representation in the assembly. At this and subsequent elections until 1749, the poll was held exclusively at Orangetown, and those who wished Vo vote were compelled to visit that place. This was in part remedied by the law of 1748, by wdnch it was provided that, " for the time to come, all elections for representa- tives" should be opened, "either at the court house or some conveni- ent place in Orangetown; or at the court house or some convenient place in Croshen," and after being held for a certain time at the place where first opened, should be adjourned "to the other court house or place of election, so that all tlie freeholders may, if they please, be polled at such elections." *
That the system was corrupt, especially in the earlier years of its administration, is a fact revealed on every page of the history of that period. Frauds upon the revenue pervaded all departments of the public service; piratical expeditions, including that of the notori- ous Captain Kidd, were fitted out by men high in public aftairs; land grants were obtained for considerations paid to the governor; there was nothing, apparently, that had money in it that was not prosper- ed by official connivance. In one instance only is it written that the governor's council "was ashamed to consent" to one of his grants, and that not because of its magnitude, but that it proposed to give his footman a lease for "a little island called Nutten Island," which had hitherto been "convenient for grazing a few coach horses and cows for the governor's family." f Sectarianism was the cloak for all kinds of peculation; to write against another at one time that he was a protestant, or at another that he was " a popish tailor," or simi- lar epithet, was the stepping stone to official promotion. Indeed it would seem that more modern political partisans have not learned much that is new, or that many who have since held official station have special claim to originality in methods of abusing public trusts.
It was when this era of corruption was at his height that the peo- ple of Orange county appear distinctly in the politics of the prov- ince. Governor Bellomont, who succeeded Governor Fletcher in
* The old story of carrying the ballot-box around the country originated in this. Un- fortunately for the storv there was uo ballot-box, the vote of the frecholderH being simplv registered. ' t Col. Hist., iv., 384, 393.
46 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
1698, was clothed with power to correct the abuses which had grown up, for which purpose he was given "a negative voice in the making and passing of all laws, statutes, and ordinances, and could "ad- journ, prorogue and dissolve the assembly " whenever he deemed it necessary.* Issuing a warrant for the election of a new assembly, he cautioned the sheriffs, by wliom it was to be held, against " undue elections and returns;" but the latter were themselves creatures of the corrupt combination which had been formed, or, as the record states, "were for the most part men of mean rank" who "had been continued in their places from year to year by Governor Fletcher," and who, "instead of complying" with their instructions, "carried themselves most unfairly, in so much that one of them made return for a county (viz: Orange couuty) in which he suftered not any one freeholder to vote." f Other districts shared in the " corruption of the franchise " to such an extent that when the assembly convened, eleven of the nineteen members of which it was composed, it is said, "sat by controverted elections," and, having the majority, " estab- lished themselves and brought all things into the greatest confusion."
Finding that nothing could be done with such a body of men, Bello- mont dissolved the assembly, and ordered a new election, taking care that Governor Fletcher's sheriffs were retired from the management. The result was satisfactory to him; but not to those who were de- feated, who complained to the king, that "the election was appointed to be upon the same day in all places except tlie two most remote counties, whereby the best freehijlders, who had estates in several counties, were deprived of giving their votes at several elections;" that "the sheriffs performed the business they were appointed for by admitting some for freeholders who were not so, and rejecting others who were really so, as they voted for or against their party, and by nominating and appointing inspectors of the poll who, upon any complaint of unfair dealing gave this general answer: 'If you are aggrieved, complain to my lord Bellomont,' and the same practice in all places gives just reason to believe the orders for it came from his excellency."
" To secure a majority of such men as he desired," continues this remonstrance, "his lordship, without any instruction from England, added two to the former number, viz : one more to be chosen for the city and county of Albany, and one for the county of Orange, which last is by act of assembly made a part of the county of New York, and has not twenty inhabitants freeholders in it, and never before
* Col. Hist., i., 266.
t Stanley Handcock appears as sherift" of Orange county at this time. He was also sheriff of New York.
COLONIAL POLITICS. 47
had a distinct, representation in assembly. By this means one Abra- ham Gouverueur, a Dutchman, — so indigent as never to be assessed in the public taxes, and who, as is reasonably to be supposed, had a deed of some land made to him of purpose to qualify him for it, because he never had any land before, — was chosen an assemblyman, and is since made speaker of the house of representatives. This fellow was formerly convicted of murther and pardoned, * and soon after the revolution publicly declared that Jacob Leisler had carried the government of New York by the sword, and had the same right to it as King William had to the crown, having conquered the kingdom of England. At the meeting of the assembly it appeared, of the twen- ty-one representatives there were but seven Englishmen, the remain- der being all Dutch and of the meanest sort, half of whom do not understand English, wliich can conduce little to the honor of the En- glish interest there." f "
Notwithstanding this bitter complaint, the assembly instituted some Important reforms. Grants of large tracts of land were set aside, the elections for I'epresentatives were regulated, and provision made for the severe punishment of frauds upon the revenue. Had Bellomont lived, perhaps more general reforms would have been se- cured; but his death, in 1701, was followed, after a short administra- tion under the council, by the appointment of Lord Cornbury, who not (mly restored the unscrupulous officials that had been removed by Bellomont. but earned for himself the "unenviable distinction of being the worst of all tin; governors under the Ilnglish crown." "Rapacious without a parallel, h(^ hesitated not," says one of his bi- ographers, "to apply the public nxjuey to his own private purposes; and though notoriously vicious, yet he was so intolerant that lie sought to establish the Episcopacy at all hazards, imprisoning and prohibiting ministers of other denominations from exercising tlieir functions, without his special license. He was, moreover, as desti- tute of gratitude, as of courtesy, injuring those most from whom he had received the greatest benefits. His manners were as ignoble and undignified as his conduct was base, and when this hopeful scion of royalty wandered about the streets clothed as a woman (which was a common practice with him) the people felt that he had taken Cali- gula for a model."
But a better state of affairs was born of the excesses which Corn- bury committed. While at (jliour Hall, his country seat in Haver-
* Gouverneur was attached to the administration of Governor Leisler, and was tried and condemned, with others, for liis participation in the resistance to Governor Slongh- ter, during which several of the king's troops were killed, including Captain MacGrego- rie. He was subsequently pardoned by the king. It is to these facts the text refers.
t Col. Hist., iv., 621.
48 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
straw, he surrounded himself with such men as Daniel Honan, the freeholders looked upon his extravag-anct; with alarm, and, throug-h the assembVy, refused the grants of money which he asked. The rights of the people with regard to taxation, to courts of law, to officers of the crown, were speedily asserted and increased in strength with the political education of the people. When Cornbury was succeeded by Lovelace (1709), the assembly began the contest that was never to cease but with independence. The crown demand- ed a permanent revenue, without appropriation; the assembly would only grant an annual revenue and appropriate it specifically. The power lodged in the governor to dissolve the assembl}', was invoked in A^ain; the people were mainl}' of one mind that they had an "in- herent right" to legislation, springing- "not from any conmiission or grant from the crown, but from the free choice and election of the people, who ought not, nor justly can, be divested of their property without their consent." In all the long struggle which followed and which culminated in the Avar for independence, the representatives of original Orange were found in the interest of freedom, and gave to the final issue its most consistent advocates, its most devoted adherents.
LOCA TION— PHYSIOLOGY. 49
CHAPTER IV.
LOCATION — PHYSIOLOGY — GEOGRAPHICAL XOMEXCLATURE CLIMATE- GEOLOGY.
TT^^HE county of Orang-e, erected February 23d, 1798, is located i between 41° 8' 8 and 41° 38' N latitude— 10' E and 43' W long-itude from the city of New Yt)rk. It is bounded on the south by Rockland county and the state of New Jersey, on the west b}'^ the county of Sullivan and the state of Pennsylvania, on the north by the county of Ulster, and on the east by Hudson's river. It is cen- trally distant 90 miles from Albany, and contains 838 square miles. The surface of the county is mountainous upon the south-east and north-west borders, and a rolling upland through the center. The Kittatenny or South mountains extend in several parallel rang'cs from the New Jersey line north-east to the Hudson, ending' in the rocky and precipitous bluflFs known as the Highlands. The Shawan- gunk mountains extend from the Delaware river north-east through the north-west cm'ner of the count3\ Among the principal ridges are the Warwick, Bellvale, and Rough and Sterling ranges, near the south border of the county, and the Schunemunk range. The extreme north- west corner of tlie county is occupied by the series of highlands ex- tending from the Delaware river into Sullivan county. The central portion of the county, lying between the mountain systems, is a roll- ing upland, broken in many places by abrupt and isolated hills and the deep valleys of streams. More than one-half of the entire sur- face of the county is susceptible of cultivation, and forms a fim; agri- cultural district. Along the south-west border, extending through several towns and into New Jersey, is a low, flat region, lying upon the streams, and known as the Drowned Lands. This tract, consist- ing of about It, 000 acres, was originally covered with water and a dense growth of cedars; but a large portion of it has been drained and reclaimed, and now forms one of the finest agricultural portions of the county. On the extreme north-west and forming in part the boundary line of the county, the river Mongaap flows south and unites with the Neversink. Neversink river flows south ak)ng the west foot of the Shawangunk mountains, and forms a tributary of tlie Dela- ware, the latter stream being for a short distance at this point the
50
GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
boundary lii^(3 of the state. The Pakadasink or Shawangnink river flows north ahmg- the east foot of the Shawang'unk mountains and forms a tributary of the Wallkill. The Wallkill or Paltz river flows north through near the center of the county and forms a tributary of the Hudson at Rondout in Ulster county. Murderer's creek, and its principal tributary the Otterkill, flow east through near the center of the county and discharge their waters into the Hudson. Wawayanda creek flows south into New Jersey, and re-entering the county as Po- chuck creek, unites with the Wallkill. Ramapo river rises in the south part of the county and flows south into Rockland. A number of small local streams furnish hydraulic power in other parts of the county. The principal lakes are G-reenwood, Thompson's, Mombasha and Orange, which with a series of smaller bodies of water, add pic- tuesqueness to the topog-raphy of the county. There are also swamp districts, in addition to the Drowned Lands, of which the Chester meadows have been largely reclaimed and are very productive.
MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS.
The Highlands are the most prominent of the mountain ranges. Approached from the north, to the right of the range stands the an- ciently so-called Butter hill, a title with which Irving embalmed it in his Knickerbocker History. It is now quite generally known as Storm-king, a title bequeathed to it by the poetic fancy of Willis, from the fact that for years it has served as a weather signal to the inhabi- tants of the immediate district. At one time a cap of fog upon its crown indicates the coming of rain; at another, clouds are seen rising- over the Shawangunk range, following its course north and south, separating into two parts, the one passing over the Warwick mountains to the Highlands, the other over the hills of Ulster U) Marlborough, and both joining as it were over Butter hill, i)Ouring out torrents of rain, not unfrequently accompanied by reverberating peals of thunder such as one rarely hears except ill similarly broken mountain ran- ges. The ancient Dutch navigators, no- ticing the latterpeculiarity, preserved a record of the apparently culminating point of tli('S(« peals in the Dunderbevf/ situated further south. Butter hill has an altitude of 1524 feet. Its ascent from the riv(>r front is pre- cipitous; on the north, however, it is crossed by wagon roads. cko'-nest.
MO UNTAINS AND VALLEYS.
51
Cro'-nest, adjoining- Butter liill on the south, is the second peak of the rang-e, rising above the Hudson 1418 feet. Its modern name pre- serv(NS in substance its Alg-onquin title, wliich, in ancient records, is written Navemng, signifying- " a resort for birds." Tlie name is re-, tained in the Sandy Hook hig-hhmds and in the Neversink river in Sul- livan and Orange, the latter as well as the Hudson having- on its border a Cro'-nest — its orig-inal Navesing. Bear mountain is the third ))rincipal elevation, rising 1350 feet above the river. Mount In- dependence forms the back-g-round of the plateau at West Point, and is crowned with the crunil)ling- walls of Fort Putnam. Just below,
in a gorg-e in the rocks divi- ding- the sites of forts Clin- ton and Mont- gomery, tiows Pt)pl open's kill at the mouth of which the county line leaves the Hudson and from thence passes amidst
the hills south-westerly. In successive proximity are the elevations known as Black-rock and Deer hill. Ant hill, Lawyer's hill. Mount Rascal, and Peat, Pine, Cold and Round hills. Following- the range we meet Black-top, Black-cup and Long hills, the ancient Dutch Dun- derberg*, Torn mountain and Cape hill, Tom Jones' niount;iin and Hendock hill. To this may be added as objects of interest by the way: Kidd's Pocket-book, the Lover's Rocking-stone, the Giant's Haunt, the Giant's Slipper, Picnic Rock, Poised Rock, and Erlin's Blutf — a singular mingling of poetic and CiHnmonplace titles, and suggestive of paucit}' in proper orthologic terms. — The Dunderberg and Torn moinitain are east of the county line, and, though Ibr- mer residents of Orange, now grace the borders of Rockland. In this enumera- tion they serve the purpose of territorial monuments. The Torn forms the right shoulder of the Ramapo valley; its name and its appearance alike suggest the violence with which it was uplieaved or torn from its fellows, although in local accepta-
04
VIEW FROM FORT MONTGOMERY.
TORN MOUNTAIN.
52 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
tion "steeple" is understood to explain its title and its resemblance.
No mountain range is so well known in Europe, nor is there one with which the history of our own nation is so intimately associated. The visitor at Westminster Abbey reads there the name of Andre; the story of Arnold is sown broadcast throug'h American schools — both point to one center: the Hig-hlands of the Hudson; the one awa- kening regret at the fate of the young and gifted; the other, nerving the hearts of thousands to love of country. Aside from its history, the range has an economic character. It tempers the winds of the sea-board, and bears upon its sheltering breast the fiercest blasts of many storms. Of Storm-king and Cro'-nest it has been well said, by a recent writer: "They have a charm that might induce a man to live in their shadow for no other purpose than to have them always before him, daj^ and night, to study their ever-changing beauty. For they are never twice alike; the clouds make varying pictures all day long on their wooded sides, and nowhere have we seen more wonder- ful effects of shadow and sunshine. Under the frown of a low thun- der-cloud they take on a grim majesty that makes their black masses strangely threatening and weird; one forgets to measure their height, and their massive, strongly-marked features, by any common stand- ard of every-day measurement, and they seem to overshadow all the scene around them, like the very rulers and ccmtrollers of the coming storm. And when the sunlight comes back again, they seem to have brought it, and to look down with a bright benignity, like giant pro- tectors of the valley below."
The Shawangunk range is less broken than the Highlands. It continues, with but slight breaks, from near Carpenter's point on the Delaware to the Sullivan and Ulster line, and forms the boundary line between Deerpark and the towns of Greenville and Mount Hope, those being the only towns of the county touched by the range. The eastern slope is singularly uniform, and is adapted to cultivation to the summit; the western, is broken and precipitous, presenting peaks 1,400 and 1,800 feet above tide. Few inland landscapes are more beautiful than the former. Approached from the east, the eye rests upon fields of grain and grass, upturned furrows, the verdure of waving trees, and the homes of thrifty husbandmen, spread out from vale to crest, from south to the far north, in unwearying panoramic beauty — a patchwork of gold and green, of brown and gray, of white and red^-
" As though all tints Of gem, of bird, of flower, of cloud, of sky, Had met and blended in a general glow I"
The name by which the range is known does not strictly belong to
it. In the Indian deed to Governor Dongan, and in the subsequent
MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS. 53
patent to Captain John Evans, its principal divisions are given re- spectively the names Pitkiskaker and Aiai'kaicading. On Santhier's map the same divisions are called Alaskayering and Shawangunk. Many interpretations of the latter have been made. In Mather's Geology of New York, the signification is given as "the place of the white rocks"; the late distingnished Algonquin linguist, Henry R. Schoolcraft, renders it, "south mountain"; the Rev. Charles Scott, taking Shawavgum as the original, "south water"; anothei- from jewan, "swift current, or strong stream"; another Irom ^hong, "mink river";* and an(Hher, from chi'egaitgoitg, " the place of leeks." The error in all these cases, probably, is in regarding the term as descrip- tive of a specific place or physical attribute, rather than as a generic phrase. All writers who have examined the subject are aware that Indian geographical terms are of two classes: general or generic, and specific or local, and are so compounded as to present in a single expression a complex idea, or several ideas among which there is a natural connection. In specific names the combination may be simple, as Coxsackie — co, object, and acke, land; in others intricate, as Magh- aghkemek, in which ackr, land, is buried in cons(jnants and qualifying terms. The terminal of a word materially aids but does not govern its translation. Uk ov unk indicates "place of" in a specific sense, as in Moh?<n^, — ong, "place of" in a more general sense, as in Warranawonko?)g', the place or territory of the clan of that name, — ik, irk, eck, or uk, denotes rocks or stones,— acA" or avke, land, — ing or ivk, something in which numbers are presented, as "the place of birds," — a/.s, iie.<, oh, aun, denote a single small object or place, as Minnisai'.s, a small island — a number of islands, Minnismgr or ink, — ixh, eesh, oosh, or sh, indicates a bad or faulty quality, — co is object; at, at or near. In some cases tliese r(X)t terms are tiirown into the body of the word, as in Maghagkemek, Aiaskawasting, etc. General terms have no positive reference to the physiology of the districts of country to which they are applied. Wairayanda is of this class, and also the term or jihrase we are considering, which is preserved in two forms: the Dutch Shawangunk, and the English Ghaxvangong — the first, in translated records of the Esopus war (1663), and the second in English deeds twenty years later but practically cotemporaneous with the first; the latter is known to be correctly written; the former may perhaps correspond with the accepted modern orthography rather than with the original Dutch. While regarding Chawangong as the most pleasant, and while as a rule the English rendering of all Algonquin terms is the most correct, the only material difference in this case is in the terminal — the one indicating a specific place; the * " Shongham" is the local Dutch, and is adopted in Silliman's Journal.
54 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
other, place or territory in a general sense. In the connection in whicli they are used we may, however, accept them, and also Shaican, Ghmvan, and Shimnin, as equivalent terms varied by dialect, and so acceptini;- them the interpretation is as plain as that of any word in the English language, viz: "the place or territory of the white man." This interpretation and no other harmonizes with historical facts. In no case does it appear that tlie term was used or known to the Dutch until qftei- they had conquered tlie district, which then became, under Indian law, the place or territory of the conquerors — literally, "the place of the white man." In the ti'eaty of peace (1663), and in its subsequent renewal (1665), this recognition is distinctly made. In tlie latter instrument the boundaries of the conquered territory are defined as a certain "parcel of land, lying and being to the west and south-west of a certain creek or river called by the name of Kahanksen, and so up to the head thereof where the old fort was, and so with a direct line from thence through the woods and across the meadows to the Great Hill lying and being to tlie west and south- west thereof, which Great Hill is to be the true west or south-west bounds of the said lands, and the said creek called Kahanksen the north or north-west bounds of the said lands." This was the original Shawangunk of the Dutch — a district embracing many specific Indian localities, the names of none of which were subordinated or disturbed by the phrase under which tlie conquered admitted that part of their territory had become " the place of the white man." That the term has, strictly speaking, been improperly extended to mountain, river, meadow, etc., may be conceded, yet for its history, its poetry, and its orthology, we may well consent to let it forever rest upon Pitkis- kaker and Aiaskawastin"-.
The Schunemunk range is appropriately described as "the high hills to the west of the Highlands." It extends from north-east to south-west, and is, divided longitudinally principally by the boundary line of Monroe and Blooming-Grove, with a p(n"tion on the north-east in the town of Cornwall. It was the original dividing line between the Wawayanda and Cliesekook patents, and also one of the monii- ments in tiie line of the Evans patent. Its name appears in several forms. In the deed to Governor Dongan (1684), one of the lines of his purchase is described as running " north-west along a hill called Skoonnenoghky\" * in another paper of the same period it is called Skonnemoghky; in a deed to Joseph Sackett (1727), the property is described as being on the " south side of a high hill called Skone- mugh; in a deed to Edward Blagg (1726) it is spoken of as Schiina- mock hill. It will be observed that the prevailing orthogi-aphy down
* Ante p. 22.
MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS.
55
to tlio Blag-g- deed contains sko, the Algonquin generic term for fire, and tiiat tlie terminal indicates a certain place. From this analysis, without considering no, 7ia, ne, in the body of the word (signifying excellent), we have the literal interpretation, "fire place," the refer- ^-.-^^^ ence being (as in Skootag, now
-''■^'^E-, 'fl "^^^ ^ Schodac,) to the principal cas-
tle or palisaded village of the clan owning the land. This castle stood on the north spur of the range. At the time of ,the sale it was occupied by Maringoman and his pe(jple, and was kiK)wn and called Maringoman's castle, to dis- tinguish it from the wigwam in which he subsequently lived, which was situated in Hamp- tonburgh on the point formed MARINGOMAN'S cA.sTLE. ]^y ^j^j, juuctioii of CromeHnc
creek and the Otterkill. Tlie latter is a land-mark in the boundaries of several patents issued subsequent to the Evans.
North of Schunemunk is Muchattoes hill, extending north and south in the towns of New Windsor and Newburgh. Its name is Algon- quin— muhk, black; at, near or by; oes, small — signifying literally, " a small black hill near the river."
West of Schunemunk is Woodcock hill, now so known, but called Winegtekonk in the patent to Sir John Ashurst, (1709), and Wenigh- konk'm the patent to Edward Blagg (1726). The present name re- quires no explanation, although a reasonable apology for its retention appears to be necessary.
From Woodcock hill south-west are a series of elevations in the following order: Round hill, in shape like an inverted bowl; Mos- quito hill, a jagged elevation; Rainer's hill; Pedler's hill; Tom rocks, which are more rocky than mountainous and rise in two separate peaks to an elevation of about two hundred feet above the surround- ing country; Lazy hill, whose gradual slopes, it is presumed, sug- gested its name; and Goose-pond mountain.
At this point rise what are known as the Bellvale mountains; con- necting peaks continue the line to the Sterling mountains on the south, the Rough 'mountains and Southfield mountains on the east, and the Warwick mountains on the south-west; on the north-west are the Taylor mountains. Round hill, Rocky hill, and Pochuck mountain, filling out the south-east and south-west borders of the county with a
56
GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN.
battlement of mountainous elevations. * Pochuck neck and Pochuck mountain intrude upon the drowned lands. Pochuck is of course Al- g-onquin corrupted; po should he pogh as in the original of Rainapo, Poug-hkeepsie, etc.; tick, as in Mahicanituk, signifying "large areas of land and water" — a name most certainly misapplied to the mountain. Further north, in Warwick, are Mount Adam and Mount Eve, con- joined— the former mucli the highest, the latter much the hmgest —
which spring- up from the bottom lands and the rolling- g-lades sur- rt)unding them and are pictur- esque in all their phases. Direct- ly east, in Chester, is Sugar-loaf mountain, which, when seen from the north, resembles a sug-ar-loaf; hence its name. Its northern as- cent is quite gradual, its southern broken and precipitous. With its adjacent hills it is the apex from which the country descends to the north and to the soutli. It is, therefore, a very prominent ol)ject for a great distance on either side. North-west from Sugar-loaf is Mount Lookout, the principal elevation in the town of Goshen, where both hills and stones are the exception.
Scattered through the county are minor elevations: the Comfort hills, on the line between Montgomery and Crawford; Pea hill. Pine hill, and Sloop hill, in Cornwall; Three-mile hill, and Mount Joy, in Wallkill; Rough ridge, and Forge hill, in New Windsor; King's hill, in Newburgh; Jogee hill, in Minnisink, etc., the latter perpetuating in its name the name and residence of Keghgckapoivell alias Joghem, one of the grantors of the lands included in the Evans patent. In Deerpark, Mount William and Point Peter form prominent and attrac- tive features of the village of Port Jervis.
The valleys of the county are not less numerous than its mountains and streams. That portion of Deerpark bordering on the Delaware is but a narrow and irregular valley broken by mountains and tribu- taries of the Delaware. The valley of the Neversink and Basha's kill comprises the main portion of the valuable and cultivated lands of the town of Deerpark. These together are sometimes called the Huguenot valley, from the early Huguenot settlers who reclaimed it from the Indians; those portions along the Basha and Pine f kills were
* The principal elevations in Wanvick are Hogback, Decker, One Pine, and Pine and Hull's hills, on the east; Bill and Coxcomb hills, in the center; Lonjj, Cedar, Pond, and Bill \\hite's hills, in the south-east; Round, Rocky, and Chuck's hills in the south; Po- chuck mountain, and Green and Adney's hills in" the west; and Mount Adam and Eve and Round hiU in the north-west.
t An affluent of Basha's kill in Mamakating, Sullivan county.
MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS. 57
long' known as the Peenpack valley — a name corrupted from Ne.epe- vack, the orig'inal western boundary of the Swart wont patent. — The Wallkill valley widens out on either side of the Wallkill. It is of singular beauty and fertility, and is properly classed among the finest bottom-lands of the state. The valley of the Shawangunk kill is narrow and crooked. To the east of the valley of the Wallkill is that of the Otterkill, which for miles runs approximately parallel with the former, but suddenly turns to the east, and, through a wind- ing course amid the hills, reaches the Hudson above the Highlands. Throughout this valley, says a recent writer, the hills approach and retire in singular fantasy, affording wide alluvial flats and pent up gorges, gradual slopes, and steep declivities, hither and thither. At Salisbury it narrows to a gorge of rocks, and nearer its mouth assumes, in pictures(]ueness and beauty, the poetic name (by Willis) of Moodna valley. Cromeline valley, through which Cromeline creek passes, has its head in the far east of Warwick, from whence it fol- lows the tortuous course of the stream from which it takes its name until it reaches its junction with the valley of the Otterkill, present- ing throughout scenes wild and beautiful, a surface varied from plain to mountain, a soil from rich t(j poor, smooth to broken and precipi- tous. Sugar-loaf valley runs from the mountain of that name to Wickham's pond, and from thence a devious course to the village of Warwick, with hills and mountains, vales and headlands intersecting; from Warwick its course continues south and west until it passes out of the state. Bellvale valley, or the lower valley of Warwick, extends from the immediate vicinity of the village of Warwick southerly to Greenwood lake and the Sussex, N. J., clove. It is an especially rich farming section. The valleys of most of the small streams have more or less local celebrity. That of the Arackhook or Tinn Brock has many patches of beauty, while that of the Quassaick, near its confluence with the Hudson, has passed into history under the title of " The Vale."
The principal cloves — so called from the Saxon word cleopan, "to split asunder," and meaning " valley " literally — are known as Blagg's clove, in Blooming-Grove, between the Schunemunk and Woodcock mountains; Woodbury clove, in Cornwall and Monroe, between the Schunemunk and the Highlands, now traversed by the Newburgh and New York (Short-cut) rail-road, and Smith's clove, extending from Highland Mills to the Ramapo valley. Smith's clove has fame in revolutionai'y history from its occupancy by portions of the Ameri- can army, and as the birthplace of chief-justice William Smith; of his brother, Joshua Hett Smith,* whose name is associated with that
* " A place called Smith's clove, a valley which took its name from my family, as pos- sessing a greater part of the land it contained, as well as around its vicinity." — J. H. Smith's Narralwe.
58 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
of Arnold in the treason at West I'oint, and also of the locally noto- rious Claudius Smith and his tM]ually notorious sons. What rcdation- ship Claudius sustained to the eliief-justiee and to Joshua, it may not be w»dl to inciuire; * it is sullit-ient tn know that in their devotion to the mother (•nniilry they rit'hly earned the name of tory, and that their olVcnses :i<;-ainst their whiu' neii;-hl)ors ditU>red oidy in degree.
Tortuous eloves IVom Lons;- and I'oplopen's ptnids, converg-ing to the soutii IVom Hhu'k-top mountain and Cat hollow, give character to Forest of Dean, far depresseil lten(>ath Bear mountain, where, from the south. Two-pond vaUey intersects and thence diverges to the north- east and reaches tiie Hudson, lorming a succession of vales where mountain dills and jagged rocks occupy the foreground, and abrupt declivities and liroken valh-ys till the picture. To the south of Black- rock hill lies Kagle valley — so called iVoin local tradition describing it as tlie resort of the " king of birds " — through which, descending as rocks and hills permit, in crooked course to the Hudson, the waters from Bog-meadow pcuid chant their music and linally dash over the rocks in Ibaming spray forming the " Boter melck val " of the early Dutch skippers — the Buttermilk Falls of our times. Po])lopen's val- ley— through which passes the waters of Toplopen's creek, the outlet of Poplopen's and other mountain ponds — is similarly constituted. Its name is apparcuitly IVom that of a highland chieftain whose rude castle once crowned one of the adjacent hilltops. The valley of the Ramapo, the largest of the mountain passes, continues Smith's clove to the Hudson. The term Ramapo was, it is assumed, originally given to the entire district as one of " many ponds." The original orthogra- phy, Ramxpook ox Iiamapogh,ho\\v ver, indicates "a river into which empties a mnnber of ponds," the application being specific to the river.
POXns, STREAMS, ETC.
Few districts of country are so bountifully supplied with ponds and streams as that embraced in the county of Orange. On hilltops (U- in valleys, dashing over rocks, winding through cultivated lields, lying in repose, or chained to the service of man in the forge, the factory, or the mill, they are not only a source of wealth but beautify the landscape. The lak(> system of the county begins in the northern part iA' the Highlands in Cornwall, I'ontinues through the towns of Highlands and Moiu-oe, culminates in Warwick in that beautiful sheet of water known as Greenwood lake, and from thence west and north appears in inland reservoirs of various sizes. Cornwall has one pond, Sutherland's; Bog-meadow pond. Round pond. No. 1, Long pond, and Cranberry pond, No. 1, are in Highlands; P(-)plopen's pond,
* Tho livttor, in his Niivrative, states that a brdthor of hia, whose name he does not give, resided in tlie Clove " about three miles out iif the inaiu road."
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC. 59
Bull or Agnol's pond (also called Wood lake), Summit lake, Two ponds or Twin ponds (upper and lower). Slaughter's pond. Cranberry pond. No. 2, Greenwood pond, Hazzard's pond, Round pond. No. 2, Mom- basha pond, Cedar pond, No. 1, Truxedo or Duck-cedar pond. Round- island pond. Little Long pond. No. 1, Little Long- pond. No. 2, Gi'een pond, Car pond, Spruce pond, and Nigger pond, are in Monroe; Wick- liain's pond, Sterlipg lake. Cedar pond. No. 2, and Greenwood lake, are in Warwick; Thompson's pond, on the line between Warwick and Chester; Binnenwater or Maretange pond, in Greenville; Washington lake, in New^ Windsor; Orange lake, in Newbuigh; Big pond, and Little pond, in Deerpark; and Round pond. No. 3, in Wawayanda.
Sutherland'^ pond, in Cornwall, lies under the shadow of Bhick-rock hill, south-west from Cro'-nest, and is about half a mile long. Its name — like that of otliers in the series which will be recognized with- out special notice — is that of an individual owner. Its outlet runs west and south "and unites with Murderer's creek, after furnishing the falls that are seen near the Cornwall mineral spring.
Bog-meadow pond, the first in the town of Highlands, lies south-west from Black-rock hill. It covers about three hundred acres of land, and has a depth of some twenty-five feet. Its outlet dashes over the rocks at Buttermilk Falls and reaches the Hudson. Round povd, No. 1, and Long pond are north-west from Highland Falls. The former is more elevated than the latter, into which its waters flow; the outlet of the latter unites with Poplopen's creek. The waters of Round pond, in making connection with Long pond, flow under a natural bridge, the breadth of winch is fifty feet, and its length, up and down stream, seventy-five or eighty feet. It is used as a bridge, and one may ride over it without being aware of it. There is no daylight under it. The stream on the upper side passes into a cave and is lost to sight until it emerges from another cave on the other side. Willis describes it as " a massive porch, cijvering the last stair of a staircase by which a cascading stream descends into a mountain lake." It diflc'rs in situation only, however, from the subterranean passage of the outlet of Washington lake in New Windsor. Cran- berry pond. No. 1, is in the south part of the town and south-west from Fort Montgomery.
Poplopen's jiond, in the north-east part of the town, and Bull or Agnel's pond, its neighbor on the south-west, are the first of the Monroe series, and lie north-west from Forest of Dean. Their waters flow to Poplopen's creek. Summit Jake, Two ponds, Slaughter's pond, Cranberry pond. No. 2, Greenwood or Echo pond, Bound pond, No. 2, Green pond, and Car pond, lie in a chain south-south-west from Poplo- pen's; Cedar pond and Little Long pond, No, 1, are east, and Spruce
60 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
and Truxedo ponds west of the chain line; Nigger pond is in the extreme southern part of the town. The waters of Two ponds flow to Pophjpen's creek; those of Summit lake, Slaughter's, Cranberry, No. 2, Greenwood, and Round, No. 2, are united for the use of Greenwood furnace and from thence flow to the Ramapo; Little Long pond, No. 1, and Cedar pond, No. 1, send their waters into Rock- land county and there unite with the Ramapo, while those of Green, Car, Spruce, Truxedo and Nigger ponds unite with the same stream in Orange. Slaughter's pond is about one mile and a half long and half a mile wide, and Cedar and Little Long ponds are of nearly the same size. Truxedo pond is two miles long, north and south. Green- wood, Green, Car, Spruce and Nigger ponds are small. Round pond, No. 2, or Little Round pond, more nearly resembles a vast moat than a pond, as a circular wooded island nearly fills its circumference. In most cases the names of these ponds require no explanation; but of Truxedo it may be remarked that it is apparently a corruption of Truxillo, while the surname, "Duck-cedar," is a misnomer. Hazzard's pond, in the north part of the town and west from Poplopen's, is about half a mile in diameter. Its outlet, Woodbury creek, furnishes power to the Highland Mills; flows thence north through Woodbury clove, and unites with Murderer's creek. Round-island pond — so named from a round island in it called Chestnut — lies south-west from Hazzard's and near the line of Blooming-Grove. It is about a quarter of a mile wide and three-quarters of a mile long, and is the head of the Ramapo river. Little Long pond, No. 2, is nearly south from Round- island and near the Chester line. It is about one mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. Its outlet furnishes part of the head waters of Cromeline creek. Momhasha pond is in the west part of the town, near Warwick. It is from one and a half to two miles in diameter, and contains two or three islands. Its outlet flows north-east and thence south passing the Southtield works, furnishing power for mills and forges. Its name is presumed to be a corruption of Mom- baccu.% "the place of death" — the reference apparently being to a burial ground or a battle field.
The Warwick series begin with Sterling lake, in the south-east, covering about sixty acres of land. At its outlet was established, in 1751, by Ward & Colton, the Sterling Iron-works, which have been continued since that time. Genl. William Alexander,' Lord Sterling, was interested in the works prior to the Revolution, and from him the works and the lake take their name. The outlet of the lake flows into New Jersey. Cedar pond, No. 2,* lying south-east, unites its waters
* The figures inserted after the names of ponds are to distinguish them from others of the same name, of which there are several in the county. The poverty of the lan- guage is so great that the donors of these names were probably forced to repetition.
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC. 61
with the waters of Sterling' lake above Sterling' works. Wickham'H pond, in the north, covers an area of about eighty-tive acres. Its outlet is a tributary of Wawayanda creek. Greenwood lake is the largest body of water in the town or county. It is about nine miles long and one mile wide; extends into New .Jersey, and is us(k1 as a feeder for the Morris canal. Its original name, Long pond, although descriptive of its shape, was long enough in use; its present title is the offspring of more cultivated taste.
Thompiion's pond is in the north-west part of Warwick, east of Florida, and extends into Chester. It covers an area of about one hundred acres. Its outlet furnishes power for grist and saw mills and is a tributary of Quaker creek. It has recently been re-christen- ed and is now entered on the map Glenmere lake, tliough why "lake" should be added is not clear. " Glen" is a depression between hills; "mere," a pool or lake.
Binnenwater, in Greenville, covers about fifty acres, and sends its waters to Rutger's creek. It lies about two miles southerly frimi the village of Mount Hope, about one and one-half miles south-east from Finch ville, and about one mile south from the boundary line between Mount Hope and Greenville.* At one time it was an important land- mark, constituting the south-west corner of the Evans patent and the south-east line of the Minnisink. Half a century or more later a new line was established for the Evans patent further east, the Minnisink angle formed, and the pond excluded from the boundary. In the deed to Governor Dongan it is described as "a water pond called Mare- tange"; in the patent to Evans it is called Merchary; on Sauthier's map, Maretang, — from the German " merche," "mericha," an aquatic plant of the genus hippuris vulgarHs, having silicious jointed stems. The present name is German; its correct orthography is Bmnemvasfter (one word), signifying "inland water." The original title should be restored to the maps of the county for its historic associations, or at least coupled with its more modern name.
Round pond, in Wawayanda, is emphatically round. It lies in the south part of the town near Gardnerville, and is about one mile in circumference. It is clear and I'resh, very deep, indeed reputedly bottomless, and has no visible outlet or inlet.
Big ]Mnd, in Deerpark, is about one mile long and half a mile wide. Its outlet, known as Shingle kill, passes south and enters the Dela- ware at Honesville. Little pond, in the same town, lies south-east from Big pond, and is about one quarter of a mile in diameter. Its outlet passes south and forms Old-dam brook, a tributary of the Neversink.
* This line is the old east and west line of the original counties of Orange and Ulster. New Windsor and Cornwall are also divided by this line.
62 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
Wai^hinglon lake, in New Windsor, covers seventy-six acres, or, in- cluding overflowed swamp, one hundred and seven acres. Its outlet, for some distance, is subterraneous, disappearing at the Swallow-hole and emerging at the Trout-hole — a fall of forty feet. The Newburgh Water-works take its waters. For years it was known as Little pond, and is still so caMed by many.
Orange lake, in Newburgh, covers some four hundred acres of land, and is quite deep in places. At different times it lias been known as Binneuwasser (by the Germans), Moose's pond, Machin's pond (from Captain Thomas Machin), and Big pond, the latter giving place to its present title. The Algonquin name was QusHuk — now rendered Quassaick and applied to its outlet. It is fed by two small streams in addition to strong springs in its bed. 'YUv mill owners on its outlet use it as a reservoir, and during the most severe droughts the supply has never been exhausted.
Tiie whole county is remarkably rich in the lacustrine and marsh alluvions; indeed, they are more abundant than in any other county in the state, there being probably forty thousand acres.* The prin- cipal districts are the Drowned lands, the Gray-court meadows. Big- swamp in Newburgh, Great swamp in New Windsor, Long swamp in Warwick, Tamarack and Purgatory swamps in Hamptonburgh, Cedar swamp in Goshen and Warwick, Pakadasink swamp in Greenville, Grassy swamp in Deerpark, Pine swamp in Crawford, Barton's swamp in Cornwall, and the Black meadows in Chester and Warwick.
The Droxoned lands extend from the Chechunk outlet in Goshen, through Warwick, Wawayanda, and Minnisink, into New Jersej^ and cover in the towns named about seventeen thousand aci*es. They are full of islands of great fertility; some of them of considerable area. Their names are Pine, Great, Pellet's, Gardner's, Merritt's, Cranberry, Black-walnut, Fox, and Seward. An arm of the lands, known as Cedar sivamp, extends east to near Orange farm in Goshen. Quaker creek passes through this arm on the north, and mounts Adam and Eve adjoin it on the south. The reclamation of the lands has been gradual and is mainly effected by an outlet, constructed many years ago, by which a rocky ridge in the bed of the Wallkill was avoided. This outlet has worn its way through the soil until from a simple ditch it has come to contain the principal flow from the lands. Pocluick creek, Rutger's creek, Quaker creek, and the Wallkill, pass through the lands, the latter for their entire distance in this county. The Abo- riginal name of the district may well have been Pochuck — " a large area of land and water." It is presumed, however, that the Indians had no general name, but gave specific titles to different portions of
* Beach's "Cornwall," 175.
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC.
63
GRAY-COURT MEADOWS.
the tract, of which Pochuck and Woerawin only have been preserved. The latter appears in a deed to Dr. Samuel Staats, in 1703, for a tract not located but described as having been found on examination to be "altogether a swamp." The inference from the term itself, however, is that "many good lands" were intended to be conveyed — probably the islands already named, which then appeared to be worthless. The Gray-court meadoivi^ extend from near Craigville, in Blooming- Grove, into the northern part of Chester, and em- brace about five hundred acres. They are now main- ly under cultivation and very fertile. Their name is that originally given by Daniel Cromeline to his tract in the first division of the VVawayanda pat- ent,* of which they are a part. Cromeline creek passes through and drains these meadows.
The Black vieadoios extend through Chester on the north-west and into Warwick east of Thompson's pond. They embrace an area of one thousand acres, through which runs the Black-meadow creek.
The Lovg svnmp, in Warwick, south-west from Edenville, covers about one thousand acres, and is drained from the south into New Jersey.
The Tamarack and Purgatory swamps, in Hamptonburgh, are of considerable extent, and are drained by a small sluggish stream. The latter is represented as having been originally a dismal swamp, from which fact Mr. Peter Bull, its owner, gave the name, bestowing at the same time upon his own residence that of Paradise.j*
The GraHi^y swamp, in Deerpark, extends from Sullivan county to the Mongaup. It is a low, wet swamp, overgrown with long, coarse grass. Grassy-swamp brook passes through it.
The Big swamp, in Newburgh, takes its name from Big pond (Or- ange lake), which it adjt)ins. It stretches from the Ulster county line lo the lake, and was probably originally an extension of the lake to the north as well as south of its present borders, which, if all under water, would add three times to its present length. Bushfield creek passes through the swamp to the lake.
* Three of the original divisions of the patent retain the names bestowed by their pro- prietors, viz: Goshen, Warwiclt, and Gray-court. It is perhaps needless to say that the story of an inn, a sign, and a court, is pure fiction.
t Eager's Orange County, 511.
64 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
The Great >fioamp, in New Windsor, lies in the north-west part of tlie town, near Coldenham. The Araekhook or Tinn Broek i)asses throu,i;'h it.
Tile Fi)ie swamp, in Crawford, lies east of Hopewell. Two other swamps are found in the town, one north-west from the Sinsabaug-h neia,'hborhooil, and oiu' south-east from Searsbnrgh. The hitter is drained by a small stream Howing- north to the Dwaas kill.
The Fak-adasink' swamp, in Greenville (on the lands of Isaac M. Seybolt and others), is the head of the Big- Pakadasink or Shawan- o-unk kill, as that stream was formerly known and described. The Little Binnenwater swamp, also in Greenville, lies directly south from the village i)f Mount Hope. A small stream flows from it south- westerly and connects with the outlet of Binnenwater pond, the latter uniting with Rutger's creek.
The Barton sicavip, in Cornwall, is inconsiderable in size, compared with the others named. Peat of a fair quality is taken from it.
Marl and peat beds are found in several localities, from which por- tions and in some cases entire skeletons of the Mastodon have been exhumed. The lirst exhumation of record was in 1794, the second in 1800, the third in 1803, the fourth in 1805, the tifth in 1838, the sixth in 1844, the seventh iij 1845, the eighth in the same year, the ninth in 1872. The skeleton of 1845, exhumed from a marl bed near Colden- ham, was complete and weighed 1995 pounds. It is now in the Boston mnseiun. * The one exhumed in 1872, in the town of Mount Hope, was also complete. Its weight was about 1700 jiounds. It is now in tlii' New Haven museum.
The boundary streams of the county are the Hudson on the north- east, the Delaware and Mongaup on the west, atid the Shawangunk on the north-west. Of the tirst, the Hudson, it is not necessary to speak. Its aboriginal name, Mahicanituk, was tiiat of a particular division rather than of the entire streaiu. The principal harbor on it, within what may be called the waters of Orange county, is at Ncav- burgh where it expands into a bay one mile and a quarter in width sheltered by the Highlands from " all winds save an east-north-east wind," as Hudson wrote in 1609. For the convenience of com- merce, principal landing places or wharves have been established at Newburgh, Cornwall, and West Point, and for more local trade at Hampton, New Windsor, Cozzens', Fort Montgomery, etc. The water- front of the city of Newburgh is without a rival on the river, the chann(d being abrupt and the depth anq:)le to tloat tiie largest vessels.
The Delaware, on the west, touches the county for only a short dis- tance. Like the Hudson, it had no general aborig-inal name — Lenape-
* Eager's Orange County, 71.
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC. 65
wihifuk being' applied U) it at Philadelphia, while above and below Port Jervis it was known and called by the Indians Minnmng — lite- rally " a ri%'er of islands." * Beyond rafting it has no commerce at this point, and is crossed by rail-road and foot bridg-es.
The Mongaup river, the dividing line between Orang-e and Sullivan, is properly in Sullivan county, the line of Orarlge running' "to" and "along" its course. Mr. Qninlan, in his "History of Sullivan Coun- ty," says it was originally known as the Min-gap-ach-ka. Mongawp- ing or Mingwing, is better authenticated — implying a plurality of streams, comprehending the three branches of vvhicli it is composed. Its present name, as already stated, is presumed to be Dutch. It appears in the early records, Mongaap. f
The Shawangimk kill, on the north-west, has its head in Pakadasink swamp in the town of Greenville, passes through the town of Mount Hope, and upon the line between Ulster and Orange, running a north- east course to the Wallkill, in Ulster county. Its present name has already been explained. Like other streams — and, it may be said, all streams, mountains, etc., — it had no general name, but was specifi- cally divided, Achsinink being recorded in one locality, and Pakada- sink in another. In the deed to Governor Dongan it is described as "the river called Peakadasink," and in the act of 1762, dividing Wall- kill precinct, | the line is described as extending "to the Pakadasink river or Sliawangunk kill." In another paper of nearly the same date it is said, as well understood evidence: "Nothing could more plainly point out where that pond lies (Maretange,) than the river Pakadasink, which takes its rise opposite to the said pond and ex- tends along the foot of the said hills from a place called Pokanasink, and from that place to the head of the said river, and no where else the said river is called by that name." How the river lost a name so well established is explained by the papers relating to the bounds of the Minnisink patent. Having succeeded in spreading their line, the proprietors of that patent found it necessary to obliterate its old land-marks. A general change of names ensued; Maretange pond was located on Sam's Point; the Big and Little Pakadasink kills (the latter now called the Little Shatvangunk kill,) were shifted to the same vicinity, and to make the whole apparently and entirely consistent two small streams in Crawford received the names respectively of Big and Little Pakadasink, that it might not be missed in its ancient neighborhood. The original name contains equivalents signifying
* Minnis and Minsis are two entirely different words — the first signifying island, the second wolf. Some writers confuse the terms and give the latter as the derivative of Minnisink. The explanatory tradition that either name originated from the breaking through of the waters at the Delaware Water-Gap, is not well founded.
t Ante p. 41. % Ante p. 39.
66 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
"swamps," and beings generic may be applied wherever the corres- ponding- topography exists.*
The principal streams passing through or entirely included in the county are tlu^ Neversink, the Wallkill, the Otterkill or Murderer's cre(>k, and the Ramapo. Tiie Neversink receives its head waters from ni)rth-western Ulster and northern Sullivan. It runs sontli and south- east into the town of Deerpark to near Cuddebackville, and thence turns south and south-west until it joins the Delaware near Carpen- ter's point, where it is al)out two hundred feet wide. It is a never- failing stream. Its name has been explained in another connection. Its principal tributaries are Bashaws kill and Old-dam brook (Ouwe-dam kil). The former rises in Sullivan county, and is about seventy feet wide. Its name is said to be irom an Indian s(iuaw-sachem called Basha Bashiba, who liv(>d on its banks near Westbrookville.f OUl- dam brook is the outlet ol' Little pond. Its name is from an old datn erected upon it by Indians or beavers, which caused its waters to overflow a large tract of land. About half a mile above its junction with the Neversink, it falls over six hnndred feet in the course of a mile, and is called Fall brook.
The Wallkill rises in Wantage, Sussex county, New Jersey, flows through the drowned lands into Orange where it forms the dividing line between Warwick and Minnisink, Goshen and Wawayanda, Hamptonburgh ami Wallkill, passes through the town of Montgom- ery into Ulster county, and thence to the Hudson river at Rondout. Its course is north-east; the plane of elevation upon which it runs being from Sussex county in New Jersey, descending gradually to near Esopus in Ulster. It is a durable stream, and furnishes exten- sive hydraulic power throughout its course. Its current is not rapid, except at Walden, where it passes over a fall of about forty feet. | Its aboriginal name is not known, but the presumption is in favor of Warranawonkong. Its present name is unquestionably from the Huguenots or Walloons who settled New Faltz, it being repeatedly entered in the records as "the Walls or Faltz river." § Its principal
* It will be observed by those familiar with the district that the topography in this case corresponds almost precisely. It is not assumed that the name is in itself iiiiproperly ap- plied to its present locations; it is strictly correct.
t Quinlan's History of Sullivan County, 423. In the Swartwout patent it is called the Assawaghkemeck, from " wassa," light or foaming, and " eck," rocks — hterally the " light waters," reference being made to the fall. " Basha's kil "" is Dutch.
J The fall at Walden was called Hasdisch by the Indians— a term in which " dangerous " is expressed.
§ The explanation of the origin of the name by Eev. James R. Wilson, D. D. (Eager's Orange County, 276), is fully sustained by the records discovered since he wrote.
It may be added, that although now written Wallkill, the name is strictly two words, watte and kU. In this work the local orthography has been followed in Wallkill. Otterkill, etc., as being too firmly established to suffer correction. The word " creek," applied to a stream of water, is quite as incorrect as " kill;" yet Webster admits its use to be estab- lished "in some American States.''
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC. 67
are the Lonji^-house -Wavvayanda -Warwick - Pochuck creek, (Quaker creek, Rut,n-ers' creek, Tiiiii Brock, McCorlin's kill, Muddy kill, and Dwaars kill. Loiuj-liouse creel' rises in New Jersey and runs north until it receives the outlet of Wickhain's pond; from thence it forms the Wawayanda or Worivick creek, and flows south-west through the villag'e of Warwick into New Jersey, where it becoines Fochuck creek, returns to the county and unites its waters with th<^ Wallkill in the; drowned lands. The names which it bears are explained in other connections with tlu; exception of " Ijoiii^-house," the Euro{)ean title for the peculiar dwellinf^s which the Indians occupied, one of which stood u|)on its !)auks.* Quaker creek has its [)rincipal head in Thomp- son's [Ktnd. It Hows west; lorms the boundary line best ween Goshen and Warwick; i-eeeives several small tributary streams, and unites with the VV^allkill in the (Irowned lauds. Eulgers^ creek has its ex- treme western head in the town of (Jreenville; Hows thence south- easterly to Watciloo Mills, in Minnisiid<; tlienc(Miorth-east to Rutgers' Pl.'ice, where it unites with its northern head. Tiie latter rises in Wallkill; flows thence south to Millshnrgh, receiving in its course the outlet of Binnenwater pond and Binnenwater swani|), and Boudiiiot's and Tunkamoes ("small stream") creeks, in Wawayanda and Minnis- ink. From Millsbnrgh it is the boundary line between Wawayanda and Minnisiidv. It enteis the Wallkill at Merritt's island, lis name is from Anthony Rutgers, f one of the proprietors of tlx' Wawayanda. patent, from whom also llutgers' Place (the residence oi' the hite Dr. M. II. dash,) lakes its name. Pxmdinot's creek, | its largest ailluent, flows tlirough (jreenville to tlie sontii-east corner of Mount IIoi)e; thence south-east to its junction in Wawayanda. j1foiih(u/eii creek Hows sunlii-eiisl through Middlelown ;ind enters the VV^illkill norlii- east from New Ibimplon. It is now the source fmni whicli Middle- town is supplied with w;iter. Mc(!or/ui\^ kifi, or Mc Near i< kill ,^ rises in (Crawford, Hows south, passes tlii-ough Meelianictown and enters the Wallkill one mile and a inilf above Stony-ford binlge. JJwaavH
* ThoHo dwellings were forniod by Ioiik, slendc^r hickory sa|)lingH set in tlut frroiind in a •striiight Line of two rows, as far asunder an they intended tlie width to he, and eoiitin- ned as fai- as they intended the len^^th to he. The ])oles were then bent forward in the form of an arch and secured to<,'ether, giving the appearance of a garden arhor. Sijlit poles were then lashed to th<^ sides and roof, and over thes(! bark was jilaced. Karely ex- ceeding twenty feet in width, these dwellings were sometimes six hundred and fifty feet long, and were occupied by an inditiiiite number of families.
t Tliere is not tln^ slightest foundation lor the statement (Eager 418) that Rutgers "is an English <;orru])ti()n of llutkys, the Indian name." 'J'he latter is a corruption of the former, and a very bald one. llutgers was nu^mber t)f the Assembly 172G-"27.
X Mr. Eager enters the name " ISandegot." It now appears on tlu^ maps " Indigot." The correct orthography is Boudinot, from P'Jias Boudinot, a proprietor of the Wawayanda pat- ent. Boudinot would not have deemed it possible his name could ho so transi)os(!d.
§ Mr. Eager (346) gives the name "Mccormick's kill," and (354) "McCorhn's kill." The latter has been entered on the maps of the county. We are informed that the stream was known, years ago, as " McNeal's kill," from John McNeal who had a grist mill on it as early probably as 1760. McCorhn is a mythical person.
05
gg GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
Ml has its rise in the town of Wallkill, flows north-east through Crawford, and enters the Wallkill in Ulster county. Its name is Dutch (originally Dwaars stroom), and means "a stream that runs across " or unites " with another." * The Tinn Brock was called by the Indians Arackhook, or Akhgook, the Algonquin term for snake, the reference no doubt being to its extremely sinuous course, which re- sembles the contortions of a snake when thrown upon a fire. Its present name is from the Saxon words Thynne, " thin or small," and Broc, "running water less than a river" — a small brook. It rises in New Windsor, south of Coldenham, runs north and west and enters the Wallkill half a mile below Walden. Muddy kill (Dutch, Modder kil — literally, Muddy kill,) flows from the eastern slope of the Com- fort hills and runs south to the Wallkill above Montgomery. The mischievous chorographer now writes its name " Mother kill."
The Otterkill rises in the north part of Chester, and passes through the East Division of Goshen into Hamptonburgh, where it was called Denn creek, f from Christopher Denn, one of the proprietors of the Wa- wayanda patent. At La Grange it flows upon nearly the same level with the Wallkill, the two streams being within a mile of each other at this point. Through Hamptonl)urgh it runs around the base of the hills in the form of a half circle; thence into Blooming-Grove, and in a serpentine course through Washingtonville to Salisbury Mills, where, meeting the mountain ledges, it passes over a fall into a deep chasm which it follows through rocks and crags and continues to the Hudson. Its name is presumed to have been bestowed from the otters which were found in it at the early settlement of the county. Its largest tributaries are: Cromeline creek. Goldsmith creek, Colemantown creek, Beaver-dam creek, Schunemunk creek, Woodbury creek, and Canter- bury brook. Cromtiine creek receives its principal head waters from Little Long pond No. 2, in Monroe; flows thence through Chester and the western part of Blooming-Grove to its junction with the Otterkill in the north-west part of the latter town. Schunemunk creek rises in the south-east part of Blooming-Grove; flows north-west and north- east around the hills, and joins the Otterkill above Washingtonville. On sonu^ maps it is called Satterly's creek. Woodbury creek has its principal h(>a(l in Hazzard's pond, in Monroe. It receives the outlet of Sutherland's pond; flows north-east through Woodbury clove, and enters the Otterkill at Orr's Mills, in Cornwall. Canterbury brook
* " The Dwaars stroom unites with or flows across the Wallkill ; hence the name indi- cates that fact or circumstance, and becomes the characteristic of the river."— Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan. The tradition given by Eager (334), that the name is from an Indian chief, has no other foundation than the possibility that there was an Indian nicknamed Dwass.
tThc following from the Mapes' deed (1727) estabhshed the earlv use of both titles: "Lymg on the west side of the Otterkill, known as the Dennekill." ' The latter may well be preserved as a memorial of the first settler on the Wawayanda patent.
PONDS, STREAMS, ETC. 69
rises in the Cornwall Highlands; flows north-east through the village of Canterbury, and enters the Otterkill (under the name of Idlewild brook,) near the Hudson. Goldsmith creek rises in Little Britain and runs south to the Otterkill above Washingtonville; Col em an town creek also flows south and enters above the same place. Beaver-dam creek rises in Montgomery, and passes south througli low meadows from near Goodwill church to its junction at Campbell Hall. Its head water is a spring of several yards in diameter and of unknown depth; its name is from an old beaver dam* near Campbell Hall. From its junction with Cromeline creek east to the Hudson, the Otter- kill looses its name and is called Murderer^s creek and the Moodna, the latter a Willisian designation. To the early Dutch traders it was known as the " Waoraneck;" subsequently, as the " Martelaer's rack creek;" after 1656, as "the Murderer's creek." It is assumed by some writers that the latter was derived from its immediately preceding title, signifying a baffling, struggling reach or course in the navi- gation of the Hudson, bounded on the north by this creek and on the south by Martelaer's rock, opposite West Point; by others, that it was bestowed as a memorial of some act of hostility by the Waoranecks during the early Indian wars; but superior, in local estimation, to philology fir probal)ility, is the explanation given by Paulding in his* beautiful tradition of Naoman, his faitlifulness and his fate, pointing unwaveringly to Maringonian as the author of a horrid massacre. f
Qii ai<,Ha irk creek \H composed of the outlet of Orange lake and of the Fostertown and Tent Stone Meadow creeks. It Hows south- easterly through the western part of the town of Newburgh and forms the boundary line between the city of Newburgh and the town of New Windsor. Its name (Quassaick) signifies stony brook. Its water power is very durable and is largely employed. Fodertoion creek rises in Ulster county, and flows southerly through the central part of the town of Newburgh. It is called Fostertown creek until it reaches Gidneytown, when it takes the latter name. Tent Stone Meadow creek rises in a large swamp in Ulster county, known many ■years ago as the Tent Stone Meadow. It flows southerly and empties into the Quassaick at the Powder Mills. Bfishfield creek, one of the feeders of Orange lake, and necessarily of Quassaick creek, rises in
* From the remains of the flams which they constructed, the streams of the county apparently abounded in beavers at the time of the discovery, though now extinct.
t " In ancient Dutch days it was Ivnown as The Martelaer's Back, or Martyr's Reach. The Dutch navigators divided the river into reaches, to which they gave descriptive names. They found here (West Point) a rocky point nearly at right angles with the current, and, when sailing with a fair west wind, encountered, on passing it, the wind " dead ahead,'' compelling them to beat or struggle with it. Hence the name Martelaer, signifying contending or struggling. The tradition which converts the name into a memo- rial of deeds of violence, on the part of the Indians, is entirely worthless." — J. J. MoneWs Hand-book.
70 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
a swamp in Ulster county, known as the Stone Dam Meadow. Its orig^iiial name was Beaver-dam creek.
The Ramapo river has its head in Round-island pond in Monroe, and flows thence southerly through Ramapo valley into Rockland county. Tt receives the outlets of thirteen of th(> mountain ponds already named: Round-island, Sunnnit, Slaughter's, Cranberry No. 2, Green- wood, Round, liittle long, Cedar, Green, Car, Spruce, Truxedo, and Nigger. It enters the Passaic river near romi)ton })]uins, N. J. There is no stream in the world like it.
Poplopen\'< creek is composed of tlie outlets of Poplopen's, Round No. 1, Long, Hull, Cranberry No. 1, and Two pontls. Its course is south-east to tlie Hudson. QHeeyishorougli hronk and Sicl'hosfcn'x hill (now i-allcd Stony brook) are its tributaries.
The tril)Mtari(>s of the Hudson, aside from those already named, are small streams principally in Newl)urgh. The NemrHiiik and the Shingle kill tlow into the Delaware in Dt'erpark — the former at Car- penter's point,* and the latter at Honesville. Grassy-swamp brook, in the same town, unites with the Mongaup; the latter unites with the Delawart! about six miles northerly from Carpenter's point. The LiUle Shawangank kill, and the liig and LiUle Pakadasink are tributa- •ries of the Shawangunk. One branch of the former rises half a mile easterly from the village of A[ount Ho])e, and is met, about a mile east from that village, by a branch from the town of Wallkill; tlows thence through tlie town north-easterly until it strikes the line of the town of Wallkill; thence north-west to its junction with the Shawanguidv in the latter town. \i was originally known as the "Little Pakada- sink," as has been already stated. The present Big Pakadasink and Little Pakadasink are in the town of Crawford, and flow north to the Shawangunk. Li the Crawford dialect they are called the Big and the Little " Paugh-caugh-naugh-sing," the most prolix orthograjthy of the original name on nn-ord.
The islands of th(> Hudson lying opposite the lines of the county are: Poleher's, now called I'lillopel's; Afartelaer's rock, now Constitu- tion, and 3raiiah.(iiraghkiii, now called lona. Though not under the jurisdiction of the comily, llieir position in its waterscaiie entitles them to rticognition in its topogiiiphy.
ei.lMATK.
Newbnrgh is in 41 (leg. 80 niin. iiortii latitude, and is elevated 150 leel aliove tide-water. I'^'oni oliservatioiis made for thirteen succes- sive years, the mean temperature has been found to l)e 50 deg. 10
* A point of land mado by the junction of the Neversinlc and tlio Delaware rivers, just south of PortJiTvis. The Tri-States Koc-k, marking the boundarv between New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, is on this point.
CLIMA TE- GEOL 0 G Y. 71
mill, rjoslicii, situated in liitiliulc 41 dcg'. 20 iiiiii., uiid elevated 425 feet above tide-water, oliserviitioiis made lur ei,t;"lit years show a mean tem|)eratnre of 49 <lejj,'. 1(5 iiiin. Dillerence l)etvve<'n Ne\vl)iir<:,li iind (loslien, *.)4 minutes. At Newl)nru;'li the period between IVosts, thoiin'ii Viiriidde, has been known to be troin the 5th of May to the 2IMh of September — 140 (lays. At (Josheii frosts h;i\'e been noticed as late as the 1st of Jiifie, and ;is early as the 20tii of September-Ill days. Diiference between periods of frost, 85 days. At Newbiirg'h the sinulbnsh liloomed April 24tii, the |)eac]i vVpril 23<1, the |)liim May 1st, tile cherry April 27th, the iijiple May Gtli; stravvdierries ripened June loth; liayiii<j,' coiiiiiienced .Inly 4tli; wheat harvest commenced -Inly 17th; tlie first killing- frost Septemlier 29tli, At (josheii the shadbush bloomed April 27th, the peach April 28th, the plum May 4th, the cherry April 29tli, and the ;ip|>le May 9tli; haying commenced .July 8th; the wheat harvest July 21st; the tirst killing frost September 20th. The observations made at Newburg-li show the temperature of the eastern part of the county; while those made at Goshen may be ap|)lied to the central. On the eastern slope of the Shawang-unk range, re})re- senting- the western part of the county, the teinperatui'C! is from two to four degrees less than at Ncwburgh; at the top of the range full five degrees less.
The temperature of the eastern and southern portions of the county is affected in some degree by the shelter afforded in the mountain riinges; the former also by the tides of the Hudson. The Highlands, for many years exempt from taxation by reason of their unfitness for cultivation, are an incalculable advantage to Ncwburgh, New Wind- sor and Cornwall; they effectually break the force of all winds save from the east-north-east. Thousands of invalids rnaj"^ be found in those towns, as permanent residents or as boarders, brought thither by this peculiarity in situation. The poet N. P. Willis, from his experience of twenty years as a consumptive, found no language too strong in which to commend the hygienic virtues of the Highlands. The entire mountain system of the county has more or less effect on its climate. In the economy of nature, currents of air gather around the ranges; are forced upward to a lower temperature, and precipitation ensues, while the atmospheric condensation produces a local heat beyond the natural temperature. For this reason most of the chwes are more temperate than their elevation and latitude would otherwise warrant; those opening toward the south especially so.
GKOLOGY, ETC
*
Probably no county in the state presents more interesting geological features than Orange. The rocks of the Highlands are granite, gneiss ■* Horton's and Mather's Surveys consulted.
72 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
and sienite, with veins i»f trap. Tlic central portions of the county are occupied with strata of Ilauiilton shales, Helderberg limestones and g-rit, Medina sandstone, and the gray sandstones, all extending- from tlie north-east to the south-west, from the east foot of the Sha- wangunk mountains. The rocks which compose the Shawangunk mountains are the shales and the sandstones of the Chemung g-roup. The red shales and grits of the Catskill g-roup are seen at the falls of the Shingle kill in Deerpark. The Erie division are found from the Delaware river, along the west side of Mamakating hollow. Some of the rocks of this division, near Port Jervis, are upturned at a high angle; others, toward Cuddebackville and Ellenville, are more indu- rated and seem almost trappean. The geological series descend south-west to the primary rocks of the Pochuck mountains. The Helderberg division extends through the county, on the Mamakating valley, by CuddebackvilU' to Carpenter's point on the Delaware. — The limestones of this division are all uitturned, often at a xevy high angle, in the town oi' Deerpark, where they form a range of low mountains, rising from the level of the Neversink to half the eleva- tion of the Shawangunk. A limestone, containing fossils of this division, is also found in the town of Cornwall, between the village of Canterbury and Salisbury Mills. Its position is between the slate and grit rock; its dip is to the south-east.
The Shawangunk grit of the Ontario division extends on the top of the Shawangunk mountains from New Jersey to near Kingston. The thickness of these grits vary from sixty to one hundred and fifty feet. They have been used as millstones, known as " Esopus millstones." * A pyritous grit, in the form of boulders, is scattered over the county. Rocks similar in character to the Shawangunk grit, and the interstra- tified and overlaying red rocks, extend from the Jersey line on the west side of Greenwood lake north-east to Canterbury in Cornwall. They are also found at Pine hill. This hill is primitive, and here the grit rock inclines against it and rests upon it. The grit rock is reg'ularly stratified, and dips to the south-east; is of all colors from white to red. It extends from Round hill four miles, to Woodcock moun- tain. It is also found in the south-east base of Schunemunk, inter- stratified with graywacke and slate; also at Pine hill. Here the rock is red, and can be cpiarried in blocks suitable for building. The Bell- vale mountains, in Warwick, on the south-east side, are composed of graywacke; also the Schunemunk in Blooming-Grove, the Goose pond mountain and the Sugar-loaf. Quarries of blue and red stone abound in Schunemunk and Pine hill.
* Tlicso millstones were the first that were quarried in the province, and were regarded as superior to those imported from EiU'ope.
OEOLOGY-^ROCKS. 73
In the Cliarnplaiii division is the " Hndson river series — slate group" — whicli consists of slates, shales, grits, limestones, breccias, and conglomerates — sometimes designated as graywacke slate, gray- wacke shale, graywacke, and slaty graywacke. They contain facets and testacea, of which a few are seen at the falls (jf the Walikill near Walden, at Orange lake, and at Sugar-loaf. The Hnds(Mi river group of rocks occupy a large extent of the surface of the county. Its general direction is north-east and south-west. Its dip is uniform to the south-east, in some places 30 degrees, in others nearly vertical. It extends from the Hudson river through Warwick to the Jersey line, and on the west side of the Walikill, from New Jersey to Ulster county; and in all this range there is no rock resting upon it. It forms the bank (»f the Hudscjii river from Cornwall Landing to four miles above Newburgli, and it is always seen stratified with gray- wacke and graywacke slate. In this form it is found at Walden, below Montgomery, in Mount Hope, at Newburgli and toward Hamp- ton. In the town of Warwick, near the Jersey line, it forms a cunei- form termination, the limestone surrounding it on both sides. From this the argillite widens into an elevated ridge of rich land, called Long Ridge, which extends into Goshen. It forms the surface rock of most of Goshen, Blooming-Grove, parts of Cornwall, New Windsor, Newburgh, Montgomery, Hamptonburgh, Crawford, Walikill, and in Mount Hope and Minnisink, quite to the top of the Shawangunk mountains. The Utica slate is found on the banks of the Hudson above Newburgh. It is of dark color, and in some places black, and highly carbonaceous.
The Trenton limestone is found near Mount Lookout; also in the town of Hamptonburgh, where it is full of the fossil shells of the very early periods of animal life. In that neighborhood it is called the " Neelytown limestone." Black river limestone is found a few miles from Goshen, Mount Lookout being entirely composed of it. It is also found on Big island in the drowned lands, on Pochuck neck, and in Minnisink west of the drowned lands. A blue limestone, sometimes sparry and checkered, commences on the bank of the Hudson at Hampton; it is about one mile in width north-west and south-east, and passes south-westerly through Newburgh into New Windsor, disappearing in the vicinity of Washington lake. The elevated point of this rock at Hampton is in the vicinity of the Dans Kammer. It is also found east of Salisbury Mills in Cornwall, and is visible through Blooming-Grove and Warwick to the state line; also in the north part of Monroe north of Greenwood furnace, and extends south-west to near Greenwood lake; also in Cornwall near Ketcham's mill, and in Goshen two and a half miles from the village, extending from the
74 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
Wallkill south-west to Glennunc. The western edge of this bed uii- derhiys the diowned hinds, and passes ak)ng: the north-western margin (.t the \vliit<' limestone of Warwick; liere it divides into two branches on each side of the primitive rock, and passes into New Jersey. This limestone also interlocks with the argillite ridg-es, as at near Goshen. Limestone of the oolitic character is found on Big island, near New Milford, and on Pochuck neck. The edges of that found in some oi' tile perpendicular clitfs at the latter place are exposed in layers one above the othei; some are of tiie usual ciiaracter; otiu'rs are oolitic, but the round granules are bluish white quartz; others slaty, approach- ing the calciferous state, and others are of a ribbon-like appearance.
Below the New York transition system lies the " Taconic system," (M)nsisting of slates, limestones, and granular quartz rocks. Slate rocks of this system are found four miles north of NewbTirgh, near a small hill of granitt' rock. Tlie limestone between the Highlands and (Joose pond mountain, and also about Bellvale, belong to this system. Metamori)hic rocks consist of limestoni's that are granular, dolomi- tized, and stratilied, color white, blue, and red; of slates that are talcose, argillaceous, micaceous, and hornblende; and of sandstones that are changed to granular (puirtz rocks, eurite, and gneiss. In their several deposits all the changes from the gray and blue lime- stone are traced into the perfect cr3\stallized limestone, containing the various crystallized minerals, which give them their metamorphic character. There is a white limestone of this variety ranging from mounts Adam and Eve in Warwick, to Andover in New Jersey. It is developed in a sxiccession of narrow ridges of only a few rods in width, and is separated by masses of other rocks, of granite, sienite, and granular quartz. Hornblende rock and augite are scattered all around. This white limestone is rarely stratified, and in some places runs into the blue and gray limestone, which is fossiliferous in some instances and oolitic in others. The white limestone forms the shore of the drowned lands at Amity. In some localities it is snow white, translucent, and compact, like Parian marble. Plumbago and mica are found in it, and also a great variety of minerals. North-east of the Amity church, on a small knoll, are ibund calcareous spar, rhomb spar, yellow hrucite, xanthite, talc, black and ruby spinelle, cocolite. About one mih" south-west of Amity is specular iron ore and serpen- tine; veins of scapolite are found south-west of this place, and about a mile north tiie limestone is lillod with brucite of various colors, magnetic oxide of iron, hornblende, and serpentine. At the south base of Mount Eve, in an old mine hole, tine crystals of green and l)rown hornblende are found. At another place is a vein of arsenical iron. Tiie sami' kind of limestone is found near Fort Montgomery, in
GEOL 0 G Y—MINERAM. 75
the Hij«;liliiiids (in the g'orgc through which the creek passes into the Hudson), at or near P^jrest of Dean; thence it is traced by way of Litth' Round pond toward Greenwood furnace, and across tlu^ Rarnapo. It is also seen soutli-west of (^iieensboroug-h furnace, in limited extent. These beds also contain the minerals above named.
I'lie primary rocks of the county consist of g-neiss and hornblende granite, sienite, limestone, serpentine, aug'ite, and trappean. Among- these rocks there are no continuous ridges of mountains oi" more than a few miles in length, in consequence of the interruptions caused by the dislocations and the lateral upheavals of masses of the strata. Ridge succeeds ridge, each of wliich runs out and diminishes until it disappears below the rocks of a more recent origin.
The })rimitive rocks extend from Butter hill to Fort Montgomery, thence along the line of the county to New Jersey, thence to Pochuck mountain, embracing a large part of the towns of Warwick, Monroe, Highlands, and Cornwall; part of New Windsor, Newburgh, Bloom- ing-(irrove, and the south part of Ooshen. Woodcock mountain, Round hill, Pedler hill, Goose-pond mountain, Sugar-loaf, and Sugar- loaf mate. Brimstone hill, Muchattoes hill. Mount Adam, Mount Eve, and Pochuck moimtain, are composed of this series.
Granite is found at the foot of Butter hill suitable for quarrying. Sienite at West Point, on the east side of Bear mountain, and at the base of Butter hill. Gneiss abounds in all the Highlands, and has been quarried at Butter hill, Cro'-nest, West Point, Buttermilk Falls, and between that and Fort Montgomery. Mica slate, or micaceous gneiss, is found one mile north of Fort Montgomery, and at the foot of Cro'-nest. Augite rock is found between West Point and Round pond; also in Monroe, south of Cedar pond; near Slaughter's pond, Green pond, and Mombasha pond, and near the O'Neil, Forshee, Clove, Rich and Forest of Dean mines. Greenstone trap is found near Truxedo pond. Granular greenstone is found at Cro'-nest and at Butter hill. Hornblende rock ig found in large strata, and quartz rock is in every hill and mountain of the Highlands. In the town of Monroe is a bed of the latter four rods wide rising fifteen feet above the gneiss on each side. Serpentine is found at the O'Neil and at the Fijrshee mine, and there is a large bed of it in the town of Warwick. Crystallized serpentine is also found in Warwick in the white limestone. Scapolite is found at Amity; also, blende of minute, red, brilliant prisms, with adamantine lustre. Yellow garnet is found at Edenville. A species u{ soapston(; is found at the Clove mine in Monroe; magnetic pyrites, mica, and hornblende, at the Rich iron mine. Large sheets of mica are found south-west of the Forshee rnine. In the latter mine is found beautifid red garnet, brown tremo-
76 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
line, cocolitc, and nuibcr. The O'Neil mine abounds with a great variety oi' bcuiUif'ul minerals, among which are crystallized magnetic ore of great brilliancy and beauty, magnetic pyrites, copper pyrites, carbonate of cojiper, sei'pentine, amiantlius, asbestos, brown spar, rhombic spar, angite, cocolite, feKlspar, and mica.
West of the village of Canterbury is a bed of hematite ore, cm the late Townsend farm. Two beds of arsenical iron are found in Warwick: one in a vein near Mount Adam, and the other near Edenville. The latter contains arsenical pyrites of a white silver color, in connection with arsenic, sulphur, and iron; also red oxide of iron. This vein is connected with the white limestone. An ore of titanium is also found in Warwick, associated witii augite and scapolite. An ore of cerium occurs near Fort Montgomery.
The primitive rocks of the Highlands abound in ore of the magnetic oxide oi' iron. The granite gneiss more generally contain it in layers liaving the lines and bearing of the rock. At West Point the on> is associated with hornblende. Meek's mine, Kronkite's mine. Round Pond mine, P\)rest of Dean mine. Long mine, Patterson mine, Moun- tain mine and a group of mines around it, and Crossway mine, all abound in this ore, of rich quality. A bed of titaniferous iron ore is located on the east side of Bear hill ; magnetic ore at the lower land- ing at Fort Montgomery, mixed with the sulphuret of iron; also at the place called Queensborough ore bed, within a mile or two of Queens- borough furnace. In several localities of the Shawangunk grits are found veins of lead. Beds of lead ore have been opened at Edenville, and also in the towns of Deerpark and Mount Hope.* Zinc ore has also been found, exceeding in (piality the lead. A copper mine was opened near Otisville in 1866, and worked for about a year, show- ing good ore but in small quantities.
The mines which have been opened in the beds described, and some of which have been named in other connections, are: The Sterling- mine, in Monroe, opened in 1781.t Its ore is very sound and strong, and has been much used for cannon. Part of its ore is bare, and part of it slightly ccjvered with soil and rocks. It embraces a suri'ace of about thirty acres. One and a half miles south-west of the Sterling- is the Belcher mine, supposed to be a pi-olongation of the Sterling mine. Long mine and Red mine are further south; the ores of the
* The principal lead mines that have been opened are in Mount Hope and Deerpark. They are known as the Erie, at Guyniard; the Wallkill, two and a half miles north-oast of Gnyniard; the Champion, Washington, Mammoth, Mount Hope and Central. Of these but two, the Erie and the Wallkill, have over been extensively worked. The lead of the Erie mine is argentiferous, and at times the yield of silver pays running expenses, leaving the lead a clear profit. The works are within a few rods of the Erie railroad.
t The Sterling Iron-works wore estabhshed in 1751. This mine was discovered in 1780 and opened in 1781. The works are now connected with the Erie road by a branch from Sterling Junction.
OEOL 0 G Y~ MINES.
77
latter are mag-netic and full of pyrites. East of Sterling- pond is the Mountain mine, the Crossvvay mine, and the Patterson mine. About
Mountain
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Pqiterson Miue
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a mile south of the village of Monroe is the Clove mine, the ore of whicli is magnetic, granular, and compact; a portion of it soft, in a black powder, and can be taken out with a sliovel. South-east of the Clove is the O'Neil mine, in the midst of granitic gneiss and sienite. Half a mile south-west of this is the Forshee mine, permeating the whole hill upon which it is located. About five miles south-east of Monroe is the Rich mine, the ore of which is strongly magnetic, rich, and abundant. The Smith mine is between Cro'-nest and Butter hill; its ore is a native magnet; it has not been worked of late years. The Townsend mine of hematite ore is in Cornwall, about two miles and a half west from Canterbury. Its ore is lean but makes excellent iron. It is mostly in powder or small fragments, mixed with balls of the hematite of a few pounds weight. Forest of Dean mine was open- ed as early probably as 1761. It lies west from Fort Montgomery. The Queensborough* mine lies south from Forest of Dean; it has not been worked to any extent. Greenwood mine, in Monroe, lies north of the Erie road. Its yield is consumed by Greenwood furnace.
Traditions of lead, tin, silver, and even gold mines, in the High- lands, ai'e quite prevalent, while on the Schunemunk range and in
* Queensborough mine takes its name from a tract of 1437 acres granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, Oct. 18, 1731, and to which they gave the name. The name is now fre- quently but wrongly written Queen8?J«ry/,— the suffix should be bot'ough, signifying in its application, Queen's hill.
7S GENERAL IIISTOHY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
otluM- |)l;ic('s tlic carl'oiKicrdUs slates lia\(" lu'cii |»r('tt_v tli(>i(Ui,<;lily cx- amiiifd IVoiii prcsiinicd iiulicatioiis ol' \('iiis ol' coal. 'Plic early Euro- ueaii adveiilui-ers e\ ideiitly made a very ediiiplete exaiiiiiialioii of the entire dislriel in the impe <•!' strikin<;- tlie preeions ores. Some mag-- nilii't'nl ina,<;-netie j)yriles, however, was their only ri'ward, as it has been ol" e(|naliy san^'nine Init inoic recent seareliers.
'Hie soils of the county vaiy with the <j,'(>oloj;-it-al features of the ditVerent secti(Uis. The district known as the i)rimai-y, in most o\' its hiii'her tdexations, is not susceptilde of cidtivation, owini;- to the rou>;'h and luoken state of the surface and the naked character of the rotdcs. At the base of the lli.^hlamls are out-cropiuni;- hills, and tiie surface, thouj;"h broken, is jirtiductive and in many instance's presents l>eanti- ful farms. In the district of the Hudson system of slates and lime- stones, thouii'li irre<i,'idar and bi'oken, its slaty or shaly Innls and sandstone and limestone I'ov'ks furnish a soil favorable to the j^-rowtii of >;-rain and g'rass. Above thi' llig'hlands this district divei-<;-es from the river to the south-west (|uite into the state of New dersey. No part rises into mountains, yet there are steep blulVs, but not hig-her than three hundretl feet. West of this lies the l>elt of land to the Shawani;'uidv mountains, stretching" across the county from Crawford to the Jersey line, in which the soil partakes of the grits and shales of this serii's, giving peculiar features and ([ualities to the surface.
In this connection it may be remarked, tli;it the most striking fea- ture ol' the Shawangunk range, as presented to the eye, is tlu" fact that the surface ol" its eastern or south-eastern slope bears abundant evidence that the great glacial or ice agv witnessed the i)assage from it of an enormous glacier, which ground up the rocks until the soil was produced which is now so highly cultivated, while its western or north-western slopes remain rocky and untillable, bearing* nothing but forest trees and minerals. This jteculiarity exists in the range even beyoml the limits of the county; and tlu^ glacier marks, so plain- ly visible, alVord a means of Judging of the kind o\' plow that dugout the beds and vallevs of the Wallkill and the Shawangunk kill.
Throughout the county the existiMice of large masses of boulders, till' origin of whitdi can only be referred to distant places, furnishes evidence that in many sections the soil has been the result of drift deposits. Below the c'\{\ of Newburgh, the drift bed, containing boul- ders and pi'bbles that are scratched, overlies the abraded rocks, and is in turn overlaid by clay beds, sand and gravel in regular courses. Houlders, erratic blocks, and scratched rocks, abound on the High- lands. The boulders are formed mostly of granite and gneiss; occa- sionallv one of gravwai'ke, showing unmistakablv its transportation from a great distance; their accompanying friable deposits now en-
GEOLOGY- SOILS.
79
enrich tl)e niouiitaiii cloves. Aside from tlieir contributions to the soil, many t>f the drift deposits are valuable — th(> sand, lor casting;- or inonldini>', smoothing and rubbing stones used in lithography, blotting sand, and for mortar and glass; the clays, for pottery and brick.
The soil of the plateau adjoining the Hudson, forming a semi-circle from the Highlands to the Dans Kanuner, is gravelly, sandy, clayey
• THE PLATEAU AT CORNWALL.
— a mixture foiiiiing a. warm and fertile loam. The surface rises gradually to Orange lake; thence descends to the Wallkili. The soil of tiic Wallkili valley is peculiarly rich and fertile. Much of it is alluvium, intermingle(l with clay, sand, and gravel. In the town of VV^allkill tlu- soil is more tliversitied; in some places it is clayey and of no great depth above the rock; in othei's gravelly, and again sandy and (devated. 'fhrough (Joslien and Wai'wick it |>artakes more of clay and sand loam,' with slight intervals of gravid. Approx- imating the state line, the primitive formations of Mount Adam, Mount Eve, and I'ociiuck mountain change the constituents, but <lo not de- tract from its fertility. Some of the most rich and productive soils in the couidy are found in the islands of the (Ii'owikmI lands. West of tlie Wallkili valley the soil is alfet-ted in its (Minstituents by the Shawanguid< laiige of mountains, and is generally a clayey loam, well a(la{)tA'd b) grass. In some [)arts it becomes slaty and warm; in others it is slialy and covered with fragments of" roidvs. In Deerjiark is a range of soil, lirouglit down from the adjacent hills and upper country, that is very fertile and easy of cultivation; and, though it has l>een under the plow nearly two centuries, it still ranks with the most productive lands of tlie stati'. TIk' valley of the Otterkill is a sandy and grav(dly loam, {)artly alluvial.
80 GENEBAL HISTORY OF OB ANGE COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR — WAR OF THE REVOLUTION WARS OF
THE REPUBLIC.
WHILE tlic pioneer settlements of tlie district now embraced in tlie county of Orange were at all times exposed to the vicissi- tudes of frontier life, two epochs in their history are especially mark- ed: the first, their participation in the Indian war of 1755; the second, their participation in the war of the Revolution. The former was auxiliary to the French in the last conflict which they maintained with the English for the supremacy of tlie North American continent; the latter, the rebellion of the colonies against the governincnt of Eng- land, resulting, through the aid of France, in their establishment as an independent nation. To what extent the Indians of the Delaware river country (the ancient Lenapes and 3Iinsis) were employed by the agents of France in the former, in its earlier stages, cannot be defi- nitely stated. Independent of French influence, however, \\\v tribes engaged in it had impelling grievances to adjust. They had sohl their lands to William Penn, who, perhaps under the expectation of arranging the boundaries himself to the satisfaction of the grantors, had drawn a deed of which advantage could be taken, and his suc- cessors, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, were not slow to improve it — literally "running" the boundaries of the famous " walking pur- chase." The Miuiiin had special compliiint against the traders in the Minnisink country, who had made them drunk and defrauded them of the purchase money of their lands; who invariably, by the same pro- cess, defrauded tiiem of the price of the peltries which they lirought in. The Delawares complained; the proprietaries summoned them to a council, with chiefs of the Six Nations as arliitrators; feasted the latter and loaded them with presents. The result niay be anticipated: the Delawares, then tributary to the Six Nations, and the special wards of the Sfnecas, were obliged to relintjuish their lands and re- move to Wyoming. Not satisfied with what they had wrongfully obtained, the proprietaries followed up their advantage with the Six Nations, and, with the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut, bought the lands at Wyoming. The transaction so incensed the Senecas, who had been but partially represented in the matter, that they drove from
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 81
their ranks their best chief for his participation in it, and removed the " petticoat" from the Delawares and bade them defend their homes. The latter were ready for the work. Liberated from the thraldom to which they had been subjected for nearly a century, and with all its grievances to redress, the chiefs of the east met those of the west in council at Alleghany; rehearsed their wrongs, and declared that wherever the white man had settled within the territory which they claimed, or of which they had been defrauded, there they would strike him as best they could with such weapons as they could command; and that the blow might be effectually dealt, each warrior-chief was charged to kill and scalp and buru within the precincts of his birth- right, and all simultaneously, from the frontiers down to the Jieart of the settlements, until the English should sue for peace and promise redress.
In October following, with their allies, painted black for war, in bands with murderous intent, they moved eastward, and the line of the Blue mountains, from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, became the scene of the carnival which they held with torch and tomahawk during many coming months. The MinsiH performed their part, and on the frontiers of Orange and Ulster counties, and New Jersey, V)ut principally within the limits of the Minnisink patent, were repeated the fearful ravages of the more remote districts f)f Pennsylvania. The settlements were small, at considerable distance from each other, and much exposed tf) the surprises of the Indians, whose incursions were frequent. The people, especially in the contested district, were kept in almost perpetual alarm, and under such "continued military dutj' as to be rendered incapable of taking care of their private affairs for the support of their families." An extent of country, on the west side of the Wallkill, of fifteen miles in length and seven or eight in breadth, which was " well and thickly settled, was abandoned l)y the inhabitants, who, for their safety, removed their families to the east side of the river, and became a charge on the charity of their neighbors," while others " removed to distant parts, and some out of the province." *
" Fatigues (tf body, in continually guarding and ranging the woods, and anxiety of mind which the inhabitants could not avoid, by their being exposed to a cruel and savage enemy, increased by the perpet- ual lamentations of the women and children," were not the only evils which the inhabitants suffered. Three men were killed at Cochecton; five men at Philip Swartwout's; Benjamin Sutton and one Rude, two of the Goshen militia, were killed at Minnisink; Moi'gan Owen was
* N. Y. MSS. Ixxxii, 107, etc.
82 GENERAL HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
killed and scalped about four miles from Goslieu; a woman, taken prisoner at Minnisink, was killed and her body cut in halves and left by the highway; Silas Hulet's house was robbed and he himself nar- rowly esca|)ed. "From about the drowned lands for fifteen miles down the Wallkill, where tifty families dwelt, all save four abandoned their fields and crops." *
Pending negotiations for peace, hostilities were suspended during the year 1156, but in August of the succeeding year, s:iys Niles, "one James Tidd was scalped in the Minnisinks. ' AI)out this tim(! also, one James Watson, with James Mullen, went out on some business, and were fired