USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > Hardyston > Hardyston memorial : a history of the township and the North Presbyterian Church, Hardyston, Sussex County, New Jersey > Part 6
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MARY, the daughter of Robert Ogden 3d, and wife of Elias Haines, was born July 3d, 1778, at Turkey, now New Providence, in Union County, N. J. After the battle of Loug Island and the occupation of New York by the British, the horrors of war became so alarming that all of the residents of Elizabethtown who could do so removed their families to a safe place. IIer father first went to Morristown and later to Turkey. The war of the Revolution came to an end April 19th, 1783, and Mr. Ogden returned to Elizabethtown, but came to Hardyston to live, in 1786. The youth of his daughter Mary was spent at Ogdensburg. After her marriage, she made long visits to her father's house with her children, often accompanying her husband on his business trips. After her husband's death, she came to Hamburg to reside with her son, who lived in the old
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EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
Lawrence mansion. She united with the North Church of Hardyston, January 21st. 1827, and continued her membership in it until her death, which occurred in New York city, May 5th, 1852. Of earnest piety, she was a most useful woman. By her conversation, and the gifts of books and tracts, she led many to Christ. Beloved by all who knew her, few could come within the circle of her influence, without recognizing the power of religion as exemplified in her life and character.
DANIEL HAINES Was born in New York city, January 6th, 1801, and died January 26th, 1877. His father was Elias Haines, and his mother was Mary, daughter of Robert Ogden. IIe grad- uated at Princeton, in 1820, studied law with Judge Thomas C. Ryerson, and was made Attorney, in 1823, Counsellor, in 1826, and Sergeant-at-Law, in 1827, being one of the latest to receive this distinction. He settled at Hamburg, in 1824, and soon gained a lucrative practice. He married, in 1827, Ann Maria Austin, daughter of Alanson Anstin, Esq., of Warwick, N. Y. who died December 8th, 1844. He married again, in 1865, Mary Townsend, of Newark, N. J. He had belonged to the Federalist party, but espousing the cause of General Jackson, carried for him the solid vote of his township. He entered public life as a member of the Council, (now called Senate), and in 1839 and 1840 took an active part in what was known as the Broad Seal War. He opposed the proceedings of the Governor and the majority of the Legislature, and bore the principal part of the discussion against them. In 1843, his party having a majority in the Legislature, he was chosen Governor and Chancellor for the usual term of one year, but continued in office for a number of months longer until his successor was installed. His efforts in behalf of education, and a new Con- stitution have left their impress in the State Normal School, first proposed by him ; and the present Constitution of the State, which he advocated, and as a Commissioner assisted in making. His decisions gave general satisfaction, and are recorded in Green's Chancery Reports. He declined the nomination under the new Constitution, because it would violate its spirit, as he was Governor when it was adopted, and one of its provisions
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was that thereafter no Governor should be re-elected to a successive term. In 1847 he was re-nominated and elected ; by the weight of his character re-instating his party. In 1852, he was placed npon the Bench of the Supreme Court, and served for two successive terms of seven years each. Ilis circuit included Newark and Elizabeth. Later in life he was placed by botlı parties upon judicial commissions relative to State bound- aries and the municipal affairs of Jersey City and Paterson, his great probity, judicial fairness and ability gave entire satis- faction. He was thoroughly in sympathy with the Union cause. One son, Captain Thomas R. Haines, laid down his life on his country's altar. The other son became Chaplain and served three years. A son-in-law, Major Frank HI. Tucker, also served in the army. Judge Haines was otherwise very active, both in securing victory while the war continued, and after it was over in healing the wounds it had caused.
Hle became a member of the North Hardyston Church in 1831 ; was made an Elder in 1837, and was often sent by the Rockaway Presbytery to represent it in the New School General Assembly. Ile was one of the committee for the re-union of the two branches of the church, and several times, at critical junctures, saved that project from defeat. He was con- nected with the establishment of the Asylum at Trenton ; the Home for Disabled Soldiers at Newark ; the Reform School for Juvenile Delinquents; the National Prison Reform Congress at Cincinnati, and one of the Commissioners to organize an Inter- national Congress on Discipline and Reform, which met in London. He was made Vice-President, and presided over some of its sessions in Middle Temple Hall. While abroad he received marked attention from English Judges, and other distin- guished men, of different countries.
He was the oldest Trustee of Princeton College at the time of his death, having been first appointed in 1844, resigned when made Governor in 1847, and re-chosen in 1850. One of the foremost of New Jersey Jurists wrote as follows :
" What a beautiful exemplification of the Christian gentle- man he was !
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EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
" As a Judge he was unequalled in personal influence. His reputation for purity and integrity was such that juries followed his opinion whenever they conld discern them. Had it not been that his common sense made him almost always right, his very excellence of character might have worked occasional wrong."
"The consolation of his family can be partially found in the sense of the estimate which all good people have of the lifetime and beauty of his character."
His remains were borne to their last resting place by a large concourse of friends. Impressive addresses were delivered by Rev. Dr. Stearns and Dr. Craven of Newark, giving very just tributes to the memory of the deceased. Rev. Dr. Fair- child, venerable in age and appearance, once Judge Haines pastor at Hamburg, closed the services. Governor Bedle issued an order that the National flags on the State buildings should be displayed at half-mast, and at 2 o'clock on Tuesday the day of the funeral a salute be fired at Trenton.
Dr. Iræneus Prime spoke of him in the New York Observer: " It has been our pleasure to enjoy the personal acquaintance of Gov. Haines for a long term of years, and to be often associa- ted with him in philanthropie labors. Of a remarkably quiet, gentle and devout spirit, modest and unobtrusive always, yet firm, patient and persistent in well-doing, he was upright and efficient in every public and private relation. A man of God, hating covetousness, a magistrate above reproach or suspicion, an Elder ruling well in the Presbyterian Church, he adorned every station to which he was called, and by his just, generous and kindly man- ner, won the regard and respect of all who came into contact with him. He had recently been appointed a delegate to the Presby- terian Alliance to meet in Edinburg, Scotland, next July, but he declined on account of the state of his health. He had filled the measure of his days with usefulness and honor, but we need such men more and more as their places are made vacant."
The Presbyterian Encyclopedia says of him :
" Useful and honored as Judge Haines was in political life, he was even more useful and greatly beloved as a pious man. He was a man of prayer and constant study of the Divine word. He was very conscientious in the observance of the Sabbath, and had an ardent desire for the conversion of souls. During all the years of his public life he continued to take an active part in the prayer meeting. When he was Governor, a physician of Trenton re-
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marked : 'I have seen a strange sight to-day-the Governor of this State go into the room of a man, a stranger, and kneeling at his bedside pray for his salvation.'
" Governor Haines had great influence in private conversa- tion, and thereby led many to the Saviour, some of them mem- bers of the Bar of New Jersey. On his last Sabbath afternoon he made a list of families and persons to be prayed for and visited that week. He was a Sabbath School Superintendent for nearly half a century, and generally taught a Bible class. For forty years he made the offer of a copy of the Bible, or of some stand- ard religious work, to every scholar committing to memory the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. About the year 1837 he was en- gaged in a Sunday School work near his home, where, upon a mountain, men, women and children from the charcoal burners were gathered in a log house for religious instruction. The last Sabbath of his life he superintended his Sabbath School, taught his class and attended public services twice. He proposed to con- duct a meeting in a private house on the last evening of his life, but before the hour came he was stricken with death. Thus he brought forth fruit in old age, passing away in the still, calm beauty by which his life had been adorned."
CHAPTER IV.
TIME OF THE REVOLUTION.
The name Wallkill was given to our river by the Dutch set- tlers at its mouth, near Esopus, or Kingston, who called it after the River Waal, in Holland, from which they had come. The Indians named the part above the Drowned Lands Twisch-saw-kin Creek. It is so marked on the map drawn from the survey made in 1769, by order of the commissioners appointed to settle the partition line between the Provinces of New York and New Jersey. This is probably the same name as Wis-au-kin, said to mean River of Grapes.
The earliest bridge across the upper Wallkill, at Hamburg, was in the bend at the mouth of the little brook from the cream- ery and over the island. The foundation of this bridge may still be seen, as well as the lines of road approaching it. A later bridge was erected a little farther up the stream, just above the big rock on the Haines farm. The stones of the abutments of this bridge still remain, as well as some of the timbers which formed the pier under the water. From the bridge the road led past the poplar tree which marks the site of one of the three houses which stood in the meadow. The last house was standing as late as 1822, and in one of the three lived John Elridge, the grand- father of Peter Yatman, and in another, Jonathan Sharp, the great-grandfather of Doctor Jackson B. Pellet. The road passed the old houses, and by the Shee and Lawrence store and dwellings.
From the bridge in the opposite direction a road went up the hill to Sharp's store, where it crooked to pass in front of the stone mill location, where two or three houses once stood ; and thence by the Odell house on to Ford's, and to the Windfield log house at the foot of the mountain.
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IIARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
The State road from Newburg led past the Indian camp to the Walling house, turned by the Indian burying ground, and passing down the hill erossed the kill by the bridge. A more direct road was made, about 1795, from the Walling house to the one coming up from the kill to Sharp's store, and it ran through the creamery garden, before the house itself was built
The Indian Burying Ground covered the flat formerly in the rear of the Margerum house and the store of Robert A. Linn. Here for years stone implements were dug up and numerous skel- etons. The bones of an Indian, found here when gravel was taken for the publie road, were in the pessession of Dr. L'Hom- mnedieu. The construction of the Midland Railroad unearthed many bones. Among them, those of a Sachem, buried with beads and a silver medal and silver bell.
The site of the Indian Camp is marked by a great ring of ashes upon which the wigwams once stood with their fires. The circle of ashes extended over the lots of the late Dr. William H. Linn and Peter Yatman. It is less distinet than in former years from the cultivation and frequent plowing of the ground. The attraction for the camp was the fine spring of water in the rear of the lots. Evidence of the Indian occupation was once abun- dant in the large number of worked flints and the charred and broken bones of animals found in the ash heaps. The bones seemed to indicate a comparatively recent occupation.
Along the road, in the same field with the Indian burying ground, stood the Barracks or block-house, which was garrisoned at times during the Revolutionary war, and was the place of rendezvous, for the Second Regiment of Sussex Militia. The garrison was necessary to keep in awe the Tory sympathizers with the British, and to prevent the marauding parties of freebooters from making their incursions.
The Second Regiment of Sussex Militia was mainly raised in Hardyston, and as most of the officers and men were from this vicinity it is deserving of especial mention. The following is the roster of its Field and Staff officers :
Ephraim Martin, Colonel, lived at Sparta,
John Seward, Captain, Lt .- Colonel, Colonel, at Snufftown,
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REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.
Daniel Harker, Lt .- Colonel, at Upper Hamburg,
James Broderick, Captain, First Major, near Sparta, Samuel Mecker, Captain, Second Major, near Ogdensburg, Joseph Linn, Adjutant, near Monroe Corners.
Isaac Hull, Quarter Master.
Henry Johnson, Quarter Master.
Cornelius Baldwin, Surgeon.
At one time when the headquarters of the American army were transferred from Morristown to Newburg, a detachment of the Continental army encamped on the meadows of the Haines and Lawrence farms. Tradition says that they remained here thoughout one entire fall.
Burgoyne's army surrendered at Saratoga in October, 1777. By the terms of the surrender, the prisoners were to be paroled and sent home by way of Boston. When they had gone as far as Boston, General Howe exhibited considerable duplicity. General Burgoyne hesitated to give the list of the officers and men re- quired, Congress became alarmned, and a resolution was passed that the prisoners should not be released until the British government had given formal agreement to the terms of capitulation. Bur- goyne himself was permitted to return to England on parole, but his officers with their army were marched back to the interior of the country, as far as Pennsylvania, and some went to Virginia. On this march they passed through here under guard. The pris- oners had been as well cared for as circumstances allowed, but their uniforms were ragged and they presented a very shabby ap- pearance. The Hessians were still more dejected looking. They were less cleanly than the English regulars, and seemed without ambition or hope. Some had wives and young children with them, and they formed a miserable and motley crew. They were very willing to abandon the profession of arms and settle in any place where they might live in quiet.
COLONEL JOHN SEWARD, long the commander of the Second Regiment of Sussex Militia, lived near Snufftown on what is now the Margerum property. Col. Seward's father, Obadiah, came from Wales and settled in Somerset county, where his son was born at Lamington, the 23d of May, 1730. John married Mary Swezy, in 1751. They moved to Hardyston and his name appears
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in 1767 as a member of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. A soldier of the Revolution, he was at first a private of Captain M'Mires' Company in the First Battalion, first establishment of Jersey Line. He was then Captain of Second Regiment, Sussex troops, promoted Lieutenant-Colonel February 28th, 1777, and later to be Colonel of the same regiment, he did faithful service in resisting the Tories, driving off the marauding bands who' for a time infested Snufftown Mountain and capturing some of them. His house was barricaded for defence. The sum of £50 was offered by the British for his head ; and he once shot a British spy who was lurking with apparent evil intent in the neighbor- hood of his house. One afternoon in the woods he heard the click of a flint lock, and looked up to see an Indian who had drawn his rifle upon him, but whose weapon failed to go off. He drew his own rifle in an instant and called upon the Indian to surrender The savage vainly sought to dodge among the trees, but was soon made to yield and brought in as a prisoner.
Colonel Seward's son, Doctor Samuel Swezy Seward, was born in the house upon the mountain, practiced medicine in Har- dyston and Vernon, and afterwards removed to Florida, Orange C'o .. N. Y., where his distinguished son, William Henry Seward, was born in 1801. Doctor Seward was at the time of his death the wealthiest man in Orange county. His son, George Wash- ington Seward, still survives at an advanced age.
CAPTAIN JOSEPH HARKER had a farm and house near where Samuel Wilson now lives. The foundation of the house is still to be seen near the Wallkill, by which the road formerly ran. He recruited his company in this vicinity and belonged to the Second Sussex Regiment. With a portion of his men he joined the Goshen troops who were going to the Minisink region, and partic- ipated in the battle of July 22d, 1779. He was wounded and some of his men were killed. When he went away from home with his company, Nathaniel Martin, of Wantage, who was then quite a lad, staid at his house to protect his family.
REUBEN MOSIER came to this vicinity when a boy, having, it is said, escaped with his mother from an Indian massacre in which several of his family were slain. He had just grown to manhood
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REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.
when the war of the Revolution broke out, and he joined Captain Joseph Harker's Co. He lived in Red Cedar Hollow in a log house, near the Widow Mitten's. His descendants by his dangh- ters are still living in Hardyston.
LIEUT .- COLONEL DANIEL HARKER, of the Second Sussex Regi- ment, was supposed to have owned and lived upon the farm in Upper Hamburg, which was known as the Harker farm, but in later years belonged to Peter Fountain. After the Revolution he removed with his brother, Capt. Harker, to Stillwater, where their descendants still live.
HENRY WINFIELD was a soldier of the Revolutionary Army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He was among the few of & detachment who were surrounded by the British during the retreat after the battle of Long Island, and escaped by swimming a mill pond that was situated about the centre of Williamsburg as it now stands. He was also engaged in a number of battles along the Hudson, and was on duty at West Point for some time. IIe is thought to have been with General Wayne at the capture of West Point, and his commission as Lieutenant is dated from that time. After the war, he returned and married Mary Rodgers and raised a family of children. He died in 1840 at the age of 87 years, in the house which he built, now occupied by his great- grandson, Henry Winfield Couplin.
Henry Winfield's father was one of four brothers who came here from Germany, and he built his house, which was of logs, near the trout pond on the present Couplin farm.
SAMUEL EDSALL came from Reading, Berkshire Co., England, in the ship Tryall, in 1648, landed in Boston, and came to New Amsterdam previous to 1655 when he married his first wife there. His knowledge of the Indian tongues made him highly esteemed as an interpretor and negotiator between the Indians and the Dutch, and the early English settlers in New Jersey. He died soon after 1701.
His youngest son, RICHARD, by his third wife, Ruth Wood- hull, was born about 1682. A surveyor, he resided in Newtown, L. I., then at Hackensack, N. J., and finally in Orange Co., N. Y. Richard's third wife was Hillegonde DeKey, of New York, by
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whom he had five sons and one daughter. Among these were Jacobus and Richard 2d.
Jacobus (Dutch for James) born 1724, baptized 1725, in Hackensack D. R. Church, was Captain in the Second Regiment N. J. troops. His wife was Charlotte, a daughter of Colonel Joseph Barton, of Sussex Co. She had a brother, Benjamin Bar- ton, who was arrested by General Sullivan, in August, 1777, charged with having received the appointment of Captain in the British Army. His Edsall relatives became surety for his good behavior, but he broke his parole and went over to the enemy. His family was sent after him to Staten Island within the British lines. Jacobus had four sons, Richard, Jacobus 2d, Benjamin and Joseplı.
His son, RICHARD 2d, born 1750, was also a Captain in the Second Sussex Regiment N. J. troops, and Lieutenant in the JJer- sey line of the Continental Army. Father and son participated in the battles of Brandywine and Monmouth and other conflicts of the Revolution. Richard was a land surveyor and lived at English Neighborhood, Bergen Co., when the war began. Ile married his first wife Polly, eldest daughter of Colonel John Sew- ard, of Snufftown, in 1771. She died soon after and was buried at Warwick, N. Y. His second wife was Jemima Seely, born January 28th, 1762, and died January 1st, 1843. Hle lived in Vernon, became entirely blind, and died May 10th, 1823.
Joseph, son of Richard 2d, born in Vernon township July 12th, 1783, was Quarter-master in the army during the war of 1812, and a member of the Legislature in 1825. Ile married Sarah DeKay, and died in Vernon April 5th, 1833. Ile was the father of Richard E. Edsall, of Hamburg.
Jacobus 2d, commonly called "Coby,". was attached to C'ap- tain Huddy's Co. of artillery, State troops. His brothers, Benja- min and Joseph, were privates in the State troops. Coby lived at Rudeville in a log house near where his grandson, Benjamin H. Edsall, now lives. He received a pension from the Government for his Revolutionary services, and was very bitter in his hatred of the British. IIe married Mary Simpson, daughter of Henry Simpson 2d, of McAfee Valley. Their children were : Sally,
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REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.
wife of Benjamin Hamilton ; James, Henry, Joseph E., William, George, Richard and Thomas. Jacobus was born 1754, and died 1839. His wife, Mary Simpson, was born 1760, and died 1851, aged 91 years.
The surrender of Burgoyne's Army, at Saratoga, October 1777, had diminished the British forces required for a regular campaign in the year 1778, and it was determined to employ the Indians, and Tories, in carrying on a war of devastation on the frontier. The destruction of the Wyoming settlements was re- solved upon, because so many of the men of this region had early declared against British tyranny, and large numbers of them had volunteered in the Continental Army. The beautiful valley was desolated. The dwellings were burned, and the inhabitants mur- dered, with the exception of those few who were carried into hopeless captivity. The cruelties perpetrated filled the country with horror. Those who could,fied for their lives, with the loss of all they possessed. Numbers of fugitives came to Hardyston with their sad story, and awakened the sympathy and compassion of our people. One of them was Angustus Hunt, whose son, Rev. Hol- loway W. Hunt, became the Presbyterian pastor here, and continued his ministrations for seven years. Among those who fell by the tomahawk was William Marsh, an early settler in Hamburg, and the first minister of the Baptist congre- gation of New Town, Hardys Town and Frankford. The leader in these atrocites was Joseph Brandt, of the Mohawk tribes, who had received a christian education. He was commissioned Colonel by the British, and at the head of a force of Indians and disguised Tories carried fire and bloodshed through our western settlements. In the summer of 1779, Brandt, with his blood thirsty forces, broke into the Minisink region, and committed great ravages, killing the settlers and burning their homes.
On the 20th of July, 1779, Colonel Benjamin Tustin, of Goshen, received, by express, tidings of the dreadful occurrences, and summoned the officers of his regiment to rendezvous, the next day, with all the men they could collect. The order was obeyed with alaerity. Major Samuel Meeker and Captain Joseph Harker, of the Jersey Militia, with portions of their commands assembled
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HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
with thein. Col. Tustin, with his small force, decided not to pur- sue the enemy, but Major Meeker mounted his horse and shouted, " Let the brave men follow me, cowards may stay at home." The disaster of the day is attributed to this rashness of Major Meeker. His words decided the question, and they marched in pursuit, making seventeen miles the first day, and camping on the same ground occupied the night previous by the enemy. Colonel John Hathorn, associated with our village in its early history, here joined with a small additional force, and as the ranking officer, took the command. He approved of Colonel Tustin's caution, and called the officers together to hold a council. Meeker again over- came all prudence by his bold talk, and they marched forward until they fell into the murderous ambush of Brandt. Our men threw themselves into a square as soon as the situation was per- ceived, and fought with great bravery, against overwhelming num- bers advantageously posted. Of the eighty men engaged, forty- four, including Colonel Tustin, were slain. Major Meeker and Captain Harker were severely wounded. Of the fallen, ten or twelve were of the Jersey troops. Among these were Captain Stephen Mead, David Talmage, Nathan Wade and Corporal Eliakim Ross, of Hardyston. Moses DeWitt, of Wantage, behaved with great bravery and was among the wounded. Lieu- tenant James Patton, of Major Meeker's command, received his discharge, June 8th, 1780, on account of wounds, probably re- ceived in this battle. Forty-three years after the massacre, the bones of the victims were gathered and buried in the public, square in Goshen, where a monument is inscribed with their names. Colonel Hathorn, then 80 years of age, laid the founda- tion stone, July 22d, 1822.
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