USA > New York > Orange County > Deerpark > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 1
USA > New York > Orange County > Mount Hope > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 1
USA > New York > Orange County > Minisink > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 1
USA > New York > Orange County > Greenville > A history of the Minisink Region : which includes the present towns of Minisink, Deerpark, Mount Hope, Greenville, and Wawayanda in Orange County, New York. > Part 1
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Gc 974.701 Or12s 2050174
M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
P
3 1833 00826 4274
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofminisin00stic_0
4375
A HISTORY
OF THE
MINISINK REGION: Y
WHICH INCLUDES THE PRESENT TOWNS OF
MINISINK, DEERPARK, MOUNT HOPE, GREEN- VILLE AND WAWAYANDA,
72.2%.
IN ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK,
FROM THEIR ORGANIZATION AND FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME;
ALSO, INCLUDING
A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT
005
OF THE COUNTY.
Gc 974.701 Or 122 BY
79-9591-12
CHARLES E. STICKNEY.
" This is my obon, my natibe land!"
MIDDLETOWN, N. Y. : COE FINCH AND I. F. GUIWITS, PUBLISHERS. 1867.
2050174
A HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
-
E .
B . Tears - -
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, BY CHARLES E. STICKNEY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
COE FINCH, PRINTER, MIDDLETOWN, N. Y.
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1202798
PREFATORY REMARKS.
READER : Before you commence the perusal of the following History, allow me to say that, if you wish to avoid disappointment, you will please bear in mind that it has not been written with the object of presenting to your view a brilliant piece of composition, or of absorbing your attention with the interest of a fascinating romance. No deep-laid plot of mystery or ideal love pervades its pages to lure you on from line to line-from be- ginning to end. It has been intended rather as a true record of past events -of statistics connected therewith-of old traditions that have survived the touch of time,-and in short, of the records and incidents that go to- wards forming a HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION, the first-settled portion of Orange County. To many these will prove of barren interest; and I deem it proper to say to you that this work has been written more for the purpose of supplying a void in our local history-more to preserve the de- tails (now fast sinking into oblivion) of our ancestors' struggles with labor and inconvenience, coupled with the wiles of a savage foe, while rearing their humble cabins, when-
" His echoing axe the settler swung,"
in the wilderness two centuries ago ;- more to review their actions and remember their deeds and sufferings in the glorious war of the Revolution, and their prosperity since-than to please the idle fancy for a moment, and then be thrown aside forgotten.
It is intended as a book useful for reference to the scholar-to those who like to sit by the fireside of an evening and review the doings of the olden time; and as a foundation perhaps for some future historian to build an abler work upon. If it shall accomplish but a part of this, my labor will have been rewarded.
And, reader, if it should gain your approval by furnishing needed in- formation, or by causing some weary hour to glide smoothly away; if,
T
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PREFATORY REMARKS.
when the dark hours that visit all of us are upon you-when disappoint- ments, and troubles, and treacherous friends, enshroud your path, and you wish to banish gloomy thoughts-if, then, the comparison of your petty grievances with the gigantic ones overcome by the energy and perseverance of our forefathers, when miles separated neighbors and friends, when the war-whoop of the merciless Indian blended of an evening with the dreary howl of the wolf, and when, if a father left his home in the morning he knew not but his return at night might find it a smoldering ruin, and his wife and children mangled corpses or in a cruel captivity ; if this compar- ison shall inspire you with new courage to contend in the "world's great din of battle,"-pleased shall I be to record you upon my list of friends, and feel thankful for the time spent in placing the narration before you.
I make no apology for the simplicity of language that clothes the inci- dents narrated. I am aware that many will think themselves better informed in matters of early history, and perhaps far better able to dispose of the task of preparing them for publication, than myself. But until they avail themselves of their knowledge and talents, and do better, I shall pre- sent my humble work for your consideration, hoping it may find what appreciation its merit deserves.
SLATE HILL, N. Y., 1867.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I .- Origin of the name, and first recorded visit of a white man. CHAPTER II .- First settlement of Orange County and Minisink.
CHAPTER III .- Church affairs.
CHAPTER IV .- The war with the Jerseymen.
CHAPTER V .- Incidents of the French and Indian wars.
CHAPTER VI .- The Pledge of 1775 and its signers.
CHAPTER VII .- Indian depredations.
CHAPTER VIII .- First and second invasions of the Minisink Region by Brandt's Indians and Tories.
CHAPTER IX .- The battle of Minisink.
CHAPTER X .- Town of Minisink.
CHAPTER XI .- Town of Deerpark.
CHAPTER XII .- Town of Mount Hope.
CHAPTER XIII .- Towns of Wawayanda and Greenville.
CHAPTER XIV .- Greycourt Inn; or, the Scourge of the Highlands.
CHAPTER XV .- The Legend of Murderer's Creek.
CHAPTER XVI .- A Reminiscence of the Wallkill.
A HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
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CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME, AND FIRST RECORDED VISIT OF A WHITE MAN.
To arrive at a proper commencing point in the history of the localities included in the limits of the region for- merly known as the Minisink, it will be necessary to look back to the time when the hard-headed Peter Stuyvesant bore rule over his mimic kingdom of the New Nether- lands, and sat in rigid state among the few rude habita- tions lying in peaceful serenity at the mouth of the Hudson-since grown in countless numbers and regal splendor, as the proud city of New York ; to the time when John Rising, Governor of the Colony of Swedes at the mouth of the Delaware, was taking upon himself a degree of importance that interfered sadly with the plans of the worthy Peter, and threatened to shipwreck his fondest hopes of conquest in that quarter. His . windy manifesto, full of big Dutch words long drawn out by his valiant secretary, declaring the aforesaid Colony of New Sweden to be within the limits of his
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
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majesty's dominions, and threatening the direst ven- geance upon all who refused to acknowledge the same, was received in scornful silence by the imperturbable John. The insult, of itself, was bad enough, but that so much good Dutch grammar should be absolutely thrown away, was not to be tolerated. Days were spent by Peter in determining a plan of revenge that would at once avenge the slight, and maintain his dignity; and at last the tobacco used in these deliberations resolved itself into something more than ephemeral smoke, for it brought an idea into the head of its august user. Other men had covered themselves with unfading laurels on the battle-field, why should not ho ?
The consent of the mother country was first to be obtained, for the commencement of a quarrel between even so insignificant belligerents as these, might result in serious complications in the home countries of Europe. The old maps of the New Netherland provinces, made years before by Captain Hendrickson, were brought before the Government of Holland by Peter; the right of Holland to the territory called New Sweden thereby made clear, and Peter's request was granted ; and he has been handed down to posterity by the great historian as the immortal conqueror of Fort Christina and the Swedes. It is upon the maps thus made use of by Peter, that the first allusion is made in history to the old territory of Minisink. The whole of that territory is there described as being occupied by a tribe of Indi- ans known as the Minquas, (Vol. I. Documents relating to the History of New York,) and this we may properly regard as the original word from which the name Mini- sink was derived. At all events, this was the name by which the Indians were known throughout that region, till at last the Swedes and the Hollanders, with their
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ORIGIN OF NAME, AND FIRST RECORDED VISIT.
resolute chieftains, all fell into subjection to the mighty power of England, in 1664. Then everything under- went an entire change. The little Dutch village of New Amsterdam or Manhattan, that had been growing so quietly amid its cabbage gardens, and so unobserved in the shadow of the smoke that arose from the pipes of its steady burghers, was at once given a more sounding title, in honor of the Duke of York, and of York in England, and came out with a grand flourish as the City of New York. The little stockaded fort, and its surroundings of steep-roofed houses with their "gable ends" to the street, that had long been regrued as one of the outposts on the limits of creation, up the Hudson, soon came to be known as Albany, instead of Orange-and what is more to the purpose, the tribe of Indians, spoken of, became known as the Minsies instead of the Minquas.
This is the name they were first known by in Eager's History of Orange County, and he says it signified: peo- ple living on a low tract of land, from which the water had been drained-alluding to the legendary belief that the valley along the Delaware, occupied by them, had once formed the bottom of a vast lake, from which the water finally escaped by breaking through the moun- tains, at a place now known as the Water-Gap, in the Delaware. This, most probably, was the original mean- ing and derivation of the word Minisink; for it is easy to trace the connection from the old Dutch name of the Minquas, to its English translation the Minsies, and finally to its later and last corruption of the Indian tongue, Minisink. It was known by this latter name as early as 1694, as we find from a journal kept by Captain Arent Schuyler, of a visit made by him to that region ; and as this is the first visit of a white man to that sec- tion, recorded in authentic history, I have thought
لاء الكه على
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14
HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION,
proper to give it entire, word for word, as it was most probably written and spelled by the valiant Captain himself, and as it may be found on p. 98, Vol. IV. of Documents relating to the History of New York. Gov. Fletcher, at the time, lorded it over the province by authority of the Crown of England, and this journey appears to have been taken at his command, for the pur- pose of ascertaining whether or no the French, who then occupied Canada, and were continually warring with the English, had not sent emissaries among the Minisink Indians to bribe them to unite with the Canadian Indi- ans to wage a war .of extermination against the New Yorkers, which they would be most capable of doing from among their impenetrable fastnesses in the Shaw- angunk Mountains.
JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN ARENT SCHUYLER'S VISIT TO THE MINISINK COUNTRY.
May it please your Excell:
In persuance to y' Excell: commands I have been in the Minissinck Country of which I have kept the fol- lowing journal: viz'
1694 ye 3ª of Feb: I departed from New Yorke for East New Jersey and came that night att Bergentown where I hired two men and a guide.
Ye 4th Sunday Morning. I went from Bergen & travilled about ten English miles beyond Haghkingsack to an Indian place called Peckwes.
Ye 5th Monday. From Peckwes North and be West I went about thirty two miles, snowing and rainy weather.
Ye 6tth Tuesday. I continued my journey to Mag- gaghkamieck [the Indian name of the river Neversink, which falls into the Delaware a little south of Port
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ORIGIN OF NAME, AND FIRST RECORDED VISIT.
Jervis] and from thence to within half a day's journey to the Menissinck.
Ye 7th Wendsday. About eleaven a clock I arrived att the Minissinck, and there I mett with two of their Sachems and severall other Indians of whome I enquired after some news, if the French or their Indians had sent for them or been in ye Menissinck Country. Upon web they answered that noe French nor any of the French Indians were nor had been in the Menissinck Country nor there abouts and did promise yt if ye French should happen to come or yt they heard of it that they will forthwith send a mesinger and give y' Excellency notice thereof.
Inquireing further afte, news they told me that six days agoe three Christians and two Shanwans Indians who went about fifteen months agoe with Arnout Vielle into the Shanwans Country were passed by the Menis- sinck going for Albany to fetch powder for Arnout and his company; and further told them that sª Arnout intended to be there wth seaven hundred of ye said Shanwans Indians loaden wth beavor and peltries att ye time ye Indian corn is about one foot high (which may be in the month of June.)
The Menissinck Sachems further sd that one of their Sachems & other of their Indians were gone to fetch beavor & peltries which they had hunted; and having heard no news of them are afraid yt ye Sinneques have killed them for ye lucar of the beavor or because ye Menissinck Indians have not been with ye Sinneques as usual to pay their Dutty, and therefore desier yt your Excellency will be pleased to order yt the Sinneques may be told, not to molest or hurt ye Menissincks they be willing to continue in amity with them.
In the afternoon I departed from y' Menissincks; the
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
8th, 9th & 10th of Feb. I travilled and came att Bergen in ye morning and about noone arrived att New Yorke.
This is may it please your Excell. the humble reporte of your Excellency's most humble servt
ARENT SCHUYLER.
Scarce one hundred and seventy-two years have passed since the above journey was taken, and the comparison between then and now may be taken as a fair index to the rapid improvement that has everywhere been striding over the American Continent. Then the jour- ney occupied eight days-four in going and four in returning-and was accomplished by untiring perse- verance, amid the glor ny depths of an interminable forest, peopled only by the wild men of nature, and the panthers, bears, wolves, and other beasts that then prowled in its recesses ; the trackless path pointed out by an Indian guide, and its winding way followed over mountains and across valleys, one continual swamp and woodland, through the bitter cold and wet of a storm of rain and snow. Now, the same journey from New York to Port Jervis may be accomplished in the short space of about three hours and a half, by simply stepping in one of the elegant cars of the New York and Erie Rail- way, and sitting down in one of the velvet-cushioned seats-taking no note of the blinding snow or driving rain that may be falling out of doors, and with nothing to do but lean back on the cushions and enjoy the rock- ing motion as you glide along-glance out of the cozy little windows at the snug farm-houses and cultivated fields, as they flit before your vision-no guide-no nothing to think of, but to be ready with your paste- board when the conductor thrusts his hand before your eyes and drives away your dreamy reveries with the oft repeated cry of-" Tickets !"
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ORIGIN OF NAME, AND FIRST RECORDED VISIT.
If it be indeed true that the shades of those gone before sometimes revisit earth, what emotions of surprise and pleasure must we conjecture to fill the bosom of that sturdy old backwoodsman, Arent Schuyler, if his spirit should come back from the confines of the invisible world and repeat his journey to Port Jervis-then a desolate swamp, now a flourishing village-by riding on the cars, in these days of luxury and speed. O, that he could speak to us, we would find our wildest imaginings to fall short of the tide of wonder and delight that would overflow his soul !
CHAPTER II.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY AND MINISINK.
The early settlement of this region is shrouded in mystery. The surrounding mountains appear to have served as barriers to the encroachment of the whites, and after they had effected a lodging to have prevented a knowledge of their early transactions from coming to the ears of the historians of those times, until almost a generation of the first Minisink pioneers had passed away. Lord Bellomont, Governor of New York in 1701, says, in a letter to the lords of trade, that the country west of the Highlands, at that time, was a dense wilder- ness, there being but one house in all that section-on Captain Evan's grant, which was along the Hudson. This was the first house built within the present limits of the eastern part of Orange County, and as such, it is but just to glance a moment at the history of the builder. It was built some years before Bellomont's notice of it, by Col. Patrick Magregorie, a Scotchman, who came to America with a band of followers in 1684. They landed in Maryland, but like the majority of the early emigrants, were continually roving around in quest of a better loca- tion. Magregorie was next located at Perth Amboy, New Jersey; but this was no better suited to his taste, and, in 1685, he petitioned for leave to take up land within the bounds of Billop's Point, on Staten Island.
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
At the instance, it is said, of Governor Dongan, he was persuaded to relinquish that design and remove to the Highlands. While here he devoted himself to the Indian trade, and became master of the Indian language. The following year, 1686, he was appointed Muster Master General of the Militia of the Province of New York, and was next sent in command of a party to trade at Michilmakinac, but was intercepted on the way by a party in the French interest, and carried a prisoner to Montreal. The next year he was liberated by orders. from France, and returned to New York. The next year, 1688, he was employed by Sir Edmund Andros, and commanded a company that operated against the Indians east of Pemaquid. When the troubles broke out between the Government and the Leisler party, he was sent to New York city; where he was killed, during the attempt to reduce a fort held by the Leisler party, March, 1691. He was buried with public honors, and this appears to have been the most he ever received for his great public services, for we find the lands he laid claim to, along the Hudson, were subsequently granted to Capt. John Evans, who married his daughter Katherine. The patent was afterward vacated, and his heirs experienced a long series of difficulties in getting their claim adjusted. Their patent was finally settled in the town of Cornwall, Orange County. He had three sons, Hugh, John and Patrick, and two daughters, Katherine and Jane.
What was known of Orange County, at that time, embraced the present County of Rockland, and was bounded on the North by Ulster County, which extended along the western slope of the Shawangunk mountains to the Delaware, and included the present town of Deer -. park, then a part of the town of Mamakating. Accord-
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION,
ing to Eager's History, Orange County was organized by act of General Assembly in 1683. In a list of officers. dated April 20th, 1693, it is stated that the County con- tained not over twenty families, and was under the pro- tection of New York city (p. 28, vol. iv. Doc. relating to the Colonial History of New York). It was named after William, Prince of Orange, who was crowned King of England, in 1689. Like all the unoccupied territory in those days, it was parceled out in immense tracts to favorites of the different Governors of the Province; and, as this was done by authority of Letters Patent from the Crown, so these tracts were called Patents. Thus it was we came to hear of the Wawayanda Patent, which included 150,000 acres, and was conveyed March 5th, 1703, during the reign of Queen Anne, to John Bridges, and twelve others, by the twelve Indian chiefs Rapingonick, Wawastawaw, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Ariwimack, Kumbout, Claus, Chouckhass, Chingapaw, Oshasquemonus, and Quiliapaw,-and the Minisink Patent made by the same Indian chiefs. The Governor's approval was doubtless first secured, and then the Indians were induced to place their marks to the documents, perhaps, by means of a little rum and tobacco; at all events, for a mere trifle, and thus a favored few became owners of thousands of acres of the most fertile land in the world-to-day worth millions upon millions of dollars. In this connection it is well enough to revert to the fact that, two hundred and forty years ago, the whole of the territory now occupied by the city of New York, was purchased of the Indians by the Dutch for twenty-four dollars; as is stated in the following letter, dated Nov. 5th, 1626 (vol. i. Doc. rela- ting to the Colonial History of New York, p. 37):
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
" High and Mighty Lord:
"Yesterday arrived here the Ship of Arms, of Amster- dam, which sailed from New Netherland out of the River Mauritius (Hudson), on the 23d September. They report that our people are in good heart and live in peace there; the women have also borne some children there. They have purchased the Island Manhattes from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders ($24); 'tis 11,000 morgens in size. They had all their grain sowed by the middle of May, and reaped by the middle of August. They send thence samples of summer grain: such as. wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, beans and flax. The cargo of the aforesaid ship is: 7246 Beaver skins, 1783 Otter skins, 675 Otter skins, 48 Mink skins, 36 wild cat skins, 33 Minks, 34 Rat skins and a considerable Oak timber and Hickory. Herewith High and Mighty Lords, be commended to the mercy of the. Almighty.
" To the High and Mighty Lords, my Lords the States General at the Hague.
" Signed Your High Mightiness' obedient,
" P. SCHAGAN.
" Amsterdam, Nov. 5, 1626."
Imagine, if possible, the present value of that same Island of Manhattan, with its population of hundreds of thousands and its untold movable wealth.
. In 1698, by order of Governor Bellomont, a census of the several counties of New York was taken by the Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace, (p. 420, vol. iv., Doc. relating to the Colonial History of New York,) and Orange County was found to contain 29 men, 31 women, 140 children, and 19 negroes or slaves, The present
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HISTORY OF THE MINISINK REGION.
site of the village of Newburgh was included in a patent of 2190 acres, granted to nine Palatines, or Germans, in 1719, viz .: George Lockstead, Michael Weigand, Her- man Shoreman, Christian Hennicke, the widow Cockertal. Burgher Mynders, Jacob Webber, Johannes Fisher, and Andries Valch. A settlement had been commenced some time before, (about 1712,) by a young lady named Sarah Wells, on the Wawayanda Patent, near the banks of the Otterkill. She was an orphan adopted by Chris- topher Denn, one of the patentees, who lived at that time in New Jersey, opposite Staten Island. It became necessary, in order to fix the title to the patent, that some settlement should be made upon it; and thus it was, by aiding to secure the interest of Denn in the tract, that she has been chronicled in history as the first white person who commenced a settlement on the tract. At the request of her benefactor, she traveled in a boat from New York to the neighborhood of New Windsor, and from thence on foot to the Otterkill, to superintend the erection of a wigwam, or house, with no companions but a few friendly Indian guides. To more enhance our admiration of her fearless intrepidity, it is but proper to state that she was but sixteen years of age at the time. Think of that journey, ye timid votaries of luxury, who, even in the midst of friends and neighbors, tremble at the bare thought of venturing alone out of doors after nightfall ! Think of the repose she sought at night upon the ground, the glimmering stars sparkling through the foliage of the great forest, the dismal howl of the wolf echoing fearfully through the glades, and the hoot of the lonely owl varying the concord of heart-chilling sounds; and this, too, forty or fifty miles from the pres- ence of a white person, with no protectors but her savage friends. She afterwards married William Bull, settled
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
on a tract of about one hundred acres, which was set off to her by Denn as a recompense for her services in making the settlement; and, after a long life of useful- ness, died aged 102 years 15 days. Her descendants, a short time since, started the project of erecting a suita- ble monument over her remains, which lie buried in the family yard in Hamptonburgh. (Eager's History of Orange County, p. 454.).
The Ordinance for holding Courts of Sessions and Pleas in Orange County, was granted March 8th, 1702, at Fort Anne, by Edward Viscount Combury, William Smith, Peter Schuyler and Sa. Th. Boughton, Esqs., of Council, and ratified and signed by Queen Anne, April 5th, 1703. The first courts were held at Orangetown, in what is now Rockland county. The first Session in Goshen was held in 1727, (Ib. p. 17.)
But while the population of Orange county was thus rapidly increasing, and new villages springing up almost weekly within its limits, the history of the Minisink region appears to have been shrouded in darkness. The Shawangunk mountains formed a barrier which for a long time, kept from the outside world a view of the tide of civilization and improvement that was going on, and shut from the page of history much knowledge of the early settlers of that locality. Its mountain ranges afforded a shelter to the Indians long after the cultivated fields and happy homes of the white man had usurped the wilds of Eastern Orange. Among its glades and gorges, the smoke of their wigwams and the glimmer of their council fires, continued to rise in security and friendly intercouse with the early Minisink pioneers, years after the sun of their supremacy had set from Maine to the Carolinas. It was in this region, too, that some of their most barbarous atrocities were committed,
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