USA > New York > Ulster County > Marlborough > The history of the town of Marlborough, Ulster County, New York: from the first settlement in 1712, by Capt. Wm. Bond, to 1887 > Part 1
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SCENE ON HUDSON AT MARLBOROUGH ABOUT 1600.
-
THẾ *HISTORYE
OF
THE TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH,
ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK :
From the First Settlement in 1712, by Capt. Wm. Bond, to 1887.
BY CHARLES H. COCHRANE.
ILLUSTRATED.
POUGHKEEPSIE: Printed for the Publisher by W. F. Boshart, 241 Main street; 1887.
F129 M34CG
14
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
First Settlers,
Military Record,
Old Papers,
Precinct Meetings, 57
Manufacturing,
62
Milton in 1830,
78 85
Old Customs,
Reminiscences,
93
Churches and Societies,
105
Property Holders, 136
Old Families, 153
Statistical,
190
The Fruit Industry,
186 I
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Scene on Hudson at Marlborough about 1600, frontispiece.
Map of Marlborough, facing 4
The Fight at Fort Montgomery, October, 1877, I2
British Gun Boats firing at Capt. Anning Smith's residence, Milton, in 1777, 21
Whitney Basket Factory, 68
Press on which Daniel S. Tuthill printed the "Pioneer" at Milton, in 1830, S4
Stocks at Silas Purdy's Mill, Marlborough, in 1773, 85
Ravine Falls, Marlborough, as they appeared in 1800,
93
Ice boat opposite Milton, 2
The Famous Antwerp Raspberry, 187
The Minnewaski Blackberry, 189
5 25 31
Errata and Addenda,
PREFACE.
An introduction to a work on local history is apt to be a sort of apology for what the author has left undone, for all history is of necessity incomplete, because of the lack of full records of the past. While it is true that the within sketches of Marlborough do not constitute a perfect history of the town, yet they are a more complete and conscientious collection of facts and incidents concerning the place and its inhabitants than has been attempted previously.
There are many dates or connecting links of history in this book which represent hours of labor and research. Old newspaper files, old deeds, state and county records, old ac- count books, other histories, directories and private papers have been searched, in great numbers, to obtain all possible information concerning Marlborough and its early history. Old residents have been interviewed, and their memories stirred regarding what their fathers and grandfathers said and did.
Much valuable aid has been received from the following gentlemen : John Buckley, Nathaniel H. DuBois, Edward Anderson, H. Scott Corwin, David Craft, David Sands, Eli Harcourt, Samuel Harris, C. S. Northrip, Walter J. Cav- wood, Wm. C. Young, Dr. John Deyo, of Newburgh, E. A. Merritt, Earl Stone, Henry D. Fowler, of Middle Hope, Nehemiah Fowler, of Newburgh, Alexander Young of Hampton, members of families whose history appears with- in, and many others.
From Ruttenber's "History of Orange" many facts were gleaned, and credit is here given that accurate and faith- fully-compiled work.
Rev. S. H. Jagger's "Quarter Century Discourse" has also been drawn upon largely.
Some matter has been taken from Sylvester's "History of Ulster," but the work is so notoriously incorrect that noth- ing could be reproduced without verification.
The files of the "Pioneer," published in Milton in IS30, furnished many valuable points and dates.
The town records, in possession of C. M. Woolsey, were drawn on to a considerable extent.
The map of the town was reproduced from old maps and surveys, new streets being inserted where they belong, and other connections made. Such streets or roads as were without names have been supplied with the name of some
2
prominent landholder on the line, as the most convenient means of identification. The work has been faithfully done.
There is a strong tendency in writing individual histories, to exaggerate the good qualities of certain individuals, and laud them to a degree which is nauseating and ridiculous. So common has this become in numerous county histories, that the public has learned to regard such laudatory notices as amusing advertisements of the individuals in question, for which they have paid in some way or other. In order to avoid this method of making history the author of this work has used his own judgment as to what men properly deserved special notice above their fellows. This book being of lim- ited size, doubtless some men of wisdom, virtue and ability have escaped notice. Their descendants will please pardon the omission.
No one who has not tried it, knows how difficult it is to obtain accurate information of things long dead and gone. The temptation is great to draw on the imagination to fill up gaps, and enliven dry dates and figures. While endeav- oring to place events in an attractive form the writer has taken no hiberties with history. Tradition has not been pre- sented as fact, and fiction has not been substituted for tradition.
Errors there doubtless are, and a good many of them, for none can say with accuracy what was done one hundred or one hundred and fifty years ago. The record presented in these pages is offered to the public simply as the result of honest labor to bring together all that is known and believed of Marlborough, before the demise of another generation shall have carried many valuable reminiscences to the grave.
Some may criticise the book as a collection of names, and such it is to a large extent. Names are dry reading, but they are useful for reference, delightful to the descendant who sees his grandfather upon an honored roll, invaluable to the future historian, and represent the living facts with- out which history would not be. It is the men and not the things which make the record. God made the world, and wondrous and beautiful it is; but, without the men who inhabit it, how useless and extravagant would it appear. So this history of the men who trod the soil we tread, who saw the same hills, the same valleys, the same broad Hudson, that we see, but in a different age and generation, in less cultivated and more troublous times, is presented to the residents of Marlborough of to day, for their kindly perusal and criticism. CHARLES H. COCHRANE.
Marlborough, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1887.
ERRATA AND ADDENDUM.
PAGE 6 .- Bellamont should be Bellomont.
PAGE 7 .- " In 1723 it appears that Francis Harrison was a resident." This is very doubtful. Harrison, Graham, Mor- ris, Barbarie and Wentworth were men who held official positions, and probably obtained grants of land in Marl- borough through favoritism. They held them for speculative purposes. Capt. Bard and Major DuBois were probably the only original landholders who settled here. Others had to buy of the patentees or speculators.
PAGE 6 .- Capt. John Evans was a man of bad political character, and appears to have gobbled up so much land in a questionable manner, that it was very proper that he should have been dispossessed. In the " Colonial History of New York" a letter is published which was written to the British authorities by those who wished to overthrow Evans' claim. This states that at that time (1721) Capt. Evans' tract (which included Marlborough) had but one house on it, and that was located near where Cornwall now is. If this be true there were no white settlers in Marl- borough before 1701, and no houses here. This strengthens the probability that Capt. Wm. Bond was the first settler.
PAGE 8 .- Wolvert Acker was supervisor of Newburgh in 1775, and 1777 to 1780 inclusive. He died January 17, 1799, aged 67 years, and was buried in the cemetery at Marlbor- ough. His nouse was on what is now the Henry Armstrong property, not Alexander Young's, as stated. The Youngs property at Hampton, originally belonged to Gen. Leonard Smith. Acker's house is the " Wolvert Roost," made famous by Washington Irving.
PAGE 15 .- James Carpenter died July, 1887.
PAGE 17 .- Clementine Sands was not an ancestor to David Sands, but probably a cousin of his grandfather's.
PAGE 18 .- Nathaniel Hallock died July, 1887.
PAGE 91 .- Moah should be Mobury.
4
PAGE 97 .- Robart had a ropewalk on Main street. Jasper Van Buren's store was near where Wygant's blacksmith shop now stands.
In 1877 the Y. M. C. A. of Marlborough, which flourished for about two years, issued a small paper for a few months. It was managed by H. Scott Corwin.
A. A. Bensel, of Milton, published what was styled a "History of the Town of Marlborough," in 1857. It was twelve pages in size. It contained nine pages of amusing nonsense and three pages of the precinct records from 1772 to 1779, and nothing else. Bensel had a small printing of- fice a quarter of a mile north of Milton village.
.
THE TOWN OF ' MARLBOROUGH.
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5
ICE BOAT OPPOSITE MILTON.
٦
-
FIRST SETTLERS
HISTORIANS agree in naming Marlborough as one of the original or mother-towns of Ulster county. To convey an approximate idea of the time of earliest settlement of the town it has been necessary to refer to the early records of the county, which show that the settlers of what is now Marlborough were represented in the first legislative assem- bly of the colony, which met in New York in 1691. By an act of Assembly in 1743 Marlborough was embraced in the precinct of the Highlands. In 1762 this precinct was di- vided into Newburgh and New Windsor precincts. In 1772 Marlborough and Plattekill were set off from Newburgh as the precinct of New Marlborough, and in 1778 the precinct was dignified with the name of town. The exact date of the first settlement of the locality it is impossible to de- termine accurately. Many of the first settlers of the town lived at a period considerably antedating the Revolution. The earliest evidence of residence to be found is among the colonial land papers in the office of the Secretary of State of New York. The oldest of these papers is a petition of Egbert and Hendrick Schoonmaker, of Kingston, in 1697. " praying a grant for a tract of vacant land, about 600 acres, lying opposite to the high lands or thereabouts, being on both sides the Oudt-man's kill or creek, having been formerly patented to Capt. Evans, but since broken by an act of General Assembly." Whether the Schoonmakers obtained the land and settled on it does not appear, but the quantity of the land petitioned for would indicate that it was wanted for a homestead. Next come petitions of Alexander Griggs, in 1709, for 600 acres ; Augustus Graham and Alexander Griggs, in 1710, for 1200 acres; Captain William Bond, in 1712, for 600 acres ; Peter Johnson, in 1712, for 500 acres ; Francis Harrison & Co., in 1713, for 5000 acres (mostly in
6
The History of Marlborough.
what is now the town of Newburgh) ; Lewis Morris and others, in 1714, for 5000 acres. None of these men have left posterity among us, nor any landmarks or evidences of thrift and industry.
The vacant lands of Capt. John Evans, above referred to, were the subject of a memorable controversy, during the years 1691, 1692 and 1693, as to the right of Governor Fletch- er, of the Province of New York, to grant to Capt. John Evans a large tract of land, including the present towns of Southern Ulster and nearly one-half of the towns of North- ern Orange, extending to a point near Cornwall. New Marlborough precinct was at first comprehended in this tract. Evans fought stubbornly for his claim, but, for some unexplained reason, during the administration of the Earl of Bellamont, the whole transaction was declared void. Evans felt that the interference of the Earl of Bellamont was un- called for, and being doubly assured as to the legality of the transfer, succeeded in interesting the attention of King William III, who, after hearing the argument submitted by Evans, refused to confirm the decision of the Earl of Bella- mont. In 1698 the English government became aroused to the mistake of granting such large tracts of land to specu- lators, and annulled the patent to Capt. Evans by act of · Assembly, May 12, 1699.
CAPT. WILLLIAM BOND AND SUKIE BOND.
There seems to be no doubt that Capt. William Bond was the first settler in the northern part of Marlborough, now known as Milton, and although he may not have been the first settler of the town, he is the first of whom there is an authentic record. He obtained the Bond patent from Queen Anne, June 12, 1712. His land is now taken up by the farms of Nathaniel Hallock, the Woolseys, Sears, Harcourts, Lyons and others. He also obtained a patent for 500 acres in Plattekill, in 1720. He followed the sea, but must have spent a good portion of his time in Marlborough, as he was a deputy surveyor here in 1717, and paid taxes on £15 value
7
The History of Marlborough.
of land in Newburgh, in 1714, Marlborough being then at- tached to Newburgh.
Capt. Bond established his daughter, Sukie Bond, here, at what date is uncertain. The tradition is that he placed her in this wild spot because she refused to marry to please him. She lived in very modest style, in a little cabin on land now belonging to Oliver C. Hull, in the rear of where the old Hicksite meeting house now stands. She had some slaves to attend her, but must have led a lonely and desolate life. She and her father were buried near her cabin, but their graves are now obliterated.
Alexander Griggs paid taxes on his land in Marlborough in 1714, but there is not positive evidence that he resided here. In that year his property was rated at $35, and he paid four shillings, four and a half pence tax.
In 1717-18 the taxpayers in Marlborough were Alexander Griggs, William Bond, Mr. Gomoz and A. Graham.
In 1723 it appears that Francis Harrison was a resident, for he was given a certificate for "a certain lot of land now in his possession" (June 26, 1723). He paid taxes on this land in 1726. Other grants taken were known as the Har- rison, Wentworth, Bond, Barbarie, Morris and DuBois grants. A fuller description of them will be found under the head of " Old Papers."
November 6, 1747, Samuel and Isaac Fowler purchased 500 acres, part of the Harrison patent, lying south of Marl- borough, from James Alexander and Samuel Gomoz, a Portuguese Jew merchant living in New York. Jews' creek ran through this land, and was sufficiently deep for large- sized vessels and rafts of logs to float up to a saw mill on the property now owned by the Buckley family.
Isaac Fowler had a son who served in the militia during the Revolution, but Samuel Fowler must have been a Tory, for in 1788 he was arrested in Newburgh as a person of " equivocal and suspected character." He refused the oath of allegiance and was confined by the Committee of Safety. Most of the Marlborough Fowlers descended from these men. (See Fowler.)
8
The History of Marlborough.
WOLFERT ACKER.
In 1772 Wolfert Acker, or Ecker, who was the great- grandson of Jan Acker, an early Dutch settler, purchased the north part of the Harrison patent, and built a house on what is now Alexander Young's property, south of the present town limits. It was he who first established the landing at Hampton, near the site of the old dock, now known as Henderson's dock. He operated a ferry from that point to the Hudson river, passing up the Wappingers creek to very near the site now occupied by the Dutchess Print Works, in Wappingers Falls. Among his descendants is Augusta T. Ecker, wife of Rev. D. C. Niven, of Highland.
From voluminous notes left by Jonathan W. Hasbrouck, of Rondout, who had been for years collecting material for a history of Ulster county, but died before the work was compiled, the following is given concerning the interest manifested by Acker in the early struggles of the settlers :
" He entered warmly into the struggle for Independence and soon became a most valuable man for the precinct. He was chairman of the Committee of Safety for the precinct in 1775, and took an important part in the controversy in that part of the town where the strongest feelings existed in favor of the crown. His house was a favorite resort for the Whigs, who used to congregate there nearly every Sunday to talk over the progress of events."
MAJOR LEWIS DUBOIS.
Lewis Du Bois, sometimes called Colonel, but more usually ·Major DuBois, settled in Marlborough before 1760, the ex- act date being undetermined.
Hle purchased nearly 3000 acres of land lying on both sides of the Old Man's kill. This land, or part of it, was bought from a man named Quick. The tradition is that Quick was very improvident. By some means he was given a commis- sion in the patriotic army, but had no money to procure his uniform and outfit, so sold his patrimony to Lewis DuBois for a horse and uniform and a few dollars in ready money.
C
The History of Marlborough.
The Major lived just north of Marlborough village, in the house owned and occupied at this writing by Samuel Har- ris, which was built by him before 1770. He held all the land about the vicinity of Old Man's kill and the river flats in front, together with all the water privileges in the south- ern part of the town. He was largely interested in the mill- ing business, operating the mill lately torn down to make room for Theodore Kniffin's large building on Landing street. He also owned and operated the woolen factory, now oper- ated by Woolsey Wright as a grist mill. At one time Major DuBois furnished wheat to the Continental army at West Point. Of the further history of these business enterprises, a more accurate resume is given in future pages.
Lewis DuBois was supervisor of Newburgh precinct in 1763, and the most prominent man in his section. He kept several slaves, and was known as a liberal and enterprising citizen. He gave land for the erection of the Presbyterian church, and contributed largely to its support. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of New York in 1775, and also to the Congress which met later in the same year.
Lewis DuBois was born September 14, 1728, where is not known, but it is presumed that his father was Lewis Du Bois, of New Paltz. The opinions of local historians differ as to where he spent his early life. Some claim him for New Paltz, others for Montgomery, Orange county, where he owned land. His brother, Zachariah DuBois, lived in Salis- bury, near Montgomery, which has led some to think that he resided there before coming to Marlborough. However this may be, it is certain that he married Rachel Du Bois, (probably his first cousin) December 17, 1756. She died young, and in 1770 he married Rachel Jansen, of New Paltz. He was established in Marlborough, and in active business, when the war of the Revolution broke out. Pre- viously he had held the rank of major in the English militia, but he entered the " Continental Line " as a captain in James Clinton's regiment, which was recruited for the invasion of Canada-a popular craze which at that time did much to fritter away the resources of the colonists. This Ulster regi-
1
The History of Marlborough.
ment was well armed and uniformed, having gray coats with green cuffs and facings, short breeches, long waistcoats, long stockings, low shoes, broad-brimmed hats and old-fash- ioned cues! DuBois was afterwards promoted to major, in the Newburgh regiment, and November 17, 1776, commis- sioned as colonel of the Fifth Regiment, under Gen. Clinton. The other officers of the regiment were Jacobus Bruyn, lieutenant-colonel ; Samuel Logan, major; Henry DuBois, adjutant ; Nehemiah Carpenter, quarter-master ; Samuel Townsend, paymaster; John Gano, chaplain ; Samuel Cook, surgeon ; Ebenezer Hutchinson, surgeon's mate. Some members of this regiment undoubtedly were from Marl- borough, but who they were cannot be determined with ac- curacy.
Major DuBois, as he was commonly called, even after his promotion, served with considerable distinction. Governor George Clinton wrote of him in 1776: " Major DuBois (who has been promoted from captain) is highly recommended to Congress, as well by the general officers as the committee who lately returned from Canada." Of his military career we know that he was at Point Lacoy at the engagement with a number of Canadians. In the spring of 1777 he was sta- tioned in the Highlands with his regiment, and was there when forts Clinton and Montgomery were taken in October of that year. At Fort Montgomery they suffered severely, the brunt of that desperate and heroic resistance falling on Major DuBois and his troops. At this time his regiment was mostly clad in hunting shirts, such as farmers' servants wore, and the British thought the men to be militia, and their dead were reported as militia on that occasion. Fifteen or twenty of them were taken prisoners. "Missing in ac- tion " is written against the names of ninety-six of the pri- vates, or not less than one-third of the whole strength of the regiment at that time. These men did not run-they were overwhelmed-falling pierced by bayonets-for no gun was fired by the assaulting column. Many an early settler of Marlborough found resting place in the waters of " bloody pond," where, in the succeeding spring, arms, legs and
The History of Marlborough.
heads of decaying bodies were seen above the surface, pre- senting a monstrous and sickening sight.
Major DuBois was among the prisoners, losing his liberty in the effort to save a trumpeter from capture. Many were escaping by water, and the gallant major took a trumpeter who could not swim in tow. This delayed him so long, as he could swim but slowly with his burden, that he was captured by the British, and taken to New York, where he was detained a prisoner for nearly a year, when he was ex- changed for a colonel.
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