USA > New York > Orange County > Deerpark > A history of Deerpark in Orange County, N.Y. > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
114
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
more subject to disease in this town than in former times.
The Holland Dutch, who settled throughout this valley, must have had sound and strong constitutions, which their children inherited unimpaired, and the manner in which they were brought up and lived during the time of their growth in this valley must have been very conducive to sustain health and pro- mote strength.
CHARACTERS.
There are certain predominating characteristics in families which, in some cases, will remain in their des- cendants from generation to generation for a great length of time, and some of those of the first pioneers have thus continued in some degree in their line of descent up to the present time ; and where intermar- riages have occurred, of such different characters, they have generally become united in the children and, in some cases, this union resulted in better characters than that of either of the originals,and in others, worse.
In respect to the characteristics of five sons of the first families who remained in the Peenpack neighbor- hood, I will here give a short narration, to wit :
Major James Swartwout was a large, heavy, strong, portly and likely man, of a noble and dig- nified appearance, very suitable for a military officer, and was possessed of a spirit as noble as his ap- pearance. He was very witty, jocose and humor- ous in conversation (these were Swartwout fam- ily traits), and he was too liberal and easy in his busi - ness affairs to accumulate property, in consequence of
115
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
which he became much involved. He was generally consulted in matters of difficulty, in respect to which I will relate one instance, to wit :
At a certain time after the fall of a light snow, the members of a certain family who were neighbors to him, discovered apparently the tracks of a person on the roof of the house where no person could walk, which extended from one end of the roof to the other end. This alarmed the family, who thought it ominous of some calamity which would happen to them, and after some conversation respecting it, concluded it was best to send for Major Swartwout, to see what he would think of it. They accordingly got him there, who, on viewing it, concluded in his mind that it had been done by some person, and mistrusted a slave of the family, who kept near them to hear what would be said re- specting it. He stepped up to the black man and ac- cused him of doing it, which was denied. The Major told him he had done it and that if he did not own it he would give him a flogging, and still denying, the Major took a gad and gave him two or three whip- pings before he would own it, and after owning it the Major told him if he would tell how he did it he would let him go. He said he took a long pole and fastened a shoe to the end and therewith made the tracks. This eased the family of their fearful apprehensions.
William Cuddeback was a man of somewhat over six feet stature, coarse-boned, muscular and lean. He was strong and very nimble, and could outrun many young men after he was fifty years old. In the French war, after his hair had begun to turn gray, he outran a soldier who thought himself swift. He was very talkative and witty, and I
116
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
think from what information I have had in rela- tion to him, that he never had his equal in this town for humorous discourse and a display of wit properly and suitably applied. He was characterised as a wise man in his time. Argument was his hobby, and, as there was much of it in his time in relation to the Scriptures, he, although uneducated, became so versed therein that when among strangers he was often thought to be a well read man. He was a disbeliever in the superstitious notions which many people in his time had in relation to witchcraft, &c., and would often tell very laughable occurrences in respect thereto He was somewhat slack in his business concerns and care- less in paying attention to the same, but he always had help enough to manage the business of his farm.
Peter Gumaer was a man of about five feet ten inches stature. During the time of my acquaintance with him he was fleshy and fat, and in his younger days was a very persevering business man. He never was a hard working nor an idle man himself, but all his children and slaves performed a great amount of labor. His family produced a greater amount of farmer's productions than any other farmer within 20 or 30 miles distance from his residence, and he had all the necessary fixtures for his different branches of business in the best manner of his time. He would not suffer idleness in his family, and was inimical to it in others. He was a man of good judgment and of an honest and independent principle.
Gerardus Van Inwegen was a man of about five feet eight or nine inches stature. He was lean, bony, mus- cular and strong, and had much of the Swartwout jocose and humorous disposition. He was the only son
1
Sfather of Hannah. wife anthony Van then papessa
117
HISTORY OF DEERPARK:
of his father, and was brought up without work, and in his neighborhood became fond of hunting, and did much of it in company with the white and Indian boys of the neighborhood, and in early life became a very skillful hunter and took great delight in it. He con- tinued to follow it through life, and killed more deer, bears and other wild animals and wild fowls than any other man of his time in this vicinity, whereby he not only obtained a very plentiful supply of those meats for his own family, but contributed liberally to those of Cuddeback and Gumaer, his neighbors, and enjoyed a very happy life. He was much addicted to playing tricks on people, and, when any of them happened to be offensive, he could generally end the matter in good humor. (It appears those ancients generally were well calculated to extinguish those offensive occurrences and restore friendship, by means of which they main- tained friendly relations with each other and with the Indians.)
At a certain time he put a mean, dirty trick on a company of squaws and their children, which they dis- covered in going to a certain place, and immediately laid it to Gerardus, and, on their return, stopped at his house and accused him of it. He asked what made them think he had done it. They told him no other man in the neighborhood would do such a nasty trick ; that he was worse than a hog and they would have sat- isfaction for that trick. After some altercation respect- ing it, he got a pail of cider and gave them as much as they would drink, which cheered them all up and they went off in good humor, laughing at those who fared the worse.
Samuel Swartwout was reputed to have been a very
118
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
strong man, and naturally easy and very good natured, not easily provoked to anger nor easily scared. He, by hunting and trapping, obtained a supply of meat and some other necessaries for his family. He had a valuable farm, but had no help to work it. Laborers could not be hired. After Depuy married his daughter he brought some slaves from his father's, and, with these, Depuy worked the farm and produced much wheat and other grain. Swartwout was on very friendly terms with the Indians, and when he removed from the residence of his father, he settled, as has been mentioned, among a collection of Indians.
In order to give some idea of Swartwout's boldness and of having been so characterized, I will relate a certain transaction, to wit : A certain Indian in his time had made a false face of a very frightful appearance, which was obtained from him by two or three of the young men. It was said that when it was put before a man's face and a bear skin wrapped around his body, the ap- pearance in the night was very terrifying. They gave the man so dressed the name of Santa Claus. On a certain winter evening this Santa Claus went round among the families and frightened the members of four of them by this imprudent exhibition. After this they concluded to try if they could not scare the fearless Swartwout. Santa Claus went and entered his house. Swartwout sat before the fire, and, on seeing him, rose from his chair, took hold of it, and put himself in a position to strike. Santa Claus, fearing the blow, said, " Uncle Samuel, don't strike." Swartwout told him to go out of the house, or he would split his brains, and added, " If you are the devil, or from the devil, go to where you belong."
119
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
These five men and their fathers had to encounter many difficulties to retain the possession of nearly half 'the land they claimed under the patent against Jersey claimants, and it appears they were well qualified in all respects to counteract them. An account of this is contained in Eager's history.
CHARACTERITTICS OF A FEW INDIVIDUALS OF THE SECOND GENERATION.
Capt. Abraham Cuddeback was a man of six feet stature and over 200 lbs. weight. He was strong and athletic, and could with ease jump a five-railed post or rail fence. He was very handsomely built, and in all respects a very good looking man. He possessed a great mechanical genius, dexterity and good judgment. When quite young, seeing how shoemakers and weavers performed their work, he commenced and did the shoe- making and weaving for his father's family, and became the best shoemaker and the best and quickest weaver before he was a man grown of any in this vicinity. In the time of the French war his father sent him to Old Paltz, where, and in Rochester, he followed weaving and had no equal in those places. After that war ended the people here generally were destitute of fan- ning mills, and cleaned their grain with hand fans. He had seen one at Gumaer's and may have seen a few at the Old Paltz. He undertook and made one for his father or himself, and afterwards made several ; one for my father, which was done in a good and handsome workmanlike manner, with which was cleaned all the grain of those in the fort at my father's during the
120
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
Revolutionary War, and thereafter all his own grain during his life. Before the commencement of that war a Mr. John Williams had given him some instruc- ยท tion for laying out the frame work of a house and barn, from which he considered himself enabled to do the carpenter work of such buildings, and did the car- penter work of a house and one or two barns before the war commenced, and after it ended a house and barn for himself and two or three other barns. After the war ended, he made a turning bench, repaired the old spinning-wheels in the neighborhood, turned spools, clevises, &c., for rigging the same. Before the war commenced, the wagons here had all been obtained from Rochester, in Ulster county, some of which were nearly worn out at its end, and a few years thereafter he undertook to contrive how to make a wagon. He said the greatest puzzle he had in mechanical work was to study out rules to make the wheels (of which he was entirely ignorant), but, after thinking over it, he dis- covered by what means he could make the same. After this he made wagons in a good and workmanlike man- ner, and in as good style as those which had been ob- - tained from Rochester. He afterwards made pleasure sleighs according to the Kingston fashion of his time, of which there were only one or two old ones in this neighborhood as good and handsome as those which, in his time, had been made at Kingston, except paint- ing, which he did not do. He made the best ploughs, and all kinds of farming utensils, of any which were made in his time in this part of our country. He was the greatest marksman at shooting with a rifle and one of the best hunters. And, notwithstanding all these acquisitions and the attention he paid to his farm, he
121
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
was one of the greatest idlers in the neighborhood, and did often for the sake of conversation visit his neighbors, and when in company of the best informed, would generally introduce subjects to create argument, either in accordance with his own views or contrary thereto, so as to produce argumentation in which he delighted and was the best means of discovering the natural and acquired abilities of his opponent. He said he knew the mental abilities and natural charac- teristics of nearly all the men who were contemporary with him for a distance of 20 miles down the Never- sink and Delaware rivers, and 40 miles toward King- ston. In his time Marbletown was the general mar- ket place for the inhabitants in this valley throughout the distance mentioned, and their travel to and from market made a great intercourse of those people, whereby they acquired a general acquaintance with each other. In respect to which I will relate an occur- rence. In the commencement of the Revolutionary War, John Westbrook, who lived about 20 miles dis- tant from Cuddeback's residence, was elected captain of a company of militia, and, in saluting him, he was blinded by the discharge of one of the guns, and remained blind. About 15 years thereafter, Jacob Cuddeback, son of Capt. Cuddeback, went to Mr. Westbrook's, and, after speaking to him, asked Mr. Westbrook if he knew him. He said he did not, but the voice was that of Capt. Cuddeback, which he still remembered, and judged from the resemblance of the voice of the son to that of the father, though they had not been together during that time.
In addition to what has been said respecting his mechanical acquirements, he became a workman in the
122
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
business of tailoring. In the commencement of the war there were no men tailors in this town, and he first cut for himself ; in sewing his daughter assisted him, and thereafter sometimes cut for others ; and in the winters, when all were collected in the fort, he and' his daughter did so much at it, especially in cutting and making up of deerskin leather, that he became a good workman and had not his equal here before a Mr. Mather, a tailor by trade, came into the fort.
It was said that at a certain time he and his wife took each a pound of frolic flax to spin, which she refused to do for him. He said he would do it himself and beat her. "She was one of the quickest spinsters in the neighborhood and thought that impos- sible, and one morning both commenced on a strife, and he did beat her. At the frolic they exhibited their yarn, and his was adjudged as good as hers. While spinning she lost a little time to suckle a child. If he had ever spun any it must have been when he was a boy. He had not his equal in this town cradling grain. It was said that a few others in their ordinary way of cutting might have been equal to him, but whenever he undertook to race with a man, he made a reserve that his competitor should cut as large a swath as himself and as good, which no one could do, and cut as fast as he could.
At a certain time in going with my compass and chain to take the distance across the Neversink river, to determine how long a bridge it would require to reach across it, at a place where it was contemplated to build it, I met Cuddeback, who asked me where I was going to survey. I told him to take the distance across the river, to ascertain how long a bridge it
123
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
would require to reach across it. He asked me if that could be done. I told him I could do it. This ap- peared to be new to him and somewhat mysterious. A few days afterwards I saw him again, when he told me that he had discovered how the distance could be taken across the river, and informed me of the manner in which it could be done. He differed some from one of the theories by which it was sometimes done, but embraced the same principle and was as correct to ascertain the distance as that theory generally prac- ticed where the land is level.
Having been commissioned captain of a company of militia at or before the commencement of the Revolu- tionary War, he had many duties to perform during the same in that official capacity ; for which, as well as a mechanic, he had very suitable abilities. He was bold, sagacious, prudent, and tenacious of his honor ; he also was humane to those in his power. The fol- lowing were some of his military services, to wit :
He was first stationed at Fort Montgomery to com- mand the men of his company, who from time to time had to take turns to serve as militia soldiers in that fort ; and, previous to the attack of the fort, on the day it was made, he was sent with a company across the river to prevent the enemy from loosening the chain which had been put across it. This chain ran through the centre of three successive logs, fast- ened round it to prevent it from sinking, and was put there to prevent the English ships from running up the river. On those logs the company crossed the river and watched at the end of the chain until sometime in the night after the fort had been taken, when, from some unknown cause, the men became frightened and
124
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
ran. He followed them a short distance, but could not find any of them. He staid there till morning, and was alone to defend the premises. After daylight he took a distant view of the English shipping ; had an invitation to come on board, with a promise of good usage. He went home.
At Cochecton, 40 miles distant through the woods from this neighborhood, some families continued to live, and for their own safety kept in friendship with the Indians as long as they dared. In the first instance when danger began to be apprehended of attacks from the enemy, the Committee of Safety sometimes sent Captain Cuddeback with a few men to Cochecton to procure what information he could relative to the In- dians, to discover whether there was any danger here of being attacked by them. In these scouts he had to be cautious to evade as much as possible the sight of the Indians, and entered that place secretly in the night, where at one or two houses he made secret in- quiry respecting the Indians, and in the same night left the place and returned back, and, in going and re- turning, tried to discover signs of Indians. After two or three such scouts the Indians made an attack, in 1777, on the family of a Mr. Sprague, and next year on the family of a Mr. Brooks, some of whom they killed and others were taken prisoners. These attacks made the Committee act with vigilance. Persons sus- pected of being inimical to their country's cause were apprehended and tried. One or more of those at Co- checton were complained of, whom the Captain, with a few men, fetched from that place. In one instance he had trouble to save his prisoner from the revengeful abuse of a Mr. Brooks, one of the family who had
125
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
suffered from the enemy as mentioned. The prisoner, to reward the Captain for interfering in his favor, pre- sented him with a very handsome powder-horn and bullet pouch. These were used by the Captain during the war and thereafter, together with one of the best of rifles.
When the enemy in 1778 invaded the Peenpack neighborhood, the Captain resided at the Gumaer fort and had the command of the men in it. In the first instance he ordered all the pitchforks in the barn to be brought into the fort to prevent its being scaled, and directed the women to put on the spare coats and hats in the house, and each of them to take a pitch- fork or other stick and put it on her shoulder. After being so equipped to appear like soldiers, he paraded all the men and the women back of the house and fort in single file, and, after the enemy came in sight, he ordered the drum to be beaten and marched them to the front side of the fort, where they all passed into it in view of the enemy, after which he ordered all the women and children to go into the cellar. Anna Swart- wout, a large, robust woman, widow of Major Swart- wout, asked permission to stay with the men in the fort to assist them, which was granted. She took one of the pitchforks to help defend the scaling of the fort, in case it should be undertaken. The enemy passed round the east side in open file at a distance out of gunshot ; a few guns, however, were fired, but ammunition was scarce and reserved for actual engage- ment ; balls were run the same day. As the enemy passed to where the barn intervened between them and the fort, the Captain and Jacob D. Gumaer went into it to prevent its being set on fire by them. Some of
.
126
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
the enemy in passing along the river came to a woman, who had fled, and told her to go and tell the women in the fort that hundreds of Indians would be there be- fore night, and if they wanted to save themselves they must leave the fort. This being done made a great scare among them, and some made ready to go out of it. The Captain ordered them all to stay in it, to which they quietly submitted. After the enemy had passed towards Fort De Witt, a little smoke was seen to rise on the roof of Cornelius Van Inwegen's house, which was about 60 or 70 rods distant from the fort. The Captain and Thomas White went and extinguished the fire, which had just begun to burn. It was said by certain tories, who returned after the war ended, that the enemy had such a good feast of victuals and cider at this house that they concluded not to burn it. The . fire must have originated from the act of a single indi- vidual, or the burning of the barn. At Fort De Witt the enemy took a station on a hill, in woods, within gunshot of the fort, and fired several volleys against the wall of the house and picket fort. After a few volleys were fired, Benjamin Cuddeback, a brother of the Captain, challenged the enemy to show themselves, and, although they were out of sight, he, with a long Esopus gun, heavily loaded, returned some shots, whereby they became about as much exposed to his firing as the inmates of the fort were to their firing. In returning they passed on the west, of the other fort,
where they tried to catch some of my father's horses; which his black man Jack happened to see, who step- ped out of the fort and shot, which started both horses and the enemy so as to let the horses go. A fire was returned at Jack, and the Captain pulled him back into
127
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
the fort. The enemy left, took some of the best horses, plundered and burnt houses and other buildings, and that day, went out of the neighborhood.
In July, 1779, after the lower neighborhood had been invaded by the enemy, and a corps of militia from Goshen and its vicinity who had volunteered to pursue the enemy arrived in that neighborhood, Capt. Cuddeback and some others out of this town joined in the pursuit, in which the officers, after having pro- ceeded to a distance from the neighborhood into the woods, began to have their consultations in respect to continuing or returning, also in respect to the best place to attack the enemy, in case of undertaking it. The opinions of Captain Tyler and Captain Cudde- back, who were acquainted with the path and woods, were had. Tyler proposed to make the attack where the enemy had to cross the Delaware river, and Cud- deback to make it in the night, where the enemy should lodge for their night's rest; there to fall on them un- awares, drive them from their prisoners and plunder, recover these and return homeward with them in the night.
Very reasonable objections were made to both these plans by the superior officers ; but, in case of attack, Tyler's plan was preferred by the officers generally, and was urged, as is well known, by very improper means.
In the battle, Cuddeback, with a dress of the color of the leaves, one of the best rifles and other equip- ments, and a very great marksman, was one of the most important fighting men of the corps, and remained on the fighting ground until after the retreat had com- menced, and until he saw he had to run to save his life,
128
HISTORY OF DEERPARK.
when he ran a short distance to one side of the course (the mass of men ran) where he squat down, cocked his rifle and kept ready to shoot any Indian who should happen to look at him, where he remained undiscov- ered by those who passed him until a large Indian, came slowly walking and looking round, at last turned his face towards him when he shot and again ran, and in coming to steep rocks he slid down the same on his back ; and when he came to a good place to hide he again hid and laid down. Here he remained until dark, and from thence in the night started for home.
The militia soldiers, like the Indians, fought from behind trees, stumps, rocks, etc. John Wallace, one of Cuddeback's militia company, kept near his Cap- tain at the different stations to which he was from time to time removed by his superior officers. At one of which Wallace received a slight wound, and in the flight made his escape but became separated from Cud- deback, and in returning home hunted through the woods and killed three deer. After Cuddeback had been home three days, Wallace unexpectedly arrived with three deer skins on his back, to the great joy of his wife and two children.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.