USA > New York > Orange County > Monroe > Chronicles of Monroe in the olden time : town and village, Orange County, New York > Part 12
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 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
A village library grew out of the first Debating Society, but it had only an ephemeral existence ; and a reading circle from the last. Both have merged into the Christian Endeavor and Epworth League, and it is hoped they may be longer lived, founded as they are on a religious basis.
-
CHAPTER XXIX.
LOVE OF LIBERTY AND PATRIOTISM.
M ONROE was forward in every good cause. Its people, male and female, were liberty-loving, patriotic, and aspiring after higher planes of order and right. This was well illustrated in the wish of one of its aged men that he could live to see constitutional liberty established throughout the world. As far back as 1808 the Fourth of July was observed in a public manner. A procession, civic and military, was formed at the upper village. Seventeen young
girls, dressed in white, rode in procession to the old church, Mr. Moffat heading the column, carrying a liberty-cap. Our informant, Mrs. Daniel Knight, said she rode beside Miss Galloway. The bonnets they wore stood out like a wheat-fan, and were tied down over their ears. The oration was delivered by her brother, Mr. John Brooks. In the evening there was a feast and merrymaking.
The next occasion of patriotic interest was the celebration of Greek independence in the year 1832. That brave people had succeeded in breaking the yoke of the unspeakable Turk, and every lover of liberty and classic fame sympathized with the strug- gling Greeks. The Rev. John White was the moving spirit in Monroe. He aroused the people to con-
180
181
Love of Liberty and Patriotism.
tribute, and considerable money was raised to aid the cause. A grand public meeting was held at the old historic church. Navarino bonnets, in honor of the decisive battle, were worn by all the ladies. The frame was of pasteboard, covered with ribbons and flowers to suit the taste. One of the old men de- clared that when he saw a woman dressed in one of them, it looked like a canoe coming.
A second Fourth of July celebration was held in Monroe in 1855. A procession was formed, with Mr. John Jenkins as marshal, dressed in an officer's uni- form of the olden times. It proceeded to the new Presbyterian church in the village, where an oration was delivered by Charles Winfield, Esq., in the presence of a large assembly. Refreshments were served by the ladies in the unfinished basement. A public ban- quet was given at Goff's Hotel, at which speeches were made, and the famous toast given, "The Mon- roe doctrine, the doctrine of Monroe."
Another occasion worthy of mention was the ob- servance of Centennial year - 1876. It was celebrated by an entertainment at the Presbyterian parsonage, consisting of an exhibit of relics of the ancient past, and an old-time supper at which the ladies appeared in Lady Washington caps and antique costumes. It was astonishing what an array of old things were brought out from garret and bureau. There were spinning-wheels for flax and wool, cards and combs, hatchel and break, brass candlesticks and snuff- dishes, andirons and bellows, a clock of the reign of Louis XIV, finger-rings and brooches, old silver and china, samplers and needlework, a warming-pan, foot- stove and old tinder-box and flint. Mrs. Dr. Gignoux contributed fine old miniatures of the family, and
182
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
Mrs. Alfred Hulse loaned the wardrobe of little Miss Nancy Brewster, a dwarf relative of her family, who was presented to General Washington, and received by him with marked favor. She was scarcely over three feet high; her slipper would fit a child of five or six years. This entire entertainment seemed to materialize the olden time with its modes of life, and bring the gray fathers and mothers, with their quaint attire and industries, in moving panorama before us.
This brings us to consider another illustration of the love of liberty and patriotism on the part of these people. As years rolled on, the institution of slavery came to be regarded more and more as a stain on the escutcheon of the country, as well as a blot on civili- zation. The question had been thoroughly discussed in the debating societies of the town, and although there were strong minds in favor of the constitutional recognition of it, yet sympathy would always lean to the side of the oppressed. The reading of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin " and Helper's volume on slavery kept alive the excitement. This cul-
The Sunday minated in the firing on Fort Sumter. when the news arrived the whole community was set ablaze. Flags were hoisted, groups of anxious men assembled, and plans and possibilities were discussed. When troops were ordered from West Point, and marched across the East Mountain and boarded the train with their cannon at Turners, the excitement reached its highest pitch. Then men enlisted in ear- nest. Monroe contributed the noblest of its sons.
This, of course, enlisted the profoundest love of mothers and sisters. One mother wished she had more sons to give. The ladies and children met to work in aid of the noble organizations which were
183
Love of Liberty and Patriotism.
looking after the welfare of the brave boys in the field. The school children scraped lint. The young people met and peeled fruit, dried and barreled it. Old linen and soft flannel were contributed; in short, everything that could minister to the sick or wounded. More than a thousand dollars' worth of useful articles were sent. And when the slaves began to come in, after the Emancipation Proclamation was published, supplies were sent to them; one good dame begging the outworn glasses, and putting them in the cases as helps to learn to read. After the victory at Gettys- burg there was a wild demonstration on the street. The Parrott gun which the patriotic had bought by subscription was brought out and hauled along the street, one of the prominent citizens mounting it amid wild huzzas. Afterwards it was fired. But the most satisfactory demonstration was when peace was pro- claimed. Then the whole village was illuminated. The event was celebrated by patriotic sermons and anthems of thanksgiving.
The recent war with Spain called out some of this latent patriotism, and the sympathies of the best people were with the administration in the endeavor to deliver the Spanish colonies from her inhuman and tyrannical government. . Flags were displayed, the national colors were worn by the citizens of the place, and the greatest enthusiasm was manifested when news of the illustrious victories of our army and navy arrived. Monroe was represented at the front by at least one volunteer - namely, Henry Brewster Car- penter, son of Ethan B. Carpenter, Jr. He was a member of Company F, 71st New York; he returned from Cuba, and died of fever in his native village, September 12, 1898.
CHAPTER XXX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, MILITARY AND CIVIC.
A MONG those who went to the war was John For- shee, born November 20, 1836, son of Barnard and Eliza Forshee. After studying medicine and serving as surgeon at the Sailors' Snug Harbor and on the Panama Steamship Line, he enlisted in the Army of the Potomac. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the 66th New York, and then surgeon in the 11th New York, with the rank of major. He was in all the battles of the Peninsula under Gen. McClellan. There, amid the marshes and during the forced march, he was taken with dysentery and came home to die. Among his last words were : " Who is in command ?" He died November 25, 1862, amid the gentlest of ministries from a loving mother and sisters. " After life's fitful fever he sleeps well."
Another young man of great promise who went to the war was J. Howard Brooks. He was the second son of John and Sarah Brooks. After his brother T. Benton had enlisted, he joined him in the field with Serrell's Topographical Engineers, operating in Ten- nessee and Kentucky. Afterwards he entered the ser- vice, and was with a company of sappers and miners at Petersburg, where he was shot while on the in- trenchments. He died a few hours afterward, during which he expressed the warmest yearning for his aged
184
185
Biographical Sketches, Military and Civic.
father and mother and sister at home. His death occurred August 9, 1864, aged twenty-four years, six months, two days.
The following lines are selected from a poem full of the deepest pathos, penned by his venerable father :
-
He loved his dear country, and prompt at her calling He laid all his home joys and fond hopes aside. He sought the front ranks, and there, bravely falling, A patriot brave and a martyr he died.
For the last time on earth on that manly stature, On that comely form and face, we have gazed ;
On that fair ensemble, and that noble nature, Which all who knew him and all who saw, praised.
We look for his coming when past the cars rattle ; We turn with fond look to the opening door ; Alas ! he comes not, he has fallen in battle.
Except in our dreams, we shall see him no more.
Then farewell to comfort while here we shall languish ; My hopes all lie buried with him that has died. My lot is to weep, my life is but anguish, Until I find rest in a grave by his side.
A neat monument was erected to this brave young soldier, a number of patriotic citizens taking this method of showing their sympathy for his memory and the cause in which he fell. On the occasion of its erection, General Thomas Francis Meagher uttered the sentiment : " Great cities have their ar- chitectural piles and mausoleums, but the true mon- uments of a rural community are her brave sons."
Major Thomas Benton Brooks says: "I had the good fortune to be born in Monroe, N. Y. (June 19, 1836), and, better still, to be the son of Sarah S. Ketchum and John Brooks. As if this were not good
24
186
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
luck enough for one person, the most intimate friend of my boyhood was my cousin, the late John H. Knight, whose superior, on the whole, I have never known." Benton received his early education in the district school, and it was most carefully supplemented at home. His first matriculation in the school of use- fulness was in assisting his father on his farm of fif- teen acres. He describes him as "an old-fashioned farmer of small means, who sometimes gathered his grain with a sickle, and cleaned it with the wind." At the age of thirteen he drove a yoke of big Devon oxen hauling sand, lime and stones for the " Granite House," which was erected for a homestead in 1849. The task which particularly tried the young farmer was the picking and burying of small stones on this emphati- cally stony farm. He also assisted his father in the work of surveying, and exercised his ingenuity in in- venting an instrument for the measurement of angles. With this goniometer, assisted by his young com- panions, he triangulated and mapped Knight's mill- pond, loving it better than any other sheet of water he ever knew 'twixt the Golden Gate and Golden Horn. When about sixteen years of age he taught the dis- trict school in Eagle Valley for three months, for the marvellous sum of ten dollars, " boarding round."
About this time the surveying party of a proposed railroad from New York to Oswego came up the Ramapo Valley, which he joined as axeman. After cutting his hand so badly that he could not swing the axe he was promoted to be chainman, and then rod- man. The projected road having fallen through, he entered the service of the Erie Company, and was first leveller and then transit-man while the double track was being constructed.
187
Biographical Sketches, Military and Civic.
From this he stepped to the position of assistant to the city surveyor of Paterson, N. J., at a salary of sixty dollars a month. About 1853 the Topographical and Geological Surveys of New Jersey were organized un- der Dr. Kitchell. Mr. Brooks applied for a position, but was offered nothing better than the place of axe- man at half the salary he was getting.
Though advised against it, he accepted the position. It was part of his duty to carry the heavy, awkward plane-table for the surveyor, and in doing this he had a chance to learn the use of the instrument by watch- ing the work closely. Plane-tables were at that time scarcely introduced into this country, and were used only on the Coast Survey, and there chiefly by for-
eigners. In this case the surveyor was an Austrian who was so dissipated that he soon became unfit to do the work. Within a few months Mr. Brooks suc- ceeded him as topographer, with geological duties, at sixty-five dollars per month, and retained the position until the work so injured his eyes that he had to give it up. The next winter found him in Florida, where he obtained work, first as linear land-surveyor, and then as " ordinary seaman," pulling an oar or the chain and recording observations for a United States Coast Survey party working on the Gulf of Mexico. He be- lieved he knew more about the use of the plane-table than did the chief of the party, who, however, did not seem to think so. Confidence in his own ability to "work his way up" always marked his career.
When the survey was finished he added an ex- perience to his life of which he often speaks as having been valuable and delightful. He shipped as " landsman " on a cotton-ship and "worked his pas- sage" home. There "I got my first taste of salt
-
188
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
water," he says, "and made the acquaintance of Jack Tar, with whom I have been on good terms ever since."
By this time he had come to the conclusion that surveying and engineering is a profession, and not a trade as was at that time believed by many. He entered the then recently organized School of En- gineering of Union College. A part of the two years' course he was instructor in field-work, and graduated in 1858 as civil engineer, taking the highest marks. The degree of M. A. was conferred upon him a few years later. It was the wish of his friend and pre- ceptor, Professor Gillespie, that Mr. Brooks should succeed him as head of the Engineering Department of Union College; and had Mr. Brooks been willing, he could undoubtedly have had the position.
During his college vacations he made a topographi- cal survey of the "Augusta tract," owned by the Lorillards and now the site of Tuxedo Park. He was assisted by his brother John Howard and his cousin Fletcher B. Brooks. This was followed by surveys of the great Stirling estate, and later by that of the large mountain iron and forest properties then known as the Greenwood and Ramapo, and others ex- tending along the Ramapo Valley from Monroe to Suffern, and from Greenwood Lake to near the Hud- son River. During this period he spent a winter (1858-59) in Philadelphia, attending lectures at the embryo School of Mines of the University of Penn- sylvania, where he received his strong bent for the study of rocks under the instruction of the poet-geol- ogist Prof. J. Peter Lesley, teacher and founder of Topographical Geology. This brings us to the period of the War of the Rebellion.
189
Biographical Sketches, Military and Civic.
After the disastrous battle of Bull Run he resolved to enlist, and did so as private in the 1st New York Volunteer Regiment of Engineers, Company A. He recruited a part of his own company in the mountains where he was best known, and from the number of those with whom his professional work had acquainted him, and excellent soldiers they were.
The records of the New York Commandery of the Loyal Legion, of which he is a companion, summa- rize his services thus :
Brevet-Col. Thomas Benton Brooks, U. S. V., was mustered into the service as 1st Lieutenant, Com- pany A, of 1st New York Volunteer Engineers (Col. Serrell's), September 10, 1861. Promoted to Captain, and later Aide-de-camp, with rank of Major, August 17, 1863; resigned October 6, 1864. Brevetted Lieut .- Col. U. S. Volunteer Engineers, March 13, 1865, for " distinguished services at the siege of Fort Pulaski, Georgia"; Brevet-Col. for " gallant conduct during the operations against Charleston, S. C., and meritorious services during the war." He had part in Dupont's expedition against Fort Royal, S. C. Served most of the war on the staff of Major-Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, including operations on Folly and Morris Islands, S. C .; was assistant engineer in the siege of Charles- ton, S. C., and reduction of Fort Wagner; served temporarily on the staff of Major-Gen. B. F. Butler, and was wounded at Drury's Bluff, Va., May, 1864. He was on cavalry duty with Gen. Gillmore against Confederate Gens. Morgan and Duke in Kentucky ; served as topographical engineer temporarily on the staff of Major-Gen. S. C. Carter in East Tennessee, also that of Major-Gen. A. E. Burnside. After the capture of Fort Wagner, S. C., he received the Sum-
.
190
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
ter medal. His reports are embodied in Gillmore's " Siege of Fort Pulaski and Siege of Charleston."
" He is one of the most noteworthy cases, of which there were so many, of extraordinary military capacity suddenly developed in young men whose training had heretofore been exclusively in civil pursuits." (John Hay, "Life of Lincoln," Vol. VII, p. 483.) Gen. Peter S. Michie, of West Point, in an address to the " Veteran Association of the Department of the South," says of him (see Brooklyn Proceedings, 1893, p. 27) :
"Unquestionably the central engineer in the siege of Fort Wagner, defending Charleston, is our gallant comrade Col. Brooks. Ordinary language cannot do justice to his self-sacrificing devotion in the dan- gerous and difficult service to which he was assigned, nor to the full measure of his manhood in its success- ful performance. Endowed with an active mind and extraordinary energy, with vigorous physical powers, these were continually drawn upon until he had almost reached the limit of human endurance. He was a most indefatigable worker, peculiarly fertile in ex- pedients and in emergencies, indifferent to personal danger when duty demanded it, and in every respect an inspiration to the whole command."
While serving at the siege of Petersburg, Va., his only brother, Lieut. John Howard Brooks, also of the New York Volunteer Engineers, fell while on duty in the trenches August 9, 1864. He was a gallant, accom- plished young officer who would have risen to distinc- tion in the army or in civil life. After this event, at the request of his parents, Col. Brooks resigned and re- sumed the practice of his profession. His first work was on the Geological Survey of New Jersey, this
191
Biographical Sketches, Military and Civic.
time under his valued friend Prof. Cook. While at work in the iron regions about Ringwood he became acquainted with Abram S. Hewitt, Peter Cooper and his son Edward, who owned the Ringwood estate. Through these gentlemen he was offered a position with the Trenton Iron Company, and had for a time general charge of the iron mines, acting also as pay- master. About this time he filled for a short time a similar position with the Greenwood Iron Company, under its late owner, Peter P. Parrott. He laid out the "new road " from the O'Neal mine to Greenwood furnace. Messrs. Cooper and Hewitt induced him to go to the iron regions of Lake Superior in the interests of the Iron Cliff Company, which owned a vast property near Marquette, Mich., with head- quarters at Negaunee. The Hon. Samuel J. Tilden was president of the company. Col. Brooks was made vice-president and manager. He remained three years with this company, surveying, buying, building and running charcoal furnaces and opening mines.
He married, January, 1867, his schoolmate Hannah Hulse, daughter of Albert P. Hulse and Harriet Tut- hill. Their children were Howard (died at Munich, Germany); Stella, wife of Rufus S. Woodward; Alfred, assistant geologist on the United States Survey, now (1897) on leave of absence to attend the International Geological Congress in Russia; Hildegard, born in Dresden, reclaimed for her country by the Union flag which was hung over her cradle; and Mary Potter.
He now entered on private work as prospector and mining engineer. Soon after he took charge of the Economic State Survey in the iron region of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
192
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
In 1873 he took his family abroad for several years. Though broken in health, he took much unfinished State work with him. In London and Dresden he completed his reports on the Michigan and Wisconsin iron regions, returning several times to America on professional duties. Fred. J. Knight was with him in the field and in Dresden, assisting him in topographi- cal, magnetic, and geological work. At this time he was made a fellow of the Geological Society of Lon- don, and corresponding member of the Geological So- ciety of Edinburgh.
In 1876 he brought his family to Monroe for a winter, and then moved to Balmville, north of New- burg, New York, where he bought "Glen Hathaway" on the Hudson. He said of the place : "It is a little Cosmos. I have never seen another seventeen acres with more varied attractions."
When his wife's serious illness and his own failing health no longer permitted him to continue his pro- fessional duties, he turned his attention to farming. He bought Oak Grove Farm in New Windsor, and moved there in 1883, soon after the death of his wife. When he became obliged to spend the winters in the South for his health, he interested himself in stock- raising in southwest Georgia. With his friend and business associate, Professor Pumpelly, he bought, or, rather, built up, by several purchases, Roseland plan- tation, eight and one half square miles, in Decatur County, Georgia. Their idea that the best use to make of the worn-out cotton and forest lands of the South is to turn them into pasture was at that time a new one. He still finds log-cabin life in the Piney Woods healthful, delightful, and economical, charac- terized as it is by the pleasure of riding and driving,
193
Biographical Sketches, Military and Civic.
by the cheer of the sunny climate, and of the "light- wood " fires on the hearth.
In 1887 he married Miss Martha Giesler, a Prussian lady, and in 1889 the whole family went abroad for two years, for the education of the children. The major, being a true Cincinnatus, takes time to write articles for the public journals, giving the world the benefit of his scientific and practical observations and experiences through a life of varied and remarkable activity. Had he not broken down in health before middle age, he might have achieved great things.
Benjamin W. Thompson was the second son of the Rev. John J. Thompson, pastor of the Presbyterian church of Monroe, New York. He was born in Middletown, New York, in 1833. After school-days he entered the employ of his brother-in-law, Mr. Chauncey B. Knight. His health failing, he went to Florida, and engaged as tutor in the family of Col. F. L. Dancy, State Engineer, residing on his planta- tion at Orange Mills, on the St. John's River. Here he remained one year, when, his health having been restored by the soft air and out-of-door exercise, he removed to Jacksonville in the same State, and en- tered the store of Mr. Little as clerk. In August, 1856, when the yellow fever broke out and a large proportion of the people fled, he, with a number of other devoted young men, offered his services to the alcalde of the city to nurse the sick. He re- mained on duty at Camp Detention until the plague subsided. A vacancy occurring in the branch house at Fernandina, Florida, Mr. Thompson was chosen to fill it; but, pending the negotiations, he discovered that the firm included the sale of liquor in their business. To this his conscience would not allow his
25
194
Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time.
consent. When they yielded to his conscientious scruples, dropping both the sale of liquor and Sunday traffic; he entered the firm, and did a flourishing busi- ness under the style of Ellis, Macdonough and Thompson.
About this time Mr. Thompson became interested in the building of a Presbyterian church at Fer- nandina, of which he was chosen elder and Sunday- school superintendent. His sister, Miss Caroline Thompson, came South, and while engaged in teach- ing became his companion and most efficient co- laborer.
His health becoming impaired, he resigned his business and rested awhile; but as soon as his strength would admit, he started business again with J. D. Gould, of Delhi, New York, in Fernandina.
In January, 1861, the legislature passed the Or- dinance of Secession, when a new epoch commenced in the life of Mr. Thompson and his sister. At once active military operations were begun. Every able- bodied man over nineteen years of age was required to report for daily drill, unless enrolled in some mili- tary company. As the latter seemed to offer less annoyance, he, with other Northern men, joined such a company. But he soon discovered he had fallen into a trap; for the order was published that such companies must enter the service of the State, under penalty of confiscation of goods. Now came the crisis. A reign of terror prevailed after the fall of Sumter, which made it expedient for Northern peo- ple to flee. Mr. Thompson disposed of his goods, and with his sister and several others ran the gauntlet amid great perils, reaching the Northern lines in safety. He now went to Port Byron, New York,
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.