USA > New York > Delaware County > Delaware County, New York, history of the century, 1797-1897, centennial celebration, June 9 and 10, 1897 > Part 14
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especially it they did not like the minister. Two neighbors, whose names 1 withhold out of respect to their descendants, had disagreements, of the most deadly kind. One was a piller in the church and the other a sheper outside. The minister, the Rov. Jas. Douglas, merting the non-chneh-goer. remarked that his parishoner's conduct was devilish. " Devilish, it is dammable sir, it I- damnalde." But the minister had done an unconcious missionary work, and the next Sunday his congregation was increased in attendance by one. Not a- Mr. A. B. Douglas once said to me, " that he loved Rome less, but he bated his neighbor more. " This was but the outside of a kind, portie nature that few could understand. Somewhere over the hills and out of sight. there was a garden of wild native flowers that best declared their worth. Delaware county owes them a debt which she can never pay. Their life and spirit have survived the century and live in the noldest manhood of the present. There were two forces in the Delaware of my day for which I am profoundly grate- Inl, the church and village academy. The ministers were men of more than ordmary ability. Forest, Laing. Douglas, Graham and Wilson had bound their sheaves and were going through the gates. Gibson and Lee were the first preachers I ever heard, and in the maturer judgement of all these years. I regard them still as men of exceptional power. The common schools were inferior, but the village academies gave some of ns an opportunity which otherwise had never come. Andes, Delhi, Stamford and Roxbury, were educational centres. I as a boy of fifteen, walked twice a week to Andes, a distance of ten miles. For five days instruction it was no easy task, but under the tuition of Wm. Wight and Peter Smeallie it paid a thousand times. There was once a family intercourse among the good people of Delaware, which I suspect has largely become a thing of the past. The old barriers have been swept away, and Delaware county has met and absorbed a newer civilization. Our fathers are fast becoming more names to he talked about.
" Each in his narrow cell forever laid The rude forefathers of the hamlet sloop. "
But what they were cannot die. Their accents live in other voices and their fotslogs are the paths by which we walk. The walled mountains are their monument-, and the integrity of their sons their highest eulogy. The absent salute yon, and as we stand by this well of common recollection. let us drink deep and long to the honor of old Delaware, and the mon of one hundred vrar- ngo.
A river drar as life to me. From out the mountains finds the sea. And oft in thought I wander there. Along the banks of Delaware.
The mountains gaze in sombre fare. Upon the waters in their raee. A- if they watched in constant prayer. .The dear old banks of Delaware.
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Along those banks.on dusty bed, There sleeps in peare my cherished dead. Unvexed by toil or troublons care They rest upon the Delaware.
And when the race of life is run, One hoon Lask and ask but one- That I with them a grave may share Upon the banks of Delaware.
Letter from Rev. A. S. Kedzic.
OF GRAND HAVEN, MICH.
While thankful for an invitation to attend the celebration of Delaware. county's Centennial, it is too long a journey for one of my age, four score and ten.
I would like to revisit the scenes of my boyhood in Stamford and Delhi. The earliest of these is readily recalled, being the building by my father of a stone milkhouse in Stamford, eighty years ago this month, to facilitate his dairying.
It must have been about the year of your county organization when my grandmother Kodzie, whose family in 1795 found a home in what soon became Delaware county, found herself in Catskill, before Landlord Steele established his line of stages to that town, trying on an autumnal Saturday afternoon to persuade a Delhi neighbor to delay his return home till Monday, offering to pay his hotel bill so that she, refusing to travel on the Sabbath day, might ride home with him. He pleaded his business and went home. She went to church, and having bought a supply of tracts, spent Monday and Tuesday in tract distribution while on her way home on foot.
I recall what I suppose was the dedication of the Masonic Temple in Delhi ( now the Kingston hotel building ) the year forgotten. My brother James and I were permitted to go from our home on the " New Patent " in Delhi town- ship to see the Masonic procession. In doing so we passed the field our father was " summer fallowing" and with amazement admired his industry, when instead of such work he could have a day's fun at the village. In that Masonie procession the thing I most vividly remember was the reverent way Mr. Knapp, familiarly known as Father Knapp, carried the open Bible through the street.
When my father removed his family from Stamford to Delhi, we attended worship in Rev. Mr. Maxwell's church below Delhi.
Gen. Root, Judges Parker and Sherwood, the merchant, Herman D. Gould, the surveyor, Mr. Hathaway. the batter, Mr. Thurber, Mr. Penfield and his blacksmith shop. Robert Hyde with his trowels, Gurdon Edger- ton and Mr. Steele with their hotels, Judge Foote in his home law office are prominent figures in the gallery of my early recollections.
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Delaware's anti-rent war and anti-masonic politics came later, awakening discussion and stirring society to its profoundest depths.
Among the traditions of my boyhood is a theological discussion hold in .. Edgerton's tavern " by Lorenzo Dow with Gen. Root and Mr. Bush. When asked for his idea of Heaven, Mr. Dow promptly replied: " It is a vast "thereal plane in which there is neither a Root nor a Bush, and I fear never will he. "
One of my early attractions was the annual meeting of the Delaware county Bible Society, held each winter in the old court house, whose two pillars were trimmed with evergreens. In one such meeting Rov. Robert Forrest arose in his stately manner and said : " I have been a member of this society for ten years and am so pleased with its work in distributing the Word of God, that as a thank-offering I give ten dollars to its treasury. "
There was a day's fun every autumn for us boys in attending Regimental Training, with its gay sights and appetizing gingerbread; also, with the regiment formed in a "hollow square" in its season of prayer led by Rev. Mr. Maxwell, whose hat was reverently placed upon the bass drum covered with a black cloth ; all concluded with inspiring strains of martial music, a grand march up the town's main street and a scurrying home of us boys, tired but well paid by a day's fun.
My early recollections are of the Delaware Gazette, whose columns on or about September, 1829, made record of my father's death, written by Rev. Dr. Maxwell. Seventy years ago the Gazette was wont to come to our home in the wilderness of Michigan with the refreshment of " good news from a far wountry, " though its " news by the last ship from Europe " was a month oht; vet the Gazette, even to the advertisements was eagerly read by the whole family.
This hasty recital of a few things of the long-ago times brings to mind the fact that Delaware county in the first century of its history has only and 1 trust fully shared in the progress, which by invention and discovery through -team and electricity has made this a new world.
. Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
P. S .- The descendants of my grandfather Kedzie have held residence in Delaware county during all the years of its organized history, And those of us who have strayed far away still holl some claim to such connection with ok Delaware, even though we declined the environment of its close-abutting hills.
My careless, and as I now recall it, joyous boyhood in Stamford and Delhi, seem almost like a former existence, as all this world will soon seem to be to me. And of the world I hope then to have as pleasant recollections as I now have of your justly proud county, aged one hundred years.
I hope the historian of your celebration will be able to show the steps and rerount the toils and troubles by which Delaware, in fields and homes, in schools and churches, in reforms and politics, came, within a century, to reach its honorable standing among the counties of the Empire state despite all hindrance of hills, which with all their ruggedness are still dear to muy
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Remarks of General Amasa J. Parker, OF ALBANY, N. Y.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : It is a matter of great pleasure to me to be with you here in my native village, upon this occasion, and to join with the sons and danghters of old Delaware in celebrating the Centennial of her life. Such a celebration could not be inaugurated and carried through hy an inert or slothful people. That would be impossible! On the contrary, such a celebration can only have its conception and being among an active and aggressive population, proud of its past history and achievements as well as ambitious for future growth and renown. Not only is a Centennial of this character to be appreciated for reviving the past and for the expression of hopes for the future, but for the social and neighborly intercourse among the people brought together from all parts of the county.
The history of this county which will be laid before you at this time, the facts which will be brought to light, the duties which will be taught, will in a great measure tell upon the character of every one who takes part in this interesting celebration. Those who are here will. returning to their homes, impart newly gained knowledge to others and thus much that was almost for- gotten in the land will be revived and stamped upon the memories of a new generation.
While considering the past of this county we cannot overlook the fact that it has contributed its full share toward the building up of our great State and Nation and that her sons have ever loyally fought for the integrity and honor of the country.
Well may we here to-day renew the memories of our forefathers' days, for our own good and the lessons taught. They were days of trial and want, of courage, devotion and sacrifice. The steadiness, thrift, economy and industry of those days was in strong contrast with these days of luxury. extravagance and speculation. For one. I should hail most heartily much more simplicity and carnestness in every day life, withont, in any degree, detracting from the spirit and life of true progress.
I am here from busy surroundings for but a few hours to record myself as present and join in these festivities. Personally I prefer to listen and ponder, rather than talk minch upon this occasion. Besides many are here and rach one should have an opportunity to speak. Richly cherished memories crowd upon nie in these surroundings. Though taken by my parents to Albany when about a year old I was here in this village many times in my boyhood and enjoyed many a ramble or drive among the hills and in the valleys of Del- aware county. My few latest trips, say during the last twenty-five years. have been sad ones when dear friends or elders of my kin have been laid at rest.
This county has ever held a warm place in my affections and my parents early inspired me with their love for its generous, intelligent, cultured. God- fearing and prosperous people. Many of those I prized here in my youth and those who became my friends in later years, beginning with school and college
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County Build nas Te- rated for the Cer terr id
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days, from Delaware county, are very dear to my memory and nearly all of them have already passed over the dark river into the life eternal.
May the Great Ruler of all who doeth all things well and who has show- erod his blessings upon us in the past, continue His protection and direction for all time.
Remarks of Mayor J. H. Mitchell, OF COHOES, N. Y.
MIR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : It is not without considerable trepidation that I, a physician, respond to your call for a speech on this vera- sion, especially in the presence of so many lawyers as alfound at this county seat and who are presumably better titted by trade and training for this than I. And it is fair to assume that they are more fitted by natural predilection and training for this task, for I once heard of a father and mother (up here in the hills of Delaware or somewhere) who wished to educate and prepare one of their sons for the greatest influence in life of which he was capable. They thought it necessary to ascertain his natural bent or inclination, believing that they would attain larger and surer success by educating him along this line. So they left him alone in a room in which had been placed an orange, a dollar and a Bible, and they said : " Now if on our return we find that he has taken the orange we will make a farmer, an agriculturist of him. If he has preferred the dollar we will educate him for a business man, a financier. If he has taken to the Bible we will make him a preacher." Returning after a few minutes they opened the door and found Johnnie sitting on the Bible, eating the orange and with the dollar in his pocket. The old farmer ex- «laimed : " Mary Jane that boy is a hog, we'll make a lawyer of him." I give that to the lawyers just to allay my nervousness. Seriously, ladies and gen- tlemen, I congratulate you on this occasion which you celebrate, and as 1 address you my heart fills with pride and pleasure for, Mr. Chairman, I doom it not only a pleasure but a privilege to be with you all to-day. I am proud that I am a son of of Delaware county, and when I look into the faces of my od associates many are the recollections of by-gone happy days that flash vividly before my memory, and as these rocollections appear before me I feel like repeating poetry and song :
Backward, turn backward. oh time in your flight, And make me a child again just for to-night.
*
If it he at all times discreditable to man's character to fail in patriotic love and loyalty to the land of his nativity, how much more inexcusable such recreaney is in a son of old Delaware county. Where in all the broad land can we find a locality offering so much to appeal to patriotic love and pride as this county presents to her sons and daughters. Her climate, so salubrious, so varied, always stopping short of uncomfortable extremes in winter or in sum- mer. Her physical geography and landscape, scenery, hills and valleys, a happy medium always between the rugged, rocky and often barren mountains on the one hand, and monotonous levels on the other.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Her pure perennial springs, purling rills and stately rivers, the fertility of her soil; nowhere else do we find the carpeting of the valleys and the drapery of the hillsides more delightfully verdant with grass, or more beautifully bespangled with flowers, and nowhere else do we find more various, more beautiful or more stately woods than those which are indigenous to her soil, and which frieze and embroider the landseape on every hand. Agriculturally, a country especially adapted to grazing and dairying. her pastures clothed with Hocks, her eattle on a thousand hills, add interest to the scenes to mem- ory dear. The agricultural products such as milk, butter, eggs and maple sugar are those which will always find a market in the great cities of the east not far away, while the character of the climate, the nature of the soil and the purity of the water are such as make these products the best on the market, untainted by garlick, ragwood or a thousand other noxious and deleterious weeds which grow in other sections. These advantages afford greater stabil- ity in the prices of his products and value of property and a more sure reward for his toil to the farmer of Delaware county than to those of other sections of our great country. Delaware county has not suffered as have other sections of our land from the stringeney and depression of the last few years. Then, the people of this generation, as we remember them (and we trust they may always continue to be) were a self-respecting, God-fearing, church-going raee who reared their children and sent them forth into all departments of human life in the world, inspired, athletie, girded and panoplied ; and we think we may safely affirm that the children of old Delaware county wherever they may have gone and in the midst of whatever opportunities and responsibilities they may have been tested, they have proven themselves exceptionally true and strong in all that goes to make up a noble and useful manhood or a beautiful and lovely womanhood. And this, after all, is the highest purpose which a com- munity like old Delaware subserves, to furnish men-fresh, pure, strong manhood. Look down the roll of great men who in all departments of human thought and enterprise have attained distinction and have achieved success, especially as heroes and benefactors of the race. Begin with that old history, the Bible, follow down the ages to the present time, traee the biographies of the great men, the successful men, in all walks of life to-day, and note how large a proportion of them came from the influence and environments of rural and agricultural communities. This can all be explained, but that is not my purpose here nor have I time to do so. Enough it is to note the fact, and remember that there is no more advantageous sphere in which to rear a family of boys and girls and attain the highest results to which any wise parent would aspire than that this county furnishes, viz., character, not wealth. nor fame necessarily, but manhood and womanhood. And never was there greater need and demand for this product so peculiarly indigenous to old Delaware than to-day.
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth areumulates and men decay, Prines and Jords may flourish or may fado, A breath can make them, as a breath has made. But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When onee destroyed, can never be supplied.
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Letter from Hon. David Murray, LL.D.,
OF NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.
It is with great regret that I am compelled to abandon my wish to be present at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the political organi- zation of Delaware county. A century seems like a long period in the history of any civil body : but when at its completion we look back upon its rounded years, it counts for comparatively little. In a certain sense the whole period can be spanned within my own experience. Thus, the political life of General Erastus Root reaches back to the very origin of Delaware county. He was a Member of Assembly, representing the county in 1798 the second year of its organization. And yet when I was a school boy at Delaware Academy, 1 remember perfectly his venerable figure as he used to sit on the veranda of his house opposite the old Academy building. To us he seemed a most inter- esting and picturesque old man. He was fond of gathering us about him, and as was his wont, teasing us and telling us stories. He was the President of the Board of Trustees of the Academy, and as such he was a person of great importance, and considerable terror to our little community. He was nearly always present at the examination of our classes, and used to frighten us very much by the learned questions he used to put to us in our Latin and other studies. It was with a kind of awe that it was whispered among us that in his youth he had published an arithmetic, which for a time held its place beside those of Pike and Daboll.
My friend, the late Judge Parker, of Albany, told me a story of General Root which I have never seen in print, and which you will perhaps pardon me if I here insert : In the early days of Delaware county, when General Root was a member of the Legislature, the route from Albany to Delhi was by stage down the west side of the Hudson to Coxsackie, and thence out over the Cats- kill mountains to the Delaware river. On one of these trips the stage was upset and General Root had his leg broken. He was detained at the poor little village many weeks, while his leg was mending. Judge Parker, who had then taken up his residence at Albany, went down to visit him during his con- valescence and found him in a most irritable and impatient frame of mind. It must be understood that at that time very many of the inhabitants of Cox- sackie, being descendants of the Dutch settlers, spoke little except Dutch. General Root complained bitterly of his forlorn and wearisome condition. "Think of it," said he, "here Iam in this miserable, God-forsaken hole; with nobody to talk to and nobody to drink with; and if I were to die here and be buried among these Dutchmen, when I rise at the resurrection I will not be able to understand a damned word which these Hollanders have to say."
I have referred to the Delaware Academy in connection with General Root; but one cannot recall this venerable institution at that day without bringing to mind its accomplished Principal, Rev. Daniel Shepard. You cannot appropriately celebrate the past century of Delaware county without making mention of him who rendered so great and so valuable a service 10 this community. His tine scholarship, his apt and attractive methods of
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teaching, his graceful and attractive personalty, and his pure and manly character made him the idol of the students and the pride and honor of the town.
I confess to a kind of, gratification in belonging to that interesting section of the people of Delaware county which we may denominate the Scotch contin- gent. You will agree with me, I am sure, that no part of the settlers of this county has contributed more to its solid growth and prosperity. In reading the annals of Drumtochty, which Ian Maclaren has so inimitably sketched in the Bonnie Brier Bush, I have often thought that here in your very midst was a Scotch clement which only needed such a hand of genius to make equally Immortal.
Delaware county received its first installment of Scotch immigrants before the richer regions of Western New York, or the still more fertile and attractive territories of Ohio, and the farther West was open to settlement. They came here because the hills, the streams and the valleys reminded them of their clear old homes in Scotland. They brought with them their churches, their - schools and their love of political and religious liberty ; and they have here helped to build up intelligent, honest and God-fearing communities, which have made this county a synonym for all that is best and most substantial.
There have been three periods of trial through which this county has been called to pass in attaining her present standpoint. The first of these was the Revolutionary period. This was indeed over before the separate history of the county was begun ; but the patriotie qualities of the heroes of that day were submitted to a sharp test. . The second period was the Anti-Rent episode, which in 1845 6 stirred the county to its angry depths. And yet out of the excitement and tragedies of that time the character of its population has sur- vived unharmed. A third period of trial eame when in common with all the North, you were called upon to put down the great Rebellion of 1861-5. Even yet there are hearts in this community which are wrung with pain at the recollection of the sacrifices which they were called upon to make at that time. Of the hundreds of husbands and sons who were given up to join in that terri- hle confliet, how many are sleeping in unknown graves? and of the thinning ranks who still survive, how many are carrying with them perpetual memen- tors of their battles, their marches and their oncampments? And yet out of all these heavy trials who does not recognize that this noble and stalwart county has by means of them been chastened to a higher destiny, and to-day at the end of her first century, stands more conspicuously strong and vigorous than ever before.
As one of her loyal sons, who has enjoyed the high privilege of having heen horn and fostered within her territory, I desire to-day to join with others equally loyal, in celebrating her centennial anniversary, and in extending to her our congratulations upon the past century of success, and in wishing to her in the future the same allotment of good fortune and prosperity.
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Remarks of J. 1. Goodrich, Esq.,
OF DELHI, N. Y.
MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW CITIZENS : Ninety-seven years ago my grand- father. Isaac Goodrich, who had been a soldier of the Revolution, with his family and his brother Jared with his family came to Delaware county. lo settled in the town of Delhi at a place now called Debances, then being a part of Delhi the town of Hamden not having been formed till twenty-five years afterward. At this time my father, Hiram B. Goodrich, was eight years of age, and when he arrived at the age of twenty-one years he enlisted as a sol- dier in the war of 1812 and continued in the service until the close of the war.
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