USA > New York > Schenectady County > Gazetteer and business directory of Albany & Schenectady Co., N.Y., for 1870-71 > Part 16
USA > New York > Albany County > Gazetteer and business directory of Albany & Schenectady Co., N.Y., for 1870-71 > Part 16
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The Cohoes Gas Light Company was incorporated in 1853, with a capital of 850,000. The present works are located on the Champlain Canal, and have a capacity for producing 280,000 cubic feet daily.
The Cohoes Water Works Company was incorporated in 1856. Its management is in the hands of Water Commissioners, ap- pointed by the City Board of Aldermen. The water is elevated to the reservoir from the upper canal of the Cohoes Company. The reservoir now in course of construction will cover an area of six acres.
GUILDERLAND was formed from Watervliet, Feb. 26. 1803. A portion of the City of Albany was annexed in 18:0. It lies near the center of the north border of the County. The surface is very uneven. In the west part the Helderberghs rise to a hight of 800 feet above the general level of the valleys. The central part is undulating, and the eastern part is occupied by numerous sand ridges. The principal streams are the Norman's Kil and its branches, Bozen Kil, Black Creek, Wildehause Kil and Hunger Kil. The lower course of the Norman's Kil in this town is through a narrow ravine with steep clayey banks. The soil is light and sandy in the east, and a gravelly loam mixed with clay in the west. A mineral spring is found on the farm formerly owned by Wm. McGowan.
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Guilderland, (p. v.) known also as "Hamiltonville," is situated in the eastern part, on the Hunger Kil, and contains three church- es, viz., Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman Catholic ; two dry goods stores, a flouring and feed mill, a cotton factory, a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, a marble shop and about fifty dwell- ings.
A glass factory was erected here in 1792, and the next year the State loaned the proprietors £3,000 for eight years, three years without interest and five years at five per cent. The place was at this time known as Glass House, In 196 the ground was laid out into streets and lots, under the name of Hamilton, and it was proposed to establish a manufacturing town. To encourage the project the Company and workmen were exempt from taxation for five years. In 1815 the works were discontinued for the want of fuel.
Guilderland Center, (p. v.,) on Black Creek, contains two stores, several mechanic shops and about twenty houses.
Knowersville, (p. v.) in the western part, contains a hotel, a store, several mechanic shops and about a dozen dwellings. A tavern was kept here during the Revolution, by Jacob Acker. There was also a factory in 1800.
Dunnsville, (p. o.,) in the northern part, is a hamlet.
Guilderland Station, (p. o.) in the south part, is a station on the Albany and Susquehanna R. R.
French's Mills, near the center, received its name from Abel French, who erected a factory here in 1800. Clothing works were erected here in 1795, by Peter K. Broeck. "Spafford's Gazetteer," published in 1813, says, Guilderland contains a " fac- tory where are made 500,000 feet of window glass annually." There are a hundred looms in families which make annually about 25,000 yards of cloth for common clothing." During the Revolution a portion of the inhabitants adhered to the British, and the feuds which grew up between families and neighbor- hoods continued for a long time. The news of Burgoyne's sur- render was celebrated by the Whigs by burning a hollow chest- nut tree on a hill, a barrel of tar having previously been poured down its trunk.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. John's,) was organized October 13, 1787. Heinrich Moeller was the first pastor.
State Road M. E. Church was organized in 1864 by E. E. Tay- lor, with thirty members. John N. Short was the first pastor. A house of worship was erected in 1865 at a cost of nearly $4,000. Its seating capacity is 300. The present membership is 61, and the present pastor is D. Brough.
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The population in 1865 was 3,207, and the area 32,381 acres
There are 14 school districts. employing the same number of teachers. The number of children of school age is 1,216; the number attending school 818; the average attendance 336, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year end- ing September 30th, 1869, was $9,249.78.
KNOX, named from John Knox, the Reformer, was formed from Bern, February 28, 1822. It is the north-west corner town of the County. Its surface consists of a high plateau region, broken by a few small hills. Its eastern part constitutes a portion of the Helderbergh region, but the declivities are gradual and give the surface a moderate inclination towards the north and west. The principal streams are the Bozen Kil, form- ing a part of the eastern boundary, and its branches, and the Foxen Kil and Beaver Dam Creek in the south part. There are two caves, supposed to be of considerable extent, about one and a fourth miles north of Knoxville. The soil is chiefly gravel and clay, with hardpan underneath. The Albany & Sus- quehanna Railroad extends through the north-east part of the town.
Knoxville (Knox p. o.) was formerly known as "Union Street," and is still locally called " The Street."
West Township, (p. o.,) East Township and Peoria, (West Bern p. o.,) on the line of Bern, are small villages.
This town was settled by Germans before the Revolution. During the war the people became divided in politics, and after the defeat of Burgoyne, many of the Tory families went to Canada. Captain Jacob Van Aernden was an active leader of the Whigs of this section during the war. Samuel Abbot and Andrew Brown, from Connecticut, settled in the town in 1789, and soon after twenty or thirty families came in from the same State. The first church was a Reformed Protestant Dutch.
The population in 1865 was 1,809, and the area 25,587 acres.
There are 12 school districts, employing the same number of teachers. The number of children of school age is 532; the number attending school, 436 ; the average attendance, 173, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year end- ing September 30, 1869, was 83,188.45.
NEW SCOTLAND was formed from Bethlehem, April 25, 1832. It is the central town of the County. The eastern and central parts are high and rolling, with occasional isolated hills and ridges, and the western border is occupied by the Hel- derbergh Mountains. The principal streams are Norman's Kil,
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in the north-east corner, and Vly Creek, its principal tributary ; Vlaman's Kil, in the east part, and Oneskethau Kil, in the south part, with several smaller streams, tributaries of these. Upon the side of Bennett Hill, in the south-west part, is a strong sul- phur spring. Near Clarksville are two caves, extending re- spectively one-eighth and one-half mile under ground. Streams flow through each of them. The outlet of Lawson's Lake, in the south-west part, about a mile from the lake, falls into a deep cavity and flows for half a mile in a subterranean passage, and in its course receives a considerable tributary. Within this cav- ity are found beautiful stalactites and thousands of bats cling- ing to the walls and roof. At the northern foot of Copeland Hill, near the same locality, are remarkable sink holes, from five to eight feet in diameter, and extending down through the soil and lime rock, to the depth of from ten to twenty feet. These cavities are connected at the bottom by a subterranean stream. This passage has been explored and is found to con- tain several rooms of considerable size. Some years ago a no- torious thief used. this cavity as a depository for stolen goods, and for a long time eluded the vigilance of those who were searching for him. He was at length tracked to his hiding place and the existence of the cavity was made known. The soil is a gravelly loam mixed with clay. The Albany and Sus- quehanna, and the Hudson and Saratoga Railroads extend through the north-east part of the town, the latter connecting Schenectady and Athens. Hay is extensively raised in this town.
Clarksville, (p. v.,) in the south-west part of the town, con- tains two churches, viz : Reformed and Methodist ; three hotels, four stores, two saw mills, a grist mill, a shoe shop, a harness shop, two carriage shops, two blacksmith shops, a meat market, a milliner shop, an undertaker's shop and 250 inhabitants.
Bennett's Mills, at this place, contain three runs of stones and have a capacity for grinding 200 bushels per day. The saw mill has a capacity for sawing 6,000 feet per day.
Gardner's Saw Mill, run by water from a living spring near by, has a capacity for sawing 3,000 feet daily.
Clarksville Division, No. 251, Sons of Temperance, was organized in 1867, and now numbers 67 members.
Oneskethau, locally known as "Tarrytown," about one and a half miles south of Clarksville, is a hamlet, and contains a Re- formed church, a school house, a store and a blacksmith shop. There are two saw mills about a mile east of Tarrytown.
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Callanan's Corners, in the south-east corner, contains a store. a shoe shop, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop and fifteen dwel- lings. There is a saw mill about a mile west of this place.
New Scotland, (p. v.,) in the north-east part, contains a Pres- byterian church, a hotel, a school house, a blacksmith shop. two carriage shops, a harness shop, a shoe shop, a grocery and about a dozen houses.
Feura Bush, (Jerusalem p. o.,) two miles south of Unionville, on the line of Bethlehem, contains a Reformed church. a hotel. a store, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop and about a dozen houses. It is a station on the Hudson and Saratoga Railroad.
Unionville, (Union Church p. o.,) east of the center, contains a Reformed church, a hotel, a store, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop and about fifty inhabitants.
New Salem, (p. v.,) at the foot of the Helderbergh Hills, in the west part, contains two churches, viz : Reformed and Meth- odist, two hotels, three stores, two harness shops, a shoe shop, a milliner and dress making shop, a tailor shop, a saw mill and about 200 inhabitants.
New Salem Division, No. 254, Sons of Temperance, was organ- ized in November 1867. There are 90 members.
Wolf Hill, on the Helderbergh Hills, west of the center of the town, is a post office.
Voorheesville is a post office about half a mile west of New Scotland Depot.
New Scotland Division, No. 192, Sons of Temperance, meets at this place. It was organized in March 1870, and now numbers 40 members.
New Scotland Mutual Insurance Company was organized May 26, 1854, and was re-organized in 1861. The present officers are Robert Moak, President ; D. V. S. Raynsford, Vice President ; Robert Taylor, Secretary and Treasurer; Robert Moak, Philip Luke and Robert Taylor are the Executive Committee.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery Association was organized March 6, 1864, with the following officers : Nathan N. Ward, President : John B. Taylor, Vice President; Robert Taylor, Secretary ; Robert Moak, Treasurer. The Cemetery is located about a mile east of the village of New Salem, on the plank road. It ocen- pies a fine site and is neatly laid out.
Onesquethau Union Cemetery Association was organized in 1867. The first officers were Rushmore Bennett, President; Jeremiah Meed, Vice President; Hiram Crounse, Secretary; Hiram B. Meed, Treasurer. The present officers are John E. Vandeusen,
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President ; Hiram Crounse, Secretary ; Hiram B. Meed, Treas- urer. The Cemetery is located at Tarrytown.
Jerusalem Cemetery Association was organized in June 1870. The officers are Henry Creble, President ; Gen. James Slinger- land, Vice President; Hiram Vanderzee, Treasurer; A. C. Mills- paugh, Secretary. The Cemetery occupies six acres of land, in a good location, near the village of Feura Bush, and is hand- somely laid out.
In the north-east part, near the Guilderland line, is a grist and saw mill.
In the north-west part, on the Helderbergh Hills, is a manu- factory of pill boxes.
About a mile north of Unionville is a cheese factory.
The first settler in this town was Teunis Slingerland, from Holland. He located on the Oneskethau Flats, purchased 9,874 acres and built a dwelling near the center of the tract, and erected the first mills. Among the other early settlers were Daniel Pangburn and Wm. Van Walter, at Stony Hill ; Eben- ezer Wands, John Watt, George Swan and William Kirkland, Scotch immigrants, settled near New Scotland; George Reid, John Patterson, Samuel Ramsay and sons, James McMullin, David Allen, Wm. McCulloch and - Brandt, settled in other parts of the town.
George Reid was one of the Scotch immigrants who settled in this town at an early day, and remained until his death in 1805 or 1806. John Reid still resides upon the farm where he was born in 1790. With the exception of about six years his whole life has been spent here. Isaac Albright was born in this town in 1797, and has spent his whole life in the County. Hugh Erwin was born in the town in 1786 and is still living. Evert Sigsbe settled in the town of Bethlehem in 1758; Nicho- las Sigsbe, his son, settled in New Scotland-then Bethlehem --- in 1776, and lived fifty-four years on the same farm, then re- moved to Delaware County. Wm. Sigsbe was born in the town in 1798, and has lived there ever since with the exception of about four years. John Bell was born in the town and has lived upon the farm which he now occupies 63 years. Mrs. Mary Switzer moved into this town in 1792 and has lived there ever since. Mrs. Catharine Koonz died in this town April 1, 1870, aged 105 years. She was born and married in Dutchess County and removed to this County when about 21 years of age. In the fall of 1869 she was able to pare apples for drying and was quite active until a short time before her death.
There are ten churches in the town.
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.The New Scotland Presbyterian Church was organized about 1787 by the Presbytery of Suffolk. At the first communion, on the second Sabbath of May 1795, there were twenty-two mem- bers. Rev. Benjamin Judd was the first pastor, installed Sep- tember 2d, 1795. The first house of worship was erected about 1794. The present house was erected in 1848, and cost $2,000. It was enlarged and refurnished in 1869 at & cost of $4,500. It will seat 300 and is valued at $6,000. The society own a par- sonage and about sixty acres of land, valued at $8,000.
Jerusalem Reformed Church was organized about 1780. Her- manus Van Huysen was the first pastor. The first house of worship was erected about 1790; the present house was erected in 1825 and will seat 500 persons. The present membership is 100. The present pastor is Alex. C. Millspaugh.
The Union Church, (Reformed) located at Unionville, was or- ganized in 1825. The first pastor was I. C. Boice. The present membership is fifty. The present value of the church edifice is $4,000, and it will seat 350.
The First Reformed Church of Clarksville was organized in 1853 by Rev. Staats Van Sandford, with a membership number- ing seven. The first pastor was Rev. Mr. Middlemas. A house of worship was erected in 1853 at a cost of 82,400. It will seat 250. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Westvere.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Clarksville was organized in 1860 by S. S. Stilman, and a house of worship was erected the next year at an expense of $4,000. It will seat 400. The pres- ent membership is 56. The society own a parsonage valued at 82,000. G. C. Simmons is the present pastor.
The Reformed Church of New Salem was organized in 1813. The first pastor was Rev. Harmanus Van Huysen. The present house of worship was erected in 1843 at a cost of $1,200. It will seat 400. The present membership is 175; the present pastor is Joseph H. Kershow. The first trustees of the Church were Benj. Van Zandt, John Terwilliger, John Van Etten, Ja- cob I. Hollenbeck, Frederick Fuller, Jeremiah Cronssler, John A. Severson and David Van Etten. An organization appears to have been formed as early as 1794, and preaching was estab- lished by Rev. Harmanus Van Huysen.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of New Salem was organized about 1848, and a house of worship was erected the same year, at a cost of $1,500. Rev. Samuel Covel was the first pastor. Rev. - Chase is the present pastor. The present member- ship is about thirty. The present value of the church is about ₹3,000; it will seat 200.
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Onesquethau Church (Reformed,) was organized in 1824 by Thomas Holiday, and a house of worship was erected the next rear. The present membership is SS. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Millspaugh. The present house of worship will seat 250 and its estimated value is $2,000.
The house of Henry Perry, on the Helderbergh Hills, near Wolf Hill post office, was built by Nicholas Perry, Henry's grandfather, before the Revolution. It is built of hewn stone, and is still in good preservation. Isaac Perry, the great grand- father of Henry, was one of the first settlers in the County. He emigrated from France, lived here the rest of his life, and his remains were buried on the old farm.
From the Helderbergh Hills, just above the village of New Salem, one of the most lovely prospects can be seen; the eye ranging over a vast extent of as beautiful farming country as can be seen anywhere in the State. The country around clothed with the green verdure of spring, the trees in all their lovely foliage, the neat white farm houses here and there dot- ting the landscape around, surrounded with orchards, which, at the time of the year we visited it, were loaded down with blossoms, evidences of a coming bountiful fruit harvest, the roads threading their way in serpentine form all over the country, all these made the scene one of the most delightful it has ever been our lot to look upon. From this point can be seen the villages of New Salem and New Scotland, and some ten or twelve miles in the distance, on clear days, the City of Albany, West Albany, as well as Troy and Greenbush. The Green Mountains can also be distinguished, also fogs rising along the Hudson River. Five railroads can be clearly seen from this point, viz., the Hudson and Saratoga, Albany and Susquehanna, Hudson River, N. Y. C. and . Troy and Boston. At night the lights in the City of Albany are clearly seen.
The population of the town in 1865 was 3,311, and its area 61,711 acres.
There are fifteen school districts whose school houses are in this town, employing the same number of teachers. The num- ber of children of school age is 1,058; the number attending school 717; the average attendance 286, and the amount ex- pended for school purposes during the year ending September 30, 1860, was $4.540.24.
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RENSSELAERVILLE, named from the Van Rens- selaer family, was formed from Watervliet, March 8, 1790. Bern was taken off in' 1795, and a part of Westerlo in 1815. It is the south-west corner town of the County. Its surface is mostly up-
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land, broken by parallel ridges extending north and south, and rising from 400 to 600 feet above the valleys. The principal streams are Catskill Creek and its tributaries, Scrub, Fox, Ten Mile and Eight Mile Creeks, and Willow Brook. The valleyy of these streams are narrow and are bordered by steep hill sides. and the streams are rapid and subject to destructive freshets. Upon Ten Mile Creek, near Rensselaerville, is a fall of one hundred feet, and upon Willow Brook is another of forty feet. Bog iron ore has been found in the east part. There is a sui- phur spring two and a half miles north-east of Preston Hollow. The soil is a clay and gravel, underlaid by hardpan.
Rensselaerville, (p. v.,) situated in the east part of the town, on Ten Mile Creek, contains four churches, viz., Methodist, Pres- byterian, Baptist and Episcopal, a select school, a hotel, several stores, a grist mill, a saw mill, a woolen mill and about 700 in- habitants.
The Rensselaerville Woolen Mills of Henry Waterbury, were established in 1861. They contain two sets of machinery, use about 50,000 pounds of wool annually, making all wool cassi- meres and flannels.
Medusa, (p. v.,) in the north-east part of the town, contains two churches, viz., Methodist and Christian, a hotel, two stores, a grist mill, a saw mill, a paper mill, a cider mill, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop and 124 inhabitants. .
The Medusa Straw Paper Mill was erected in 1845, by Golden & Van Alstyne, and was rebuilt by the present proprietor in 1868. The mill has a capacity to make 250 reams per day, and runs a 36 inch cylinder machine and two 24 inch engines.
Preston Hollow, (p. v.,) on Catskill Creek, near the south-east part, contains two churches, viz., Baptist and Methodist, a hotel, two stores, two tanneries, one for sole leather and the other for upper ; a foundry, a grist mill, a saw mill, two black- smith shops, a wagon shop, a harness shop, two cooper shops, four shoe shops and about 255 inhabitants. The village re- ceived its name from a family of early settlers.
Cooksburgh, (p. v.,) in the south-west part of the town, con- tains two hotels, two drug stores, two dry goods stores, a grist mill, a cider mill, a flax mill, a blacksmith shop and about 100 inhabitants.
Potter's Hollow, (p. v.) in the south-west part, contains a Friend's meeting house, a hotel, a store, a wagon shop, a black- smith shop and fifteen families.
Smith's Corners, on the east border of the town, is a hamlet.
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This town was settled chiefly by immigrants from New Eng- land soon after the Revolution. Michael Brandt, a German from Schoharie County, lived in the town during the war. At the time of the Indian incursion into Bern, Mr. Brandt had gone to Catskill Landing, leaving his family alone. The sav- ages on their return passed close by with their scalps, prisoners and plunder, but offered no molestation.
About the year 1785 John Coons, from Columbia County, squatted on what is now lot 168. This was before the land was surveyed. The same farm is now occupied by Jeremiah Coons and his sister, grand children of the first settler. At the time of his settlement there was only one house where the village of Rensselaerville now stands.
Silas Sweet came from West Stockbridge, Mass., in 1791, and located about a mile east of Rensselaerville. His son, John Sweet, who was then eleven months old, is still residing in Rensselaerville and retains his mental and physical powers to a good degree. Several others of the same family came in soon after.
Apollos Moore, from Pittsfield, Mass., settled about two miles east of Rensselaerville, in 1785. He came on foot, while his wife rode a horse which cost five dollars, and carried all their property. Mr. Moore afterwards became justice of the peace, supervisor, and finally first Judge of the County, an office which he held until he was nearly seventy years old. He had a store at his farm, and a large mill in the village. He was a soldier of the Revolution, having enlisted when he was sixteen, and served till the close of the war. He died in 1840 at the age of 76.
Gerardus Drake, from Dutchess Co., settled near Potter's Hol- low in 1803; John Drake came in 1808. He was an influential man and prominent among the Friends. Abram and Jeremiah Young, and Aaron Winnie, from Ulster Co., came about 1,90. Stephen Treadwell, an eminent minister, came in 1816. Daniel and Josiah Conklin, from Long Island, were among the early settlers. Daniel engaged in tanning and shoe manufacturing, and became wealthy. They located for a time with Reuben King, who lived about two and a half miles west of where they located. Joseph Lincoln, John Rensier, and several brothers named Hatch settled in the town about 1787. One of them built the house which for many years was known as the " Hatch House."
The first settler in the village of Rensselaerville was Samuel Jenkins, who came here Feb. 22, 1788, and in the following April erected the first dwelling house in the place, and after- wards the first mill. Daniel Shay, the leader of what was called
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"Shay's Rebellion," moved to this town in 1795. Major John Edwards, a Revolutionary officer was also a settler in this town.
The first church, Presbyterian, was organized in 1793. Rev. Samuel Fuller was the first pastor. The first Sabbath spent in the town was April 14, 1793, when he made the following re- cord in his journal: "This is a new settlement and they have no meeting house. The trustees applied to me to preach for them for three Sabbaths longer, which I agreed to do." In November he received a unanimous call to settle at this place. He was to receive £100 settlement and £50 a year till it makes £80." The ordination took place Jan. 23, 1794. In a sermon delivered by his son he says: "The services were held in a log building occupied temporarily as a meeting house which stood in the south-west corner of what was afterwards my father's orchard. It was originally a dwelling house of two rooms, but by removing the chimney and putting a rude pulpit in its stead on the western side, it was converted into a place of worship. The day of the ordination was stormy and the snow driven through the crevices, so wet the hands of Mr. Judson, the ordaining minister, that the print of his thumb still remains upon the Bible used on the occasion." In February Mr. Fuller removed his family to this town, and "from the eighth of Febru- ary to the 10th of April, he lived in a house with Mr. Samuel Nichols which stood on a spot about one-third of a mile north of what has long been called the " Red House," west of my fath- er's late residence. The building was a log cabin of two small rooms, with a trough roof. The apartment occupied by my fath- er's family had but one window, and that contained only four lights, covered with oiled paper instead of glass, and was so contracted that after meals they were obliged to put the table upon the bed, and the only space allowed him for a study was the corner of the room, where a board laid upon the head of a barrel served him for a writing desk. The country being new and furniture not easily obtained, the cradle for their child was the half of a basswood log hollowed out for that purpose. In the spring he removed from his uncomfortable quarters at Mr. Nichols' to what is now the middle room of the house for many years occupied by Matthew Mulford." The first house of wor- ship was erected in 1796. Mr. Fuller continued pastor of this Church for sixteen years, at the close of which he united with the Episcopal Church and became the founder of
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