USA > New York > Columbia County > Gazetteer and business directory of Columbia County, N.Y. for 1871-2 > Part 19
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Kinderhook Station, (Niverville p. v.,) is situated on the B. .. A. R. R. and the outlet of Kinderhook Lake, near the east lite of the town. It contains one cotton batting factory which, ow- ing to impending litigation, is not in operation, one hotel, opposite the depot, one school house, one blacksmith shop, two stores, a grist mill, built by John Niver, about 1810, and a: various times repaired, and about 200 inhabitants.
Lindenwald, in the south-west part of the town, about two miles south of Kinderhook village, was the residence of the late Ex-President Martin Van Buren.
Settlements were commenced under the Dutch Government. The earliest settlements in the County were doubtless made in the original town of Kinderhook. It will be seen by reference to the town of Claverack that this town was formed into a district two days prior to that town. The early settlers of this town appear to have been influenced by the efforts of Jacob Milborne to create a popular uprising looking to the overthrow of the authority exercised by the British Government over the Provinces, on the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England. The interests of the King and Queen in the " City and County of Albany" (which then included Columbia County,) were confided to a Convention convened at Albany, until instructions for the protection and disposition of the public defenses were received from them. Kilian Van Rens- selaer and Capt. Gerritt Tounise, who were sent by the Con- vention Oct. 25, 1089, to return its thanks to the Governor and Council of Connecticut for their kindness in proffering to send eighty men besides officers for their relief against the impend- ing dangers threatened by the French and Indians, with the former of whom England was then at war, and to accept of the same and negotiate for their pay, &c., on their return re- ported " that when they came by Kinderhook [they] found ye People Very much Inclined to mutiny who were Preparing themselfs to come hither by Reason of a Letter which they had Received of Jacob Milborne to come up to albany in all Speed to Receive Priviledges and Libertyes, So that they had much adoc to stop them however some Came." Milborne was sent with fifty men from New York to the Convention at .11- bany, ostensibly for the purpose of rendering them aid and giving additional security to the fort at this point, which was held and guarded in the interests of William and Mary ; but. as is obscurely intimated in the letter notifying the Convention of the fact, and is made palpable in the address of Milborne to the people of Albany, his real motive was to obtain possession of the fort and use it to subvert the authority of the British Government, in which he doubtless hoped to enlist the sym-
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pathies of the Convention, or at least the common people. In his address he is reported to have made use of this language : "Now it was in their [the people's] power to free themselfs from yt Yoke of arbitrary Power & Government under which they had Lyen so long in ye Reign of yt Illegall king James, who was a Papist, Declaring all Illegall whatever was done & past in his time, yea the charter of this city was null and void Since it was graunted by a Popish kings governour & that now ve Power was in the People to choose both new Civill and Mili- tary officers as they Pleased, challenging all them that had bore office in King James Time to be Illegall, and therefore they must have a free Election."
A record belonging to the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, dated 1729, and signed by Johannes Van Driesen, gives the names of one hundred families then residing in town. Among these are the names of Van Alsteyn, Van Allen, Van Schaack, Van Burjren, Van De Pool, Conyn, Huijk, Vosburg, Schermerhorn, Klauw, Gardenier, Van Valkenburgh, Van Sleijk, Wieber, and Mulder. The rights of certain settlers were confirmed by the act of March 12, 1703. A controversy concerning the patent of John Hendrick De Bruyn, granted in 1686, was settled by Commissioners June 8, 1812.
The Dutch settlers of this region brought with them the reli- gious institutions of their own land, and records are extant, says Rev. Dr. Rockwell, which show that as early as the year 1700, and probably much earlier, Dutch Churches, modeled after the Republican form of the Reformed Church of Holland, Scotland and the Continent, had been established in thistown. In 1702, there was issued a certificate in favor of one Paulus Van Vleck, who had been acting as preceptor in Kinderhook, but who it seem's had been summoned to appear before Lord Cornbury for acting as Clerk of the Church without a license. In 1667, among the records of the Reformed Prot. Dutch Church of Albany, is an order of the court to "prevent and punish severely the shameful violation of the sabbath especially committed by the inhabitants of Kinderhook, and the appointment of Jochem Lambertse, deputy sheriff, strictly to attend to it." In 1:27, Dominie Van Driesen had the joint charge of the churches, (Ref. Prot.) at Kinderhook, Claverack and Livingston Manor, but the former charge received by stipulation two-thirds of his service, and it is probable that his residence was there also.
The St. Luke's Church (Lutheran) was organized in 1820 by Rev. J. Berger, its first pastor, with 24 members, and erected it's first house of worship in 1824. The edifice was remodeled in 1854 and will seat 350 persons; its present estimated value is
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$10,000. It has a membership of 165, and Rev. J. C. S. Weill. for its pastor.
The First Presbyterian Church, located at Valatie, was organ- ized Jan. 29, 1835, by Rev. David Cushing, who was its first pastor. The first and present church edifice, which will sa: 450 persons, was erected in 1834; its present estimated valur i- $4,000. It has 240 members, and Rev. George O. Phelps is its pastor. It was originally Reformed Dutch.
The St. Paul's Church (Episcopal) was organized Jan. 1S. 1851, by its first pastor, Rev. Frederick T. Tiffany. The first church edifice was built in 1852, and rebuilt in 1868. It will seat 150 persons, and its present estimated value is $6,000. It has 35 members, but the pulpit is vacant.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, erected its first house of wor. ship in 1814. It will seat 240 persons and its present estimated value is $2,000. It has 112 members, and S. S. Ford is its pres- ent pastor. Owing to the peculiar form of government in the M. E. Church, which, in so far as it applies to the changes in i :- ministry, seems to favor a laxity in the keeping of the record-, we are unable to give further particulars respecting this society.
LIVINGSTON was granted as a manor to Robert Living- ston, July 22, 1686, formed as a district March 24, 1772, and organized as a town March 7, 1588. Clermont was taken off in 1787, and Ancram and Taghkanick in 1803. It is situated in the south-west part of the County, bordering upon the Hudson. The surface has a pleasing diversity, but is generally rolling. Copake Creek crosses the north-east corner, and Kleina Kiti (Little Creek) flows through near the center and discharges its waters into Roeliff Jansens Kill, which forms the south-west boundary, and in most of its course flows through a broad and fertile valley, but near the Hudson its banks are steep and rocky. The soil is a fertile, sandy loam.
The population of the town in 1870 was 1,938; of this num- ber 1,843 were natives.and 95, foreigners; 1,923, white and 15. colored. The number of school districts in the town during the year ending Sept. 30, 1870, was 12, and the number of teach- ers employed, 11. The number of children of school age wa- 754; the average attendance, 235.849; and the amount expend- ed for school purposes, $4,309.23
Johnstown, (Livingston p. o.) located near the center of the town, nine and one-half miles south from Hudson, contains one church, (Reformed) one school house, one hotel, two stores, two wagon shops, two blacksmith shops, one shoe shop and about 225 inhabitants.
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Glenco Mills, (p. v.) located near the east line, on Copake Creek, eight miles south-east from Hudson, contains one store, one hotel, one blacksmith shop, one harness shop, a carriage and sleigh factory, the Glenco Flouring and Custom Mill, which has two runs of stones for flouring and two for custom work, and has a grinding capacity of fifty barrels per day, and 77 inhabit- ants. A little north of the village, John B. Barringer has a carpenter shop and is engaged also in wool carding and the manufacture of cotton batting and tow.
Bakers Mills, located on the west line, about three-fourths of a mile west from Blue Store, and on Roeliff Jansens Kill, con- tains two straw wrapping paper mills, a grist and flouring mill containing three runs of stones and possessing a grinding capac- ity of 300 bushels per day, one store, one blacksmith shop, a MI. E. chapel and about twenty dwellings.
Union Corners, (Elizaville p. o.) in the south-east corner, on the line of Gallatin, contains one church, (M. E.) one school house, one hotel, one store, one wagon shop, one blacksmith shop and eight dwellings.
Blue Store, (p. o.) near the west line, three miles from Johns- town and two from Clermont, contains a school, a hotel, a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop and about half a dozen houses.
Linlithgo, (p. o.) in the west part, about one mile east from Livingston Station, contains one church, (Reformed) one black- smith shop, one hotel, one school house and about a dozen houses.
Livingston Station, (Linlithgo p. o.) located on the Hudson River and Hudson River R. R., is a landing for freight barges and contains one store.
Walkers Mills, three miles west from Johnstown, contains a grist and flouring mill, a store and eight houses.
The Livingston Paper Mills, located at Bakers Mills, C. E. Bingham, proprietor, employ thirty persons in the manufacture of straw wrapping paper, of which they are capacitated to pro- duce four tons per day. They consume six tons of straw and four of coal each day, and employ two 48-inch machines, and three 30-inch and two 36-inch engines.
The Linlithgo Flouring and Plaster Mills, located about one and three-fourths miles north from Glenco Mills, Jacob HI. Proper, proprietor, are capacitated to grind 200 bushels of grain and ten tons of plaster each day.
The settlement of the town commenced soon after the manor patent was granted. On Beatty's map of 1714, the manor
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house and mill are located within this town, near the Hudson. and the residences of families named Witbeck, Claas and Brusie, near Copake Creek. Further mention is made of the manor house in the history of Clermont, and is omitted here to avoid dull repetition.
The Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Church erected their first church edifice in 1821. It was dedicated Nov. 25th of that year by Rev. F. H. Quitman. The present building, which will seat 300 persons and whose estimated value is $8,000, was erected in 1861. The first pastor was Rev. Augustus Wacker- hagen ; the present one is Rev. J. D. Wert ; the present num- ber of members is 250.
The Livingston Reformed Church, located at Linlithgo, was organized Nov. 9, 1870, by the Classis of Hudson, with sixteen members and Rev. Harvey D. Schermerhorn as its first and present pastor. The church edifice, which will seat 250 per- sons, was erected in 1870 at a cost of $6,000. The present number of members is seventeen. The church is built on the original site of the Reformed Church of Linlithgo and over the vault of Robert Livingston, the first lord of the Manor, in which are deposited the dead of eight generations of the Livingston family. The original church was built by Lord Livingston in 1721, and is said to have been the second one erected in the County, the first being the Reformed Church of Claverack.
The Reformed Church of Linlithgo, situated at Johnstown, was organized July 4, 1722, with Robert Livingston, Jacob Vosburgh and Cornelius Martensen as elders; Tobias Ten Broeck, Robert Van Deusen and Wilem Hallenbeck as deacons ; and Rev. Johannes Casparus Freyenmoet as its first pastor. The first house of worship was erected in 1721; and the present one, which will seat 500 persons and whose estimated value is 820,000, in 1834. It has 217 members, and Rev. Thos. S. Dusinberre is its present pastor. For nearly a century this church occupied the present site of the former one, at Linlith- go, and is the one to which allusion is there made. From the time of its removal, in 1814, to its present position, till the organization of the former Church, Linlithgowas a preaching station in connection with this Church.
NEW LEBANON was formed from Canaan, April 21. 1818. It lies in the north-east corner of the County. The sur- face consists of steep hills separated by broad, yregular valleys. The Taghkanick Mountains. on the east, separate the town from Massachusetts. The principal stream is Wyomanock or
£
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GAZETTEER OF TOWNS.
Lebanon Creek, which enters the town near the north-east cor- ner and, after pursuing a circuitous course through the north and center of the town, discharges its waters, near the north center, into Kinderhook Creek, which enters and leaves the town on the north border. The soil is a gravelly and slaty loam intermixed with clay. The valleys are generally narrow and the hills arable to their summits.
The population of the town in 1870 was 2,124. Of this num- ber 1,794 were natives and 330, foreigners ; 2,111, white and 13, colored. The number of school districts, and teachers em- ployed in the town during the year ending Sept. 30, 1870, was fifteen. The number of children of school age was 768; the average attendance, 243.270; and the amount expended for school purposes, 84,08S.62.
Lebanon Springs, (p. v.) near the east line, is a station on the Harlem Extension R. R., and is distant, by the old turnpike, 25 miles from Albany. The celebrated thermal spring* at this place, together with the delightful surrounding scenery and its contiguity to the Shaker Community constitute it a favorite wat- tering place, and during the summer months it is thronged with pleasure seckers, and others who desire to avail themselves of the benefits to be derived from its mineral waters. A large,
*The spring is inclosed in the court-yard of the hotel. It is ten feet in diameter and four feet deep, and diecharges constantly nearly 500 gallons of water per minute. The water is kept in constant ebulition by a copious emission of azotic gas, and preserves an unvarying temperature of 73º Fahrenheit ; it is used without injury for culinary and other household purposes immediately after rising from the spring. An analysis of the water by Prof. H. Dussauce shows it to possess the following properties in one gallon :
GASES.
Oxygen,
2.00 cubic inches. | Carbonic Acid,
0.50 cubic inches.
Nitrogen,
.3.50
Sulphuric Acid, . traces.
FIXED MATTERS.
Sulphuret of Sodium,
.0.02 Grains.
1.298 per Cent.
2.41
15.649
..
Carbonate of Soda.
1.04
6.753
Chloride of Sodium,
.0.96
6.333
..
Carbonate of Lime,.
4.05
25.202
Sulphate of Magnesia,
1.06
6.883
Alumina,
.0.45
2.629
..
Oxide of Iron,
.0.94
66
6.103
66
Silicic Acid,.
3.25
21.100
0.75
4.870
Org. Comp. ( Baregine,
0.47
2.190
15.40
100.000
So great is the volume of water discharged that it not only supplies several baths, but furnishes the motive power for mills and mechanic shops both summer and winter. The medicinal properties of the spring were first brought to public notice hy Captain James Hitchcock, of the British army, which was stationed at Hartford, Coun., shout the time of the close of the French war, and it is probable he was the first white man who visited this locality. Being allicted with some severe and dangerous mindy. he was recommended to use the waters of the spring. He came with oft servant and a fuixpany of Indian guides, and was carried from stockport to the Spring's on a litter, by an Indian trail, there being no roads in the locality at that time. It is said that a man. named Hitchcock, from New Haven, stuck a riding-stick into the spring, which bax grown into one of the finest sycamores in the world.
There are several similar sprices of less volume in the vicinity.
I Glarine ..
Sulphate of Potash,
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magnificent hotel, of which Daniel Gale & Co. are proprietors, is erected for the accommodation of visitors. It is situated upon the slope of the hill about 300 feet above the valley, and 1000 feet above tide water, and has ample accommodations for 400 guests. It has been enlarged and altered during the past win- ter, and the grounds, which cover an area of 38 acres, have been beautified and ornamented, From its extensive piazza, hemmed in, as it were, from the outside world by the famous Berkshire Hills and the spurs extending from them, the view obtained of the Lebanon Valley, through which flow the crystal waters of the Wyomanock Creek ; Maple Hill which rises with an easy slope to the south-east from the clustering hamlet at our feet ; and the little village of New Lebanon, a mile distant, is one of rare beauty and cannot fail to evoke the warmest admiration from any but the most stolid and unappreciative beholder. Sir Henry Vincent, in a letter in which he speaks of this locality, says : " Hills, mountains, valleys, trees, gardens, farm-houses, and farms spread around and above you in ever-varying beauty, remind one of the hills and valleys of Langollen in Wales ;" and Miss Warner, in " Queechy," gives a glowing description of the view unfolded to "Fleda" and "Carleton" from one of the neighboring Hills:
" They had reached a height of the mountain that cleared them a view, and over the tops of the trees they looked abroad to a very wide extent of country undulating with hill and vale-hill and valley alike far below at their teet. Fair and rich the gently swelling hills, one beyond another in the patchwork dress of their many-colored fields-the gay hues of the wood- land, softened and melted into a rich autumn glow-and far away beyond even where this glow was softened and lost in the distance, the faint blue lines of the Catskills, faint but clear and distinct through the transparent air. And such a sky ! Of such etherealized purity as if made for spirits to travel in, and tempting them to rise and free themselves from the soil; and stillness-like nature's hand laid upon the soul, bidding it think."
The village contains two hotels besides the one already men- tioned, three stores, one wagon shop, two blacksmith shops, one grist mill, a vinegar manufactory, a harness shop, a boot and shoe shop, one church and another one is contemplated.
New Lebanon, (p. v.) formerly known as Tildens, is pleasantly located in the valley of the Wyomanock, and is a station on the Harlem Extension R. R. The Laboratory of Tilden & Co., for the preparation of medicinal extracts, and a barometer and thermometer manufactory are located here .* A fine hotel is
*A greater variety of theads from our indigenous plenty are prepared here than in ar farver place in the chintry. They have, in addition to dia large quantities of plants supplied by persons in the vicinity of their catalina at, some forty acres, near the proales, under cultivation, and all the berbs, barks and roots are gathered by expert- encod persons and brought into the laboratory at the season when they contain most of medicinal value. Their preprations now embrace 250 kinds of fluid and solid extracts, 200 kinds of sugar coated pills, 100 kinds of elegant elixirs and 100 kinds of syrups, wines,
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being erected by Henry Tilden, and is nearly completed. The village contains about thirty houses.
New Lebanon Center (p. v.) is located in the valley of the Wyomanock and on the line of the Harlem Extension R. R. It is two and three-fourths miles west from Lebanon Springs. It contains two stores, a grist and saw mill and about twelve houses.
Moffitts Store, (West Lebanon p. o.) in the north part of the town, is also in the valley of the Wyomanock and on the line of the Harlem Extension R. R. It is distant five and three- fourths miles west from Lebanon Springs. It contains one church, (M. E.) one hotel, a large harness shop, employing eight men, one store and about twenty houses.
New Britain is a hamlet in the south-west part of the town.
Shaker Village, (Mount Lebanon p. o.) near the east line, two miles south of Lebanon Springs, is the home of the Mount Lebanon Shakers. This Society consists of eight families, with an aggregate number of about 500 persons. These fami- lies are self-supporting communities, each having its own organization, spiritual and temporal. Four persons, two males and two females, standing in the spiritual, are called Elders and Eldresses, and take the management of the spiritual affairs of the family; the same number, two males and two females, are called Deacons and Deaconesses, and manage the temporal affairs. In addition to the Elders of the families there is a min- istry, composed of two males and two females, who have the superintendence of the spiritual affairs of three societies and are also the central ministry of all the ministers having charge of societies. There is also an order of Society of Trustees in addition to the Trustees of the several families.
&c. Says the New Orleans Commercial Bulletin : "It is nearly twenty years since the Messrs Tilden commenced the manufacture of their 'Finid and Solid Extracts,' In vacno, to which they have since added Sugar-coated Pills and Granales,' of the U. S. Pharma- copria, Concentrations, and many of the most valuable Pharmaceutical Preparations. From the beginning on a small scale with the vacuum apparatus, which was then scarce- ly known, they have studied, assiduously, to apply every improvement as fint as ex- perience has demonstrated its value, and now their establishment may be said to em- bryce all the appliances of modern invention required for the best possible manipulation of medicinal agents, and their works have been remodeled and received addition from time to time. until the premises now ocenpy about half an acre of ground, and the vast amount of machinery le driven by a powerful steam-engine, located in an adjointin tre- proof building. In the department for Pills and Granules every recent improvement is adopted, besides the various devires for waving labor and waste of material, which are the result of a long and practical experience in the manipulation of the more delicato ".in ton of rent dans le ctoresity of accurate and eries curent exhibi- if it of quantities required : " minwartennations." Thecapacity of the vacuum jsempred exceeds 0, 0 gde. They have a printing office in connection with their works, and, in addition to much other printed matter, publish a very valuable Jurnal of Materia Medica. The various unique devices which are substituted for manual labor, are worthy of mention, but we cannot devote the space necessary to clearly elucidate them.
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The lands belonging to the Society extend into the town of Canaan and the State of Mass., covering an area of 5,000 acres, but a portion of which is under cultivation, most of it consist- ing of mountain ranges, woods, sheep pastures, &c. The North Family, over which Elder F. W. Evans presides and to whom all applications for admission into the Society should be made and all inquiries for information should be addressed, is engaged in farming, gardening, sheep raising and broom making. The Center Family are largely engaged in the culture of medicinal herbs. The Society is principally engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. Horticulture receives much attention, and the garden seeds raised by them, of which large quantities are annually sent to market, are well and favorably known. They are also occupied in mechanical employments of a light nature, and the utensils they manufacture, such as sieves, brushes, boxes, pails, &c., are noted for their excellence. The females are employed in domestic manufactures and housework, and the community is fed and clothed, principally, by its own pro- ductions. The avails of the general industry of cach family are poured into a common treasury, from which individual wants are supplied. The surplus gains are invested in lands and buildings, or other property, or held for the good of the Society. The size of their families, which contain from sixty to one hundred, and sometimes more persons, is limited only by the conveniences and accommodations afforded by the houses be- longing to each. It seems paradoxical to call such assemblages families, where what we have been accustomed to consider the distinctive feature of a family is utterly ignored. The males and females occupy separate apartments, under the same roof, eat at separate tables, but mix occasionly for labor, worship and social intercourse. Everything which tends to excite the ani- mal nature or baser passions is studiously avoided, and only the finer, purer and more God-like attributes are cultivated. Though we may not be able to justify their practices in our own lives or recommend them to others, we certainly cannot con- demn them in this people; for the time is past when intelligent persons question the sincerity and purity of their lives or their strict conformity to the doctrine they promulgate. Says Sir Henry Vincent: "Let me urge upon divines and scholars, in their rambles through America, to visit the Shaker Community at Mount Lebanon, and if they are disposed to enquire, 'How can these things be?' my answer is, ' Come and see.'" Noth- ing can. perhaps, surpass the quiet beauty of the country by which they are surrounded, and which is supplemented and rendered, still more charming by the neat and comfortable homes, surrounded with tastefully laid-out yards and well kept
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