USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Gazetteer and business directory of Rensselaer County, N. Y., for 1870-71 > Part 14
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Pittstown was settled at a very early date. William Pender- grast, Stephen Hunt and Edmund Aiken were among the first settlers near Johnsonville. Ludovicus Viele settled at Valley Falls in 1772, and Christian Fisher and Michael Vandercook, at Cooksborough, the same year. In 1770, William Shepard, from New England, located on 500 acres ; Benjamin Aiken, from Dutchess Co., located on 950 acres, about 1778 or '80, and in 1785 Alexander Thompson located on 500 acres.
William Hammond kept a school at North Pittstown in. 1785, and. Rebecca Thompson taught at Sherman's Mills in 1789.
The first church (Baptist) was organized in 1784; Elder Isaac Webb was the first preacher.
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The farm now owned and occupied by Leo V. Reed was pur- chased at a very early day, by a man named Tinsler, of an In- dian chief. The tract contained about 180 acres, for which he gave an ax.
In looking over the files of the "Northern Budget," in the Li- brary of the Troy Young Men's Association, the following rem- iniscence of Pittstown was discovered :
"THIEVES TAKE NOTICE !
"The thievish brood, both small and great,
Who pilfer early, pilfer late,
Remorseless, graceless, shameless, cruel,
My timber, fit for sale or fuel,
Namely, my beeches, maples, walnuts,
And trees which bear, spontaneous, all nuts,
Had better be a little easy,
Or else, I trow, they'll soon feel queasy.
Should they hereafter hew and hack,
I'll frighten all the filching pack With thing that many a rogue has bit, Which vulgar people call a writ,
(Though counselors with solemn air
· Pronounce and publish and declare A capias ad respondendum) That quickly to the D-1 will send em, If they on surface of bare ground, In sheriff's bailiwick can be found, Tied neck and heels, they'll all be dragged
(Hand-cuffed and choked, lacerated, gagged)
To solitude of common jail,
'Mid hungry demons, fierce and pale, Where luckless wights, at last outwitted, For misdemeanors are committed, Cursing with bitter execration The dreary Sabbath of starvation.
"Pittstown, Dec, 15, 1806."
J. H. PRICE."
Whether this effusion had the effect to protect his timber from thieves, we are unable to say, but think they must have been incorrigible if this failed to make them honest.
The population of the town in 1865 was 3,831, and its area 39,513 acres.
POESTENKILL, named from its principal stream, was formed from Sand Lake, March 2,1848. It lies near the center of the County, upon the western declivities of the Petersburgh Mountains. The central and east portions are rugged, rocky and mountainous, and the soil is cold, sterile and unproductive. The west part is hilly, and the soil is a gravelly loam, well adapted to pasturage. Snake Hill, near the center, is one of the principal elevations. Upon the Poesten Kil is a beautiful cas-
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cade of eighty feet fall. About a mile west of the falls is a me- dicinal spring which has attained some notoriety for the cure of eruptions and cutaneous diseases. A bathing establishment erected here several years ago was carried away by a freshet.
Poestenkill, (p. v.) on the creek of the same name, contains two churches, three stores, a grist mill, a saw mill, a small cot- ton batting factory and about 300 inhabitants.
East Poestenkill (p. o.) is a hamlet.
Barberville contains a church and about fifteen dwellings.
The population of the town in 1865 was 1,952, and its area 19,353 acres.
The number of school districts is eight, employing the same number of teachers. The number of children of school age is 725 ; the number attending school 503 ; the average attendance 226, and the amount expended for school purposes during the year ending Sept. 30, 1869, was $2,727.56.
SAND LAKE was formed from Greenbush and Berlin, June 19, 1812. A part of Greenbush was taken off in 1843, and Poestenkill in 1848. It lies a little south of the center of the County. « The surface is mountainous in the east and hilly in the west. Perigo Hill, in the north-east corner, is 900 feet above tide; and Oak Hill, near the center, is about the same hight. The east part of the town contains large forests, and is a favorite resort for hunting and fishing. Wynants Kil, flow- ing north-west through the center, and Tsatsawassa Creek, in the east, are the principal streams. Along the valleys of these streams are several small lakes, the principal of which are Sand, Glass and Crooked Lakes, and Big Bowman's Pond. The soil among the mountains is a hard, sterile clay, and in the west a good quality of gravelly loam. Three-fourths of a mile east of West Sand Lake is a chalybeate spring. Large quantities of cord wood, charcoal and tanbark are carried to the Troy and Albany markets.
Sand Lake, (p. v.) situated near the center of the town, con- tains a Baptist church, two hotels, a store, four woolen mills, a cotton warp mill, a paper mill and about 1,000 inhabitants.
The Woolen Mill of James Aken contains six sets of ma- chinery, and manufactures knit goods for men's underwear. About 100 hands are employed, and 300,000 pounds of cotton and wool are consumed annually.
Knowlson & Kidder employ sixty hands, run four sets of ma- chinery for the manufacture of knit goods, and consume 200,- 000 pounds of cotton and wool annually.
a
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O. B. Arnold runs two sets of machinery for knit goods, em- ploys twenty-five hands, consuming annually 75,000 pounds of cotton and wool.
Sand Lake Warp Mill Company run 2,500 spindles in the manufacture of cotton warps, employ eighty operatives, con- sume 240,000 pounds of cotton, and produce 1,920,000 yards of warp annually.
The Paper Mill of Merwin & Co. consumes 600 tons of straw annually in the manufacture of straw paper, and employ twenty hands.
Sliter's Corners contains a Presbyterian church, a hotel, two stores, a carriage shop, a blacksmith shop and about twenty houses.
Glass House was so-called from its having been the seat of an extensive glass factory. It was formerly called Rensselaer Vil- lage. The glass company was incorporated in 1806 and discon- tinued in 1852. In 1813 the company employed one hundred men. It now contains a Methodist church, a hotel and about a dozen dwellings.
South Sand Lake (p. o.) contains a store, a hotel and a black- smith shop.
West Sand Lake, (p. v.) in the north-west part of the town, contains four churches, viz., Methodist, two Lutheran and a German Methodist; a hotel, four stores and about 300 inhab- itants.
The settlement of this town was commenced previous to the Revolutionary War. Among the early settlers were Abram Frere, Nicholas Fellows, Andreas Barent, Fred. Shaver, An- dreas Weatherwax, Abram Bristol, Ephraim Quinby, John Car- michael and Stephen Miller.
Joshua Lockwood and William Carpenter built the first grist mill, in 1768, at West Sand Lake.
The population of the town in 1865 was 2,606, and its area 21,- 968 acres.
The number of school districts is eleven, employing thirteen teachers. The number of children of school age is 923; the number attending school 629; the average attendance 258, and the amount expended for school purposes for the year ending Sept. 30, 1869, was $3,906.94.
SCHAGHTICOKE was formed as a district, March 24, 1772, and as a town, March 7, 1788. Pittstown was taken off March 7, 1788, and a part of Lansingburgh in 1819. It lies on
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the Hudson, in the north-west corner of the County. The sur- face is principally a rolling upland, about 200 feet above the river. The summits of the hills in the south are 800 feet above tide. Hoosick River, flowing through the north part, is border- ed on a portion of its course by steep banks 200 feet high. On this stream, at the mouth of Tomhannock Creek, is a beautiful circular valley, three-fourths of a mile in circumference, and bounded on nearly every side by steep hills. A small stream, called the Dwaas Kil, flows from the Hudson into the mouth of the Hoosick. When the Hoosick suddenly rises, the current of the stream is often changed, and it is not uncommon to see it running north in the morning and south at night. The name, Dwaas Kil, signifies "stream running both ways." The soil is generally a fertile, sandy or gravelly loam. Manufacturing is carried on to some extent in the town.
Hart's Falls, (p. v.) (formerly Schaghticoke Point,) is situated on Hoosick River, four miles from its junction with the Hudson and about three-fourths of a mile from Schaghticoke Station, on the Troy & Boston R. R. The village contains three churches, viz., Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic ; three district schools, three hotels, a woolen factory, two paper mills, a twine and bagging factory, a marble factory, the Schaghticoke Powder Mill and about 1100 inhabitants. At this place is one of the finest water-powers on the Hoosick River. The whole fall is about 96 feet, including a perpendicular fall of 32 feet. A large part of this power is still unoccupied. Vic- tor Lodge, No. 680, F. & A. M., and Phoenix Lodge, No. 776, I. O. of G. T., at this village, are in a flourishing condition.
Junction, (p. v.) situated on the Deepi Kil, about a mile from Grant's Junction, on the Troy & Boston R. R., contains a store, the Grant Fanning Mill and Cradle Manufactory, and about twenty houses.
Schaghticoke Hill, situated on Tomhannock Creek, one mile from the station on the Troy & Boston R. R., contains a Meth- odist church, two stores, a saw mill, a grist mill, a twine and cordage mill, a scutching mill, the Schaghticoke Powder Keg Mill and about 150 inhabitants.
Old Schaghticoke is a name applied to a section about six miles square, lying in the north-west part of the town.
This valley, like the territory generally along the eastern bank of the upper Hudson, was formerly occupied by the Al- gonquin race, who after many years of hostility were at last con- quered and driven northward. For several years the country remained nearly unoccupied, but about 1670, through the exer- tions of Sir Edmond Andros, the Colonial Governor, a remnant
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of the Pequots were settled here under the name of Schaghticokes, the land having been given by the Mohawks as a barrier to the incursions of the northern tribes. About 1728 a division of the Tribe took place, the main body remaining until the " Seven Years War," when they joined their kindred in Canada. Small bodies of the Schaghticokes have until within a few years con- tinued to visit their ancient burial place and counsel tree, near the banks of the Hoosick River, in " Old Schaghticoke." They were accompanied by a very aged woman of the Royal race, named Bathsheba. She died in 1854, aged more than one hun- dred years.
By the charter of 1686, the City of Albany obtained the right to purchase of the natives five hundred acres of land in this town, but neglecting to improve this privilege immediately, the right was given to Hendrick Van Rensselaer, in 1698. The next year he sold his claim to the City, and in 1707 an Indian deed was obtained of a tract six miles square, lying chiefly in this town. The consideration for this valuable tract was "two blankets, two body coats, twenty shirts, two guns, twelve pounds of powder, thirty and six pounds of shot, eight gallons of rum, two casks of beer, two rolls of tobacco, two gallons of Madeira wine and some gin," to them in hand delivered by the Mayor, Recorder and Common Council of the City of Albany. In 1709 the City conveyed the land to the following settlers, viz., John de Wandelaer, Jr., John Heermans Vischer, Corset Voeder, Daniel Kittlehuyn, John Knickerbocker, Louis Viele and Derick Van Veighten, who went there to reside, and were soon followed by Martin de Lamont, Wouter Quackenbosch, Peter Yates, David Schuyler, Wouter Groesbeck, Philip Livingstone, Ignace Kip, Cornelius Vandenburgh and many others, whose descendants still reside in the vicinity.
In 1714 Schaghticoke was organized into a parish of the Dutch Church. Having no regular minister residing there, the services were performed alternately by the ministers of Albany and Schenectady. A log church was erected the same year, and a small block-house in which the inhabitants took refuge in times of danger. The parish suffered greatly from incursions of French and Indians, who several times destroyed their church and dwellings, and carried into captivity many inhabitants. In 1746 the Government erected a fort at old Schaghticoke, and garrisoned it with two companies of soldiers until the close of the Seven Years War. After the conquest of Canada by the English, there was greater security and the population increased rapidly. In 1760 a new church was built, which was a good specimen of the quaint style of church architecture common in the middle of the last century. It was sixty
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by forty feet, with low side walls and a high pitched Man- sard roof, ending at the eastern gable in a bulbous turret, sur- mounted by a weather cock. The pulpit, which had its canopy and sounding board, was mounted on a high pedestal, beneath which was a small desk for the "Voorlieser," or clerk, in front of which was a communion table equally quaint. There was no burial ground attached to this church, and the oldest in the neighborhood is that of the Knickerbacker family, on the site of an Indian cemetery. The first burial of a European oc- curred in 1715. A few rods south-east of this spot is the " Witenagemote," or "Council Tree," a remarkably vigorous and symmetrical oak, the trunk of which measures twenty feet in circumference. The first installed pastor of the Church was Rev. Elias VanBunschooten. He was the clergyman whom tradi- tion reports as having performed the marriage service while the parties were on the opposite side of the Hoosick River from the minister. 'It occurred at a ford about a mile above the junction of the Hudson and Hoosick Rivers. After the appointment was made, the river became suddenly swollen by rain, so that it was impassable for either party. But as marriages cannot well be postponed without great inconvenience to the parties, the minister took his station upon one bank of the river, and the parties to be united on the other, while the ceremony was duly performed according to the ritual of the Dutch Church. The Dominie informed the happy bridegroom that if the guilder was left at a neighboring house, it would be duly received.
At the commencement of the Revolution a regiment was raised and placed under the command of Col. John Knicker- backer. He had charge of the fort at this place and accom- panied the regiment to Ticonderoga. On the approach of Bur- goyne, most of the inhabitants fled to Albany, leaving their dwellings to the mercy of the British and Hessian soldiers, who occupied them for some time, but through the influence of the Tories did not burn the place.
The following advertisement was copied from the Northern Budget, of July 1805.
"SCHAGHTICOKE POINT.
. "The subscriber, thankful for the large share of custom brought to his machine by the public, and being desirous of giving them all the accommodation in his power, has set up an additional machine in his mills at Schaghficoke Point, and is now able to give them double dispatch in the business of card- ing wool. He has a machine for picking wool which performs that part of the business better than it can be done by hand .- His prices for picking, greasing and carding, to persons furnish-
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ing their own grease, is six cents per pound, or he will find oil and do it for eight cents. One pint of oil or one pound of grease is sufficient for eleven pounds of wool. They may de- pend upon having their work done punctually and in the best manner. C. JOY."
"July 1, 1805."
In 1777, Derrick Van Veghten was shot and scalped by the Indians. His tobacco box was perforated by the ball which killed him ; it is still in the possession of his descendants. His father, Herman Van Veghten, was shot by the Indians in 1746. At the close of the war, the inhabitants returned to their agricul- tural pursuits.
John J. Bleecker was one of the early settlers of this town, ·locating there previous to the Revolutionary War. On the ap- proach of Burgoyne, Mr. Bleecker went to Albany to seek a place of safety for his family. He had scarcely. been gone a day when Mrs. Bleecker received intelligence that the enemy were within two miles of the village, burning and murdering all be- fore them. Greatly terrified, she immediately took her young- est child in her arms, while another one about four years old walked by her side, accompanied by a young mulatto girl, and leaving her house and furniture to the mercy of the enemy, started on foot for Albany. The roads were crowded with car- riages loaded with women and children, but none could afford her any assistance. After walking four or five miles she ob- tained a seat for the children upon one of the wagons while she continued her journey on foot to Lansingburgh, then called Stone Arabia, "where she expected to find many friends ; but she was deceived; no door was open to her whose house by many of them had been made use of as a home. She wandered from house to house and at length obtained a place in the gar- ret of a rich old acquaintance, where a couple of blankets stretched upon some boards were offered as a bed. She however sat up all night and wept, and the next morning, Mr. Bleecker, coming from Albany, met with them and returned to that city, from whence they set off with several other families by water." -[Mem. of Mrs. Bleecker.] They went to Red Hook, and, after the surrender of Burgoyne, returned to their former home, where they enjoyed tolerable tranquility until August 1781, when Mr. Bleecker, with two other men, was taken prisoner while engaged in the harvest field, and, with their captors, started for Canada. Mrs. B. awaited with anxiety the return of her husband, and, at length, apprehensive that something unu- sual had occurred, dispatched a servant who soon returned with the account that the men were nowhere to be seen, but the horses and wagon were in the road, tied to a tree. As small par-
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ties from Canada were known to be skulking in the woods, Mrs. B. was at no loss to account for the absence of her husband .- The neighbors were immediately alarmed and the woods searched, but no trace of the prisoners or of their captors could be found. Though it was near night, Mrs. B. started immedi- ately for Albany, giving up her husband as lost. Fortunately Mr. B. was retaken by a party from Bennington, and returned to his wife in a few days. Mrs. Bleecker appears to have been a lady of considerable talent as a writer, a volume of her wri- tings, in connection with her memoirs, being published in 1793.
Among the instances of barbarous captivity and massacre during the French and Indian War, none is more shocking than that of the Kittle families. Mr. Kittle settled in this town be- fore the War, about the year 1736, where they enjoyed all the comforts which the country afforded. About a year after their marriage they were blessed with a daughter who became a fa- vorite with the Indians as well as with her parents and friends. When Anna, for that was the daughter's name, wasabout twelve years old, she had the pleasure of greeting a little brother. When the news of the horrid massacres and depredations of the savages reached the ears of Mr. Kittle, he became alarmed at the danger of his brothers then residing near Fort Edward, and in- vited them to reside with him during the War. Scarcely had his brothers become settled with him, when the incursions of the savages in the country approaching their own residence, sparing neither age or sex, so alarmed them that they resolved to remove to the vicinity of Albany. While packing up and making ready for their journey, several Indians whose wigwams were in the vicinity and who had always appeared well dispos- ed towards the English, called and assured Mrs. Kittle that she should be apprised in case of danger, and to make her more con- fiding in his friendship, one of them presented her with a belt interwoven with silk and beads, as a token of friendship. Though Mr. K. appeared less inclined to trust the Indians than did his wife, they decided to suspend their journey to Albany for a few days. The next day, according to previous arrange- ment, Mr. K. and his brother Peter went on a hunting excur- sion, not without some forebodings of the evils that awaited them. At length, weary with their journey and seeing no game of value, they resolved to return home. While passing along the bank of the river, within a few miles of their home, they saw a fine fat doe, which Peter, by a well directed shot, brought to the ground. Shortly after the discharge of his gun, two sav- ages appeared and immediately discharged their pieces at the brothers, killing Peter almost instantly. Mr. Kittle immediate-
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ly shot one of the Indians and, with the butt end of his gun, felled the other to the ground, leaving both for dead. He then placed the body of his brother upon the horse and proceeded to- wards home. On his arrival he made known the circumstances of his disaster, ordered a horse that. he might proceed imme- diately to the village of Schaghticoke for wagons to remove his family to some safe retreat. He had been gone but a short time when the tramping of horses feet and the yell of voices an- nounced the arrival of Indians, who soon demanded admittance. The work of destruction was sudden and awful ; a brother of Mr. Kittle's, with his wife, were murdered in the most shocking manner. Mrs. K., and her brother-in-law, Henry Kittle, were taken prisoners, but her children perished in the flames of the house, which the Indians plundered and set on fire. Mr. K. re- turned to find his house in ashes, the mangled bodies of one brother and sister-in-law, and the charred remains of his child- ren, but no tidings of the others, who he supposed had perished in the flames. After suffering the usual hardships of a journey, the captives arrived in Montreal, where Mrs. K. found one of her old neighbors, Mrs. Bratt, who had previously been taken prisoner. For two years Mrs. K. received the kind attentions of the ladies of Montreal, but failed in all of her endeavors to ob- tain the least information respecting her husband. Her letters would sometimes be returned to her after wandering through various provinces without reaching him for whom they were de- signed. At length after a long and fruitless search for his long lost brother, Mr. Kittle found him in Montreal, and then for the first time heard that his wife had been made a captive and was not murdered. The meeting was as if one had risen from the dead, and the happiness of meeting can only be imagined.
Henry Miller was another of the early settlers of this town, and his descendants still reside there. He and his wife were from Germany, and came over at an early day. Having arrived in New York after a tedious voyage, he left his family and took passage with a Dutch skipper for Albany, to seek a spot upon the vacant lands of this State. From Albany he went on foot to seek a home for his family, and while traveling along the banks of the Hudson, admiring the beauty of the scenery and buoyant with hopes for the future, he suddenly met one of his old companions with whom he had served in the army in the old country. The interview was mutually agreeable. Mr. Mil- ler went to the home of his old friend, was pleased with the country, and, with the aid of his new friends, erected a log cabin to which he removed his family in a few days, and thus became one of the early settlers of Schaghticoke.
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The population of the town in 1865 was 3,054, and its area 26,900 acres.
SCHO DACK was formed March 17, 1795, at the time of the division of Rensselaerwyck .. Parts of Berlin and Nassau were taken off in 1806. It lies upon the Hudson in the south- west corner of the County. From the river the surface rises in a series of bluffs 200 feet high, from the summits of which it spreads out into an undulating upland, inclined to the west .- Bunker Hill, the highest point, is about 500 feet above tide. The surface is intersected by numerous deep gulleys worn by the small streams. The principal streams are Vierdee Kil, Moordeners Kil, Vlockie Kil, Muitzes Kil and Valatie Kil .- Moordeners Kil (Murderers Kil) was so called, says tradition, from an obstinate battle fought between the settlers and a band of robbers at an early day. Adams Killetye is a small creek, so called from Adam Mall, who was taken prisoner by the Indians while drinking of its waters. The soil in the east is clay, and in the west a fertile sandy and gravelly loam.
Castleton, (p. v.) situated on the Hudson River, about fourteen miles below Troy, contains two churches, viz: Methodist and Reformed ; a hotel, six stores, a stove and tin shop, a jewelry store, a lumber yard, five brick yards, and a population of about 600. Five barges run between this village and New York, two of them carrying produce and three of them brick.
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