USA > New York > Sullivan County > Gazetteer and business directory of Sullivan county, N. Y., for 1872-3 > Part 24
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John Richards of Brownville, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., died at Yorktown, Va., in June, 1863.
Wm. J. St. John of Wartsboro, private 140 Regt. N. Y. Vola., died at Lookout Valley. Jan. 21, 1864.
Benj. A. Skinner of Wurtsboro, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., died at Bridgeville, Ala., Oct. 27, 1863.
Jacob Sarim of Wurtshoro, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., wounded at Atlanta, Ga .. Aug. 4, 1864, and died at Nashville, Tenn., in Sept., 1861.
Thomas James Shaw of Bloomingburgh, private 148 Regt. N. Y. Vols., died at Mar- freesboro, Tenn.
Wmn. Travisse of Phillipsport, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., killed at the battle of Dallas, Ga., May 25, 1:04.
James H. Thompson of Summitville, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., died at Fort Monroe, Va., in July, 1803.
Andrew Jackson Whitman of Summitville, private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., died at Lookout Valley, Tenn., Jan. 1. 1964.
Matthew Young of Homowack, (Ulster Co.,) private 143 Regt. N. Y. Vols., com- mitted suicide by shooting. st Clouds Mills, Va .. March IS, 1863.
Win. C. Burroughs Stort of Wurtsboro, private Co. M, 15th Artillery, wounded at Petereburgh, Va., June 14, 14/1, and dird June 29, 1864. .
Rhoades Skinner of Middletown. (Orange Co.) private Co. C, First Mounted Rifles, died at Fort Monroe, Va. Oct. 17, 1862.
George Godfrey of Burlingham, Co. E, 124 Infantry, died in the service.
tFrench's State Gazetteer, page 6-16.
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the same time. The present house, which will seat five hundred persons, was erected in 1834, at a cost of $3,250. The present value of Church property is 86,000. Its first pastor was- Kerr; but at present the pulpit is vacant. It has about forty members; though between the years 1813 and '19, when this was the only church in the locality, it had about three hundred and fifty. Many of the old members now belong to the M. E. and Reformed Societies.
The New Vernon (Primitive Baptist) Church, located near New Vernon, but in this town, was organized in 1814, at which time the first house of worship was erected. The present house was built in 1834. It will seat five hundred persons. The pastor is Gilbert Beebe.
The Reformed Church, located at Bloomingburgh, was organ- ized Feb. 2, 1820, by Peter Weller, Lawrence Tears, Solomon Brink and Moses Jordan, with twenty-six members, and G. DuBois as its first pastor. The first and present house of worship, which will seat six hundred persons, was erected the following year, at a cost of $5,000. The present value of Church property is 88,000. R. HI. Beattie is the pastor. It has one hundred and thirty-one members.
The Bloomingburgh M. E. Church, located at Bloomingburgh, was organized with twelve members, in 1825, by Rev. John Kennedy, who was its first pastor. The first and present house of worship was erected in 1848, at a cost of 8800. It will seat one hundred and seventy-five persons. The value of Church property is 83,000. It has eighty-five members; and Ezra B. Pierce is the pastor.
The M. E. Church, located at Burlingham, was organized in 1830, and its first and present church edifice, which will seat 500 persons, was erected the same year, at a cost of $1,800. The first pastor was John W. Lefevre; the present one is Ezra B. Pierce. The present value of Church property is $4,000. The number of members could not be ascertained.
The M. E. Church of Wurtsboro, at which place it is located, was organized in 1511, by Rev. Horace Weston, who was a zeal- ous worker in his chosen field of labor. The number of mem- bers at its organization is believed to have been about twenty. The pulpit was first supplied by David Poor and Samuel Law, who traveled a large circuit. The first and present house of worship. which will seat one hundred and seventy-five persons. was erected in 1832-3, under the ministration of Rev. --- McFar- lan, at an estimated cost of $1,000, which is the present value of Church property. An effort is being made to build a new
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house. It has eighty-three members. Rev. Milo Couchman is the pastor. This Church is an offshoot from the Brownville Church.
The St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic) Church, located at Wurts- boro, was organized about 1847, by Rev. Mr. Anderson, who was the first pastor. At that time there were about fifteen families connected with it; now there are about fifty. The congrega- tion are ministered to by Rev. Daniel Mugan of Ellenville. Their church edifice was bought from the Ref. Prot. Dutch Church, by whom it was built in 1793, and is reputed to be the oldest church edifice in the County. It will seat three hundred persons. The present value of Church property is $1,000.
The New Vernon Old School Baptist Church, located at New Vernon, was organized March 2, 1785, with sixteeen members, under the pastorate of Elder Eleazer West. The first house of worship was erected in 1800; the present one, which will seat about four hundred, in 1853, at a cost of 82,200. The present value of Church property is about 83,000. The present mem- bership is eighty ; and the present pastor, Elder Gilbert Beebe. Elder Benjamin Montanye succeeded Elder West in the pastor- ate May 15, 1794, and continued as pastor until his death, Dec. 25, 1825. He was succeeded by Elder Beebe, the present incumbent, May 1, 1826. The line between this and Orange counties runs through the neighborhood of New Vernon, but the church stands in this County.
The M. E. Church, located near Walker Valley, was organized with ten members, and - Curtis as its first pastor, in 1860, and erected the first and present house of worship, which will seat two hundred persons, the same year, at a cost of 8500. The Church property is valued at 81,000. There are twenty mem- bers, and Ezra B. Pierce is pastor.
The Union Church of Homowack was organized in 1847, by Ira Ferris, the first pastor, with twenty-five members. Their house of worship was erected in 1843; it will seat about two hundred. The present membership is 32; the present pastor, Rev. Miller Couchman; and the value of Church property, $1,200.
NEVERSINK* was formed from Rochester, (Ulster Co.,) March 16, 1798. Rockland was taken off March 20, 1809, and a part of Fallsburgh, March 9, 1826.} The whole town is elevated, and the surface is very much broken and to a
* For origin and definition of name, see page 62.
tThe original act shows that the town of Neversink covered a portion of what is now Fallsburgh, Liberty, Callicoon and Fremont.
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considerable extent covered with forests. The principal eleva- tions are Denman Hill and Thunder Hill,* the former having an altitude of about 2,000 feet above tide, and the latter a little more. It is watered by the Neversink and its branches ; Ron. dout Creek, which flows to the Hudson, and Chestnut and Lackawack creeks, tributary to it Willowemoc Creek; R. J Brook, and several small streams tributary to these, It is a fact worthy of note that this town is the only one in the County in which there is neither lake nor pond. The soil is generally a gravelly loam and is best adapted to pasturage. The people are chiefly engaged in lumbering, tanning and dairying, though the two former branches of industry are receiving less atten- tion than formerly in consequence of the gradual exhaustion of the supply of bark. The town was early settled by tenants, who have since purchased the fee simple.
The town covers an area of 41,989 acres, of which, in 1865, according to the census of that year, 17,993 were improved and 23.996, unimproved.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, it contained twenty school districts, in which nineteen teachers were emploved. The number of children of school age was 1,035; the num- ber attending school, 842; the average attendance, 381; and the value of school houses and sites, $5,3-13.
The population in 1870 was 2,458.
GRAHAMSVILLE, + (p. v.) situated in the east part, south of the center, on Chestnut Creek, contains two churches, (Friends and Reformed) four stores, two blacksmith shops, three hotels, two shoe shops, two grist mills, one carriage shop, one harness shop, two tanneries, a jewelry store, a photograph gallery, a cabinet shop, an undertaking establishment, fifty dwellings and about 250 inhabitants.
John Reynolds' Tannery, located here, employs on an average about ten hands, consumes annually 1,000 cords of bark, and tans 10,000 sides of slaughter leather.
Currey's Tannery, also located here, was built in 1868, by the present owners, Messrs. A. H. & G. F. Currey. It annually consumes 75 cords of bark, and tans 3,000 sides of leather.
NEVERSINK FLATS, (Neversink p. o.) situated near the south-west correr, on the Neversink, contains one church, (M. E.) one hotel, one grist mill, one store, two shoe shops, one blacksmith shop and about a half dozen dwellings.
*This bill received ite came from the fact that one of the early settlers was frightened at this place by loud thunder .- French's State Gazetteer, p. 647.
+Named in honor of Lieut. Graham, who was killed in a skirmish with the Indians near the site of the village. See page 76-7.
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CLARYVILLE, (p. v.) located near the north line, a little west of the center, and on the Neversink, contains one church, three stores, one tannery, two saw mills, two shoe shops, a grist mill, forty dwellings and about 160 inhabitants. The tannery at this place was built about 1848, by Cook, Bushnell & Rev- nolds, and is now owned by Snyder & Bushnell. . It employs about fifty men, annually consumes about 3,000 cords of bark, and tans about 30,000 sides of leather.
EUREKA (p. o.) is located in the east part, on Chestnut Creek, about three miles east of Grahamsville.
WILLOWEMOC (p. o.) is situated on the creek of the same name, on the line of Rockland.
UNIONVILLE is & hamlet located near Grahamsville, of which it is sometimes considered a part.
Low's CORNERS is a hamlet near the north-east corner, at the junction of the Rondout and Lackawack creeks. There is a Baptist Church located near here.
DEWITTSVILLE is a hamlet on the north line, in Denning, Ulster Co.
HOG ROCK, situated near the north line, is named from a large shelving rock, which, at an early day, afforded shelter for the swine which were allowed to run at large to fatten on the beechnuts which were very plentiful in this section.
Settlements were commenced on the Lackawack by families named Hornbeck, Cline, Clearwater, and Lowe, who obtained an Indian title in 1743, and were driven off during the Revo- lutionary war. Settlements were re-commenced subsequent to the war, by Eleazer Larabee on Thunder Hill, in 1790. He came here from Fallsburgh, but was originally from Connec- ticut, and moved to Liberty in 1794. He was soon followed by Benjamin Gillett, John Hall and Wm. Parks, who settled on the 1,000 acre lot. Hall came from Litchfield, Conn., and soon moved with his wife and child to " Mutton Hill." His daughter, Sally Hall, was the first female child born in the town. He was the father of twenty-two children, eight of whom are now living. At this time the nearest mill was at Wawarsing, and to that place, distant nearly twenty miles, he often carried a grist on his back. Wm. Parks also came from Litchfield, Conn. His son, Elijah Parks, was the first child born in the town.
Stephen Curry came to this town with his wife and two small children from Peekskill, N. Y., in the spring of 1795. The country was then infested with wild animals, which caused the early settlers much trouble and necessitated the herding of
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sheep. A few bears still remain. Mr. Curry was born at Tar- rytown, N. Y., June 15, 1770, and was consequently twenty-five years of age when he settled in the wilds of Sullivan County. His father was of Scotch descent, and his mother, English. Although he was baptized and nurtured in the faith of the Episcopal Church, of which his mother was a member, when he arrived at maturity he inclined to the Quaker persuasion, and though he is not known to have united with that order, his intercourse through life was characterized by the principles and practices peculiar to it. He lived to see his fifth generation, and many of his descendants are now residents of this town. He lived to the advanced age of one hundred and one years and nearly seven months, and died at Grahamsville, Jan. 9, 1872. Prior to his death he was the oldest resident of the County.
Nathaniel Akerly and Robert Aldrich, the latter from New- burgh, came about 179C. Akerly settled on the farm now owned by Wm. HI. Countryman, and Aldrich on the one now owned by Evert VanAken, which then belonged to a landlord named Hunter. In 1856, this farm was occupied by Ira Porter, who was dispossessed. Wm. Gorton, from near Bengall, Dutchess Co., came in Dec. 1798, and, with his wife and four children, (William, Wonton, Lucy and Betsy,) located on the farm now owned by Michael Denman. John Hall Jr. moved from near Newburgh the same year, and located on the farm now owned by James Dice. His son, Peter C. Hall, still occu- pies a part of the farm. He was a soldier during the Revolu- lution, and the father of ten children, most of whom are now living. Wm. A. Moore moved with his wife and eight children, (Benjamin, Comfort, Phebe, Andrew, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Wm. W. and Seaman, four of whom are now living in the town, viz., Seaman and Andrew, and Phebe Porter and Eliza- beth Brundage,) from the town of Washington, Dutchess Co., and settled on the farm which John Benson now owns. Seaman occupies a portion of the farm originally settled by his father. About 1807, - - Hardenburgh was in possession of a tract of land in the vicinity of Neversink Flats, which he leased to poor people whom he distressed and treated harshly. His tenants became incensed and determined to put a stop to the petty tyranny to which he subjected them, by terminating his earthly career. He was shot dead by a man concealed behind a tree. The place where he was shot is in the town of Fallsburgh. Richard D. Childs came here in 1816, from Thompson, 1 !! which town he held the offices of Constable, Deputy-Sheriff and Collector. In 1832 he located at Grahamsville, where he engaged in trade and acted as agent for 40,000 acres of land belonging to Chancellor Livingston. About twenty years
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since he gave up business to his children, and now lives an easy, retired life, is quite healthy and vigorous, and, though he is cighty years old, daily walks to the store, a distance of half a mile. He has been Town Clerk, Supervisor and Sheriff. Obediah Childs also became a resident of this town, but subse- quently moved to Ulster County, where he died a few years ago. John G. Childs, who, while a resident of Monticello, filled the offices of Deputy-Sheriff and Sheriff, practiced law at Grahamsville. He recently moved to Napanoch, Ulster Co.
Henry Reynolds, from Westchester county, was among the carly settlers on Mutton Hill. The prevalence of the primo- genature law previous to the Revolution deprived him of a fair share of his father's estate. This circumstance induced him to become a merchant's clerk. About 1769 he com- menced business at Peekskill for himself, and about the same time married a Miss Fowler of Throgg's Neck. In early life he imbibed the principles of the Quakers, but did not adhere to their practices so rigidly as to become weaned from an active participation in the trying scenes of the Revolution. So warmly indeed did he espouse the cause of the Colonies that when the British invaded Peekskill in 1777, his store was plundered and buildings burned. He then moved, with his wife and five children, to Smith Clove, Orange Co., and en- gaged in farming. While here he belonged to & band of patriots known as minute men.
His comparative retirement did not lessen his interest in the struggles of the patriot army, for we find him with the gallant band, which, under Anthony Wayne, stormed Stony Point, on the Hudson, July 16, 1769. His undisguised sympathies made him obnoxious to the adherents of the British Government, and his life was several times threatened and its destruction (physical) more than once attempted by a band of Tories, under the leadership of Claudius Smith,* whose business it was to secretly plunder the less noted Whigs and surreptitiously dispose of the more prominent and influential ones. So bold and formidable did this band become that Gov. Clinton was induced to offer a reward for the apprehension of Smith. He was captured by a party of Whigs under the, leadership of Maj. John Brush, who pursued him to Long Island, within the enemy's lines, whither he fled for safety on learning in what manner Clinton's proclamation concerned him. He was conveyed to Goshen, where, on the ISth of January, 1:79. he was tried and con- victed on three indictments for burglary and robbery, and on the 22d of the same month, he, and several of his accomplices,
*A fuller account of Smith and the depredations of his band of miscreante will be found in Eager's Orange County, pages 550-505.
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expiated their crimes on the gallows. Smith was succeeded in the leadership by his three sons, (Wm., Richard and James.) who, says Eager, were as atrocious as himself. This band was not extirpated until 1782, in which year the people of Monroe, assisted by some troops belonging to Washington's army, who were encamped abont four miles from Smith Clove, put an end to their depredations.
At the first attempt to injure Mr. Reynolds, members of the Tory band tried to effect an entrance into his house by descend- ing the chimney, the doors and windows having been securely fastened; but this was frustrated by one of the family who emptied a feather bed upon the fire and compelled the intruders to retreat or risk suffocation. They chose the former alternative. The second attempt, made in July of the same year, was successful. Benjamin Kelley, Philip Roblin and several others of Smith's band gained admittance into his house at night by pretending to be a detachment from Washington's army in search of deserters. While he was about to procure a light with' which to welcome his supposed friends, one of them struck him from behind, damned him and told him to make haste. This act revealed to him the character of his visitors and he tried to escape through the door and on the piazza, but he stumbled and fell over something which lay there and was caught and dragged back into the house. Having secured Reynolds, whom they wounded in several places with their knives and swords, they hung him in the presence of his family. on the trammel pole of his fire place. Phebe, his eldest child, who lacked one month of being twelve years of age, violently opposed them, but was rudely pushed aside. When the. intruders, supposing their victim to be writhing in the agonies of death, dispersed in search of plunder, she cut him down, got him on a bed and endeavored to resuscitate him. The wretches discovered her efforts and again suspended him as before, in doing which, however, they were again persistently opposed by the heroic girl, who, finding herself overpowered, threw herself upon the body of her father, and clasping her limbs tightly around him, thus attempted to shield him at the risk of her own life, from the blows of her brutal assailants, one of whom. when neither threats nor entreaties could induce her to relax her hold, cruelly lashed her with a rope. Even this proved ineffectual, and it became necessary to tear her away by main force. Believing the noble girl was too much disabled to again attempt a rescue, or that their victim was past help, they azzam went in search of plunder. Phebe cut him down a second time, but he was too weak to be led to another room. When they were again discovered she threw herself upon the prostrate body
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of her father, at whom the marauders flew, and cut and slashed him with their knives until they believed him to be dead. In her effort to protect her father in this assault, Phebe was wounded in her head and breast. They destroyed Reynolds' private papers, robbed him of everything they could carry away, and him they threw into an old chest, the lid of which was closed over him. They rolled a large stone against the door, which opened outwardly, and threatened to shoot the first one who raised the door Jatch. Then, having set fire to the house in several places, they left, doubtless expecting the whole family would be consumed and all traces of their crime obliterated. Phebe, with such aid as her mother, (who was a delicate woman, and then pregnant, and was rendered almost powerless by the shock which these inhuman scenes produced,) and a lad, who was living with them, could render, extricated her father, whom they found stiff and rigid, from his painful prison, and applied such restoratives as were at hand. It was necessary to pry open his mouth with a chisel so as to administer nourishment. She was soon obliged to relinquish this office to extinguish the flames which her mother discovered in three places, but which she was too feeble to put out. Phebe seems to have been the only one sufficiently self-possessed to do anything to ameliorate their pitiable condition; even the lad before alluded to was so paralyzed with fear that he could not be induced to go and alarm the neighbors. This Phebe was obliged to do berself as soon as she deemed it safe to leave her father. She appeared wholly unconscious of her own painful wounds and the loss of blood they occasioned, so eager was she to relieve her father. The alarm spread rapidly, and soon after sunrise a company of armed men started in pursuit of the desperadoes, whom they followed to their retreat in the mountains, and several of whom they shot. Among those shot was Kelley, the leader of the band. On examination, Reynolds' body was found to be wounded in more than thirty places. One of his ears was so nearly severed that it hung down to his shoulder, and one of his hands was so badly cut that he never fully recovered its use. "For several weeks Reynolds was on the brink of the grave, but fortified as it had been by a life of temperance and industry, his fine constitution in the end triumphed, and he lived to see his eighty-fifth birth day."*
On the 17th of March, 1794, this section was visited by a very violent and destructive wind, which destroyed nearly all the timber in its course.
*A very full and graphic account of this thrilling event is given In the writings of James E. Quinlan, from which the substance of these facts is taken.
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Christopher Darrow taught the first school in the town: Eleazer Larabee kept the first inn on Thunder Hill; Abei Downs, it is said, kept the first store; and the first grist mili was built by Chancellor Livingston, in 1810, under the super- intendence of Jeremiah Gale. Henry Reynolds was the Drs: Supervisor, and Josiah Depuy the first Town Clerk.
In 1848 the Mormons began to hold meetings in this town. Much excitement prevailed and many families were induced to remove to Utah. Among these were Horace Gillett and his wife, who was a daughter of Wm. A. Moore, Isaac Groo, Wm. L. Brundage, John Hodge and Miles Wheaton. The temple, or house used by the Mormons as such, is located at a place known as " Nauvoo " and is still standing.
On the night of the 14th of October, 1869, a heavy rain storm set in and continued until noon of the following day. The quantity of water which fell was so great as to produce a freshet in the Neversink, which swept "away everything in its course. Bridges, buildings, crops, logs, lumber, wood, &c., were seen floating down the " river.
We are informed of a somewhat remarkable instance of fecundity in this town. Mrs. Elizabeth Dice, who is forty-three years of age, is the mother of nineteen living children. If this is a characteristic of the matrons of Neversink we see no reason why it should not speedily become densely populated.
The first church was erected by the Methodists, at Grahams. ville. The first preachers were Revs. -- White and Nichols.
The Reformed Church of Grahamsville was organized with twenty-five members, July 1, 1844, by Henry Clark, Cornelius HI. Sheeley, John Wells and John D. Dean. Their house of worship, which will seat 250 persons, was erected the same voar, at a cost of 81,200. The first pastor was Rev. Thos. B. Gregory; the present one is Rev. Wm. E. Turner. There are fifty members. The value of Church property is $3,000.
The Friends' Society, located near Grahamsville, was organ- ized with ten members, about thirty years ago, through the efforts of Leonard Porter. The first "recommended minister" was Rebecca Grant ; the present minister is Nancy Hall. The church edifice, which will seat 150 persons, was erected in 1842. at a cost of about $500. The present membership is ten ; and the value of Church property is about 8000.
The M. E. Church. at Neversink Flats, was organized with about forty members, by A. Palen and others, and for some 1
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