USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, Volume I > Part 3
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The season why Moses De Witt's name did not appear on the monument at Goshen is be- cause that monument was erected to the mem- ory of those who died in the battle and did not purport to commemorate the survivors.
In the same volume is a poem by Charles E. Stickney, entitled "Minisink." One of its stan- zas refers to Captain Moses DeWitt, in the following language :
The sun to westward wheeled his blazing car, The river rolled its flashing waters by, While Hathorn's men through heat and worse by far, Dread thirst, fought on beneath the cloudless sky. When these at last had dark despair brought nigh, DeWitt fell wounded-powder all was spent --- No chance was left except to flee or die. Yes flee, and leave their wounded ; as they went, Their cries for mercy with the roar of battle blent.
John N. Dolph, late superintendent of the schools at Port Jervis, New York, a short time before his death, wrote:
Moses DeWitt could have been only about 18 years old when he was at the battle of the Minisink. I have been to the battle ground. It was about one mile and a half easterly from Lackawaxen. The
whites were on the summit of a hill. The Indians had them at a disadvantage. They surrounded the hill. The breast-works which were hastily thrown up by the whites are now plainly visible. There is a monument erected on the battle ground to com- memorate the event. The Indians had the white men cut off from all supply of water.
"Old Ulster," volume 2, page 334, has a full page portrait of this monument.
There has been considerable controversy in the public prints about the birthplace of Gov- ernor De Witt Clinton, some maintaining that he was born at the residence of his grand- father, Egbert DeWitt, at Napanoch, L'Ister county, and others urging that the place of his birth was the residence of his uncle, David Rutsen DeWitt, at Peenpack, near Port Jervis, in Orange county.
"Old Ulster," volume 6, page 362. review- ing the matter, said of David Rutsen De Witt and his place of residence :
He built the old stone and frame house at the Neversink River, and a grist mill. A fort was built contiguous to this house which was termed "Fort DeWitt" and was used as a place of refuge and safety for women and children during the Indian wars which preceded and continued during the years of the Revolution. This Fort DeWitt was located near the suspension bridge which crossed the Never- sink River leading from Port Jervis to Cuddeback- ville, about one mile south of Cuddebackville. The small house which stood in 1889 near the then dwell- ing of Jessie Tillson was on the foundation of this fort.
"Eager's History of Orange County," pub- lished in 1846 and 1847, states :
DeWitt Clinton was born March 2, 1769, at Fort DeWitt, at the residence of Captain Jacob DeWitt. This Fort was both a residence and Fort, being a stone house fortified to an extent to be a protection against the Indians who for many years before the Revolution were troublesome in that vicinity, being on the outskirts of the white settlement.
(VI) Jezereel, son of Moses DeWitt, was born September 1, 1786. He married Lucy Stoddard, born August 27, 1793, in Groton, Connecticut. She was the daughter of In- crease B. Stoddard, who had then removed to the township of Minisink. Orange county, New York. A portion of the last-named township. containing his farm and place of residence was afterwards set off and became part of the town- ship of Wawaywanda. The children of Jezereel and Lucy Stoddard De Witt were as follows : Simion Stoddard, born July 10, 1815, married Sally Venoy; Evi, hereinafter more partic-
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ularly mentioned ; Jezereel, born June 5, 1822, married Lucy Loomis ; Increase B., born April 3, 1825, married Maria -: Diadama, born January 9, 1826, married Thomas B. Morgan ; Abel Shute, born April 26, 1830, married Kate Brown; Chauncy B., born March 19, 1833, married Elvira Stowell.
Lucy Stoddard De Witt died May 31, 1834. Jezereel DeWitt Sr. married Esther Lambert for his second wife, about 1835. Their son, Samuel M. DeWitt, was born in or about 1836, and died, unmarried. August 23, 1860. at the age of twenty-three years and six months, Jezereel DeWitt died March 10, 1868, and Esther DeWitt departed this life February 16. 1871, age seventy-seven years and six days.
Jezereel DeWitt Sr. removed from Sussex county, New Jersey, to Brooklyn, Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, in or about 1823, where he died and his remains were buried in the public cemetery at Brooklyn Center.
(VII) Evi, son of Jezereel DeWitt, was born in Montague township, near the old "Brick House," Sussex county, New Jersey, Novem- ber 14, 1819, died March 28, 1903. On De- cember 28, 1843, he married Annie Elizabeth Wilson, at Carbondale, Pennsylvania, who died February 1, 1892. Their children were: Jer- ome, mentioned below; Lucy, born at New Milford. January 22, 1847, died September 10, 1848 ; Mary, born April 19, 1851, died Febru- ary 6, 1865; Levi Justine, born May 30, 1859. married Mary Curley, of Great Bend, Penn- sylvania, January 10, 1899; William Wilson, born September 10, 1861, died February 2. 1865: Annie, born July 23, 1867, died October 19, 1882; Agnes, twin to Annie, married Eu- gene M. Casey, April 10, 1896, and died at Oxford, New York, March 29. 1903.
Annie E. Wilson, mentioned above, was born January 24, 1824, at or near Chorley, in Lancashire county. England, the daughter of William and Margaret Wilson. Her birth- place was on the Avon river, near the home of Shakespeare. When she was three months old her parents immigrated to this country, and lived for a short time in New York City. Afterwards at West-Farms, near Mott Haven, in Westchester county, New York, and, while Annie E. was still young, moved to a farm in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, where her father died at the age of thirty-three years. Her mother, with her two daughters, Annie E. and Mar- garet Wilson, then removed to Carbondale, Pennsylvania, in or about the year 1839. Annie
E. Wilson was a person of superior education and intelligence and there opened and conduct- ed a select school for young ladies until the time of her marriage to Evi DeWitt. He and she lived in Brooklyn one year, then removed to Nicholson, Pennsylvania, where they re- sided for two or three years. They then re- moved to a farm in New Milford, where they continued to reside until the time of their deaths. Evi DeWitt was a strong man, phy- sically, morally and mentally. He was one of the prosperous farmers of Susquehanna county.
(VIII) Jerome, son of Evi and Annie E. (Wilson) DeWitt. was born at Nicholson, Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1845. He married Ida Brougham, of Newark Valley, New York, January 26, 1892. When he was two years old he was taken to New Milford, Susquehanna county, with the fam- ily, to reside, and his father followed farm- ing there. He attended the public schools, the New Milford Academy and afterwards the Gibson Academy, in which he prepared for college. He entered the University of Michi- gan, at Ann Arbor, from which he was gradu- ated in 1868. In the autumn of the same year he came to Binghamton, New York, and began the study of the law, in the office of the Hon. William Barrett. After remaining there a year he read law with Judge Horace S. Gris- wold for a year, and later with Judge Benja- min N. Loomis for about six months. He was admitted to the bar in the old general term, sit- ting at Albany, in February, 1871. He then became a partner with the late William H. Scoville in the practice of law. under the firm name of "Scoville and De Witt," which partner- ship continued until the spring of 1890, when Mr. Scoville died. Since Mr. Scoville's death Mr. DeWitt has continued to practice alone. He has for many years occupied a prominent position in his profession, and has been honor- ed with many offices of trust. In politics he is a Democrat.
Mr. De Witt was a member of the old volun- teer fire department, joining the Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, in the year 1871. He soon became, by election, assist- ant foreman of that company, and later was elected foreman, and twice reëlected to the last-named position. He then became, by elec- tion, second assistant engineer for one year. first assistant engineer for a like term, and at the expiration of the last term was elected chief of the fire department, March 4, 1879.
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That last position he again filled for a sec- ond term, by reelection. In 1876 he was the candidate for his party for member of the popular branch of legislature. The county (Broome) being very strongly Republican in politics he was not elected, but ran some- thing over five hundred ahead of his party ticket. For the period of twelve years, ending April 12, 1894, he was the treasurer of the Binghamton State Hospital for the Insane. He was one of the first fire commissioners of the city, under the act of the legislature of 1888, creating a board of fire commissioners for the management of the volunteer fire de- partment. He served two years under this appointment, which was made by Mayor Mor- gan, and was then reappointed by Mayor Ste- phens for a full term of four years, but re- signed May 26, 1893.
In November, 1897, Mr. DeWitt was elect- ed mayor of the city of Binghamton, defeating ex-Mayor George E. Green. In the fall of 1899 he was reelected mayor for a further term of two years; William L. Griswold, Esq., being the Republican candidate. At the fall election. in 1906, he was the candidate of his party for the office of county judge and surro- gate of Broome county, but the Republican majority being something over four thousand in the county, he was not elected. December 10, 1906, he was appointed by Governor Hig- gins to be a member of the board of managers of the Binghamton State Hospital for the Insane, to fill a vacancy ; and was reappointed by Governor Hughes for a full term of five years, April 4, 1907, but resigned April I, 1910.
He resides at No. 33 St. John avenue, and still occupies the old law office of the late Judge Griswold, where he studied ; which, with the library and belongings, he and Mr. Scoville purchased in 1871. In January of the present year (1911) he was appointed a member of the board of education of the city of Bingham- ton for the term of five years, a position which he still occupies.
The surname Goodwin is de- GOODWIN rived from the ancient per- sonal name, Godwin, mean- ing good friend, common in northern Europe and England as early as the fifth century. Its use as a surname dates from the adoption of surnames in England. A Robert Goodwin lived in Norwich in 1238.
(I) Ozias Goodwin, the immigrant, was born in England, in 1596, according to his deposi- tion in court, September. 1674, when he stated his age as seventy-eight. Elder William Good- win, his brother, and he came to this country about the same time, and both settled in Hart- ford, Connecticut. Ozias married, in Eng- land, Mary, daughter of Robert Woodward, of Braintree, county Essex. Her father's will. dated May 27, 1640, mentions her as a legatee. It is believed that the Goodwins were from this vicinity also. The first record of Ozias. in Hartford, is as a landholder among "such inhabitants as were granted lots to have only at the town's courtesie, with libertie to fetch wood and keep swine or cows by proportion on the common." His home, in February, 1639-40, was on the highway from the cow pasture to Mr. Allen's land on the west, ad- joining lands of Thomas Burchwood, Thomas Hale and Richard Lord. This lot is what is now Trumbull street, near Church street ; later he moved to a lot on the highway from the mill to the old ox pasture. He was one of a company from Hartford, Windsor and Weth- ersfield, who, April 18, 1659, signed an agree- ment to remove to Hadley, Massachusetts. He decided to remain at Hartford. He was a freeman as early as October 13, 1669. He died in the spring of 1683 and his inventory was dated April 3, 1683. The heirs signed an agreement of partition April 6, 1683. Chil- dren : William, born about 1629; Nathaniel. about 1637, mentioned below ; Hannah, about 1639. married, 1661, William Pitkin, of Hart- ford.
(II) Nathaniel, son of Ozias Goodwin, was born about 1637, and was admitted a freeman of Connecticut, October. 1662. He was a townsman of Hartford. 1669-78-82. He mar- ried (first) Sarah, daughter of John and Han- nah Coles, of Hatfield, Massachusetts, for- merly of Farmington, Connecticut. She died May 8, 1676, aged twenty-nine, and was buried in the Center church burying-ground, where her monument is still to be seen, the oldest in Hartford bearing the name of Goodwin. He married (second) Elizabeth, daughter of Dan- iel Pratt, of Hartford. Children of first wife : Nathaniel, baptized July. 1665, married (first) Lois Potter, (second), September 14, 1699, Sarah Easton, died March 12, 1746; Sarah. baptized 1668; John, baptized May 19. 1672, married (first ) Sarah --- , (second), before June, 1740, Mary Olmstead, died February 6,
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1757. Children of second wife : Samuel, men- tioned below ; Hannah, baptized December 6. 1685, buried January 31, 1693; Ozias, born June 26. 1689, married, June 6, 1723, Martha Williamson, died January 26, 1776; Elizabeth, October 14, 1691, married, September 12, 1713, John Cole, died December 28, 1773.
(III) Samuel, son of Nathaniel Goodwin, was born August 22, 1682. He married, March 18, 1707-08, Mary, daughter of Lieutenant James and Sarah (Barnard) Steele, of Hart- ford. She married (second), December 2, 1714, Joseph Ashley. He lived in Hartford, and died before January 23, 1711-12. Chil- dren : Abigail, born December 12, 1708, mar- ried, March 23, 1737-38; Nathaniel Eggleston, died September 30, 1801 ; Samuel, mentioned below.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Good- win, was born October 10, 1710, died September 30. 1776. Ile married ( first) Abigail who died September 16, 1748, and (second), January, 1750, Laodamia Merrill, born January 28, 1728-29, buried May 6, 1790, daughter of Moses and Mary Merrill, of Hartford. He lived in Hartford, and held numerous town offices there ; hayward, 1732; collector. 1737- 45-47 ; grand juror, 1743. October, 1749. he was elected ensign of the First Company of Foot Guard. in the First Connecticut Regi- ment. Children: Samuel, born October 7, 1752, married, January 18, 1781. Abigail But- ler, died April 6, 1807; James, mentioned below : George, January 7. 1757. married. De- cember 2. 1779. Mary Edwards, died May 13, 1844: Abigail, May 28. 1759. married James Anderson, died December 23, 1843: David, August 7. 1761, married Susanna Pratt, died November 15, 1810; Theodore, April 18, 1764, married (first), November 1I, 1792, Lucy Adams, (second), June 24. 1805. Harriet Prior, tied March 21. 1845; Russell. September 14. 1766, married, July 4, 1789. Ruth Church, died May 19. 1839: Mary, May 14, 1769. buried May 27. 1783.
(V) James, son of Samuel (2) Goodwin, was born in Hartford. December 15, 1754, died in East Hartford, June 24, 1822. Ile married, March 10, 1783. Hannah, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Allyn) Mather, born in Windsor, Connecticut, March 20, 1762, died February 22. 1805. Children : Roxana, born March 9. 1784. married. November II, 1828, Chester Wells, died March 9. 1878;
James Mather, mentioned below ; Mary, May 25, 1787, married, March 31, 1811, Timothy Spencer, died August 28, 1870; Manning, May 27, 1789, died July 6, 1789; Manning, August 27, 1790, died June 15, 1832 ; Hannah, Decem- ber 20, 1792, married, November 27. 1814. Oliver Wells, died May 24, 1820; Erastus, March 14, 1795. married, August 1, 1821. Anna Seaman, died June 7, 1882.
(VI) James Mather, son of James Good- win, was born August 24, 1785, in Hartford : died March 30, 1870. He married, December 21. 1809, Roxana, daughter of John and Theo- dosia (Foote) Bulkley, born in Colchester. Connecticut, May 14, 1788, died August 9. 1869. He began his business life as a West India merchant in his native town and con- tinued as such until 1828, when he became secretary for the Ætna Fire Insurance Com- pany, of Hartford, and in 1837 was elected to the same position in the Protection Company. From 1819 to 1823 he was major in the Gov- ernor's Foot Guards. In religion he was an Episcopalian, and in 1837 was elected junior warden, and in 1829 and 1838 senior warden. Children : James Mather, born October 1, 1810. married (first). September 16, 1834, Julia Ann Dickinson, (second), May 7, 1838, Charlotte Rebecca Johnson; Frederick, July 24, 1812, died October 27, 1845; Mary, February 3. 1816, died March 17, 1817: Mary Jane. Janu- ary 26, 1818, married, May 16, 1838, Charles Haskell Brainard; Henry Wheaton, mention- ed below ; William Alfred, February 14. 1831. died September 20, 1838.
(VII) Henry Wheaton, son of James Math- er Goodwin, was born in Hartford, Connecti- cut, September 26, 1823, died at New Haven. Connecticut, November 5, 1876. He married. May 6, 1846, Caroline Althea, daughter of Joel and Maria (Scovill) Hinman, born in Waterbury, Connecticut. July 9. 1827, died March 4, 1874. He lived for a time in Green- field, Massachusetts, and Waterbury. After his marriage he returned to Hartford, and for a number of years was engaged in the crockery business. In 1862 he removed to West Hart- ford, and in 1870 to Cheshire. Children : Maria Hinman, September 20, 1847, married. January 13, 1868, Percival W. Clement ; Al- fred Scovill, March 30, 1850, married, Febru- ary 5. 1880, Mrs. Emma Amelia (Atkinson) Ely : Henry William, January 29. 1855, mar- ried, May 27, 1875, Eleanor C. Steele : Caro-
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line Anna, October 31, 1859, married, October 13, 1880, John Dwight Parker ; Frederick Ab- bott, mentioned below.
(VIII) Dr. Frederick Abbott Goodwin, son of Henry Wheaton Goodwin, was born at West Hartford, August 28, 1865. He received his early education in the public schools of Hartford, in Rutland, Vermont, and Shoe- makertown, Pennsylvania. In 1885 he enter- ed the medical department of the University of Vermont, and graduated in 1887. He then took a post-graduate course at the Columbia University Medical School, and graduated in 1888. From 1888 to 1890 he was surgeon in the Hartford Hospital. In 1890 he went to Europe, and studied medicine and surgery in Germany and Austria for two years. From 1892 to 1898 he practiced in New York City, and was also instructor in orthopedic surgery at the New York Post-Graduate School and Hospital. He then became surgeon for the Erie railroad and removed to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1907. For six years he was coroner of Susquehanna, and was the founder and organizer of the Simon Barnes Hospital. In 1907 he removed to Binghamton, New York, where he follows a general practice. He still continues as sur- geon to the Erie Railroad, and consulting sur- geon at the Susquehanna Hospital. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; of the New York and New England Railroad Surgeons' Association, of which he is president; of the Erie Railroad Surgeons' Association ; Broome County Med- ical Society, of which he is treasurer. He married, March 2, 1899, Minnie H., daughter of Dr. Francis Vinton and Mary Elizabeth ( Bensel) Brush (see Brush VIII). She was a graduate of the New York Post-Graduate Training School for Nurses, class of 1898. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Goodwin: Dorothy Atherton, born April 5, 1900; Edith Brush, May 26, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Goodwin attend the Episcopal church.
(The Brush Line).
The first of the name of whom there is any record was Robert De Brush, who went to England with the Conqueror in 1066. From this French De Brus or De Brewes are de- rived the English names of Bruse, Bruce, Bush and Brush. The following extracts show perhaps the source from which the family in this country sprang. William de Brus lived
in Heworth, a mile to the north of Aycliffe. His son, Adam de Brus, "held the will by Knights service." William Brus, 1354, "then styled Chivalier, held the Manor of Heworth by the fourth part of a Knight's fees and 40S. William Brays son and heir, 1381. Robert Bruys sold the estate in 1435."
(I) Thomas Brush, immigrant ancestor, was born in England about 1610, and came to this country before 1653, in which year he is re- corded as owning a lot in Southold, Suffolk county, Long Island. In 1656 he witnessed a will in Southold, and attended a town meeting there in October, 1660. That same year it was agreed that "Gudman Brush" shall keep "the ordinary." He was made a freeman of Connecticut in 1664. In 1656 or 1657 he re- moved to Huntington, Long Island, having sold his home in Southold to Thomas Mapes, his wife Rebecca assenting. About 1666 he. with two others, was sent by the "Inhabitants of Huntington with an Indian called Chichinee to the South Meadow" to find and fix the boundaries of a piece of land bought from the Massapagus Indians. This land was South Neck, and upon it was a marked tree, which was to serve as a witness to the bargain. The whites met there some twenty Indians, with their sachem, who was at first very reluctant to conclude the transaction. They finally agreed to point out the tree, however. Thomas Brush was ahead of the other white men, and went past the said tree, without noticing it. "Then an Indian called him back and showed him." He was one of the proprietors of Huntington in 1672. He was also chosen one of the over- seers of the town, and finally constable. He exercised his authority in the latter position, when, February 21, 1670, the town "refuse to repair the Fort" at New York because they felt deprived of the liberties of Englishmen.
His wife was Rebecca, daughter of John Conkling, or Conolyne, who was said to have come from Nottinghamshire, England. He was received as an inhabitant of Salem, Massa- chusetts, September 14, 1640, and had four acres of land allotted to him in 1649. He was an active man, who "identified himself with every new enterprise with zeal and energy and soon became the cynosure of all the village." He moved later to Southold, and about 1660 to Huntington, where he is numbered among the founders of the town. He is believed to have been born about 1600, and died in 1683.
Thomas Brush died in 1670, and his son
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Thomas administered upon his estate in 1677. It was valued at three hundred and six pounds, which was a very fair sum for those times. Children : Thomas ; Richard, mentioned below ; John, born about 1650; Rebecca, married, Feb- ruary 8. 1682, Jeremiah Hobart, or Hubbard.
(II) Richard, son of Thomas Brush, settled on West Neck, on the south shore of Lloyd's Harbor. This property remained in the pos- session of his descendants until 1898. Like his father, he was a town officer, a commis- sioner to lay out lands and roads, and in 1663 one of the seven trustees annually elected under the new patent. He married Hannah or Jo- anna Corey. Following the common practice of his time he divided his real estate among his sons during his lifetime. In 1700 he gave a farm to his son Thomas, with the con- sent of his wife. In 1709 he gave Richard and Thomas "Meadows and uplands," and in 1710 his son Robert his home lot, with jother property, including one-half of one hundred pounds right of commonage. Children : Rich- ard; Thomas ; Robert, mentioned below ; Reu- ben.
(III) Robert, son of Richard Brush, was born in 1695. He was a town trustee, and when a new meeting-house was built, was among the most libéral subscribers, giving the sum of twenty pounds. He was executor of the will of Jeremiah Hubbard Jr., his nephew, in 1730. He had four sons, of whom Reuben married Ruth Woods, February 11, 1739, and was a prominent citizen ; Jonathan, mentioned below.
(IV) Jonathan, son of Robert Brush, was born and lived at Huntington, Long Island. He married Elizabeth Smith. Among their children was Joshua, mentioned below.
(V) Joshua, son of Jonathan Brush, was born at Huntington, and always lived there. He married Margaret Ireland, of West Hills, Long Island. Among their children was Philip, mentioned below.
(V1) Philip, son of Joshua Brush, was born at Huntington and removed to Ridgefield, Con- necticut. He married Ruth Brush, a distant relative. Among their children was Jarvis, born January 6, 1787, father of Professor George Jarvis Brush, director of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, from 1872 to 1898; Conklin, mentioned below.
(VII) Hon. Conklin Brush, son of Philip Brush, was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut, March 8, 1794, died July 4, 1870. He was
educated in the public schools. Just after the war of 1812 he commenced business in New York City, with no resources but his good character and remarkable business tact and energy, and he very rapidly acquired a reputa- tion as a safe and successful merchant. He was a dealer in crockery and hardware. From 1816 to 1840, including all the periods of com- mercial disaster, he was at the head of nine successful firms, no one of which ever failed, and all of which were highly prosperous. He came to Brooklyn in 1827 and made his home in that city the remainder of his life. When Brooklyn was made a city, in April, 1834, Mr. Brush was asked to occupy the chair during the election of the first mayor, George Hall. He was a member of the board of trustees in 1830, of the common council in 1834-35, and president of the board. At the close of his term he was given a unanimous vote of thanks for the able and impartial manner in which he presided. In politics he was a Whig until that party was dissolved. In every movement for the development and welfare of Brooklyn he took an active part. When he moved thither, there was not a public street lamp in Brooklyn, which was then a village. In 1832 he took steps to have Hicks and William streets lighted at night and from that time the public lighting system was extended to all parts of the munici- pality. In 1834 he was chairman of the citizens' committee which secured for Brooklyn, against the opposition of New York City, the South or Atlantic Ferry. He led the movement to widen Fulton strect below the junction with Main street against violent opposition. He was ap- pointed at a public meeting of the city on a committee to select and secure a site for a city hall and the committee secured the site on which the building was subsequently erected. though instead of a city hall costing $100,000, as proposed by the committee, a costly struc- ture was started and various scandals develop- ed before the city hall was finally completed. With Daniel Richards he projected the At- lantic docks, incorporated in 1840, and he was a director of the company for six years. In 1848 he erected a grain elevator. In 1850 lie was elected mayor of Brooklyn, as the Whig candidate, against John Rice, the Democratic candidate, and George Hall, independent, and he served the city with ability and credit dur- ing 1851 and 1852. It has been said that the city never had a better mayor. His perfect familiarity with financial affairs secured for
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