USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 12
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Each year the overseer of the tribe would furnish the women with blankets, then called "squaw blankets." When they traveled, the pappooses were tied up and carried on the backs of the squaws. Tabe Elihu, John Wampee. Rachel, and Elihu Mauwee were noted personages among them years ago.
The first settler upon the Oblong tract in this town, was Martin Preston. He located on Preston Mountain ; the cellar wall and part of the chimney of the house he built are yet to. be seen. When he first came the valley in which the village of Dover is located was nothing but a scrub oak plain. The land was worth 6d per acre, and on Preston Mountain it brought I shilling per acre ; but the old settlers prefered the mountain land even at the increased price. Martin was a mighty hunter ; sometimes on his hunting expeditions he would go as far as the Catskill Mountains. There are many now living who remember him. He died at a very advanced age. He was a great bee-keeper and used to make quantities of "metheglin."
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of the honey. Uncle Martin's metheglin was noted for miles around.
The Hufcuts were early settlers on Preston Mountain. Hans Hufcut, great-grandfather of Horace, bought lands of Peter Coons, and located there. Gideon Dutcher located on the farm now occupied by Patrick Whalen. Silas Belden purchased 1000 acres at the foot of Plymouth Hill ; his farm comprised lands in Dover. Amenia, and Washington.
Mrs. Dorcas Belden, one of the first settlers, was riding alone on horseback a short distance above Dover Plains, when three wolves darted out from the thick woods which skirted the road, and sprang at her. She put whip to her horse and succeeded in escaping from them. Wild turkies at this time were abundant. and a few deer. Bears and catamounts were not so frequently met with.
The Gillets were from Rhode Island, and emigrated here about 1742. The Bensons came in soon after. B. Dutcher and Christopher Dutcher came from Holland. David Rose came at an early date, as did the Tabers and Schermerhorns. The Wheelers, Knickerbackers, Osterhouts, Delamaters and Van Duzens are also mentioned as among the early settlers of Dover.
It is said of Epraim Wheeler that he built a house for the Methodist parsonage near where William Ketcham lives. Ephraim Wheeler, Jun., died at the age of roi years.
The village of Dover, as it was seventy-five years ago, is thus described :- A small house near where the Shunpike* now runs ; then Mr. Cornelius Dutcher's house ; a house where Perry's school is; one where Dr. Berry now lives ; a small red house on the corner ; a small house on the right side of high- way, built by Major Livingston ; an old store below the corner ; another small house occupied by Jonathan Mabbett ; then the residence of James Ketcham. grandfather of John H. Ketcham : next the school-house and church south of the bridge and near the cemetery.
* A road built in opposition to the turnpike.
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Mrs. Joseph Belden saw Burgoyne's captive army as it passed through the town enroute for Fishkill. They encamped on the plain, and she remembered how the tents looked that Were pitched there.
It is said that Gideon Osterhout and Derick Dutcher bet their farms upon the result of the war of the Revolution ... Dutcher lost and gave up his farm.
A tribe of Indians lived on the plains, probably a remnant. of the Schaghticokes. On the farm of William Taber there was an Indian orchard, and another near Luther Holley's.
Horse-racing was indulged in here to a great extent, the straight, level roads being well adapted to that kind of sport .. An extensive tannery was located at Dover, near the cemetery grounds.
Capt. Miller bought lands in Butt's Hollow, paying $10 . per acre, when land on the Plains was worth only $3 per acre.
Thomas and Alice Casey came from Rhode Island about the middle of the last century. They settled on Chestnut Ridge, where they purchased a tract of one thousand acres. Their daughter, grandmother of the wife of Mr. Lossing, came on horseback, in company with thirteen others, including six blacks, the whole distance from Long Island. Their goods were brought by way of Poughkeepsie.
The first white child born in DUCHESS County was a girl named Emigh. Her parents resided in Fishkill. She married a Lossing, from whom is descended the family of Lossings of which the historian of that name is an honored representative. That gentleman has in his possession an Indian deed, granted to some of his ancestors, for a large tract of land extending from the Hudson River to the Connecticut line, being the same territory afterwards covered by the Rombout and Beekman. Patents.
On the farm of Mr. Lossing is a barn built in 1783, still sound and staunch, though ancient in appearance.
Dr. Konkiput, a Scaghticoke Indian, educated by the Moravians, used frequently to encamp on the Ridge. He-
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possessed quite a reputation as a physician, and many people now living recollect going to him for medicines.
Jacob Van Camp and Derick Dutcher were living in the north part of Dover previous to 1731. An old map shows their houses near Plymouth Hill.
Oldest House in Town-as originally built.
The old house north of Philip Hoag's was built in 1751. as shown by date on chimney, by Hendrick Dutcher It is said to be the oldest house in town* and has been tenanted
till within a year or so. The house is 32 x 24 feet, and formerly had a chimney in it the base of which measured 14 x 12 feet-just half the width of the house. and nearly half the length. Its appearance has been somewhat modified in later years by the addition of some windows. When Washington evacuated Boston, he passed with a portion of his command. so tradition says, by the road leading west from Wings Station. His troops encamped for the night on the hill across the brook west from Philip Hoag's on both sides of the road. Washing- ton took up his quarters in the old house just mentioned, which though located on another road, stood in full view of the encampment. The chamber window shown in the cut opened into the room occupied by the Commander-in-chief, through which he could easily observe the movements of his soldiers.
Elder Waldo, a Baptist preacher, lived at that time where the Misses Hoag now reside. He carried all the milk pro- duced by several cows into camp, together with other provisions. and distributed the articles among the soldiers; told them where he lived. and invited them to come to his house and get whatever they wanted to eat. Many of them did so, and partook of his generosity ; and to their credit be it said, noth- ing about the premises was in the least disturbed by them.
* Another honse nearly as old. is standing near the Jewett schoolhonse.
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A family named Elliott lived on the place now occupied by Mr. Philip Hoag. They were less free with their provisions than Waldo, and went to the officers with the request that the soldiers be entirely kept off their grounds. The result was that not a chicken or scarcely any other eatable was left about the premises, the troops making a clean sweep of everything the Elliots possessed; and, notwithstanding their earnest entreaties, the officers paid no heed to their complaints. An old resident says that Luther Sheldon, who was seven years old at the time mentioned, often related to him the incidents of the occasion. The next day was rainy, and they remained there until the following morning. The fields bordering the road at the place of encampment were, at that time, covered with timber, nearly all of which was cut down by the troops, and used for their camp-fires.
It is related of Elder Waldo that on one occasion he went to the store, where he saw some coffee beans-an article then but little known. The Elder enquired what they were, and concluded to try a quart or so. He took them home, put the whole quantity into the pot, and proceeded to cook them as one would field beans; but after boiling several hours, he found they were as hard as ever. Finally, his patience be- came exhausted, and he took them back to the store in disgust, saying that they were worthless-he could never boil them soft. About one-half mile east of Wing Station, on the Harlem Railroad, stands the famous " Morehouse Tavern" of the Revolutionary period. It is located upon the then chief highway from Hartford to Fishkill. over which military officers. troops, and other travelers passed. Under its The Morehouse Tavern. roof many of the general offi- icers of the Continental army have slept. There Washington, . Gates. Putnam, Arnold. Heath. Parsons. Lafayette and other
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distinguished leaders have been entertained and there Rocham- beau and his officers have lodged .*
In a rare work entitled "Travels in North America in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782," by the Marquis De Chastellux, a French general officer under Rochambeau, who travelled extensively in this country, is a journal, written by that officer in his wanderings, which was printed on board of the French fleet before it left American waters. Only twenty copies were printed, for the use of his friends. One of them fell into the hands of an English traveler in America, who translated the book and published it in London in 1787. In it the Marquis describes two of his visits at Morehouse's Tavern. His first visit was in December, 1780, when he was on his journey from Rhode Island, where the French troops had debarked, to Fishkill, to visit Washington at his headquarters at New Windsor, on the Hudson.
De Chastellux says he crossed the Housatonic River at "Bull's Iron Works," (now Bull's Bridge). " We soon met with another, called Ten Mile River, which falls into this, and which we followed for two or three miles, and then came in sight of several handsome houses, forming a part of the district called The Oblong. The inn I was going to is in the Oblong,t but two miles further on. It is kept by Colonel Morehouse ; for nothing is more common in America than to see an inn keeper a Colonel; they are, in general, Militia Colonels, chosen by the militia themselves, who seldom fail to entrust the command to the most esteemed and most credita- ble citizens." He said he pressed forward his horses to get the start of a traveler who had joined him on the road, that he might secure lodgings, when, to his great satisfaction, his companion did not stop. He found the tavern wholly occupied, however, by some New Hampshire farmers, who were driving some two hundred and fifty oxen from their State to the army. "The farmers. their horses, and their dogs," he
* Lossing.
t The Marquis must have been misinformed, as the house does not stand in the Oblong.
k
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said, "had possession of the inn." They occupied all the rooms and all the beds ; and he was in great distress, when a "tall, fat man, the principal person amongst them, being informed who I was, came to me and assured me that neither he nor his companions would ever suffer a French general officer to want a bed, and that they would rather sleep on the floor." The result was that Chastellux and his aides-de-camp had a double bedded room.
The Marquis passed over the high hills the next morning. into The Clove, and going through Beekman, where were " several pretty farms and some mills," and Hopewell. "inhabited chiefly by Dutch people," he reached Fishkill at four o'clock.
The second visit of De Chastellux to Morehouse's Tavern. was in December, two years later, whilst he was again on his way from Rhode Island to the headquarters of Washington. then at Newburgh. The war had ceased; the preliminaries of peace had been arranged between the United States, Great Britain and France, and the French allies were about to depart from America. The Marquis had taken his usual route from Hartford, through Litchfield, down the Housatonic to Bull's Bridge, and so along the Ten Mile River to More- house's. "On this occasion," says De Chastellux, " I had not much reason to boast of the tavern. Colonel Morehouse, after whom it was named, no longer kept it, but had resigned it to his son, who was absent, so there were none but women in the house. Mr. Dillon [a traveling companion], who had gone on a little before, had the greatest difficulty in the world to persuade them to kill some chickens ; our supper was but indif- ferent ; and when it was over, and we got near the fire, we saw these women, to the number of four, take our place at the table, and eat the remainder of it, with an American dragoon, who was stationed there. This gave us some uneasiness for our servants, to whom they left. in fact, a very trifling portion. On asking one of them, a girl of sixteen, and tolerably hand- some, some questions the next morning, I learned that she, as
.
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well as her sister, who was something older, did not belong to the family; but that having been driven from the neighbor- hood of Wyoming, where they lived, they had taken refuge in this part of the country where they worked for a livelihood ; and that being intimate with Mrs. Morehouse, they took pleasure in helping her when there were many travelers, for this road is at present much frequented."
The settlers in Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania, whence these girls had come, were chiefly families from Connecticut. That beautiful valley was desolated with fire, gun and toma- hawk, in the summer 1777, by Tories and Indians under Colonel John Butler. They burned the dwellings, murdered many of the inhabitants and carried away women and children as captives. The survivors fled eastward over the Pocono Moun- tains, suffering dreadful hardships in the wilderness. Men, women and children made their way back to Connecticut on foot. A large portion of them crossed the Hudson at Pough- keepsie, and through Holt's New York Journal, then published there, their tale of horror, with all the exaggerations which fear and suffering and excited imagination gave it, the story was given to the world.
De Chastellux says that, observing the poor girl's eyes filling with tears as she spoke of her misfortunes, he became more interested, and desired more particulars. She told him that her brother was murdered almost before her eyes, and that she had barely time to save herself by running as fast as she could ; that she and her sister traveled in this manner fifty miles, with their feet covered with blood, before they found a house. They experienced kindness everywhere on the way, and now wanted nothing except clothing.
"Lodgings and nourishment are never wanting in this country," the Marquis wrote. "Clothing is more difficult to procure, from the dearness of all sorts of stuffs ; but for this they strive to find a substitute in their own labor. I gave them a Louis [about four dollars and a half] to buy some articles of dress with ; my aides-de-camp, to whom I communicated
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the story, made them a present likewise ; and this little act of munificence being soon known to the mistress of the house, obtained her esteem, and she appeared very penitent about having shown so much repugnance to kill her chickens "
The Marquis and his companion set out from Morehouse's in the morning at nine o'clock, and reached Fishkill Village at half-past two, having ridden twenty-four miles without stopping. They alighted at Boerum's Tavern. (formerly kept by Mrs. Egremont,) where they supped, and crossed the Hudson at twilight. There at the headquarters (the old Hasbrouck house) they found General Washington and wife, Colonel Tilghman, Colonel Humphreys, and Colonel Walker. The writer describes the famous room with seven doors and one window. Washington used it as a dining room. " The chimney," says De Chastellux, " or rather the chimney back, is against the wall, so that there is, in fact, but one vent for the smoke, and the fire is in the room itself."
The Marquis makes the following observations on the subject of agriculture in DUCHESS, which he obtained from the landlord : "The land is very fertile in DUCHESS County, of which Poughkensie (Poughkeepsie) is the capital, as well as in the State of New York, but it is commonly left fallow one year out of two or three, less from necessity than from there being more land than the farmers can cultivate. A bushel of wheat, at most, is sown upon an acre, which renders twenty and five-and-twenty for one. Some farmers sow oats on the land that has borne wheat the preceding year, but this grain in general is reserved for lands newly turned up. Flax is also a considerable object for cultivation. The land is plowed with horses, two or three to a plow, sometimes even a greater number when on new land, or that which has long lain fallow." (The Marquis spelled DUCHESS without the superfluous t.)
De Chastellux passed through Poughkeepsie on his way from Fishkill Landing to Albany, He speaks of the beauty of the scenery at Wappingers Falls. "There I halted a few minutes," he wrote, "to consider, under different points of
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view, the charming landscape formed by the river, as well as from its cascade, which is roaring and picturesque, as from the groups of trees and rocks, which, combined with a number of saw-mills and furnaces, compose the most capricious and romantic prospect. It was only half past three when I got to Poughkensie, where I intended sleeping, but finding that the sessions [of the county court] were then holding, and that all the taverns were full, I took advantage of the little remaining day to reach a tavern I was told of at three miles distance."
After mentioning incidents on the way to Staatsburgh, Rhinebeck, Livingston's Manor and Claverack, he tells us that he arrived at the Dutch settlement of Kinderhook, where he had the choice of three or four taverns. He chose Van Buren's. "The preference for this, however, does no honor to the others," he says. "It is a very small house, kept by two young people of a Dutch family ; they are civil and attentive, and you are not badly off with them, provided you are not difficult to please. It would have ill become me now to have been so, for I had nothing but snow, hail, and frost during the whole day, and a fireside was an agreeable asylum for me."
The "young people" here spoken of were the parents of Martin Van Buren, President of the United States. He was at the time of the visit of the Marquis only twenty days old.
Late in 1757, Elder William M. Marsh, of Lyons Farms, N. J., met by request a number of Baptists at a place spoken of in the old church records as " Batemans Precinct," who were by him constituted into a church. This society has continued up to the present time, and is now known as the First Baptist Church of Dover. In January following, Samuel Waldo was licensed to preach for them, and was subsequently chosen Elder ; in May of that year he was ordained by letter.
In September they resolved on building a house of worship, thirty feet by forty. This was known as the Red Meeting House, and stood near the old cemetery grounds, on the brow of the hill nearly east from the present church edifice. The road has been changed since the first church was built,
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and then ran close to it. The Red Meeting House was for a number of years the only place of worship in what is now the town of Dover ; all contributed to its erection, irrespective of church or creed ; and it was, in effect a union church, as will appear from the following, taken from the records: "Voted, that we are free for any improvement of public gifts among us, let their denomination be what it will, provided they are under suitable recommendation."
In 1761 this church records " eighteen baptized, fifty-one members, four hundred hearers." At that time it belonged to the Philadelphia Baptist Association, composed of twenty-nine churches, and was the fourth church, in the order of their size, of all that number. A few years afterward the question arose as to the obligation of members of the church to conduct family worship, a question that caused a serious division of sentiment for several years. In 1774, the church settled the matter by a vote, which was to the effect that vocal prayer in families was binding upon all members thereof.
Waldo is spoken of as a powerful preacher, and an influen- tial man. In 1784, he was moderator of the Association. He was about twenty-six years of age when he commenced his ministry at Dover ; he continued his labors with great success with that church until his death- a period of more than thirty- five years. His ashes and those of his beloved companion. Hannah. repose in the old cemetery ground, near the site of the Red Meeting House, wherein so much of his ministerial labor was performed.
August 2, 1759-"Voted to commune with the church* of which Simon Dakin is pastor." September 6, 1764, the breth- ren living in the " upper end of the Oblong " formed a separate chuich, which soon became extinct. In 1794, still another so- ciety was constituted by members of this church, which is now known as the Second Baptist Church of Dover. Sept. 13, 1800, Elder Detherick became pastor. In 1812, Elisha Booth was ordained pastor at the Red Meeting House. In * Northeast Baptist Church.
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the following year, Elders Booth and Job Foss were called to preach on alternate Sabbaths. Elder Foss was disowned in 1817. He was then a large landholder in the vicinity of what is now called the Foss Ore Bed.
The following are statistics of the First Dover Church :- The present house of worship-the third since the society was organized-was built in 1855, at a cost of $4,564. Present membership about ninety. Rev. I. N. Hill, pastor.
As before stated, the Second Dover Baptist Church was organized in 1794, on the 3d of August. Elder Samuel Waldo, then stationed at First Dover, was probably the first Baptist minister that preached there. Elder Seth Higby was their first pastor, continuing with them six years. A few months after its organization the church voted to become a corporate body, agreeably to the law then just enacted. Timothy Bab- cock, Samuel Stevens, and Caleb Sheldon were the first trus- tees. January 21, 1796, Eliab Wilcox was chosen in place of Timothy Babcock. The Duchess Baptist Association was or- ganized with this church in July, 1835, at whose request, urged by its pastor, Elder Roberts, the convention was called. Per- kins, Roberts, Hopkins, Hall, and others have been connected at different times with this church as pastors.
In 1840, a protracted meeting was held with this congrega- tion, at which Elder D. T. Hill assisted, preaching three times a day. Much interest was manifested in the community at this time and many conversions resulted. Julia A. Lathrop, a member of this church, embarked for Birmah about the year 1843, to engage in teaching.
Previous to the Revolution, a Dutch Reformed church was commenced on the present cemetery grounds, which was not completed. Pratt was the builder. In this house the Baptists first held their meetings. Here Elders Waldo, Detherick, Foss, Perkins, and a host of others expounded the Divine Word to their followers. In 1844 the building was remodeled and used as a Union church. It was afterwards removed, and is yet standing in the village of Dover, doing duty as a blacksmith's
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shop. The present house of worship was built in 1833, at a cost of $6,000. It was dedicated in the Autumn of that year, Elder Perkins preaching the dedicatory sermon.
There are three Methodist Episcopal churches in the town : One at South Dover, built about twenty-one years ago ; another at Dover Plains, and a third on Chestnut Ridge. These societies were not of so ancient origin as those of the Baptist denomination in this town.
It is to be regretted that our mention of the M. E. Churches of this county is so meagre, compared with the importance of that denomination, both as regards number and influence of its membership. This must not be attributed to any lack of effort in gathering and compiling the materials ; but it is owing to the fact that the society as a rule, have neglected to make any permanent record of the early local history of the churches, as has been done by other denominations.
A Friends' church, known as the Branch Preparative Meet- ing, was organized here in 1774, by the Monthly Meeting at Oblong-now Quaker Hill. The meeting house was built about that time, and is yet standing. A piece of land was attached to it, into which Branch Preparative Church. the early worshipers turned their horses for pasturage, during services. Most of them came on horseback. The venerable Augustus Straight, of South Kent, Conn., is the only male member living. Much, if not all, of the membership of this church is composed of persons who are upwards of eighty years old. The ancient edifice is still in tolerable repair. It is surrounded by a cluster of majestic trees whose moss-covered trunks are in unison with the old house they surround ; and is provided with a row of sheds, whose green-turfed floor shows the spot to be sadly neglected.
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