USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 17
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The early settlers built log houses for temporary shelter until such time as they could erect more substantial dwellings. Jacobus built three stone houses near Hyde Park Village. The first one built is yet standing, in a good state of preservation, on the east side of the road, south of the village. This house is noted, not only as being the first substantial stone house built in Hyde Park, but also as having been occupied two or three weeks by Gen. Washington during the War of the Revo- lution. A few years since a gentleman conceived the idea of spending a night in the apartment occupied by Washington. He procured a bed from the hotel, and took up his quarters, his only companions being a colony of squirrels which some- what interrupted his repose. He afterwards wrote an interest- ing account of his adventures that night in the old mansion.
The second house was built near the Lower or Old Landing, likewise of stone. The brick for the chimney was brought over from Holland, with glazed tiles for the broad fireplace, on which were imprinted scenes in Bible history. On tearing down the building a few years since, Stone Ilouse, near Landing. after it had stood nearly a century and a half, the chimney was left standing. The mortar was of such a quality that it was harder than the brick, and it was therefore found to be impracticable to tear the chimney down, so it was pushed over. the fall breaking it into two pieces only.
When Vaughan returned down the river, after having
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burned Kingston, he cannonaded the house. One ball passed directly through the hall, entering at the front door and out at the rear one, both of which were open, without even touching the building. Another ball struck the house without doing much damage. Both these balls are preserved by the inhabi- tants of the vicinity as mementoes of past barbarism. The cut given of this house is copied from an old drawing now in possession of Tobias L. Stoutenburgh, of Poughkeepsie.
The third house built by Jacobus Stoutenburgh was situated west of the post road below the village of Hyde Park. The ruins are yet visible, surrounded with small trees and shrubbery.
Another antiquated mansion stands at East Park, formerly Union Corners, built by William Stoutenburgh, a son of Jacobus. It is provided with a basement, nicely finished in panel work. This was, in the days of slavery in this state, set apart for the use of the slaves. The house is now occupied by Mr. Van Wagener.
It is said that a member of the Stoutenburgh family, when a very old man, built a stone wall near this house which stood upwards of a hundred years. He built it of small flat stones, and owing to bodily infirmities was obliged Stone House at East Park. to sit in his chair while doing the work. The wall could be shaken almost its entire length by a person standing at one end.
At the time of Vaughan's visit to Hyde Park, already referred to, a British force was sent ashore to plunder as usual, and to castigate such of the Whigs as had incurred the displeasure of Great Britain. A small body of Americans lay just over the point, with the evident intention of disputing their landing. A few shots were exchanged ; but as the enemy passed further down the stream, they got into a position that enabled their guns to rake the valley in which the Americans were stationed.
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A portion of the latter took refuge behind the stone house already spoken of, but were finally driven back to the plain on which the village stands. The enemy did not care to follow, so after burning the landing, a shop and storehouse, the proper- ty of Luke Stoutenburgh, they departed, to pursue their work of desolation at other points. This skirmish was the nearest approximation to a battle that ever occurred within the limits of DUCHESS County, that has come to the knowledge of the writer.
It is said that the British were piloted by three Tories named Dhupp. These renegadoes, from their intimate knowl- edge of the country, would point out the houses of the Whigs along the river, which the enemy's gunners would make a target of their skill. For their services they were promised a large section of land north of Hyde Park, in case the British arms were successful.
East of Hyde Park, on the lower road leading to East Park, at the foot of a hill, is a lonely spot known as Obey's Folly. This locality is pointed out as the scene of a bloody encounter in Revolutionary times, in which one of the Dhupps met a deserved fate. At the time spoken of, Luke Stouten- burgh, a son of Jacobus, was riding along this road. Each side was bordered by a forest, with a dense growth of underbrush, creeping close up to the roadside. The general insecurity of the time led every traveler to arm himself for self defence, for personal encounters and deadly strifes were then common occur- rences. In addition to his other weapons, Luke carried a riding whip, with a short lash, on the end of which was an ounce ball.
It was growing dark as our traveler reached this lonely part of his road. The wood abounded in coverts and hiding- places among the rocks, and Tories and robbers were known to make their haunts in the vicinity. Just as he reached the foot of the hill, three robbers sprang out of the bushes, the foremost one catching his horse by the bridle. Luke, by a dexterous movement, sank the ball on his whip deep into the robber's
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temple ; as the latter released his hold of the bridle and fell to the earth, he put spurs to his horse and escaped, closely fol- lowed by several shots, sent after him by the robbers. The next day word came that a dead Dhupp was found lying in the road near Obey's Folly. He was brought into the village, and people came from far and near to look at the remains of a man who had been such a terror to the neighborhood. Notwith- standing his misdeeds, he was accorded a Christian burial. Luke Stoutenburgh was present at the funeral ; and it is said that he pressed the bandage back from the robber's head so as to display the wound on the temple, as if to satisfy himself of the identity of the body before him. Another Dhupp was said to have been killed between Fishkill Village and the Landing ; while a third died some time afterward in the alms-house near Poughkeepsie. Such was the end of this notorious robber family.
Staatsburgh is a small village and station on the Hudson River Railroad, some six miles north of Hyde Park. A hun- dred years ago the whole tract of country north of Crom Elbow Creek was known as Staatsburgh, or Stoutsburgh, as written in old records, and is undoubtedly a corruption or abbreviation of Stoutenburgh. Near Staatsburgh are the residences of the Hoyts, the Lowndes, and the Livingstons, descendants of the old Livingston stock.
The first mill built in this town was at the lower landing, and which was burned down some thirty years ago. There is an old mill near East Park, built by the Delamaters, probably the oldest now standing in the town.
East of Hyde Park, near the east border of the town, is a Quaker church, known as the "Crom Elbow Meeting House." This edifice was erected about the year 1780. It has been several times repaired, and somewhat remodeled, and has, therefore, lost much of that antiquated appearance generally noticeable in very old buildings. Our informant, who, though past the three score and ten years allotted to man, was still
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vigorous in mind and body, related some reminiscences of Elias Hicks, founder of the Hicksite order of Friends.
He frequently saw Hicks, and heard him preach in the Crom Elbow Church. He spoke of him as a tall, spare man, and a powerful speaker. He was present at a meeting in this church, in which Hicks and the English Friends who opposed him took part in the controversy which caused the division in that Society known as the Separation.
Attached to this church is an ancient graveyard, where lies the buried dead of a century and a quarter. Many of the mounds have no stone to tell the name of the one whose dust lies beneath ; whose history is forgotten, never to be brought to remembrance until the resurrection. Other graves are marked with rough slabs taken from the field, a few with rude initials chiseled into them, but more of them "unlettered. Many of the lettered stones are moss-grown, weather-worn, and hardly decipherable. On these ancient slabs are the names of the Waeters, the Moshers, the Briggs, Bakers, Marshalls, Halsteds, Willets, Albertsons, and others, family names of the old settlers in this smiling valley.
A Union Church was built at an early date, in the village of Hyde Park, and used harmoniously by the Episcopal and Dutch Reformed societies. It was known as the Red Church and stood a little south of the present Reformed Church edifice. The Episcopal Society afterward built a large and elegant house of worship a short distance north of the village. They also have erected a chapel within the village for public worship. The following statistics of the Dutch Reformed Society of this place have been kindly furnished by the present pastor, Rev. Henry Dater :
" The records of the early history of this church are imper- fect, and for a part of the time I find no records. It was organized, or divine service was first held, in 1793. I do not know when the first church was erected ; but it was rebuilt in 1826. Rev. Cornelius Brower was pastor of the churches of Poughkeepsie and "Stoutsburgh" from 1794 to 1812, and
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supplied the church of Stoutsburgh from 1812 to 1815. This church was called the Church of Stoutsburgh until 1817, when it was called the Reformed Dutch Church of Hyde Park. The following is the succession of pastors over the church :- P. S. Wynkoop, 1817-22 ; F. H. Vanderveer. 1823-29 ; Ca- hoone, 1829-33 ; S. V. Westfall, 1834-37; J. C. Cruikshank, 1837-43 ; A. Elmendorf. 1843-48; Ten Eyck, 1848-53; Henry Dater in 1853, and is the present pastor."
At Staatsburgh is an Episcopal house of worship; north- east of that is a Catholic Church. In Hyde Park village, in addition to the church edifice already mentioned, there is a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, and a M. F. Church.
We have previously had occasion to remark that Jacobus Stoutenburgh was a large landholder. A further mention of him and his descendants will not be out of place, as he figured conspicuously in the early history of this county, quite as much so, perhaps, as some others who have been accorded a fuller historic mention. Some years since, so the writer was informed, as a member of the Stoutenburgh family was travel- ing in the town of Clinton, he was addressed by a very old man, who made particular mention of a certain tract of land known as the " Gore," situated in the north part of the county, the deed covering which was given by Jacobus Stoutenburgh to his eight children. The old gentleman asserted that the (leed was at that time in existence somewhere near Rhinebeck, and which if found might eventually make trouble. He said his father was a "squatter" on this tract, and never received any title from the original owner.
This circumstance caused a search to be instituted, which was rewarded by the finding of the identical instrument in question. It proved to be a full warrantee deed, covering a gore-shaped section, having its point at the Hudson River, and its base, some miles in length, adjoining the west Oblong line, comprising an area of thousands of acres. It was recorded at Albany, and the title is said to be yet good. The deed mentions all the children of Jacobus by name ; and as neither
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they nor their heirs have ever disposed of any of their rights under the instrument, those holding the land included in this tract have very doubtful title. Much of it is improved, and is now very valuable, with buildings erected thereon. All the deeds given covering farms on the section in question are quit-claims. Whether the heirs of this land will ever under- take to get possession, remains to be seen.
In addition to this the Stoutenburgh family are heirs to the Trinity church property. Jacobus married Margaret Teller, a direct descendant of Anneke Jans. The marriage* took place in New York city, soon after his arrival in this country.
Some years since as some of the family were searching the county records, they found quit-claim deeds of no less than seventy-seven farms lying between Rhinebeck and Poughkeep- sie, the titles of which are derived from Jacobus Stoutenburgh. He is also spoken of as one of the first Judges of DUCHESS County.
The following is an extract from Lossing's "Hudson, from its Source to the Sea :" " Placentia, a delightful country seat about a mile north of Hyde Park, was the residence of the lamented James Kirk Paulding. With it is connected no history of special interest. It is consecrated in the memory as the residence of a novelist and poet-the friend and associ- ate of Washington Irving in his literary career. Paulding and Irving were intimate friends for more than fifty years. Pauld- ing lived in elegant retirement for many years at his country seat, enjoying books, pictures. and the society of friends. He passed away at the beginning of 1860, at the advanced age of more than four score years.
" Hyde Park is situated upon a pleasant plain, high above the river, and about half a mile from it. The village received its name from Paul Faulconier, private secretary to Edward Hyde, (afterward Lord Cornbury,) Governor of the Province of New York at the beginning of the last century. Faulconier
* The writer was shown portraits of Jacobus Stoutenburgh. and wife, as they appeared in thair wedding dress, which are now in possession of the family.
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purchased a large tract at this place, and named it in honor of the Governor.
" At Hyde Park the river makes a sudden bend between rocky bluffs, and in a narrow channel. On account of this the Dutch called the place Krom Elleboge, crooked elbow. The present name is a compound of Dutch and English-Crom Elbow."
O
LA GRANGE.
POPULATION, 1,775 .- SQUARE ACRES, 25,682.
A GRANGE was formed from Beekman and Fishkill as " Freedom" February 9th, 1821. A part of Union Vale was taken off in 1827. The following year the name was changed to La Grange-" the barn"-the name of Marquis de La Fayette's residence in France, that gentleman having lately visited the United States, Its surface is a rolling and moderately hilly upland, the soil is a gravelly loam. Sprout Creek is the principal stream, flowing south through near the center. Wappingers Creek* forms the west boundary. Free- dom Plains, La Grangeville, Titusville, Sprout Creek, Arthursburgh, and Manchester Bridge, the latter lying mostly in Poughkeepsie, are hamlets.
The Nelsons, Sleights, DeGroffs and Cornells settled in the western part of the town. Reuben Nelson, Jr., first kept hotel at Manchester. The old house here was of stone, and stood a short distance southwest of the present one. Moses DeGroff owned the mill at this place.
* In February, 1807. heavy freshets prevailed all over the State. Almost every bridge sover Wappingers Creek was either swept away or materially injured. A number of mills and mill-dams on the creek were badly, damaged.
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In the northeast part of the town is situated the district formerly known as "Jonah's Manor." Stephen Jonah was a Schaghticoke Indian, who lorded it over this region years ago. It is a wild, hilly country, hardly adapted to cultivation. Here he lived until a ripe old age, in undisputed possession of his native domain. He resided in a little rude cabin in the woods, and subsisted partly by the chase, and partly by cultivating a -small patch of ground cleared for the purpose. His sister Hannah is, we believe, still living in the town, in the family of one Skidmore. It is said she can cure the bite of a chunk- head, almost instantly. Nothing, however, can tempt her to disclose the remedy.
Joseph Weeks settled at an early date near La Grangeville. North of him were the Vermilyes. Isaac Clapp, father of Jesse, was one of the first settlers locating below La Grange- ville. Jesse Clapp lived here in the time of the Revolution. Israel Shear and Derrick Swade settled southwest of La Grange- ville. North of Shear was Elijah Townsend. Joseph Potter came in about the year 1812. Enoch and Samuel Dorland settled near Arthursburgh about 1820. Thomas Andrews and Jonathan Lockwood located here quite early. Richard Jackson entered upon the tract now known as the Jackson Flats ; he was ancestor of the present Jackson families. William Wolven and William Pearsol took up their residence near Freedom Plains. John Aoret will be remembered as an eccentric Dutch shoemaker. J. C. Colwell came in here in 1827 ; he is the only one living in this vicinity that was here at that time.
The old village is about half a mile east of the railroad depot, and was formerly known as Moreys Corners. At this place, sixty years ago, was a carding machine, and fulling mill. The building is now used as a distillery. This structure could tell of revelry and bacchanalian riotings, it being the practice in early times for the customers to bring their toddy with them, and drink one another's health while waiting for their
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work. The lower mill was built by Jesse Clapp over fifty years ago.
John Billings was an old auctioneer who lived north of La Grangeville. He was an influential man, with sterling business qualities. He was by trade a tan-currier, and kept a shoe- " maker's shop.
Elder Pevey, of the Christian denomination, used to preach in this and adjoining towns to great crowds of people. One Miller, a Baptist, was led to embrace the doctrine of the Peveyites, as they were then called. Miller had a daughter, traditionally beautiful as the houri ; she was wooed and won by Pevey. A revival was the result of his preaching, and many in the country round about were converted. He baptised a large number of candidates in Johnson's Pond, now Sylvan Lake.
Sixty years ago, an old man lived on Freedom Plains, named William Petitt. On the same place afterward lived a Quaker, named John Palmer, whose son joined the Shakers.
Fifty years ago, and before the railroads were constructed in the vicinity, it was no uncommon thing of a morning to see twenty heavy loads of pork, and as many of grain, all going to Poughkeepsie, then the great mart of this section. Now the products taken there consist principally of hoop-poles and straw.
The first church near La Grangeville was the Methodist Church at Potters Corners. The site of the edifice was near the old burying ground. It was taken down and a new one built where it now stands, called the Trinity Church of La Grange. This and the Ebenezer Church at the Clove, consti- tute one charge.
Near the northeast part of the town is a railroad station and post-office known as Moores Mills. Here is an old mill, built by the family of Moores, doubtless one of the first in this sec- tion of the country-judging from its appearance, and the best information that could be gathered touching its history-after which the place is named.
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A woolen factory was established on Wappingers Creek about the year 1828, known as the Titus Factory.
The first religious society formed in the town was. that of the Friends, which was organized toward the close of the last century. Their place of worship was located at Arthursburgh. It was a plain, square building, with no porch, and stood on the site of the present one. The Presbyterian Church at Freedom Plains, was erected some sixty years ago.
Moore's Mill-rear view.
Near the Verbank road, in the northeast part of the town, is a dense swamp, in the middle of which is a rising knoll of about half an acre in extent. This island, as it is called, has a historic interest that is worthy of mention.
In Revolutionary times the business of horse stealing was extensively practiced in this locality, its proximity to British lines rendering it an easy matter to dispose of the booty. The swamp island was used as a rendezvous to which the stolen property was temporarily conveyed until a convenient oppor- tunity arrived to run the animals within the enemy's line. The rendezvous was discovered by some Whigs, who determined to keep a watch over the movements of the Tories, and at the opportune moment to swoop down upon them, and capture the marauders and their stolen animals, at one blow. Shortly after, a number of horses were taken from the farmers in the vicinity, and were reported to be secreted in the swamp. Accordingly a company was organized and equipped, and preparations made for an attack on the Tory camp. The
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night was dark, and the thickets of the swamp almost inter- minable. The Tories were known to be well armed, and many of them desperate characters ; and withal were believed to outnumber the attacking party. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the latter entered boldly upon the expedition, while their wives and children listened eagerly to hear the rifle shots which would tell them the affray had commenced, in which some husbands and fathers would most likely fall.
It was their intention to take the camp by surprise. They therefore crept with cat-like tread, in the direction of the island. Before they reached it, however, yet while they could get occasional glimpses of the camp fires of the enemy, a low whistle was heard, doubtless the signal of a Tory sentinel to his comrades that danger was approaching through the gloom of the swamp. On arriving at the island, it was found deserted by man and beast, who left their camp fires brightly burning. The Tories had been alarmed in time, and beat a hasty retreat, carrying off their booty with them in their flight. Had the attacking party divided into three or four detachments, and approached the rendezvous by as many different routes, the capture of the entire camp might have been effected.
Some time afterward, this vicinity was the theatre of the maraudings of a noted horse-thief-name withheld-who en- tered into the business on his own account. He was a resi- dent of the town and plied his nefarious business for a time unsuspected. At length circumstances pointed to him as an agent in the spiriting away of the horses of the neighborhood.
One Mr. Clapp had a fine animal, on which he placed great value. One night he was awakened by the loud barking of the watch dog, and imagined that he heard a noise at the barn. He went to the window and listened, but nothing unusual ap- pearing, he returned to bed, under the impression that some wild animal might have been prowling about and disturbed his cattle, a thing not unfrequent in those early times. The next morning his favorite horse was gone, having been taken during. the night. On inquiry it was found that his suspected neigh-
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bor had left his home suddenly the same night. He appeared at home again in the course of a day or two, and was observed to have plenty of money. This served to lead people to be suspicious of him ; but his guilt was not fairly shown until the following year when the horse was recovered in Canada, and ยท the name of the thief was revealed. He was soon forced to flee the country.
A dwelling near Sprout Creek was, in the days of witchcraft, pointed out as the abode of a witch. It was said she could walk along the ceiling of a room as readily as she could tread the floor ; and at times her spinning wheel and other articles of furniture would skip about the room without any visible agency So great was the notoriety of this woman, that people from far and near used to visit the house that they might witness these strange doings. One gentleman in particular, who had ex- pressed great incredulity, while seated in her chair, was seized by some invisible means, raised bodily from the floor and set down in another part of the room. Once upon a time, some travelers were passing near, when, all of a sudden, their horses stopped short and refused to proceed further. They appeared to be alarmed at some object in the road. The night was dark, and one of the men got out to make a closer examination of the nature of the obstruction, when he saw a little black lamb standing there. He struck it with his whip, cutting a gash on its right ear, whereupon it vanished. That same night the old witch's right ear commenced to bleed, on which was found the marks of a whip. Sometimes the good house- wives of the neighborhood would be bothered with their churning ; although the cream was of the proper consistency and the temperature exactly at the right point, "the butter would not come." As a last resort they would throw a red hot horse shoe into the churn, when the trouble would all be over. As certain as this was done, the old witch, though living at some distance, would set up a howling, and the print of a horse shoe would invariably be found upon her arm, as though burned into the flesh. This old beldame was believed
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