USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
The Oblong Meeting occupies a conspicuous place in the history of the Society of Friends in this county. Monthly
281
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
meetings were held here and at Nine Partners alternately. Their first house of worship was situated south of the road opposite the present Hicksite meeting house. It was a frame building of moderate size, and was sold when the present church was erected, and removed to the farm on which Mr. Stephen Osborn now resides, where it was used as a barn. This was afterward taken down, and a part of the timber used in the construction of another barn, now standing.
In 1764, twelve years before the Revolution, the present Hicksite Church edifice was erected. They at first talked of building a brick church, but the idea was abandoned. Three sides of this venerable structure is covered with the same material with which it was first constructed; the remaining one was protected by shingles, which have been replaced. The flooring is of solid oak, which is said to bear the marks of the crutches of maimed Revolutionary soldiers quartered here.
Among the records of this church is a list entitled " Friends Sufferings." This list contains a statement of articles taken by officers of the Government during the Revolution, with the value of the same, together with the name of the person from whom taken, in lieu of personal services. On the 31st of 10th month, 1778, one ton of hay was taken from Jonathan Wing, by Sergeant Wilcox. About the same time Eliab Wilcox and Benjamin Elliott took six tons of hay from Nathan Hillar, of the value of £12, for the use of the army. From this it would appear the encampment was near at hand, as so bulky an article as hay would hardly be conveyed a great dis- Hicksite Church. tance ; which confirms the statement already made, that the army was quartered here in the season of 1778.
A "young creature" was taken from Nathan Hillar, of the value of £2, by Royal Dart and Isaac Jones, Sergeants ; also
282
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
one . cow by Nathan Pearce, Jun. He furthermore had his oxen pressed by Andrew Morehouse, 4 days, 125. In the account of Ebenezer Peaslee's sufferings, it appears that Nathan Pearce, Jun., took one heifer worth £5, and one cow valued at £6, in lieu of personal service ; Thomas Corbin also took three cows at £18, and six young cattle at £10.
The following is the first recorded marriage found in the books; the ceremony being performed in the old church seven years before the present one was built :
Whereas, Joshua Shearman [Sherman], the son of Ebenezer Shearman and Wait his wife, and Mary Soule, the daughter of George Soule and Almira his wife, both of Beek- man Precinct, in Duchess County, and Province of New York, having declared their intention of marrying before several meetings of the people called Quakers at Oblong and Nine Partners according to the good order used among them, and proceeding therein after deliberate consideration thereof with regard to the righteous law of God in the case, they also appear in clear of all others, and having the consent of parents and such as were concerned therein and were allowed of by your meeting :
Now, these may certify to all whom it may concern that for the full accomplishment cf their intention, this 10th day of 8th month, in the year of Christian account 1757, they, the said Joshua Shearman and Mary Soule, appeared in a public assembly of the aforesaid people and others, met at Friends Meeting House in Oblong, and in a solemn manner he the said Joshua Sherman taking the said Mary Soule by the hand did openly declare as followeth :
Friends, I desire you to be my witnesses that I take this my friend Mary Soule to be my wife, promising by the Lord's assistance to be unto her a true and loving husband until it shall please God by death to separate us; and then and there, in the said assembly, the said Mary Soule did in like manner declare as followeth: Friends, I desire you to be my witnesses that I take this my friend Joshua Shearman to be
283
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
my husband, promising by the Lord's assistance to be unto him a true and loving wife, until it shall please God by death to separate us, and as a further confirmation thereof, the said Joshua Shearman and Mary Soule did then and there to these presents set their hands, she according to the custom of marriage assuming the name of her husband.
JOSHUA SHEARMAN. MARY SHEARMAN.
At a monthly meeting held at Oblong 16th of 2nd month, 1784, "Solomon Bunker, by way of Apoquaque Preparative meeting, requested a certificate of removal to the Creek Monthly Meeting for himself and family. Waluntine Zinkins and Brice Wing are appointed to take the necessary care, prepare accordingly, and report at next meeting."
This ancient edifice occupies a commanding position on the summit of Quaker Hill. It is a plain structure, large and commodious ; its frame is composed of timbers, of solid oak, sufficient material being used in it to construct three or four buildings of the size as put up at the present day. Here are the same benches, with their quaint high backs, in which the church fathers worshiped a century ago. It is provided with a moveable partition, after the manner of church edifices of the sect, to separate the sexes. There is a broad gallery, with its oaken seats-the rear ones so high from the floor as to re- quire steps to get up into them. So much of the space is oc- cupied by the gallery that people seated in it can scarcely see any of the audience belo:v. Over this gallery is a trap door, leading to the attic. Here tradition locates the rendezvous of a band of robbers in the Revolution. Here they were wont to secret their plunder ; and in this attic they would gather together their forces when about to make a descent upon the neighborhood. It is said there were once plainly to be seen a number of blood stains upon the timbers, with which it is sup- posed some dark deed is connected. Once a couple of girls were at work cleaning the church. One of them playfully remarked that she understood the robbers lived in the attic above, and proposed to take a peep at the fellows. They pro
.
284
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
ceeded to the trap door, and while one held it up, the other girl thrust her head through the aperture, when lo ! there were the robbers, several in number, who had come together for the purpose of making a foray that night. The terrified girls ran for dear life ; and the robbers, finding themselves discovered, came down from their hiding-place, pillaged a store in the vicinity, and left before any resistance could be offered.
In the Autumn of 1875, the writer visited this venerable structure. Having with some difficulty, gained an entrance, the privilege of noting its interior more than repaid the trouble. The sun had sunk low down among the western hills; and his parting rays entering the window, lighted the apartments with a weird, unnatural tinge, that harmonized well with the stillness of the place. Here were the prayers of many a pious heart offered up while this country was but a wilderness. Here were solemnized the marriages of the early pioneers, and here they received instruction in the things that pertain to the life above. Memories of the past cluster thickly around the objects in this ancient building ; and in the dim, uncertain twilight, we almost fancied we discerned the forms that have long laid in the tomb, and heard their voices echoing in the gathering shades.
Tradition says that once upon a time, while a Sabbath ser- vice was being held in this church, a company of Continental soldiers marched up, stacked their arms before the door, and then went quietly in and took their seats among the audience. When the meeting was ended, and the congregation had dis- persed, the soldiers removed the benches, and took formal possession. This was at the time it was used as a hospital in the war for independence, already mentioned. Without doubt, these walls have resounded with the groans of the wounded and dying ; they have witnessed the ebbing-away of the life of many a patriot soldier, whose body was borne from these portals to the soldiers' burying ground opposite, where his dust still moulders, unmarked and unnoticed by the passer-by, for whom his life was bestowed. It is stated an epidemic prevailed in camp when the soldiers occupied the adjacent Purgatory Heights
285
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
and the sick were all conveyed here, where many of them died.
We made a passing visit to the legendary attic, but saw no robbers there; neither did the closest scrutiny reveal any of the blood stains upon the timbers. The only light of the apartment was admitted through two small windows at either end ; but it sufficed to reveal now and then the work of some ancient spider who could here spin his web undisturbed ; while the numerous heavy beams and purlines, braced and secured in every direction, give a hint why the lapse of time and the storms of a century do not have a greater effect upon the old building. Long may it stand, a cherished monument of the gratitude of a people to the sturdy patriots of the Revolution. But the gathering darkness admonishes us to leave the historic structure, and once more we mingle with the busy world without.
LOCAL EVENTS AND TRADITIONS.
A gunsmith by the name of Harrington once carried on the manufacture of guns and rifles at Hurds Corners. He was a good mechanic, and withal reputed to be an excellent marks- man. He made, while here, two rifles of superior workman- ship, receiving $500 for each. They were used in a noted duel between two southern gentlemen.
A marsh near the borders of Little Pond is named the Ghost's Swamp, from the fact, so it is said, that a ghost once frequented it. Near this swamp a little cabin was built, in which a man took up his solitary abode; but the ghost so troubled him that he was forced to leave. At night there would be unearthly noises and groans in the vicinity of the house ; and in the day-time the tops of the adjacent trees would sway to and fro as though a terrible tempest was abroad when all was quiet elsewhere.
Not far from the old road leading over the mountain is the stump of what was known as the " Gallows Tree." Tradition
286
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
gives the origin of this name as follows: During one of the early wars, a British officer, who was said to have in his pos- session a large amount of money, obtained by robbery, was lurking in this vicinity. He was seen in a meadow adjoining another road on the mountain, and was observed to have a large amount of specie in a bag. A party was collected and pursuit given. The British trooper tried in vain to escape, and was overtaken near this tree. He had found means, how- ever, to secrete the bag of money somewhere on the way. His captors used every means in their power in the effort to per- suade him to reveal its hiding place, even to the promise of being restored to his liberty, but to no purpose. As a last re- sort, they placed a rope about his neck, and threw the other end over the limb of a tree. Three or four lusty fellows took hold of the rope, and drawing up the slack, repeated the ques- tion to their captive. To this he returned no satisfactory an- swer ; which so exasperated them that they pulled away in good earnest, and left him suspended between heaven and earth. His body hung there until the following day, when it was taken down and interred. Although the locality has been thoroughly searched, no one has ever found the secreted money.
In the vicinity, and near the turnpike, are situated what are locally known as the " Robber Rocks." A cave in these rocks, now nearly filled with debris, was said to have been used by the robbers in Revolutionary times as a hiding place for stolen property. And even now the rustic wayfarer eyes the locality with a superstitious dread when obliged to pass in the vicinity alone in the night time.
Near the eastern borders of the town is a wooded eminence called Woolman. On the west side of this is a precipice over forty feet in perpendicular height. A man named Donovan recently fell from this precipice, in a drunken fit, as was sup- posed ; his body lay among the rocks at the bottom for several months ; when found it was decomposed beyond recog- nition, and only from articles found in his pockets were the
287
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
remains identified. Hard by, years ago, the body of one McCoy was found, who perished here while endeavoring to cross by this lonely path one bleak winter's night. He was an old man andbecoming bewildered in the blinding snow, doubtless stumbled and was unable to rise. His cries for assistance were in all probability heard by a man passing on a neighboring road. He distinctly heard what he at first thought was a hu- man voice in distress; but the wind being high, and the sounds not being repeated, he construed it into the cry of an owl. When the body was found in the spring, the gentleman recalled the circumstance; when it was ascertained that the dite of McCoy's disappearance, and the locality in which his body was found, all went to confirm this supposition ; and had his cries been heeded the old man's life might have been saved.
Within a few feet of the spot where Donovan fell is a roomy cave in the rocks. In this cave a hermit years ago made his home. He would beg provisions of the neighboring farmers, and then retire to these solitudes until hunger again forced him to go forth. A party of coon hunters were out one night, and their dog led the way to this cave, and com- menced barking violently at the opening, but appeared afraid to enter. The hunters approached the spot, and under the impression that some wild animal of sufficient ferocity to frighten the dog was lurking within, they pointed their guns into the cave and fired. Just as they pulled trigger, but too late to change their purpose, a human voice within shouted- " Don't shoot." Terrified beyond measure, thinking they might have killed some human being, they fled from the spot and sought their homes. The next day they returned, under the expectation of finding a mangled corpse, or at least some person fatally wounded ; but to their relief no signs of a human being appeared, neither were any blood marks found within the cavern.
In the Toffey burying ground on Quaker Hill is the grave of an unknown man, who met his death in this immediate vicini-
288
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
ty under the following circumstances : A stranger was traveling on horseback ; when near the bridge in the hollow east of Toffeys Corners, the horse fell, and so injured his rider that his death followed in a few hours. The stranger was unconscious from the moment of his injury; and as nothing was found upon his person which would aid in identifying him, it was impossible to ascertain his name, or from whence he came. His horse was sold to defray the expenses of his burial, and his remains were deposited in this rural grave-yard. No one ever appeared to claim the body, and his nativity is still a mystery.
On the place now in possession of Martin McIntyre was once an Indian burial ground. It was afterwards used by the early white settlers for the same purpose. The graves were long ago obliterated by the plow. Many of the head and foot stones were laid, it is said, in the cellar wall of the house on the premises.
North of the Oblong Pond are the ruins of a rude stone hut, in which a man named Hawley once lived, with no com- panions but a brood of chickens. One cold winter night, find- ing the shelter of his cabin insufficient, as is supposed, he started across the pond to go to the house of a neighbor, as he was accustomed to do when the weather was unusually severe, but he never reached his destination. His body was found the following Spring under a snow drift on the side of the pond opposite his cabin.
There are yet visible, along the ridge of the mountain in the western part of the town, the foundations, cellars and portions of the chimneys of numerous dwellings and outbuildings, which have long since gone to decay. Not unfrequently one meets with old wells, and occasionally an apple or other fruit tree, together with medicinal herbs springing up about old crumbling walls. These herbs appear to have been carefully cultivated in olden times, as they are generally found in the vicinity of old dwellings. On lands of Abel Smith is an an- cient burial place. The graves are marked with rough stones taken from the fields. Trees several inches in diameter are growing from the mounds, which would indicate this to have
289
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
been long ago neglected. The location of this burying ground is in the borders of the woods, remote from any rcal; and so secluded from the busy world that the sleep of the dead must be undisturbed. Who are buried here, and what the story of their lives, we are unable to say, as history and tradition are both silent.
Near by is the site of the Lake House, once the residence of a family of that name. The cellar is partly filled up, and briars and brambles grow luxuriantly about it. Once a number of roystering lads and blushing damsels of the neighborhood were gathered here for an evening's frolic. As the night wore on, the company grew more boisterous, and the "flowing bowl" was the more freely circulated. One of the party was a colored man named Cato Grant, once a slave of the Grant family .* He lived under the hill ; the site of his cabin may yet be seen a few rods west of Abel Smith's residence. Cato had imbibed too freely as well as the rest ; and when the party broke up, he in the overflowing of his heart invited the whole company to ride with him. As he was on horseback, the capacity of his conveyance was not equal to the magnanimity of his soul. Three strapping fellows beside himself bestrode the poor horse, and started down the hill. The animal had much ado to stag- ger along under his load ; while winding down the path through the woods they lost their way, ran their horse off a ledge, and down they went, horse and riders, crashing to the bottom. The horse was killed by the fall; the men escaped without serious injury. The party were now perforce to make the rest of their journey on foot-an undertaking which cost them some labor and not a few tumbles among the rocks before they reached the clearing below. Afterwards, when Cato was con- doled with on the loss of his horse, he replied with the utmost nonchalance that the animal did not cost him anything-he worked and paid for it.
At the foot of Cobble Hill is a cave. Some farm laborers were once at work near by, and took refuge in it during a sud-
* The Grants lived near where Alex. H. Arnold now resides. A part of the old Grant House is still standing.
S
290
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
den shower. While there, they distinctly heard a voice sum- moning them to dinner, which they thought very strange, as the farm house was fully a quarter of a mile away, and it was not quite eleven o'clock. They answered the call ; but on arrival at the house, found no such summons had been given. The laborers supposed themselves to have been temporarily under the influence of the gnome who was believed to inhabit the cavern.
A few years since, east of the Watts burying ground, north of the highway, a solitary headstone marked the last resting place of a Revolutionary soldier. A man was found dead on the north side of a barn on the Grant place, where he proba- bly perished from cold and exposure. He was buried by the side of the soldier. The stone was removed, and the grave obliterated by the plow, a few years ago.
On the south side of Purgatory Hill are [1876] two or three clusters of stones which are pointed out as the "ovens" put up by the soldiers of the Revolution nearly a century ago.
Near the Putnam County line is a wide and deep part of the Croton, locally known as the "Souse Hole." This poetic name is given it, so tradition says, in consequence of the cus- tom of the earlier inhabitants playfully sousing each other into the water here. An adjacent locality enjoys the euphonious title of the Devil's Hollow-why so named can only be surmised.
The ancient house now the residence of Mr. Thomas Kitchen was in former times used as a hotel, kept by one Benj. Sherman. Tre old stone house on the turnpike, near where the road branches off towards Whaley Pond, was also a hotel, where Tom Iloward's Hotel. town elections were held. The old house on the farm of Perry Ferris, Esq., is said to
291
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
have been formerly used as a tavern. The house now belong- ing to George Smith, Esq., is probably among the oldest houses in the town. An old resident of the neighborhood died some twenty years since at the age of eighty ; he used to speak of attending a school in the south room of this house when he was a boy, and he said it was a very old house at that time.
The cut on preceding page represents Tom Howard's Tav- ern ; the house was taken down in the Summer of 1876 to make room for the Central Pawling Baptist Church. This Old House. inn was quite a noted place a half century ago. Howard owned an extensive tract of land lying south of the main road running east and west through the village. The land north of this road, and on which most of the village is situated, was the property of Caleb Haynes. The sites of two burial places are included within the limits of the village: one is located south and southwest of the Na- tional Bank building ; the Pawling Hotel property includes. the other, which was known as the Haynes burying ground. A young lady is said to have been buried here who died of a broken heart. The remains of eleven members of the Haynes family were taken from this ground, put together into one coffin, and reinterred in the Pearce burial ground, on lands of Mr. Dykeman, where the headstones may be seen, set close together, forming three sides of an enclosure.
It is related that two men, named Evans and Griffin, were sitting up to watch a corpse one night at a house on the moun- tain. As the hours wore on, and conversation lagged, they concluded a little liquor would not be objectionable. To pro- cure this it was necessary to go to the house of a neighbor some half mile distant ; which task Griffin volunteered to per- form while his companion watched with the corpse. Griffin was gone so long on the errand that Evans began to suspect foul play, as the former might readily drink it all up, and then
292
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
pretend that he could not procure any. Evans was, therefore, the victim of conflicting emotions ; he was on the point several times of starting out to look up his delinquent companion, but as often bethought himself of his duty not to leave the dead body ; at length a bright idea struck him, and taking the dead man upon his shoulder, he started with his burden cut in the darkness, and soon met his fellow watcher, coming back with the coveted liquor.
Pawling can boast of having had its haunted house, its resi- dent witch, and its full quota of ghosts. A journeyman hatter engaged rooms at the S- - Place. Having occasion to go down into the cellar one day, he there observed two empty hogsheads, apparently new. He noticed them the more par- ticularly as he wished to procure the loan of one in which to put his vinegar. He met the owner of the house a day or two afterward, to whom he mentioned the matter of the hogshead, and stated his request. "Why," said the landlord, "I never had a hogshead in that cellar ; and more than that, there is no door large enough to admit of putting one in." The journey- man thought very strange of the matter, but determined to look once more for himself. On going into the cellar again, not a vestige of a hogshead could be seen, nor a door wide enough to admit of anything larger than a butter firkin. The poor fellow lost no time in picking up his things and moving into less suspicious quarters.
There was a noted witch, Mrs. Lamb by name, who lived near the stone house, on the turnpike, not far from the Beek- man line. She used to appear to the early residents in various shapes, sometimes as an animal, and again as a bird, as best suited her purposes. She used sadly to interfere with the neighboring farmers when they were winnowing their wheat, by causing a lull in the wind just at the moment when they wanted it to blow the hardest.
Mrs. Johnson, wife of the Baptist preacher, was not a believer in witchcraft, and openly told Mrs. Lamb she was an imposter. The witch happened at the parsonage one day,
293.
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
while Mrs. Johnson was engaged in weaving. All at once, without any perceptible cause, the yarn-beam flew out upon the floor. She expected to find the threads all broken ; the witch assisted her in putting it again in place, when it was found that not a thread of the warp was broken, or out of place. The witch then asked with a sly twinkle of the eye, if she " believed now in witchcraft ?" Mrs. Johnson afterward admitted that there was something about that occurrence which she could not account for.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.