USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 9
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* In 1859, the congregation at South Amenia held memorial services in commemo- ration of its one hun Iredth anniversary. and a historical discourse was read,
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
escaping from the fire of persecution, and Puritans from New England composed the membership.
The first preaching there of which there is any record, was by a Moravian missionary in 1753; named Rhinke. Rev. Ebenezer Knibloe was installed first pastor. He came from the Philipse Patent, near "Kent's Parish," or Carmel. He was a Scotchman by birth ; his manner unfortunately was such that members in his congregation, fired with patriotic zeal. became suspicious of his loyalty to the cause of the king, and he was dismissed after serving them sixteen years. The evi- dence, however, was clearly against the suspicion ; and, after the war, he again ministered to them acceptably until his death, which took place in 1785. Marriages, recorded by him. numbered 321 ; baptisms, 581. This would seem to indicate a population greater than at present.
While the British were in possession of New York, the distinguished Dr. John Rodgers, a Presbyterian, left the city and found a safe retreat in the country. He came here in 1778, out of the way of the disturbing effects of the war, and ministered to the people about two years. Rev. Dr. Livings- ton also spent some time here during the war.
The following are from the old church records :- " Voted. that Capt. Colbe Chamberlain, Lieut. David Doty, Dr. Timothy Babcock, and Mr. Benjamin Delano, be quoristers ; that Capt. Colbe Chamberlain and Ebenezer Hatch, be tithingmen." [The office of tithingmen was to keep the young . people in becoming order.] In 1778 the society voted to give their pastor, Dr. Rodgers, $16 per Sabbath. That season the people furnished for Dr. Rodgers' family one hundred pounds of butter; Simeon Kelsey provided a pig of about one hundred pounds ; Moses Barlow a pig and a beef ; and Jedediah Bump about six hundred pounds of pork. Dr. Rodgers resided a part of the time in the house called Deacon Leon- ard's house, near George Swift's.
" Feb. 22, 1786, voted that our present old Meeting House be taken down and applied to the building of a new one ; and
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
that all persons who had any right in the old meeting house shall be considered proprietors in the new one." Thus it appears the true succession was preserved in the house and in the congregation. Some of the material of that first building is doubtless in the present structure.
After the death of Mr. Knibloe, several ministers were engaged temporarily, till 18c2. when Rev. John Barnet was engaged as preacher, but not as pastor, who continued with them upwards of ten years. He was a Chaplain in the war of the Revolution, first in Col. Hopkins' Regiment, of Amenia, at Saratoga, and afterwards in the regular army. Mr. Barnet's salary was sixty pounds per annum, and the use of the parsonage farm, which then included. besides the present parsonage land, that part of Henry Cline's farm west of the highway. A Fourth of July oration by Mr. Barnet in 1812 was published ; also a funeral sermon for Ambrose Spencer, Jun., who was killed at the battle of bundy's Lane, and who had been a pupil of Mr. Barnet's. In )815. Rev. Joel Osborne became pastor ; dismissed at his own request in 1825 ; died in Kent, Conn., in 1856. aged 66 years. Rev. Asabel Bronson was installed pastor in 1827; Rev. John G. Lowe in 1830; Rev. A. Cogswell Frissell in 1843; and Rev. Harry Smith in 1859. The present parsonage was built in 1815, and the present church edifice in 1849.
The following is a brief compendium of the history of the Smithfield Church and Society :
About the year 1750, at the time when the dark cloud of the French and Indian war hung over the Colonies, a plain church edifice was erected upon the ground occupied by the present building. At an early date two churches occupied the ground now covered by the Smithfield Church and Society. After the Revolution there was an effort made to unite the two which proved successful. Rev. John Cornwell, it is believed, preached the gospel in both places until his death. Both societies were originally Congregational, and remained so until one ceased to exist, and the other became Presbyterian in
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS CO
1824. It is supposed that the covers The Separate was aut the City, but we
built very nearly the same time with the have no records of either.
It is a well-known fact that those :la thorough
reformation of the Church of England! Elizabeth were called Puritans ; and the
fine of Queen
w ... Puritans who left the which of England were cofet ren Nes or
antica, and
e. Engle 1.
The Old Separate Meeting Hot ". in the socoly
known as the "Separate" may have ! 8's, crin sympathy with that branchen the Power
Stephen Kenney settled war de.fr
and was one of the number who sig; !! of the organization of the church in the year 178 ;.
found a home very near the same time at Adlars' .l. 10 also signed the covenant as a member of the gler ... Bockee, from New York, at an early per ol site'
land purchased by his father in the year 1690, and the las remained in the family until a very reat the. Robert Willson, Sen., died in 1799, just twelve years afe be had signed the covenant at the organization of the chute . 9 3787. He doubtless was among the first settles. Benjamin Herick died in 1778, having buded two children in the ces etery at this place in 1755, only five years after the fast church edifice was built. No evide ore has been found that a settle I pastor served this church from rygo to ting, a weed of twenty- five years, and it is pravi able that during the thee the gospel was preached only by such ministers of Christ as might journey through this section of country. Among these was the Rev. George Whitefield. In a letter datel New York, July 29th,
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
1770, he says : "Since my last I have been above a 500-mile circuit, and have been able to preach and travel through the heat and dust every day. The congregations have been large and attentive, particularly at Albany, Schenectady, Great Bar- rington, Norfolk, Salisbury, Sharon, Smithfield, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill." Tradition tells us that church edifices here could not hold the people who assembled to hear the most wonderful preacher of the age. Near the church was a grove of oaks, one of which still stands; under the shade of this grove the people listened to this eloquent man.
In 1775 the church gave a call to the Rev. Job Swift, D. D .. who faithfully and ably preached the gospel for more than seven years. While living and laboring here a son was born to him, afterwards known as the Hon. Samuel Swift, LL. D., one of the most learned and honored citizens of Vermont. From 1782 until 1812, the church was without a pastor, when a call was given to Rev. Eli Hyde. The call was accepted and a council called to meet on the 8th day of January, 1813. The following churches, by their pastors and delegates, were requested to attend, viz: Ist Church in Sharon. ist and 2d Churches in Cornwall, South Church in Canaan, Congrega- tional Church in Southeast, the Presbyterian Church in Pleas- ant Valley, and the Reformed Dutch Church in Poughkeepsie. Mr. Hyde remained pastor a little more than eight years. During his pastorate, in the year 1814, the second church was built on the site of the old one. He married the daughter of his teacher and pastor, the Rev. Samuel Nott, I. D. She was richly endowed by nature and careful culture, and possessed great devotion to the cause of Christ. With her originated the idea of forming a Bible Society, for the distribution of the Word of God among those destitute, and this idea took form in the DUCHESS County Female Bible Society, of which she was the first President, and which is still doing a good work. It was organized several years before the American Bible Society.
From the close of the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Hyde the church was without a pastor for more than three years, when
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
the Rev. Robert G. Armstrong accepted a call, and was in- stalled pastor by the Presbytery of North River, Sept. 20, 1824. He was pastor about seven years, being dismissed by the Pres- bytery in 1831, and at the same date installed pastor of the Presbyterian church at Fishkill ; in 1840 he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Hudson.
The Baptist church, at its organization May, 1790, seems to have been composed of some from the old Congregational Church, and of others who had been members of the Baptist Church of Northeast. They chose Rev. Elijah Wood for their pastor, who on the 27th of June administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper to them for the first time. Mr. Wood had ministered to the Congregational Church ; but this uniting with a new organization did not sunder his fraternal relations with the brethren of the old church. He was a native of Norwich, Conn., came to Amenia before the Revolu- tion ; and was counted among the most active patriots. He was not a scholar, but a close student, and an acceptable minister. In 1816. this church was greatly revived and enlarged. Rev. Mr. Peck, who officiated as pastor two years, seems to have been the active agent in bringing about this prosperity. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., came to Amenia when a young man; engaged in teaching awhile, and then became minister of the church.
The Methodist Society of Amenia, one of the earliest of that denomination in this part of the country, was formed about the year 1788, and consisted of eight members. David Rundall was the only male member for several years. The first sermon was preached in a private house, one half mile east of Sharon Station. The meetings were held in this house for a time; when, more settlers coming in, a society was formed in the vicinity of the old Red Meeting House. Mr. Garrettson formed the first class. and Captain Allen Ward- well was the first class leader.
The late Dr. Wakely was wont to call that part of Amenia ."The Old Methodist Classic Ground." The important position
.
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
of this society at that time may be inferred from the fact that the New York Annual Conference was held here. It was in 1808, and the sessions were held in the Round Top School House, about half a mile northeast of the Old Red Meeting House. Rev. Bishop Arbury presided and occupied the teacher's chair, with the school desk before him; and the preachers sat upon the benches of the pupils. On the Sabbath the conference occipiel the meeting-house, whe .: the Bishop preached. Pre ld . 1 el thave preaches were stationed at this Confronta es caferamel ton of avelve were so gratifie 1 ference that a con alfred waited
of the preacher; (" Meses; and is commun ty on them with the ling the session there and invited them to compact Est church office of this society was built in iSiz, in which the New York Conference met in 1813, when Bishop Asbury and Mc Kendree presided. At this Conference eightys. preachers was stationed-the Conference having been (Hence 1808
At the annual town meeting of the frecholdeis and inhabi- tants of the Precinct of Amen.", on the ist Tres tay of April, 1762, at the house of Rows Honvins. Psy." Michael Hopkins was chosen clerk of soil Precinct, and Cont. Stephen Hopkins was chosen Supervisor ; Sameel Doi end Jonathan Reynolds, Assessors ; Benj. Benedict, Abraham Prine and Moses Barlow, Overseers of the Poor, and Conred Winegar, Constable.
In the War of the Revolution, the patriotism of the citizens of Amenia, was manife 'ed by promptne and almost entire unanimity. A . mir thee of safety . i appointed here, as in other town.s. The fightce d' the earlier this particularly directed to d'n'
A mnie prison,
constructedl . : ),
C:
enacted persons.
flight village of This was bit 1
* The House of Rossel Het to aca Pe Rei Ne tus Het a. north of the Fair Ground-,
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Amenia, and north of where the turnpike now runs. The remains of this prison were visible a few years ago.
When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Amenia the military companies came together with a spontaneous will. They were addressed by Ephraim Paine, Esq., in a masterly oration ; at the close of which Simeon Cook, captain of one of the companies, said to his men :- " Fellow soldiers; the time has come to give up our liberties, or to defend them with the musket. As many of you as are willing to march with me to the scene of action, I will lead; and I will expose myself to all the hardships and dangers that you will be exposed to. If any of you are unwilling to go, you are dismissed." It is added that not one left the ranks.
In April, 1777, the lead mines at Great Nine Partners were explored, with some success, by an agent of Congress. These mines were on lands of Mr. Fish, in the present town of Amenia, and were explored at the suggestion of Moses Harris. The Commissoners appointed by the Provincial Congress were Jonathan Landon and Ezra Thompson, and they employed John McDonald, an experienced miner from Scotland, (one of the distinguished family of that name) who appears to have come over for the purpose of aiding the people in their struggle. The work at these mines was continued throughout the season, as reported by Mr. McDonald.
Cornelius Atherton, engaged at the Steel Works, in this town, in September, 1776, petitioned the New York Council for the exemption from military duty of his workmen engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms in his contract with Congress.
Among the citizens in Amenia, who rendered valuable service in the wars, none were more worthy of favorable mention than the Hon. Ephraim Paine. He was from the beginning employed in offices of very high responsibility and honor. His integrity and firmness were not less marked than was his Puritanic simplicity of manner. He held that there should be no distinction in dress, and wore, therefore, the dress of a laboring man in the halls of legislation, and in the
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
house ot worship. Many mistakes are mentioned, resulting from Mr. Paine's plainness of dress. He was at one time treated as a menial by the landlady at whose house he was stopping during his stay at court in Poughkeepsie. The only rebuke he gave when she apologized was, "you should treat all men alike." A gentleman who rode in haste to the house on public business gave him his horse to hold while he went in to speak to Judge Paine. Another was once looking over the farm for Judge Paine, and, finding a man ditching, asked him, " Where is your master ?" "In Heaven," was his ready answer. Judge Paine's education had been without the aid of schools. but his mind was disciplined to a habit of clear comprehension and strict accuracy. He was on many occasions in his public service a valuable adviser on matters of finance ; he opposed decidedly the financial policy of Gen. Hamilton. He was a member of the Senate when he died.
Silas Marsh, called " Lawyer Marsh," was an active patriot in civil life. Samuel King and Hon. Egbert Benson are favorably mentioned as stern and true patriots.
This part of the country was singularly free from any disturbance, resulting from the near approach of the enemy, or the movements of the American troops. The people here. it is said, heard the sound of the cannon at the battle of Long Island, and they saw the smoke of burning Kingston ; but it " did not come nigh unto them." The nearest encampment of Continental troops at any time was that at Pawling in 1778. In the summer of that year, a large number of prisoners- mostly Hessians, taken at the battle of Saratoga the year before-were marched through this town on their way to Fishkill, where they crossed the Hudson. It is said that some of the Hessian soldiers solicited the people to aid them in escaping ; a few succeeded, and remained in this country.
In the early part of the war, a man called at Judge Paine's in his absence, who was suspected by Mrs. Paine to be a British spy. She persuaded him to partake of refreshments, which caused his delay, while she sent for two patriots to arrest
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
him. He was however, an American spy, and the committee who knew. him, were obliged to use some deception in plan- ning his escape, in order that his character might not be revealed. He was sent under guard on his way to Poughkeep- sie, but managed to escape.
A young man named Samuel Jarvis joined the army from Amenia, where he left a wife and two children. He afterwards deserted into the British lines, went to England, and married again. After almost a hundred years his legitimate family here have recovered his estate left in England.
In the disturbed condition of society incident to the war, lawless and rapacious men used the opportunity to indulge their spite, or to gratify their greed for plunder. Even in this safe retreat, though so far removed from the armies, there were instances of robberies. Philip Nase, Sen., and his wife, who lived where their son afterward did, had laid up a considera- ble sum of gold and silver money and other valuable treasure. Four men, in the disguise of British officers and soldiers, came one evening, armed with axes, demanded the key to the treasure, and threatened death to the family if any resistance was offered. The key was given up, and every part of the treasure carried off, and never heard from again.
The attempted robbery of Capt. David Collin, father of the late Capt. James Collin, came to a different sequel. A company of robbers, supposed to be some well-known Tories. came to Mr. Collin's house, in the absence of his wife, and demanded his money and other treasures. Upon his refusal to give up his valuables, they proceeded to hang him, and probably would have carried their purpose to a fatal issue, but for the timely arrival of his wife, who saved his life and their treasure. The family have some memoranda of this event, and of the goods concealed.
Henry. the oldest son of Philip Nase, Sen., was a Tory of so positive a character that he left the country and made his home in Nova Scotia. It is said he concealed some money in great haste at the foot of the mountain, before going away ;
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
when he returned to get it he was not able to find the place, and it is supposed to be there to this day.
Deacon Moses Barlow, and his brother Nathan, came from Cape Cod in 1756. Before leaving there they had been sea- faring men. They came by water to Poughkeepsie, and journeyed across the country to this place. Their diary speaks of a kind hospitality extended to them by the Newcombs, of Pleasant Valley, on their way to their new homes.
Caleb Benton, of Guil- ford, Conn., purchased of Capt. Lasell, in 1794, the Hlouse built by Deacon Barlow. place now owned by his grandson, Myron B. Benton. He paid for the land in specie, at the rate of fifteen dollars per acre, which he brought with him on horseback. When his family removed hither, they too- canie by way of Poughkeepsie.
Soon after 1750, Abraham Bockee, a merchant of New York, came to Nine Partners and entered upon land purchased of his grandfather in 1699, which has been in possession of the family to the present time. He was one of the Colonial Justices appointed by the Crown as early as 1761, at which time he is mentioned as a "Mr. Bokay," a Justice of the Peace at Nine Partners, near a place called the City. The immi- grant ancestor of Mr. Bockee was Johannes Bockee, who came to this country in 1685, and who was of that noble Huguenot stock that has contributed so many families of worth and distinction. Abraham Bockee, was the father of Jacob Bockee, a grandfather of the late Judge Abraham Bockee, Jacob Bockee, a graduate of King's College, N. Y., was Captain in the Revolution of a Company in Col. Willet's Regiment, and was a member of the Assembly in 1795 and 1797, where he introduced a bill for the abolition of slavery in this State_
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Phenix Bockee, a brother of Abraham, was Lieutenant in the war of 1812, and died in Poughkeepsie in 1814.
Capt. John Boyd was of Irish descent, and came from Orange County previous to 1769. He married the daughter of Conrad Winegar, built him a house which is still standing a little south of Amenia Union, and in which he died in 1817.
Lemuel and William Brush, sons of Reuben Brush, from Long Island, lived in the west part of the town, not far from the City. Lemuel had five sons ; Perlee, Jesse, Platt, John and Henry. Jesse was an officer in the Revolution. John was the General John Brush who commanded the DUCHESS County troops at the Harlem Bridge in the war of 1812, and who was afterwards Major General of the Militia. Col. Henry Brush was Captain of the Ohio Volunteers in the war of 1812,and was on his way to Detroit with 230 men, 100 beef cattle, and other provisions, and a mail, at the time General Hull surren- dered, August 16th, 1812. Capt. Brush had arrived at the river Raisin, and was in imminent danger of falling into the hands of the Indians under Tecumtha, through the negligence of Hull to send a reinforcement. When notified on the 17th, by a British officer, with a flag of truce, of Hull's surrender with his army, including his own command. he refused to accept the notice as authorita tive, escaped with most of his stores to Ohio. It is said thatCapt. Brush pur- posely allowed the whiskey among his The Old John Boyd House. stores to fall into the hands of the Indians, which so demoralized them that they were unable to pursue the returning party.
The ancestors of the Carpenter family came from England to Massachusetts in 1638. In 1752 Daniel Carpenter purchased land in Crom Elbow Precinct, near Salt Point,
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
where he died in 1777. His son Benjamin, being excessively annoyed by the Tories, removed to Amenia. This was at the time the Tories of DUCHESS County put on such a bold front and gathered their forces at Washington Hollow. Mr. Carpen- ter was three times robbed by them.
Joseph Chamberlain came from Tolland, Conn .. in 1755- and settled on the farm afterwards owned by the Nye family. He had four sons ; Colbe, James, John and William. The latter was a captain in the Revolution, and was in the battle of Bennington, Saratoga. and other bloody fields. He lived on the farm now owned by J. H. Cline, and kept tavern there. which was much frequented during the war.
Peter Cline (Klein), a native of Germany, came into Amenia from Rhinebeck in 1760. He was one of the ยทยท Redemptioners," who paid for their passage to this country by their services afterwards, to which they were bound by the captain who brought them over. He located where his grand- son, Edward E. Cline, now lives, purchasing one-half of Oblong lot No. 43. at ten dollars and a half per acre.
Dr. Benjamin Delavergne settled on the road to Kent. previous to the war, and built a dam which is still visible, and which yet bears the name of the French Doctor's Dam. He took a prominent part in the Revolution, and was Major in the Fourth Regiment of DUCHESS County Militia.
The Justices of the Peace, previous to the organization of the Precinct, were Castle, Hopkins, Bockee, Winegar, Smith. Garnsey, and others. The record, kept with admirable clerical skill by Roswell Hopkins. Esq., shows the " actions determined" in his official service, a period of thirty years, to have been 2,564. This record also shows the criminal penalties of the age, which sometimes read "lashes upon the bare back." These convictions were by a Court of Special Sessions, held by three Justices. Sometimes Justices from other towns were associated with them. The fine for breaking the Sabbath, for drunkenness, and for profane oaths seems to have been three shillings, which went to the poor. Sometimes the penalty
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
imposed was that the criminal be transported out of the county.
The German Settlers and the Delematers had their slaves : Jacob Evartson had as many as forty, it is said. Most of the slaves in this town were manumitted in the manner and under the condi- tions prescribed by law. Owners were not permitted to make free and cast off any slave who was not capable of providing for him- House built by Johannes Detemater. self. In 1824. three years before the completed abolition of slavery in this State, there were 32 slaves in Amenia.
In 1764, the following persons in Amenia Precinct received license to keep tavern : Samuel Smith, Robert Johnson, Jona- than Reynolds, Edmund Perlee, Stephen Ray, Widow Eunice Wheeler, Samuel Snider, Michael Hopkins, Simeon Wright, Stephen Johns, Ichabod Paine, Benjamin Hollister, Jun .. and Daniel Castle.
In the latter part of the last century the Federal Co. was organized, and a Federal Store established in the north- west part of the town. with Judge Smith at the head. The freighting business at Poughkeepsie was a part of their scheme. Previous to 1817. another association was incorporated, who had their head-quarters at the Federal Store. Their first operation was carding wool by horse power. Next they moved to the stream near Adam's Mills, and erected a woolen cloth manufactory, using water power to propel the machinery. The late Capt. Robert Willson was President of the Company, and they issued a considerable amount of small bills as currency. The property was afterward sold to Lawrence Smith, who continued the work of cloth dressing.
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