History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 648

USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5

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It is certain that Major Abraham Staats occupied his lands above the mouth of the ereek before the date (March 25, 1667) of his first patent ; and unless he had so oeeu- pied it for some years before that time, he cannot be thought of as possibly the first settler within the county of Columbia, for the Dutch historian, Van der Donck, as early as 1656 mentions Esopus (now Kingston), Rhinebeck, and Kinderhook as the principal, if not the only, settlements along the banks of the Hudson river. The settlement mentioned by Van der Donck was at Old Kinderhook Landing, and it seems not improbable that its commence- ment was earlier than that of Major Staats at Claverack.

The earliest known reference (excepting the above sliglit mention by Van der Donck) to the settlements at Kinder- hook and Claverack is embodied in a communication made some years since, by the Rev. J. Edson Rockwell, to the Columbia Republican, which we quote as follows :

" To the carly records of the settlement of this region there has Jately been added one of pleasant interest, for which we are indebted to the Long Island Historical Society, and especially to the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, long our minister in Holland. During his residence there, he found in his scholarly rescarches among ancient doenments a mannscript copy of a journal of a voyage to New York, in the years 1679 and 1780, by Jasper Dankers and Peter SInyter, two Labadist brethren who came thither in search of a home for the religioas seet to which they belonged. . .. After visiting varions sections around New York, they resolved to explore the shores of the Hudson river, and on the 15th of April went in search of a hoat to

# Life Jeases were given on the Livingston and perpetual leases on the lower Rensselaer manor. The lower manor has been heid in fee by its occupants since about 1851.

IIISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

go to Albany, and found one ready to leave immediately. The name of the skipper, the journal adds, was ' Meus Hogeboom, to whom we agreed to pay for the passage, up and down, one Beaver,-that is, twenty-five guilders in zewant,-and find ourselves. We gave in our names to have them inserted in the passports.' On the 19th, or four days after the hnut was ready to sail immediately, the journal pro- ceeds : " We left New York about three o'clock in the afternoon, with about twenty passengers of all kinds, young and old, who made great bustle and noise, in a boat not so large as a common ferry-boat in Holland; and as these people live in the interior of the country and somewhat nearer the Indians, they are more wild and untamed, reck- less, unrestrained, haughty, and more addicted to misusing the blessed name of God, and to cursing and swearing.' As the wind slackened they came to anchor, in order to stem the ebb tide.

"On the 20th they entered the Ilighlands, and on the 2Ist reached Kinderhook, and on the 22d came to anchor at Fort Orange or Al- baby. After a visit to Schenectady and Coboes, they set out for their return on the 30th, and came to anchor at Kinderhook, where a certain female trader had some grain to be carried down the river. While waiting the process of loading, the journal adds, ' we stepped ashore to amuse ourselves. We came to a creek where, near the river, lives a man whom they usually call the Child of Luxury (t' kinder van walde). Ile had a saw-mill on the creek or a water- fall, which is a singular one. The water falls quite steep in one body, but it comes down in steps, with a broad rest sometimes be- tween them. These steps were sixty feet or more high, and were formed out of a single rock. We saw chrystals lying in layers be- tween these rocks. They sparkled brightly, and were clear as water.' No one [says Mr. Rockwell] familiar with the scenery around Stuy- vesant falls can fail to recognize the description bere given of that spot as it appeared nearly two hundred years ago. 'We set sail,' continues the journal, 'in the evening, and came to Claverack, six- teen miles further down tho river, where we also took in some grain in the evening. Wo were here laden full of grain, which had to be brought in four miles from the country. The boors who brought it iu their wagons asked us to ride out with them to their places, which we did. We rode along a high ridge of blue rock on the right hand, the top of which was grown over. The stone is suitable for burning lime. Large, clear fountains flow out of these cliffs or hills, the first real fountains and the only ones we have met with in this country. We arrived at the places, which consist of fine farms; the tillable land is like that of Schoon-ceten-deel, low, flat, and on the side of the creek very delightful and pleasant to look upon, and especially at the present time, when they are all green with the wheat coming up. The woodland also is very good for (making) tillable land, and it was one of the locations which pleased me most with its agreeable foun- taing.' "

The large, clear fountains here mentioned now furnish one of the sources of water-supply for the city of Hudson, and are situated a short distance east of the city, on the main road to Claverack. It is to be noticed that the name Claverack was then applied not only to what was after- wards known as Claverack Landing, where now is the city of Hudson, but also to the settlement of Major Abraham Staats, and in fact to the whole straight part or " reach" of the river between these points, " from three bare spots or clavers which appear upon the land," says one writer,- the bare spots, wherever they may have been situated, being (presumably) covered with white clover, which in this region sprang up spontaneously in every place which had been made clear by burning, or by the indolent agriculture of the Indians.

The first settler in the vicinity of Claverack Landing, re- ferred to in the above narrative as " Claverack, sixteen miles further down," was Jan Frans Van Hoesen, who is supposed to have settled there in 1662, the date of his purchase of the land from the Indians. Among the settlers who soon after took land adjoining his, and farther inland, were Ger- rit Slichtenhorst and another Dutch pioneer, who was known

by the nickname of " Jan, the red head," while the rich lands on the Claverack creek were early settled by a number of thrifty Dutch farmers, as is shown by the journal of the Labadists as above quoted.

The praises which the brethren bestowed on the low, flat lands, which they found " very delightful and pleasant to look upon at the time when they are all green with the wheat coming up," were fully merited, not only as applied to the Claverack creek bottoms, but as well to the lands through all this section of country. Some idea of their virgin fertility may be had from the account given in the journal of David Pietersen De Vries, patroon of Staten island, who in April, 1640, sailed up the North river in his own sloop, on a voyage of private exploration " to see the country there." For more than thirty leagues above Fort Amsterdam he found the banks of the river " all stony and hilly, and unfit for dwellings ;" but towards the close of the day, on the 27th of April, he reached the " Catskill," where there was open land, upon which the natives were employed in planting corn. On the following day they came to " Beeren island," where there were many Indians engaged in fishing, and most beautiful meadows were seen every- where along the river. At evening the sloop arrived at the plantation of Brandt Peelen, at Castle island. Here De Vries visited the proprietor at his house, and was astonished to learn of the great productiveness of his farm ; particularly on being informed by Peelen that he had raised fine, heavy crops of wheat upon the same land for ten successive years without any interval of summer fallowing. Van Der Donck, in his description of New Netherland, confirms this. He says, " I had the land adjoining this same farm, and have seen the eleventh crop, which was tolerably good. The name of the man who did this was Brandt Peelen, a native of the province of Utrecht, and at that time a schepen in the colonie of Rensselaerswyck." This was a short distance above the north limit of the present county of Columbia, but no one will doubt that the lands here were quite as pro- ductive as those mentioned in the region immediately ad- joining.

Both De Vries and Dominic Megapolensis assure us that these pioneer colonists lived in the midst of nature's richest profusion, and that " the land was very well provisioned with all the necessaries of life." The old writers assure us that both flax and hemp grew spontaneously here; that every- where, but particularly upon the islands and along the mar- gins of the river and the creeks, the forest-trees were inter- laced and festooned with grape-vines, which in autumn were loaded with fruit " as good and as sweet as in Hol- land ;" that nut-trees of various kinds were numerous and very productive ; that wild plums were everywhere; that the hills were covered with blackberries, and the meadows and slopes with wild strawberries, which were so plentiful that the people would often "lie down and cat them, and so that in June the fields and woods are dyed red."

Captain Hudson, in his journal, said of the country on the river that " It is as beautiful a land as one can tread upon, and abouuds in all kinds of excellent ship-timber ; waluut, chestnut, yew, and trees of sweet wood in great abundance ; and there is great store of slate for houses, and other good stones.1

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

The woods were alive with game. There were deer, which in the autumn and in harvest-time were " as fat as any Holland decr can be," and the carcass of one of these would frequently be offered by the Indians in exchange " for a loaf of bread, or a knife, or even for a tobacco-pipe." There were also wild turkeys of surprising size, and so fearless of man that they often came down to feed with the swine of the colonists. At certain seasons of the year the land was almost overshadowed by wild pigeons, of which there were such vast numbers that they sometimes broke down trees of size by roosting upon them. Pheasants, quails, hares, squirrels, and raccoons were found everywhere, and if the desire of the hunter was for more exciting and dan- gerous sport, he might not infrequently find its gratification in a shot at bear, wolf, or panther. It is probable, however, that the thrifty Hollanders who settled Columbia county were not much given to hunting as a mere amusement, but only engaged in it to a limited extent as an easy means of supplying their families with food.

The great river, and the creeks as well, teemed with the finest fish, among which were the shad, and many kinds scarcely less delicious ; while in the branches, particularly towards their heads, the trout existed in great abundance. There were plenty of sturgeon, too, which, as we are told, " the Christians do not make use of, but the Indians cat them greedily." IIerrings* there were in myriads, so that if all other sources of supply had been withdrawn from the Indians they could, we are told, have lived on herrings alone, and had abundance. In the journal of Hudson's voyage it is stated that in the river he " saw many salmons and mullets, and rays very great." A well-informed writer, however (Dr. Mitchell, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.), discredits the statement that Hudson saw salmon in any considerable numbers in the North river, though he admits that they have been taken in it.

It must be admitted that these slow-going but shrewd Dutchmen had chosen for settlement a land which had been highly favored by the hand of nature. And there is no doubt that by the exercise of the indefatigable industry of their race they soon brought their farms to a high state of cultivation ; though De Vries, writing of that period, says that, so universal had become the passion for traffic, owing to the great gains realized from it, that " each farmer became also a trader."

The greater part of those who settled here are said to have been persons who brought some amount of pecuniary means from Holland, and were not unfrequently accompa- nied by servants. In this they were somewhat different from most of those who had settled in upper Rensselaer- wyck, who were sent out at the patroon's expense, and received small advances in money or implements, to be repaid with exorbitant interest.

From the meagre lists of emigrants arriving by different ships about 1660, and- in three or four succeeding years, we give the few following names, being of those who are believed to have been among the earliest settlers upon lands in this county, viz. : In ship "Brown Fish," June, 1658, Evert Luyeas, wife and daughter. In the ship " Moes- man," April, 1659, Gillis Mandeville. In the " Faith," February, 1659, Jannetje Teunis Van Ysselstein. In the " Gilded Otter," April, 1660, Gerrit Aartsen Van Beuren, Gerrit Cornelissen Van Beuren,-both named as " agricul- turists." In the " Beaver," May, 1661, Peter Marcelis Van Beest, wife, four children, and two servants ; Aert Picter- sen Buys Van Beest, wife, and son ; Frans Jacobsen Van Beest, wife, and two children ; Widow Geertje Cornelis Van Beest and six children ; Widow Adrientje Cornelis Van Beest and daughter; Goossen Jansen Van Noort Van Beest ; Hendrick Dries Van Beest ; Neeltje Jans Van Beest ; and Geertring Teunissen Van Beest. In the " Fox," August, 1662, Direk Storm, wife, and six chil- dren, from the mayory of Bosch. In the " Purmerland Church," October, 1662, Ferdinandus de Mulder. In the " Spotted Cow," April, 1663, Marytje Theunis Van Beest. In the "Concord," April, 1664, Claes Melius, wife, two children, and servant.

Among the early settlers in Kinderhook was Gerrit Teunissen, who patented lands adjoining Kinderhook lake, as before mentioned. He had been a prominent man in Albany before his removal here, and was no less promi- ment afterwards in Kinderhook, both in military and civil positions.

From the " Documentary Ilistory of New York" we ex- tract the following in reference to Kinderhook :

"The Said Mr. Renselner and Capt. Teunise Report that when they came hy Kinderhook they founde ye People Very much Inclined to mutiny, who were Preparing themselfs to come hither [10 Albany ], by reason of a letter which they had Received of Jacob Milborne to come up to Albany in alt Speed tu Receive Priviledges and Libertyes. So yt they had much adoe to stop them ; however, some did come."

The date was 1689, and the occasion referred to was the return of Killian Van Rensselaer, of Albany, and Captain Gerrit Tennise (or more properly Teunissen), of Kinder- hook, from Connecticut, whither they had been sent to convey to the governor and council of that State the thanks of the convention (then sitting at Albany) for the proffer of troops by Connecticut, t for the protection of the New York frontier against a threatened attack by French and Indians. Milborne was then at Albany, where he had been sent from New York with fifty men by Leisler, ostensibly to protect them and the fort, but really, as it was supposed,

t This proffer of troops was accepted, and they formed part of an expedition which was organized under command of General Win- throp, of Massachusetts, for the protection of the northern border and the invasion of Canada. The Connecticut contingent set out from Hartford, July 14, 1690, accompanied by Mr. Robert Living- ston as a guide, and, after marching for a week " through the diffi- cult and almost impassable parts of the wilderness;" reached Kinder- hook on the 21st. This was the first organized hody of armed white men which ever marched through this region. They were met at Kinderhook hy officers from the Albany garrison, who escorted them to that city. At Albany General Winthrop was the guest of Mr. Robert Livingston.

* Herrings have always been abundant in the river, though for- merly more so than now. It is related that, more than a century later than tho time of which we write, a vessel of one hundred tons' burden was filled at a single tide ncar Rogers' island, below Itud- son. The Indians made great use of these fish as an article of food, drying and then pounding them into powder, to he laid away in bark receptacles for winter's use. They also understood the curing of hoth fish and ments by smoking.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to gain possession of the fort, which was then being held by the adherents of the sovereigns, William and Mary. The extract is given here because of its reference to a state of mutiny among " the people" of the place, as it seems to show that even at that early time the population had already grown to be very considerable.

It is a matter of great regret that we are unable to give an extended list of the early comers to the northern part of the county. The portions nearer to the Massachusetts line and bordering on it were settled at a much later day, and by a different race; that is, by people of English, Irish, and Scotch extraction, who came in chiefly from the New England States.

SETTLEMENTS ON THE LIVINGSTON LANDS-THE PALATINES.

The settlements in the south-upon the Livingston grants-were commenced about half a century later than those in the northwest, and by a very different race and class of men. On the 2d of January, 1702, the Earl of Bellamont, in a communication to the lords commissioners of trade, wrote in reference to these tracts as follows : " Mr. Livingston has on his great grant of sixteen miles long and twenty-four broad but four or five cottages as I am told; men that live in vassalage under him and work for him, and are too poor to be farmers, having not where- withal to buy cattle to stock a farm." This was certainly a very poor showing of progress made during his seventeen years of occupancy, and it does not appear that much, if any, improvement on this condition of things was accom- plished in the eight or nine years following that time; and so, when it was proposed by Queen Anne to furnish an asylum and home in her American possessions for a large body of refugees from the Lower Palatinate, in Germany (many of whom had before served in her armies,* and who now asked her bounty, having been driven from their homes by the ravages of the French), the opportunity was em- braced by Mr. Livingston to secure the location of the greater part of them on lands which he sold to the queen for the purpose,-having in view the prospective advantages to accrue from such settlement by appreciation of his manor lands, and in other ways, as will appear.

The first of the Palatines (about fifty in number) arrived in New York in 1708, and were settled on a traet on the west side of the Hudson, in the county of Ulster. The second immigration of these unfortunate people occurred in June, 1710, when the ship " Lyon" arrived at New York, having on board a large number, who were disembarked on Nutten (now Governor's) island, and were there cared for at the expense of the government. During the month fol- lowing several other ships arrived, also bringing many hundreds of the Palatines, who were similarly disposed of.

Upon the question of the location of lands upon which to establish them, it was at first proposed that they be sent to the Mohawk, and Governor Hunter ordered a survey to be made for the purpose; it being the intention of the government that they should be employed in the manufac-

ture of tar and other naval stores, and serve as a barrier against the northern Indians. It was, however, the opinion of the governor that the Mohawk lands would not be found adapted for this purpose, and in a letter addressed by him to the board of trade, July 24, 1710, he said, " These lands, however, I believe will be in no ways fit for the de- sign in hand, being very good lands which here bears no Pines and lyes very remote. I shall, however, be able to carry it on elsewhere. . . . I am in terms with some who have lands on the Hudson's River fitt for that pur- pose, which I intend to view next week in company with Dr. Bridges, who is now with me, and gives me good Incouragement."

The person with whom he was in negotiation proved to be Robert Livingston. On the 3d of October following the governor again wrote the board of trade, saying, " I have been obliged to purchase a Traet of Land on Hud- son's River from Mr. Levingston, consisting of 6000 acres, as your Lordships will observe from this imperfect draught of it, for £400 of this country money, that is, 266£ Eng- lish, for the planting of the greatest division of the Palatines. It has these advantages besides the goodness of the Soile, that it is adjacent to the Pine, which by the conveyance we are Intituled to, and a place where Ships of 50 feet water may go without difficulty." This six-thousand-aere tract was conveyed by Mr. Livingston, through Governor Hunter, to the queen, Sept. 9, 1710, and was identical with the territory of the present town of Germantown, except that in more recent years a small triangular tract has been annexed to that town from Clermont. The immigrants' settlements within this tract were named as follows : Anns- berg, for Queen Anne; Haysbury, for Lady IIay, wife of Governor Hunter; Hunterstown, for the governor himself; and Queensbury, in still further honor of the crown. These four were collectively known as the " East Camp."

The smaller portion of the Palatines were settled upon the west side of the river, where, as the governor then wrote, " I have found a small Tract of about a mile in length along the River, which has by some chance not been granted, tho' pretended to have been purchased of the Indians by some, where I have planted the remainder." This small settlement was known as the " West Camp."

During the month of September they commenced moving to the lands assigned them on the east side of the river, and on the 13th of November the governor contracted with Robert Livingston to furnish them with bread and beer, to be delivered to them at his manor-house, at the rate of sixpence per diem for adults and fourpence for ehil- dren. The number of Palatines for whom subsistence was charged during the following winter was two thousand two hundred and nine of all ages, of whom nineteen hundred and fifty-two were upon the Livingston tract, and two hun- dred and fifty-seven in the two camps or villages on the west side of the river.

From the very first the colonists seem to have evinced a feeling of dissatisfaction, particularly in regard to the change of location from Schoharie, which had first been selected, to the Livingston lands, where, as they believed, they were to be denied the privilege of a small, separate tract for each family, as had been promised, but were instead to be kept

# Their services having been purchased by the queen from their sovereign, the eloctor, after the custom of those times.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

to rether in three or four large communities, to labor for life in a distasteful occupation for the advantage of those into whose power it was their misfortune to have fallen. They felt deeply grateful for the royal benevolence of the queen, but they distrusted the good faith of their immediate superiors, and chiefly that of the governor and the lord of the manor ; and that this distrustful feeling was shared by some in high station elearly appears from the tenor of a letter addressed to Lord Dartmouth, March 8, 1711, by Lord Clarendon,* in which the latter says,-

" I think it is unhappy that Colo. ITunter, at his first arrival in his government, fell into so ill hands, for this Levingston has been known many years in that Province for a very ill man. He formerly victualled the forces in Albany, in which he was guilty of most noto- rious frauds, by which he greatly improved his Estate. lle has a Mill and a Brew-house upon his land, and if he can get the Vietualling of those Palatines who are so conveniently posted for his purpose, he will make a very good addition to his Estate ; and I am persuaded the hopes he has of such a Subsisteoce to he allowed by ller Majesty were the Chief, if not the only, Inducements that prevailed with him to propose to Colo. Hunter to settle them upeo his land, which is oct the best place for Pine Trees. The Borders of Hudson's River above Albany, and the Mohacks River, Schenectady, are well known to be the best places for Pines of all sorts, both for numbers and largeness of Trees. . . . The bills drawn by Colo. Hunter for one-quarter's Subsistence for 1764 adults and 445 Persons under age, in all making 2209 Persons, and amounting to £4700.17.11, seems to be computed according to the numbers that landed at New York in June, 1710, which, with suhmission, I think ought not to be, because it is eertain many of them are dead.t . . . My Lord, upon the whole matter I am of opinion that, if the Subsistence proposed is allowed, the conse- quence will be that Levingston and some others will get Estates ; the Palatines will not be the richer."

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History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 648

Author: Everts & Ensign; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 648