History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 71

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 71

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The present organization of the church consists of Rev. W. H. Luckenbach, pastor ; Wm. Rockefeller, clerk ; Con- rad C. Lasher, Jr., Jonas Lasher, and John A. Rockefeller, elders; Win. H. Rockefeller, Peter R. Rockefeller, and Peter Potts, Jr., deacons; John H. Moore, George W. Feller, and Jacob Sipperly, trustees ; Peter Potts, superin- tendent of Sunday-school. There are three hundred volumes in the library.

The old papers of the church are a valuable collection, including not only history, but also important evidence as to titles and other matters of frequent legal inquiry. Through the courtesy of Ephraim Lasher, Esq., we are able to add the following items. There are preserved the following papers, many or all of them originals, valuable even for the autographs of early settlers, founders of civil and religious institutions. A deed from Johannes Heiner and Christopher Hagadorn, June 15, 1741, to Samuel Miller. Witnesses, Gilbert Livingston and Henry Living- ston. A deed, Dec. 2, 1753, from Johannes Lyck to Mar- tin Lyck. A deed, April 7, 1773, from Uriel Heyser and Eva Blass, widow, to Samuel Miller. Witnesses, Gerhart Cuck and Christian Philip. A deed, Sept. 16, 1775, Henry Funk to Johannes Hainer. Witnesses, David Man- hard, Christian Philip, and Philip P. Clum. Deed, June 13, 1787, Martin Luyck to Conrad B. Lasher. Deed, Sept. 13, 1799, Gideon Hornbeck to Conrad B. Lasher. Deed, May 12, 1774, Samuel Provost to Samuel Miller. Deed, Dec. 5, 1800, Gideon Hornbeek to Conrad B. Lasher. Deed, February, 1771, Anthony Lispenard and Mary Car- roll to Conrad B. Lasher. A deed on parchment from Johannes Heanor, Aug. 15, 1758, of forty acres " for the use of the Palatine minister and his successors forever, who shall likewise teach a school there." The will of Rev. Johannes Christopher Hartwick, pastor from 1746 for

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

many years. Bond of the elders and deacons of the Lutheran church,-George Lasher, Ludwick Botts, and Philip Schumaker,-given to Wm. Hagadorn and Bernard Heanor, June 15, 1741.

The original date of the patent of six thousand acres for the Palatines appears in many places in these papers, --- Nov. 17, 1725.

When the Lutheran church desired to ereet their new church, in 1812, they made the following appeal for assist- ance :

" APRIL 1, 1812.

" The Lutheran church of Germantown, Columbia Co., commonly called East Camp, being in a very decaying condition, and threat- ening every moment to fall into ruin, hy which the lives of many might be endangered, the vestry of said church have thought it to be their Christian duty, with the consent of the members of the congregation, to break down the same and erect a new one. But as the number of members is small, and not competent to such an nnder- taking, they find themselves under the disagreeable necessity to im- plore the assistance of the charitable friends of religion, while they trust in the benevolence of their fellow-christians, and are confident that their German brethren will not suffer a place to he destitute where many of their ancestors have landed and eneamped. They pray the Lord to shower down the choicest blessings npon their hene- factors, and to reward their kindness both here and in the world to come.

" GEORGE DENIGAR, " JOHN SHULTIS, Trustees."

" GEORGE LASHER,

Conrad Lasher was appointed to receive the contribu- tions.

Other papers are a deed, March 23, 1771, Folkhart C. Douws to Conrad B. Lasher ; catalogue of papers held by the society in 1788.

The following paper evidently belongs in the " box" of the Reformed church : " A settlement, Oct. 30th, 1759, of Rev. Johannes Caspar Revil, minister of the High Dutch Reformed church, and the elders, Johannes Moul, Jere- miah Kilmer, Peter Sharp, Nicholas Dick, with the dea- cons, Peter -- and Simeon Korn."

There is also the bargain between the two churches di- viding the original forty acres set apart for religious pur- poses equally between them.

An inventory of the property of the church, Feb. 24, 1802: 1st. A parsonage, house, stable, and eight acres of land; 2d. One hundred and forty-four pounds due by Ja- cob Salspaugh at seven per cent. interest ; 3d. One hundred and seventeen pounds due by John IIyser and Peter Ilyser, at seven per cent. interest ; 4th. Twelve pounds rent for the above parsonage; 5th. Alms money received the past year, three pounds and four shillings; 6th. Forty-five acres wood lot.

The trustees signing this paper were Jacob Salspaugh, George Lasher, and Barent Shultis. Their election is eer- tified to by the pastor, Frederick H. Quitman.

The certificate of incorporation bears date April 22, 1799. The trustees at that time were Barent Shultis, Peter B. Lasher, and John Kortz. The corporate name was " Christ Church," and the elders certifying to the elec- tion were George Lasher and Barent Sipperly. The certifi- cate was acknowledged before Robert Livingston.

Still further illustrating the old history both of the church and of property in connection with it, we add the

following memorandum of a deed of release, Aug. 28, 1788, Philip Salspaugh to Johannes Salspaugh. They were two brothers, sons of Philip Salspaugh, whose will bore date April 8, 1788 :

Philip releases to Johannes eight parcels of land, part of the old patent of November 17, 1725, to the trustees of the people, John Heanor, Christopher Hagadorn, and others. The descriptions are in accordance with a map executed by Cadwallader Colden in 1740. That old map on parchment is in existence, but is not easily read. A copy of it, also very old, is now in the possession of Erastus Coous, Esq., of Germantown. The eight parcels are : 1st. A part of No. 320, ten acres, one rood, twelve perches ; 2d. A part of lot No. 269, thirty acres, three roods, two perches; 3d. A piece bounded eastward by lands of Aaron Whitmore, south by lands of Sharpe, four acres, two roods, twenty-nine perches ; 4th. A piece " beginning at a soft maple-tree at the most northeasterly corner of Philip Salspaugh's lot, bounded in part by lands of Johannes Kortz, and also by lands of the Lutheran church lot 96, and by a road leading from Robert Livingston's mills." Abram Delamater's lands are also mentioned in describing this piece, and those of Conrad Snyder and William Schopmouse. The piece con- tained thirty-six acres, three roods, thirty-one perches ; 5th. The north parts of Nos. 95 and 93, six aeres, three roods, thirty-six perches ; 6th. A tract lying on the north side of the road leading from Peter Sharp's to the river, containing seven acres ; 7th. The northernmost part of lot 75, " beginning at an ancient stone-heap, southeast cor- ner of Conrad Snyder's land," containing one acre and fifteen perches ; 8th. A piece lying on the west side of the house of Peter Sharp, and is part of lot No. 134, beginning at an ancient corner-stone northeast corner of lot 134, con- taining one rood, thirty perches.

In 1821 these same parcels are conveyed by John Sals- paugh to Philip I. and Jacob I. Salspaugh.

The trustees of the Lutheran church in 1831 were John B. Shultis, Jeremiah Proper, and William Feller. They then deeded a quarter of an acre to Philip I. and Jacob I. Salspaugh, " bounded on the north by the old burying- grouud."

The parsonage of the Lutheran church of the old times stood south of James C. Fingar's, on the farm of Philip H. Rockefeller. It was taken down seventy years ago or more.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORTH GERMANTOWN.

The first Methodist Episcopal class at Germantown was connected with the West Taghkanie circuit. In 1849 it was composed of James H. Snyder, class-leader ; Hiram Reeves, steward ; Catharine S. Snyder, Samuel W. Snyder, Maria Suyder, William Peary, Nancy Peary, Jacob Peary, John Patten, Gertrude Patten, Philip II. Coon, Catharine Reeves, Edward Reeves, Oliver J. Reeves, Mary A. Reeves, Levi Best, Margaret Best, Henry E. Ham, Eliza Ham, Jacob Barringer, Maria Barringer, Charlotte Lasher, Lu- cinda Ashley, Caroline Sheffer, Mary A. Lonkes, Almira Lasher, Henry Persons, Dinah Barber.

The ministers who might have served previous to 1853, when the perfect list begins, were-1842-43, Lewis McKen- dree Pease; 1844, John Campbell; 1845, Lorin Clark ;

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1846-47, Jeremiah Ham ; 1848-49, Samuel M. Knapp ; 1850, Thomas Jerrolds ; 1851-52, Aaron Hunt, Jr.

This station was connected with Myersville from 1853 to 1866; with Madalin from 1867 to 1876; 1877 and since, with Tivoli.

The following is the regularly-appointed list of ministers, commencing with 1853:

1853, William M. Nelson; 1854, supplied ; 1855, Henry H. Birkins; 1856, H. Wood; 1857, supplied; 1858, W. S. Bouton ; 1859-60, Aaron Coons; 1861-62, William J. Ives; 1863-64, T. Ellis ; 1865, Aaron Rogers ; 1866-67, J. H. Wood; 1868-70, W. F. Harris; 1871-73, George B. Clark ; 1874-75, J. H. Loomis; 1876-77, J. Birch ; 1878, Silas Fitch.

The society have a neat house of worship, finely situated on elevated ground. The well-cultivated fields of thrifty farmers surround it on every side. Near it is a parsonage half hidden in shrubbery, with strawberries, grapes, and other fruit in rich abundance. A little to the west flows the Hudson, affording bright glimpses of its silver current; beyond, the Catskills lift their bold summits to the sky. To preach the gospel on this lovely height with its delight- ful surroundings can be attended with little of the hard- ships and privations of the carlier Methodist work. A minister appointed to this charge may well cxclaim, " The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places."

The church was built soon after the organization of the society. Near it is a burial-place, neatly laid out and well cared for. At present there is an out-station connected with this church at East Camp. The present organization consists of Rev. Silas Fitch, pastor; James H. Snyder, class-leader ; C. Snyder, J. H. Barringer, William Ellis, and Dr. W. O. Smith, stewards.

BURIAL-PLACES.

The earliest points of burial were in the vicinity of the two ancient churches. The Reformed church, as already described, stood east of the burial-ground, the latter occu - pying the slope and a portion of the top of the hill. This is now a desolate-looking place. Perhaps a neglected grave- yard is, of all other places, the one most calculated to awaken feclings of sadness. There are a few stones left here, some with inscriptions scarcely readable, but of rare interest to the antiquarian. The Sharp family are buried here, and many others, even some of quite a modern date. When will the church honor themselves and honor the memory of the fathers by surrounding this sacred place with a strong fence, and save it for future years ? The consecra- tion of new and beautiful cemeteries with the adornments of modern times is proof of a high and noble feeling in the hearts of the people. But why neglect the old burial- places of the fathers ?

The following are some of the dates remaining in this old yard : " Wife of Peter Sharp, died Nov. 30th, 1780;" and " Peter Sharp, Feb. 17th, 1781 ;" and " Jacob Moore, July 3d, 1811." Also the following, which some one may be able to translate :

" 1775 DEW 11 August W M"

The old Lutheran church stood just about on the site of the present dwelling-house of J. Fingar. The burial-place connected with it was on the rounded and now beautiful elevation just south of the house, extending, as the old people state it, up to the corner of the dwelling. In this ground, as in the others, were many burials. Little by little the sacred mementoes of the dead have disappeared. The flowers planted by loving hands, even in that old ruder age, eeased long ago to bloom above the resting-places of the departed. The very stones that within the memory of the present generation still stood, like lone sentinels watching the dust of the dead, have gone,-few can tell when or how. There is left at last simply a smooth field, over which the plow and the reaper move with nothing to obstruct or retard their progress. But the heavenly Father knoweth where his children sleep, and needeth neither marble nor granite to mark their place of burial.

The later cemetery of the Reformed church, on the beautiful hill east of Germantown village, is finely situated and well cared for. Here are written upon the long, close rows of marble the old historic names of Germantown, and here is gathered much of public and private history.

The same is true of the cemetery of the Lutheran church in its later location upon the south line of the town. Their older ground, near the church, though not laid out with graveled avenues, and adorned with shrubbery and flowers, is, nevertheless, a model of neatness and care,-a splendid ex- ample, showing with how little expense an old cemetery may be kept neat and beautiful. It is not costly monuments nor extravagant expenditures that are needed ; it is loving care. Two things will answer every real demand,-a strong fence, well preserved, and a clean-shaven sod. This society has also laid out a new ground, which is just over the line, in Clermont.

There are a few places of private burial, which it might be interesting to trace, but as much space has already been given to other matters of great interest to Germantown, our limits will not permit enlarging upon this topic.

AGRICULTURE-INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES.

The soil of this town is generally fertile; most of it can be plowed, the roeky portions nowhere being extensive. Large tracts of clay, sand, and loam have by careful culti- vation been made highly productive. Formerly consider- able grain was produced for sale. Wheat was raised with success in early times ; in later years rye, corn, and oats. At the present time hay and fruit constitute the principal exports. The former is shipped largely to New York by an arrangement of the farmers themselves,-securing city prices with light expense for freight. Fruit has been raised successfully, and is now the leading industry of the town. Large quantities of pears, plums, cherries, grapes, and ber- ries are annually produced, and are of excellent quality. Freighted by the river, with but little land-carriage, they reach the city markets in fine condition. This class of fruit exceeds the apple crop, though the latter is good.

There are no manufacturing enterprises of any import- ance in town. It is a tradition of the people that, through some management of other interested parties, the original intended grant of ten thousand acres was changed to six

LITH BY LH. EVERTS O. CO, PHILA. PA

CLERMONT MANOR HOUSE, THE PROPERTY OF CLERMONT LIVINGSTON, BURNED BY THE BRITISH IN 1777, REBUILT IN 1778. CLERMONT, COLUMBIA CO.,N. Y.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

thousand, and then so laid out as to exclude the Palatines from all the water-power of Roeloff Jansen's Kill and from any really valuable doeking-places on the Hudson river. Whether this be true or not, it is true that no valuable water-power is found in town. A saw-mill has been run a portion of the year for a long time past on the head-waters of a little stream in the southeast part of the town. The mill is now owned by J. I. & J. Lasher; they have refitted it within a few years. How near back to the early settle- ment the original mill was built is difficult to determine.

There was also a saw-mill near the present school-house at East Camp Landing. This was run by Adam P. Clum, a prominent town-officer of early years, and was very likely built by his father, Philip Clum, in still earlier times.

The people of the town are thus shown to be mostly en-

gaged in agriculture and such mercantile and mechanical pursuits as are required for the home trade. Some of the citizens engage in fishing enterprises upon the Hudson at the appropriate season of the year. Still others are engaged in commerce upon the ocean, as seamen, officers, or masters of foreign-bound ships.

The raising of small fruits has developed into a large business in late years. The season of 1878 has been unu- sually favorable both in the abundance of the crop and in meeting a good market. The results are worth stating, though far above the average.

It is estimated that twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of strawberries have been sold this year from Germantown alone, and that four thousand dollars has been paid for labor in picking the fruit.

CLERMONT.

CLERMONT was erected from the manor of Livingston, March 12, 1787, and organized the following year as a town. It formerly embraced all that part of Columbia county lying southwest of Roeloff Jansen's Kill, except original Germantown. On the 2d of March, 1858, the northwest part of Clermont was annexed to the latter town, reducing its area to a little more than eleven thousand aeres. The shape of Clermont is very irregular. It extends from the Hudson, on the west, along the Dutchess county line east to the southernmost bend of Roeloff Jansen's Kill, thence down that stream, forming a narrow neck of land in the southeast, to Germantown on its northwest. North and east are the towns of Livingston and Gallatin. The name was suggested from the country-seat of Chancellor Livingston, located in this town, and has an apparent French derivation.

The surface of the town is elevated and undulating. In general all the land is susceptible of cultivation, but there are some outcropping ledges, as well as small marshes, form- ing small waste places. The only streams in the town are small brooks and rivulets, but these are so distributed that they afford good drainage. The soil varies from a sandy loam to a composition of clay and gritty sand. It is usually fertile, and the town is noted for its agricultural products. The hardier varieties of fruit are produced in great abun- dance.

THE LIVINGSTON FAMILY.#

This ancient and distinguished family is said to derive its origin from a Hungarian gentleman of the name of Livingins, who accompanied Margaret, the sister of Edgar

Atheling, and wife of King Malcolm Canmore, from his native country to Scotland, about the period of the Norman conquest, in 1068. He became the proprietor of an estate at West Lothian, which was created a barony, and trans- mitted through his descendants for nearly four hundred years, when, in the reign of James IV. (1488-1513), Bar- tholomew Livingston dying without issue, the direct line became extinct ; a collateral branch had, however, in the mean time, acquired wealth and consequence, and it is from this that the earls of Linlithgow, in Scotland, and the Liv- ingstons of America, arc descended.

In the reign of David II. (1329-70), Sir William Liv- ingston, Kt., marrying Christian, daughter and heir to Patrick de Callendar, lord of Callendar, in the county of Sterling, received that barony with her. His grandson, John, had, besides his eldest son Alexander, two others, Robert, the ancestor of the earls of Newburgh, and Wil- liam, progenitor of the viseounts of Kilsyth. Sir Alexan- der Livingston, of Callendar, was, on the death of James I., in 1437, appointed by the estates of the kingdom joint regent with Crichton during the minority of James II. ; he not long after yielded to the formidable power of the young earl of Douglas ; his property was confiscated (but subsequently restored), and his son brought to the block. His other son, James, who succeeded his father in the barony of Callendar, was created Lord Livingston. He died in 1467.

The lordship of Livingston appears to have been one of the most important baronics. In the list of members for the Scottish Parliament for the year 1560, we find the name of Livingston.

William, the great-grandson of the above-mentioned " James, and fourth Lord Livingston, married Agnes, daughter of Sir Patrick Hepburn, and from him the

* See sketehes of Judge R. R. Livingston, Chancellor Livingston, Edward Livingston, and E. P. Livingston, in Chapter XI. of the general history, on preceding pages.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Livingstons of this country are descended, through his son Robert, who was slain at the battle of Pinkifield. He was the grandfather or great-grandfather (probably the latter) of John Livingston, the parent of the first American emi- grant of the name to America. This latter was John Liv- ingston, or Mess John, as he was called in the ballads of those days. He was appointed a commissioner, with others commissioned by Parliament, to negotiate with Charles II. for the terms of his restoration to the throne. Being a dissenting minister of much ability, he was persecuted on account of his nonconformity, and many of his hearers and himself took passage for America. After encountering a great storm in which they were nearly shipwrecked, and which they could only avert by fasting and prayer, they returned again to Scotland, and he was afterwards exiled to Rotter- dam, where his son learned the Dutch language. This son was Robert Livingston, the first proprietor of Livingston manor. He was born at Ancram, in Teviotdale, Roxburgh- shire, Scotland, Dec. 13. 1654. He was ambitious, shrewd, acquisitive, sturdy, and bold, his whole career illustrating the motto upon the scroll of his ancestors' coat of arms, "Si je Puis." He emigrated to America in 1674, and married in 1679 Alida, widow of the Reverend (sometimes called Patroon) Nicholas Van Rensselaer, and daughter of Philip Pieterre Schuyler. We find him in 1676 in re- sponsible employment at Albany, under the colonial adminis- tration, and in 1686, established by Governor Dongan in possession of the territorial manor of Livingston on the Hudson, acquired by purchase of the Indians, which large tracts were all incorporated in Livingston manor .*

EARLY LAND-OWNERS AND SETTLERS.

The whole of Clermont was included in the several grants made to Robert Livingston, the first lord of the manor, and was first settled by tenants under the conditions of the manor. On the 26th of October, 1694, Livingston conveyed twelve hundred acres of land, south of Roeloff Jansen's Kill,-six hundred acres east of the village of Clermont, and the remainder in that part of the town lately annexed to Germantown,-to Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck, a merchant at Albany, and one of the early immigrants from Holland. The deed for this land states that Janse Shipper, Janse Agonstran, and Jacob Vosburgh were at that time residing in what is now Clermont; and these were un- doubtedly the first settlers. All of them lived on the flats along the creek. A dozen years later, Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck-better known as the mayor, from his having filled that position at Albany from 1696 to 1698, a son of the purchaser-came to live on the land, and died there at the house of his son, Tobias, in 1717. Another son, Samuel, had married Maria Van Rensselaer and settled in Claverack, some time after 1712. He became the ancestor of the Ten Broecks of that town, as well as of the many persons of that name in Clermont at a later period. After Tobias Ten Broeck's death, in 1724, his son John sold his interests to Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck, of Claverack, and removed to New Jersey, where he became the ancestor of Ten Broeck, the celebrated turf-man. The above Dirck Wesel Ten

Broeck had a son, Samuel, born in Clermont in 1745, who served in the Revolution, and afterwards became a general of militia. He lived in the house known as the " old Ten Broeck place," east of Clermont village,-which was erected before the Revolution. He was a highly-esteemed citizen. His brother Leonard was born in 1752, and also served in the Revolution. His home was north of the Tinklepaugh place. Leonard W., a son of the latter, be- came an active politician, was a general of the militia, and a sheriff of Columbia county. The Ten Broeck property was exchanged by that family for the Walter T. Livingston place in Livingston, some time after 1808.

The second conveyance of land was made by the lord of the manor to his second son, Robert Livingston, Jr., an attorney at Albany, as a reward, it is said, for having dis- covered and frustrated a plan of some hostile Indians to make an incursion on the manor. The will which devised this property was executed Feb. 10, 1722, and became ef- fective on the death of the devisor, in 1728. It bequeathed all that part of the manor southwest of the Roeloff Jansen to the said Robert Livingston, Jr., and entailed it upon him and his male heirs by the name of Livingston, except the 6000 acres purchased by the crown for the Palatines, the Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck land, before alluded to, and the farms in the tenure of Jacob Vosburgh, Cornelia, widow of Brom Docker, Hendrick Chissim, John Chissim, Jacob Iloughtaling, and Captain Johannes Dyckman, all located on the lowlands of the Roeloff Jansen, from its mouth to Elizaville. These, then, were settlers at that period, 1722, as well as twelve or fifteen families,-Palatines,-living in the western part of the town. Some time after his father's death, Robert Livingston erected a very fine stone mansion on his demesne, on the banks of the Hudson, and, to dis- tinguish it from the old manor-house in the town of Liv- ingston, this house, and the property belonging thereto, were sometimes called the " Lower Manor." In his old age, Mr. Livingston lived here with his only son, Robert R., also an attorney, and better known as the judge, from his holding that position on the King's bench. The latter married the lovely Margaret Beekman, in 1742, and was the father of the chancellor and others of that illustrious branch of the Livingston family, a fuller account of which appears elsewhere in this book. Both Robert Livingston and his son, the judge, were outspoken adherents of the American cause, but neither lived to witness the independ- ence of the struggling colonies. The former died in June, 1775, soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, his deatlı being hastened, it is supposed, by the report of American disaster in that engagement. The judge, though less sanguine of the ultimate result of the impending conflict than his father, warmly abetted the patriots after the war had begun, and erected a powder-mill on his estate, which was operated during the Revolution by his son, John R. Another son, Henry B., was a colonel in the Federal army, and was with the gallant General Richard Montgomery, the judge's son- in-law, at the storming of Quebec, in the fall of 1775. Soon after this battle the judge also passed away, thus leaving a widowed mother and daughter in that household which had been thrice afflicted by death in 1775.

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History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 71

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