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 98
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CEMETERIES.
There are a large number of small burial-grounds scat- tered about this town, most of them private ones. They are generally in a sadly neglected condition. Among the public grounds we mention one near the former site of the Baptist church in " Macedonia," and one on the east side of the Green river, at Austerlitz.
THE SPENCERTOWN CEMETERY
is located at the Presbyterian church in that village. It contains about two and a half acres of ground, surrounded by a handsome and substantial iron fence, and is owned by the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. In it are the graves of many prominent citizens of the town. Some of the monuments are very fine, notably the one erected to mark the resting-place of Dr. Ebenezer Reed.
THE AUSTERLITZ CEMETERY
was formed as an incorporated cemetery at a meeting held at the school-house on the evening of Feb. 18, 1858; Abijah Heath, chairman, and Mills Atwood, secretary. Samuel C. Ingersoll, David K. Lane, Charles Kinne, Ste- phen W. Olmstead, Melancthon Shaw, David L. O-born, Lyman C. Gleason, Ithamar Lane, Clark Beebee, Aaron Bell, and Alanson Osborn were the incorporators.
Mills Atwood, Clark Beebee, Charles Kinne, Edwin J. Ford, Melancthon Shaw, and David L. Osborn were chosen trustees. The cemetery is on the west side of the town, about a half-mile south of Austerlitz village, and contains one acre of land, which was a gift from Mrs. Hannah Lane. The present officers, who also compose the present board of trustees, are Edwin J. Ford, president ; Charles Kinne, vice-president and treasurer ; C. Gamwell Varney, secretary ; Melancthon Shaw, collector ; and David K. Lane, sexton.
WAR RECORD.
The town of Austerlitz has always been prompt to re- spond to every call of patriotism, and her citizens have marched forth to battle for independence, for national honor, and for the preservation of natural rights, and the integrity of the union of the States. Among the early patriots whose names have been handed down to us as pen- sioners in the year 1840, we find the names of Jacob Bice, Nathan Lester, John Harmon, Jonathan Benton, James Platt, Joseph Foot, Storey Gott, and Seth Jennings.
In the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, this town poured forth its treasure of men and money, and performed its full share of the work which cost so great a price. The names of those credited to this town will be found elsewhere in this work.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
THOMAS SLOCUM,
son of Samuel and Phebe Slocum, was born in La Grange, Dutchess Co., N. Y., Sept. 8, 1810. His parents came from New Jersey. His father died when he was a mere child, and he was put out to service till his majority, and afterwards for fifteen years worked by the month as a hired man. In 1846 he married Jane Burtis, of Hillsdale, and began his married life on a farm which he purchased on credit. He worked and paid for this farm, and sold it in 1858, and purchased the larger one where he now resides, consisting of two hundred acres. He is in the strictest sense a self-made man, having attended a school but three months of his life, having started a poor orphan boy, and having by his own unaided industry and economy acquired a comfortable competence. He is an honest, upright man.
Three of his four children are living, viz. : Sarah Eliza- beth, wife of Nicholas Pulver, farmer, Austerlitz, Columbia Co .; Richard R., residing in the same town; and Louisa (unmarried), living at home with her parents.
COPAKE.
THIS town lies on the east border of the county, and in the second tier of towns from the south line. It contains an area of twenty-two thousand eight hundred and sixty- eight acres, of which a little more than three-fourths are improved lands. Its population was eighteen hundred and thirty-nine in 1860, seventeen hundred and thirty-eight in 1865, eighteen hundred and forty-seven in 1870, and eighteen hundred and eighty-four in 1875. It ranks as the ninth town in the county, both in area and in popula- tion. It is bounded as follows : north by Hillsdale, east by the town of Mount Washington, in Massachusetts, south by Ancram, and west by Taghkanic. It is nearly square in form, being six miles wide, from east to west, and seven miles long, from north to south. The surface is broken by ranges of high hills, separated by valleys of varying width. The eastern border is formed by the range of the Taghkanic mountains, the highest part, called the " Alander," lying near the centre of the east part. "Pond hill," on the shore of Copake lake, is a high, rocky, and wooded eminence. " Old Tom's hill," or " Mount Tom," is an isolated rocky heiglit lying near the centre of the town, about three-quar- ters of a mile north from Copake flats. To the westward of the Taghkanic mountains lies a lovely valley about two miles wide, narrowing considerably as it nears the north line of the town, and shut in on the west by high hills, gently sloping in the southwest and rising more abruptly in the north part of the town. In the extreme northwest there is another valley about two miles long, following the course of Copake creek in a southwesterly direction. The waters of the town are Copake lake, Rhoda, Robinson's, Snyder, Chrysler, Miller, or Porter, and Woodward's ponds. Copake lake is a fine sheet of water in the western part of the town north of the centre, and a small part of it lies in Taghkanic. It has an area of about six hundred acres, and is of an average depth of about twelve or fifteen feet. In some places it is thirty-six feet deep. The circumufer- ence of the lake is about nine miles. Its outlet is Copake creek, to which it is connected by an outlet a mile long. Near its western extremity lies a beautiful peninsula, which is commonly called " The Island." Whether it was an island and the connection with the mainland is artificial is not positively known. It contains some twenty aeres of ground, mostly covered with a fine growth of chestnut timber, and its surface is rolling in character, presenting a delightful diversity of knolls and dells. On one of these miniature hills are seen the ruins of what was once the abode of some of the members of the Livingston family. This residence was large and commodious, and stood on a geutle elevation overlooking the lake to the southeast. It was built in 1809, and torn down after the anti-rent exeite- ment, to prevent its being used as a place of harboring by
the Indians, whom the anti-renters had induced to contest the validity of the Livingstons' title to the land. A small island lies near the southern shore nearly opposite this point. The peninsula, the island, and the " Pond hill" farm, on the south shore, are still owned by members of the Living- ston family. Robinson's pond, or lake, is a smaller body of water, near the centre of the town. It is an expansion of the " Roeloff Jansen's Kill," covering about one hundred acres, and is partly artificial, a dam at its lower extremity holding back the water for use as a motive-power for the grist-mill. The other ponds are still smaller, and are all located in the southwestern part of the town. Woodward and Porter ponds lie partly in the town of Ancram. All of them, except Chrysler pond, empty their waters into the kill ; that one empties into Copake creek, in Taghkanic.
The waters of these ponds abound in fish of all kinds, and fine bass especially are found in abundance in Rhoda pond and Copake lake. The principal streams are Roeloff Jansen's Kill, which enters the town from Hillsdale, about two miles from the State line, and runs across the town into Ancram ; " Bash-Bish" creek, which, rising in Mount Washington, breaks through the mountains near Copake Iron-Works, and flows southwest into Ancram, where it unites with the kill; and a brook, which rising near Bos- ton Coruers, flows northerly and empties in Bash-Bish, near Copake Flats. The Bash-Bish gorge is a very pic- turesque one, and the falls at the place where the stream breaks through the last roeky barrier, on the western face of the mountain, present a very beautiful appearance. Surmounting the fall is a beetling crag, called the " Eagle's Cliff," from which one looks down on a scene of wild gran- deur and beauty, not surpassed, if it is equaled, by any- thing in this part of the State. During the summer many visitors make this delightful spot a pienic ground, and pass the hot hours of midday within the cool recesses of the glen, refreshed by the spray-moistened air and lulled to calm reveries by the music of the miniature cataract. The glen below the falls gradually widens, and the course of the stream grows less rapid. The falls and glen, together with several hundred acres of land on the surrounding moun- tains, are owned by Mrs. Douglass, widow of the late Alfred Douglass, of New York, who purchased the property sev- eral years ago, and at great expense of time and money turned the rocky banks of the creek into an enchanting stretch of beautiful garden and velvety lawn, dotted here and there with rustic cottages in the Swiss style of archi- tecture, with green-houses, carriage-houses, and barns of the same style, all combining to make it a very pleasant and beautiful summer residence. The broad interval along the Kill and Bash-Bishi creeks, below Robinson's pond, has always been called " Copake Flats," and is supposed to be
387
388
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the location of the six hundred acres granted to Livingston under the Dongan patent of 1686, and designated therein as " Tachkanick." A fuller description of this name and its application will be found in the history of Taghkanic.
The soil of this town is largely composed of a gravelly and elayey loam, but on the hills is of a slaty character, and in the valleys of the creeks considerable quantities of alluvial deposits have formed a deep, rich soil. As a whole it is very productive, fine yields of all the various erops repaying the husbandman's labor. Wheat is not grown, but rye, corn, oats, barley, buck wheat, potatoes, peas, and beans are the principal products.
This town was a part of the Livingston manor, lying at its northeastern extremity.
Iron ore is found near the foot of the Taghkanic moun- tains, and is mined at the iron-works and the Weed ore- bed, a fuller description of which will appear under appro- priate heads in another part of this sketch.
The Rhinebeck and Connectient railroad runs a distance of three and a quarter miles through the south part of the town. Copake Station, a half-mile south of Copake Flats, is the only station.
The early settlers of this town were almost entirely of Dutch and German ancestry, and settled along the course of the creeks or the shores of the lakes and ponds. No doubt a few of them settled here some years before the general settlement began, about 1750, but no trace of the exact dates can now be found. The Whitbecks, who settled along Copake creek, near the lake, were probably the ear- liest settlers. The date of their coming seems to have been previous to 1714, a map made during that year showing their residences. The Brusies also were very early settlers. They were in the south part of the town. Another family, by the name of Spoor, must have been early settlers near the centre of the town.
Daniel Toucray lived on the side of the mountain south- east of Copake Iron-Works, and was for many years a jus- ticc of the peace. He is said to have been a remarkably eccentric man in many respects. He was a firm believer in witches and witchcraft. On one occasion, it is said, he became convinced that his cattle and land had been be- witched by an old woman who had crossed his clearing, and, preparing himself, he lay in wait for her, and upon her appearance discharged a charge of fine bird-shot into her body. What effect this treatment had upon the evil spirits we know not, but Toneray was arrested, tried, con- victed, and heavily fined for his remarkable prescription.
Thomas Trafford, one of the first justices of the peace in the town of Granger, was an early settler in the west part of Copake. Ile had two sons,-William T., lived and died in Copake ; Robert, moved to Wisconsin.
John Van Deusen was one of the first settlers in the south part of the town. His son Barnard married Phoebe IIollenbeck, and took a life-lease of two hundred acres of land in the northeast part of the town, being the farm now owned by Sylvester Waldorph. His family consisted of seven sons and four daughters. They all settled in this vicinity, and some of their descendants are now living in Copake ; among them are Lewis and William Van Densen, two of Barnard Van Deusen's grandsons. Ludington Van
Densen, living near Hillsdale, is a grandson of Barnard's brother John, who lived at Copake Flats.
William Link removed from Rhinebeck to Copake about 1785, with a family of five children. He leased about two hundred and fifty aeres in the west part of the towo, about a mile south of Copake lake. His family consisted of fifteen children, eight of whom were boys. Four of the children settled in Copake, three of them in other parts of this county, and eight of them removed to central and western New York. Joseph Link, the eleventh child, is still living, at the age of eighty, on the homestead, the soil of which he purchased in 1830.
In the spring of 1753 the captain of a Dutch vessel ad- vertised that his vessel would make an excursion on Whit- sunday. Among those enticed to take the trip were Peter Rhoda, Peter Swart, Abraham Decker, Jacob Haner, and William Dinehart. The latter was from near Heidelberg, in Baden, Germany. The excursion was taken according to promise, and a grand feast was spread for the delectation of the excursionists, after partaking of which, dancing and music whiled away the time. Liquors were furnished in great abundance, and the merry company soon became oblivious to all external surroundings. When they began to get sober they awoke to the realization of the fact that they were bound to take a longer "excursion" than they had bargained for. The captain told them they were bound for New York, and at that port they were landed in the fall, after a long passage. Not being able to pay their pas- sage, the captain, according to the laws and customs of the time, apprenticed them to the highest bidder for a length of time sufficient to pay his claim. The men were all ap- prenticed to Livingston and brought to the furnace at An- eram, where they served the term of their apprenticeship, four and one-half years, to pay seven pounds passage- money. At the expiration of their term of service Living- ston offered them the choice of any unoccupied farm on the manor which they might select, and which he promised to lease to them upon favorable terms. They all accepted his offer. Jacob Haner selected a farm in Taghkanick. Wm. Dinehart chose a farm on the north shore of Copake lake, west of the outlet. He married, and reared a family of ten children, six of them boys. His grandson, Killian A. Smith, lives in Taghkanie, near the place once owned by Dinehart. One of Dinehart's sons, William, Jr., settled in the west part of Copake, and his only son, John W. Dinchart, is now living at West Copake. A daughter, Mrs. Hannah Link, is also living in Copake.
Peter Rhoda selected a farm on the south shore of the Rhoda pond, which was named after him. He had two sons,-Peter, Jr., and David. The former settled in Ghent. The latter lived and died in Copake, and had a family of several children, all of whom went west.
Peter Swart settled on the farm now owned by Jolin Stickles.
Abraham Decker chose the present Benjamin B. Miller farm, and lived on it for many years.
Nicholas Robison settled at the foot of the pond which was named after him, and built a mill there at a very early day. Some of his descendants still live in this town and the adjoining town of Hillsdale.
389
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Previous to the Revolution, George Niver, a native of Germany, came to America and settled on the farm in the southwestern part of Copake which is now occupied by Palmer and George Niver, two of his grandsons. His chil- dren were John, Michael, and Henry, and three or four daughters, all by his first wife, and George, Philip, and Frederick, by his second wife. John and Michael went to Kinderhook. Henry settled on the farm on which David and George Niver now live. George, Jr., and Philip di- vided the homestead and lived on it. Frederick removed to Claveraek. George R. Niver, a son of George, Jr., Philip, Jr., a son, and Silas, a grandson, descendants of Philip Niver, all live in Copake.
Christopher Niver, a brother of George, also came to Co- pake at the same time, but in a short time was taken sick and died, leaving two sons, Michael aud Christian. Michael went to what is now Livingston, and upon attaining his ma- jority settled permanently there. Christian went to live with his uncle George. He subsequently married Polly Ruyter, and settled on the place now occupied by Derby Miller. He afterwards went to Bain's Corners-now called Craryville-and settled on the farm now occupied by his son Norman. Of his family of eight children, Henry and Norman Niver, Mrs. Charity Miller, Mrs. Hannah Shnfelt, and Mrs. Catharine Bain are still living in Copake. The others are dead.
The Vandebogart family were among the earliest settlers in the neighborhood of Copake Flats. Their homestead was at the west side of the first three corners west of the flats, on the place now occupied hy Homer Miller. Here the first settler, who was the great-grandfather of the present generation, built his house, a portion of the frame of which is still in use as a part of the present building. He had a son Philip, who was the grandfather of the two cousins who are the present representatives of the family. One of these, Wesley Vandebogart, is the proprietor of the " Peter Miller" hotel at Copake Flats, and the other, Ward Vandebogart, is a merchant at the same place.
John Langdon was a native of Quaker Hill, Dutchess county, and served in the French war of 1754-59. During his term of service he was at one time stationed at Fort Stanwix, and was there attacked with the smallpox, and becoming convalescent was discharged. He then returned home, and a few years after, probably about 1765, came to Copake and settled upon the farm now occupied by James E. Miller, a little north of Copake Irou-Works. The farm had been occupied previously, but had been cultivated in a very rude, primitive, and superficial manner. His first plowing was done with a yoke of oxen and three horses, all attached to one plow, and the furrows turned in the rich soil were deep and wide. The neighbors all ridiculed this style of cultivation, but when the harvest came were compelled to acknowledge its superiority. John Langdon's family con- sisted of fourteen children. All of the sons, with one ex- ception, who removed to Salisbury, Conn., lived and died in Copake. The last surviving child, a daughter, died in Copake about a year ago.
Casparus Lampman, a Hollander by birth, emigrated to this country a little while before the breaking out of the Revolution. He was accompanied by his son Peter, who
soon after his arrival here married Margaret Cook, and leasing a farm of two hundred and seventy-two acres in the northwest part of this town, settled down and tilled the soil. Peter's family consisted of two sons, Caspar and John, and four daughters. The sons, after their father's death, divided the homestead, and continued to live on it till their deaths. John C. Lampman now lives on the part that the old house stood upou, and Walter Lampman occupies the other part. They are grandsons of Peter Lampman.
William Williams was a native of Wales, who, coming to this country before the breaking out of the last French war, enlisted in the colonial service, and marched with Brad- dock's ill-fated army to attack Fort Duquesne. He never returned, and is supposed to have been killed at the bloody defeat suffered by Braddock's forces. He was accompanied to this country by his two sons, Aaron and William, then young men. William went to Schoharie county, and settled there. Aaron married a sister of Peter Lampman, and leased and eleared a new farm a little east of Copake lake. It is now the Pells farm. He built a small log house about four rods southeast of the present residence, and in this, with but one room and a loft, with no floor but the ground, they reared a family of fourteen children. Their names were William, Elizabeth, Casparus, David, Peter, Nelly, Cornelius, Henry, Lanah, Clara, Hannah, and John. The sons all lived in Copake. Cornelius lived on the farm now occupied by Sylvester Vosburgh, in the east part of the town. His children were Elizabeth, John C., Aaron, Mary, Rhoda, Calvin, Lewis, Moncrief, Seymour, and Clara. Three of these children are still living,-Mrs. Mary Shultis, in Illinois ; Mrs. Rhoda Decker, in Millerton, N. Y .; and Seymour Williams, in Wisconsin. John C. has four children living in the county,-Clara Williams, in Glenco Mills ; Mrs. Eliza Trafford, in Hillsdale; and John and Sylvester I. Williams, in Copake.
Cornelius Conklin removed to this town from the vicinity of Fishkill, Dutchess Co., about 1770. He leased a farm of two hundred and twenty-five aeres, on the north shore of Copake lake. His children were named John, Jacob, Elias, Jeremiah, Abraham, James, Lavinia, Polly, and Katy. All of them except James removed to other parts of this State. He remained on the homestead, and married Martha Covert, who still survives him, at the age of eighty-five years, and lives on the homestead with her son, Jacob I. Oakley. Another son, Calvin Oakley, lives in Taghkanic.
Cornelius Vosburgh came to this country from Holland, abont 1760, and settled in the northern part of Copake, on the farm now occupied by his grandson, Egbert Vosburgh. He built his first house on the rise of ground about twenty- five rods north of the present residence. The old well was covered up, but still remained in existence until within a few years, when it caved in and was then filled up. His family consisted of four sons and four daughters. At his death the farm, consisting of five hundred and fifty acres, was apportioned among them. Cornelius, Jr., was twice married ; first to Susan Lampman, by whom he had five children, and seeond to Catharine Whitbeck, by whom he had eleven. Of these James lives in Ancram, Sylvester and Egbert in Copake, three are dead, and the rest are living at different places in the west.
390
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Other early settlers were the Pulvers, Frederick Van Tassel, Jacob Hagerman, and Dederick Snyder, in the north part of the town, and Jacob Decker and Thomas Spade in the western part.
This town was formed from Taghkanie March 26, 1824, comprising the eastern half of that town, and was named Copake, after the lake of that name, which lies almost wholly within its borders. The derivation of this title is wrapped in mystery. It is generally supposed to be of Indian origin, and to refer to some peculiarity of the lake. The first meeting of the electors of the new town to com- plete the organization of the town by the election of officers to conduct its business was held at the house of Catharine Williams. The following is a copy of the record of this first town-meeting :
"RECORD OF COPAKE, 1824.
" At the first Town-meeting, held at the house of Catharine Wil- liams, io the Towo of Copake, on the first tuesday in April, 1824,
"Voted to raise Eight hundred Dollars for the Support of the poor the ensuing year.
" To raise one hundred and fifty Dollars for the support of Bridges.
" To continue the Bye-Laws this year that were in force in Tagh- kanic last year, Viz. :
(Copied from the Record of Taghkanie).
" BYE-LAWS
" Enacted by the freeholders and inhabitants of the Town of Tagh- kanie, April 6, 1819.
" That no Ram Shall be allowed to run at large after the 10th day of September until the 10th day of November following.
" And if any person or persons shall auffer his, her, or ther Ram or Rama to run at large between the said 10th day of September and the said 10th day of November he, she, or they shall forfeit the sum of Five Dollars to the person or persons aggrieved, to be recovered, with costs of auit, in any Court in the County of Columbia having cogoizance thereof, io like manner as other damages are sued for, recovered, and collected. And further, that no Boar Shall be allowed to run at large after three months old under the same penalties as Rams.
" Voted, To elect two coostables.
" Voted, To elect une collector, and to allow him three per cent. on the Tax for collecting.
" And the following persons were elected to the following offices respectively, Viz. : William Murray, Supervisor ; William Elliott, Town Clerk ; Caspaurus P. Lampman, Cornelius Vosburgh, Gideon Sheldon, Assessors ; William Groat, George Niver, Jr., Jacob Snyder, Commissioners of Highways ; David Langdon, Jacob Shafer, Overseers of the Poor; John Langdon, Jr., Augustus Reed, Jamnes Knicker- backer, Commissioners of Schools; Benjamin Hamlin, Peter Sturges, Russel Everett, Inspectors of Schools; George I. Rossman, Collector ; William W. Turner, Evert Whitbeck, Constables ; Isaac Oakley, Harvey Mallory, Fence- Viewers; Frederick Van Tassel, Pound-Master.
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