USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 14
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It was his intention to stop over night at "Pough- kensie," where he arrived at half-past three in the afternoon ; "but finding that the sessions were then holding, and that all the taverns were full," he proceeded three miles further, to "Pride's Tavern," regretting not having seen Governor Clinton, who "was then at Poughkensie, but taken up with the business of the sessions." At " Pride's Tavern" he interrogated the landlord, whose name was Pride, and whom he perceived to be a good farmer, on the subject of agriculture, and drew from him the information that " the land is very fertile in Duchess County, * *
but it is commonly left fallow one year out of two or three, less from necessity than from there being more land than they can cultivate. A bushel of wheat at most is sown upon an acre, which renders twenty, and five-and-twenty for one. Some farmers sow oats on the land that has borne wheat the preceding year, but this grain in general is re- served for lands newly turned up; flax is also a considerable object of cultivation ; the land is
69
DE CHASTELLUX'S TRAVELS THROUGH DUCHESS COUNTY.
ploughed with horses, two or three to a plough ; sometimes even a greater number when on new land, or that which has long lain fallow." Mr. Pride, he says, while giving these details, always flattered him with hopes of fine weather the next day ; in the morning, however, he was chagrined to find that the ground was " already entirely white," while snow "continued to fall in abun- dance, mixed with hail and ice." He continued his journey, notwithstanding, "only taking a little better breakfast than I should otherwise have done," he says, probably, as he does not other- wise explain his motive, as a punitive reward for the erroneous prognostications of his landlord. " But I regretted most," he adds, " that the snow, or rather small hail that drove against my eyes, prevented me from seeing the country ; which, as far as I could judge, is beautiful and well cultivated. After the travelling about ten miles, I traversed the township of Strasbourg, called by the inhabi- tants of the country Strattsborough [Staatsburgh.] This township is five or six miles long, yet the houses are not far from each other."
" You scarcely get out of Stratsbourgh," he says, "before you enter the township of Rhynbeck;" where, he observes, "nobody came out to ask me to dinner." " But this snow mixed with hail was so cold, and I was so fatigued with keeping my horse from slipping, that I should have stopped here even without being invited by the handsome appearance of the inn called Thomas's Inn. It was no more, however, than half past two ; but as I had already come three and twenty miles, the house was good, the fire well-lighted, my host a tall, good- looking man, a sportsman, a horse dealer, and dis- posed to chat, I determined according to the English phrase to spend the rest of my day there." Mr. Thomas, who was the owner of "some dogs of a beautiful kind," which awakened the Marquis' pas- sion for a chase, and, in time of peace, had carried on a great trade of horses, which he purchased in Canada and sent to New York, there to be shipped to the West Indies, regaled his distinguished guest with the recital of his experiences as a sportsman and horse trader, and with the more important in- formation, " that in the neighborhood of Rhynbeck the land was uncommonly fruitful, and that for a bushel of sown wheat he reaped from thirty to forty. The corn is so abundant that they do not take the trouble of cutting it with a sickle, but mow it like hay." The Marquis' opinion of his host's patriotism was not of an exalted nature. "He was," he says, " too rich, and complained too much
of the flour he furnished for the army to let me think him a good whig." De Chastellux left Thomas' Inn December 23d, and we leave him to pursue his journey through Livingston Manor, Claverack, Kinderhook and Albany to the historic fields of Saratoga, of all of which he gives a most interesting description.
Two years after his first visit, in December, 1782, DeChastellux again visited this section, while on his way from Rhode Island to the headquarters of Washington, then at Newburgh. The war had ceased ; the preliminaries of peace had been arranged between the United States, Great Britain and France; and the French allies of the former were about to depart from America. The Marquis had taken his usual route from Hartford through Litchfield, down the Housatonic to Bull's Bridge, and up Ten-Mile River to Moorhouse's Tavern, where he arrived at five in the afternoon of Decem- ber 4th.
" The 5th we set out at nine, and rode without stopping, to Fish-kill, where we arrived at half-past two, after a four-and-twenty miles journey through very bad roads. I alighted at Boerorn's tavern, which I knew to be the same I had been at two years before, and kept by Mrs. Egremont. The house was changed for the better, and we made a very good supper. We passed the North River as night came on, and arrived at six o'clock at New- burgh."*
CHAPTER IX.
EARLY CIVIL DIVISIONS -- DUCHESS COUNTY DI- VIDED INTO WARDS, PRECINCTS AND TOWNS- TOPOGRAPHY OF COUNTY-ITS MOUNTAINS AND STREAMS-MEASURES FOR RE-STOCKING THE LATTER WITH FISH-CLIMATE-TEMPERATURE- RAIN-FALL-SNOW-FALL -THAWS-DIRECTION AND PREVALENCE OF WINDS-MORTALITY OF DUCHESS AS COMPARED WITH OTHER COUNTIES IN THE STATE-SOILS-AGRICULTURE-STAPLE PRODUCTIONS-MANUFACTURES.
P REVIOUS to 1683, the State of New York had no other distinctive civil divisions than manors, cities and villages. In 1638, the Dutch gave to all that part of the State lying west of Albany its first specific designation-Terra Incog- nita t-a name nearly as appropriate even a
*DeChastellux's Travels In North America, London Ed., 1., 56 --- 72, 353-367 ; 11., 298-301. Historical Sketches by Benson }. Lossing, LL. D., in Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, November 1873.
t Turner's Pioneer History of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, 126.
70
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
century later. November 1, 1683, the Province of New York was divided into twelve counties which were named from the titles of the royal family .* Duchess was one of the twelve, and then embraced the present county of Putnam and the towns of Clermont and Germantown, in Columbia county; the latter of which were annexed to Albany county in 1717, and the former constituted a separate county June 12, 1812. Its boundaries, as defined in the original act, were Roelaff Jansen's Kill on the north to the county of Westchester, south of the Highlands, on the south, and east from the Hudson into the woods twenty miles. It was then, it is supposed, uninhabited by white men ; and October 18, 1701, "having very few inhabi- tants," was provisionally annexed to Ulster county, where its freeholders were entitled to vote, as though they resided there. It retained that con- nection till October 23, 1713, when having increased in population, it was deemed "necessary that they should have county officers of their own," and by an act of the assembly "Dutchy County" was em- powered to elect a supervisor, treasurer, assessors and collectors.t
In 1719, the county was divided into three wards designated Northern, Middle and Southern, each entitled to a supervisor. The North Ward ex- tended from Roelaff Jansen's Kill south to Cline Sopas Island, (Little Esopus Island,) the Middle Ward, thence to Wappinger Creek, and the South Ward, thence below the Highlands to the south border of the county. Each extended from the Hudson to the Connecticut line, the present west line of the Oblong, across which they were extended December 17, 1743. December 16, 1737, the county was divided into seven precincts- designated Beekman, Charlotte, Crom Elbow, North, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck and South East town-with municipal jurisdiction similar to that of towns. The wages of each Supervisor was limited to three shillings per day. Some of these names are lost in the subsequent divisions which took place. From these seven precincts others were subsequently formed : North East, Dec. 16,
1746; Pawlings, Dec. 31, 1768; Amenia, March 20, 1762 ; and Frederickstown, March 24, 1772. Rombout and Fishkill Precincts are also men- tioned in records of the colonial period. Beek- man was reduced by the formation of Pawlings. Charlotte and Rhinebeck,-the latter of which included the lands purchased of the widow Paulding and her children by Dr. Samuel Statts, all the land granted to Adrian, Roosa, and Cotbe, the land patented to Col. Henry Beekman June 5, 1703, and the Magdalen Island Purchase granted to Col. Peter Schuyler, and derived its name from the first settlers, who were from the Rhine, and the original proprietor, Colonel Beekman-formed the original town of Clinton. Amenia included portions of Amenia and North East, and the whole of Washington, Pleasant Valley, Stanford, Clinton and Hyde Park. North East, named from its geographical position in the county, em- braced the Little or Upper Nine Partners' Tract. Poughkeepsie corresponded with the present town of that name. March 7, 1788, the county (except Clinton, which was formed March 13, 1786,) was divided into eight towns,* viz : Amenia, Beekman, (from which a part of Freedom -- now LaGrange-was taken in 1821, and a part of Union Vale, in 1827,) Fishkill, (from which a part of Freedom was taken in 1821, East Fishkill, in 1849, and Wappinger, in 1875,) North East, (from which Milan was taken in 1818, and Pine Plains, in 1823;) Pawling, (from which Dover was taken in 1807,) Poughkeepsie, (from which the city of Poughkeepsie was taken in 1854,) Rhinebeck, (from which Red Hook was taken in 1812,) and Washington, (from which Stanford was taken in 1793.) Two other towns . were subsequently formed from Clinton in 1821, Hyde Park and Pleasant Valley, making the present number of towns, twenty.
The county lies upon the east bank of the Hud- son, extending thence east to the Connecticut line, and is about midway between New York and Al- bany, being centrally distant from the latter about seventy-five miles, and from the former about sev- enty miles. It is bounded on the north by Colum- bia County, and on the south by Putnam. It is geographically situated between 41º 25' and 42°
* These original counties were : Albany, Cornwall, (now in Maine,) Dukes, (now in Massachusetts,) Duchess, Kings, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester.
1 The records of the county previous to 1718, if any were kept, are either lost or destroyed. The first recorded election of Supervisors was held at "Pocopsang," April 5, 1720, and Johannes Ter Boss, of the South Ward, Henry Van Der Burgh, of the Middle Ward, and William Traphagen, of the North Ward, were chosen. The first meeting of these supervisors was held January 20, 1721, at which time county allowances were made to the amount of £40. 4s. 7d. The bills of Trynte Van Kleek, widow, for victualing the assessors and supervisors, amounting to nine shillings, and of Jacobus Van Der Bogart, for horse fodder furnished the assessors, amounting to three shillings, were allowed.
* Frederickstown, (now Kent, ) which like the precinct of that name, derived its name from Frederick Philipse, and its present name, to which it was changed April 15, 1817, from the Kent family, who were early set- tlers ; Philipstown, from which a part of Fishkill was taken in 1806, and which, like Philips Precinct, formed March 24, 1772, derived its name from Adolph Philipse, the patentee of Philipse Manor ; and South East, in Putnam county, but then in Duchess, were formed as towns March 7, 1788.
71
CONFIGURATION OF DUCHESS COUNTY-STREAMS.
4' north latitude, and 3º 5' and 3º 33' east longitude from Washington .* Its area is 486,254 acres,t its greatest length north and south, thirty-eight miles, and breadth, east and west, twenty-six miles.
The following table shows the number of acres of improved land in each town in 1820 and 1875; the total number of acres in each town, and the total equalized valuation of real and personal prop- erty in 1880; and the population in 1820 and 1 880 :-
Improved Land Population .
TOWNS.
1820.|
1875.§
1820.§
1880. §
Equalized Valuation.
Amenia
32, 306
18, 506
3, 114
2,697
26,087
$ 1,255,557
Beekman .
19, 157
14,329
2,865
1, 581
18,312
707,687
Clinton
22,441
19,800
2,384
1,640
24, 100
942,419
Dover
18,139
17,178
2,193
2,281
32, 392
1,118,006
East Fishkill ..
***
23,415
2,575
33, 221
1.079,914
Fishkill
43,240
24, 289
6,940
10,734
18,713
3,493,941
Hyde Park.
18,988
17,145
2, 300
2, 890
23,098
1,965,440
La Grange ..
31,091
22, 520
2,655
1,745
25,816
1, 189,490
Milan
15,392
17.586
1,797
1, 275
22,676
578, 179
North East.
17, 347
20, 208|
2, 037
2, 181
26,182
1,207, 865
Pawling. ..
15,677
19,859
1,804
2,004
27,594
1, 269, 494
Pine Plains
tt
14,967
++
1,352
18,531
777,324
Pleasant Valley.
16,399
17,747
1,927
4,628
17,782
2,400, 511
Red Hook
17,730
1/,463
2,714
4,471
22,255
2,798,014
Rhinebeck
18,831
18,134
2,729
3,905
21,535
2, 466, 842
Stanford
14,178
26,925
2,518
2,092
31,642
1, 275, 246
Union Vale .
17,028
1,407
23, 403
625,529
Wappinger
§§
4. 966
16,001
1,606,603
Washington.
24, 323
32,321
2,882
2,854
36,806
1,458,039
Total ..... 342, 811 373,477 46,615 79,273
486, 254 $41,001, 927
|| Spafford's Gazetteer, 1824, 149.
§ Census Reports.
Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Duchess County, 1880,
** Included in Fishkill.
tt Included in North East.
## Included in Beekman and La Grange.
§§ Included in Fishkill.
The surface of the county is diversified, and produces a variety of soil and scenery. It is gen- erally hilly ; but mountainous in the east and south. It may be divided into two great valleys: that on the east bounded by the Taconic and Mattea- wan or Fishkill mountains, the former of which, occupying the east border of the county, rise from 300 to 500 feet above the valleys, and 1,000 to 1,200 feet above tide, and the latter, extending in a broad range, north and south, through the cen- tral part of the county, with a spur extending west along the south border to the river, have an average elevation of 1,000 above tide, while the highest peaks, along the south border, attain an altitude of 1,500 to 1,700 feet ;} that on the west spreads
between the Fishkill Mountains and the high bank of the Hudson. The declivities of the Taconic Mountains, and those on the south border, are generally steep, and in some places rocky ; but to- wards the north, the latter decline more gradually, and the country assumes a rolling character, broken by rounded hills. West of the Fishkills, and be- tween the streams, are rolling ridges, whose line of bearing, from south-west to north-east, corresponds with that of the mountains. They terminate upon the river in a series of bluffs from 100 to 180 feet in height. Some of these are broken by deep ravines, and become isolated hills. The mountains upon the south border form the northern extrem- ities of the Highlands, in whose "awful defiles," says Irving, in his authentic history of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker, "it would seem that the gigantic Titans had erst waged their impious war with heaven, piling up cliffs on cliffs, and hurl- ing vast masses of rock in wild confusion ;" and through whose "stupendous ruins," "at length the conquering Hudson, in his irresistible career towards the ocean," having burst the formidable barrier, rolls "his tide triumphantly." A break in these mountains, in the east part, opening toward the south, and known as the Wiccopee Pass, was care- fully guarded during the Revolution, to prevent the British from capturing the American stores at Fishkill and turning the works at West Point. A considerable American force was stationed at the upper extremity of the pass during the campaign of 1777.
The principal streams besides the Hudson, which form the west boundary, are the Fishkill, Fallkill, Sawkill, and Wappinger, Crom Elbow and Landi- mons Creeks, tributaries of the Hudson, all flowing into it in a south-westerly direction, Sprout Creek, a considerable branch of the Fishkill, Ten Mile River, a tributary of the Housatonic, Swamp River, a tributary of the latter, Roelaff Jansen's Kill, flow- ing through a portion of the extreme north part of the county, and Croton River. There are innum- erable small streams tributary to these, which rise in springs upon the mountain slopes ; and among the highlands in the central and eastern portions are numerous beautiful little lakes, noted for the purity of their waters and the beauty of the scen- ery immediately about them.
Hudson River is the most important and the most picturesque of the interior water courses of the State. Its basin occupies about two-thirds of the east border of the State, and a large territory extending into the interior. It rises from springs
*The meridian of Washington corresponds with the seventy-seventh west of Greenwich.
1 Report of the Committee on Equalization of the Board of Super- visors, 1880 The Census of 1875 says it contains 472, 133 acres ; French's and Hough's Gazetteers of New York, 518,400, (810 square miles ;) Bury's Atlas 489,700 ; Spafford's Gazetteer of 1824, 464, 000, (725 square miles.)
# Old Beacon, two miles east of Matteawan village, is 1,471 feet above tide ; and New Beacon or Grand Sachem. a half mile south of the same place, is 1,685 feet above tide. These eminences derive their names from beacons placed on their summits during the Revolution. Their illumined crests were visible for a long distance up and down the valley, and were a pharos to give warning to the patriotic. "From the top of the latter," says Barber, ( Historical Collections of the State of New York, ) " the view on the south embraces the country upon the Hudson for 25 miles, to Tap- pan Bay ; on the south-east includes Long Island and the Sound; and upon the north-east and west comprehends, in the diameter of a circle fifty miles in extent, scenery of every diversity, blending the beauties of cul- tivation with the stern and unchangeable features of nature."
1,788
20,108
952,660
Po'keepsie, Town. do
17,572
14,057
5,726
20, 207
11,833, 167
City ..
Area.
72
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
and lakelets on Mt. Marcy, a peak of the Adiron- dacks, towering to the height of 5,467 feet above tide, the highest land in the State, and is fed by numerous branches which cover the whole moun- tain chain of the Adirondacks. It descends rapidly through narrow defiles into Warren county, where it receives from the east the outlet of Schroon Lake, and from the west the Sacondaga River. Below the mouth of the latter it turns eastward, and in a series of rapids and falls breaks through the barrier of the Luzerne Mountains. At Fort Edward it again flows south, with rapid current, frequently inter- rupted by falls, to Troy, 160 miles from the occean, where it becomes an estuary, its current being affected by the tide; and from thence to its mouth it is a broad, deep, sluggish stream. Above Troy it receives the Hoosick from the east and the Mohawk from the west; the former rising in west- ern Massachusetts and Vermont, and the latter in the north-east part of Oneida county. Below Troy its tributaries are comparatively small. About sixty miles from its mouth it breaks through the rocky barrier of the Highlands, the most easterly of the Appalachian mountain ranges; and along its lower course is bordered on the west by a nearly perpendicular wall of basaltic rock 300 to 500 feet high, known as "The Palisades." South of the Highlands it spreads out into a wide expanse known as "Tappan Bay." In its whole course it is 300 miles in length. At its mouth the Hudson is navigated by the largest ships ; it opens a sloop navigation to Waterford, from which place it is connected by Champlain Canal with Lake Cham- plain at Whitehall. At present it is navigable for ships to Hudson and Athens, and for sloops and steamers to Troy. Boats formerly ascended to Fort Edward, with portages around the rapids. At Poughkeepsie, from the high point above the ferry dock to the landing opposite near the ferry dock, the river is 2,420 feet wide. The depth of water in the midle is forty-nine feet; and the average depth on either side, 51 feet. The mean rise and fall of tides at Poughkeepsie is 3.24 feet ; at Tivoli, 3.95 feet. The mean rise and fall of spring tides at those places is 4 and 4.8 feet respectively ; and of neap tides, 2.4 and 3 feet.
The Fishkill is a name compounded of the En- glish word Fish and the Dutch word Kill, (meaning creek,) and, like the mountains in which it rises was called by the aborigines Matteawan, a name whose euphony has not been improved by the change. The name signified, says Spafford, "the country of good fur." The stream was called by
the early Dutch settlers Vis-Kill. It rises by two main branches in the town of Union Vale. The easterly branch is known as Gardiner Hollow brook; the westerly and most northerly one, as Clove Stream; they unite near the center of the town of Beekman, and thence the main stream flows in a south-westerly direction through the cen- tral parts of East Fishkill and Fishkill, and empties into the Hudson near the south border of the latter town. It presents numerous cascades, and fur- nishes a valuable hydraulic power. It receives in its course many small streams, the principal of which is Sprout-creek, which rises in the south- west part of Washington and north-west part of Union Vale, and flows in a south-westerly direc- tion through La Grange, forming the boundary between East Fishkill and Wappinger, to near the center of the west border of the former town, where it unites with the Fishkill. The latter stream, (the Fishkill) is rapid in the upper and lower parts of its course, but sluggish through the Fishkill plains. From Fishkill village to its mouth, the fall is 187 feet in a distance of five miles, affording ten val- uable mill sites. It propels several manufacturing establishments in Beekinan, and the extensive fac- tories of Matteawan and Glenham.
Wappinger Creek, the largest in the county, derives its name from the Wappinger or Wap- pingi tribe of Indians, who dwelt at its falls near the Hudson, and called it Maevenawasigh, "a large good stream and cascade." On Sauthier's map it is called the " Great Wappingers Creek." It rises in Stissing Pond, in the town of Pine Plains, and traverses the county from north-east to south-west, for a distance of about thirty-five miles, passing diagonally through Stanford, across the south-east corner of Clinton, diagonally through Pleasant Val- ley, and from thence forms the boundary between the towns of Poughkeepsie, LaGrange and Wap- pinger. It unites with the Hudson at New Ham- burgh, nine miles below the city of Poughkeepsie. It receives many streams on either hand, and sup- plies many valuable mill seats. It is everywhere a highly picturesque stream.
Ten Mile River rises by several branches in the east part of the county and in the town of Sharon, Connecticut. It flows south through Amenia and Dover, and in the south part of the latter town deflects east into Connecticut, emptying into the Housatonic. Its tributaries from the north, Was- saic and Deep Hollow Brooks, do not much ex- ceed five miles in length ; and Swamp River from the south, rising from a morass in Pawling, (which
73
STREAMS OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
is also the source of Croton River, which supplies the city of New York with water,) may have a course of about eight miles.
Crom Elbow Creek, a name compounded of the Dutch Crom (crooked) and the English Elbow, and given also by the Dutch to a sudden bend in the river a little above the mouth of this creek, where it is contracted to a narrow channel between rocky bluffs, is a very crooked stream, some eight. or ten miles in length, rising among the hills at the intersection of the towns of Milan, Clinton and Rhinebeck, and flows in a south-westerly direction to Union Corners, near the central part of the town of Hyde Park, where it turns at nearly right angles to the west, uniting with the Hudson near the village of Hyde Park. In its upper course it forms the south half of the east boundary of the town of Rhinebeck, and the north half of the west boundary of Clinton. It is a placid brook for the greater part of its course, but has much fall in its passage through the high bank of the Hudson, where it supplies some mill seats. On Sau- thier's map and in some old deeds this creek is called Fishkill, a name, indeed, which has been applied to a vast number of streams in this State.
The Fallkill, sweetly called by the Indians the Winnakee, signifying “ leap-stream," is a small, but was once a valuable mill-stream. It rises in the town of Clinton, and for the first six miles flows rapidly over a rock or gravel bed, between high and rocky hills. Below this point to the city line, it moves for the greater part of the way sluggishly along its crooked channel through muck, swamp and low meadow land. Here it receives its load of decomposing vegetable matter, which, together with animal matter, the surface drainage from the streets, and the refuse from tan-pits and slaughter- houses within the city limits, deposited upon the bottoms and banks of the several mill ponds within the city, proved so deleterious to the health of the citizens of Poughkeepsie, that it necessitated the re- moval of most of the dams and the straightening of the channel through the city. It is a " quick stream," speedily affected by rains, the soil which covers its rocky hills being shallow and not reten- tive of water; for the same reason it rapidly resumes its natural flow. It reaches the river by a series of cascades in the north part of the city, emptying into what was once a sheltered cove, which the aborigines called Apokeepsing, or " safe harbor," from which the beautiful rural city upon its borders derives its name. Several of the smaller
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