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 52
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Zacharias Schmidt's name is the first to be found in the oldest church records in the town of Rhinebeck. But there is nothing to show that he had living either father, mother, brother or sister, in this or any other country. He owned the farm, now the property of James Way, at a very early date, but was preceded in the ownership by Jo- hannes Backus, whose deed was dated October 20, 1718, and who was thus one of the " High Dutch- ers " who founded Rhinebeck. He was Voor Leser (fore-reader) in the old German Reformed Church, and many of its records are in his handwriting. He sold a lot of his land to Ryer Schermerhorn in 1773. It is said that Ryer Schermerhorn built the house now known as "Shop's old store house," at the corner north of Walter L. Ten Broeck's, on this land, and conducted a mercantile business therein during the Revolutionary War. After Zacharias Schmidt's death, this place was occupied for awhile by his son, Wilhelmus, and in 1798 was Moul's tavern.
In a letter now before us, Edward M. Smith, the author of the "History of Rhinebeck,"-pub- lished in 1881-says of his family and himself what follows :-
"The old German Reformed Church, whose grave- yard is still to be seen at Pink's Corner, came into the town of Rhinebeck with the German people from the Camps, in Columbia and Ulster counties, between 1713 and 1718-probably in 1715. This church was at first the joint property of the Lutherans and German Reformers, the Lutheran pastor being Rev. Joshua Kotcherthal, of New Town, one of the villages in West Camp, and the German Reformed pastor the Rev. John Frederic Hager, of Kingsbury, one of the villages in the East Camp. The Rhinebeck church and cemetery
were the joint property of the Lutherans and Re- formers until 1729, when 'contentions arising be- tween them they thought best for both parties to separate, and to have each a church for them- selves.' If these parties kept records of the work done by them respectively, prior to their separa- tion, they have not come to my knowledge. After the separation, they opened books which I have seen. The first record in the German Reformed book is that of the baptism of my grandfather, Johannes, the son of Zacharias Schmidt and his wife, Anna Maria Bender, on the 5th of April, 1730 ; and this is the oldest baptismal record to be found in the town of Rhinebeck.
" Where Zacharias Schmidt lived at the date of this baptism I do not know. In 1747, he owned the farm adjoining the church lands, now the prop- erty of James Way, and it is very probable that he became the owner of this farm immediately after his marriage, and thus very soon after, if not in the year, 1730. Besides Johannes he had sons, Phil- lippus, Petrus and Wilhelmus ; and daughters, Catharine, Annatjen, Anna Maria, and Anna Mar- greda.
" My grandfather, Johannes, married Elizabeth Zipperlie, February 3, 1761, and had sons Zacha- rias, Frederick, Philip and Johannes, and daugh- ters, Catharine and Anna. He settled in Red Hook, near the Columbia county line, on the farm which is now the property of William C. Cooper- nail. He paid a rent of twenty-four sceppels of wheat and four fowls to Marija Van Benthuysen, widow of Jan Van Benthuysen, from 1768 to 1780 ; to Peter Van Benthuysen in 1781-'2; and to James Bogardus in 1783-'4-'5-'6. This I learn from a remnant of an old receipt book, now in my possession. He retained this farm to the day of his death, April 18, 1813, when it passed into the possession of my father, who retained it until 1823, when he sold it to William Coopernail and moved into the town of Ancram, now Gallatin, Columbia County, with a family of twelve children, increas- ing the number to thirteen by the birth of another, April 20, 1823. He remained in Ancram six years, when he removed to Milan, in Duchess County, on a farm of eighteen acres, which is still in the family. In process of time the children grew up, married and scattered, some to learn trades, and others to work on the farm, and all to contribute their full share to the wealth and strength of the country.
" My father, Philip Smith, born June 27, 1773, married December 4, 1796, Anna Coopernail, born October 26, 1778. He died December 13, 1851, and his children,* all living, were at his funeral. She died April 17, 1864, and her children, all liv- ing, the youngest forty-one years old, were all at her burial.
* This deed was given January 25, 1721.
* These children were : Sophia, born March 3, 1798 ; Elizabeth, Jur.e 9, 18co ; John, April 16, 1862 ; Catharine, October 29, ISO3 ; Henry, September 6, 1805 ; Anna, December 29, 1807; Margaret, April 9, 1809 ; William, Dec. 25, 1810 ; Philip, June 17, 1812 ; George, Oct. 8, 1815 ; Edward M., March 29, 1817; Zachariah, March 5, 1819 ; Ebenezer, April 20, 1823.
264
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
" I was born on the old homestead in Red Hook, March 29, 1817. At the age of twelve years I went to live with my uncle, John Coopernail, in the town of Milan. I remained with him four years, working the farm in summer and going to the district school in Rock City a month or two in the winter. At the age of sixteen I went as apprentice to Jabez Davis, a tailor in the village of Upper Red Hook. At the age of twenty- one I came to the village of Rhinebeck, a journeyman tailor. I learned to cut soon after, and began business for
myself in 1841. On the 13th of September, 1842, I was married to Mary Elizabeth Davis, daughter of my former employer. With the exception of six months spent in the City of New York as a cutter, in 1849, my residence since the first of April, 1838, has been in the village of Rhinebeck."
During his residence of forty-three years in Rhinebeck Mr. Smith has collected from various sources the material included in his history of this old town. It is a work of years, in the prepara- tion of which much time, labor and money have been expended, and to which, through the kindness of the author, we are indebted for nearly all the data relating to Rhinebeck. His work, more com- plete in its minutiæ than can be any history of the county at large, may be justly regarded as a valua- ble contribution to the historical data of the County and State.
Christian Bergh was another of the early settlers. He was a resident of what is now the town of Rhinebeck in 1723. He was born in May, 1700. On the 7th of August, 1722, he was married to Anna Margretta Wolleben, who was one year and six months his senior. Hans Felten, Peter and Peter Wolleben, Jr., were in Rhinebeck at the same time. It is supposed that Anna Margretta was the daughter of one, and perhaps the sister of the others. They were doubtless among the Palatines brought over by Governor Hunter, and of the thirty-five families settled on the land laid out for the "High Dutchers," by Henry Beekman, and called "Rein Beek." One of them was the owner of a farm now included in the property of Walter L. Ten Broeck, by a deed bearing date October 20, 1718. Christian Bergh had nine children, one of whom, Christian, married Catha- rina Van Benschoten, March 11, 1762, and had eleven children, one of whom, also named Chris- tian, born April 30, 1763, was the father of Henry Bergh, the president of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Dr. Hans Kierstead, born in 1743, came to Rhinebeck in 1769, at the age of twenty-six. He married Jane, daughter of Anthony Hoffman and Catharine Van Graasbeck, of Kingston. Their
daughter, Sally, baptized August 15, 1773, married Martin Heermance, June 15, 1789. Dr. Hans Kierstead's first residence was the old stone house which stood on the south of the Wager lot and which was taken down by Martin L. Marquet some years since. A record in Martin Heer- mance's family bible says : "We moved into our new house October 19, 1793." It is now known that this new house was the brick dwelling now the residence of Eugene Wells, and sold to John I. Teller by Martin Heermance in 1816. Dr. Hans Kierstead died September 29, 1811, aged 68. His wife died January 18, 1808, aged 64. Martin Heermance died July 31, 1824, aged 59, and his wife, Sally, July 18, 1838, aged 65.
Christian Schell was baptized by Dominie Johann F. Ries, of the Rhinebeck Lutheran Church, August 11, 1779. He married Elizabeth Hughes, of Hyde Park, widow of Captain Pope, by whom he had eight children : Emily, Richard, Julius, Robert, Augustus, Edward, Francis and Julia. In 1805, he kept a store on the post-road where Ezra Van Vradenburgh now lives-a place known at this date as " Bear [Bare ?] Market." In 1812, he bought of Col. Henry B. Livingston the mill property at the junction of Landsman's and Rhinebeck creeks.
In 1816 he was on the Flats, and built the stone store and dwelling on Platt's corner, in which he conducted a prosperous mercantile business to the close of his life. He died March 18, 1825, aged 46. His wife died July 16, 1866. His son, Augustus, was graduated at Union College, and bred to the law, beginning his studies with John Armstrong, in the village of Rhinebeck. He was Collector of the port of New York, and is widely known as a lawyer and politician. Robert is president of the Bank of the Metropolis, and Edward of the Manhattan Savings Bank. Richard, born May 29, 1810, died November 10, 1879. He was elected State Senator in 1856, and Representa- tive in Congress from New York in 1875.
Besides these families mentioned at length were other families of importance to the town in their day,-the Zipperlys (now Sipperly), one of whom, Barent Zipperly, in 1726, purchased from Hans Adams Frederick the lease of the farm which em- braced the land which is now the church and cemetery lot of the " Rhinebeck Stone Church, "* and from whom in all probability were descended all the Zipperlies who have had birth, have lived and died, and are now living in Rhinebeck; the
* St. Peters Lutheran Church.
MOSS EN& CO.NY
"FERNCLIFF"-THE LAWN.
"FERNCLIFF"-THE RACE STABLES.
MOSS ENG.CO. NY.
" FERNCLIFF"-THE CATTLE-BARNS,
ReCOACH HOUSE
DE
FARM- ENTRANCE
MOSS ENG CO. N.V.
...
"FERNCLIFF."
265
TOWN OF RHINEBECK.
Berringers (now Barringer), of whom Johannes Berringer, whose name appears among the heads of families taxed in the North Ward in 1723, was possibly the common ancestor of all the Barringers now in Duchess and Columbia counties ; the Welch family who came into Rhinebeck about 1740, whose first residence, it is said, was in a house at the corner, now occupied by the residence of Guernsey Crandall, and whose descendants have long since died or departed ; the Eckerts (now Ackerts), who came into the town probably with the Palatines who founded Rhinebeck ; the Eschers (now Asher), who came into the town in 1739; the Tetor family, one of the High Dutch families for whom Henry Beekman laid out the lands of Rhinebeck ; the Van Ettens, who were brought into Rhinebeck by Henry Beekman, the second, probably in 1721 ; the Traphagens, of whom Wil- liam Traphagen bought a small tract of land from Henry Beekman in 1706, and a larger one in 1710, which included part of the Hager, and, it is thought, all of the Teller farm, and all the land south of the river road, west of the post-road and south to Landsman's kill, and whose residence was doubtless the old stone house known as the "Old State's Prison, " on the Flats, which was probably built by him soon after 1810; the family of Froelich (now Fraleigh), a member of which, Stephen Froelich, was a freeholder, and the only one of the name in what is now the town of Rhinebeck, in 1723, and who doubtless was the an- cestor of all the Frolichs and Fraleighs who have had existence and are now living in Duchess County ; the family of Schriber (now Schryver), a member of which, Alburtis Schriber, undoubtedly the first of the name here, was a freeholder, and the only person of the name in what is now Rhine- beck, in 1723. He was probably the ancestor of all who bear that name in Duchess and Ulster counties, and possibly in all the State. He was a German, and doubtless a Palatine. His wife was Eva Lauerman. A tombstone in the cemetery of the Reformed Dutch Church says: Mrs. Eva Schryver died July 28, 1817, aged 87. There is none to the memory of her husband. John T. Schryver, for many years a prominent and success- ful business man in Rhinebeck, was a descendant from Alburtis Schriber, the Palatine, but through which one of the sons is not positively known. His father was Jacob Schryver. His mother's name was Ten Broeck. He married Helen Conklin. Their children were Nicholas Van Vranken, Mathew Van Benschoten, George Washington,
and Rachel. Nicholas died unmarried. Mathew married, first, Margaret Teller, second, Miss Sleight. George married Maria Fellows, whose ancestors, on both her father's and mother's side, were Palatines. Rachel married Stephen A. DuBois. Mathew is childless. George died leaving one son and three daughters. Rachel and her husband are both dead, and have left but one child, Dr. John C. Du Bois, of Hudson, N. Y.
The houses of the settlers in the wilderness of the New World, we are told, were at first of the rudest description. A square pit was dug in the ground, after the shape of a cellar, six or seven feet deep. This was cased around with timber, and lined with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth. This cellar was then floored with plank and ceiled overhead. A roof of spars was then reared, which was covered with green sods or bark, so that they could live dry and warm in their houses with their entire families for two, three and four years. According to the Dutch Secretary, Van Tienhoven, "the wealthy and prin- cipal men in New England, in the beginning of the colonies, commenced their first dwellings in this fashion for two reasons : first, in order not to waste time building, and not to want food the next sea- son ; secondly, in order not to discourage poor, laboring people, whom they brought over in large numbers from Faderland." Of the ninety-seven people in Rhinebeck in 1723, nearly all who built houses probably built them in this fashion. All trace of them disappeared in the next generation, and the houses built later, and of stone, are all that remain as the dwelling places of these pio- neers. The house occupied by Abraham Brown, south of Rhinebeck Village, was built, it is said, in parts at different dates, the north part by Adam Eckert, in 1719, and the south part in 1763. The initials on the north part are "A. N. E." Peter Brown's house, we are told, was built by Heerman Brown, the common ancestor of those who bear that name in Rhinebeck, in 1753. The stone house now occupied by Jacob L. Tremper has a stone inscribed "Jan Pier, 1774." The stone house now owned by Ann O'Brian, on the post- road in the south of Rhinebeck Village is on lands leased to Johannes Benner in 1739, and may have been built by him about this date. The house known as " Old Tammany" was kept by a Kip in 1798, and the stone part of the house was prob- ably built many years before this date. The date on the knocker of the old Montfort Tavern is 1760. The Bergh House, formerly the residence of
266
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Major John Pawling, has a stone over the door inscribed "J. P. N. P., July 4, 1761." The stone house below Monroe's, now the property of Lewis Livingston, once Van Steenburgh's, and later Smith's Inn, is also an old house, but there exist no records to tell us at what date it was built.
The Precinct records commence in 1748. In that year eight justices of the peace, of whom one was Arnout Velie, held a Court of General Ses- sions at Poughkeepsie, and
"Ordered that all and every precinct clerk in this county, to be chosen yearly on every first Tuesday in April, do, within ten days thereafter, make due return of the election of their respective precincts of the officers chosen, on the said first Tuesday in April, unto the clerk of the peace, under the pen- alty of thirty shillings, to be paid by every such precinct or town clerk omitting, the same to be re- covered by the clerk of the peace, who is hereby empowered to sue for and recover the same.
" Duchess County, ss :- After a true copy signed, Pr. HENRY LIVINGSTON, Clerk.
Pr. JOHANNES A. OSTRANDER, Precinct Clerk." The first election in the precinct of Rhinebeck, under this act, was thus recorded :-
"Duchess County, ss :- Att the election held in Rynbeek precinct on the first thursday in Aprill, and in the year Anno Dom. 1749, PURSUANT by an act of General Assembly Made in the third year of the reign of the late Majesties, King Will- iam and Queen Mary, to the freeholders of said county and precinckt, on behalf of themselves and others, for the electing of officers for said pre- cinckt of Rynbeek, the following officers of this present year New Elected, viz :-
"Supervisor, Jan Van Deuse; Assessors, Ger- rit Van Wagenen, Philip Feller ; Constables, Jo- hannes Seever, Jacob Ostrander, Frederick Haaver ; Masters of the Poor, Frederick Strydt, Roelof Kip ; Pound Master, Johannes Kip; Fence view- ers, Jacob Sickenaer, Johannes Herkenburg, Gerrit Van Wagenen ; Surveyors of the Highways, Isaac Kip, Peter Tiepel, Joseph Craford, Michail Siperlie, Godtvret Hendrick, John Maris, Lawrens Rysdorf, Petrus Velie, Johannes Van Wagenen, Christian Dederick.
Pr. JOHANNES OSTRANDER, Clerk."
From that date to the organization of the town the precinct supervisors and clerks were as follows :-
SUPERVISORS.
John Van Deuse. 1749-175I
Gerrit Van Benthuysen. 1752-1755
Petrus De Witt. 1756-1757
Gerrit Van Benthuysen. 1758-1760
Petrus DeWitt. 1761
Peter Van Benthuysen 1762
Peter Ten Broeck. . 1763-1766
John Van Ess. 1767-1771
James Smith. 1772-1774
John Van Ess. 1775
Peter De Witt .. 1776-1780
Anthony Hoffman 1781-1785
PRECINCT CLERKS.
Johannes A. Ostrander. . 1749-1756
Peter Ostrander.
1757-1765
Abraham Glimph 1765
William Beam . . 1766-1785
Lodowick Elsever 1786
The town was organized March 7, 1788. From that time to date the supervisors and clerks have been as follows :-
SUPERVISORS.
Peter Contine 1786-88
William Radcliff 1789-91
David Van Ness
Peter Contine, Jr. I792-94
1795-97
Isaac Stoutenburgh 1798-1800
Andrew Heermance. 1801-03
Peter Contine, Jr. 1804-05
David Van Ness 1806-08
John Cox, Jr. 1808-12
[Red Hook taken off June 2, 1812.]
John Cox, Jr .. 1813-18
Koert Du Boise 1819-20
Christian Schell . 1821-24
Garret Van Keuren 1825-29
Isaac F. Russell 1830-32
Frederick I. Pultz 1833-34
Henry S. Quitman 1835-36
Conrad Ring . 1837-39
John Armstrong Jr. 1840
James A. A. Cowles 1841-43
Nicholas B. Van Steenburgh. 1844
Moses Ring. 1845
Tunis Workman 1846-47
James Montfort. 1848
Isaac I. Platt
1849
Jacob G. Lambert
Ambrose Wager. 1850
185 J
James C. McCarty 1852
James Montfort. 1853
John M. Cramer. . 1854-55
Richard B. Sylands . 1856
Theophilus Nelson.
1857
Richard J. Garrettson
James C. McCarty. 1859
1860-61
Andrew J. Heermance. 1862-63
Ambrose Wager 1864-65
Smith Quick I866
William M. Sayer
1867
Robert L. Garrettson
1868
Virgil C. Traver.
I869-72
John G. Ostrom 1873
Joseph H. Baldwin 1874-76
James H. Kipp. . 1877-78
William Bergh Kipp 1879-80
Martin Heermance 188I
267
TOWN OF RHINEBECK.
TOWN CLERKS.
David Elsever . 1787-90
William Radclift, Jr. 1791
Henry Lyle.
1792
John Cox. 1793
Henry Shop 1794-1812
[Red Hook taken off.]
Henry Shop. 1813-16
Henry F. Talmage. 1817-19
Garret Van Keuren. 1820
John Fowks, Jr .. 1821-25
Jacob Heermance. 1826
William B. Platt.
1827-28
Henry De Lamater
1829-30
Henry C. Hoag 1831
Conrad Ring. 1832-34
Stephen A. Du Bois.
1835
Henry W. Mink 1836
Tunis Wortman
1837-43
George W. Schryver
1844
Tunis Wortman. 1845
George W. Bard.
1846-47
John C. McCarty
1848-49
Albert A. Rider
1850-52
Tunis Wortman.
1853
Albert A. Rider.
1854
Tunis Wortman. 1855
Harvey M. Traver
1856
Tunis Wortman.
1857
Calvin Jennings.
1858
Tunis Wortman. 1859
Geo. H. Ackert. 1860-61
John D. Judson.
I 862
Geo. W. Hogan
1863
Simon Welch.
1864
James A. Montfort 1865
Jacob H. Pottenburgh
I866
Jacob Rynders. 1867
Edward Brooks .. 1868
William H. Sipperly . . 1869-70
Tunis Wortman. 1871-72
Jacob Rynders.
1873
William H. Hevenor ..
1874-76
Jacob H. Pottenburgh
1877-81
UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM RHINEBECK.
John Armstrong, by appointment of the Gover- nor in 1803 ; by election in 1804. Appointed Minister to France in 1804, and resigned the office of Senator.
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
Egbert Benson. Ist and 2d Congresses. Isaac Bloom. . 8th Congress.
Philip J. Schuyler. . 15th Congress.
In 1812 the towns of Rhinebeck and Clinton in Duchess County, voted with Columbia county in the election of a Member of Congress.
STATE SENATORS.
Anthony Hoffman. 1788-90
Thomas Tillotson . . 1791-99
Robert Sands. ..
1797-1800
Peter Contine, Jr.
1798-1801
Morgan Lewis.
1811-14
Peter R. Livingston 1820-22, 1826-29
William Kelly 1856-58
MEMBERS OF ASSEMBLY.
Thomas Tillotson 1788-90
William Radcliff I792-93
Philip J. Schuyler 1798
Abraham Adriance 1800-02
Koert DuBois
1810-11, 1820-2I
David Tomlinson 1819
John Cox ..
1822
Peter R. Livingston 1823
John Armstrong, Jr.
1825
Francis A. Livingston 1828
George Lambert 1833
Freeborn Garrettson. 1838, 1845
Ambrose Wager. 1855-58
Richard J. Garrettson. 1860
John N. Cramer
1864
Alfred T. Ackert
1868
RHINEBECK VILLAGE.
A map of Rhinebeck Flats, laid out in village lots, was made by John Cox, Jr., as early as 1792. In an old deed in the possession of Jacob L. Tremper, we are told that on March 20, 1799, Nathan Brownson and his wife sold to William Tremper " all that certain lot of land * lying *
* * in the town of Rhinebeck, at the Flatts, and distinguished in a map thereof, made by John Cox, as lot No. 11, beginning at the southwest corner of Butler and Bartholomew's lot, known as No. 9." This lot was bounded on one side by the post-road, and contained one acre of land. In a deed to William Carroll for the Mathias lot, all the west side of the post-road, we are told that it was con- veyed by Margaret Livingston to Abraham Adri- ance, and by said Adriance to Henry Du Bois, and known as lot number four in a survey made by John Cox, Jr. A copy of a portion of this map, covering the land laid out on the east side of the post-road, shows that East Market street was laid out as early as 1792, as far as the church lands, now Mulberry street. In 1801, the commissioners of highways carried this street through the church lands as a public road, beginning at Pultz's corner, which was then in the possession of Abraham Brinckerhoff. In 1802, it became the Ulster and Salisbury turnpike. Before this date no evidence can be found that there was a single building on
268
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
East Market street. The village seems to have been laid out in acre lots. The southeast corner lot extended south to the church lot, and the same distance east, being an exact square, and was pur- chased by Koert and Henry Du Bois. The next lot east, also a square, was purchased by a Mr. Jones, probably Gen. Montgomery's nephew. The next lot east was purchased by Philip Bogardus, probably son of Everardus. The northeast corner, also a square acre, was purchased by John T. Schryver and Tunis Conklin. The next square east by Asa Potter, and the square next east of his, by Frederick Kline. North, the lots had the depth of two squares, and the width of half a square. The lot next east to Schryver and Conk- lin's corner was purchased by Gen. Armstrong. The old building on the corner was built and used for a store and postoffice before 1800, possibly many years prior to that date. The old house re- built by Dr. Van Vliet was the residence of Asa Potter at an early date, and was probably built by him. It was, at one time, the residence of Koert Du Bois, and at another, of Henry F. Talmage. The residence of Jacob Schaad was on the lot of Frederick Kline, occupied by him at an early date, and was probably built by him. The pur- chasers of these acre lots subdivided them and sold to other parties. On November 23, 1807, Elisha R., son of Asa Potter, sold his lot to Peter Brown and Christian Schell, then in the occupation of Schryver and Conklin, and bounded westerly by Spaulding and northerly by General Armstrong. Whether Koert and Henry Du Bois built the first store on their corner or not, is not learned. They were merchants there at an early date, and had for successors, John Fowks, Christian Schell, John Davis, Henry and James Hoag, George Schryver, John Benner, Moses Ring, George Fellows and George Storm. John Benner rebuilt the corner, and rented the second story to John Armstrong for a law office. John T. Schryver, William Tel- ler, Benjamin Schultz, Henry DeLamater, Free- man Jennings, William Bates, Simon Welch and John M. Sandford, were merchants on the north- east corner. On the hotel corner Henry F. Tal- mage, Smith Dunning, John C. Ostrom, Isaac F. Russell, William Bates and George Bard, sold dry goods, groceries and hardware at different times. Platt's corner was purchased by Christian Schell, who erected the present stone building thereon. It is not learned from whom he made the pur- chase. The old people here tell us that this was an open field prior to this date. It was conveyed
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