History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 64

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868

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 64

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acres of land from the Thorne property as an addition to the school tract. The Hicksites also established a like school under the principalship of Jacob Willets and his wife Deborah,* who were among the first pupils who attended the old school in 1796.

After the separation, the original school, then under the management of the Orthodox branch, was resumed, but we imagine that it had received a shock which was keenly felt, and from which it never fully recovered. Among the students of 1815, was James Congdon, who became Superin- tendent in the fall of 1842, and retired in 1849. In 1851 he was recalled, and remained until 1853, in which year the school closed under the regime of the Friends' yearly meeting, or their trustees. The establishment was rented to individuals, who were somewhat restricted as to the religious views to be inculcated, and was continued until the year 1864, when it was closed, undoubtedly forever, as but few individuals among the Friends are now left to recuperate and sustain such an enterprise.

The building has been divided and removed, a part of it having been used in the construction of the private residence of John D. Wing, Esq., which stands a little to the northeast of the old site. A miniature lake now occupies a portion of the space where the ancient edifice stood, and the pure spray of a fountain of spring water now rises and falls above the place where the great hogsheads of rum were stored in "the good old days."

Friends' Meeting House .- Next to the remnant of the old school building, the Friends brick meet- ing house is the oldest landmark to be found at Mechanic, unless we except the sunken mounds and moss-grown tombstones that are found near it. There lie the good old fathers and mothers, who in their quaint garbs braved the labors and priva- tions attending the first settlement, to rear homes for themselves and children; and after years of patient toil, quietly, as they had lived,

* Lay down to peaceful dreams."

As we stand by their honored ashes, how plainly imagination pictures their sturdy forms, tidy dress and comely expression as they systematically delved from day to day and from year to year, shedding the light of charity, meekness and patience along their path, exemplifying each bour their faith and religious principles. When such die and pass away. the world should surely mourn. In this crowding, bustling. selfish world, such are as lone stars in a cloudy night, peering through the darkness to as-

* The portraits of Jacob Withers and bis wife Deborah. "ogether with a short sketch of themselves and the school, may be found on page 329

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

sure the stumbling traveler that even through the blackness there is a silvery path leading to a fount of purity, light and peace !

At what time the Friends organized a society, we are unable to tell, but undoubtedly as soon as they settled and held their meetings in private houses, and perhaps in the school house. They must have been quite numerous, as in building a house for worship in 1780, they constructed a large edifice. It is a substantial, plain, red-brick building, char- acteristic of the simple tastes of the peculiar sect that erected it. Within its modest walls were held the semi-weekly and monthly meetings, so punctu- ally attended by all the Friends of the surrounding country for over forty years, in brotherly unity. Aged fathers and mothers have here communed with sons, daughters and neighbors, and infused by precept and example within their hearts all those finer qualities that make the conscientious disciple of truth, love, forbearance, simplicity and childlike faith.

After being thus united and prosperous for at least fifty years, a dark cloud hovered over the Society of Friends, from which a riving thunder- bolt descended causing a separation from which it never has fully recovered. Elias Hicks, a very popular, sincere and intelligent preacher, entertain- ed and forcibly advocated certain sentiments antagonistic to those so strictly and conscientiously adhered to for over a century, by a portion of the members of the society. While there was not so great a difference of opinion as often exists in many other religious organizations, yet it caused a division in the society. At one of the crowded quarterly meetings in the "old Brick," after an unusually warm discussion of differences as to belief, a large number of dissatisfied members rose in a body and left the meeting. They afterwards assumed the name of " Orthodox Friends," to dis- tinguish them from the "Hicksite Friends," as stated in an article entitled "Mechanic and the Friends' Boarding School," inserted in another part of this work.

A division of the property of the society was made in 1828. The brick meeting house fell to the Hicksite branch, and the Orthodox branch built a new house of worship, between the old one and the boarding-school building the same year, which is still standing. Many of the men and women of both sides felt but too deeply the mis- fortune of the separation and passed down to their graves with hearts burdened with sorrow. It is questionable whether any sect ever existed that

was more united and happy in its associations than that of the Friends previous to its division, and we cannot wonder at the deep regret its members ex- perienced when it was broken asunder, not to be again united.

The Old Store Building in Mechanic, Nine Partners .- The illustration accompanying this arti- cle represents the "Old Store building " still stand- ing on the south side of the street, opposite the site of the Friends' Boarding School, in Mechanic. It is quite a spacious building, and in a good state of preservation. Until within a few years, back to a time beyond the memory of any now living, a por- tion of it was always used for mercantile purposes. As early as 1795, it was occupied by two brothers under the firm name of "William and Isaac Thorne." They were active, enterprising mer- chants and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the entire community. They dealt extensively in pork and other farm products which they received in exchange for the variety of merchandise then usually kept in a country store.

William possessed a kindly, genial nature, and was alike popular in business and social life. He was also a public spirited citizen and was some- times engaged in public business. The late emi- nent lawyer Elisha Williams, of Hudson, once re- marked-" that old Friend in Duchess county you call 'Uncle Billy,' is the pleasantest travelling companion I ever met." He was associated with Judge Jonas Platt, (one of the founders of Platts- burgh,) and other commissioners in laying out the State road from Albany through the upper Hud- son valley, and thence through the wilderness along the west side of Lake Champlain, to the mouth of the Saranac River, now Plattsburgh. Isaac and his wife, Anna Titus, were among the original trus- tees of the Nine Partners Boarding School.

Samuel Thorne, son of William, became the suc- cessor of William and Isaac, in the business which they had established at Mechanic, and which in his hands became very extensive, customers com- ing from fifteen to twenty miles, even from Con- necticut, to sell their produce and make purchases.

Samuel became quite a large importer, woolens from England, and cotton cloths from India, were always to be found upon his shelves. At one time, in 1809, it is said that he had fifteen hundred open accounts upon his books, and that he purchased and packed eight hundred barrels of pork in one autumn. Gradually, after the Duchess Turnpike was completed, the bulk of his trade passed away to Poughkeepsie, the county seat, and soon after the

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111

W.&I. THORNE.

1795

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OLD HOMESTEAD OF SAMUEL THORNE, AND BIRTHPLACE OF JONATHAN THORNE, WASHINGTON, N. Y.

Jonathan Thorne

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TOWN OF WASHINGTON.

death of his father, he removed to the old home- stead, "Thorndale," where he resided during the remainder of his life. The business was still con- tinued at the store by other parties, but upon a much smaller scale.

Jonathan Thorne, son of Samuel, was born in this store building in 1801. Nearly seventy years ago, he and the writer of this sketch attended, at the same time, the district school taught by Lydia Treadwell, in the school-house then standing near the residence of the late Elias Haight, on the cross road leading southerly from Mechanic. At a later period, he was for a long time a student at the " Boarding School."

H.LITTL B

(JACOB WILLETS.)

Among the boys of that day and vicinity, the old Brick Meeting House, was considered the very best place in the world to play the game of "barn- ball," and the flying balls would often be pursued over among the mounds in the adjoining grave- yard, where most of the aged forefathers of the hamlet have long been sleeping. Upon attaining the age of manhood, Jonathan embarked in busi- ness in New York, where, after a long and emi- nently successful business career, he still lives, hale and hearty, at the age of eighty-one years. But neither age nor worldly success has banished from his mind the memories of his early years, for he is always interested when any mention is made of the ancient landmarks of Nine Partners, and of the " good old days when we were young."

Of Willets and his school Benson J. Lossing, the historian, says :-

"Jacob Willets entered the Nine Partners Board- ing School on the day it was opened for the first term. He was then in the eighth year of his age, and on the day he was eighteen [1806] he was installed as head teacher. Deborah Rogers, a lineal de- scendant of the martyr, Rev. John Rogers, entered the school as a pupil some time afterwards and be- came a teacher there. Among her pupils from 1804 to 1806, was Lucretia Coffin of Nantucket, after- wards Lucretia Mott, lately deceased, who for full half a century was one of the most distinguished members of the Society of Friends in this country. Miss Rogers became the principal teacher in the department for girls. In 1812 Willets and Deborah were married. He was a successful mathemati-

A.LITTLE

(DEBORAH WILLETS.)

cian, and she was equally so as a grammarian. Gould Brown, author of 'Institutes of English Grammar &c.,' with whom she became acquainted early in life, often consulted her on disputed ques- tions in grammar. In after years, when his im- portant work was finished, he paid her the compli- ment of saying that she rendered him great assist- ance in its preparation.

"Jacob Willets was the author of a popular arithmetic and geography. The first edition of the former was published in 1813. Both works had strong official recommendations and were exten- sively used throughout the country for many years.

"Jacob and Deborah Willets left the boarding school and went to the island of Nantucket. In 1824, having returned to Duchess county, they opened a school near Mechanic, chiefly for the education of young men, which was continued by

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

them until 1852. Jacob was born in the town of Fishkill in 1785, and while in his infancy his parents removed to the town of Washington, where he remained a resident until his death. Deborah, his wife, was born in Marshfield, Mass., in August, 1789, and died at her homestead near the scenes of her life-long labors in 1870, retaining her great mental vigor to the last."

WASHINGTON IN THE REBELLION.

The records of the town were very negligent- ly kept and we have no other opportunity of get- ting at the names of the volunteers from the town than by taking their names from "proxies" that were sent home by them during the political cam- paign of 1864. Whether the following list includes all of those who volunteered or not, we are unable to determine. That the quota was greater is evi- dent, but the majority of towns filled theirs with foreigners by paying bounties, and this town un- doubtedly did so in a measure. The following is the list with the company and regiment to which they belonged :-

150th Regt., Co. C .- John J. Raymond, Lewis Place, Wm. J. Noxen, Charles H. Pond, W. H. Oakley; Co. A, John L. Carlow, J. L. Place, John Jollenbeck, Thomas O'Neil, Geo. Rymes ; Co. I, Edward L. Florence, Platt C. Curtis, Chas. H. Smith, Daniel W. Wheeler, Wm. Hall, Gilbert Seaman, Seneca Humeston, John N. Meller, Theo- dore Wicks ; Co. E, Alva Brown, Simon Freer; Co. F, Wm. H. Sacoe.

128th Regt., Co. D .- Charles Bois, Cornelius Rust ; Co. B, Lewis Holmes, (Sergeant,) Good- man Nobles, (4th Sergeant,) Wm. E. Haight, (4th Corporal,) Dewitt Duncan, (7th Corporal, ) David Welden, Manassa Benson, Egbert Rowe, Geo. L. Bartlett, John Hart, Orvill L. Davis, Nicholas Platt, Alfred Nobles, Wm. H. Applebee, Peter Carlow, Harrison LeRoy, Lewis Rossell, Chas. H. Ensign, (Privates ;) Co. C, Chas. H. Draper ; Co. F, Edgar Risedorf, Terrance Laughlin, Moses W. Lake; Co. H, Alonzo Hill.

16th Regt., Co. C .- Ira E. Davis; Co. B, Har- rison Moore, (transferred to 128th Regt. Co. F.) 44th Regt., Co. G .- Abraham McGoeffin.

3d Regt., Co. M .- Levi Mabee.

The amount of money raised for war purposes is not known as no record was kept, but is supposed to have been in the neighborhood of forty thou- sand dollars, arising from bounties ranging from

three to five hundred dollars in the main, and a fee of one thousand dollars.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JARVIS CONGDON.

[JARVIS CONGDON.]

James Congdon and Lydia Southwick, parents of Jarvis Congdon, moved into this county from the state of Rhode Island, and settled in the town of Beekman. They were members of the Society of Friends, and parents of seven children of whom Jarvis was the fifth. He remained at home until twenty-seven years of age. March 27, 1828, he was united in marriage with Lydia, daugh- ter of John Wing, of South Dover, by whom they had one child, James, who died when at the age of eight years.

After a short sojourn in different towns in the county, Mr. Congdon was called, in 1842, to Superintend the Nine Partners Boarding School of Friends located at Mechanic in the town of Wash- ington. Many of the students of that institution afterwards occupied prominent positions in the financial, literary, commercial, and political history of the country. He conducted the affairs of that school sucessfully for nine years when he resigned his position and purchased his present residence.

Mr. Congdon possesses in a remarkable degree the vigor which is the result of an exemplary Chris- tian life, and is much beloved by many of his old students and acquaintances at whose request his portrait and biography are here published. He and his wife are both worthy members of the So- ciety of Orthodox Friends.

LODGE AND ENTRANCE

THORNDALE

THE OLDOAK

he THORNE FAMILY were among the earliest settlers of Long Island, but the first au- thentic record that we find of them in Duchess County, is of Isaac and Hannah Thorne, who settled upon what is known as the "Nine Partners Patent " in 1725. To them were born ten children, five of whom attained their majority, among whom was numbered William, the great-grandfather of Edwin Thorne, the present proprietor of Thorn- dale.

William took up four hundred acres of land, now occupied as Thorndale, and was the father of five children, of whom Samuel succeeded him in the occupancy of the farm, but died in 1849; his mother having preceded him at the advanced

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

age of ninety-nine years. Samuel was the father of three children who grew to maturity, May, Jonathan and Anna. Jonathan entered into the dry goods business in New York with his uncle Nicholas and while there became acquainted with Lydia Ann Corse, who afterward became his wife. Soon after his marriage he returned to his home in Duchess County, his father having given him half of the four hundred acres comprising the home- stead farm.

Here he remained until 1830, when he went to New York where he succeeded his father- in-law in the hide and leather business located in what is known as the "Swamp" and was very successful in accumulating a fortune. He continued there till 1880, conducting his farm at the same time for several years. At the death of his father Jonathan succeeded to the property and in 1850 began improvements with a view of mak- ing a summer residence of the farm. Always having a fondness for fine stock and failing after numerous attempts to secure by importation such as suited him, he decided to send some one to Eng- land who using proper judgment would procure for him desirable stock. Having obtained the services of Francis M. Rotch who was universally admitted to be an excellent judge and breeder of short-horn cattle and south-down sheep, he despatched him, accompanied by his son Samuel, with an unlimited order to buy the best animals that could be pro- cured in Great Britain, regardless of price.

The result of this order after a long and press- ing negotiation, was the purchase of the bull " Grand Duke" for 1,000 Guineas ; being at that time the highest price ever paid by a single indi- vidual for an animal of that breed. Three cows of the same Duchess family, viz: Duchess 59th, 64th, and 68th, and also six other very superior cows selected as the best to be obtained in Eng- land were purchased.

In 1854 his son Samuel located on the place and took possession of the herd, adding to its number by another importation that same year of ten more cows. In 1855 he himself selected in England, and brought out from there, the celebrated bulls 2d Grand Duke and Neptune, with several cows. In this year the homestead was increased by the purchase of an adjoining farm of 150 acres. In 1856 another importation was made and in 1857 the stock was largely added to by the purchase of the Mount Fordham herd, which included among others the Duchess bull, "Duke of Gloster" and several females both of this and the Oxford fami- lies. The Thorndale herd then took its stand not only as the best but as the most valuable in the world. So well was the fact recognized in Great Britain that a demand came from the best short- horn breeders there for bulls from Thorndale, and the first sale ever made of an animal of the kind to cross the water was the bull "Our American Cous- in," selected in person by a gentleman herding in Ireland. This shipment was made in 1861 and in the following year some fourteen or fifteen head were exported and Thorndale became as well

known among short-horn breeders on that as on this side of the Atlantic.

In 1867 Mr. Samuel Thorne sold his entire herd to J. O. Sheldon of Geneva, and by him it was subsequently transferred to Messrs. Wolcott & Campbell and was scattered by them at the famous New York Mills sale, when the good judgment shown in forming the original Thorndale herd, and in its herding afterward, was fully proven by the fabulous prices realized there by its descendants, one of these bringing the enormous price of $40,600, and several over $30,000 each.

Mr. Edwin Thorne was born on the farm, and when four years old moved with his father to New York. After attaining to his majority he entered into business with his father and continued with him fifteen years. In May 1857 he was united in marriage with Charlotte, daughter of Thomas W. Pearsall, of New York, and to them were born three sons, Thomas Pearsall, Chester and Oakleigh.

In 1862 Mr. Thorne retired from business in New York and at the death of his wife in 1867, spent the following year in Europe. On his return home he purchased the Thorndale farm from his father and moved his stud of horses, with the stal- lion Hamlet at its head, from his farm in Orange County to Thorndale and gave his attention more closely to the breeding of trotting horses and Jer- sey cattle. At the present time he has a fine herd of fifty Jersey cattle. Always having considered the Mambrino family the best family of trotting horses his attention has been given to the bringing together the different branches of that family. In furtherance of that idea he purchased in 1868 the three year old colt, Thorndale, [sired by Alexander's Abdallah, the sire of Goldsmith Maid, (record 2:14) Ist dam Dolly, by Mambrino Chief,(the sire of Lady Thorne, record 2:18}) 2d dam by a son of the thor- oughbred horse Potomac, 3d dam by the thorough- bred horse Saxe Weimar,] that has since occupied the position at the head of the Thorndale stud. After keeping him eight years in the stud without training he put him in the hands of a trainer and in less than three months he won a race of five heats and se- cured him a record of 2:224. He is the only stal- lion with a record below 2:232 that has two repre- sentatives with a record below 2:20, viz: Daisy- dale, who scored a heat in 1880 of 2:192, and Edwin Thorne, who scored the three fastest con- secutive heats with one exception, trotted in a race in 1881, viz: 2:172, 2:18}, and 2:184. This was in his race against Piedmont and six others at Hartford July 25. It created a sensation amongst those who witnessed it that will be long remem- bered by them as a remarkable performance, and one that not only stamped him as a race-horse of no common merit, but added additional luster to the name of his already noted sire. The name of Thorndale among the breeders and lovers of trotting horses is becoming as well known among horsemen as that name among the Dukes and Duchesses to the short-horn breeders. The Thorn- dale stud at present numbers about fifty head, comprising in its numbers matrons of renown and

"THORNDALE"-RESIDENCE OF EDWIN THORNE, MILLBROOK, DUCHESS CO., N. Y.

"THORNDALE," THE FARM BARNS AND TRAININ

STABLES OF EDWIN THORNE. MILLBROOK, N. Y.

VIN

A.LITTLE

Photo. by Vail, Poughkeepsie.

HON. JACOB B. CARPENTER,

333

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

young things that are destined to rank with their half-brother and sister Edwin Thorne and Daisy- dale, on the trotting tracks.

The farm lies in a fertile valley and is watered by the essential requisite of a well ordered stock farm, those running streams which are fed by never failing springs. It adjoins Millbrook Station on the Duchess and Columbia Railroad, and the house which is located in the midst of a grove of pine, oak and maple is approached through a lodge and winding drives. A beautiful lake which is stocked with trout, and on the border of which is a large conservatory, is in view from the house.

Mr. Thorne pays close attention to the minutest details in connection with his large farm, and the buildings and improvements are in perfect accord with the reputation the place sustains.

Mr. Thorne is well known in the agricultural and trotting-horse breeding world, having been President in 1876, of the New York State Agri- cultural Society, and First Vice-President of the National Trotting Association for many years.

HON. JACOB B. CARPENTER.

Jacob Bockée Carpenter belongs to a family which for generations has been identified with the history of Duchess County. Its representatives have for the most part been actively engaged in business, and have usually been successful, and have always maintained the position and influence, which an honorable and prosperous business life commands.

Benjamin Carpenter the grandfather of Jacob B., was living upon his farm in the town of Stanford, more than a hundred years ago, largely engaged in agricultural pursuits, raising blooded horses and various other enterprises. He was a member of that most remarkable "Federal Company," which early in the present century, was conducting man- ufacturing and commercial enterprises second to none in the county at that day. With a business centre at the "Square," a small hamlet in the town of North East, and with a water front twenty-five miles distant in the city of Poughkeepsie, at the Main street landing, of which the company was part owner, this company exported to other coun- tries the products of fields and factories, sending out its own vessels and returning with the produce of other climes, which in the course of business supplied Eastern Duchess and Western Connecti- cut. His honorable career was closed by death in 1837.

Morgan Carpenter, the youngest son of Benja- min, inherited the homestead, as he did the business activity and sound judgment of his father. The Royal sheep flocks of France and Spain becoming accessible for the first, about the commencement of his business life, he soon purchased additional lands and, increasing his flocks to thousands, be- came one of the leading wool growers of the State,

He was also a stock-holder in the old Whaling company and many other financial and commercial enterprises, and one of the Judges of the County Court under the old constitution. Always avoid- ing litigation and controversy, he was a man of clear sound judgment in business affairs; of great liberality and public spirit as a citizen, and affec- tionately devoted to his family. Twenty of the last years of his life were passed in the city of Poughkeepsie, where he died in 1871, at the age of seventy-six.

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 64

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868