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 65
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In early life he married Maria Bockée, a woman of much culture and refinement, possessing a vig- orous mind, tempered with an amiable and lovely disposition. The union of more than half a cen- tury, was unusually prosperous and happy and closed by her death in 1870, her husband surviving her but a short year.
Catherine B. the oldest of the seven children of Morgan and Maria Carpenter who survived their parents, became the wife of George B. Lent, of Poughkeepsie, and died in 1879. Sheis re- membered as a lady of high literary and social distinction ; her ready pen being often recognized in the public journals of the day, and her charities were frequent and liberal to the needy and suffer- ing. Mary is the wife of Edward G. Tyler, of Canandaigua ; Louisa resides in Indianapolis ; Sarah M. dwells in her home in Poughkeepsie, and is a member of the State Board of Charities, dis- tinguishing herself by her zealous and efficient work in the cause of fallen humanity ; Isaac S. and B. Platt Carpenter are spoken of in other pages of this work.
Hon. Jacob B. Carpenter, the oldest son of Morgan and Maria Bockée Carpenter was born in the town of Stanford, where his father and grandfather had been established before him. His birth occurred on the 16th day of July, 1826. He graduated at Union College in 1845. For 18 years subsequent to that time he followed his in- herited rural tastes and business activities on his farms in the towns of Stanford and North East. These occupations did not, however, prevent his taking an active interest in the public affairs of his native town and county. In 1855, he was a representative of Stanford in the Board of Super -. visors. In 1856, he became a member of the State Legislature. He was a Presidential Elector in 1860 casting his vote in the Electoral College for Abraham Lincoln. In 1864, he retired from ac- tive agricultural pursuits, and removed with his family to the city of Poughkeepsie. From 1866 to 1868, he was engaged in large financial enterprises in the then Territory of Colorado and during that comparatively brief period, crossed the plains back and forth twelve times by stage. In 1870 he became again a member of the County Board of Supervisors, and in 1872 was elected to the State Legislature for the second time. In 1875, -'76 he was Mayor of the city of Poughkeepsie, and also Receiver of the Poughkeepsie & East- ern railroad. Since the latter period he has moved upon one of his farms in the town of Wash-
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
ington during the summer, and spends his winters in the city of New York, and is now one of the managers of the Hudson River State Hospital.
In January, 1860, he married Miss Sarah Thorn, daughter of the late Stephen Thorn of Pough- keepsie, by whom he has two children. Minnie T., the oldest of these has recently returned from an European tour, and the younger, May, is yet a school-girl. Taken together these facts present a particularly typical and honorable American life. It is of the highest credit to the educated Ameri- can farmer, as well as to the man. The measure of every calling has been filled, farmer, executive officer, legislator and statesman. To have been easily equal to these is a just encomium. Had there been a desire in that direction his official life might readily have been advanced or pro- longed, but in every case the office has sought the man and not the man the office, he having re- fused oftener than accepted public employment. The county has at no time produced a man of higher integrity, of more solid judgment, or of more intimate acquaintance with questions of public business and private interest. Nor has it pro- duced any who have been more frequently invoked, or more implicitly relied upon by individuals or by the community at large. The whole record is clear and comprehensive, every relation of life has been filled, private and public, and in all there is yet neither criticism or blemish.
EDGAR M. VANDERBURGH.
Edgar M. Vanderburgh was born in Columbia County. His ancestors were old residents of Duchess County, his father having removed from there to Columbia County in 1820. Edgar M. was married in 1843 to Hannah Sutherland, of Stanford, by whom he had three children : Anna, Amelia and Henry. Mr. Vanderburgh moved to Duchess County in 1845, and settled in the town of Stanford. He was elected Superintendent of common schools in 1849, and again in 1850, '51, '52 and '53. In 1857 and '58, he was elected Supervisor of the town, serving two years. In 1864 he was elected to the office of Superinten- dent of the county poor, which position he held for six consecutive years. Mrs. Vanderburgh died in 1853, and for his second wife he married Kate Lockwood, widow of John F. Lockwood, in 1871, when he moved on the place he at present occu- pies.
Mr. Vanderburgh has retired from the political field and devotes his time to the supervision of his large farm, situated in the village of Lithgow, town of Washington. The farm is in a fine state of cul- tivation, the house and grounds presenting a pic- turesque appearance, as an examination of the picture of his residence, in this volume, will prove.
Mr. Vanderburgh is a firm believer in the Chris-
tian religion ; that Christian unity should embrace the faithful of all denominations; that Christ is more than the creed; that Christianity is more than the sect, and that Christian character should be the test of Christian fellowship.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMENIA.
T HE town of Amenia lies on the extreme east- ern border of Duchess County. It is bounded on the north by North East ; south by Do- ver ; east by Kent and Sharon, (Conn.) ; and west by Washington and Stanford.
Weebutook, or Ten Mile River, flows through the eastern part of the town, rising in the town of North East, and flowing south. The only other streams of importance are Wassaic creek and West brook.
In the eastern part extend the Taconic Moun- tains, while the western part is broken up by the highlands belonging to the Fishkill range. Be- tween these two ranges lies a broad and exception- ably fertile valley.
The New York & Harlem Railroad passes through the town from northeast to the extreme southwest corner, running through the two princi- pal villages-Amenia and Wassaic.
The town of Amenia was formed March 7, 1788. The Precinct of Amenia was formed by an act of the Colonial Legislature, March 20, 1762.
This territory had been included in Crom Elbow Precinct, and was about twelve miles in length and of an average width of four and a half miles. The Precinct of Amenia was to consist of the nine easternmost tier of lots of the Lower or Great Nine Partners tract, and of that part of the Ob- long lying between these lots and the Connecticut line. This included the present town of Amenia and all that part of the present town of North East south of a line running through the northern part of the present town of Millerton. The town of Amenia, when organized, had the same geograph- ical limits, which it retained till March 26, 1823, when the towns of Amenia and North East were so reorganized as to change the boundary between them as it now exists.
The Great Nine Partners Patent, granted in 1697 to Caleb Heathcote and others, embraced very nearly the territory now included in the towns of Clinton, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Stanford, Amenia, except the Oblong, and the south part of
" ROSE-LAWN"-RESIDENCE OF EDGAR
R
VANDERBURGH, WASHINGTON, N. Y.
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TOWN OF AMENIA.
North East, except the Oblong. This grant was made before the Oblong was ceded to New York, and was bounded east by what was then the colony line.
The Oblong, or " Equivalent Land,"* ceded in 1731, after years of controversy, to New York by Connecticut, was 580 rods in width, and was divided into two tiers of square lots, called five hundred acres each, though exceeding that. It was sold by the Colonial government of New York to Hawley & Co., and allotments were made to the individuals of the Company, and by them sold to emigrants, "who received a guarantee of title from the Colonial government." "It was this security of title which caused these lots to be eagerly sought after by emigrants." The Crown also gave a deed of these lands to an English company, which en- deavored to maintain its claim in the English court of chancery, and the suit was brought to an end only by the Revolutionary war. This land was surveyed and divided by Cadwallader Colden, Sur- veyor-General and Lieutenant-Governor of New York, who was one of the Commissioners. An- other of the Commissioners was Gilbert Willett. They became owners of some of the land. The Oblong lots included in Amenia were numbers 43 to 72.
The name "Oblong," which at first was applied to the whole tract, became, after a few years, limit- ed to that valley in Amenia, of some six or seven miles in extent, now Amenia Union and South Amenia. The name of this town originated in the poetical fancy of Young, the American poet, and was first applied about the time of the organization of the Precinct. It is derived from a Latin word, which signifies pleasant. "Aamana." Pleasant. De locis præcipue dicitur "-applied principally to places, and though so appropriate a name, and agreeable, it had not been given to any other town or locality in the county.
Dr. Thomas Young, the poet, was a gentleman of learning who lived some years at Amenia Union, where he married a daughter of Capt. Garrett Winegar. He was highly distinguished as a phi- losopher, philanthropist and patriot, and for his erudition and brilliancy of imagination.
The first settlers in this region found several scattered remnants of the Indian race, generally believed, on the authority of Trumbull, the histo- rian, to be remnants of the Pequot Tribe, whose hunting grounds extended up and down these valleys.
In 1740, the Moravian missionaries began among these Indians their successful labors ; but charged with being Jesuits and emissaries of the French, they were persecuted by the officers of the colonial government, and in a few years were driven from their field of labor and from the State.
After the dispersion of the Moravian Indians, one of the missionaries, Rev. Joseph Powell, ministered to a congregation of the early settlers at the station in Amenia, near Indian Pond, where he died in 1774. Here on the field of his labors, in the burial ground of the brethren, near their house of worship, he was buried, with some of his people. Here also the monumental stone says James Alworth died, 1786, aged 73, and Mary Alworth died 1797, aged 79. Others were also buried here. This ground consecrated by mission- ary work and christian burial, is on the farm of Col. Hiram Clark, in the present town of North East, not far east of his house, and on the west side of Indian Pond.
The first white man who had a dwelling here was Captain Richard Sackett. He was here some years before any other settlement was made, though the precise year when he brought his family is not known. He had been an English sea-cap- tain, and was a man of intelligence and capabil- ity. It would seem that he attempted to do here what his friend Livingston had done in Columbia County-bargained with the Indians for a consid- erable tract of land, and endeavored to cover it with a confirmation by the colonial government. In this attempt he failed and came to poverty, while Livingston succeeded and became the lord of an extensive manor.
The place now known as the " Steel Works," on the Wassaic creek and the Harlem Railroad, was where Richard Sackett made his settlement, which is said to have been previous to 1711.
In the Colonial Records we find that on the 11th of March, 1703, "Richard Sackett petition- ed government for license to purchase [of the Indians] a tract of land in Duchess County, east of Hudson's River, called Washiack." The license was granted October 20, 1703. "November 2, 1704, Patent to Richard Sackett & Co., for said land, containing about seven thousand five hun- dred acres, or thereabouts." "April 10, 1706, Patent to Sampson Boughton & Co., for a tract of land joining on north side of above patent, and extending east to the Colony line of Conn., and Waantinunk river, and north to the manor of Livingston."
* 61,440 acres.
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Mr. Sackett was a resident of New York City when he obtained the license and patent of 1703 and 1704. In 1711 and 1712, he was one of the Commissioners with Robert Livingston in settling the Palatines at East Camp, or Germantown. This occupied so much of these two years that he could not have passed much of his time here in his new home at "Washiack."
The patent of 1704 must have been covered by the Great Nine Partners Grant, made May 27, 1697, making Mr. Sackett's subsequent title in- valid. The patent of April 10, 1706, to Sampson Boughton & Co., was that of Little Nine Part- ners, and Mr. Sackett was one of the nine. In 1726, Mr. Sackett made application to the Con- necticut Legislature for license to purchase of the Indians a tract of land in the west of the town of Sharon, but his petition was denied, though re- peated several times. He was never able to main- tain his title to any of the Oblong lots, nor could his heirs, who, through his son, Dr. John Sackett, at- tempted, in 1750, under the grant of 7,500 acres, to hold some of these lands against Lieutenant- Governor Colden and others.
Richard Sackett died in 1746, and was buried on the hill not far from his place of residence, in a little cemetery now greatly neglected, and in which there is no stone to mark his grave. He had three sons and two daughters, Richard, John, Josiah Crego, Mary and Catharine.
A long interval elapsed between the first ingress of a white man and the immigration of the New Englanders. For thirteen years or more the family of Richard Sackett was entirely alone, and only a few German families were added during the next period of equal length.
In 1724, Captain Garrett Winegar came to that part of Amenia now known as Amenia Union. His enterprise and excellent personal character made him a leading spirit, and it may be consid- ered that he was the principal in this emigration rather than his father, Uldrick Winegar, who came with him, and who was then seventy-two years old. They came here from The Camp, now German- town, on the Hudson River, in Columbia County, and were of that company of Palatines who were forced, destitute, from their native country in the interior of Germany by the hand of Papal persecu- tion.
Befriended by the British Government, they were sent to America, and made their settlement at the Camp in 1710. It is a reasonable conjecture that Mr. Winegar's acquaintance with Richard Sackett
at the Camp may have led him to come to Amenia, and it is evident that he was actuated by a spirit of independence and enterprise, and not by any de- sire for speculation. He settled at Amenia Union, where he built his house, upon land to which he had no title except from the Indians until the Oblong was confirmed to New York and surveyed, when he received a title at a reasonable price, from the proprietor of these lots.
In 1739, Mr. Winegar purchased of Daniel Jack- son three or four hundred acres of land in Con- necticut, adjoining his own, and removed into the house built by Mr. Jackson on the hill above the site of the brick factory, thus becoming a citizen of the town of Sharon. He built a mill above the present mill sites of the place, which was not only the first mill in this part of the country, but was the first building erected in the town of Sharon .* With the Indians by whom he was surrounded he was always on friendly terms, and was regarded by them with the greatest respect, and it is worthy of note that, notwithstanding the early settlers lived in the midst of large numbers of Indians, there is no mention of any block-house or other means or defence against them ; while in Litchfield, between 1729 and 1730, there were five houses surrounded by palisades, and " soldiers were stationed there to guard the inhabitants while at work and at worship on the Sabbath."
Garrett Winegar died in 1755, in the midst of his enterprises. His father, Uldrick Winegar, had died the year previous, at the advanced age of 102 years. Their graves, and those of many of their descendants, are in the burial ground near Amenia Union. Over the grave of the patriarch of this family is an old stone bearing the following inscrip- tion : " In memory of Mr. Uldrick Winegar, Died March 3, 1754, Æ. 102." This stone is much older than the date given. It had evidently been recut to mark the grave of Mr. Winegar, for there are still visible the tracings of the original inscription, a portion of which consists of the date 1664- ninety years before. Near by is the stone which marks the grave of "Captain Garrett Winegar who died July 22, 1755."
Hendrick Winegar, the oldest son of Garrett, had his residence for several years near the foot of the West Mountain, and in 1761, built the large stone and brick house just west of Amenia Union. He was the ancestor of the families of that name in Kent, Conn.
* This mill has sometimes been erroneously confounded with Esq. Kellogg's old mill, which was built in 1773.
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TOWN OF AMENIA.
Uldrick, another son, was the grandfather of Capt. Samuel Snyder Winegar. Conrad Wine- gar, another son of Garrett, was a magistrate and prominent citizen of the town. His antique and quaint looking old house, which stood near the rocks in the rear of Samuel Hitchcock's house, re- mained until about 1820. His only son, Gerhard, or Garrett, the grandfather of Garrett H., was an officer in the Revolution, and died before the close of the war.
Lieutenant Samuel Snyder, who was one of the Palatines, and came here with them, was brother- in-law to Garrett Winegar, and his wife was the daughter of Henry Nase. His house was where John D. Barnum lives. He died in 1808, at the age of ninety-five.
Another family who it is supposed came to this town soon after the Winegars, and previous to 1731, were the Rows. They also were Ger- man, and are supposed to have been of the Pala- tines. "Johannes Rouh died in 1768, aged 72 years." He lived where the brick house now stands built by Henry Morehouse. He was the father of Nicholas, Sr., and William. The sons of Nicholas, Sr., were Nicholas, Jr., Samuel, Conrad and Garrett. Conrad lived where Walter Sherman lives, and Garrett built the Hilliard house, a stone building where Shadrac Sherman's house now stands.
The old houses built by these early settlers, of which there were as many as seven or eight near Amenia Union at the beginning of the present century, were objects of especial interest.
A pen and ink map * of the Nine Partners, ex- ecuted previous to 1731, shows the dwellings in Amenia at that time. The dwelling of Mr. Sackett is shown, and Henry Nase's four near Amenia Union confirm the supposition that Mr. Row was here previous to 1731, and the location of one of the houses agrees with that of Mr. Row.
In 1725, Henry Nase settled in the south part of the town. His memorial stone, in the cemetery at Dover, says : " Henry Nase, born in High Ger- many, died Dec. 14, 1759, about 64 years old." His residence was near where his grandson, Cor- nelius, lived, but on the opposite or east side of the river. Here also his son, Philip, Sr., resided, who was the father of Henry, John, Philip, Cor- nelius and William. Henry, the oldest of these, being a Tory, emigrated to Nova Scotia after the
Revolutionary war. The others occupied four contiguous farms in that beautiful agricultural district.
The families of Knickerbocker and Van Deusen were in the south part of the town at an early period. There is a deed, written in the Dutch or Holland language, bearing date 1711, from Herman Knickerbocker to Cornelius Knickerbocker. It appears to be of land occupied by Van Deusen, whose house was a short distance east of George T. Belding's.
Capt. Isaac Delamater came here previous to 1740, from Kingston, Ulster County, where the family had lived several generations. His father was Jacob, and his grandfather, Claude, who came to America after 1645 and before 1650. They were Huguenots, driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. They fled first to Holland and from thence came to America.
Capt. Delamater was a man of prominence in the town. He was famous as an eccentric magis- trate. Many quaint things were said and done by him, but his integrity and good sense were never questioned. It is an accredited tradition that in judicial cases of importance he consulted his wife, who sometimes sat by his side in court. He was an extensive land owner. Martin remained at the homestead ; Benjamin built a stone house north of Horace Reed's ; John (Honnes), built at Leedsville the first mill erected in the town, and in 1761 he built the brick house now the property of Myron B. Benton. On the wall of this antique building are still to be seen the initials "J. M. D."-John and Mary Delamater. Isaac, Jr., lived on the farm now owned by Newton Reed, where he built a house, a portion of which is the residence of the present owner, and is now the oldest building in the town of Amenia.
The farm of Edward E. Cline also belonged to Capt. Delamater. Some quite celebrated men have descended from this family. A grandson of John Delamater of Leedsville, John Delamater, M. D., LL. D., was a distinguished physician and surgeon, and a professor in the medical institutions of Pittsfield, Mass., Fairfield, N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, in which latter place he died in 1867. Ex- Governor Todd, of Ohio, Ex-Vice President Col- fax and William M. Evarts, are also members of this family. Capt. Isaac Delamater died April 20, 1775, the day after the battle of Lexington, and was buried in his own field.
Besides the settlers whose names have been given there was one named Baltus Lot, who lived
In the possession of Mrs. Caroline Germond, a descendant of Henry Filkin, one of the Nine Partners.
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
awhile in the northern part of Amenia, and on the public lands in the town of Sharon. Adam Show- erman is also mentioned as being, at about the same time, a resident in the northern part of the town. These then constituted the pioneers of the town of Amenia.
The first important immigration to these new lands from other parts of New York and from New England was not until about 1740. The land of the Nine Partners had for some time been in mar- ket and was sold at first in rather large tracts. The Oblong lots brought into market in 1731, had at- tracted many immigrants from the adjoining State of Connecticut, and from Massachusetts. From 1740 to 1750, the immigration was evidently large, from the significant fact that about 1750 the pop- ulation was sufficiently numerous to encourage the people to institute public worship in three different places.
Abraham Reinke, one of the Moravian Mission- aries who in 1753 preached at Nine Partners and Oblong, says in his journal: "The people came here five years ago in expectation of bettering their fortunes by the purchase of cheap farms, and for the enjoyment of religious liberty." This, from his estimate shows that a considerable portion of the people came here about 1748.
Hezekiah King and Abraham Paine were among the earliest settlers from New England. They came previous to 1740, as Mr. King died in that year, and he had built a house a short distance west of Amenia Union, which was afterward known as the "Karner House." This house was built after the style prevailing then in Connecticut, high in front and very low in the rear. It was built of white wood, from which timber all the early houses were constructed. But few log-houses were built.
Abraham Paine, of Canterbury, settled in the northern part of the town, and also Joshua Paine, Jehoshaphat Holmes and Elisha Cleaveland. Nathan Mead came from Horse Neck, or Green- wich, about 1740, and purchased the land now in the possession of the family.
Stephen Kinny, from New Preston, settled in 1740, near what was known as the "Separate," where his family is still represented. Elisha Adams was the first resident in that part of the town called Adam's Mills, and the first in the west part of Lot 32 of the Nine Partners.
In 1741, Benjamin Hollister, from Sharon, set- tled near Leedsville, where six generations of the family have lived. Joel Gillett settled on the Delavergne farm in 1742. Gardner Gillett lived
north of the present residence of Hiram Cooper, and on a road now discontinued. Abner Gillett was here previous to 1748, probably as early as 1742. He owned the farm of George D. James.
Capt. Stephen Hopkins, a grandson of Edward Hopkins, one of the first settlers of Hartford, Conn., and second governor of the Colony under the charter, was born in Hartford in 1707, and came from Harwintown to Amenia about 1742. He purchased a tract of land about a mile north of Amenia village, and including the land on which the Old Red Meeting House stood. He was the first Supervisor of the town in 1762, and held that office in 1764-'5-'6. He died in 1766. Michael Hopkins, of this family, was the first Town Clerk, and served in that office until 1773. Then Roswell Hopkins was elected and he filled the of- fice until 1783. He was Supervisor in 1777 and 1778, and for more than thirty years was a Magis- trate of the town.
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