History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 86

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 86

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The Northern Hotel is one of Poughkeepsie's old land- marks, having been built and kept as a public house for more than seventy-six years. It occupies a retired locality in one of the most attractive portions of the city at corner of Washington and Mill Sts. About 1823, it was kept by Leonard Van Kleeck, who during his occupancy built the present dining room. Some fifty years ago the yard in its rear was the favorite spot for tent showmen. Lewis L. Hutchins, the present proprietor, has kept it for eleven years. It is a temperance house, having no bar attached to it.

The other public houses are: the Exchange Hotel, located at the foot of Main street, which was built in 1834, by Captains Samuel B. Johnston, Rosencrans and Gilbert I. Vincent, who were then engaged in the transportation business in Poughkeepsie, and has since been owned by their successors in that business, the present owners being the Poughkeepsie Transportation Co. Isaac H. Wood, the present proprietor, has kept it since April 1, 1879. He also keeps a receiving depot at the Main street landing for the shad brought in by some thirty-eight persons who engage in shad fishing in this vicinity during the season ; the New

439

CITY OF POUGHKEEPSIE.

York Hotel, Nos. 31, 33 and 35 Main street, built by James Sloan, and owned by Michael Gallagher, who purchased it in 1868, and has kept it since 1870; the Hoffman House, No. 20 Main street, kept by V. Hoffman ; the Germania House, 21 Academy street, kept by H. Seiter ; the Hotel Brunswick, 101 Main street, kept by W. H. Case ; the Mansion House, 61 Main street, kept by L. Devendorf; the National Hotel, 317 Main street, kept by A. Wimpelberg ; the Union Hotel, 22 Union street, kept by Paul Reichardt ; and the Western Hotel, 50 Duchess Avenue, kept by Mrs. Mulligan.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

POUGHKEEPSIE IN THE REBELLION.

T HE citizens of Poughkeepsie displayed early activity in meeting the emergencies of the late war, and within three days after the President's call of April 15, 1861, had raised a volunteer com- pany, which, on the 20th of that month numbered seventy men, and was provisionally commanded by Capt. Wm. Berry, who, a few days later, was ap- pointed to muster in volunteers from this city. Va- rious local military, fire and other organizations were constituted the nuclei of companies, designed to unite with the 21st militia regiment in offering their services to the government; but that regiment did not enter the service until the summer of 1863, and then only to meet a temporary emergency ; consequently many of those identified with those organizations were dispersed through various regi- ments and companies formed during that period. Money and men were offered with equal generosity ; for on the 22d of April the bank officers of Pough- keepsie met and resolved to tender the government a loan of $100,000, and the city one of $10,000.

Poughkeepsie's first complete company was organized April 24, 1861, and the following per- manent officers elected : Harrison Holliday, Captain ; Nathaniel Palmer, Ensign ; Alfred Sher- man, Orderly Sergeant ; Martin S. Riggs, Second Sergeant ; Charles J. Ackert, Third Sergeant ; Albert Gillmore, Fourth Sergeant ; Marcus B. White, First Corporal ; John R. Brockway, Second Corporal ; Alonzo Case, Third Corporal ; Charles Fink, Fourth Corporal. April 27th, the name of Edgar S. Jennings is added to this list as First Lieutenant, and Joseph Williams is named as Second Sergeant, and John C. Ecker, as Fourth Sergeant.

This company was accepted April 30, 1861, and on Saturday, May 4th, with ninety-seven rank and file, left Poughkeepsie for the seat of war, proceed- ing first to Albany to obtain arms and equipments. The students of Eastman's College and a few citi- zens formed their escort to the cars. Some two or three thousand people gathered at the station to witness their departure. They were quartered in Albany with about two thousand troops in a large building, formerly a church, on the corner of Chapel and Canal streets, where, says the "Pough- keepsie Eagle " of May 30, 1861, they were " almost in a state of destitution as regards cloth- ing." It became Company E, of the 30th Reg- iment, whose services have been briefly referred to. The company was subsequently recruited to one hundred and thirty men. Throughout the two years of its service it was always " favorably men- tioned for accuracy of drill, soldierly bearing, cor- rect discipline and gallantry in action." It returned to Poughkeepsie with only fifty-five men, June 1. 1863, and received a most flattering reception. It was escorted through the principal streets, in which the buildings were profusely decorated, by the 7th regiment band, companies of the 21st regiment, a cavalcade of citizens on horseback, a number of returned volunteers, the Poughkeepsie fire depart- ment, and students from Warring's Military Insti- tute and Eastman's College.

Captain Holliday lost an arm in the second bat- tle of Bull Run, and died in the hospital at Washing- ton, September 17, 1862. His remains were removed from the Episcopal burying ground, corner of Montgomery and Academy streets, May 7, 1881, to the burial plot of Hamilton Post, in the Pough- keepsie Rural Cemetery. Most of this company re-enlisted.

April 30, 1861, the call for a second volunteer company was issued and the roll left at the office of Recorder Emigh. In May, Arthur Wilkinson, at present a highly respected citizen of Pough- keepsie, opened a recruiting office for the Excelsior Regiment of Sickles' Brigade. His efforts to pro- mote volunteering were ably seconded.

Capt. Wilkinson's company left for Camp Scott, Staten Island, on the barge Republic, Monday, June 11, 1861, and was escorted to the boat by the Poughkeepsie Drill Guards and the Vassar Guard. Just before the boat started Capt. Wilkinson was presented with a splendid revolver by James Smith, in behalf of the " Ellsworth Grays." The following is the roll of the company: Arthur Wilkinson, Cap- tain ; Charles Jackson, Ist Lieut .; Albert Johnson,

440

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

2nd Lieut .; Matthew Harlow, Orderly; James L. Frazier, 2nd Sergt .; B. W. Murgatroydt, 3d Sergt .; Lyman P. Harris, 4th Sergt .; Edward Pardee, 5th Sergt .; John P. Broas, Ist Corpl .; I. V. Bloomfield, 2d Corpl .; Joseph Conn, 3d Corpl .; John Mead, 4th Corpl .; Jacob Best, Andrew Tripp, Orville Denny, P. H. Rider, Russell Wheeler, Wm. Stan- ton, Andrew Dolis, Wm. H. H. Traver, Walter Smith, Chas. A. Potter, Geo. W. Morell, Jno. Dusenberry, Jno. Murgatroydt, Thos. Gibson, Wm. Love, Edgar Buckingham, A. Propson, Hiram Rouse, Geo. Worden, Chas Crum, J. J. Benegar, Chas. Ketcham, Henry S. Roe, Irving Pollock, Smith G. Case, Patrick Draye, P. Herrick, D. Mullodge, Francis Johnston, Milton Smith, R. J. Minard, Ira DuBois, Jno. Halsted, Wm. Gilbraith, Jno. H. Fogin, Chas. E. Mosher, A. E. Potter, T. Larkin, Jno. V. Smith, R. G. Shurter, Jacob Cook.

Lieut. Jackson left Poughkeepsie June 13th with thirteen additional recruits for this company, which became Co. I of the 74th (5th Excelsior) regiment, which was mustered in in June, 1861, for three years. Capt. Wilkinson severed liis connection with the regiment within two years, and soon after became Asst .- Provost-Marshal-General in the de- partinent of Missouri, in which capacity he served till the close of the war.

The subsequent enlistments during this year have, perhaps, been sufficiently indicated in the general history of the county, with which the city concerted during the remainder of the war.

In 1863, the city, like towns generally, stood the draft. Its quota under the Conscription Act authorized by Congress March 3, 1863, was two hundred and seventy-three, and the number drafted, four hundred and ten. But of this number only sixty-six were held to service ; forty-eight paid the $300 commutation ; and one hundred and five were excused for physical disability. The rest were exempt from various causes.

February 12, 1864, says the "Eagle," the city's quota of two hundred and five under the call of Oct. 17, 1863 was full and eighty-eight additional recruits had been re-enlisted to apply on the quota under the call of Feb. 1, 1864. When the call of March 15, 1864, was made the city had a surplus on previous calls of one hundred and three, and by April 7th its quota under that call was full, so that it escaped the draft which took place in this county May 31, 1864, When the call of July 18, 1864, for five hundred thousand men, was issued, the needed stimulus of a bounty was felt. July 19, 1864, a meeting of citizens was held at the court

house to consider the subject, and authorized the Common Council to payto each volunteer or per- son furnishing a substitute for one year a bounty of $125 ; for two years $200 ; and for three years, $350; and the further sum of 25 dollars to each person who presented a volunteer or substitute for enlistment. They were also instructed to pay any further sum as bounty which they deemed neces- sary. A committee was appointed to communicate this action to the council, which was then in session awaiting the action of this meeting, and that body instructed the finance committee to pre- pare plans for the payment of bounties. July 20, 1864, the council resolved to pay a bounty of $300 to each volunteer credited on the city's quota, and the further sum of $30 to the person presenting him.

The following is a statement of the bounties paid under the calls of July 18 and Dec. 19, 1864, as reported by the City Chamberlain Feb. I. 1865 :-

SECOND BOUNTY FUND-(CALL OF JULY 18, 1864.)

Paid bounty to 181 recruits, at

$700 each,

$126,700.00 1,300 00

500

4,000.00

300 1,500.00

$138,900.00

hand money for furnishing said recruits, vary- ing from $30 to $230 eaclı,

8,100.00

66 on contracts for procuring credits and allow- ances on credits,

660.00

= 3 persons for procuring substitutes, at $730 each, $ 2,190,00

5 persons for procuring substitutes, at $530

each, 2,650,00

23 persons for procuring substitutes at $220*

each,

7,590.00

93 persons for procuring substitutes at $730 each, 67, 890.00

80, 320.00

expenses of Nashville committee, $546.00

66 per diem of Tuthill and Wilber (21 days,) 420,00

discount and interest on overdraw F. & M. Bank, 446.07 expenses of committee to New York, on naval recruits, 229.20

revenue stamps, 120.85

365.95

2, 128.07

$230, 108.07

THIRD BOUNTY LOAN-(CALL OF DEC. 19, 1864.)

To overdraw charged from 2d bounty fund,

$ 1,21

" cash paid 16 one year recruits, $3co each

4,800.00

" for hand money for 15 of above, 450.00

' 9 three years' recruits, $500 each,

4,500.00

.. :

" for hand money for same, 270 00

4 I person for securing a substitute for 2 years,

430,00

530.00

2 recruits for Hancock's Corps in addition to above amount, $75 each, 150.00

on agreement for furnishing credits, 1,290.00

" for sundries, 126.45

Balance on hand Feb. Ist, 2,307.54

$14,855.20

650 4

600 6

5,400.00

sundries,

* Probably a clerical error and should be $330,

"CLIFFDALE"-RESIDENCE OF CORDELIA E. BOARDMAN, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.

MOSS ENGCO-NY

" CLIFFDALE"-THE LAKE.

........

CLIFFDALE.

HE RESIDENCE OF MRS. CORDELIA E. BOARDMAN .- In his early professional career, Andrew Boardman, Esq., purchased a farm on the road leading from Spackenkill to Pudney's Mills, about two and one-half miles south east of Poughkeepsie. It had rare ad- vantages for improvement and taste. Upon it was a small dwelling, which, in the advance of years, has become the beautiful residence represented herewith. To this first purchase he added farm to farm, until it is now quite an estate, supposed to contain over eight hundred acres. The expensive cultivation made, the opening of water courses, the formation of the " Lake," the erection of fancy observatories, the elevation of various points of outlook, commanding the valley of the Hudson, the Catskill and other mountains, the unique and imposing "Entrance,"-all combine to present it to the lover of nature as a winsome country seat. Mr. Boardman long held a prominent position at the New York bar, and this was his fascinat- ing retreat. It was his well-known intention to so rebuild and improve these premises as to make them unsurpassed by any now gracing the Hudson. He died in 1881, universally respected.

442

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HON. MORGAN CARPENTER.

Morgan Carpenter, one of the sixth generation lineally descended from William Carpenter, of Wiltshire, England, who came to America about 1636, was born November 4, 1795, in Stanford, Duchess County, and died in the city of Pough- keepsie, November 14, 1871.

Daniel Carpenter, the first of this family who settled in Duchess County, became a resident of Crom Elbow precinct in 1752, having purchased land in the Great Nine Partners upon which he resided until his death in 1777. Benjamin his youngest son, born July 11, 1749, resided in Char- lotte precinct upon land inherited from his father, until, because of his loyalty his house had been robbed and plundered three times by Tories, he removed in 1778 to land purchased in Charlotte and Washington precincts, now the town of Stan- ford. He took the oath of "abjuration to the King of Great Britian and allegiance to the United States " in 1784 and died 1837, aged eighty-eight, leaving the home tract to his youngest son, Morgan, the subject of this sketch, having some years pre- vious purchased a farm near the city for his two older sons.

February 3, 1819, Morgan Carpenter married Maria Bockée, daughter of the Hon. Jacob Bockée and sister of the late Judge Abraham Bockée. She was born January 3, 1794, and died January 29, 1871. Their children were : Benjamin, a boy of unusual ability and promise combined with great amiability, who was born November 23, 1821, and died while at school in Warren, Conn., December 30, 1836 ; Catharine B., Mary, Jacob B., (for biography see town of Washington) ; Isaac S., (for notice see town of Stanford) ; Louisa S .; Sarah M., a Commissioner of the State Board of Charities, appointed by Governor Cornell, Jan- uary, 1880, and re-appointed March 16, 1881, for a term of eight years ; and B. Platt, (for biogra- phy see page 443.)

Morgan Carpenter was appointed by Governor Seward, in 1841, " one of the County Judges for the County of Duchess," served one term of four years and declined a re-appointment. In 1852 he removed from Stanford where he had lived thus far, to the city of Poughkeepsie, in which he re- sided until his death. As a large landed proprietor he was energetic and enterprising in business affairs. His sterling integrity and high regard for principle always commanded respect. His unusu- ally sound judgment made him a most trusted counsellor, while a tender and sympathetic heart rendered him a kind friend and a revered parent. A firm believer in the truths of revelation he exem- plified its precepts in the uprightness of his life, and was ever a reverant attendant upon the wor- ship of the church and a liberal contributor to its support. Thoroughly devoted to his country, in

all questions of a public nature he took a warm interest, and on all such questions, whether per- taining to City, County, State or Nation, he was always found advocating an honest and liberal policy. While as a member of the Whig and Repub- lican parties, he was earnest in the advocacy of political positions and on one or two occasions de- clined nominations tendered him for important offices. His ambition was not to hold office, but to do his duty to his country and neighborhood to the best of his ability, and so through a long life he acquired and retained the respect and esteem of all who knew him.

THE BOCKÉE FAMILY.

Johannes Bockée resided in Albany in 1685. His son Abraham, and wife Tanneke Van Driese, re- sided in New York city in 1702. He died in 1716. By will he disposed of lands in the Nine Partners, Duchess County, and at Aquackanonk, East New Jersey. Their children were: Johannes, who mar- ried Rebecca Pearse in 1722 ; Jacobus, who mar- ried Elizabeth Burger in 1716, (after his death she married Alexander Phoenix); Abraham, Isaac, Sa- rah, Elizabeth, Mauritie, who married Sampson Benson ; Jaquemyntie, who married Hendrick Brevoort ; Catalina, who married Derrick Benson ; and Tanneke, who married Hendrick Pearse. Abraham, son of the above named Jacobus, born 1717, married Maria Carr (or Karr,) and removed to the Nine Partners 1764, upon land purchased by his grandfather in 1697. He was a merchant in New York City and one of the justices in this county, under the Crown. His death occurred Jan. 22, 1776, six days before that of his wife. They were buried near the Moravian meeting house, which stood between Pine Plains and Pul- ver's corner. Within a few years their headstones were removed to the family cemetery at the Square or Federal store.

Jacob Bockée, their son, was born Oct. 18, 1759, and died Oct. 19, 1819. He was educated at King's College (now Columbia,) and served as an officer in the Revolution under Col. Marinus Willet, and was a Member of the Assembly in 1794, '95, '96, and '97, during which terms of office, he, al- though a slave-holder, practically demonstrated his view of the system by introducing into the Legis- lature a bill for the abolition of slavery in this State. He organized the first Temperance society, said to have been the first in the State, the right arm of whose members was pledged to be the for- feit of a broken vow. Of poetical, quiet and scholarly tastes, he passed an honored and respected life.

In 1783, he married Catherine Smith, daughter of Isaac Smith, Ist, and his wife Margaret Platt, who resided near the Federal store. Of their chil- dren, Phoenix was a Lieutenant in the war of 1812, and died in Poughkeepsie, 1814. Maria married Morgan Carpenter. Abraham the eldest son, born

Morgan Carpenter

BP Carpenter

MOSS ENC CONY

RESIDENCE OF HON. B. PLATT CARPENTER, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.

443

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Feb. 3, 1784, graduated at Union College 1804, and in 1809 married Martha Oakley, sister of Thomas J. Oakley. He resided and practiced law in Poughkeepsie until 1815, when he retired from professional life to the family homestead in North East, where he resided until his death, June 1, 1865. An abstract of his history is contained in the following obituary notice in The Daily Press of June 3, 1865 :---

" Abraham Bockée, whose decease, at the ripe age of eighty-two years, we noticed in our obituary of yesterday, was we believe a native of North East, in this county. Graduated at Union College, in one of its earliest classes, he removed to Pough- keepsie, where he studied law, and was for several years thereafter engaged in the practice of his profession.

He was here married to a Miss Oakley, sister of the late Judge Thomas J. Oakley, and now dying leaves the bereaved partner of his entire wedded life and five surviving children, to revere the memory of a devoted husband, and a kind and indulgent parent. Though in comparatively early manhood Judge Bockée retired from active professional life to his farm in North East, where he continued to re- side until his decease, he never abandoned the study of legal and political principles, but except when called to the discharge of official duties, his time, little consumed in the cares of agriculture, was devoted to varied reading, to study and reflec- tion, so that in later years, his mind was to the neighborhood a living book of reference, and his conversation, interspersed with history and reminiscence was no less entertaining than in- structive.

" In earlier life a Federal, he afterwards allied his political faith with the Democratic party, and represented the district in which he lived in the Assembly of 1820, in the 21st, 23d and 24th Con- gresses of the United States, and in the Senate of New York from 1842 to 1845 inclusive, and was also First Judge of Duchess County in 1826 and 1846.

"There were perhaps few clearer minds in his own or any other State-as a lawyer he could rise above mere forms and technicalities and grapple with the great principles that underlie both society and government, and as a judge his opinions de- livered in the highest court of this State, and many of them reported by Hill, are an enduring monu- ment of his ability. He seemed ambitious only to perform with fidelity any duty or trust that de- volved upon him, and never condescended to seek official preferment, but, to his ability, learning, and experience, had there been added the wily shrewdness of the politician, he might have adorned the executive chair of his native state, or occupied a high and permanent seat in the temple of justice."

Jacob Bockée the oldest son of Abraham Bockée was born in 1814, and was graduated at Union College, 1836, and afterwards at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of M. D. October 15, 1839, he married Catharine,

daughter of Robert Wilkinson. He practiced medicine at Poughkeepsie for many years and in 1862 was appointed Brigade Surgeon of Volun- teers and was Medical Director at Pensacola and served as Surgeon in charge of the U. S. Marine Hospital, New Orleans, four years or until the close of the war.

B. PLATT CARPENTER.

B. Platt Carpenter, son of Morgan and Maria Bockée Carpenter (elsewhere referred to) was born May 14, 1837, at Stanford, Duchess County, N. Y., and has resided in Poughkeepsie since the removal of his parents to that place in 1852. Having received a thorough academical prepara- tion in 1854, he entered Union College from which institution he was graduated in 1857. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1858. In that year he was elected District Attorney of Duchess County. In 1860 he married Esther, daughter of Stephen S. Thorn (now dead) of Poughkeepsie, and has three children, Nina, Catharine and Ste- phen.

In 1864 he was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the twelfth Congressional District com- prising the counties of Duchess and Columbia, and held the office until 1869 when he resigned it. In 1867 he was elected a member of the New York State constitutional convention and took an active part in the proceedings of that body. In 1872 he was temporary chairman of the Republican State Convention at Utica and his speech on that occa- sion attracted attention throughout the State, hav- ing been published and circulated among the cam- paign documents of that year. In 1875 he was elected Senator for the eleventh district of the State, and in 1877 having positively declined a re- nomination as Senator, he was elected County Judge of Duchess County, which position he still holds.

He was a delegate in 1868 to the National Republican Convention in Chicago, and in 1872 to the National Republican Convention at Philadel- phia, having a prominent position in the delegation at each convention. He has frequently been a delegate to Republican State conventions and is now chairman of the Republican State Committee. He has a large and influential State acquaintance. He seldom takes part in the controversies concern- ing local political nominations or appointments but is fearless in the expression of his opinion, which on account of his recognized probity and hon- esty of purpose has much weight. His occasional addresses, and among them his centennial address at Poughkeepsie-delivered July 4, 1876, have been noticeable for clear and compact statement and purity and precision of style. He now devotes himself exclusively to the practice of the law which he has marked out as the work of his life.

44.1

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

COL. HENRY FROST CLARK.

One of our most brilliant essayists, comparing the intelligence of our people with that of other na- tions, says, that in estimating the quantity and quality of mental energy we must ascertain the different channels of work and production into which it is poured, and that while work of some kind is the measure of its power and the test of its quality, we must avoid the fallacy of supposing that art and literature are the only expressions of a nation's intellect. American art and literature represent but a meagre fraction of that vast out- pouring from the brains and energies of our people, which has made us known as a nation and given us a quasi exclusive-a proprietary-right to our peculiar characteristic of " go-aheadativeness," a characteristic which has made itself known and felt in every department, whether of art or science, commerce or agriculture; a characteristic which "has hieroglyphed," as Carlyle would say, "America, her mark" on a whole continent. Nor is it with- out reason that it has been said of us that "this Anglo-American race is developing a finer organi- zation than the stock from which it sprung, and that while it is destined to be more sensitive to art, it will be more abundant in nervous energy." This preamble will be pardoned us, when our readers know that the subject of our sketch has been no rival of any in this galaxy of Duchess county-brilliant enough in literary splendor to easily grant a page or two to one who, leaving no mean record behind him, and crossing the ocean for a moment's respite from honorable work, left in other lands still another record which becoming part of his country's, made for a moment the pulse of millions of his countrymen beat more gladly, and gave to the American heart one of those pass- ing pleasures which have of late been not infre- quent ; of one who is an epitome of the national characteristic we have named, coupled with that "passionate patience of genius" of the Huguenot Palissy ; of one whom, if it be true that "the true artist becomes a man of character only when he identifies himself with his profession or art," surely may well be commended to the imitation of his countrymen.

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 86

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