USA > New York > Dutchess County > Pine Plains > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 26
USA > New York > Dutchess County > North East > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
In the fulling mill Samuel Nash was cloth dresser. He came there in 1802, and had much to do in this line. Farmers wore home-made clothing. Of the men who had cloth made there then were Benjamin Hicks, Joseph Hicks, Philip Knickerbocker, David Winans, Jonathan Case, James Stev- enson, Benjamin R. Bostwick, Henry Hoffman, Job Corbin, Edward Thom- as-all men of prominence in this vicinity. Others came from a greater distance. Nash was cloth dresser there until 1806. He was succeeded by Edward Hart who was there two years, meantime doing a large business. [Note .- This increased business was greatly caused by the introduction at this time (1806) of wool carding and fulling machines into this vicinity by Lewis and Isaac Dibblee, who purchased two sets from an uncle of theirs -Abraham Dibblee-living at Vergennes, Vt. One set was put into this Mount Ross mill-Bentley and Whitman subsequently bought it-the other set was put into a mill on the outlet of "Thompson's Pond" in Stanford. Isaac Dibble attended this machine about a year. There was great rejoic- ing at the introduction of these machines, as wool had been formerly card- ed and prepared by hand. These mills turned out the "spinning rolls."] People came to this Mount Ross mill ten and fifteen miles to have cloth made.
Hart was succeeded in 1808 by Sanford and Macy, and still the business increased. This was a year of remarkable activity in this line. Elisha Beardsley was cloth dresser in 1810, and in 1811 Edward Hart was again at carding and cloth dressing as Beardsley's successor. In the cloth ac- .counts are residents of Stanford, Clinton, Amenia and what is now North East, these mills being in North East as it was then.
During these years, from 1802 to 1810, Stephen Carrol blacksmithed a portion of the time, and Isaac Parsons, a cooper, made barrels and hooped casks, and one Billings and one Delemater were each merchants. In 1809 or, 10, Bentley and Wightman sold the Mount Ross plant to Samuel Wil- bur and Elias, who, as principals or leasors, continued the business until 1820 or '21, when the mills were sold to Henry Hoffman and Jeremiah Conklin. Mr. Hoffman had the principal interest, and his son, Henry Hoffman, Jr., carried on the business with Mr. Conklin under the firm
285
THE MILLS.
name of Hoffman & Conklin. This firm dissolved in 1834, Mr. Conklin con- tinuing alone. Since then the business has been annually less, until at. present it has little but a name. Wright & Guernsey was the last firm that carried on the business with any show of success.
CARMAN MILL.
Another fulling mill contemporaneous with the one mentioned at. Mount Ross was at the " Phineas Carman Mill " near the southern border- of the town. Documentary mention is made of "a grist mill and fulling mill" there in 1796, which had been purchased previous to this date by one. William VanAlstyne, of Kinderhook, "clothier," of Platt Smith, Esq. This is the mill mentioned in the " gore " trouble on pages 34 and 35, which Augustine Graham contested for with great tenacity but without success, but no mention is made of a fulling mill there then. It was then in Ame- nia, now in Northeast, near the town line between Pine Plains and North East. This fulling mill remained in connection with the grist mill from 1796 to 1807, as seen by this notice in the Political Barometer of Pough- keepsie:
MILL FOR SALE .- The subscriber offers for sale his mills situate in - Amenia town four miles north from the Federal Store. The neighborhood consists of wealthy farmers, and the surrounding country very productive of wheat. The machinery of the grist mill and fulling mills are in tolera- ble good order, and the stream which supplies it very durable. There is. adjoining fourteen acres of good wood land, and a comfortable dwelling house, garden, &e. The terms of payment will be made easy. A good ti- tle and possession given immediately by applying to the subscriber living near the premises.
Amenia, May 4, 1807.
MATTHIAS ROW."
No later date has come to me of the existence of this fulling mill. After the introduction of new machinery for wool carding about 1806 and converting it into "spinning rolls," small mills for that special purpose were built. the necessary expense being of small amount. About 1830, or perhaps earlier, one was built adjoining the highway between the Samuel Deuel farm and the now residence of Isaac Hallock in the south part of Pine Plains. A race was cut adjoining the highway to interseet the Shac- omeco nearly opposite the Hallock residence, and the water for the power taken from thence to the mill. Peter Merrifield made rolls there in the 30's. The present tenant house is on the site of his residence, but the mill was taken down years ago. Another carding mill in that neighborhood was built on the Abraham Dibble farm, now Samuel Tanner, near the line be- tween Mr. Tanner and the Charles Hoag farm, now Henry Keefer. The road leading to this mill-laid out in 1805-started at the now iron bridge at Phenix Deuel's, running north along the west line of Mr. Deuel to where the stream intersects his line, thence across the stream west to the mill. A dam was built at the bend of the Shacameco west of the now iron bridge, and a race cut along the bank northerly to the fulling mill,
:286
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
It is said Isaiah Dibble built the mill about 1815. Cloth dressing was done there in 1820 and later by Jonathan Young. He was succeeded by Cornelius W. Turner, who had formerly worked for Young. Turner was in charge of the mill in 1826 and had a good patronage in wool carding and cloth dressing. He remained there until about 1837, and was its last oc- cupant. The mill was soon after taken down by Abraham Dibble, son of Isaiah, who had become owner of the farm and factory. The dwelling re- mained a few years later when it was removed. A few depressions in the earth mark the place of this once profitable industry.
Another carding mill of greater notoriety than those mentioned was started by a stock company at the north east corner of the Square about 1812, then in Amenia, now North East. Some years previous to this, in the latter part of the last century, a company or association had made this point a nucleus for general exchange and merchandising for the vicinity, the company making Poughkeepsie its shipping point. It was called the "Federal Company " and the store the "Federal Store," the latter giving the name to the place by which it has been known for a century. The store however ceased as a place of business over fifty years since. The company ar association for wool carding and cloth dressing was formed about 1812, and known as the "Sackett Company," Samuel Sacket being the president or manager. No amount was named as called for at its or- ganization, but amounts were put in from time to time, the respective parties so investing becoming stockholders. Ths mill closed about 1829, when the following persons were among the stockholders: Samuel J. Sackett, Henry Hoffman, Niram Sackett, Isaac E. Haviland, George Downing, John F. Hull, Daniel Alger, Samuel Hedges, John Gifford, Da - vid Cash, Isaac Huntting, Samuel Hunting, John Guernsey. The amount of stock to the respective subscribers ranged from $150 to $1,500, Isaac E. Haviland and George Downing having each $1,500. When the mill started in 1812 and '13 Isaac Winteringham was superintendent, and Lawrence Smith and Walter Dorchester were two of the workmen. They dressed cloth and carded wool into spinning rolls. The mill had a finisher and a double roller, and seems to have done a considerable business. "Federal Store" was of sufficient importance in 1822 to be put on the mail route from Poughkeepsie to Pine Plains via Stanfordville.
Contemporaneous with this fulling mill at Federal Store was one at the Adams Mills about a mile south of the "Separate," under an associa- tion called the "American Manufacturing Company." In some way this fell into the hands of the county sheriff, William Griffin, in 1817, who sold the property July 22, 1817, in accordance with his previous notice of June 3, 1817. in the Dntchess Observer. His notice reads: "American Manu- facturing Company, consisting of one lot on which the factory stands, bounded west by the highway, south by Roger Sutherland and Turnpike Road, east by Elisha Adams, Jr., north by highway, containing about ten
287
THE MILLS.
acres of land." Henry Hoffman was the purchaser at this sale, to aid Wal- ter Dorchester, cloth dresser, who was, or had been employed at the Fed- eral Square fulling mill. Dorchestor was a son-in-law of Mr. Hoffman, having married his daughter Eleanor. She deceased here April 19, 1819, and was buried at Round Top cemetery at Bethel. Mr. Dorchester re- mained here until 1821, when he went to Mount Ross. In 1827 Mr. Hoff- man sold the mill to Lawrence Smith, who it is said brought the finisher and double roller from the Federal Square mill and placed it in his mill at the Adams place. So it came to pass that the machinery of the Federal Store mill went to the mill below the Separate.
...
---
--
CHAPTER XXXI.
PULVER'S CORNER.
This hamlet derives its name from the early settlers of the name. In 1772 Peter W. Pulver and Wandel Pulver of the "manor of Livingston, Conn- ty of Albany," purchased three hundred and fifty acres of Joseph Jesup and Joseph Jesup, Jr., which was the first settlement here of the name. It was the original "Uncle Helmus," a son of Wandel, farm, as it was known fifty years ago, and now the residence of Harmon W. Pulver, a son of his. Peter Wandel Pulver was the father of Wandel, and the father and son purchased the farm jointly. Peter's children were Andreas Wandel, John, Catharine, Katriney, Christina and Elizabeth, Elizabeth had been married, had children, and deceased previous to 1792, Descendants of this Peter Pulver are now living on the ancestral farm in that locality.
There was "a lane " at the time of this purchase leading to the dwell- ing-the present dwelling is nearly on the site of the old one-from the corner, the main road to Spencer's Corner, now Millerton, going by the present Mulford Wheeler residence, which was then a business corner, known as the Jonas Myers corner. The road by "Uncle Helmus" was made several years later. In the course of events the farm came to Uncle Helmus as sole proprietor, and about 1830, through his thrift and enter- prise, the " corners " became a business center. A hotel or tavern had been built on the site of the present one, the old store at the Jonas Myers Corners had been moved there and set on the southeast corner, directly op- posite the tavern to the south. Nicholas Holbrook, who moved to North East Center-about 1827 successor to Alexander Neeley in merchandising- had been a merchant at the old store when it stood at the Myers-now Mulford Wheeler-corners, and after it had been moved. Jolin H. Lap- ham and "Uncle Helmus" were partners there in 1831 and probably be- fore this date. Lapham left soon after and Harry Knickerbocker was his successor to his interest in the firm. This store closed soon after this, never to run again, for in 1831 Peter Richter built a store on the northwest corner-now standing there-and commenced merchandising. The door- handle on the front door is a tell tale of the date of its erection. It says "P. R. 1831 " and was made by Austin Stocking, father of our late village townsman, Reuben Stocking, who was then doing blacksmith work at "Pulver's Corners." He made one for the dwelling opposite the store to the south built by Capt. Peter B Knickerbocker. It is on the basement door stamped "P. B. K."
Peter Righter, after merchandizing in the new store a short time, sold out, moved to Poughkeepsie, returned soon after and went into the store
289
PULVER'S CORNERS
as partner with "Uncle Helmus" not long after. Warden Hiserodt was the merchant for a few years. Then Uncle Helmus and Jacob Pulver were proprietors and Henry (Purdy) Hiserodt was the manager. Harrison Gilbert was a merchant there in 1851. Then followed Harman W. Pulver, Fred. Bristol, Ward B. Gray, Silas Rowe, Walter Rowe and Albert Niver, James Rossman being his clerk, who was the last merchant to date in the Pulver's Corner store.
The first hotel was built by this Pulver family. Possibly some now living remember this old, long, red tavern. Peter W. Pulver, eldest son of Wandel, was its first manager or keeper. Later came Jacob Rockefeller, then Michael Plass, who was the proprietor of a goat, famous in many end- ways. Then came Alvah Bushnell, who later lived on a farm near Hus- ted Station, and later moved to the town of Stanford. Soon after this, in 1837, the old red hotel was taken down and the present hotel erected by William W. Pulver, "Uncle Helmus." Two years previous he had built the large farm dwelling, now the home of his son, Harmon W. John Humphrey was the boss carpenter of the dwelling, and Tripp Hoag, an old resident of Pine Plains village, was the carpenter builder of the hotel. John G. Tripp, son of Daniel, was the first man in the new hotel. He kept it in 1840, the political campaign year of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and "Matty Van, the used up man." Each party had a meeting there that fall. Four horse teams came to each from all the surroundings. John Van Buren, son of Martin Van Buren, was the speaker on one occasion. Not long after John G. Tripp deceased there, and was succeeded in the hotel by Alexander Hubbard, whose wife was the daughter of Captain Van Dusen, of Lime Rock, Conn., and a sister to the wife of John G. Tripp. Hubbard was there in 1841, '2 and '3, and was succeeded by Israel Puggs- ley, who kept a temperance house. His successor was Elias B. Farring- ton, who was there several years, and then came Anthony Pulver, son of " Uncle Helmus," who remained there until about 1850. It then had sev- eral proprietors respectively, perhaps not in the order named: Josiah Bar- ton, Peter E. Hull, Grove Rossman, the Rockefeller boys, Edward E. Sim- mons and Henry Thompson. Edward E. Simmons returned about 1882, subsequently purchased the property, and is the present proprietor and manager.
During these early years from 1830 to 1850 Pulver's corners was a place of considerable life and industry. In addition to the merchant, black- smith and shoemaker, there was a tailor, John T. Ellison, better known as "Tripp" Ellison, who sized the men in this locality, and improved their habits by an expert use of the shears, needle and goose. The industries of past years in this hamlet have ceased except the blacksmith and wagon repairs of John Wiltsie, who lives there and has a shop for work in this line. He bears the name of an early settler in the town limits. A John Wiltsie in 1785 was a blacksmith located, it is surmised, at the John Pulver place at the creek, now owned by Harmon Pulver.
CHAPTER XXXII. LAMP DISTRICT AND WATER WORKS.
The Lamp District was organized about 1874, and the first election for officers was held at the Stissing Bank, May 5, 1874. Wm. S. Eno, Walter W. Husted and Amos Bryan were elected trustees, and Richard Hermans collector. The system of lighting the streets then inaugurated has been continued from that time and is now (1897) in use, that is by lamps and kerosene burners.
The first meeting of the town board in regard to water works was held June 18, 1895. There were present Isaac P. Carman supervisor, Fred Sad- ler town clerk, William Saddler, Frank Eno, Samuel T. Hoag and P. N. Deuel-four justices. The water district was designated to be the same as the lamp district excepting the lands of Albert Bowman and the dwelling lots respectively of William H. Scutt, deceased, and Henry Engelke, de- ceased. A company was organized and incorporated-John R. Thompson and Newton Hebard of Amenia. Fred Bostwick, Wm. Bostwick, Frank Eno, J. H. Bostwick and Charles S. Wilber of Fine Plains, directors. Fred Bostwick was president, Win. Bostwick secretary and treasurer, and John R. Thompson Superintendent. Capital stock, $10,000. Under this organization the main pipes were laid, and the reservoir built in the fall of 1895. In the spring of 1896 work was resumed, the capital stock increased to twelve thousand dollars, plans perfected and the water introduced. The first annual election for sven directors of the Pine Plains Water Com- pany was held June 1, 1896, when Fred Bostwick, John R, Thompson, Wm. Bostwick, L J. Wilbur, Frank Eno, J. H. Bostwick and Walter A. Rowe were elected directors. Fred Bostwick was elected president and William Bostwick secretary and treasurer. The stock was all taken. John R. Thompson, of Amenia, was superintendent of the works until their com- pletion, and chiefly instrumental in forming and perfecting the scheme.
CHAPTER XXXIII. STISSING HOUSE.
Hotels or inns are the outcome of settlements. The cabin of the pio- neer is an incipient tavern, and as a rule he is glad to make it such, as en- conragement for another pioneer or settler, who in turn keeps the latch string out for the next, and so on, each new comer being fed and sheltered by the one who preceded him. Hence, nearly all the old houses in the the town by tradition were "taverns."
The oldest tavern in this town limits according to records is the old Stewart-Kellar house, about a mile westerly from the village near the pres- ent residence of Horace Bowman, (see cut p. 74,) and James Young was the landlord. It was about 22x34 feet, later having an addition of 16 feet. The old road to Mount Ross passed at the corner of the house. It was geographically nearly central in North East Precinct as to its eastern and western limits, that is, now the western boundary of Milan and the eastern boundary of North East. Here the first town meeting of which I have any record (there were probably precinct elections earlier) was held in North East Precinct on the fifth day of April, 1774, when Morris Graham was elected supervisor, and Charles Graham town clerk. James Bryan and Hontice Couse were elected assessors of county taxes; Hontice Couse and Israel Thompson assessors for quit rents; George Head constable for west. ern district (Milan), James Young constable for middle district (Pine Plains), Josiah Holley for eastern district (North East); James Hedding, Hontice Conse and James Bryan overseers of the poor; Lewis Bryan, Dan- iel Wilson and Israel Thompson commissioners of roads.
Pine Plains had not then a being, and there was no legal highway from the now village to this house. Probably there was a winding path or wag- on track between the pines over the plains, but the road as it is now to that old house was not laid out and made a legal highway until 1785, eleven years after this election. After this first recorded election the annual elec- tions for North East Precinct were held at this now old house for several years, eight in all, the last one being April 2d, 1792. Could the old house speak it might tell of "the good old times" other than those of the annual town meeting, for after the proprietorship of James Young this old house was a hostelry that served many a good dinner and a hot rum between times.
In 1782 Cornelius C. Elmendorph, of Red Hook, commenced keeping tavern in a log house on the site of the now Stissing House Corner, and the spring election for North East Precinct in 1783 was held at this house.
292
HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
This was the first hotel in the now village. "Captain " Cornelius C. Elmendorph was the popular and gentlemanly landlord of this hostelry from 1782 to the spring of 1797. All the annual elections of North East Town were held here, and meantime, at the spring election of 1785 it was " Voted unanimously at this meeting that the part of the Precinct hereto- fore known by the name of the pine plains be forever hereafter called and distinguished by the name of Clinton Plains."
No reason is assigned for this change that I have discovered, but this name was a matter of record for three years, to 1788, when the township organizations in the county took effect, and North East Precinct became North East Town.
This extinguished Clinton Plains as a name forever, as applied to this locality. Though apparently a small matter, it has been the cause of no little confusion and error among annalists where this locality has been put down for the town of Clinton. Ebenezer Baldwin succeeded Mr. Elmen- dorph, and was there in 1797 and 1798. Peter Husted is supposed to have succeeded Mr. Baldwin, as the town meetings were held at his house in 1799, 1800 and 1801. Peter Newkirk, the next landlord, was there in 1802, 1803, 1804 and 1805. Doctor Israel Reynolds was its innkeeper from 1806 to 1823 inclusive, except the year 1812, when Stephen Reynolds appears as the inn keeper. He was the father of Israel, and the management was proba- bly the same as that of Doctor Israel Reynolds. Samuel Deuel was the inn- keeper in 1824, and Andreas Pulver took the house in 1825, and was the landlord until his decease in 1832, when his widow, Mrs Margaret Pul- ver, continued in 1833 and '34, and in 1835 Henry C. Myers became the popular landlord until the spring of 1867 or '68. The hotel had great celebrity as a hostelry under his management. In the '30s and '40s large droves of cattle and sheep "from the west " in passing through the village were pastured or fed for a night or more in the fields belonging to this inn, and the drovers always found the dining tables bountifully laden with substantial food. Mrs. Myers in her management in this line, be it said, was an abundant provider, and was ever ready to meet any sudden or un- expected demand. In doing this she had at this time highly efficient aid in her three accomplished daughters. Lorenzo Decker succeeded and was the inkeeper in 1867, '8 and '9. Marshall Doty in 1870, '1, '2. Lorenzo Decker in 1873. Warren S. Dibble in 1874, '5, '6, '7. Lorenzo Decker in 1878, '9, '80, '81. Albert Bowman from 1882 to 1804. The land attached to or belonging to this hotel was on the George Clarke Little Nine Partner lot, which fell to him on the division of the patent. Thus from the first log hotel here in 1782 or '3 to 1895, possession was held under a lease from the heirs of George Clarke, the patentee. In 1895 all George Clarke lands west of the village were sold under mortgage foreclosure by the Equitable Insurance Company, of New York, and Mr. Coon and Mr. Miller, from Germantown, bought the present hotel property at this sale. Miller Pul-
293
STISSING HOUSE.
ver succeeded Albert Bowman from April 1, 1894, to April 1, 1895. Mr. Frank Barton entered the hotel in the spring of 1895 under a lease from Coon and Miller, and is now (1897) the innkeeper. Repairs have been made on the property at sundry times during the one hundred or more years, the most expensive and important, meantime, having been made by Henry C. Myers above, during his term of management, who built the large barn and shed now there, each having been repaired since they were built.
In the early '30s of this century-probably earlier than this-there was a sign post twenty feet or more high, set in the ground at the north east corner of the hotel, having an arm at the top on which hung the "sign board " fastened on the arm with a hook and eye at each end of the board, that it might swing by the force of the wind. If there are any now living, who in the '30s or '40s were residents of the village or even the town, they cannot forget the doleful midnight creaking of that swinging board. It was suggestive of the door to perdition on grated hinges turning. "H. C. Myer, Hotel " was on the board. This sign post it is said had decayed at the foot and been reset three times since it was first set, and was taken down when repairs were made to the house by Albert Bowman when this old hostelry was named "Stissing House." These repairs left it as it ap- pears in the cut on page 86.
KETTERER HOTEL.
The first tavern on this site was a log house as early as 1798. Doctor Asahel Haskins was soon after, in 1804, proprietor of this property which contained three acres or more extending east on Church Street to the now dwelling of Peter Wolven, and South Street to the Frank Eno law office. Dr. Haskins is supposed to have kept a tav- ern here or leased it for that purpose until 1804, when Fyler Dib- blee and Ebenezer Dibblee purchased the corner and built a large hotel, so considered then. It was a three story building, the upper story or garret being built and finished for a masonic lodge. It was well under the roof to be secure from cowans and eavesdroppers. Ezra L. Barrett was the carpenter builder, who the next year built the old Bostwick store, now renovated and known as the Chase store. The hotel was ready for occupancy in 1805, when Nathaniel Ruggles entered it as the first landlord and continued there to 1809. Almon Bostwick went there in 1810, and re- mained one year. Matthew Trowbridge and Miles Dunbar were his success- ors in 1811. Dunbar remained about a year and Trowbridge went on alone to 1818. His wife was from Danbury, Conn., and meantime from 1811 to 1818 one of his daughters had married Henry I. Traver, a prominent jus- tice of the peace, who came here in 1812, and another daughter had mar- ried Abraham Parsons. At the end of his term in the hotel Mr. Trow- bridge moved to Bangall, kept a hotel, and later went to Salisbury, Conn., where he deceased Nov. 9, 1822. He was buried at Pine Plains, and his widow lived between times with Mrs. Traver and Mrs. Parsons.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.