History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 39

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664

USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 39
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 39

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).

The farm of W. A. MIL MINE was bought from Anne Willnot's patent by Gerrit Van Sente, jr., of Albany. 1Ie decded it to John Strate, who first settled on the place, which he occupied until :So2. He then sold it to John Milmine, whose descendants have since held the property. John Milmine's son Alexander inherited the farm in 1828, and owned it until 1834, when the present owner came into possession.

An instance of long tenure of an estate in the same family, not very rare in this old county, is seen in the case of the farm now owned by J. II. VAN VECHTEN. It was cleared by his great grandfather, Hubartas Van Vechten, who took possession of the land about 1770. His son Derrick was his successor in the ownership of the place, and handed it down to his son David. From him the present owner bought part of the estate about 1846, and inherited the remainder in 1872. In the family cemetery on the farm the remains of the original owner and his wife have lain about a hundred years.

A similar case is that of the KEACHIE farm, which was first occupied by Andrew Keachie, before the Revolution, and on his death in 1825 fell to his son John, who, after cultivating it for thirty-eight years, left it to his three sons, two of whom, F. and A. Keachie, still occupy it.

J. KELLEY's place is another that has been cultivated from before the Revolution, when it was owned by William Stewart. After the war it was the property successively of Wm. Bigham, his son John, and John Kell ;. before it came into the hands of the present owner in 1840.

RES. OF JOHN D. SCHUYLER. TOWN OF GLEN, MONTGOMERY CO. N. Y.

DO 8 WW

RES. OF FLETCHER VAN WIE TOWN OF ROOT MONTGOMERY CO. N. Y.

RES. OF LEWIS VAN EPPS. FULTONVILLE. MONTGOMERY CO.N. Y.

117

PIONEERS OF THE TOWN OF GLE.V.

THE TOWN OF GLEN.

The town of Glen was formed from the town of Charleston, on the 10th day of April, 1823. On the first Tuesday in the month, the town organi- zation was formally completed by the election of the following board of officers : William Putman, supervisor ; Ebenezer Green, clerk ; James Voorhees, Thomas Van Derveer, and Jacob F. Starin, assessors ; Jacob F. Lansing and Henry M. Gardenier, commissioners of highways ; Elijah Mount and Christian Enders, overseers of the poor ; John C. Van Alstine and lowland Fish, commissioners of schools ; Cornelius C. Van Horne, inspector of schools ; Abraham Aumack, collector ; John C. Smith, Wil- liam L. Hollady and Bement Sloan, constables. The name of Glen was chosen in honor of Jacob Saunders Glen, one of the princi] al residents, who had a land grant of ten thousand acres, comprising a considerable part of the town, and was also the proprietor of a large store, now oc- cupied by J. V. S. Edwards, within the present village of Glen. Mr. Edwards is also the occupant of the old homestead which was erected by Mr. Glen, in the year 1818. The surface of the town is hilly, but the soil, a clayey loam, is very productive. Formerly the attention of the farmers was largely devoted to the raising of cattie for dairy purposes, and numerous cheese factories throughout the town attest the extent to which this industry was carried. Latterly, however, on account of the high price obtainable for hay, the farmers have sold their cows, and the busi- ness of the cheese factories has shown a marked falling off.

Aurie's creek, which flows into the Mohawk, and Irish creek, a tributary of the Schoharie, are the principal streams of the town. Numerous at- tempts have been made to obtain iron, but these efforts have not been attended with any marked success. A chaly beate spring, a mile east of Glen village, is about the only natural curiosity to be found in the town. One other, however, should be mentioned, namely, the steep bank upon the west side of the Schoharie creek, a little below Mill Point. This bluff retains the name by which it was called by the Indians-Ca-daugh-ri-ty, or " perpendicular wall." The hill of which thisis ons face end ; all round in similar steep banks, and is about fifty feet high, with a diamond-shaped area of some three acres. It is level on the top, and presents a very singu- lar appearance as seen from the hills to the south-east. It is visible for many miles along the bank of the Schoharic.

The spring above mentioned furnishes a small but steady stream in all seasons and weathers, flavored with iron and sulphur. \ succession of bubbles of gas rises with the water from the earth. The water is cool and refreshing. Animals are very fond of it, and at the settlement of the county, the resort of deer to this spot made the vicinity a famous hunt- ing ground. The water is considered to have medicinal value in cutane- ous diseases. Man and beast, however heated, may drink it freely without harm.

FORTUNES OF THE PIONEERS.

In 1722 and 1725, Lieutenant John Scott and his son took patents for the lands between Aurie's creek and the Yates and Fonda line, near where Fultonville stands. Aurie's creek was so named by the Dutch, with whom Aaron is Anrie, after an old Indian warrior named Aaron, who lived many years in a hut standing on the flats on the east side of the creek. The ad- joining village of Auriesville was named from the stream. Early in the last century, three brothers named Quackenboss emigrated from Holland to the colony of New York. One of them remained at New York city; the other two went in Albany, and one of them, named l'eter, removed to Scott's patent shortly after it was located. lle settled near Aurie's creek, on the

site of the Leslie Voorhees place of recent years. Mr. Quackenboss had several children grown up when he arrived in this country, and David, his elder son, after a courtship on the John Alden plan, married Miss Ann Scott, a daughter of the Lieutenant, who commanded Fort Hunter, and also settled on Scott's patent. A young officer under the command of lieutenant Scott, had requested Quackenboss, then in the employ of his superior, to speak a good word for him to Miss Ann, which he readily promised to do. The fact of his own partiality for the maiden, however, came out more strongly in his interview with her than the suit of her mili- tary admirer. She was all the better pleased, for she preferred the agent to the principal. Learning this, he proposed, and was accepted, and in due time the twain were made one. Their son John, born about the year 1725, was, it is believed, the first white child born on the south side of the Mo- hawk, between Fort Hunter and the neighborhood of Canajoharic.

About the year 1740, a colony of sixteen Irish families was planted, un- der the patronage of Wm. Johnson, afterward baronet, on lands now owned by Henry Shelp, a few miles south-west of Fort Hun er, once a part of Corry's patent.

Several years after, when they had built huts and cleared some land, a disturbance arose between the Indians of New York and those of Canada, and the immigrants, fearing trouble, broke up their settlement and returned to Ireland.

Previous to the Revolution, Richard Hoff and Marens Hand had erected dwellings and cleared land on the west side of the Schoharie, about four miles from Fort Hunter. During the war these houses were plundered and burned by the Indians. The family of Hoff made good their escape, and Hand was absent in Florida.

John Ostrom settled in the town in the latter .part of the Revolution. His son Stephen, who still lives on the original homestead, was a colonel in the State militia in his younger days. Matthias Mount came into the town at the same time with John Ostrom, from the State of New Jersey. At this time the country was all new, and they were obliged to cut their way through the woods.

Isaac Conover was born in 1759. Ile served through the Revolution, with four of his brothers, having moved into the town of Glen two years previous to the breaking out of the war. Cornelius Conover, the father, built a block house when he first settled, to protect himself from the Indians. His barns, filled with grain, were burnt during the Revolution, by a tory named Van Zuyler. Abraham, son of Isaac Conover, is still living on the farm, where his father died in 1846. Seth Conover, another of Glen's pioneers, came from New Jersey and settled in the town al out the year 1785. John Hyner, sr., who was born about the year 1789, should also be numbered among the pioneers.

Andrew Frank, another early resident of the town, was born in the year 1776. His death occurred in 1843. Adam Frank was one of the Revolu- tionary patriots, and in the party who killed George Cuck in the spring of 1780, in the house of John Van Zuyler, the tory mentioned above, and who lived just south of the house occupied, within thirty years, by Maj. James Winne. Cuck himself was a notorious tory, born in the neigh! or- hood, who had fought with the British during the war, and was at the time lurking in the neighborhood to carry off the scalps of two prominent patriots, Capt. Jacob Gardiner and Lieut. Abraham D. Quackenboss. which he knew would sell at a high price to the British patrons of the traffic. A daughter of Van Zuyler having revealed in her whig beau the presence of Cuck at her father's house, a dozen patriots, under the lead of Lieut. Quackenboss, proceeded as soon as possible to the place, and

118

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

forcing an entrance, demanded the scalper. Van Zuyler denied that he was in the house, but on searching it he was discovered, and undertaking to defend himself was shot dead. Van Zuyler was taken prisoner and thrown into the Johnstown jail, having been briefly suspended by the neck near the present village of Fultonville, on his way thither. Adam Frank's son, Frederick, was born in 1793, and was a soldier in the war of 1812.

J. R. Van Evera was one of the early settlers in Glen, and helped clear up the country. His son, Peter, born in the town in 1803, has been super- visor four terms.

John Van Derveer came from New Jersey and settled in the town in the year 1798. and served during the war of 1812. His father served his country in the war of the Revolution.

John Edwards settled in the town about eighty years ago. He came from Columbia county, and was eighty-six years old at the time of his death. Henry Silmser was born in the town of Johnstown in the year 1795. His son, Michael, now a resident of Fultonville, was born in the year 1818. John Vedder, hora in (Hlen in 1787, was commissioner of high- ways for twenty years. John O. Vedder, his son, was also born in the town, and has resided in it all his life. He has been supervisor for two years and highway commissioner for a number of years.

Peter M. Vroomao settled in the town of Glen in 1837, coming from Schoharie county. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Gilbert, a son of Peter, came into (ilen with his father, and still lives on the old homestead. The barn on Gilbert Vrooman's place was the second barn built after the Revolution, for several miles along the valley.

John H. Voorhees settled in the town about the year 1789. Jacob .Schuyler, born in 1791 in New Jersey, moved to the town of Florida when very young, and while still a young man came into Glen. He contributed much to the building up of the churches. Another who took interest in the churches and school, of the town was David Wood, who was born in the town of Root in the year 1804 ; moved into Glen in 1833, and started a hotel at Auriesville. He managed this tavern for forty years, and was justice of the peace for thirty years. Jacob Pruyn, who moved into the town in the year 1833, was supervisor for one term. Victor C. Putman and his son, Abraham V., were also early settlers.

Christian Enders, mentioned as one of the first overseers of the poor, brought the first piano into the town, for the use of his daughter, who went to New York to take lessons.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS CENTRES.

A few years before the Revolutionary war Abraham D. Quackenboss built a brick store on his farm, about two miles below the site of Fulton- ville. Here, until the breaking out of the war, he carried on a large trade with the Indians and the settlers in the vicinity. The brick were made on the premises, the soil in that locality being particularly adapted to the purpose. This store was the trading post for the Indian tribes in the , vicioity, and Quackenboss made many warm friends among the red-skins by his straightforward dealings with them. When the war broke ont, the Indians tried to persuade the trader to go with them to Canada, but he refused to do so. They then made a solemn agreement that neither he nor any of his property should be harmed by them. During one of the incursions of the British and lodians they halted at the store, and helped themselves to the contents, but did not destroy any property, and left the building unharmed. A man named Harrington, who was formerly in the . employ of Quackenboss, remained behind and fired the store. When he informed the ladians, in a spirit of bravado, of what he had done, they were so incensed at what they considered a violation of their compact, that they determined to kill him-and, in fact. one enthusiast did bury his tomahawk in Harrington's shoulder-but milder counsels prevailed, and he was permitted to live.

After the close of the war a store was opened by John Rossa in the - residence of Quackenboss. This was the only store in the town until John Smith established one at the site of Glen village in 1797. Shortly after this, or about the commencement of the present century, Robert Dunbar kept a store at Nuriesville. Before the canal was built Jeremiah Smith established a store here, where he carried on an extensive trade, and had, in connection with this business, a distillery and an ashery ; he was also an extensive purchaser of grain and produce. John C. Van Alstine traded at the same place from 1814 to 1855. Auriesville was the first

point at which any collection of houses worthy of the name of a village in the town of Glen was formed.

Aurie's creek, in the eastern part of the town, affords excellent water- power for milling purposes, and the early settlers were quick to take ad- vantage of it. The first saw and grist mill in the town was erected on this creek by Peter Quackenboss, shortly after the close of the Revolution. It stood about a quarter of a mile from Aurie ville, and remains of the old race-way can still be seen. This was the point to which farmers, from many miles around, brought their grain, as it was convenient to Auriesville. At this point there are now two hotels, one store, a blacksmith shop, and a school-house. The population of the village numbers about 200.

The next settlement made was Log Town, so called from the fact that all the houses were built of logs. At present only a blacksmith shop re- mains of the business formerly carried on there.

The village of Glen, the next point at which business life centered, was called, in its earlier days, Voorheesville, from the fact that Peter Voorhees owned a large store at the place. The first merchant at this point, how- ever, was John Sinith, who began business about the year 1797. At pres- ent the village contains two churches, a Reformed Dutch the first church in the town , and one known as the True Reformed, a secession from the Dutch church ; two hotels, the principal one, the Cottage Hotel, owned and occupied by John F. Hubbs; two stores, the post-office being estab- lished at the principal one, kept by J. V. S. Edwards ; the cigar manufac- tory of Hubbs, Putman & Keigher; the steam saw and grist-mill of Put- man & Talmadge; the tannery of Joseph Noxon; the wagon-shop and blacksmithing establishment of Isaac Talmadge, and a cheese-factory. Glen, although it is situated four miles from the canal, and further still from the railroad, is a very thriving place.

The first Reformed Dutch church of Glen was organized in the year 1795. On February 5th of that year the building of a church edifice was begun, but it was not fully completed until the year 1814, although services were held in the building before that time. Edward Jenks was the first pastor, and Peter Vrooman was one of the deacons for many years. When the project of building the church was first undertaken, it was proposed to erect it in the settlement of Log Town, and logs were cut for the purpose, but it was afterward determined to locate the church at Glen. This build- ing was used for religious purposes until the year 1842, when it was purchased by J. V. S. Edwards, and by him removed to his farm and con- verted into a store-house. A new church edifice was erected on the old site, which remained until the year 1876, when it was destroyed by fire. In the same year the building at present in use was erected.

Mn.t. Poivr, on Schoharie creek, was another collection of houses, and necessarily a business centre in early times. A German of some means, named Francis Saltz, having settled on the east bank of the creek, about the middle of the last century, joined with one " Boss " Putman in purchas- ing the Shucksburg patent of twelve hundred acres, across the creek in the present town of Glen. Salt/ took the half of the patent farthest up stream, from which he sold the site of Mill Point to a son-in-law named Mt Cready : the next farm back of this to another son-in-law, George Young; a third farm to his grandson, Francis Frederick, and a fourth to Michael Marlett, who married Peggy Frederick. The two hundred acres remaining Salte offered to deed to Peter Crush, if the latter would marry his younge-t daughter, a cripple, unable to walk. Crush accepted the offer, and having built a house on the tract, carried his wife to it on his back. They spent their days on the place, and left it to their only son, Francis.

It was Francis Salte who is said to have got a mill-stone from Sir William Johnson for a song. One of his sons-in-law, named Philip Frederick, pro- posed to build a mill on his place since called Buchanan's Mills, in Flori- da,' there being none nearer than the one at Fort Johnson. Mr. Johnson, having a mill-stone not in use, Saltz bought it on two years' credit. When he repaired at the end of that time to Fort Johnson to make the payment, he was urged to sing for the entertainment of " some grand company there visiting." Saltz, though a famous singer, was diffident about performing before such a select audience, and only consented on condition that his creditor would forgive him the debt he came to pay. Johnson said he would do so if the singing suited him. Several songs were sung without producing the desired effect on the creditor, and Saltz, concluding he was not to get aff so easily after all, produced his wallet, singing :

" Money bag, money bag, you must come out ;

The man he will be paid !"

RES. OF REUBEN FAILING. TOWN OF MINDEN, MONTGOMERY, CO. N. Y.

RES. OF JOHN P. VAN EVERA. TOWN OF ROOT, MONTGOMERY Co. N. Y.

RES OF C.C. VAN HORNE

PESO. C.S. VANHORNE. RES. OF SCHUYLER VAN HORNENEAR MILL POINT, TOWN OF GLEN, MONTGOMERY CO.N.Y.

RES. OF WM H. TALLMADDE.

GLEN STEAM, GRIST AND SAW MILLS.

PUTMAN AND TALLMADGE PROPS.

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RESIDENCE, MILL, TENANT HOUSES etc. of JOSEPH KECK, Keck's Centre; Fulton Co., N.Y.

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'MAPLE SHADE Res. of H: T. E. BROWER Town of Mohawk; Montgomery Co., N. Y.

Res. of VICTOR A. PUTMAN, Autiesville, Glen Tp. CANAL STORE, WAREHOUSE etc. Montgomery Cu. N. Y.

119

SETTLERS OF THE EASTERN BORDER OF GLEN.

Guests and host, at this, joined in a burst of laughter ; the latter expressed himself suited and the German took his money back with him.

There was a family named C'oss among Salty's neighbors, and both the parents falling sick and dying, he took their children to his house for care. When one of them had become a young lady of eighteen, Saltz, then a wid- ower of ninety, fell in love with and married her. All the neighborhood was invited to the wedding, and it was a 'gay time in the old Dutch fashion. The sequel was hardly as gay to the aged bridegroom, for his youthful bride ran away in a year with a hired man, incidentally taking the old man's money, which was in silver and kept in a hair trunk ornamented with fancy nails. This trunk is now owned and used by C. C. Van Horne, aged eighty- four, who is a great grandson of Saltz ; and it is as nice as when the second Mrs. Saltz skipped away with the hired man and the silver. It is not re- lated that the old man pined for his graceless companion ; but during the few remaining years of his life, he would sometimes sit down and count over his silver money, doubtless thinking bitterly of that which was spirited out of the hair trunk. These last years he spent with his grand-daughter. Mrs. Cornelius Van Horne. At his death, she, according to the custom of the day, baked for all his friends-some two hundred-who were expect- ed to attend the funeral, but the creek was so high that only the pall bear- ers, in two canoes, crossed it ; they buried the aged man on his old home- stead, of which he had never obtained any title.

The homestead of Cornelius or " Boss " Putman, who united with Saltz in the purchase of the Shucksburg patent, was near the hill on the bank of the Schoharie, whose steep front toward the creek is called " Cadaughrity." Of his five sons, Francis, John, Victor, Henry and Peter, the last kept the homestead. He was a boy at the time of Johnson's descent on the valley in the spring of 1780, and was staying over night with a son of Barney Hansen, at the latter's house near Tribes Hill, in the present town of Mo- hawk. The lad was not harmed, but his clothes were carried off by the In- dians who sacked the house. He followed up the marauders, and found his clothes, which they had thrown away at various points along the road to Col. Visscher's. The latter's house had been fired by the savages, who had butchered the inmates, but the flames had made small progress, and were extinguished by young Putman with a tub of sour milk which he found in the house. In the autumn of that year. Johnson, accompanied by Brant, made his second foray upon this part of the Mohawk valley. Coming from Schoharie over Oak Ridge, Brant's Indians, after burning the houses of Marcus Hand and Richard Hoff, west of Mill Point, proceeded to Cor- nelius Putman's. His family had fled across the creek and he, on the ap- proach of the enemy, after letting out his hogs, concealed himself near enough to his buildings to see the enemy plunder the house, bee hives, and hens' nests, and after feeding on eggs and honey, set fire to the buildings and stacks and depart, one of the Indians having lad :n himself with tobac- co from the barn. The only destructible property that remained was a stack of peas, a hogshead of wheat, which had been hid in a shanty in the woods, against such an emergency, and the hogs, which Mr. Putman bad the forethought to turn loose. With these the family began life anew, build- ing a log house, which was ready for occupancy before winter. Peter Put- man left this place to his adopted son, Putman Van Buren, and he to his woon Martin, who still owns it. Mr. Putman built a large brick house for his adopted son, and made many other improvements on the estate, but himself always lived in his old house, and in winter drove his white-faced sorrel horse before a paneled box-cutter, with a back about a foot higher than the owner's head, as he sat against it. he being a short man. He was a thrifty business man and accumulated a good property.

The farin next below that now owned by Mr. Abram Van Horne was for a long time ow ned by Barney Van Buren, sen., who now lives on the place with his sons Barney and Daniel, and whose goth lurthday was cele- brated Jan. 16. 1878, his wife being then 8 ;. The next farm below Van Buren's was settled by Harmanus Mabee before the Revolution, and at the time of Johnson and Brant's incursion, was in the possession of his son Peter H. The buildings were burned by the barbarians, and seven fat bugs were killed and left in the pen. The Mabee lands are now owned by the grand-children of Peter 11., having always been in the family.

Cornelius Van Horne came from New Jersey, and after working a while for Philip Frederick, married his daughter. Eve, and took up the farm on the Glen side of the falls in the Schoharie, clearing the land and building on it. This farm was the northeast corner lot of Corry's patent. le and his brother, Henry, were patriot soldiers in the Revolution. They fought at Oriskany, and Cornelius was one of eight who carried Peter Conover

from the battlefield, where he had a leg shot off; four of them carried hun for a time, when they were relieved hy the others.

During the Revolutionary war, Sylvanns Wilcox settled the farm next to Van Horne's, directly above the falls. He came from Connecticut. After his death, his claim as a tenant of Clark and Corry was sold, and the family scattered. A daughter, named Betsey, became a missionary to the Dakota Indians, and has lived among them over fifty years, having married a Bap- tist minister of the name of Merrill. They have had great success m civilizing and christianizing these savages. The Cornelius Van Horne farm is now leased by C. C. Van Horne, a son of Cornelius, who has always lived here.

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History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 39

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 664

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664