History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > New York > Orange County > History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 138

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Martin married Rhoda, daughter of Benjamin Hall, who bore him the following children who grew to maturity : Jesse, David, Anna, Emma, Thomas C., and Elizabeth, who became the wife of Robert A. Linn.

Thomas C. died in 1838, then a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and one of his sons, Martin, was subsequently a judge of the same court ; a second, Thomas, is a practicing physician in Newton, N. J .; a third, Henry Ogden, was an officer in the late Rebellion ; and a daughter became the wife of Thomas F. Anderson, of Newton, N. J. One of the sons who came from Bergen County with their widowed mother was grandfather of onr subject, and settled in Vernon township, Sassex Co., N. J., where he died, leaving by his first marriage the following children : John, resided in Ohio and died in In- diana; Hassel, resided in Vernon, was thrown off his horse and killed, his family afterwards removing to Ohio; Peter, was a farmer in Vernon; and Nicholas. By his second marriage he bad the following children : Jane, wife of Ilenry Post, of Orange County ; Dolly, wife first of Abram Ryerson, and second of John Snyder, of Bergen County, N. J .; and Cath- erine, married George Manderville, and died in Bergen County.

Of these children, Nicholas was father of our subjeet, and was a bey when his parents settled in Vernon. He was born April 8, 1781, early in life learned the blacksmith's trade, sub- sequently became a large farmer in Vernon, and followed droving. He was a man of great activity, temperate in bis habits, and never used tobacco or liquor; lived to an advanced age, and died Jan, 2, 1868. Ilis wife, Anna Farver, born Nov.

26, 1787, died March 15, 1873, and both were buried at Amity, Orange Co. Their children are Elizabeth, wife of Amos Mun- son, of Wantage, N. J. ; John N., subject of this sketch ; Anna, wife of George W. Ilouston, of Middletown, N. Y. ; Peter N., of Vernon ; Delia, wife of Peter J. Brown, of Vernon ; Nieh- olas N., of Wantage; Abigail, wife of Jobn T. Walling, of Amity, N. Y .; Catherine, wife of Evi Martin, of Amity ; and Jane, wife of Abiab F. Walling, of Wawayanda.

John N. Ryerson was born in the town of Vernon, Sussex Co., N. J., March 12, 1809. He received a fair education during his boyhood, bat at the age of fifteen began his business career by establishing himself in the grocery trade at Pat- erson, N. J., where he continued for six years.

After reaching his majority, antil 1854, he carried on farming in Vernon, Bergen County, Wantage, and a second time in Ver- non, N. J., when he purchased five hundred acres of land in the town of Goshen, a part of which he subsequently sold. In 1856 he purchased his present farm of one hundred and fifty acres, located within the corporate limits of the village of Goshen. This land Mr. Ryerson has brought into a high state of eulti- vation, and the produets of his dairy he sends daily by rail- road to New York City in the form of eream and milk. Mr. Ryerson may be safely classed among the substantial farmers and enterprising agriculturalists of Orange County, and has devoted his whole life to business pursuits. With Peter J. Brown, of Vernon, he spent the year 1850 in California in the grocery business. He was formerly a Whig, then a Republican, and a firm supporter of the Union cause during the late civil war.

Ile married first, in August, 1828, Hannah, danghter of Abram Van Ilouton, of Paterson, N. J., who was born in 1810, and died in 1832. The children of this union were Annie, who was the wife of Adam Terhave, of Paterson, and died in 1851 ; Amos, is a farmer of Wawayaoda; Abram, is a farmer in Hamp- tonburgh ; and Catherine, wife of Joshua IFolbert, of Chemung County, N. Y.

For his second wife he married, Dec. 3, 1839, Hannah, daughter of Daniel Bailey, of Glenwood, N. J., who was born June 20, 1820. The children are Hannah, wife of William llolbert, of Chemung County; Elizabeth, wife of Jesse A. Ilolbert, of Goshen; Mary, wife of Daniel Carpenter, of Goshen ; Annie, wife of J. B. Slawson, of Jersey City ; John B. : and Daniel B. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson are attendants of the Presbyterian Church at fioshen.

Robert young

His father, Stewart Young, was born near London- derry, Ireland, in 1785, and during his early life was a linen-weaver and farmer in his native country. With his wife, Margaret, daughter of Joseph Watson, and daughter Margaret, he came to America in 1817, stop- ping for a few months at St. John, N. B. From thence he proceeded to Boston, and about the year 1820 removed with his family to Craigville, Orange Co., where he re- sided until his death, at the age of fifty-two. His wife, born in 1795, survived him, and died at the age of sixty- five. Both were buried in the Greycourt Cemetery.

Their children were Margaret; Robert, subject of this sketch ; James, of Chemung County; Joseph W., a farmer in Steuben County ; Frances J., deceased, who was the wife of Horace Mapes, of Monroe; John, de- ceased ; Stewart, who carries on a creamery in War- wick ; Eliza R., widow of William Sutton, of Warwick ; Matthew, a farmer in Monroe; Alexander, of Carson City.

Robert Young was born in the city of Boston, Dec. 25, 1818, and was only able to obtain the advantages of a common-school education in boybood ; but he early learned those inestimable lessons that industry, pru- dence, and economy are the foundations of a successful business career. By his own savings he, in 1845, felt able to buy a farm in Sullivan Co., N. Y., upon which, however, he never settled, but sold it in 1848. In No- vember of that year he married Margaret, daughter of Abram B. and Hannah (Harlow) Watkins, of Hamp- tonburgh, Orange Co., who was born May 27, 1814. Her father died in 1859, at the age of eighty-four years, leaving six sons and seven daughters, of whom only two

sons and two daughters survive in 1881. She is a grand- daughter of Benjamin Harlow, of Hamptonburgh.

For some time prior to his marriage, and for three years altogether, Mr. Young was engaged in the milk business in New York City. In 1851 he purchased the farm upon which he now resides, containing one bun- dred and ten acres, which, by addition and sales, only contains seventy-two acres. To this property he has added other real estate in the town of Goshen and in Sullivan County, and is one of the thrifty, enterprising, well-to-do, and judicious farmers of Orange County. The products of his dairy are daily sent by him direct to the New York market in the form of milk.

Mr. Young's business career is only another illustra- tion of the many in this country where industry and self-relance result in the accumulation of a fair compe- tency, and where honest labor is rewarded with satis- factory compensation. He has been very little connected with town matters, except to serve as census enumerator for the Second Election District of Goshen in 1880, ap- pointed by Marshal Frederick Bodine, and to hold some minor offices. Ile has been a director of the Goshen and Pine Island Railroad since its organiza- tion.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Young are attendants of the First Presbyterian Church of Florida, Orange Co., of which she is a member and he has been a trustee for many years. Their children are Margaret, wife of William T. Jayne, a farmer in the town of Goshen, and Robert G. Young, who resides upon the homestead, and married Nettie, daughter of Alanson Slaughter and Mary Ann Bailey, of Wallkill, Orange Co.

JOHN SEARS CRANE, M.D., the only son of John and Abigail Crane, was born in the town of Goshen, Aug. 3, 1795.

He entered Princeton College in 1815, and gradu- ated in 1818. . In June, 1868, he was one of the seven survivors of his class who celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their graduation from the college.

Ile studied medicine under Dr. Hosack, in New York City, and was admitted to membership in the State Medical Society, March 16, 1822, and in the Medical Society of Orange County, July 22, 1822, Drs. David R. Arnell and E. Jansen being the presi- dent and secretary of both societies.

April 18, 1822, he was married to Miss Sarah Smith, of Goshen, and of the six children by this union three still survive. He began the practice of medicine in Milford, Pa., extending his tours as far as Laekawaxen, much of which was accomplished on horseback through the woods and by an uncertain foot-path. Ilis health being unequal to the labor, he engaged in the general store business in Goshen with Benjamin Strong, his brother-in-law.

" He was appointed surgeon's mate of a separate battalion of infantry attached to the Nineteenth Bri- gade of Infantry of New York State, with rank from Oet. 12, 1825, under De Witt Clinton, Governor, General and Commander-in-Chief of all the Militia, and Admiral of the Navy of the State. N. F. Beck, Adjutant-General.

" On the 29th of September, 1826, he took the oath of office before Asa Dunning, clerk of the county of Orange."

In 1837 he and John C. Wallace, Esq., entered into the store partnership, from which he retired in 1855. At the organization and incorporation of the Orange County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in 1837, he was elected and continued to be its first president till his death. In 1851 he was elected a di- rector of the newly organized Goshen Bank, and con- tinued such during his life. His name for many years appears among the officers of Farmers' Hall Academy. He united with the Goshen Presbyterian Church, under Rev. Ezra Fisk, D.D., April 28, 1831, and was elected a ruling elder therein Dee. 21, 185S. He was an untiring librarian and occasional superintendent of the Sabbath-school almost from its beginning up to three weeks before his death. For nineteen years he was the treasurer of the Orange County Bible Society. In politics he was an Old-Line Whig till the Rebellion, when he became a Republi- ean. Eminently conservative, he was ever ready to lend a helping hand intelligently to every good and useful work.

A fall in July, 1874, disabled him from his usual active exercise, and thus rendered more easy the final conquest by laryngitis and general debility, on Jan. 1, 1875, when " he entered into his rest, having fallen asleep in Christ."

Chas & Johnson

The Johnson family is of English deseent, and the progenitor of this branch emigrated to America in 1664, and settled at Newark, N. J. -

His grandfather, Jotham, resided at the south end of Newark, and married Hannah Beach, who bore to him the following children : Josiah, Nathaniel, Thomas, James, Ebenezer, Elmira (wife of Henry Parkhurst), and Phebe (wife of Caleb Carter) ; all of whom who grew up settled near the place of their birth. Eben- ezer, father of our subject, was born Jan. 23, 1793, and married Mary, daughter of Dennis and Elizabeth Osborne, of Salem, Union Co., N. J., who was born in 1795, and died in November, 1870.

Their children were William, who was a farmer in Essex County, and there died, leaving children ; Henry, died unmarried ; Charles F .; and Mary C.

Ebenezer Johnson while a young man learned the trade of a mason, which he followed until 1826, when he purchased a small farm in the township of Clinton, Essex Co., N. J., upon which he resided, and also for many years worked at his trade, until 1870, when he removed to Elizabeth, N. J., where he now resides. He is a member of the First Pres- byterian Church of Elizabeth.

Charles F. Johnson was born at Newark, March 16, 1824. He remained at home until he was nine- teen years of age, when he left the parental roof to earve out a fortune for himself. For three years he was a farm laborer. On Jan. 20, 1847, he married

Joanna, daughter of Gen. Charles Board and Jo- anna Seeley, and granddaughter of Joseph Board, who with his two brothers, James and David, eame from Wales and settled at Ringwood, N. J., where they had charge of the iron-works. They owned the land in the Pompton valley, consisting of some fifteen hundred aeres, and many of their descendants became settlers in Orange Co., N. Y. Joanna Board was born in June, 1817.

For twelve years following his marriage Mr. John- son rented a farm at Ringwood, N. J., consisting of five hundred and thirty aeres, which in 1859, upon the death of his father-in-law, he purchased. This property he sold in 1872, and purchased one hundred and sixty-three aeres in the town of Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y.,-one of the most desirable and productive farms in the town,-upon which he has resided sinee. The products of his dairy are marketed in the form of milk in New York. Upon this property he has built a fine and substantial barn, and all the appoint- ments of his place show thrift and enterprise.

Mr. Johnson has taken a somewhat active part in political matters, and prior to his settlement in Orange County was one of the freeholders of Pompton for two years, assessor of the township from 1865 to 1870, and represented the Third District of Passaic County in the State Legislature in 1863 and 1864. His children are Henry P., Charles E., Asher, and William.

Edson Coleman

561

GOSHEN.

Mr. Tuthill had only the advantages of a common- school education, but has always kept well read in the current topics of the times, and has a retentive memory and a natural taste for the acquisition of his- torical data.

He has always taken a somewhat independent stand in political matters ; and although a member of the Republican party, has cast his vote for the men who represent the principles he conceives to be right.

He was assessor in the town in 1842-43, inspector of common schools of the town of Goshen for one year, and census enumerator of the First Assembly District of Goshen in 1865. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church at Goshen.

Mr. Tuthill's life has been spent on a part of the homestead where he was born, and mostly given to the quiet care of his farm. For four years he was a resident of Goshen village, and was engaged in build- ing. He built his present brick residence in 1860. For twenty years he has been afflicted severely with a spinal disease, and confined to the house, where he spends the slowly-passing days and years in reading and meditation, waiting for the summons to " come up higher." Mr. Tuthill is known as a man of untarnished character, sociable, hospitable, and gen- erous beyond his means, and a Christian man.

GEORGE MAPES.

Among the oldest native residents of Orange County is the subject of this sketch, who was born on the homestead near Sugar-Loaf, Feb. 15, 1798, and has spent his life in the vicinity of his birth. His grand- father, David Mapes, spent his life as a farmer near Sugar-Loaf, in the town of Goshen. His children hy his first marriage were James, John, Catharine, wife of Garret Rysdyke; and Hannah, wife of Isaac Bull. The children by his second marriage were Edward and William.

John, son of David Mapes, born about 1770, near Sugar-Loaf, resided on a farm in Sugar-Loaf Valley most of his active business life, and died at the age of sixty-two years. He was a quiet, unostentatious man, and sought to fulfill the full duties of the citizen. His wife was Elizabeth IIalleck, of Sugar-Loaf Valley, who died at the age of eighty-four, and who bore him the following children : James, George (subjeet of this sketch ), Mittie, wife of William Roe; John, Hannah, and Susan, wife of Peter Board.

George Mapes remained at home until the age of twenty-four. He married, in 1828, Susan, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Satterly) Durland, of Chester, who was horn March 3, 1809, and died March 19, 1870, leaving two children,-Sarah Jane and John Mapes.

After his marriage Mr. Mapes purchased a farm in Wallkill, on the river, where he resided for six years. He then purchased, in 1834, some 62 acres in the town of Goshen, and for six years kept a public-house at

the corners which bear his name,-" Mapes' Corners," -and also carried on his farm in connection with it. In 1840 he built his present residence on another part of his farm, in which he has resided since.

George Mapes

Mr. Mapes is well known as a man of strict integ- rity in all the business relations of life, kind-hearted, and sociable. His plain, unassuming ways, and his genial bearing have won him many friends as he has passed through life.

His great-grandfather Mapes was supposed to have been of English birth and the progenitor of the family in Orange County. His uncle, Edward Mapes, was in the war of 1812, and was killed.

EDSON COLEMAN.

William Coleman came from England, and was one of the first English settlers on Long Island, and is supposed to be the common ancestor of the Coleman family in New York State, His great-grandson, Thomas, had his residence on the bank of the Hud- son, in the town of Cornwall, Orange Co., where he died Feb. 22, 1822, having been born April 27, 1767. Joel Coleman, grandfather of our subject,-supposed to be a descendant of William, the progenitor,-was born in Goshen, resided most of his life in Hamp- tonburgh, and was a farmer. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was at the battle of White Plains. He died at Scotchtown, in Wallkill, at the age of eighty-four, Oct. 24, 1840.

562

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

By his first wife he had children,-Rumsey and Joel, resided on the homestead their lives and there died ; Philena, was the wife of Nathaniel Carpenter ; Keziah, wife of James Manning; Hull, father of our subject; Oliver; and Rachel, wife of John Brown. By his second wife (Mrs. Mary Owen, a daughter of Hiram Dunning) he had one child, Alfred Coleman, who has spent most of his life as a farmer in Wall- kill, and now, at the age of seventy-six, is a resident of Middletown, N. Y. His second wife died in 1845, aged eighty-four.

Hull Coleman, born Sept. 12, 1790, on the home- stead, married, in 1810, Lois, daughter of Mrs. Mary Owen, before mentioned, by her first husband. She died July 3, 1857. He died Aug. 28, 1865. Their children are Eliza, born Dec. 24, 1811, died Jan. 14, 1866, was the wife of Thomas S. Nanny, of Amity, town of Warwick; Edson, subject of this sketch, born March 3, 1815; Almeda, born May 23, 1817, wife of William H. Waterbury, of Warwick ; Frances M., born March 14, 1819, was the wife first of John

M. Ferrier, and after his death became the wife of : a Miss Grovesnor, who belonged to a wealthy and in- Louis M. Jayne, of Warwick.

Hull Coleman spent most of his active business life as a farmer in the town of Warwick ; but about five years prior to his decease settled in Florida village, in the same town, still continuing the oversight of a few acres of land. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, first at Amity, and sub- sequently at Florida, where they removed. He never sought public place, but preferred the quiet life of an agriculturist. He was a man of sterling integrity in all his business relations, of correct habits, and had the confidence of his fellow-citizens.

Edson, son of Hull Coleman, born on the home- stead in Warwick, during his minority received only a common-school education; but he became ac- quainted with all that pertains to a well-conducted farm. Aug. 26, 1838, he married Hannah Elizabeth, daughter of lIon. John W. Wisner, of Elmira, N. Y., who was a prominent lawyer of that city and for many years magistrate, and who served as judge of Chemung County. He was a candidate for member of Congress at two different times, and was only de- feated by some thirty votes in a poll of thirteen thou- sand, although his party was largely in the minority. He was also supervisor for several terms, and took a decided and influential stand against the principles of slavery in the Southern States.

Mrs. Coleman's mother was Eliza, danghter of dam, and came to America, first settling on Long Island, afterwards in Bergen Co., N. J., in 1701, and subsequently in Sussex Co., N. J. Her paternal grandfather was Jeffrey Wisner, cousin of Henry G. Wisner, a prominent lawyer of Goshen, who died in 1842, and grandson of Henry Wisner, an early resi- dent of Goshen, and one of the founders of the re- public. Mrs. Coleman was born March 2, 1818.

In 1839, Mr. Coleman purchased 100 acres of land, where he now resides, in the town of Goshen, to which he has since added some 40 acres. In 1860 he erected a fine and substantial farm residence, and later commodions barns, and has brought his land into a high state of cultivation. His surround- ings show to the passer-by thrift, enterprise, and the cultivated taste of an intelligent farmer. Both he and his wife are attendants of the Presbyterian Church at Amity, of which his wife is a member, and a lady of rare womanly qualities.

Like his ancestors before him, Mr. Coleman is progressive in his ideas, and a supporter of all meas- ures tending to the welfare of the community in which he resides, although never taking any active part in political matters, except to cast his vote, which he does as a member of the Republican party.

JOHN T. ACKLEY.

His paternal grandfather, Daniel Ackley, married fluential English family, who bore him the following children : Augustus A .; Hiram, of Illinois ; George ; Catharine, wife of Robert Collins; Jane; and Han- nah, who became the wife of Thomas Bellamy.

Of these children, Augustns A. Ackley was father of John T., was born in Vermont in 1799, and came to Orange County while a young man. He married, abont 1821, Maria, daughter of Edward Mapes, whose family were among the early settlers of Goshen. Their children are William P., of Goshen ; James H., deceased ; John T., subject of this sketch; Joanna, wife of Hayden Wheeler, of Middletown, N. Y .; Daniel E .; Wyckliffe W .; Hannah, wife of J. W. Riker ; Augustus, Henry, Thomas, and Mary.

Upon coming to Orange County, Angustus A. Ack- ley learned the tailor's trade of Joseph Munnell, of Hamptonburgh, and is said to have become a first-class workman at his trade, which he carried on for several years at Sugar-Loaf. He afterwards engaged in farm- ing in Warwick, was a merchant at Sugar-Loaf from 1836 to 1841, and subsequently at Chester. He was an active, industrious, and thrifty business man, of good habits, and had the confidence of his fellow-men. He died at Sugar-Loaf, April 12, 1866. His wife was born in 1801, and died about 1863.

Richard Ryerson, whose ancestors were from Amster- i of sixteen he went into the busy world to carve out a

John T. Ackley was born at Sugar-Loaf, Orange Co., April 3, 1825. Having received the ordinary opportunities of a district school education, at the age fortune for himself. For one year he was clerk in the !store of William N. White, of Newburgh, and for two years following he was a clerk in his father's store at Chester. He then spent one year as a student at the Farmers' Hall Academy at Goshen, and in 1845 went to New York, where he remained for four years as book-keeper for the firm of Furman & Davis.

In 1849 he went to San Francisco, Cal., where he

Ackley .

Adrian Ballast )

His grandfather, John Holbert, resided in the town of Ches- ter, Orange Co., sold his farm there, and took his pay in Con- tinental money, and consequently, upon his return from the war, in which he served as captain, to free the American colo- nies from British tyranny, he was without property. He con- tinued to reside in Chester until his death, which occurred in 1821, at the age of ninety-three. His wife, Mary, was born in Holland, and died some time prior to the death of her husband, leaving children,-Peter, Ebenezer, Samuel, John, Mary, and Susan, wife of Rynard House, of Chester. All of these ehil- uren, except Mary, were married, reared families, and settled in Orange County.

Peter, father of Adrian, born Aug. 24, 1768, in Chester, mar- ried Rosanna, daughter of Garret Durland, of Minisink, who was born April 10, 1770, and died May 15, 1839. He died Oct. 19, 1836. Their children were Mary, wife of David Robertson, died of spotted fever in 1808; William, deceased; Martha, wife of Abijah Wells; Susan, wife of Abram Tyler ; Miriam, wife of William Wells; John; Sarah, wife of Silas C. Brown ; Harriet, wife of Jacob Dunning; Elizabeth, married first Joseph Sayer, and after bis death became the wife of Lynden Mulford; Adrian; and Peter ; ten of whom married and reared families, and all of whom reside in the town of Minisink, except Adrian. Peter Hulbert, father of these children, after his marriage pur- chased land in Minisink, which he eleared of its original forest, and he and his wife met the obstacles incident to pioneer life, with which they battled successfully, and during their lives contributed much to the growth and development of the town in which they took up their residence.

Mr. Holbert was influential in the affairs of his towo aod county, and a stanch member of the old Whig party. Ile served as supervisor several terms; was justice of the peace for twenty-seven years, doing most of the conveyaneing in the town, for he was a very fine penman; and he served in the State Legislature, from Orange County, in 1812. He was a suc- cessful business man, and owned considerable real estate at his deatlı.

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1336

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336