History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 5

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 5

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One of the leading features in the early civil divi- sions established by the English was the organization of precincts. Cities and towns had been established by the Dutch prior to the English occupation ; a few English towns existed on Long Island, and a few town charters were subsequently granted by the Governor and Council to companies or associated colonists; but precincts were entirely different in their constitu- tion and government, and of necessity became more numerous. Primarily, they were composed of the scattered settlements of contiguous territory, organ- ized by the courts as court districts, and attached to some adjoining town for assessment and local govern- ment. Their boundaries were crude; their popula- tion small; their officers such as were known only to the county at large. Subsequently, as population in- creased, their boundaries were more clearly defined, and officers assigned to them. So numerous did these divisions ultimately become that towns were almost entirely lost sight of until after the Revolution, when the distinction, which then existed only in name, was removed.

In 1701 the Assembly, by act of October 18th, pro- vided that the justices of the peace of the several counties, " or any five or more of them, two whereof to be a quorum," should, once in the year, at a court of general or special sessions, supervise, examine, and allow the public and necessary charge of their respective county, and of every town thereof," in- cluding the "allowance made by law to their repre- sentative or representatives." For the assessment

and collection of the accounts allowed by them, they were "empowered to issue their warrant to the several towns for the election of two assessors and one collector in each town." The act further pro- vided that the "justices at the respective general sessions" should, " once in the year, make provision for maintenance and support of the poor" of their several towns or precincts.

This law continued in force until June, 1703, when it was enacted that there should be "elected and chosen, once every year, in each town, by the free- holders and inhabitants thereof, one of their free- holders and inhabitants, to compute, ascertain, ex- amine, oversee, and allow the contingent, public, and necessary charge of each county, and that each and every inhabitant, being a freeholder in any manor, liberty, jurisdiction, preeinet, and out-plantation, shall have liberty to join his or their vote with the next adjacent town in the county, where such inhabitants shall dwell, for the choice of a supervisor." The law also provided that there should be annually chosen "in each town, ward, manor, and precinct, by the freeholders and inhabitants thereof, two assessors and one collector." The elections were to be held "on the first Tuesday in April," or on such other days as were " appointed by their charters and patents." The supervisors were required to meet annually, "at the county town in each respective county, on the first Tuesday in October," and at such other time and times as they should "judge and find necessary and convenient," and then and there " compute the public necessary contingent charges against their respective counties," together with "such other sum and sums of money" as should be " brought and exhibited to or before them," to be levied on their respective " coun- ties by the laws of the colony." When the computa- tion was " perfected, and the proportion of each town, manor, liberty, jurisdiction, and precinct ascertained and appointed," it was to be transmitted to the asses- sors, who were "required, equally, duly, and impar- tially, to assess and make a rate for their respective proportions," being first sworn to make such assess- ment equally and impartially. The assessment, when completed, was to be delivered to the collectors, who were empowered to collect and pay the same to the county treasurer, who was to be "annually chosen in each county by the supervisors."

The changes which up to this time had been made in the civil government, it will be observed, consisted in substituting courts of justices of the peace for the courts held by overseers under the law of 1665. Con- stables were continued in each town, and in addition the towns were authorized to elect supervisors, asses- sors, and collectors. Officers equivalent to the present commissioners of highways were given to the towns in 1691, by an act "impowering" the freeholders "to nominate and make choice in each of their respective towns, annually, three persons to be surveyors and orderers of the work for laying out and the amend-

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ment of the highways and fences within the bonnds and limits of their respective towns." This law also gave power to the freeholders of the towns, when as- sembled for the election of the officers to which they were entitled, "to make, establish, constitute, and ordain such prudential orders and rules, for the better improvement of their lands in tillage, pasturage, or any other reasonable way," as the majority should deem " good and convenient."

It was under these general laws that the district of country now forming the county of Orange, as a part of the original counties from which it was taken, had its organization and early development. The act of 1683, dividing the province into shires and counties, provided : "The County of Ulster to contain the towns of Kingston, Hurley, and Marbletown, and all the vil- lages, neighborhoods, and Christian habitations on the west side of Hudson's River, from the Murderer's Creeke, near the Highlands, to Sawyer's Creeke. The County of Orange* to beginne from the limitts or bounds of East and West Jersey, on the west side of Hudson's River; along the said river to Murderer's Creeke, or bounds of the county of Ulster; and west- ward into the woods as far as Delaware River." These boundaries, though crude and illustrative of the im- perfect knowledge of the country which then prevailed, were destined to be substantially maintained for over one hundred years.

The organization of the towns and precincts in the original county of Orange began with that of the town of Orange in 1686. Soon after its organization the inhabitants of the adjoining patents, including Haverstraw, were attached to it for court jurisdiction and assessment. By act of Assembly, June 24, 1719, -in response to a petition of the inhabitants of Ilaverstraw, reciting the inconveniences of associa- tion with Orangetown,-the northern settlements were included in a precinct under the title of the Precinct of Haverstraw, thereby creating two pre- cincts, viz. : Orangetown, with Tappan as its centre, and Haverstraw, with the "Christian patented lands of Haverstraw" as its centre. The boundaries of the latter were "from the northernmost bounds of Tap- pan to the northernmost bounds of Haverstraw." Its inhabitants were authorized to elect on the first Tues- day in April annually the officers common to a town, viz. : "One supervisor, one collector, two assessors, one constable, and two overseers of highways," who should be "invested with all the powers, and be obliged to perform such services and duties" as per- tained to similar officers.

The settlements of Goshen, Warwick, Gray Court, etc., on the Wawayanda Patent, were given organ- ization as the Precinct of Goshen some time about 1714, the township of Goshen becoming the political

centre.t Under the general law of 1703, it was entitled to two assessors, a collector, overseers of highways, and a constable. It remained without change until 1743, when it was empowered to elect, in addition to its other officers, two constables, one of whom should be " from and ont of such of the inhabitants" as had their res- idence in the south part of the precinct "commonly called Wawayanda," and the other from "the inhabi- tants to the northward, near the meeting-house com- monly called the water-side meeting-house." The territory embraced in the precinct included the entire county, with the exception of the Haverstraw and Orangetown districts, and extended from the Dela- ware to Hudson's River.# By act of Assembly, Oct. 20, 1764, it was divided by " a straight line to be run, beginning at the borders or verge of the county of Ulster, near the new dwelling-house of John MIanno, thence on a course which will leave the house of Bar- nabas Horton, Jr., ten chains to the westward to the most extreme parts of said precinct ;¿ all the lands lying to the west of said line to be Goshen Precinct, and all eastward to be called New Cornwall Precinet. These two precinets, with the precincts of Haver- straw and Orangetown, constituted the political divi- sions of the county until after the Revolution. Sub- sequently, and prior to 1797-98, the following changes were made: The title of precinct was changed to that of town in the cases of Orangetown, Haverstraw, Goshen, and New Cornwall, in 1788,|| at which time the towns of Warwick and Minisink were erected from Goshen ; from Haverstraw the towns of Clarks- town and Ramapo were erected in 1791; New Corn-

+ Goshen was founded as a township, precisely as was Orangetown, and was similarly included in the subsequent precinct organization with other settlements. It should be observed, however, that in these and other cases of prior township organizations the adjoining settlements were the precincts of the town to which they were attached.

# That portion of the precinct lying west of the Minisiuk Mountains was subjected to several political changes: By act of Oct. 18, 1701, " for the more regular proceedings in election of Representatives," the inhab- itants of " Wagachemeck and Great and Little Minisink" were "impow- ered to give their votes in the county of Ulster." By act of Nov. 12, 1709, " to determine, settle, andl ascertain the bounds and limits of the county of Orange," the act of Oct. 18, 1701, was repealed so far as it re- lated to the settlements named, which were in effect declared to be a part , of Orange County. By subsequent survey Maghaglikemek (Cuddeback- ville) was found to be north of the hne of Orange, and hence passed to the jurisdiction of Ulster, appearing on the tax-roll as the " Neighbor- hood of Magliaghkemek." It remained in this political relation until 1799, when the town of Deerpark was erected as one of the consequences of the reorganization of Orange County, of which it became part. The other settlements were included (after 1709) in the precinct of Goshen; subsequently that portion lying north of the New Jersey line became part of the town of Minisink (1785), from which they were taken (1798) and included in the boundaries of Deerpark. It may be added that a portion of the district, embracing what subsequently fell to New Jersey, appears to have had organization as the precinct of Minisink, and as such, through its assessors, raised its qnota of the tax for the erection of the court-honse at Goshen in 1739. Its constitution as a precinct was no doubt by order of the court; it bas no record of that character in the acts of the General Assembly.

{ This line is said to have been parallel with the west line of the pres- ent town of Monroe.

/ Tbe erection of towns at this date, wherever situated in the State, was under a general law passed March 7, 1788, entitled "An act for dividing the counties of this State into towns."

* "So called in compliment to the Dutch son-in-law of James II."- Brodhead. Known as the Prince of Orange, subsequently William III., of England.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

wall changed its title to Cornwall in 1797. These changes gave to the county, in 1798, the towns of gunk Mountains." In more general terms, the district was defined as "bounded westerly by the Shawan- Orangetown, Haverstraw, Clarkstown, Ramapo, , gunk Monntains as they run from the county of Goshen, Warwick, Minisink, and Cornwall. Orange to a creek or river called the Plattekill, then along the Plattekill to Shawangunk River, then all along Shawangunk River to the north bounds of the ten thousand acres granted to Jeremiah Schuyler aforesaid." The freeholders were required to " meet at the house of Matties Millspaught on the first Tues- day of April yearly," or at such other place as should be selected by the inhabitants after the first meeting, and elect one supervisor, two assessors, a collector, a constable, and an overseer of the poor. One of the assessors was to be located on the west side of the Wallkill, "and because the said Wallkill River, which crosses the said precinet, is sometimes danger- ous to pass," one collector and one constable were added to the officers of the precinet "for that part thereof which lieth to the westward of said river."

From this survey of the original county of Orange we pass to notice the civil divisions of Ulster County so far as they were embraced in the district which we are considering. Immediately north of Murderer's Creek there was no eivil organization until the advent of the Palatines in 1709,* when the precinct of the Highlands was erected and attached to New Paltz. The boundaries of the precinct are not stated, but the order is understood to have applied more espe- cially to the territory extending from New Paltz to Murderer's Creek, in which district the Palatines at Quassaick were then the principal settlers. At the same time or soon after, the constitution of the Pre- cinet of the Highlands, and evidently by order of the court, the Precinct of Maghaghkemek, t and the Pre- cinct of Shawangunk were constituted, the latter at- tached to New Paltz. As in the case of the Precinct of the Highlands, no boundaries are given ; but from deeds, tax-rolls, and other papers of record, it is clear that the present towns of Montgomery, Crawford, and Wallkill were embraced in the limits of this precinct. Under this limited organization the territory which these precinets covered remained until 1743, when, by act of Dec. 17, three full precincts, having all the officers of towns and exercising all their duties, were established by act of the Assembly. These precinets were to be known and called "by the name of the Wallkill Precinct, Shawangunk Precinct, and High- land Precinct." The first, the Precinct of Wallkill, was bounded on the north "by the north bounds of ten thousand acres of land granted to Jeremiah Schuyler and others, by the south bounds of four thousand acres of land granted to Gerardus Beekman and others, by the north bounds of three thousand aeres of land granted to Henry Wileman and others, by the east bounds of three thousand acres of land granted to John Johnson, and by the east bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Cadwallader Colden ;" on the south "hy the north bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Patrick Hume, by the north and west bounds of the land granted to Cornelius Low and others, and by the northwest and southwest bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Phineas MeIntosh, and by the line di- viding the counties of Orange and Ulster to Shawan-

The second, the Precinct of Shawangunk, was bounded on the west "by the foot of Shawangunk Mountains ; on the south and west by the precinct of Wallkill; on the east by the line or bounds of three thousand five hundred acres granted to Rip Van Dam and others, by the east bounds of two thousand acres of land granted to Barbarie, and by the east bounds or line of two thousand acres of land granted to Huddles- ton ; and on the north by the north bounds or line of the said two thousand acres granted to Huddleston, by the north bounds of two thousand acres granted to Peter Matthews and others ;" on the south by a line "crossing the said Wallkill River to the mouth of Shawangunk River, and running thence southwest- erly all along the northwest side of said Shawangunk River to the southwest corner of the land granted to Col. Jacob Rutzen ;" and on the west by the "west- erly bounds or line of said land granted to Rutzen to a salt pond, called ' the great salt pond,' and from thence upon a west line to. the foot of Shawangunk Moun- tains aforesaid." The first preeinet meeting was to be held at the house of Benjamin Smedes, Jr., at which a supervisor, two assessors, and the usual precinct officers were to be chosen, and the place of subse- quent meetings designated.

The Precinct of the Highlands embraced the patents lying along the Hudson from Murderer's Creek to New Paltz, and was more particularly described as "bounded on the east by Hudson's River; on the south by the line dividing the counties of Ulster and Orange ; on the west by the precinets of Wallkill and Shawangunk and the neighborhoods annexed to the New Paltz,¿ and on the north by the bounds or line

* So much of the district as was embraced in the Evans Patent was, by the terms of that instrument, crected into the " Manor and Lordship of Fletcherdon," with the usual authority conferred in manorial grants, but, in the absence of other population than that included in the Mac- Gregorie settlement, it is not probable that even the civil jurisdiction of a manorial court was established during the few years the grant was continued.

+ The correctness of this statement having been questioned, we quote from the act of Dec. 17, 1713: " And whereas Shawangunk, Highlands, and Maghaghkemek have formerly been deemed and esteenied three precincts, and have been assessed by their own assessors," etc, Mag- haghkemek was subsequently included in the Precinct of Mamakating.

# Millspangh was a very early settler in the present town of Mont- gomery. He married the widow of Johannes Mingus, who erected the first grist-mill in the town (1721-22), and through this marriage obtained the Mingus mill and farm,

¿ The "neighborhoods annexed to New Paltz" were "Guilford and several other patents, from the south bounds of New Paltz to the north bounds of Shawangunk precinct, and from the foot of the high monn- tains castward to the east line of the patent granted to Thomas Garland,

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of New Paltz town." The precinct meetings were to be held "at the house of John Humphrey, Jr.," who resided in the present town of New Windsor, " on the first Tuesday of April annually," for the election of precinct officers.

The same act gave primary constitution to the Pre- cinct of Mamakating, in which was included "all the land to the southward of the town of Rochester as far as the county of Ulster extends, and to the westward of the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk as far as the county extends." The first precinct meeting was to be held at the dwelling-house of Samuel Swartwout, at which one constable, two assessors, two overseers of the poor, and two surveyors of bighways were to be elected. In the election of supervisor the freeholders were associated with the town of Rochester. Under the law of 1798, the northern part of the territory in- cluded in the then town of Deerpark was taken from this precinct.

The Precinct of the Highlands continued in exist- ence until 1762, when it was divided into the Precinets of Newburgh and New Windsor, "by a line begin- ning at the mouth of Quassaick Creek, and running thence along the south bounds of a tract of land com- monly called the German Patent to another tract granted to Alexander Baird, and then along the southerly bounds of the said last mentioned tract to the Wallkill Precinct ; all the lands heretofore com- prehended within the said Highland Precinet lying to the southward of the aforesaid dividing line to be called by the name of New Windsor Precinct, and all the lands heretofore comprehended within the said Highland Precinct lying to the northward of the said line to be called by the name of Newburgh Precinct." The latter was divided in 1772 by a line running along the north bounds of the Harrison, Bradley, Wallace, Kip and Cruger, and Jamison Patents, to the Precinct of Shawangunk, " all the land lying to the northward of said line to be called and known by the name of New Marlborough Precinct, and all the land south of said line to continue to be called New- burgh Precinct."

The same law divided the Precinct of Wallkill by a line beginning at the southwest corner of the MeIn- tosh Patent and the southeast corner of MeKnight's, " thence along the southwest bounds of Thomas Noxon, the southwest bounds of Harrison and Company, the southwest bounds of Philip Schuyler, to the Pakada- sink River or Shawangunk Kill ;" all northeast of this line " to be called the Precinct of Hanover, and all the land southwest of said line, heretofore compre- hended in the Precinct of Wallkill, to continue to be called the Precinct of Wallkill."

The preeinets named carried with them their desig-

native titles in their organization as towns under the act of 1788, with the exception of llanover, whose inhabitants, for the purpose of attesting their detesta- tion of the English government, as well as their appre- ciation of the heroic services of Gen. Richard Mont- gomery, obtained consent from the Provincial Con- vention of the State in 1782 to change the precinct name to Montgomery .* By the act of 1788 they were severally erected as the towns of Newburgh, New Windsor, New Marlborough, Shawangunk, Montgom- ery, and Wallkill.

Incident to the history of the original county, it is proper to remark, in this connection, that, although organized in 1683, it was only a county in name,-a district in the wilderness with boundaries npon paper. It was not until nearly twenty years later that it be- came a county de facto. True, it was assigned a sheriff and a clerk, and had a jail, but it was attached to New York in other respects in the character of a borough. Governor Leisler, in his ill-starred rebel- lion, attempted to use it (1691) by appointing as one of his Council William Lawrence, of New York, as representing Orange, and when it was given repre- sentation in the Assembly (1699), it was not as a right due to population, but to serve another purpose.

Aside from their town and precinct officers and rep- resentatives in the Assembly, the people had no voice in the selection of their rulers. The sheriff's held the elections for representatives, and the eboice was de- termined by the vira rocet vote of the freeholders, who were required to be twenty-one years of age, and to be possessed of "land or tenements improved to the value of forty pounds free from all incumbrances." Freeholders having property in more than one county conld vote in as many counties as they had property liable to taxation, and for their accommodation the elections were so ordered that opportunity was given them to east the full number of votes to which they were entitled. It could scarcely be called a represen- tative system, so far as representative systems are un- derstood to express the popular will; it was more properly a property representation, under which power was given to a few persons. The districts were large ; the population was scattered ; the elections were held at the "county towns;" the polls were kept open : several days to enable all to vote who might wish to do so. Where the conveniences existed for transit from point to point, as they did along the Hudson, a freeholder residing in New York was enabled to vote in half a dozen counties if hokling property therein, while those occupying more inland locations were in most cases necessarily deprived of a voice in elections. Until 1699 the freeholders of the county were asso-

and by the south and east by the land granted to Hugh Freer and others, and to the eastward by an east line from the said Ilugh Freer's bounds to the bounds or line of New Paltz." The freeholders were to vote with the freeholders of New Paltz, and in all respects to be considered a part of that town.

* This is The fact, as it appears from the proceedings of a public meet- ing held in the precinct to petition for the change. The name selected, however, had been applied to a township plot, now the village, or part of the village, of Montgomery, by Gen. James Clinton, several years before the Revolution, as appears by deeds of record conveying township lots. + Until after the adoption of the constitution of 1777. Voting by bal- lot was regarded by the framers of that instrument as an experiment.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

ciated with those of New York in the selection of representatives, but were not obliged to visit New York in order to give their votes. The sheriff of the county held the election at Orangetown, and made return to the sheriff of New York, who declared the result. In 1699 the county was given representation in the Assembly. At this and subsequent elections until 1749, the poll was held exclusively at Orange- town, and those who wished to vote were compelled to visit that place. This was in part remedied by the law of 1748, by which it was provided, " for the time to come, all elections for representatives" should be opened "either at the court-house or some conve- nient place in Orangetown, or at the court-house or some convenient place in Goshen," and after being held for a certain time at the place where first opened, should be adjourned "to the other court-house or place of election, so that all the freeholders may, if they please, be polled at such elections."*

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 5

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