History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 54

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 54

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West of the old Boyd mill, George Reid established a paper-mill, date not ascertained. Reid died in 1837 or 1838, and from his executors the property passed to John H. Walsh & Sons; from them to Samuel A. Walsh; from him to Charles H. Have-

meyer ; from Havemeyer's executors to Mrs. Have- meyer, and from her to Edward Haigh. This prop- erty, formerly the Quassaick Woolen-Mills, now the Windsor Woolen-Mills, is next east of the high bridge on Quassaick Avenue.

The last of the milling enterprises is on a site sold by John H. Walsh to Alexander Marshall; Marshall to Darlington ; Darlington to Isaae K. Oakley ; Oak- ley to Adams & Bishop. This mill has been for sev- eral years engaged in the manufacture of paper.

VAIL'S GATE OR MORTONVILLE.

The third privilege was occupied by Hugh Walsh, who retained one-half of the mill-stream in his deed to Schultz, and who, in company with John Craig, erected, in 1792, the paper-mill afterwards owned by his son, John H. Walsh, and now by his grandson, J. DeWitt Walsh. This mill is still in successful operation, and is situated at the extreme west end of church. The latter is one of the oldest Methodist the valley.

Notwithstanding repeated efforts to change its name to Mortonville, the settlement long known as Vail's Gate retains that title in local records and in railroad connections. It is a hamlet at the junction of the New Windsor and Blooming-Grove turnpike and the Snake Hill turnpike, and immediately south- east of the junction of the Newburgh Branch and Short-Cut Railroads. The name is from Mr. Vail, an old resident, and for many years keeper of the gate on the Blooming-Grove turnpike. For the same reason it was at one time known as Tooker's Gate. It has a school-house, and a short distance east is the Vail's Gate or I'nion Methodist Episcopal societies in the county, having been founded as the John Ellison class in 1789. The Edmonston house is also located here; it will be referred to hereafter. East from the Methodist church is the John Ellison house, historically known as " Knox's Headquarters," and adjoining it is the Ellison grist-mill and the building known as the first Methodist church. The building in 1790. The latter was not strictly for Methodists, but for itinerant preachers of all denomi- nations. From the occupation of the property by Maj. Charles F. Morton, we have the name of Mor- tonville, which he once succeeded in grafting upon

The boundaries of the district known as Little Brit- ain have never been very accurately defined. Not unlike ancient New Windsor, which is said to have extended twenty miles on the Hudson when it was but little more than two, it has been written that Lit- tle Britain embraced the entire country bounded east by the village of New Windsor, west by Montgomery, north by Newburgh, and south by Blooming-Grove, including part of the latter, as well as of Montgomery and Hamptonburgh. These traditional boundaries are not without some probability, if they are considered as representing the radius of the settlement more or less intimately associated with those made on the patent to Andrew Johnston, but the latter must be accepted as not only the centre of the district, but the seat of the name. His patent (sce Map of Patents) lies west of the Little Britain church. The main road, leading

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

from Newburgh to Goshen, runs through the centre of it. Beginning at the church, it extends west to the road that leads to the farm now owned by James Getty (opposite the residence of Joseph B. Burnet). On the south it is bounded by the south lines of the farm now or late of John S. Bull, and the farm now owned by Peter and George Welling. The north lines of the farms of Joseph H. Howell, Jarvis Knap, and the heirs of John R. Scott form its north bound- ary. It is one hundred chains in width, and two hundred chains in length, and is supposed to have contained 2000 acres. Its north and south lines now run about north twenty-two degrees east." The pat- entee ran a division line through the centre of the patent, north and south, and sold it in lots or farms to different parties.

The first purchaser and settler on the patent was John Humphrey, in 1724, who located on the north part west of the division line, on the farm now or lately owned by Joseph H. Howell. The second purchaser was Peter Mullinder (as the name was then spelled), in 1729, whose farm lot of 250 acres adjoined Humphrey on the south. The third purchaser was Robert Burnet, in 1729; his farm adjoined that of Mullinder. The fourth was John Reid, the father- in-law of Burnet, who purchased at the same date, 1729. Charles Clinton, Mrs. Mary McClaughry, Alexander Denniston, and John Young were the next in order, in 1731. There was also a purchase by one Maillard (date uncertain ), subsequently the Car- scadden farm. These purchasers absorbed the patent. Mullinder, who came in in 1729, was an Englishman and perhaps a former resident of the section of Lon- don known as Little Britain. However this may be, in imitation of the custom in his native land, he named his settlement or farm Little Britain, and from him and his farm the title was accepted and extended not only to the patent, but to the district, in precisely the same manner that " my farm called Warwick" became applied to the town of Warwick. It will be admitted, of course, that the honor of conferring the name has been given to Charles Clinton, but without authority ; on the contrary, Clinton was the last man who had regard for Britain in any of its as- pects. He was of Irish birth and an exile, and had he had a name to bestow would not have selected one so suggestive of many of his misfortunes.

All through the large district to which the name was applied the great majority of the settlers were Scotch-Irish or English-Irish, and nearly all were Presbyterians. Agreeing very generally in their re- ligious views, they were also remarkable for the uni- formity of their political convictions. When it came down to the era of the Revolution, there were but few who were Tories or King's men, and these were mainly members of the Church of England, of whom

there was a sprinkling in the neighborhood. Charles Clinton, through his sons, Governor George and Gen. James, and his grandsou Governor DeWitt, has, per- haps, the most extended historical reputation in the politics of the State; while in the religious field the line of descendants from his sister, Mrs. Christiana Beatty, now represented by Rev. Charles Clinton Beatty, D.D., the influence of the Clinton blood is not less marked. The neighborhood was composed of men of strong natural abilities and marked character.

There are two churches in the district,-the Little Britain Presbyterian and the Little Britain Metho- dist Episcopal.

THE SQUARE.

The Square -- by some now called Washington Square-is a part of Little Britain, although it is not completed in the town of New Windsor. Its name is from the fact that the public roads run in such direc- tion as to form a diamond. These roads are that leading to Newburgh, the Goshen road, the Little Britain road, and the road to New Windsor. At the outbreak of the Revolution, it received the name of Liberty Square, a title by which it is also designated on Clinton's map of the town in 1798. The appella- tion is said to have been bestowed from the fact that there were none living on any one of the four roads whose disloyalty was questionable. The Falls house, the headquarters of St. Clair and Gates, and the quar- ters of Lafayette are a part of the history of the Square.

RAGVILLE, ROCK TAVERN, ETC.

" Ragville" is the title of a hamlet of half a dozen houses and a blacksmith's shop, about two miles west of the Little Britain church. Its name came from a man named Davenport, who had a store there and exchanged goods for rags. The first property beyond was formerly the famous Morrison tavern and distil- Iery, and further west Rock tavern. Both of these taverns were in early times important factors in the social and political life of the district. Rock taveri takes its name from the rock on which it is erected Company trainings were held here, as well as politica. meetings and Fourth of July celebrations, although the former and the latter have not been heard of in the memory of the present generation. It was here also that the initiatory steps were taken in the or. ganization of the present county of Orange. Both taverns were embraced in the road distriet known at an early date as Hunting-Grove, which extended west to the Otterkill, and included the settlement ther known as Hunting-Grove, but more recently caller Bushkirk's Mills and Burnside Post-office. The name of the settlement was bestowed by Nathan Smith who established mills and a store there, and figured largely in local and State politics. A considerable portion of the district is now in the town of Hamp. tonburgh, while the name Hunting-Grove, after the adoption of Blooming-Grove by the inhabitants o

" These boundaries and many other facts have been kindly furnished by Mr. Joseph B. Burnet, surveyor, and for several years supervisor of the town.

BROOKSIDE." ..

RES. OF ROBERT MORISON, LITTLE BRITAIN, ORANGE CO N.Y.

THE above is a view of the old Belknap homestead, which was purchased by Mr. Mor- rison from Alexander Denniston in 1872. The latter bought it from George A. Denniston, who inherited it from his father, James Denniston, he having bought it from Benjamin Belknap in 1820. Benjamin inherited it from his father, Jeduthan Belknap, in 1817. The house, though somewhat changed, was built about the year 1770. The mill seen on the margin (still kept in repair and used by Mr. Morrison for lumbering) was built about the same time.

The old burying-ground on the place, where lie the remains of a number of the Belknap family, is still kept in repair by their descendants, and often visited.

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that town, fell into disuse. Another of the once noted localities now lost to the town was Stonefield, the residence and grammar-school of Rev. John Mot- fat, who had among his pupils some of the most noted men of earlier times.

IV .- REVOLUTIONARY LOCALITIES. WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS.

The headquarters of Washington at New Windsor were at the Ellison homestead, then of Col. Thomas Ellison, and subsequently of his son, William Ellison. The house was torn down some years ago. It stood on the brow of the hill on the east side of the road, immediately south of the line of the village of New Windsor. Washington came to this place in June, 1779, and again in the fall of 1780, and remained until the summer of 1781. The leading events in the army during this period were the revolt of the Penn- sylvania troops under Gen. Wayne, in camp at Mor- ristown, N. J., and the arrangement of the details of the campaign of 1781, which closed with the victory at Yorktown in October.

The circumstances which led to the estrangement between Washington and Hamilton, resulting in the withdrawal of Hamilton from his position as aide-de- camp, occurred here in 1781. It is referred to simply to correct the impression which prevails that Hamil- ton was the chosen counselor of Washington; that he and not Washington was the author of the reply to the Newburgh Letters, and that he and not Wash- ington was the author of many of the public papers of Washington, including his Farewell Address. The facts are that after the episode at the Ellison house, Washington had no intercourse with Hamilton what- ever, except such as became necessary in their official relations as members of the Constitutional Convention of 1786, and subsequently while Hamilton was Secre- tary of the Treasury during the first and part of the second term of Washington's administration. The story, as related by Hamilton, in a letter to Gen. Schuyler, under date of "Headquarters, New Wind- sor, Feb. 18, 1781," is as follows :

" Since I had the pleasure of writing you last, an unexpected change has taken place in my sitnation. I am no longer a member of the Gen- eral's family. This information will surprise you, and the manner of the change will surprise you more. Two days ago the General and I passed each other on the stairs. Ile told me he had wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait npon him immediately. I went be- low and delivered Mr Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Returning to the General I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de La Fayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of business. Ile can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a manner which, but for our intimacy, would have been more than ab- rupt. Instead of finding the General, as is nsual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone, "Colonel Hamilton,' he said, 'you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes, I inust tell you, sir, yon treat me with disrespect.' 1 replied without petulancy, but with decision, 'I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have thought it neces- sary to tell me so, we part.' ' Very well, sir,' said he, 'if it be your choice,' or something to that effeet, and we separated, In less than an hour

afterwards, Tilghman came to me in the General's name, assuring me of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened except in a moment of passion."

This interview Hamilton declined, and excused the step which he had taken to his dislike for the office of an aide-de-camp "as having a kind of personal dependence."

In regard to the occupancy of the house by Wash- ington in 1779, the following note has been preserved among the papers of Col. Thomas Ellison :

" HEADQUARTERS, SMITH'S CLOVE, 21st June, 1779. " 12 past 5 r.M.

" IHis Excellency, the commander-in-chief, thinks proper to accept your house as Headquarters, from the description I gave him on my re- turn from thence last night. He with his guard set off immediately> and his baggage will follow. Your most obt. Humble Servt. " To Col. ELLISON. C. GIBB."

Gibb was then the captain-commandant of Wash- ington's guard. During the winter of 1781, Mrs. Washington occupied the house in company with her husband.

PLUM POINT.

Plum Point, the site of the first European settle- ment in Orange County, lies a short distance below the Ellison house, and forms the north bank of Mur- derer's ('reek at its confluence with the Hudson. The theory in regard to its formation is that in the cou- vulsion attending the dissolution of the glacial period it was pushed out from its original bed by the pres- sure of water and ice. It has an area of about eighty acres, approached over a natural causeway. On the southeast side was located, iu a very early part of the war, a battery of fourteen guns, designed to assist in maintaining the obstructions to the navigation of the river, which at this point consisted of chevaux-de-frise stretching across to Pallopel's Island. The battery was maintained during the war for the purpose origi- nally designed, and for the protection of the works in the vicinity. It was known in official orders as " Capt. Machin's Battery at New Windsor." Outlines of its embrasures may yet be seen, and can be approached by visitors from the residence of the proprietor or by the old army road, which runs around the face of the hill from the Nicol homestead.

LAFAYETTE'S HEADQUARTERS.

The Brewster house, known as Lafayette's head- quarters, is at Moodna, just beyond the paper-mills of James P. Townsend. Of its occupation by Lafayette there is only traditionary evidence; at best it was so occupied by him for a brief period in 1779, while Washington was at the Ellison house. The house, which is now occupied by tenants, has suffered very little change, the old stairways and the quaintly-carved mantels being retained, though showing the wear of time. The vault in the cellar is said to have been the place of deposit of the money known as the " Dutch loan," but on what anthority does not appear. The · building was erected by Samuel' Brewster, it is said, in

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

1755, and after his death was ocupied by his son-in- law, Jonas Williams. The fact that Mr. Brewster was an ardent Whig and a member of the Committee of Safety, as well as a most reputable citizen, may have brought Lafayette to his residence.

EDMONSTON HOUSE.

The Edmonston house, at Vail's Gate, is known as the headquarters of Gens. Gates and St. Clair .* Very little is said coneerning their occupation of it, how- ever; indeed, there is doubt in regard to the matter, it being traditionally asserted that the hospital stores and headquarters of the medical staff were here, and that the officers named were at the building on the opposite side of the road, where they were stationed during the winter of 1782-83. Dr. Thaeher writes, under date of April 30, 1781, " I accompanied Dr. John Hart to New Windsor, to pay our respeets to Dr. John Cochran, who is lately promoted to the office of director-general of the hospitals of the United States, as successor to Dr. Shippen, resigned." On the 15th of December, 1782, he writes, " Dined with my friends Drs. Townsend, Eustis, and Adams, at the hospital, in company with Gens. Gates and Howe, and their aides, Dr. Cochran, our surgeon-general, and sev- eral other officers. Our entertainment was ample and elegant." The hospital referred to was near the Tem - ple on the camp-ground. The Edmonston building is of stone, and is said to have been erected in 1755. It stands a short distance from the point where the Short-Cut intersects the Newburgh branch of the Erie Railroad, and certainly does not present the appear- anee of capacity for a very large military family.

FALLS HOUSE.

The Falls house, Little Britain Square, was occu- pied by Governor George Clinton, as commander-in- chief of the military forces of the State, for a short time in October, 1777. Clinton and his brother, Gen. James, were in command at the forts in the High- lauds at the time of their reduction, Oet. 7, 1777. The former was then a resident of the house subse- quently of Capt. Charles Ludlow, a short distance north of New Windsor village. On the fall of the forts his family made hasty retreat to the interior, and found temporary refuge at the residence of Mrs. Falls. The troops who escaped from the forts, as well as the militia of the distriet that had not been engaged, were rendezvoused in the vicinity, and reorganized prior to their march for the defense of Kingston. While waiting for his men to come in, on the 10th of Octo- ber, at noon, a horseman eame near the camp, where being challenged by a sentinel, he replied, "I am a friend and wish to see Gen. Clinton." On being eon- ducted to the Governor's headquarters he discovered that he had made a mistake. He had been sent by

Sir Henry Clinton, of the British forces, with a mes- sage to Gen. Burgoyne, and after passing the High- lands had encountered troops in British uniform. Presuming that Sir Henry's forees had moved for- ward, he drew near the camp only to learn that he was within the lines of the American forees, some of whom were clothed in British uniform, which had been captured from a transport some time previously and had not been re-dyed. When he discovered hi- mistake he was observed to swallow something. To recover the document, or whatever it might be, Dr. Moses Higby, who was at the camp, administered a powerful emetie. This brought from him a small silver ball of an oval form shut with a screw in the middle. "Though closely watched," writes Clinton, "he had the art to conceal it a second time. I made him believe I had taken one Capt. Campbell, another messenger who was out on the same business ; that ] learned from him all I wanted to know, and de- manded the ball on pain of being hung up instantly and ent open to search for it. This brought it forth.' The ball was found to contain the following :

here " FORT MONTGOMERY, Oct. 8, 1877.

" Nons y roici ( we come) and nothing between us but Gates. 1 sincerely hope this little success of ours may facilitate your operations. Ju an swer to your letter of the 28th Sept., by C. C., I shall ouly say, I cannot presume to order, or even advise, for reasons obvious. 1 heartily wish you success.

Faithfully yours,

"GEN. BURGOYNE.

1. CLINTON."

Taylor, for that was the messenger's name, wa: placed in eustody, and on October 14th was tried by court-martial as a spy. He pled his character as a messenger, but without avail,-he was senteneed to death. The final entry in reference to him oceur: under date of October 18th, when Clinton's army was at Hurley : "Daniel Taylor, a spy, lately taken in Little Britain, was hung here. The Rev. Mr. Ro- maine and myself attended him yesterday, and I have spent the morning in discoursing to him, and at. tended him to the gallows. He did not appear to be either a political or a gospel penitent."

Lossing, in his "Field-Book," states-not without authority it is presumed-that Maj. Armstrong, the author of the Newburgh Letters, had his quarters at the Falls house, and that there those in the seere held their private conferences.

KNOX'S HEADQUARTERS.

A short distance west of Moodna, on the table-land. of New Windsor, stand the house and mills so long occupied by John Ellison, and erected by his father Col. Thomas Ellison, in 1754, William Bull, the husband of Sarah Wells, being the builder, as appear. by the original contraet. It is a picturesque building of stone, with high ceilings, wainseoting, dormer windows, heavy sash, and small panes of glass Rochambeau is said to have ocenpied rooms in it during his brief visit to Washington, and at a later period it was similarly oeeupied by Gens. Knox and Greene. The record of occupation consists of a cer-

* Gen. Gates was at the Ellison house (Knox's headquarters) in De- çember, 1782.

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tificate signed by Gen. Knox, dated West Point, Sept. 9, 1783, stating that Gens. Greene and Knox, and Cols. Biddle and Wadsworth, "occupied three rooms, as military quarters, in Mr. John Ellison's house five weeks in the months of June and July, 1779;" and that "I, the subscriber (Gen. Knox), occupied three rooms as military quarters ten weeks in the fall of the same year; also, from the 20th of November, 1780, to the 4th of July, 1781, I occupied two rooms as mili- tary quarters; and from May, 1782, to September, I occupied one room for the same purpose, making fourteen weeks." Altogether his residence there cov- ered a period of over one year, a portion of which time, probably from November, 1780, to July, 1781, his wife was with him. Tradition affirms that on one occasion Mrs. Knox gave an entertainment while here, at which Washington opened the dance with Maria Coklen, daughter of Cadwallader Colden, Jr., of Col- denham ; that among the guests were Gitty Wynkoop and Sally Jansen, of Kingston, who were great belles in their day, and that a French officer who was pres- ent gallantly inscribed the names of this trio of beau- ties with his diamond ring on one of the small win- dow-panes in the sash of the principal room. The names remain to attest the truth of the story, the glass having been carefully and almost miraculously preserved for nearly one hundred years. One feels almost as deep an interest in these young women as in the graver military heroes who were there present. Mrs. Col. Ilamilton gave her tradition of the assem- blage to Mr. Lossing for his " Field-Book," but now that it appears on written record that she was not present, her story that Washington never danced has little value. Mr. Robert R. Ellison writes : " Maria Colden and Sallie Jansen were relatives of John El- lison, the former through his sister's marriage with Cadwallader Colden, Jr., and the latter through his wife, Catharine Jansen, of Kingston. Gitty Wynkoop was a visitor at Colden's with Sallie Jansen, and with Maria Colden attended the ball. On that occasion Washington did not open the dance with Maria Col- den, but, the doors being tbrown open, promenaded through the rooms with her. This statement has been a tradition in. our family, members of which were present, and has been confirmed by others who were witnesses." The identity of Maria Colden is not fully established. Cadwallader Colden, Jr., had no daugh- ter Maria, nor do we find a trace of her in Cadwalla- der Colden's letter, in which he gives the names of his children and also those of his sisters. The wit- nesses of her existence are her name on the glass and the tradition which links it with that of Wash- ington :

" So perish forms as fair as those Whose cheeks now living blush the rose; Their glory turned to dust."

About three hundred feet west of the house stands the building generally called the first Meth- odist church in the county of Orange. It has been

noticed in another place. Its real connection with the early religious history of the town is more prop- erly expressed in the term Union church, -- a building open to all denominations, although Clinton enters it on his map of 1799 as Methodist. The Methodist> certainly held services there until 1807.

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 54

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