History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 65

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 65

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¿ This petition is dated Feb. 19, 1785, and is one of two petitions from the precinct " of one tegor and date." It is signed by sixty-eight per- sons. It was this, and similar petitions from other places, that gave rise to the law of April 18, 1786, entitled " An act for emitting the sum of two hundred thousand pounds in bills of credit," under which individ- uals were enabled to obtain the bills which were issued by mortgage on real estate. By this measure universal individual bankruptcy was avoided, and the people enabled to resume their long-suspended business avocations. The law expired in 1806.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

confiscated by the officers of the erown. Among these persons, Adolph DeGrove, Derick Amerman, Daniel Niven, and others became permanent residents after the peace .* Besides these refugees, quite a large number of persons who had been in the army took up their residence in it, among whom were Maj. Joseph Pettingale, Maj. Phineas Bowman, Maj. Levi Dodge, and others, who engaged in commercial and business enterprises. Up to the commencement of the war, New Windsor (through the Ellisons) had mainly ab- sorbed the commercial business of the district, but the shipment of stores to the army demonstrated that Newburgh possessed much greater natural advantages for commerce, besides being nearer the centre of popu- lation. The opportunities for occupation and the facilities for development were also greatly in favor of Newburgh, having been mueh enlarged during the war. The old "Town of Newburgh Plot," which had been opened by the Coldens in 1743, was of limited extent, and without easy access to the river, a fault which had compelled Alexander Colden to buy the southeast corner of the Kockerthal farm, through which to sweep a winding road to his wharf at the

4 4

5 1

3.5

TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON. Streets designated by letters and figures, C, Colden's Dock ; L, Continental Dock and Ferry.

foot of First Street, and which had also compelled the offieers of the Continental army to push the public or Continental wharf, which they were obliged to estab- lish, as far north as Third Street, where a considerable village of hotels, barracks, and other buildings for army use was established, for the accommodation of which Mr. Benjamin Smith, in 1782, laid out in streets and lots that portion of his (the Kockerthal) farm lying east of Montgomery Street, between South and First Streets. This plot, to which he gave the name of " The Township of Washington," embraced seventy- two lots, and Montgomery, Smith, and Water, and First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Streets from Montgomery Street to the river.t These lots were

rapidly taken up, as well as adjoining plots on the Glebe and in the township of Newburgh; and from the position of the lowest, in 1780, the precinct passed to the fourth, in 1790, and, in a quarter of a century, to the first in rank of population.

But for some years the village was a disjointed set- tlement. The three township plots of which it was composed had no connection exeept through Liberty Street and a few " cross-lot" roads. In 1790, however, the streets which had been dedicated in the plots were connected and opened by the road commissioners of the town, under a general act of the Legislature, and an order entered establishing "a street ealled Wagon Street, running from the S. W. corner of Lot 31, on Western Avenue, easterly on that avenue to the S. W. corner of Lot 16; thenee N. E. to N. W. eorner of Lot 9, in the Newburgh township ;} thence easterly until it interseets Water Street in the township of Wash- ington. Also, a road beginning at the S. E. corner of High Street, and running N. E. along that street to the N. W. corner of Lot 19, in the township of Newburgh ; thence N. E. to First Street in the township of Wash- ington ; thence aeross said street intersecting Smith Street, and thence northerly to South 7/ 42 Street. Also, a street called Mont- 5 70 56 72 S gomery Street in the township of 55 57 Washington, beginning at the S. E. corner of a lot given by Benjamin 41 26 Smith for the use of the Presbyterian 25 40 27 congregation, and thence northerly to South Street." Also, roads called 12 13 14 First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Streets. Also, a road beginning in the S. W. corner of Lot 1, in the township of Washington, and run- ning sontherly across the lands of the heirs of Richard Nicolls Colden in a direet course to the end of Water Street in the township of Newburgh, between Lots 1 and 9.

This order, it will be seen, opened Water Street from South Street to Western Avenne; Colden or Wagon Street from Water Street to Western Avenue;

Forbes, Nos. 9 and 22; Mr. Crosby, No. 12; Wm. Quackenbush, Nos. 14 and 15; S. Clark, No. 16; B. Palmer, No. 17; William Thurston, No. 18; Adolph DeGreve, Ne. 19. The remaining lots were held by Mr. Smith, and the streets conveyed by him to the public by deed. This deed and the map of the plot are still preserved.

# Old Town of Newburgh Plot. The peculiar angles in all of the prin- cipal streets arose from this fact : Colden and his associates, in laying out the Old Town of Newburgh Plot, commenced their streets on the natural plateaus. The trustees of the Glebe laid out their streets parallel with the river. When Smith came to open his land, Water Street was placed nearer the river, and a corresponding division carried back in Smith and Montgomery Streets. When the road commissioners took the duty in hand of joining together the streets thus dedicated in the three distinct original divisions of the present city, an angle was formed in Water Street at the junction with Wagon (now north end of Colden) and with South Street; and also at the junction of High and Smith Streets and of Mont- gomery and Hasbrouck Streets. The angle is necessarily followed in Grand Street, and mars Chambers and other streets more recently opened. The citizens of Newburgh thus have a perpetual memorial of the " Tewn- ship of Newburgh," the " Township of Washington," and of the " Glebe."

* The Clinten papers, in the State Library, contain the petitions ef these and other refugees, asking for the restoration of their confiscated lands. Under the treaty of peace, however, restoration was not possible.

+ The names of owners of lots entered on the first map of this plot are John Anderson, Nos. 1 and 6; James Denton, No. 2; Mr. Menge, Nos. 3 and 13; E. C. LutherIoli, Nos. 4, 10, 11, 23, 24, and 35; Jacob Reader, Ne. 5; A Fairchild, Nos. 7 and 20; Hugh Walsh, Nos. 8, 21, and 36; William

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NEWBURGH.

High Street; Smith Street; Montgomery Street; and First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Streets, the latter from the river to Montgomery Street. Wagon Street intersected the" Wallkill road," as it was called. The streets on the Glebe were, in the main, easily con- nected. South Street, the dividing line, originally laid out directly west to the west hounds of the patent, was first opened from Liberty Street to the river ; west of Liberty Street its course was subsequently changed* and what is Gidney Avenne formed. North Street was also opened from Liberty Street to the river. Such, with the addition of Liberty Street, already noticed, were the opened streets of the present city of Newburgh in 1791.

The precinct of Newburgh continued to be recog- nized by that name until 1788, when, by an act of the Legislature "for dividing the counties of the State into towns," passed March 7th of that year, the title of "precinct" gave place to that of "town." The boundaries, however, remained unchanged, and as they at present exist.

The history of the Glebe has been brought down to the period of the Revolution. The Rev. John Sayer, the successor of Mr. Watkins, resigned the charge in 1775, and during the war the church had no minister. The school, however, was continued by Mr. John Na- than Hutchins,t who, in addition to his duties as teacher, read prayers in the old church on the Sab- bath. On the death of Mr. Hutchins, in 1782, Mr. Richard King was selected as teacher; and in 1790, the Rev. George H. Spierin performed the duties of minister and schoolmaster. Changes had also oc- curred in the trustees. Mr. Alexander Colden died in 1775, and his place had been filled by Isaac Belknap; and on the death of Mr. Albertson, Mr. Henry Smith was elected his successor.

It was during the year 1790 that the discussions com- menced which subsequently terminated the control of the Episcopal Church over the Glebe. In June of that year, Col. Cadwallader Colden was elected trustec,¿ to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Henry Smith; and almost immediately after his election those opposed to the church raised the ques- tion of his eligibility, he being a non-resident although a freeholder on the patent. To meet the difficulty, Colden proposed an amendment of the charter so as to permit the election as trustees of persons residing

* Minutes of trustees of Glebe, Sept. 22, 1791 .- " Whereas, there is a varancy of eight rods left on the south side of the minister's lot for a street, which, running through wet ground and over a high bill, is im- practicable,-agreed, to enclose said road, and allow a road of four roda wille to run through the lot from opposite Martin Weigaud's to the northward of a piece of swamp land adjoining said high hills."

+ The fact here stated is from a manuscript found among the papers of Isaac Belknap. The paper recites that, owing to the scarcity of money and other difficulties in collecting the Glebe rents, Mr. Hutchins' salary had not been fully paid, there being due him at the time of his death the sum of eighty-two pounds one shilling and sixpence.

# June 4, 1790 .- Col. Cadwallader Colden elected trustee. Thirty-six votes were cast, thirty of which were for Coklen, and six for Isaac Hae- brouck .- Minutes.

within twelve miles of the patent who were freeholders thereon ; and the trustees adopted a petition to the Legislature to that effect.

The opponents of the church immediately drew up a counter-petition, asking the Legislature "that no act relative to the premises be passed until the col- lected sense of the parish be taken." This petition, or remonstrance, was very numerously signed, and led to the calling of a meeting, by the trustees, to take the whole subject into consideration. The call was issued on the 7th, and the meeting held on the 10th of February, at the house of Martin Weigand, at 2 o'clock p.M. The inhabitants of the patent, regarding the affair as an attempt on the part of the church to divert the revenues of the Glebe from the support of a school to which they had been wholly applied since 1775, were thoroughly aroused and attended the meeting in large numbers. After a turbulent discus- sion of considerable length, the proposition to amend the charter was rejected .¿

The result of this meeting led to, in May following, the resignation of Colden as trustee, and of Spierin as schoolmaster.|| Colden's resignation was accepted ; and, on the 16th May, Isaac llasbrouck was elected his successor, having received fifty-one votes and Wil- liam Seymour sixteen. The resignation of Spierin produced no other action than a resolution to divide the income of the Glebe equally as compensation for the duties of minister and schoolmaster respectively, until the 28th of May, when the trustees conferred with Spierin on the subject, and obtained his conseut to be inducted.T

Mr. Spierin continued to serve as minister and schoolmaster until 1793 or '94. Meanwhile the sub- ject of the disposal of the revenues of the Glebe was more or less discussed. The membership of the Epis- copal Church had dwindled away until very few of that denomination remained; and the inhabitants belonging to other churches, as well as those who were opposed on principle to even an inferential association of the church with the conduct of the public schools, renewed their efforts to get the reve- nues exclusively applied to the support of a school- master. The old trustees insisted upon maintaining

2 Feb. 10, 1791 .- A motion was then made and seconded, whether there shall be an alteration of the charter or not. After some debate upon the question, it was agreed that the sense of the people should Le taken by ballet, and was carried in favor of those against the alteration by a ma- jerity of thirty-four .- Minutes.

| May 3, 1791 .- The trustees met at the house of Martin Weigand, and being opened, Col. Colden observed that upon consideration of the diffi- culties that seemed to attend the trusteeship since he was elected, and in all probability were likely to he continued, it appeared that the inhabi- tants of said patent were very much divided ; and therefore concluded that it might tend to restore peace and harmony among them, and so be for the public good of the parish, for him to resign his office as truetee, and accordingly he delivered bis resignation. The Rev. Mr. Spierin pro- posed not to have anything to do with the Glebe school any further, which the trustees agreed to. Agreed also, by said trustees, that the income of the Glebe lands be equally divided between Mr. Spierin aud the ecboolmaster .- Minutes.

1 Minutes, May 28, 1791.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

their agreement with Mr. Spierin; and, having no other alternative, the people held a meeting and elected William Seymour and Phineas Howell trus- tees, and voted that the Glebe rents should be paid to them. This action led to a compromise, in virtue of which both the old and the new trustees resigned their places, and Timothy Hudson and Phineas Howell were chosen their successors .*

In this way the revenues of the Glebe passed from the control of the Episcopal Church. History repeated itself. The very means-the elective franchise con- ferred on the inhabitants by the charter-which the Episcopalians had employed to wrest the privileges of the patent from the Lutherans, had been successfully used for their own overthrow in the hour of similar numerical weakness. The Glebe passed wholly into the hands of the people, and its limited but useful sys- tem of free education was divested of sectarian control.

The concluding years of the century were marked by the formal incorporation of the Presbyterian and the Associate Reformed Churches, and by the estab- lishment of the Newburgh Academy. An attempt had been made to organize the latter institution in 1791, and for that purpose authority was asked from the Legislature to establish a lottery,-a mode of raising money for such purposes very common at that time. This petition failed, and during the pendency of the difficulties in regard to the Glebe, little was done. In 1795, however, the project was again taken in hand by the trustees of the Glebe, and the present academy building was erected.

Meanwhile, the progress of the town had not been confined to the German Patent. As lands were cleared and planted, grist- and saw-mills were erected, and the ancient forests, " through which one could not see the sunshine," were filled with the hum of industry. The first mill, by authenticated records, was erected by Alexander Colden about 1743; was subsequently known as Hasbrouck's, and more recently as Dick- son's mill. The second was erected by Abel Belknap, situated west of the present New Mills, and known subsequently as Niven's mill. From thence west on the Quassaick, in successive order, were Foster's saw- mill, Gardner's grist-mill, Gardner's saw-mill, Belk- nap's saw-mill, and Burr's grist-mill, the latter occu- pying the site and privilege of a mill erected by Captain Thomas Machin in 1786-87, for the coinage of copper. On the Tent-Stone Meadow Creek, Penny's grist-mill, Hartshorn's mill, Penny's saw-mill, and Hasbrouck's saw-mill were early erections, as were also Denton's saw-mill and Smith's saw-mill on the

Fostertown Creck. On Denton's (now Powelton) Brook, Nehemiah Denton established a grist-mill, and a store and a landing on the Hudson ; further north, William Bloomer had a blacksmith-shop, and Michael Demott a hotel, and, with the neighboring farmers, made, prior to the Revolution, a village at Balmville,

nearly if not fully as large as that on the Glebe. Daniel Smith went there subsequently and built a store and a wharf, from which he sailed a sloop to New York ; while on Jew's or Acker's Creek, in the extreme northeast part of the town, were Tooker's mill and Acker's mill. In the vicinity of all these mills were hamlets,-in most cases a smith's shop, and occasionally a "store" of goods of all kinds "for cash or barter," but principally the latter, for of the former there was little in circulation. Besides mills and hamlets there were many well-cultivated farms, and substantial dwellings which had supplanted rude log cabins. The lumber business of the town was espe- cially heavy, and large quantities of ship timber, planks, and staves were forwarded to market. The pub- lie landing which the trustees of the Glebe had estab- lished at the foot of North Street was almost entirely devoted to the shipment of lumber, and vessels were loading and rafts forming there almost constantly. Ship-building was also carried on to a considerable extent, at different points, by William Seymour and others; and Newburgh ships entered into the Liver- pool trade, and her smaller vessels engaged in coast- ing and in trade with the West India islands. A more thriving town was not found on the banks of the Judson, nor one in which the industry of the people had more substantial reward.

In 1797 the village had attained to such size that it was found necessary to establish a fire department ; and for this purpose a law was passed by the Legisla- ture defining the fire limits of the village, and direct- . ing the election of five trustees, "to be called the Trustees of the Fire Company in the Village of New- burgh." The fire limits defined by this act included that portion of the town lying south of an east-and- west line running six rods north of the academy ; and the district thus defined was "to be called the Village of Newburgh," the freeholders in which were empow- ered to elect annually not less than three nor more than five trustees, who should have the appointment of firemen and the control and management of a tire department. This was the first crude form of village authority.

t The third section of this act reads as follows: "The said trustees, to be chosen as aforesaid, or a major part of them, shall have full power and anthority to nominate and appoint a sufficient number of firemen (willing to accept), not exceeding twenty to every fire-engine now pro- vided, or hereafter to be provided, for the use of the said village, ont of the inhabitants being freeholders or persons renting property to the value of one hundred dollars per annum, to have the care, management, working, and using the said fire-engines, and other tools and instru- ments now or hereafter to be provided for the extinguishment of fires within the said village, which persons so to be nominated and appointed as aforesaid shall be called the firemen of the village of Newburgh, who are hereby required to be ready at all fires, as well by night as by day, to manage, nse, and work the other tools and instruments aforesaid."

By other sections of the act firemen were exempted from service as constables or as jurors of ingnest; and the trustees had power to remove firemen for cause, to make all necessary rules and regulations, and, in case of fire, to command the assistance of all " able-bodied inhabitants in said village" to extinguish the same. The inhabitants of the village were also required to furnish their houses with suitable fire-buckets.

* Minutes, Sept. 22, Oct. 13 and 27, 1794.

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NEWBURGH.

In September, 1797, the publication of The Mirror -the second newspaper published in Newburgh-was commenced by Philip Van Horne, and in 1799 passed into the hands of Joseph W. Barber. In 1798, The New Windsor Gazette was published at New Windsor by Jacob Schultz, but was soon after removed to New- burgh and called The Orange County Gazette. This paper was subsequently sold to David Denniston, the name being changed to The Citizen. It was afterwards merged in The Rights of Man,* a paper established by Elias Winfield, for whom it was printed by Benoni H. Howell. The Mirror gave place to The Recorder of the Times, and the latter to The Political Index.

Europe ; they shook, as it were, the very pillars of the Church, and desolated France with the terrible revolution of '98. The doctrines taught by Voltaire and Paine were accepted by many prominent and able men in the United States; but at no place did the anti-religious sentiments prevail to a greater ex- tent than in Newburgh. The Citizen first, and subse- quently The Rights of Man, hoisted the infidel flag ; there was a regularly organized society of infidels, and a blind man, by the name of Elihu Palmer, t was induced to visit the village weekly and deliver lec- tures at the academy in opposition to the Bible. Be- sides the above-named newspapers, Paine's " Age of Reason," Tyndall's "Christianity as Old as the Cre- ation," and works of a similar character, were re- published under the auspices of the society and circu- lated with all diligence.

" That there was infidelity, and organized infidelity," says Dr. Johnston, ¿ " I have no reason to doubt. Nay, I have my information from one who was a member of what was styled ' The Druid Society.' It was one of the branches of the 'Illuminati Society,' at the

head of which was Weishaupt, of Germany, the leading object of which, according to his representa- tions, was destruction to all organized governments, 'eivil and divine.' Hence the Bible was the avowed object of their hatred, as well as all that pertained to the church of God and her institutions. I have a number of facts, dates, and particulars on this sub- ject, which would help posterity to know more of the sad effects of infidelity in Newburgh the latter end of the last and the commencement of this century than is generally known at present. A clergyman in- formed me that after preaching here he was attacked in the evening by a fierce dog, set on by several who were reputed members of the Druid Society. The

These papers are mentioned in their order for the purpose of introducing the facts in the religious his- place where the attack was made was near the large tory of the town which led to their publication. As elm-tree on Liberty Street. I presume many have heard it stated (and I have never heard it contro- verted) that in the afternoon or evening of the day in which the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was dis- pensed by our officiating clergyman, a mock adminis- tration was performed at a spring? within the limits of the corporation, by formally presenting to a little dog a cracker and a small quantity of water, using the words of our blessed Redeemer when he instituted the holy supper." the Revolution had severed the old connection be- tween Church and State, the people of America were naturally led to consider what should be the future political relation of the Church. These discussions finally subsided on the adoption of the Federal Con- stitution, as that instrument expressly declared that Congress should " make no law respecting an estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But besides these debates, there were other and mightier agencies operating in the direction of " It ought to be known," continues Dr. Johnston, " that the principal actor in this impious transaction skepticism. Voltaire and his friends had already be- gun the work of unsettling the religious faith of did not long survive. On the following Sabbath evening he was found in his room with the door locked, apparently in a fit, convulsed with awful spasms, and he died without being able to utter a word. Whether he had taken anything with a view to self-destruction, or whether it was the immediate act of God, without his voluntary agency, we know not. This occurred in July, 1799. In the graveyard there is a stone with the following inscription : 'The Tomb of , who died July 2d, in the year of the Christian Era, 1799, aged 34 years.' For a time it seemed as if these infatuated men had deter- mined that there should not remain in Newburgh and its vicinity a vestige of Christianity."

Dr. Johnston's account of the objects and doings of the infidels of Newburgh comes to us somewhat col- ored perhaps by religious prejudice; but the main facts are generally conceded to have been as he states them. Mr. James Donnelly, a member for a short time of "The Druids," and Mr. Jacob Schultz, the editor of the first anti-infidel paper, the last living witnesses of the events referred to, agreed that the accounts given by Dr. Johnston and by Abner Cun- mingham|| were exaggerated, especially in reference

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 65

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