USA > New York > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, New York : with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 44
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On the 31st of July, a resolution was adopted by this body, that it remove its place of meeting to Brewster; and in accord-
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ance therewith the meetings of this body have since been held at this place. The present officers of Croton Chapter, No. 202, are: Charles Denton, high priest; Richard Hampton, king; John Q. Adams, scribe; Clarence A. Rundall, secretary and treas- urer; Abram J. Miller, captain of host; Leonard H. Secor, principal sojourner; Charles B. Gregory, R. A. C .; Stephen T. McMahon, master 3d V .; Edward Bailey, master 2d V .; Fred- eric R. Hall, master 1st V .; Ferdinand Wilson, tiler; James A. Foshay and George H. Kniffen, organists.
On the 5th of March, 1873, a dispensation to establish a com mandery at Croton Falls, Westchester county, N. Y., was granted by the grand commander of Knights Templar, of the State of New York, and appointed George W. Gregory, emi- nent commander; Harrison Pardee, generalissimo, and Herman Best, captain general.
The first conclave under dispensation was held April 18th, following.
On the 15th of October, in the same year, a warrant was granted by the grand commandery of this State. The follow- ing were the first officers installed under the warrant: George W. Gregory, eminent commander; Harrison Pardee, general- issimo; Herman Best, captain general; Abram J. Miller, prelate; Frank Wells, senior warden; Oliver H. Miller, junior warden; H. Pardee, treasurer; Benjamin D. Crane, recorder; Frederic R. Hall, standard bearer; Samuel M. Church, sword bearer; Charles B. Gregory, warder; Sarles Drew, John H. Spencer, R. W. Travis, guards; Joseph T. Secord, captain of guard.
In August, 1877, the commandery removed to Brewster, Put- nam county, where it is now stationed and officered as follows: Frank Wells, commander; S. T. McMahon, generalissimo; L. H. Secor, captain general; Abram J. Miller, prelate; Philip Diehl, senior warden; Richard Hampton, junior warden; Frank Wells, treasurer; Clarence A. Rundall, recorder; Frederic R. Hall, standard bearer; Samuel M. Church, sword bearer; Charles B. Gregory, warder; Charles L. Austin, Alfred E. De Forest, Ferdinand Wilson, guards; Joseph T. Secord, captain of guard; Moses P. Tillotson, organist.
Crosby Post, No. 302, G. A. R., held its first meeting in the engine house at Brewster, on the evening of November 9th, 1882. The post was named in honor of Lieut. Thomas Crosby, of the 6th N. Y. Artillery, a resident of this town who died
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in 1870 from the repeated amputations of an arm which was shattered at Chancellorsville.
The first officers elected were : Frank Wells, commander; Ed- ward Bailey, S. V. commander; Gilbert H. Seagrave, J. V. com- mander; John M. Sloane, adjutant; Abner L. Crosby, surgeon; Frederic Kratz, chaplain; James R. Ostrander, quartermaster; Leonard H. Secor, officer of the day; Frederick R. Hall, officer of the guard; Gilbert D. Bailey, sergeant major; Isaac R. Wal- lace, quartermaster sergeant. The post has maintained a flour- ishing existence until the present time and has a membership of 34.
The present officers are : Frank Wells, commander; Gilbert H. Seagrave, S. V. commander; Abner L. Crosby, J. V. com- mander; John M. Sloane, adjutant; Dr. John Q. Adams, sur- geon; Dr. Jared G. Wood, chaplain; Edward Bailey, quarter- master; Leonard H. Secor, officer of the day; Henry W. Dale, officer of the guard; Gilbert D. Bailey, sergeant major; Samuel R. Birch, quartermaster sergeant.
IRON MINES IN SOUTHEAST .- The wealth of this town has been greatly increased by the development of its mines of iron. From the earliest times the mountainous regions embraced in this county have been believed to contain various metals and, in consequence, almost all the deeds and leases given by the Philipse family for land owned by them contained a clause "re- serving all mines and minerals."
The Brewster Iron Mine, on the hill which towers aloft to the west of Brewster, was worked for some years, but has been abandoned. The ore is of most excellent quality but difficult to obtain, owing to its peculiar situation, the vein being situ- ated between two sloping sides of rock. The land on which this mine is located was, in 1837, owned by one Frederick Parks, who sold the premises to one William Downs, "reserv- ing all mineral ores thereon, with the privilege of going to and from all beds of ore that may be hereafter worked on the most convenient route to and from." Downs sold the land, with the same reservation, to Gilbert Bailey, and by various convey- ances it came into the possession of Aaron B. Marvin, August 11th. 1849, and he erected a dwelling house and outbuildings and occupied them with his family. On the 24th of October, 1855, Frederick Parks conveyed the mineral rights to William
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R. Paynter, who sold them to Isaiah T. Williams in 1858, and he conveyed the same to the "Brewster Iron Company " March 24th, 1864. The company took possession and extended their operations until their excavations extended under Marvin's dwelling house and caused the walls to crack, while the blast- ing, which was continued both night and day, disturbed the peace and repose of himself and family during the hours usu- ally devoted to sleep, while the chance and prospect of having their house and home blown up or shaken down was not calcu- lated to quiet their nerves or render their lives one of unalloyed happiness. Marvin accordingly brought a suit against the company for damages, and in the lower courts his case was sus- tained, but the Court of Appeals reversed the decision and es- tablished the principle that the reservation of minerals included and carried with it the full right and power to sink shafts and to carry on all the operations of mining in the usual manner, and also affirmed that the rights of the mine owner were not extinguished by non-usage, unless the owner of the land had accompanied his possession by acts of ownership sufficient to establish his title to the minerals by adverse possession.
The Theall and McCollum Mines are in the southwestern part of the town and derived their names from the former owners of the farms upon which they are situated. In January, 1843, Stephen and Gilbert Travis sold to Thatcher H. Theall 130 acres of land, bounded by Croton River and by the land of James McCollum and others. Mr. Theall made an arrangement with Thomas W. Harvey, July 29th, 1851, about mining and exca- vating for materials. Harvey transferred his right to the " Har- vey Steel and Iron Company," and this company sold their right to Holman J. Hale, and Mr. Theall conveyed to him by deed January 3d, 1857, " all the ores and fossil substances on said farm," and Hale transferred all his rights to the " Ameri- can Magnetic Iron Company," February 25th, 1857. March 9th, 1880, upon foreclosure of a mortgage, the property was sold to Henry F. Durant.
The McCollum Mine, which is near the former and doubtless the same vien of ore, is on a farm which was sold by James McCollum to the "Harvey Steel and Iron Company," June 29th, 1863, and by them to E. H. Ladd, December 12th, 1863, and he in turn sold to John H. Cheever and Henry F. Durant, January 18th, 1884. They transferred it to the "McCollum
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Iron Mines," April 7th, 1880, for the sum of $997,500. The Theall Mine was sold by Cheever to the " Croton Magnetic Iron Com- pany," September 6th, 1882.
The Tilly Foster Mine has an importance and value greater than any other in the county, and from the excellence of its ore and the wonderful combination of minerals found it is celebrated beyond all others. The land connected with the mine is part of three separate tracts. The first is a farm sold by the commis- sioners of forfeitures to Jacob Ellis, December 28th, 1781. This farm is the northwest corner of Lot No. 9, of Philipse Patent, and belonged to Roger Morris. The farm is described in the deed as " All that tract of land in Fredericksburg, now in pos- session of Jacob Ellis. Beginning at the Northwest corner of a walnut sapling with stones around it, and running thence East 15 minutes North 26 chains to a large rock. Then South 5 de- grees west, 16 chains. Then South 23} degrees East. 40 chains to the east side of the mill river. Then North 772 degrees West 47 chains 80 links. Thence N. 9} degrees East 40 chains 40 links to the first bounds containing 146 acres." The price being £146. The second farm was sold by the commissioners to Heman King. This was a tract of 284 acres, and lay to the east of the above tract. The third tract was a farm sold to Josiah Brown and by him to Matthew Beale, and lay between the two others and was on the east side of the Croton River. Heman King sold 60 acres of his farm to George Beale in May, 1815, and he in turn sold this with other land to the extent of 128 acres, to Tilly Foster, April 1st, 1830. It is upon this tract that the works of the mine are situated. Upon this farm Tilly Foster lived till the time of his death, which occurred April 4th, 1842, at the age of 49. His house is still standing near the works and is a well preserved relic of former times. The farm was sold by his executors to Isaac Kelley, in 1844, and he transferred it to Mary Foster. widow of Tilly Foster, June 8th of the same year. She conveyed it to Horace D. Townsend, as her guardian and for her benefit, on the 26th of October. In accordance with this Mr. Townsend covenanted with Thomas W. Harvey and Theodosius Secor to convey to them all the mineral rights and metallic veins and ores for the sum of $1,000. They transferred their right to the " Harvey Steel and Iron Company," and they took the deed from Townsend, March 21st, 1853. They sold it to Charles H. Ladd, December 12th, 1863, and he to John H.
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Cheever, January 18th, 1864, and he purchased the entire farm from the heirs of Tilly Foster. By the foreclosure of a mort- gage, a part of the farm was sold to Henry F. Durant, in 1864. Previous to this a company was duly incorporated under the name of the "Tilly Foster Iron Mines," the trustees being John H. Cheever, Henry F. Durant, John G. Tappan, Charles H. Ladd and Charles F. Hardwicke, and the capital being $500,000. Mr. Cheever transferred all his right to the company, and Mr. Durant did the same, and the "Tilly Foster Iron Mines" be- came the owner of all the premises and minerals.
The first man who ever attempted to get iron from this mine was James Townsend, who owned a forge which stood near the north end of the reservoir at Boyd's Corners, in the town of Kent. Here he used to manufacture iron from the ore on a small scale, and as the ore at the present Tilly Foster Mine was then plainly visible on the surface, he procured some for his furnace. This was in 1810. From that time till 1853, scarcely any attempt was made to develop its resources. The geological nature of this mine may be best learned from the following description given by two of the most celebrated mineralogists in the county. Prof. N. S. Shaler thus describes the mine:
" The rock is gneiss rock as a whole, the greater part of the rock neighboring to the mine is gneiss. There are other rocks in the series. There is an extensive set of limestone rocks which have not been noticed by observers there, so far as I can find, lying perhaps 500 yards to the north of the mine, in the strike of the mine. This series of limestone contains at least two beds, both of which exceed ten feet in thickness. I have not seen these limestones nearer the mine than 500 yards to the north. I suspect they may come a good deal nearer than that. The ore is a bedded deposit beyond any reasonable doubt. It is a bedded deposit which has been subjected to all sorts of dis- locations working together. It has been ' rolled ' as it is some- times termed. There has been a slip of the ore in the bed so as to pinch it into local agglomerations of the ore; then the ag glomerations of ore have been cut across by faults. I am in- clined to think that the bed of ore had originally a very great horizontal extent, the consolidation of it by these processes of ' pinching ' has made a mass of a somewhat doubtful form. We know that as a large mass of ore, it is distinctly about 522 feet long, on the 110 foot level."
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The following description was given by Prof. Henry S. Mon- roe, of Columbia College: " The deposit is evidently a stratified one, that is, the iron ore was originally deposited in a horizontal bed underlaid by horizontal beds of sand or clay or possibly sandstone rocks, clayrocks, shales, etc. After the deposition of the iron ore it was covered by similar beds of sand and clay, the whole forming a stratified deposit of sands. and clays, or of sandstones and shales, with the bed of iron ore lying between. Afterward, in the course of long geological time, these beds were uplifted and placed nearly on edge, as we find them; and by metamorphic action these rocks have become crystalized, and the different minerals secreted, the shales and sandstones and other sedimentary rocks have thins been changed into a crystaline gneiss: the iron ore was formerly in the form of brown hematite or perhaps of carbonate of iron and hematite, which by similar metamorphic action (that is, by heat, pressure and chemical action) has been changed to a liard and crystaline magnetic ore. The joints and faults in the ore body are filled with a mineral of the serpentine family, called eleolite, by mine geologists, which is a soapy magnesian mineral of a green color: this mineral is permeable by water to a slight extent."
The following is from Prof. James D. Dana: "The rocks like those of northern New York and New Jersey, are called crys- taline rocks; rocks we suppose to have been originally in a state of mud and sand partly from the sea shore and partly from the sand flats and marshes: that is, I believe the universal view at the present time with regard to the origin of these rocks: the ore is considered by the larger part of the geologists, I believe, to be a marsh deposit made in a great marslı, while these rocks were still in that soft state, much as ores are made in the mud of marshes. This is proved in most places in northern New Jersey and southern New York, by finding that the ore bed is perfectly parallel with the beds of rock on either side, so that you conld trace a sea of beds. At the Tilly Foster mine it is more difficult to trace the range of beds. From the similarity of the rocks and the similarity of the ore, I should have no doubt that the Tilly Foster ore was made in the same way, especially as they belong to the same class of formation called in geology, Archaen and Azoic. These original mud beds, sand beds and marshy iron ore beds have all undergone a change at- tending the uplifting and folding of the rocks by lateral pres-
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sure, a pressure that has been exerted from one side and they have been elevated so as to stand vertically and often you may trace fold after fold, but such folding was attended by great fractures and also with great heat which produced the crystali- zation of the old beds, turning the old marshy ores into the crystaline ores that we find in the Tilly Foster and other like mines: but such a folding attended with heat has a great deal of friction connected with it and that heat caused the crystali- zation of the rocks and turned the mud beds into granite, gneiss and other rocks and turned the ore, originally a marsh ore, into a crystaline ore. The outside rock is much firmer than the rock of the bed itself; a large part is exceedingly firm, what we call syenite, a rock of the same formation with Quincy granite and a part of it is the bedded rock called gneiss. Of the rock for- mation, which is immediately in contact with the ore deposits in this mine, there is along the walls a soft layer consisting largely of chlorite, a soft magnesian mineral, which is easily decomposable. The ore is mixed with a very brittle mineral, called chondrodite, and the ore is broken up into pieces from the size of the fist to a few cubic feet, in a great part of the mine. These fragments are all covered with a soft soapy min- eral, called serpentine, so that they slip upon one another with great facility. It is the most striking feature of the mine and renders it wholly unlike any other ore beds I have seen. The material which is thrown out or dumped along side of the rail- road leading to the mine, is nothing but these slippery masses of impure ore, chondrodite mixed with some of the magnetic ore: in three-fourths of the bed the chondrodite is abundant and fractures are everywhere. The idea that the beds of ore were melted matter thrown up from below is no longer enter- tained by geologists."
The following is from Professor Cooke: "The ore in this mine is magnetic. This magnetism is supposed by geologists to be caused by the position in which it lies in the earth, namely: north and south, and is derived from the magnetism of the earth. In the inside of the mine, the magnesian rocks have undergone metamorphic action by which peculiar minerals have been developed from the rocks previously there and this has al- ways been the curious part of the Tilly Foster mine to mineralo- gists. The age of the period of the formation of the gneiss rock in which the iron ore is situated, carries us back to the
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earliest geological periods in the history of the globe; to a period long before there was any organic existence upon the earth. The oldest fossiliferous rock is the Potsdam sandstone, and the syenitic gneiss and its series of rocks are so much older that their elevation and folding deposited, and that carries us back beyond being counted. There are two kinds of iron ore, the protoxide of iron, Fe3 O', which is black and magnetic, and hematite, or red oxide, Fe? O3, which is not magnetic. The ore of the Tilly Foster mine is of the former kind. The effect of pressure in the folding of the rocks is shown by portions of the ore being pressed smooth and polished like glass. The ore is free from phosphorus, and nearly so from sulphur, and of ex- cellent quality."
The mine is now owned and worked by the " Pennsylvania Coal and Iron Company." The superintendent of the mine is Mr. Andrew Cosgriff, who was born in New York and has made mining the business of his life, having been engaged in every branch of the business, from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to the silver mines of Nevada. In 1862, he joined the United States Navy and fought under Admiral Farragut. He came to the Tilly Foster Mine September 24th, 1868. At that time it was an open mine and was putting out about 30 tons of ore per day. In 1879, the mine was yielding ore to the extent of 7,000 tons per month, and employed 300 men. At the present time the mine has reached a depth of 650 feet. The output is about 2,000 tons per month and 150 hands are employed. Mr. Cos griff is the general superintendent of the works, and his skill and knowledge of the business are unquestioned.
The following list includes some of the rarer minerals of Tilly Foster Mine:
Chondrodite-color yellowish red and garnet red. Crystals are beautiful and rare. In its massive form and mixed with other minerals, it is abundant here.
Magnetite-Iron black, has a metallic lustre.
Serpentine-dark green. Is easily scratched with a knife, has a greasy feeling. There are many varieties at this mine.
Brucite-foliated, lustre -- pearl.
Enstatite-has a fibrous appearance, grayish white.
Actinolite-a variety of amphibole, color light green.
Apatite -- hexagonal, grayish green.
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Pyrrhotite -- hexagonal, bronze yellow. Is attracted by the magnet.
Fluorite-purple or yellow, admits a polish.
Albite -- white, fracture, uneven.
Epidote-yellowish green, and gray.
Sphene-also called titanite, grayish brown, edges of crystals are sharp.
In the transactions of Connecticut Academy, Vol. III, is an interesting article on the chondrodite of this mine. An article on serpentine pseudomorphs is in the " American Journal of Science," Vol. XIII, 1874.
CROTON RESERVOIR .- By an Act to facilitate the acquisition of land for the extension of the Croton Aqueduct Water Works, passed April 3d, 1865, it was enacted that the Croton Acqueduct Board were authorized to acquire title to such pieces of land in the counties of Putnam and Westchester as in their judgment might be necessary for the purpose of constructing storage reservoirs, for the purpose of keeping up a full supply of water during the season when the daily flow of Croton River was insufficient to meet the wants of the city of New York. The board were to have full power to enter upon the lands for the purpose of making surveys, and to agree with the owners in respect to compensation to be made for the land taken, and in case of disagreement they were to present a petition to the Supreme Court for the appointment of commissioners to ap- praise the damage.
In accordance with this act and acts passed in 1871, steps were taken to acquire title to the lands now covered by the reservoir near the Tilly Foster Mines. The largest tracts taken were 116 acres belonging to Mrs. Adah Mead, near the south end, and generally known as the "Moseman B. Hyatt place;" 59 acres were taken from the east end of the farm of Reuben W. Kirkham, which formerly belonged to Enoch Crosby; 53 acres belonged to Frederick Knox; the western part of the farm of Isaac Kelley, embracing 110 acres; 44 acres belonging to the Tilly Foster Mines, and 46 acres of the farm of Theodore Kelley. The house and farm buildings of Isaac Kelley stood on what is now a small island in the reservoir, visible when the water is low, and were moved to the highland to the east, where they now stand.
The work of building the dam was commenced in December,
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1874, and the reservoir was filled in December, 1878. The cost of this reservoir was $656,000. The elevation is 375 feet above tide water. The old school house in this neighborhood stood on the north side of the present road over the reservoir, a short distance east of the bridge. A still older one was standing at the beginning of the century, on the south side of the road and nearly opposite.
DESCENDANTS OF REV. ELISHA KENT .- Rev. Elisha Kent was son of John Kent, and was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1703, and died July 17th, 1776. He came to Southeast from Newtown, Fairfield county, Conn., and purchased the south half of Lot 11 on the Oblong from the original owner, William Smith, "Lawyer of New York," August 3d, 1743. Upon this tract he built his home, where he lived and died.
Mr. Kent married Abigail Moss, and they were the parents of five children : Moss, born March 25th, 1733, died February 4th, 1794; Mary, married Malcom Morrison; Lucy, married Charles Cullen; Sybil, married John Kane; Sarah, married Major Alex- ander Grant. Mrs. Abigail Kent died in Southeast in January, 1751, aged 33. After her decease Mr. Kent married Mrs. Ray- mond, sister of Governor Fitch of Connecticut. She survived her husband. There were no children by this marriage.
Moss Kent lived in Southeast on a farm which he held by perpetual lease from Philip Philipse. He graduated from Yale College, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1756, and prac- ticed his profession in Dutchess county. He afterward lived at Waterford, and died in New York February 4th, 1794. He mar- ried Abigail, daughter of Dr. Uriah and Hannah Rogers. She died in Southeast December 30th, 1771, at the age of 36. The children of this marriage were : Chancellor James Kent (See chapter on Bench and Bar); Hon. Moss Kent, 2d, born April 3d, 1766, moved to Plattsburg, N. Y., and died unmarried, May 30th, 1838; Hannalı, born October 10th, 1768, married William P. Platt October 11th, and died December 12th, 1846.
Chancellor James Kent married Elizabeth Bailey. She was born September 10th, 1768, and died June 19th, 1851. Their children were: Hon. William Kent, born October 2d, 1802; Eliza, born February 16th, 1796, married Isaac S. Hone; and Mary, the second wife of Rev. John S. Stone, now living in Cambridge, Mass.
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Hon. William Kent married Helen Riggs. They had one son, James Kent, of Fishkill, who married Sarah Irving Clark. Their children are : James Kent, jr., who married Louisa Morris Stewart; Edward Clark Kent; William Kent, who married Emily Lorillard; and W. Irving Kent, who married Helen V. C. Stewart.
Eliza Kent, daughter of Chancellor James Kent, married Isaac Stone. Their daughter, Elizabeth Kent Stone, married William H. Ashurst. Their children were: William H., Kate, Emily, Elizabeth K., Alice and Fannie.
Mary Kent, daughter of Chancellor James Kent, married Rev. John S. Stone. Their children are: James Kent Stone, born November 10th, 1840, married Cornelia Fay; William Kent Stone, born January 31st, 1842; Henry Van Dyck Stone, born August 9th, 1843, killed at Gettysburg, July 3d, 1863; Eliza- beth Kent Stone, born March 22d, 1846; Charles Simeon Stone, born November 26th, 1848; Philip Sidney Stone, born January 29th, 1852.
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