USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie County, New York : with illusustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 48
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Under the Con.titu'in o 152", Joversus Marcy appointed hint in At net, 838, to the bench of the Court of Conan Pl ciate with Hon, John C. Wright Je Krem, Robert Lldredige Har - Was on, and Natiran l'. Tyler.
Upon the dedion of William C. Boeck, as Governor to herer was awai bes ce dage h'm, and 1 Mer 1846, whe i 1 of A sistant J . 1. 1 (33 Julg Was e' cted i Ambilly, wir attention tow/ ~ Albany & Siegrehanne
299
TOWN OF RICHMONDVILLE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
HON. JOHN WESTOVER.
Hon. John Westover, son of the late Jonah Westover, was born in the town of Egremont, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 8th of July, 1797. In the year 1808 he removed to Schoharie County with his parents, and located where the village of Richmondville now stands, when the grounds and surroundings were covered with the forest. This portion of the County being new and the settlement very sparse, it must be supposed that the pioneer school was of an inferior grade, and the chances for a youth to obtain an education extremely dis- couraging, Yet regardless of adverse circum- stances and privileges, many of the best men of our country have loomed up from such positions, through their indomitable will and energy, and became what they were and are.
The subject of this sketch is an example of a self-ınade man. By studious efforts, he was enabled to enter the school-room at the age of eighteen as teacher, and followed the avocation most of the time to the year 1824, when, with his meager savings, he purchased a part of the farm upon which he still resides, of Governor Yates. The Governor owned a large tract of land lying here, through tax sales, and in 1825 appointed Judge Westover his agent in the sale and renting of the same, which trust he held nearly forty years, to the satisfaction of the Governor and his heirs. It was upon a visit in connection with business relating to these lands, that Mr. Westover enjoyed the pleasing honor
of being one of the sixteen that rode upon the first passenger railroad cars in the United States in 1831, between Albany and Schenectady. He sat by the side of Governor Yates in the center seat of the front car, or stage-coach body placed upon truck-wheels. The Governor commissioned him Captain in the militia service, under the old military law, from which he was promoted to Colonel of then 113th Regiment.
He was elected by the people of the old town of Cobleskill, in 1829, justice of the peace, and filled the position in that town and the town of Richmondville, for the long period of thirty-eight years. He succeeded in his first election, his brother, Jonah Westover, Jr., who held the office twenty-one years, making fifty- nine years the office was held in the family, a case unparalleled in the history of the County.
Under the Constitution of 1821, Governor Marcy appointed him in August, 1838, to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, as asso- ciate with Hon. John C. Wright, Jonas Krum, Robert Eldredge, Harvey Watson, and Nathan P. Tyler.
Upon the election of William C. Bouck, as Governor, the honor was again bestowed upon him, and held to the year 1846, when the Third Constitution took effect, and abolished the office of Assistant Judges. In 1853 Judge Westover was elected to the Assembly, where he turned his attention and labors towards the building of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, in which
300
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
he became a Director, and one of the managing spirits in its construction as he was in its incep- tion, in unison with Hon. J. H. Ramsey, Charles Courter, Eliakim R. Ford, and others.
Judge Westover has always, from a youth, been identified with and a strong advocate of public improvements. When the Democratic party, to which through life, he has been at- tached, divided, as Democrats and Clintonians upon the internal improvement questions, he sided with the Clintonians for a time, and demonstrated his sincerity by favoring every project that had a tendency to the development and progress of the country without extravagant taxation. For several years he bent his efforts to the building of a railroad through the County. The first was by a special charter from the Legislature in 1836, in which he was ap- pointed a director with Jedediah Miller and others, in the construction of a railroad to con- nect the Catskill & Canajoharie road with the Erie. For that, and other projects of improve- ment, he was chided by conservative men as extravagant in ideas, but which has proved the far-seeing characteristic of the man whereby profitable results were brought about.
When the building of plank roads engaged the attention of the people, the Judge was among the first to push along the enterprise and build the "Richmondville and Charlotteville road," over which he presided as president for twenty-five years.
Upon the completion of the Susquehanna railroad he became interested in the Howe's Cave enterprises, and was chosen president of
the Howe's Cave Lime and Cement Company, which position he still holds, beside bearing the same relation to three other corporate bodies. By careful and economical business tact he has amassed a large property. He owns nearly half of the village where he resides, including three hotels, two stores, and the manufacturing interest wholly, or in controlling part. He has expended large sums in the improvement of the water-power of the place, by constructing large reservoirs and conductors for milling purposes, and made the "privileges " of that character found here the best and most extensive in the County.
His large amount of business requires a practical system, which he early adopted, and for near commercial convenience, he organized a banking-house in February, 1881, under the title of " Richmondville Bank," of which he is the president and leading financier. Through- out his official, and in his individual transactions, Judge Westover has exhibited a practical administrative ability that but few possess with- out extensive culture, and exemplified a tem- perate life, which gives to him a great age, free from infirmities, and enables him to still per- sonally guide and conduct his business, and presents a worthy example to the youth, of the results of study, earnest thought, industry, and observance of the general laws of nature in the formation of habits.
In 1832 he married Catharine, daughter of Benjamin Miles, of Schoharie, who died with- out issue in January, 1881, at the age of seventy- six, after an active life passed in sympathy with the husband's tastes and aspirations.
301
TOWN OF CARLISLE.
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CARLISLE.
FIRST SETTLERS - DORIACH GRANT - NEW RHINEBECK-RELICS-MRS. PHILIP KARKER -- JUDGE BROWN-GEORGE WILLIAM BROWN- RE-INTERMENT OF JUDGE BROWN-YOUNG FAMILY -- TORY FAMILIES -- OSTERHOUTS --- JOHN C. McNEILL-HILLSINGER-SETTLE- MENT OF GROVENOR'S CORNERS -- JOSEPH TAYLOR -- BENJAMIN YOUNG-DURAND'S JOKE -SQUIRE JOHN'S PLACE-CARLISLE CEN- TRE-FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE-MERCHANTS OF GROVENOR'S CORNERS -- SETTLEMENT UPON THE TURNPIKE-CARLISLE FORMED-FIRST OFFICERS-P. I. CROMWELL-D. W. SEELEY -- SLOAN'S TAVERN-HUNTINGTON TAVERN- CARLISLE CHURCH-CARLISLE POSTOFFICE- HENRY M. BROWN-KILLING OF KELLER- FIRST STORE-MERCHANTS OF CARLISLE VILLAGE-JAMES BOUGHTON-J. C. SELLECK -ARGUSVILLE-AARON MALICK -- MICHAEL VANDERVEER-JOHN HYNEY-PHYSICIANS- MERCANTILE FIRMS-JAMES SWARTHOUT --- NELSON BURNAP-THE BEAR SWAMP -- HENRY I. MOAK-CARLISLE SEMINARY -- CARLISLE FOUNDRY-STEAM MILL~ROBBERY OF PETER BECKER-J. H. ANGLE-FIRST MILLS-AN- CESTRAL CUSTOMS-SELLECK'S CAVE-DEATH OF PROFESSOR McFAIL-HIDDEN CAVERNS -- CHURCHES-VALUATION OF TOWN-EXPENSE OF TOWN-SUPERVISORS --- BOUNDARIES OF TOWN.
THE first settlers of Carlisle were John Philip Kerger (Karker), and Peter Young. The father of the latter came from Ger- many at an early date, and settled upon the Hudson, near the Camps, and was re- lated to the Kergers. John Philip landed at Philadelphia, and came to the Hudson to visit his relatives, and then return to his native land ;
but failing to get a passage at the desired time, he concluded that fate decreed him to remain. He married a daughter of Young, and in com- pany with his brother-in-law, concluded to set- tle among the Schoharie hills-the German " El- dorado" of those early times-by the "good account of ye fertilete of ye soile." They set- tled upon lands owned by a Young, (Karker taking three hundred acres), and built a house near the present residence of Solomon D., and Joseph Karker, the old man's great-grandchil- dren. Young purchased to the north of him, and built near the spot upon which Nicholas Young, a grandson, now resides.
Karker's father was a wealthy wine merchant, and was engaged extensively in the culture of grapes, and Philip selected the high ground near the mountain, with the intention of raising grapes. Upon his departure from the parental home, the father cut a silver coin in four pieces, giving each son a quarter, which was to be evi- dence of heirship to the father's property, upon his decease. Upon the old gentleman's death, the pieces were to be presented, and if they fitted perfectly, each holder was to receive a fourth part of the effects. During the Revolu- tion, Philip's quarter was lost, and at the father's death, his share was not claimed.
The first land cleared in the town, was north of the "Rock school-house," in 1760. These farms were a part of "New Dorlach" patent, granted in 1730, (now called the Borst patent,) but not surveyed until the year 1753, by Isaac Vroman, and re-surveyed in 1797, by Johannes Lawyer, (the third land holder).
The original grant contained forty-five lots of six hundred acres each and nine of one hun- dred and three hundred acres each. In 1754 Johannes Lawyer (the second), Johannes Becker and others purchased an addition to the tract upon the east, extending from the Cobleskill creek to the north line of the original tract-two lots in width, also one lot in width to the north of that and running west along the Dorlach line-four lots of one hundred and ninety-three acres each which is called the Becker patent. Lot number one, of the Dorlach grant, lies east of the mountain vulgarly called " Barrack Zourie." Numbers two
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
and three cover the mountain. From the sum- mit of this conical shaped mountain, origi- nally called Owelus Sowlus-but now "Karker Mount"-as beautiful a scene presents itself to the north and northeast as can be found. Upon the north stretches the valley of the Mohawk, and beyond rise the hills and mountains of Fulton and Hamilton counties, while in the northeast those of Warren and Washington ap- pear in the foreground of the Green mountains of Verinont.
Upon the southeast side of the mountain lies a small sheet of water, clear and of great depth having an outlet running in the Cobleskill.
A few years after the settlement of Karker and Young, several families moved here from Rhinebeck on the Hudson and the settlement was known as New Rhinebeck.' Other families soon followed from Schoharie and Middleburgh. At the commencement of the Revolution quite a number of families could be found in this neighborhood. Prominent actors in the strug- gle were the Karkers, Young, Brown, Fichter, Borntheit, Kneiskern, Loucks and Manch or of late Monk. The descendants of all those pioneers are still here but as neighbors enjoy better feeling towards each other than their an- cestors did, who were divided in a political point of view as Patriots and Tories.
Around this mountain cluster the Revolution- ary historical associations connected with the town of Carlisle. Here upon its sides, were experienced all the hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, anxieties and aspirations peculiar to the Revolutionary days of the patriotic Karker, Young and Brown families. John P. Karker and sons were scouts during the war, leaving home and traversing the country day and night to watch the movements of the prowling foe, carrying messages and doing other dangerous and important services.
Madame Karker during the early part of the war, remained at home, while her nearest neigh- bors were loyalists, ever watchful of her family's actions and thirsting for their blood. She re- mained here regardless of danger, as a barri- cade to her fireside. Night after night she re- tired to a tree, which is still standing, and laid down upon the cold damp ground to sleep, fearful
of being captured if she remained in the house. Two of her neighbors, fit companions of in- carnate fiends, sought to capture and slay her, while her husband and sons were away ; but being apprised of their design, she fled to the mountains, and hid beneath a shelving rock, with a babe upon her breast. Her pursuers were often in sight, and once stood upon the rock beneath which she lay concealed. The babe was restless and for fear it would betray her, she put a handkerchief in its mouth and nearly suffocated it before the Tories retired. The babe was Peter Karker, whose descend- ants live in the West, and are heads of families and begin to bear the marks of hoary age. Thus time glides on, carrying with it one gene- ration after another, effacing all the works of man, except those found upon our blest govern- mental structure. Those labors and sacrifices are there enstamped, which will grow brighter and brighter, as age after age rolls on. During the war the most valuable effects of the Karkers were secreted in a fallen, hollow, basswood tree, upon the side of the mountain. Among the goods thus stowed away was the family Dutch Bible. A crevice in the tree admitted the rain and did damage to the book by loosening the binding and staining the leaves. It is now kept as a sacred relic by Solomon Karker, a grandson, living near the old homestead, whose family pride and veneration of his ancestors justify him in retaining by memory, and relat- ing with fervency the many incidents connected with the lives of his noble sires. Soon such admiring children will pass away, and less care be taken of the "mementoes " handed down so carefully, and nothing left of the patriotic personal effects. Each year makes the number less, which ought not to be, but should with the greatest care be preserved for ages to come.
John W. Brown .- About the year 1771, there came to New Rhinebeck, John Mathias Brown, a man whose after life proved him to be one of the " noblest works of God" an honest man. With a mind superior to those with whoin his lot was cast, he was appreciated and was called upon to act in all business relations throughout this section of country and was found to be a just, practical, frugal and energetic man.
303
TOWN OF CARLISLE.
He was born at the Camps in 1745, and came to " Weiser's dorf" with his father William, in 1752.
After marrying Gitty Hager, of Breakabeen, he settled upon the farm now occupied by Samuel Young. The land was purchased by one Wac- nig, a German, who purchased several of the Dorlach lots in the year 1770, and lived in an underground hovel near the present barn build- ings. Governor George Clinton's attention was called to Mr. Brown's career and abilities, and he became one of his confidential friends and advisors. It is well known that Governor Clin- ton, as well as nearly all of the chief officials of those times, did not hesitate to listen to the voice of the common yeomanry of the country upon public questions and give heed to their reasonings.
During Clinton's "Tory war" of 1784, Clin- ton called upon Brown for his opinion, knowing he was located in the border settlement, in which that element was better known. As there were those who had not been "offensive " but who sided with the Crown through fear, and be- lieving they would make good, law abiding citi- zens, Brown favored their right as voters which was effected by Schuyler and Hamilton in 1787.
This expression of opinion, led many of the over patriotic to cast the epithet of "Tory" upon Brown, which was unjust. Brown was commissioned Captain of a company of Tryon county militia, by Governor Clinton, but being lame he insisted upon the honor being bestowed upon some one else. But Clinton refused to change the appointment and furnished a horse for his use. If Brown had been a "Tory" Clinton would have known it, and if such had been the case, George Clinton would have been the last man to have placed any confidence in him. DeWitt Clinton's mind also was enrap- tured with his country's glorious achievements, and like a true patriot he desired to see her struggles and triumphs engraved upon history's page. The Schoharie and other border settle- ments drew his heartfelt sympathy and he re- quested Brown to write their early history, which he did in a manner so plain that the most simple can understand.
When we consider his stinted educational
advantages (only six weeks schooling) and his meagre social opportunities in early life we can- not but wonder at the correctness of his lan- guage and composition. The Judge was a half- brother of Captain Christian Brown who early settled upon the James Becker farm in Cobles- kill. His first wife died in 1796, and a few years after he married Elizabeth VanArnin, daughter of Captain VanArnin, of the Conti- nental army, with whom he lived many years. The fruits of the first wife were eight sons and one daughter, viz :---
John, Elizabeth,
Peter, George William,
Henry,
David, Abram,
Jacob,
Severenus.
The youngest of the children were Abram and David who were twins.
To give an idea of the poverty of the early settlers as well as their customs, under stinted circumstances, we will here state that these boys were nine years old before they possessed a hat. While plowing in the spring and fall, being barefooted and the ground cold, they were com- pelled, occasionally, to sit upon their feet in the furrow to warm them, and these, were the chil- dren of a Schoharie County Judge 1 It was not penuriousness on the part of the father, but poverty that compelled a sacrifice of bodily com- forts. It was so with nearly all of the early settlers, they were extremely poor. Brown was appoint- ed Associate Judge in 1795 upon the formation of the County, and held the office until the year 1820, when he resigned.
The fourth son of the Judge was George William, whose voracious appetite caused not a little merriment wherever he went. In draw- ing grain to market, as we have before men- tioned, several neighbors accompanied each other, and the custom was to take their own provisions along in a dinner box ; but that cus- tom was dropped in George William's case, as he could not carry enough to appease his tire- less appetite and quite likely he often went
304
HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
without eating until his return, but upon this particular occasion he was to dine with Russell Case, at what was formerly called Battleman's Mills, eight miles west of Albany. Perhaps his associate laid a plan to victimize the landlord and agreed to pay for the dinner, which was one shilling, a very small pittance for the amount of fun in store. George sat down to the table upon which was a roasted pig on a platter in front of him. Without ceremony he took upon himself the task of carving, and putting the meat down his throat as he carved without giv- ing his fellow guests a morsel. No doubt the strangers present looked dumbfounded and were anxious to render assistance in exterminating the pig, but George understood his business, or rather his inward cravings, and ate the whole pig, "stuffing and all." Upon looking around for more with the earnestness of Oliver Twist, no doubt, he called the landlord and asked " Hash you got any more of dem leetle hocks?" Undoubtedly Mr. Case replied "nix."
At the age of twelve George was equal to the best of laborers, especially in chopping wood, and it was he that cut a goodly share of the timber which stood upon the line of the Great Western Turnpike through Carlisle, for the road's con- struction. He was a muscular man, that could endure any amount of labor, especially in devour- ing " leetle hocks."
On the 4th of July, 1879, the remains of Judge Brown and wives were re-interred in the Carlisle cemetery in the presence of many hun- dred people. The exercises were imposing. After Scripture reading by Rev. L. Lyon and prayer by Rev. C. L. Offer, the remains were delivered by the Marshal of the day, Nicholas Hanson, to the President, Hon. John M. Ros- coe. Thirty-eight young ladies representing the States of the Union, (after the recital of a poem by Miss Mary Duesenbury) paid homage to the patriots by casting evergreens and flowers in the graves. An eulogium was delivered upon the lives and characters of Brown and his asso- ciates, the Karkers and Young, whose remains it was also expected to have placed beside him, but the relatives withheld their consent. The bones of the Judge were found, nearly entire, after a period of forty-one years interment. The brain
was well preserved and was very large and weighty.
In 1778, when the Indians began their depre- dations in the Schoharie settlements, the patriots of New Rhinebeck made the house of Peter Young their rendezvous. Being but few in numbers, and the Tory neighbors becoming more venomous as their allies began to make their raids, this little company concluded to leave their homes and seek safety in the forts. A band of Indians assembled at a Tory's house in the neighborhood to capture them, upon which Peter Young started to take his wife, who was a cripple, to the Camps for safety ; but fearing he would be unable to do so, she was taken to a small cave at the foot of the moun- tain and left there alone. Being supplied with provisions, she remained for several days in that place without being discovered by the Tories, whose houses were very near. The walls of this "rock-house," as it has since been called, for many years plainly showed the marks of the fires she built late at night, when all was quiet and danger of being seen had passed.
After the Indians passed off to other fields for murder and devastation, her husband re- turned and carried her to the Camps, where she remained until the close of the war.
Peter Young's children were :--
Jacob, Zachariah,
William,
Mathias,
Jeremy,
Christian, Christina.
Mathias was born on the 20th day of Janu- ary, 1763, and was the first white child born in the present territory of Carlisle.
His children were :-
Benjamin,
Richard,
Solomon,
Margaret,
Elizabeth,
Lana, (Mrs. Nicholas Osterhout.)
He died May 21, 1822.
305
TOWN OF CARLISLE.
The Fichter, Monk, Henry Kneiskern, and two of the Loucks families were loyal, and when the news of a Royal victory was heard, they ex- pressed their pleasure by playing upon fifes. It is said the Fichter girls could play equal to any man. This family's house was the rendezvous of the Tories and Indians. The head of the family was Andrew Fichter, who in company with his brother-in-law, Michael Borntheit, came here from New Orleans, where they landed in 1750. Borntheit died childless, and Andrew Fichter was followed by his sons, Henry and Andrew. There remains but one of the family that bears the name, and soon it will be as ex- tinct as that of Borntheit.
To the east of this neighborhood, Abram Osterhout, a native of Ulster county, settled in 1806. Here he reared a large family, that have been prominent in the political field, and energetic in the interest of the town and County.
The children were :-
Cornelius,
Peter, John,
James, Nicholas,
Abram, George, Jacob,
Chauncey.
Peter was elected sheriff in 1831. John and James were elected to the Assembly in 1843. and 1852, beside filling various other official positions, at all times proving themselves to be faithful and strictly honest officials.
In 1784, John C. McNeill, of Londonderry, a Revolutionary veteran, came to Charleston, Montgomery county, with his wife, and after a few weeks land hunting, concluded to locate in Carlisle. He began at once to clear the forest, and what proved most singular, felled the first tree upon the spot where he was buried many years after. The farm is now occupied by a grandson, Merritt McNeill. While clearing a site to place his house, his wife remained at Charleston, and he walked over daily and worked alone, the only white man north of the present turnpike, in the limits.of the town. A
short time after, one McCracken, another repre- sentative of the "Emerald Isle" settled upon the west part of the David Seeley, Sr., farm, but after 1805 moved farther west.
Between the years 1795 and 1810, the town was filled by immigrants from every part of the country, many coming from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, owing to the idea gained during the war, of Schoharie being such a wheat growing section. With but very few exceptions, the descendants of the first sct- tlers of the town remain upon their ancestral homes.
Immediately after the Revolution, Jacob and Peter Hillsinger settled at Little York, upon the farms now occupied by Adam and William. During the war, Jacob and Peter were employed as scouts, and spent much of their time in Old Dorlach, watching the movements of the Tories. After the invasion of the Schoharie valley by Johnson and Brant, a Tory of Dorlach, returned to his home, after assisting the British and In- dians in devastating the valley, and was met by Peter and others, who were acquainted with his proceedings.
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