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 59
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" DIED JUNE IST, 1846. AGED 58."
General William Mann was the next who es- tablished an office here, and was soon followed by Jacob Houck, Jr., from Catskill (1827).
The same year Charles Goodyear, of Law- yersville, after graduating at Union College and studying with Henry Hamilton, was admitted to practice, and opened an office in that of Ham- ilton. Being a careful, earnest worker, hè soon
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established a reputation that equalled any of his predecessors in his profession, and was called upon by the people to represent them in the Assembly in 1840, and in Congress in 1845 and 1847-also in 1865, 1867. In 1848 Governor Young appointed him Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Upon the organization of the Schoharie Bank in 1852, Mr. Goodyear was elected President, which position he held to with- in a short time previous to his removal to the South in 1868. Mr. Goodyear was unfortunate in a financial point of view, during the insane speculations that followed the Civil war, and to sustain that honor which years of fair and hon- est dealing had obtained, his ample fortune was sacrificed, and he removed to Charlottesville, Va. There his legal qualifications were again appre- ciated, and he was placed in the Judicial chair, and tendered other positions which he felt com- pelled to refuse. On the 9th of April, 1876, he died at his Southern home, in the seventy- second year of his age.
Next in order came Wm. H. Davis, Wm. A. Sternbergh, Ralph Brewster, Joseph Mackey, Robert C. Martin, Nathan P. Hinman, Almerin Gallup, Hobart Krum, Stephen L. Mayham, (see Blenheim), N. L. F. Bachman, Chauncey Hinman, John B. Grant, B. M. Handy, F. M. Mayham, C. L. Bailey, and Wilfred Thomas. The last ten, together with Mr. Brewster, are at present residents of the village, and form, as did their predecessors, a staff of lawyers, whose · abilities have often been admired by different courts. Several of the gentlemen named, be- side Tiffany, Hamilton and Goodyear, have held official honors, as will be seen by consulting the Civil List of the County.
We find upon the map of 1750, that two fam- ilies by the name of Lawyer were residents here at that date, and the question that has puzzled the Lawyer family for years has been, " To what branch do I belong ?" All hold direct relation- ship to Johannes, the great land-holder ; but who was he? Was he the first Lawyer that set- tled in the valley, or was he a son of the first ? We have the wills of the three Johannes Law- yers, that followed each other in succession, giving the names of the children, and in com- paring them with other records, we find that we have the lineage correct. It is evident that the
first and only man by that name in America, settled in the Schoharie valley. The family has become numerous, extending over the whole United States, and all trace their lineage to the Lawyer of Schoharie. The progenitor of the family was Johannes Lawyer, a merchant of New York City, who came here as an Indian trader, and was commissioned to survey and do busi- ness for the Germans. The first notice of him in the valley, was in 1720. He was a German, coming from some place along the Rhine, and emigrated about the year 1710. He settledtwo of his sons-Johannes, Jr., near the old parson- age, and Jacob Frederick, upon the Beller place, about the year 1718. After a few years he set- tled with Jacob Frederick and kept store, and died sometime between 17.60, the date of his will, and 1765, the proving of it. He was buried in the Lutheran cemetery. He was a practical surveyor.
His will states that he was a merchant, and had five children, namely :- Johannes, Jacob Frederick, Lawrence, Elizabeth and Sophia. At the writing of the will Sophia was dead, and her children by her two husbands, "Jost Bellinger and Christian Ziele," were to share the mother's portion. Elizabeth married Marcus Rickert, and upon his decease, Hendrick Haynes, whom we find, by the old map, was settled between Johannes and Jacob Frederick. Haynes after- ward settled in the present town of Seward. The will gave each one of his children " one- fifth part of his estate, both real and personal," without stating any real estate in particular. His wife was then living and enjoyed the whole until death. Johannes received his surveyor's utensils. The will was witnessed by Peter N. Sommers, Johannes Schaeffer, and Frank Otto. Upon the death of this man, tradition says, the people of the surrounding country assembled and had a gala day. Casks of liquor and tobac- co were freely rolled out for the occasion, as was the custom in those days at funerals. Johan- nes, the son, followed his father as surveyor, and became a large land-holder, owning at one time thirty-six thousand acres of land, principally in the present territory of the County. No doubt he received a good start from his father, and perhaps purchased considerably before his father's death. He was a very careful business
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man, and like his father before him, married twice. His first wife was a daughter of Adam Vroman, 2d, and Christina Sternbergh, and their children, were as follows :-
Catharine, (Mrs. Abram Strubach) ; Eliza- beth, (Mrs. Adam Ziele) ; Maria, (Mrs. Gen- eral Bartholomew Swart) ; Rebecca, (Mrs. Dr. Budd) ; Lambert, of Cobleskill, (married Cath- arine Lawyer) ; Jacob, (married Nancy Mann) ; Abraham, (married Eva Dietz) ; Johannes, the 3d, (married Angelica Swart) ; David, (married Christina Sternbergh) ; Christian, (married Catharine Snyder) ; Henry, (married Catharine Sternbergh); Peter, (married Nancy C. Bergh).
Jacob Frederick's (the Ist) children were as follows :--
Johannes, (the third large landowner) ; Law. rence, of Cobleskill ; Catharine, (Mrs. Lambert Lawyer, of Cobleskill); Jacob ; Nicholas; David ; Elizabeth, (Mrs. Lambert Sternbergh, Jr.).
Lawrence's (the Ist) children were as fol- lows :-
Johannes Jacob, (father of Mrs. Governor Bouck) ; Jacob, (Little Jacob, so-called, whose widow is still living with her son, Elijah Law- yer) ; Lawrence and John L., the Ensign of the Revolution, (whose son, Samuel, of Crysler's Hook, was succeeded by the late John S. Law- yer) ; and Mrs. Lawrence Lawyer, of Cobles- kill.
Having given the line of the first and second generation, we will follow Johannes the 3d, in a direct line, who settled upon the Lasell place, and was not a large landowner. His children were as follows :-
John I., (married Ruth Allen, of Catskill) ; Gertrude, (Mrs. Judge William Fletcher, of Detroit) ; Maria, (Mrs. Harmonus Bouck) ; Susan, (Mrs. Samuel Lawyer, of Crysler's Hook); Christina, (Mrs. John Armstrong, afterwards Mrs. Derick Van Vechten) ; Sarah, (Mrs. John Feek, afterwards Mrs. DeFrate).
Johannes' (the son of the first Jacob Freder- ick, and the third large landowner,) children were as follows :-
Adam, Jacob Frederick, John I. I., Thomas, of Lawyersville, Anna, Rebecca, Eva and Wil- helmina.
When Johannes, the 2d, received his rents and installments, it was the custom of the whole family to assemble and have a general time of feasting. A dividend was made, and each re- ceived their share, little caring for the splendor their income might grant them. We might here state, in part, to prove that the second Johannes was the large landholder ; that nearly all of the purchases were made after the death of the first Johannes. The lot of land lying in Cobleskill, granted to Jacob Borst and Lawyer, and one in. Seward, bearing the date of 1752 and 1761, were two exceptions. The large tract to the east of Schoharie was granted in 1768, also the one lying to the west of Morris and Coeymans, at Central Bridge, as the gov- ernment did not allow any one person to "take up" more than one thousand acres. Lawyer formed a partnership with thirty-six different men, and after receiving the grants, he pur- chased their interest at a nominal sum. One Zimmer was interested in many of the grants with Lawyer, and sold out to him for one thousand acres, which lay upon and around the present elevation that bears the name of "Zim- mer Hill."
In 1796 Jabez W. Throop came from Con- necticut, and worked as a mechanic until the year 1800, when he commenced upon a very limited scale, to " keep store." By careful and honest dealing he established a trade that is still retained by his son, O. B. Throop, after a. lapse of seventy-nine years. It is an example of perseverance and stability in business that is very seldom witnessed or experienced. Through all the changes that have been brought about within that time-financial reverses of less and more pretentious concerns, and brighter pros- pects of gain in other places-this house has kept steadily on, outliving the long list of those we have mentioned, upon the same ground that the humble store of 1800 was built.
Another former merchant of the place de- serves mention ._ Peter Osterhout, Sr., came to Schoharie about the year 1820, and commenced upon a limited capital. By strict attention to business and honest dealing he soon enlarged his stock and trade, and became, as did Mr. Throop, one of the leading merchants of the County. It was thought for many years, that
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
an article that could not be found at either Osterhout's or Throop's, was not to be found anywhere. Mr. Osterhout died on the 8th of Marclı, 1872, at the advanced age of eighty-two.
A correspondent of the Schoharie Republican and former resident of the village, communi- cated the following in addition to the foregoing. He says :-
" In all probability I have forgotten the names of some, but I call to mind the following :- Nicholas Bouck, Rice Orcutt, John G. Gebhard, Jr., Almerin Gallup, Petherel Millspaugh, Peter Mesick, Simeon Deyo, James France ; all the foregoing keeping what is known as a "general assortment." John I. Lawyer, (hardware); Warren S. Gates, (stoves and tinware) ; Abram A. Keyser, (stoves and tinware) ; George Law- rence, (groceries and liquors) ; Lewis A. Butler, (clocks and jewelry); Mr. Willard, from Cats- kill, (clocks, &c). The following firm names, from the single names just given were well known in their day: Bouck & Orcutt, Geb- hard & Orcutt, Orcutt & France, Millspaugh, Mesick & Co.
"I also called to mind the name of Charles Vogel, (hardware, tin, &c.) His father, Freder- ick Vogel, who was a watch and clock maker, may have kept a small jewelry store. It is but half a score of years when William O. Root, kept clocks, jewelry, stationery, &c. Washing- ton Throop, brother of Origin B. Throop was in copartnership with his father, Jabez W. Throop.
" I have an indefinite recollection as to hav- ing heard that a Mr. Peter Bunker was in trade way back to forty-five or fifty years ago ; and that Mr. Bunker was a foundling brought up and raised by Harmanus Bouck, whose daughter he afterwards married. Rice Orcutt married another daughter of Harmanus Bouck. Nich- olas Bouck, a son of Harmanus, and Rice Or- cutt constituted the firm of Bouck & Orcutt, above named. Before the dissolution of the firm Nicholas Bouck, as one of the firm of Bouck & Barnes, engaged in the wholesale dry goods business in the city of New York. Nich- olas Bouck's first marriage was with Ann Lint- ner, a sister of the late Rev. Dr. George A. Lintner, whom the writer remembers as a
bright, cheerful young woman, always happy in making the little folks happy. After the death of his first wife Mr. Bouck married Sarah Wor- cester, a graduate of the Albany Female Academy and the first Preceptress of Scho- harie Academy, a most accomplished and re- fined lady. She was a sister of Mr. Worcester, who has long been the Treasurer of the New York Central Railroad Company. Mr. Bouck having died, his widow married John C. Wright, for many years First Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of Schoharie County ; afterwards State Senator (four years) and subsequently (1851) elected Comptroller of the State.
" Among the head clerks whom I call to mind, and who were in reality the managers of super- intendents for their principals, were Mr. Jeptha R. Simms, (Mr. Roscoe speaks of him as principal, and possibly he was,) a most affable and courteous gentleman, who must have con- trolled a large trade, Mr. Orrin Kibbe, (many years with Peter Osterhout, Sr.,) a Mr. Best, (with Millspaugh, Mesick & Co.,) a very reliable man and the father of Mr. Jacob H. Settle's wife, and Messrs. Elijah Lawyer and William Osterhout (with Almerin Gallup)."
Garlock's dorf .- Some time after the settle- ment of Weiser's and Hartman's dorf, and per- haps the time Fox's settlement was made, another hamlet sprang up where Jacob Vroo- man now resides, known as Garlock's dorf. It has been stated that Elias Garlock was the head man, and that he was a " List-master " at the Camps. The List-master at the Camps was John Christopher Garlock, and not Elias-un- doubtedly Elias was Christopher's son. The farm upon which Elias Garlock settled (Jacob Vrooman's) was purchased of him by Josias Swart in 1764, and other lands joining, by Barent Vrooman, the grandfather of the present Jacob, in 1765. We find the Garlocks were settled near Canajoharie in 1768, which con- futes the statement of the Garlocks leaving the valley at the time Conrad Weiser did, on ac- count of the land difficulties referred to in the second chapter of this work. John Christopher witnessed the conveyance, and we are led to believe he removed from the Camps at an earlier day to Canajoharie, and was the means
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TOWN OF SCHOHARIE.
of drawing Elias away from this valley. There is a map of Stone Arabia in the possession of John Gebhard, Jr., bearing date of 1758, which is a copy of one found by Johannes Lawyer while then surveying, and we find among the residents noted, Christopher and Elias Garlock. But these conveyances of 1764 and '65, to Swart and Vrooman, say : "I, Elias Garlock, of Schoharie, &c." Lawyer must have copied the map after Elias settled there, and instead of the former owner of the lots, placed that of Elias and John Christopher Garlock upon it. That they were the same men we have abundant proof. Barent Vrooman married the daughter of Josias Swart, and became the possessor of the greater share of the property.
This hamlet comprised almost if not more than forty families, and what became of them we are unable to tell. As Hartman's dorf, the largest of the settlements, vanished without leaving a mark of its once existence, so has this hamlet disappeared. Across the road from Jacob Vrooman's, the first hatter in the County, Nicholas Delavergne, settled in the year 1784, and remained until 1808, when he removed to Esperance, and was succeeded in this village by Chester Lasell.
Jacob Vrooman the present owner and oc- cupant of the "Garlock farm," is a son of Barent A. Vrooman, in direct line from Adam Vrooman, and was born upon the farm on the 27th of November, 1808. His educational advantages were very limited, as the district schools of his boyhood were very inferior, but unlike many better situated he was energetic and studious, and aspired to practical knowl- edge. Through inheritance Mr. Vrooman is the possessor of a fine property, as many others of his age along the valley, to which he clings with ancestral pride, regardless of other ex- tended business relations. Mr. Vrooman pos- sesses undaunted energy, with a firmness of character that commands and elevates the busi- ness in which he is engaged to a successful status. Becoming interested in the Schoharie Valley Railroad he became its sole owner, and by careful, economical management the road has become a success. With the exception of A. T. Stewart's Florida road, this is believed to
be the only one owned by a single individual in the United States.
Joining Garlock's on the north was " Kneis- kern's Dorf," which lies mostly in the town of Esperance, and which we have noticed in the chapter upon that town. Upon the first settle- ments of these two most northern dorfs, the space of land between the little brook crossing the road north of Jacob Vroman's and William Hal- lenbeck's farm, was unoccupied, and remained so until about the year 1750, when Lambert Stern- bergh's sons, of Kneiskern's dorf, settled upon the farm now occupied by John Lendrum,
In 1811, the "Schoharie and Duanesburgh Turnpike " was built by Thomas P. Danforth, through the farm, to intersect the Great West- ern Turnpike, " seventeen miles from Albany." Upon the forks of the two roads stands a man- sion that was built nearly sixty years ago for a tavern, where the young people of the valley re- sorted for dancing. Passing down the valley we soon cross the " Central Bridge," which was built in 1823, as was the road leading over the hill east to intersect the Schoharie and Duanesburgh Turnpike, making a direct road from Cobles- kill to Albany. In 1824, Samuel Smith built a hotel upon the ground now occupied by Charles Rich, and began a business that grew to paying proportions under his energetic and shrewd management. In 1830, fire swept his establish- ment away, but soon rebuilding, he continued the business until the year 1847, when Levi Totten purchased the stand, and " Uncle Sam" retired. Charles Rich followed in 1851. In 1825, O. H. Williams, a former clerk of Peter Osterhout, Sr., erected the brick store at present occupied by Jacob Slingerland, and for many years was engaged in the mercantile business.
Mr. Olaf K. Williams, was the son of Eben Williams, a Revolutionary patriot, who held a captain's commission through that war, and proved a useful and staunch soldier, participat- ing in many of the most important battles fought during that eventful period.
Opposite, J. G. Caryl, son-in-law of Samuel Smith, also established a trade in the same line of goods. These two men, of energy and in- tegrity, possessed the confidence of the farming community to an unparalleled extent. Williams
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
passed away on the 13th of October, 1872, " white with the frost of years.
Near by stands an ancient mill that was erect- ed by Hendrick Strubach, grand-son ,of the first settler bearing that name, nearly eighty years ago, and was the first mill on the stream that used bolting cloths.
Near the mill for several years the manufact- uring of agricultural machinery, was carried on by G. Westinghouse, and at a later date by S. K. Campbell, who removed the works to the Central Bridge station, a small hamlet to which the railroad gave birth upon its completion to the place in 1864.
But very few manufacturing establishments have been erected in the town of Schoharie, con- sidering the wealth of the people and great de- mand for every article that can be conceived.
The village at the depot, or "New Central Bridge," through the energy of its inhabitants, bids fair to compare favorably with any of its sister towns as a central mart and manufactur- ing point.
One of the pioneer business men was John J. Rowe, a merchant, who was followed by A. M. Becker, John M. Mead, and John Stever. A. L. Fisher followed Jacob Burbanks in the hardware business, and for many years has add- ed materially to the business of the place, and convenience of the community.
· A short time after the Revolution a mill was built upon Fox's creek, a few rods above the iron bridge, against the bank opposite the road leading to Central Bridge, where once stood the first grist-mill built in the County soon after the settlement of Fox's dorf. Henry Lawyer at a late date repaired the mill, but the dam of Colonel Vroman's mill flooded the waterwheel, and the mill proved a failure.
About the year 1806, two Yankees by the name of Chase and Davis, came and put a machine in the old mill for carding wool. We believe it to have been the first one in the County, and although it worked slow, it was considered a great improvement upon the old mode of "hand-carding." They carded two hundred pounds of wool in twenty-four hours, and were obliged to work night and day to do
the business. Being a successful and paying machine, in a few years many were built which produced a competition and caused small profits. One was erected upon the Waterbury place in 1811 or 1812, by Stephen Lawrence, but was changed to an oil mill, and did a thriving busi- ness for a few years.
A distillery was in operation by Smith Young in 1827, on the Peter Mann farm, and after burning was again started on the Waterbury road. According to the ratio of inhabitants it is thought that there was more liquor con- sumed in the County sixty and seventy-five years ago than now.
Peter Mann erected a building for a tannery, which was used as such for several years, but was purchased by a firm from New York-Korn & Barre-who established a silk factory within it. The old building was burned and the present stone building erected in its stead, and for reasons best known to the firm the factory ceased operations. Ephraim Mann finally purchased the property and placed a provender and planing-mill within the wall, whose humble rumblings and clatterings seem to laugh at former pretentious enterprises.
In 1859 a stock company was formed, with a capital of $200,000, to manufacture wagon hubs and felloes, and in the fall of that year a building was erected near the cemetery for that purpose, and equipped with an engine and all necessary machinery.
It was run successfully until the 16th of October, 1865, when the establishment burned at a total loss of sixty thousand dollars. It was rebuilt by the company, but soon purchased by ex-Sheriff Durand. It was again burned in 1877, entailing a loss of fifteen thousand dollars upon the owner. The vast amount of hubs sent to all parts of the United States and Canada, and the increasing demand for them, was beyond the expectation of the owners, The timber used was mostly elm, in which the County abounds, and it being nearly worthless for other purposes, the factory proved a grand enterprise to the farmers.
An agricultural and machine shop was built near the railroad station, soon after the com-
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TOWN OF SCHOHARIE.
pletion of the road, which employed many laborers for several years, but at present the building stands idle, waiting for some enter- prising capitalist to bid the hammer make its stroke.
The wagon and carriage factories of this place have proved successful. The present one of R. N. Stafford & Settle was long occupied by William Winter, whose reputation for relia- ble work was known far and wide, and ·many vehicles of his manufacture, of thirty years' usage, still defy our rough roads, and we im- agine make merry over the struggling weak- kneed apologies for wagons of the present day, that are made like Hodge's razors, "to sell,"
Mr. Winter came to Schoharie as a mechanic in 1842, and formed a partnership with Van Camp for the manufacture of wagons and sleighs. He commenced business where the fire engine house now stands, and afterward oc- cupied the present "carriage building." John Feeck carried on the business prior to Winter's advent for several years, but who preceded him we are unable to learn. Winter and R. N. Stafford carried on the business together for the last years of Mr. Winter's interest in the trade. While engaged by the State upon the canal, he died suddenly at Yatesville, on the 26th of August, 1876, aged fifty-nine.
After the publication of the foregoing in the Schoharie Republican, an anonymous writer commmunicated the following in regard to "Schoharie wagon makers :"-
" Peter L. Feeck, a brother of John Feeck and also a brother of Jacob J. Feeck who recently died in the town of Fulton, carried on the manufacture of carriages with a partner. Peter L. Feeck married a daughter of Jabez Throop.
"Austin Knowles preceded all the carriage makers of Schoharie who have done business within the recollection of the writer. About the year 1835 or 1836 he closed up his affairs in Schoharie and engaged in the same business in Philadelphia with his brother Lyman Knowles. He took with him a large number of unsold and unfinished carriages, which were sent to Catskill and shipped thence by water to Philadelphia.
"Zeb Smith was another wagon maker. His
son, Amos, succeeded him, though this is not positively stated. Their shop, afterwards oc- cupied by Peter Lemoge, a Canadian French- man and cabinet maker, was long ago demol- ished. It stood in the vicinity of the Gardiner barns.
"The two Wilbers made fine carriages for some years in the shops adjoining those of Winter & Stafford. One Champion and a Mr. Pearl engaged in wagon making opposite the Lutheran church. They were there before and after 1857.
"And who, if he knew him, can forget Peter A. Rickard at the junction of the old Water- bury lane with the main road not far from the Old Stone Fort. Peter could make a wagon or a wheel-barrow, a hay rigging or a coffin, but if he heard of a fish lying in Fox's creek waiting for a net or the torch and spear, the customers would also need to wait outside of Peter's closed doors."
We cannot pass another firm that has been perhaps more successful than any firm at the place, and in passing the many cemeteries through the County whose marble shafts so boldly admonish us of our uncertainty of life, our minds cannot but be riveted to the old established firm of H. R. & Z. J. Brown. They came to Schoharie County from Catskill, Greene county, and settled in Punchkill in the fall of 1845. After fourteen months' residence there they removed to Schoharie village, and have continued the business since, which has assumed greater pro- portions than any other of the character in this portion of the State.
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