USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie county, and border wars of New York > Part 54
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" Capt. Machin.
" Yours, sincerely, GEO. CLINTON."
On the 18th of April, 1787, Capt. Machin formed a copartner- ship with Samuel Atlee, (a porter brewer,) James F. Atlee, Da- vid Brooks, James Grier, and James Giles, (an attorney at law,) all of the city of New York. The term specified for its continu- ance was seven years, with a capital of £300. The firm seems to have been formed for the avowed purpose of coining copper, provided Congress, or any of the state legislatures, enacted a law allowing individuals to coin money. As the object was to make money, a small capital was considered sufficient for the under- taking. On the 7th of June following, that firm formed a copart- nership with one then existing, which consisted of four partners- Reuben Harman, Esq., William Coley, of Bennington county, Vermont, Elias Jackson, of Litchfield county, Connecticut, and Daniel Van Voorhis, goldsmith, of the city of New York-for a term of eight years from the first of the following July, that being the limitation of an act of the legislature of Vermont to said Har-
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man, for the coinage of copper. The first mentioned firm was to furnish a capital of £500 for the concern; £200 of which eapi- tal, with £400 more, New York currency, to be paid to the lat- ter firm two years after, was to be theirs as an equivalent for ad- mitting the New York firm into communion with them-the lat- ter being required to furnish no capital. The ten partners were to enjoy equally " the benefits, privileges, and advantages arising from the coinage of copper in the state of Vermont, to be coined in that state, and also in Connecticut, New York, and elsewhere, as the parties should think fit. On or before the first day of July, the first mentioned, or New York firm, were required, by the co- partnership, "to complete, at their own cost, the works then erect- ing at the mills of the said Thomas Machin, near the Great Pond, in the county of Ulster," while the other part of the firm agreed, in the same time, to complete works they were then erecting, at Rupert, in the county of Bennington, Vermont. Agreeably to the written contract, Giles was to have charge of the writing and book-keeping ; Harman and Coley were to manage the money changers at Rupert ; and Machin and J. F. Atlee were to "ma- nage, act, and perform that part of the trade which concerned the coinage of money and manufacturing hard ware," at Machin's mills ; Grier was to be " cashier of the money coined at Rupert ;" Van Voorhis, "cashier of the money coined at Machin's Mills ;" Grier and Jackson were to have the general management of the expenses, purchase of necessary articles, &c .; while other joint business was to be performed by Brooks and Samuel Atlee. It was further stipulated that Giles should keep a " certain book of resolutions ;" that the firm should meet, either in person or by proxy in other members, agreeably to a written form of authority incorporated, on the 1st day of February, June, and October of each year, at Rhinebeck, New York, unless otherwise agreed upon. In case either of the partners obtained a grant from Congress or any of the states to coin money, the profits resulting from such act were to be shared by all the partners,-who also bound them- selves personally, "in the penal sum of one thousand pounds," for the punctual performance of the contract.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
Whether the long firm of money makers ever coined coppers enough to fill the pockets of all the Green Mountain boys; or whether they found the business profitable, is uncertain ; but from Mr. Machin's papers I am led to conclude they never effected much. At his mills perhaps a thousand pounds of copper was manufactured, as appears by the papers, in the year 1789 ; pre- vious to which little seems to have been done. " What is every- body's business is nobody's ;" and the saying seems to have been verified in the doings of this copper firm : for in a letter from J. F. Atlee to Mr. Machin, dated Vergennes, October 14, 1790, he expresses a wish that the concern might arrive at a settlement on equitable terms, and compromise their matters without a tedious and expensive law suit.
In Jan., 1797, Capt. Machin removed from New Grange to the town of Mohawk, Montgomery county, from which town were afterwards organized the towns of Charleston, Glen, and part of Root. The fall previous to his removal he had visited his lands, accompanied by two hired men, and erected a log tenement, cleared a fallow, planted fruit-trees, currant bushes and sallad,- made sap-troughs, &c., &c., as is shown by a journal he kept at the time. His lands were situated 10 miles north of Schoharie Court House, and 20 south of Johnstown village.
Capt. Machin continued to practise surveying after his remo- val to Montgomery county, and several officers of the army were among those who profited by his skill, among whom were John Lamb, his former colonel, and Gen. Nicholas Fish. Among Mr. Machin's personal friends was George Tiffany, Esq., a native of Massachusetts, who settled in Schoharie about the time the county was organized .* Capt. Machin took no little pains to educate his children, a son and a daughter.
At the close of the war, Capt. Machin became a member of the Cincinnati Society. He also belonged to the fraternity of
* Mr. Tiffany was a fine classic scholar, and while in Schoharie county was distinguished for his legal ability. Previous to his locating in Schoharie he taught an Academic school in Albany, believed to have been the first of the kind established in that city. He removed from Schoharie to Ancaster, Upper Canada, where, at a good old age, he died Jan. 8, 1842.
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Free Masons, and on the establishment of a lodge in Schoharie, he was appointed master to install its officers. Silas Gray was also appointed as senior and Johannes Dietz junior wardens of the same. The following is the evidence of Capt. Machin's appoint- ment :
" To all GREETING-
" Be it known that I, Ezra Ames, Grand High Priest of the G. R. A. Chapter of the State of New York, by virtue of power in me vested by the third Sec'n. and fourth article of the General Grand Constitution, Do hereby authorize and empower our worthy Brother, Thomas Machin, to install the officers of Ames Mark Lodge, in the town of Schoharie, County of Scho'e., agreeable to the Gen'l. Grand Constitution of the United States, and to make returns of his proceedings thereon, at the next session of the G. Ch.
" EZRA AMES. " Albany, 4th Feb. 5S07." [Year of the world.]
By the following letters from his old friend Gov. Clinton, who was then Vice President of the United States, it appears that Capt. Machin sought for a pension, and, afterwards, its increase :
" Washington, 14th April, 1808.
" Dear Sir-Agreeably to the request contained in your letter, I have done what was necessary on my part to give success to your application to be put on the Pension List. It gives me plea- sure to render you this little service, being, with great regard, " Yours sincerely,
"GEO. CLINTON.
"Capt. Thomas Machin."
" Washington, 6th March, 1810.
" Dear Sir-Yesterday I received your letter of the 22d of last month. You may rely on every assistance in my power to afford, to obtain an increase of your pension. But the preparatory steps to an application can be done most conveniently to you in the State, under a commission from Mr. Talmadge, the District Judge. I have requested Mr. K. K. Van Rensselaer to communi- cate to you the manner in which this commission is to be obtained, as well as the necessary subsequent measures to be taken previous to your application; to accomplish which, if expeditiously per- formed, may yet be in season for the present session of Congress. I am, with best respects to Mrs. Machin,
" Yours sincerely,
"GEO CLINTON."
"Capt. Thomas Machin."
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY, ETC.
Capt. Machin, after seeing the country of his adoption, in the defence of which he had freely shed his own blood, pass triumph- antly through two wars with the previously acknowledged mis- tress of the wave, at the close of each gaining the admiration and respect of the world, died at his residence in Charleston on the evening of April 3d, 1816, aged 72 years. A brief notice of his services and death appeared in the Albany Gazette of April 15th, which closed with the following sentence: " In the camp and in retirement his quatifications were holden in very high considera- tion." He was buried with Masonic honors.
In a letter of personal introduction from Col.Aaron Burr to Hen- ry Remsen Esq., dated at N. Y., Dec. 30, 1830,I find the follow- ing sentence; "Capt. Machin, who will have the pleasure to hand you this, is the son of my old friend and fellow-soldier, Capt. Ma- chin, who was a distinguished officer in our Revolutionary war, and was probably known to you."
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CHAPTER XX.
Schoharie county, which is situated mostly within the forty- second degree of north latitude, was organized by a Legislative Act of April 7th, 1795, from portions of Albany and Otsego counties. It is centrally distant north from New York city 150 miles, and west from the capitol 40 miles ; and presents a very uneven surface-from river flats to mountain elevations. The county originally consisted of six towns, which, except Schoha- rie, were not incorporated until March 17th, 1797.
In 1801, New York contained thirty counties ; and by a Le- gislative Act dated April seventh of that year, they were pro- perly divided into towns. The Session Laws printed in 1802, provide, that-
" The county of Schoharie shall contain all that part of the State bounded earterly by the county of Albany, northerly by part of the south bounds of the county of Montgomery, as hereaf- ter described, westesly by a line beginning at the south-west cor- ner of a tract of land formerly granted to Jyhn Lyne, and running thence the following courses and distances as marked by order of the Surveyor General : south twenty-one degrees and forty- eight minutes west, two hundred and nineteen chains, to the place where Joshua Tucker formerly resided ; thence south seven de- grees and forty-eight minutes west, one hundred and ninety-three chains, to the eastermost line of a tract of land known by the name of Belvidere patent; thence south nine degrees east six hundred and ninety-five chains to a ceartain hill known by the name of Grosvenor's hill ; thence with a direct line from the north- west cornes of Stroughburgh patent; thence with a direct line to the most northerly corner of Harpersfield on the Charlotte or Ade- gataugie branch of the Susquehanna river; thence south-easterly along the north bounds of Harpersfield to Lake Utsayantho, and southerly by a line formerly run from the head of Kaater's creek, where the same issues out of the southerly side or end of a certain
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
lake or pond lying in the blue mountains to the said Lake Utyas- antho, and by part of the north bounds of the county of Greene.
" And all that part of the said county of Schoharie beginning at a point in the west bounds of the county of Albany, two miles southerly of the place where Foxes creek intersects said west bounds, thence westerly to the place where Weaver's stony creek originally emptied itself into the Schoharie creek, and thence westerly to the place were the Cobelskill road crosses the Punch- kill, thence with a straight line to a point in the south bounds of the county of Montgomery five miles westerly of Schoharie creek, thence easterly along the county of Montgomery to Duanesburg, thence along the westerly and southerly bounds of Duanesburg and the west bounds of the county of Albany to the place of beginning, shall be and continue a town by the name of SCHO- HARIE.
" And all that part of the said county of Schoharie beginning at the place where the Cobelskill road crosses the Punchkill, thence with a straight line to the north-west corner of a patent granted to Michael Byrns and others, thence with a straight line to the west corner of the house now or late of Jacob Best near the head of the north branch of the Westkill, thence continuing the same line to a tract of land called Blenheim, thence easterly along the north- erly bounds of Blenheim until it strikes Schoharie creek, thence easterly with a straight line to the north-east corner of the dwell- ing house now or late of Moses Winter, thence with the same line continued to the west bounds of the county of Albany, thence northerly along the same to the south-east corner of the town of Schoharie, thence along the southerly bounds thereof to the place of beginning, shall be and continue a town by the name of MID- DLEBURG. [The citizens now write it Middleburgh.]
" And all that part of the said county of Schoharie beginning in the middle of Schoharie creek where the same is intersected by the southerly bound of the town of Middleburg, thence along the northern bounds of a tract of land called Blenhiem to the north-west corner thereof, thence continuing the same line to the county of Otsego, thence along the easterly bounds of Otsego to the county of Delaware, thence along the northern bounds thereof to the middle of Schoharie creek, thence northerly through the middle of said creek to the place of beginning, shall be and conti- nue a town by the name of BLENHEIM.
" And all that part of the said county of Schoharie beginning at the north-east corner of the town of Blenheim, thence south- erly along the eastern line of said town to where the said creek is intersected by the south bounds of the county of Schoharie, thence easterly along the said south bounds to the county of Al- bany, thence westerly along the same to the south-west corner of the town of Middleburg, thence westerly along the south bounds of the same to the place of beginning, shall be and contiune a town by the name of BRISTOL.
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" And all that part of the said county of Schoharie, beginning at a point in the northern boundary line of the same, six miles and a half easterly of the north-east corner of the town of Schoharie, in the said county, thence southerly in a direct line to the west cor- ner of the dwelling house now or late of John Redington, thence in a direct line to the westerly corner of the dwelling house now or late of Peter Bogardus, and thence in a straight line to the northerly corner of the dwelling house now or late of Joseph Webb, thence in a direct line to the westerly corner of the dwelling house now or late of Nicholas Smith, then'ce south-westerly to the near- est point in the division line between the counties of Schoharie and Otsego, thence southerly along the bounds of the county of Otsego to the north-west corner of the town of Blenheim, thence easterly along the north bounds thereof to the south-west corner of the town of Middleburg, thence northerly along the westerly bounds of the town of Middleburg and Schoharie to the north bounds of the county, and then along the same west to the place of begin- ning, shall be and continued a town by the name of COBELSKILL. " And all the residue or remaining part of the said county of Schoharie, shall be and continue a town by the name of SHARON."
After Schoharie county was organized, a new era began in its history. The frequent assembling at court of men distinguished for oratory and legal acumen-especially where science and let- ters have been neglected, cannot fail rapidly to improve the state of society and manners of the people. The first attorneys who located in Schoharie, were George Tiffany and Jacob Gebhard.
I had occasion, in the fore part of this book, to speak of the cleanliness of the pioneer settlers, and now advert to that of their descendants-and in justice must observe, that few, if any dis- tricts can show a greater proportionate number of very tidy housekeepers, than may now be seen in the Schoharie valley.
Twice in a year, at least, Dr. Franklin's description of a house cleaning is realized, not only in the primitive Schoharie, but in the Mohawk river settlements. Every article of furniture, from the garret to the cellar, is then removed, that the place it occupied may be scrubbed. Lime is profusely used on such occasions, es- pecially in the Spring, and it would be difficult to detect the track of a fly on a window, wall, or floor, after the operation. The description given by Brooks, in his travels in Europe, of the neat- ness of the people in some of the Dutch and German countries through which he traveled, is applicable, in many instances, to
39
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
the people of Schoharie : for as he says-"It is scrub, scrub, scrub from morning till night-from pillar to post-where there is dirt, and where there is none." The Schoharie women usually cleanse their floors daily, sometime semi-daily, by a process they call filing, which is done with a piece of sacking retained in the hands instead of being secured to a mop-stick.
"Time," says Irving, " which changes all things, is but slow in its operations upon a Dutchman's dwelling." The Germans and Dutch do not generally display as much taste in the selection of a site for, and the erection of their dwellings, as do the Eng- lish. Frequently a Dutchman's house fronts its owner's barn, in- stead of fronting a public highway. A small kitchen and an oven are often separately erected-both detached from the dwelling. Houses recently built in Schoharie discover far more taste and beauty than those constructed in former times.
If the Dutch manifest a want of taste in erecting their dwell- ings, some of the Yankees do quite as much in locating their out-buildings; for it is but a few years since there might have been seen opposite many good farm-houses in some parts of New England, a corn-crib or waggon-house, the front of which was literally covered with sheep, racoon, or skunk-skins.
Schoharie county contains 621 square miles. Its average length is 30 miles from north to south ; and width 22 miles from east to west. Its population, in 1825, was 25,926 ; in 1840, 32,358 : of which latter number, 16,002 were white males ; 15,863 white females ; 253 black males ; and 240 black females. The valua- tion of assessed property is usually about $2,000,000. The coun- ty contained in 1840, 199 common schools, with 9,244 scholars : and no distillery, where were six in 1824.
About the year 1810, a federal newspaper was established in Schoharie by Thomas Tillman, called The True American ; soon after which The American Herald, a republican journal, was issued by Derick Van Vechten. In 1818, Mr. Van Vechten published a paper called The Budget ; and the same year So- lomon Baker commenced a paper entitled The Schoharie Ob- server, which he published nearly five years. In 1819, The
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Schoharie Republican, a weekly sheet, as were its predecessors, was established, and is at present conducted by William H. Gal- lup. For several years previous to 1830, The Lutheran Maga- zine, a monthly periodical, was issued at the Republican office. A whig journal, entitled The Schoharic Patriot, was begun in 1837, by Peter Mix, and continued until 1844.
The Loonenberg, now Athens Turnpike, leading from Athens to Cherry-Valley, passes through the county from northeast to southwest ; and the Western Turnpike crosses the north part of the county. The route of the Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad is also laid through the county from north to south.
This county presents almost every variety of soil and surface, from river flats to mountain elevations, and yields good crops of such grain as is usually produced in the same climate. It is also well timbered : along the water-courses chiefly with oak, hickory and pine, and on the uplands with maple, beech, birch, basswood and hemlock.
The interval lands along the Schoharie, so justly celebrated for their beauty and fertility, are a rich alluvial deposit, formed by the transporting agency of the river, and its numerous tributaries, of such portions of earth, abraded and disintegrated rocks, and vegetable and animal matter as came under its influence. The most southern flats are least calcarious, being principally formed from the contiguous sand rock ; consequently the soil is not as productive without more artificial enriching.
The county is well watered, and affords numerous hydraulic privileges, some of which are improved, and others not. It is principally watered by the Schoharie, the largest tributary of the Mohawk, and its numerous inlets. The Schoharie heads in the town of Hunter, Greene county, the principal branch rising in a small swamp, about eight miles from the Hudson, at Saugerties. The country is there very mountainous, ridges of the Catskill mountains separating the water-courses. Among the most im- portant tributaries near its source, are Eastkill and Westkill, which rise in Hunter and run into it in Lexington ; and Batavia creek, which enters it at Prattsville .- W. W. Edward.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY,
Entering the county, the Schoharie courses northerly through the towns of Summit, Blenheim, Fulton, Middleburgh, and Scho- harie, until it arrives near the north end of the latter, when it takes an easterly course, and unites with the Mohawk five miles east of Fultonville,-its whole length being about seventy miles. From the mountainous nature of the country through which it flows, this river often rises suddenly, doing at times no little da- mage to the numerous mills its rapid course has invited to its banks.
The first bench of common plea judges in Schioharie county, consisted of William Beekman, Adam P. Vrooman, John M. Brown, David Sternberg, and Jonathan Danforth ; the former was first judge about forty years. The courts, for a time, held their sessions in a small building still standing in the rear of John Ingold's dwelling.
Schoharie sends two members to the State legislature; with Otsego forms the twenty-first congressional district : and with Al- bany, Schenectada, Delaware, Greene, Columbia, and Rensselaer counties, makes the third senatorial district.
The north part of the county is mostly underlaid with lime- stone, which supplies an abundance of good building materials ; and as it contains numerous fossils, some of which are very rare, -there being among them, the lily encrinite and several varie- ties of trilobite,-it affords the practical geologist a good oppor- tunity to investigate his useful science. There are, also, in the limestone region, several caverns of notoriety, the novelty and sparry formations of which invite to their dark chambers the ad- mirer of nature's wonder workings.
There have been but two executions in this county for a capital offence since it was formed. The first was that of Abraham Cas- ler for the murder of his wife, which he effected by administering, alternately, opium and arsenic. Casler was not a resident of the county, but committed the deed at an obscure tavern, while tra- veling through it. „As was generally believed, from testimony adduced on the trial, he desired to marry another woman, and poisoned his wife to prevent her proving an obstacle in the way
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of gratifying his unholy desires. Mrs. Best, the inn-keeper's wife, an intelligent woman, was the principal witness. He was tried before Judge Yates, Sept. 12th, 1817, and publicly executed on the hill east of the court-house in May following.
The other case I notice more minutely, not with a view to in- crease its notoriety (for I am conscious that the relatives of this criminal are highly respectable), but to show how an inscrutable Providence follows crime with detection and punishment.
John Vanalstyne was indicted Nov. 18th, 1818, for the murder of Wmn. Huddleston, and tried for the offence at a spceial court of oyer and terminer at the Schoharie court-house, in Feb., 1819. The trial commenced on the morning of Feb. 17th, before Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, and lasted nineteen hours. The crimina- ting testimony was entirely circumstantial. Eighty-three witnesses were subpoenaed, seventy-five of whom were present at the trial.
On Friday afternoon, Oct. 19th, Huddleston, then a deputy sheriff of the county, went on horse-back to the house of Van Alstyne to collect several executions, amounting to about $1450. The former was seen just at night with the latter, soon after which, as subsequently appeared, he must have killed him at or near his barn. The mysterious disappearance of Huddleston aroused pub- lic inquiry as to his fate, and when Van Alstyne was questioned about his last interview with him, he stated that he had paid up the executions the former had against him, saw them endorsed satisfied, and supposed the d-d rascal had run away with the money. He was also heard to say that no sheriff held any exe- cution against him. When interrogated after the murder, his statements, as to the amount of the several executions against him and the moneys paid to the sheriff, were contradictory. After the murder he took several bank-notes to a neighbor to be chang- ed, which appeared to have been purposely torn, and on one blood was found. He also stated in a conversation that the sheriff had on spectacles when he settled with him.
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