USA > New York > Ulster County > History of Ulster County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. I > Part 42
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Hle next appears as a tenant farmer on the manor of Rensselaerwyck. The farm he occupied, near Troy, was the tract lying between the Poesten Kill and the Wynants Kill, and was opposite the farm called the " Flatt,"-de " Vlachte."-leased to Arendt van Curler in 1647, after- wards known as the Schuyler farm, near Fort Sehyler, at West Troy.
We give below a copy of the first clause in the lease to Chambers of the farm in Troy :
" IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. AMEN :
" THIS DAY, 7th September, anno 1616, the presiding; officers of the Colonie Rensselaerswyck on one side, and Thomas Chamber on the other, have agreed and consented about a certain parcel of land, lying right opposite the Bonwerie called the Flatt [de Vlachte], on the east bank of the river, between the two kills, which land he, Thomas afore- said, shall occupy as a houwerie for the term of five successive years, commencing the 15th November, anno 1647, on the following colt- ditions."
The conditions of this lease, which we have not the space to copy in full, were so burdensome that at or before the end of his term Chambers deserted his " Bouwerie" in the Colonie of Rensselaerswyek, and went to the Esopus. But before his death he possessed a manor in his own right, endowed with all the same rights and privileges as the manor whose fiells he plowed as a tenant.
Dr. Decker, vice-director of New Netherlands, residing at Beaverwyek, in a letter to Director-General Stuyvesant, Nov. 19, 1655, says, " Thomas Chatubers, alias Clabbort, has seven hundred schepels of wheat, but on account of his absence at Esopus, he cannot be spoken to." This was about
two months after the Indian raid on New Amsterdam, Hobo- ken, and Staten Island, called the great Indian massacre, in which so many lives were lost, and such large quantities of grain were destroyed. A famine was threatened, and Stuy- resant was buying all the surplus grain in the province for the poor and destitute.
Why Thomas Chambers had an alias is not known. Goosen Gerritse calls him by his alias, Clabbort, as the purchaser of one of his horses, and it was by this he was frequently called in the early letters from Esopus. In after- years the alius was dropped, and he was known only as Thomas Chambers. He was probably one of the first to settle at Esopus as a farmer. He was then in the early troubles with the Indians, and was cultivating a small farm, the one lying nearest the Strand on the river. His wife and her children, by a former husband, also possessed two parcels of land in their own right -- fifty-two and forty-four acres adjoining that of Chambers. He was the cause of the Iu- dian outbreak in 1658. He had some Indians working on his farm. After their day's work was finished they asked him for a bottle of brandy. He weakly complied, although it was against the regulations of his village. One bottle of brandy only whetted their appetite for more, and they sent one of their number to the village for another bottle. This was secured and carried to the Indiaus in the bush. They now became hilarious and noisy, so that the good people became alarmed, and demanded that a squad of armed men should be sent out to quell the disturbance, They foolishly fired on the Indians, killing one and wounding others. The next day the Indians retaliated, and attacked a number of men going to the Strand, taking them prisoners, and after- wards killing them in cold blood.
Chambers was a prudent and thrifty man, accumulating property rapidly. He soon took a leading part in the little colony, and especially in their defense against the savages. He was commissioned a justice of the peace and a captain of the militia. In June, 1673, when the Indians attacked Wiltwyck he was in his fields. On his return to the village he was wounded in the car. He sneceeded io entering the palisades, and was active in resisting the savages until they were expelled from the place.
When the English took possession of the province, 1664, Thomas Chambers was one of the first to take the oath of allegiance to the new government. By his fidelity and good behavior he commended himself to the English Governors, who recognized his merits and bestowed upon him their favors. Governor Lovelace, Oct. 16, 1672, conferred upon him a patent in the words following :
" Whereas, Capt. Thomas Chambers, Justice of the Peace at Esopus, hath been an ancient inhabitant in those parts, where he hath doue signal and notable service in the times of the war against the Indians, and having by his industry in time of peace acquired considerable estale, of which he now stands possessed, among the rest a mansion house not far from the town of Kingston, commonly called Fox Hall, with a great tract of lan I thereto belonging, which aid house is made defensible against any sudden incursions of Indians or others. In acknowledgment of the services heretofore done by the said Capt. Thomas Chambers, and in part recompense thereof, I have thought fit to ereet the said Mansion House, called Fox Hall, and land belong- ing to it, into a manor, to be known by the name of the . Manor of Fox Hall,' the which shall, for the time to come. be held, deemed, reputed, taken, and be an entire enfranchised manor of itself, and
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CITY AND TOWN OF KINGSTON.
shall always, from time to time, base, hull, and enjoy like and equal privileges with other manors within the government, and shall in no manner or any wise be under the rule. order, or directions of any town court, but by the General Court of Assizes, or as from time lo time the said Capt. Chambers shall receive orders or directions from the Governor and his Council."
Fourteen years after this, October, 1686, Governor Don- gan issued a new patent, in a document too long to copy, concerning the same privileges, more minutely expressed, reeiting the several parcels of land within the manor, and adding 300 acres ; also reciting Chambers' services in the Indian wars, hie " ereets, makes, and constitutes the said tracts and pareels of land into one Lordship and Manor of Fox Hall." Thomas Chambers, lord of the manor, was also allowed " one Court-leet and Court-baron," with the right of advowson, and right of patronage to any churches established, or to be established, on the lands of the manor.
Thus the plain carpenter of New Amsterdam, and the farmer who fled from the exactions and oppressions of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, himself becomes the lord and oppressor of the tenants of the manor of Fox Hall.
Speaking of this manor and its lord, O'Callaghan says, " With all these temporal honors, Chambers' heart seemed unsatisfied." His first wife, Margaritta Hendrix, dying without issue, he married, in 1CS1. Laurentia Killenaelt, widow of Daniel Van Gaasbeck, whose son Abraham as- sumed the name of Chambers, and became heir to the manor of Fox Hall on the death of his stepfather, 1694. Under the dread that his name should become extinct and his manor broken up, Thomas Chambers established by his last will a most intricate entail. For, in case Abraham Gaas- beck Chianbers died without issue, the estate went to his sister Janetje, "on condition that she and her children should take the name of Chambers, as well as whosoever should marry her." Under like failure here, the manor passed to the next eldest sister. Maria Salisbury, on like con- ditions, whose eldest son was to inherit both the property and the name. But if he died without children, it was to go successively from the second to the tenth son, and if no sous survived, to her eldest daughter, on the conditions already mentioned. In all cases the manor was to be left entire.
Whether any members of this ancient family remain we cannot say ; but the manor of Fox Hall, with its stewards, with its court-leet and court-baron, its advowson and pat- ronage, has itself become " a wail' and estray." The name has disappeared, except from the book of patents .*
THE MANOR HOUSE.
The original manor-house of Chambers-was, without much doubt, situate at or very near the residence of the late C. L. Kiersted, just beyond and northerly of the city line, and not far from Albany Avenue. That Chambers resided there long after his settlement there is no doubt. It is claimed, however, that the manor house was at the " Strand," now Rondout, on the site of the present mansion of Mr. Jansen Hasbrouck. On the grounds of Mr. Hasbrouck, which are sitnate on an elevation, is a pear-tree, still living,
which marks the grave of Thomas Chambers. Imbedded in the basement-wall of Mr. Hasbrouck's honse is the tomb- stone of Thomas Chambers, inscribed with his name and the date of his death. His bones were taken up a few years ago and buried elsewhere. It would seem from this that Chambers had an earlier and a later manor-house,-one at Kingston, and the other in Rondout.
TJERCK CLAESEN DE WITT.
De Witt is one of the very few Dutch-American names which were illustrious in Fatherland. The grand pension- ary, John De Witt, administered the government of Ilolland from 1652 to 1672. He and his brother Cornelius, who also held important positions in civil and military life, were killed by a mob at The Hague, after years of faithful services to their country. Tjerek Claesen De Witt was their kinsman. Ile came to this country from Zunderland, Holland, pre- vious to April 24. 1636, when he married Barber, Andriese in New Amsterdam. He was settled in Beverwyck, where he owned a house and lot, which he exchanged with Madame De Hutter for two pareels of land in Esopus, containing one hundred and forty aeres, Sept. 1, 1060. In 1661 he was still possessed of a portion of his patrimonial estate in Holland, from which he received the rents ..
Tjerck Claesen De Witt was the ancestor of several prominent Americans. Among his descendants were the Hlou. Simeon De Witt, surveyor-general of the State of New York from 1784 to 1835, and the late Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D., of New York, besides many others of lesser fame. He seems to have disposed of all his property in Albany, and taken up his permanent residence in Esopus, 1660. Ile was there in the Indian war, 1663, and bought one of Goosen Gerritse's horses from the soldiers " at the bent of the drum." Little is knowa of his character, but it is fair to infer from what little is known of him that he was a true republican, like his kinsmen in Holland, and unwilling to submit quietly to arbitrary power. It is re- lated of him that in 1663, at Esopus, he resisted what he believed to be some unjust and oppressive requirements on the part of the military officers, and was consequently arrested and imprisoned. Ilis descendants, like himself, have been lovers of liberty and friends of a free government. There is something in blood, carp as we may at the theory.
THOMAS DE LAVALL,
to whom four of the five projectors of the new village sold their lands at Esopus, came to this country with the English expedition which captured the Dutch province of New Netherlands in September, 1664. Soon after Nov. 26, 1664, he was appointed custom-house collector or receiver by Governer Nicolls. He established himself in business as a trader or merchant, and rapidly rose to wealth and po- litical position. Ile was a trusted agent of the Duke of York. He was an alderman, mayor, and member of the Governor's council. At Esopus he prosecuted the work of the projectors, cultivating the soil. Ilis returns were so large that he required more room for his erops than his barns could give, and was permitted to build a store- house near the redoubt of the Strand. He died in 1632, leaving a large estate to be enjoyed and spent by a son and a daughter.
& See paper published by Hon. George W. Schuyler.
V
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
CHRISTOFFEL DAVIDS (DAVIS).
commonly called " Kit," was early one of the most promi- nent men in the settlement. Hle was an Englishman, and settled first at Hellegat, on the island of Manhattan. Here he was in trouble with one of his neighbors, when he sokl out to Jacob Hop and moved to Fort Orange. From thence he came down the river with his family, 1654, and settled in a log house on the south side of the " Redout Kill," op- posite Ponekhockie. The stream was often called " Kit Davids' Kill.V Here, in 1657, his first wife, Cornelia Vedos, died. He soon replaced the lost with another Dutch lady, Maria Martens, who outlived him.
Kit was a trapper, one of that strong, hardy race who are seldom in peace except when in the woods. Life had many ups and downs for him. The schepens of Fort Orange arrested hint for contempt. Stuyvesant put himu in jail for spreading false reports among the Indians. His consort petitioned for his release, " to provide for a poor, famished, and disconsolate wife and children." During the wars with the savages he was driven to leave his home, lest the " Kacke-backers" (empty heads) should strike him. He then went to New Amsterdam, where he was imprisoned again. After this he turned up in the Esopus, and finally moved to Marbletown, and built a house near the present residence of Cornelius Oliver, then held by Samuel Oliver, progenitor of the former. Ilere he followed his old occu- pation to a good age, and trained his son George in the secrets of it. Such was Christopher Davis, father of that respected family. At the time of which I now write he was interpreter and principal mediator with the Indians.
Hle wa: needed, too, for the acts and thoughts of his neighbors continued to breed evil to them and the savages. Conscious of their lonely situation, aware of the cruelty of the Indians in war, disgusted by their dirty habits, they were afraid of a people whom they despised, hated, and cheated. The red mon could not forget the challenge of the Governor ; the whites supposed they meant to fall on them during harvest and muider all. The former asked for the presents long since promised. built a fort near the guard- house, and beat some savages for walking in a path that ran by it. Kit sold them rum. " The Dutch of E-opus soll them Viandewyne." Traders from Fort Orange did like- wise. " Drunken Indians can be seen daily," wrote Smit, and " If this traffic is not stopped nothing but ruin can come of it." The sachems came in and professed friend- ship, but they were treated as liars. The States afterwards aptly remarked of these troubles and those of 1655, " They are the result of petulauce and drunkenness."*
FIRST TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS.
The summer of 1058 was very wet. Great floods swept over the lowlands and carried of large quantities of grain, while much of it sprouted and remained worthless on the hand. The bridge over the kill, which had but lately been built, was carried away, and, to make their losses more serious, worms destroyed their cats, so that they were not gathered. These burdeus fell heavily on the planters, who had so lately Forsaken home for their lives. Providence
seems to have tried their souls on the start, to make their future homes dearer because of the suffering they had borne.
The Indians had promised to live in peace, but by the Ist of August they manifested a factions mind again. Per- haps the settlers were too suspicious of them, but on the other hand they gathered to the number of five hundred in the neighborhood, were " spiteful," and killed a handsome mare of Jacob Jansen Stol. " They cannot well digest that the general challenged twenty of their best men," Lauren- sen wrote. " They say if those who have returned from hunting beaver had been home they would have accepted it." About the same time two Mingua sachems appeared, whose intentions they could not divine. Some thought it was to plan a general massacre. White men always suspect barbarians. The latter excused their gathering, as they were about to go against the Mohicans, but their word was distrusted by those who thought " the issue is only known to God."
These stories reaching the ears of the Governor, and being constantly repeated, determined him to go up again to look after the infant settlement. Accordingly. in October, he met the Indians at the house of Chambers and held a parley with them. Paspequahon, Prenwarmachan, and Nachhe- hamatt, chiefs of the Esopus, answered for themselves, their people, and brother sachemis, Sanckackenaem, Kaelkep, Pemirawachgink, and Tuheran, that they were willing to agree to the terms of May, and would sell the land.
But the Governor would not agree to the old terms. Addressing the red men : " A year and a half ago you killed two horses belonging to Madame De Hulter, and attacked Jacob Andriaen-en in His own house with an axe, knocked out his eye, and mortally wounded his infant child, and, not satisfied with this, bnrut his house last spring. You more- over robbed him of his property and killed a Dutchman in one of his sloops. You compelled our farmers to plow your land ; threatened, at the same time, to fire their bouses, and repeatedly extorted money from the settlers who had already paid yon for their farms. You have added threats and in- sults, and finally forced the colonists, at much expense, to break up their establishments and concentrate their dweil- ings. Various other injuries you have committed since That time, notwithstanding your promises. For all this we How demand compensation ; to force which efficient meas- ures will be taken, unless the terms we now propose be ac- ceded to." These were the surrender of all the lands, " so far as I did view them," and pay for the expense and trouble of the director's coming. For the house of Mrs. De Hulter, " they must never more vex her for payment for her land, and give for the burnt house one hundred fathoms of sewan. sixty for the house of Jacob Jansen, and forty for the damage done Andries Van der Sluys.
The savages answered they too had suffered many losses. Much land had been taken from them without purchase. " It is now proper to cancel one by the other, and live as friends." They also stated through the interpreter that the demand came unexpectedly ; they should have more time for consideration, and to consult with their friends and chiefs, who were out bunting. To this Stuyvesant de- murred, for they had said they were authorized to treat for
@ Albany Rec., svi. 27-38; O'C. N. N., ili. 300-501.
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CITY AND TOWN OF KINGSTON.
all, therefore must answer yes or vo. After much alterca- tiou they were allowed until the next day to consider.
Accordingly, on the next afternoon this council was re- newed. The sachems were willing to make a reasonable recompeuse, but protested against the extravagant demand. They finally agreed to give Madame De Hulter's lind. Then, throwing dowu a beaver, their spokesman said, --
"This was sent by the savages of the South, who wish to live in peace with the Dutch.
" When the summer comes the Minguns will arrive in Stuyvesant's country to trade their peltries."
In witness whereof they gave another beaver.
"The Minque told them that the Dutch measured gunpowder by the tobacco box. We shall be glad if it be throwu to us by large baudfuls : then in Jeel we couldl transport the beaver trade or do any- thing else. We ought to be provided with everything when we go out hunting, and should be able to pass the fort."
Another present.
"These Minques said to us, ' Ye are among us, and must submit to usand skulk among us as we also crouch and skulk among the Dutch. What! would ye tight the Dutch ?'
"The Mingnas, aud Senecus from the first castle, say they want powder and balls from the Dutch to kill deer, to sell these afterwards to the Strannekine."
Here they presented a belt of wampnin. The orator, offering another belt, ad led, --
" A horse belonging to Jacob Janson Stol broke into our cornfields and destroyel two of our plantations. Que of our boys shot it, for which we gave Stol seventy guilders in sewan, but this belt we now present so that the soldiers may let us go iu pence, and not beat us when we revisit this pare."
Laying down another string, he said,-
" We hope uo lies will be told us, then we can trust your word. We will not molest the person or the property of the Dutch. The Great Sachem can have the land so that it can be occupied. Then we will have many supplies. We do not like to have the laul unsettled, like Jan De Halter's. We wish many Dutch to learn we inean peace. We are pleased with the soldiers."
The chief who delivered this oration was an orator and statesman. It is bat imperfectly reported, wherefore some have thought it a piece of cunning to deceive the whites into a false security ; but, after careful study of the Dutch text, I must say it was trudifal, and manifested the earnest desire of the Esopas savages to be at peace. Stuyvesant, who knew they were afraid of their savage neighbors, prac- ticed a little intimidation, as he had done in the spring. lie called their speech " empty words." They told him the land northward of the village belonged to Kaelkop, wherefore he must wait to bargain for it until he came in, but he dryly insisted on a decd. " What do you propose about the land ?" he reiterated. They answered they would return on the morrow with Kaelkop, and give final answer.
The director thought this but an excuse to delay until he had left. He was confirmed in this opinion by their uot coming as promised. He said, " I then told Jacob Jensen Hof, and Martin, the mason, to reconoitre around their houses to see if they were yet there, aml to ask what they. meant." They returned with word, "The chief's had made fouls of them." Satisfied in his own mind they did not in- tend to wake satisfaction, he departed on the 19th for the Manhattaus, leaving Ensign Dick Smit and fifty men to
guard the place. He also had instructions to join twenty- five fnilitia-men with the garrison, give all watchwords, allow uo Indian in the defense except on the permission of Jacob Janseu and Thomas Chambers, with strict injune- tions not to commit hostilities except in self-defense. He was also to encourage plowing by protecting the husband- men in their avocation, aud to see to it that they go out with a couvoy and properly armed.
On the 28th the savages appeared again and held a con- ference with Stol and Thomas Chambers. They presented all the land asked for, saying,-
" They now dil hope they had nothing inore to fear. The soldiers ought now to lay down their arms. They ought now to live in peace. The Troubles were not entirely their fault, but in part must be laid on thore who sold thewu liquor." They were ashamed, for they would be repreached by the other Indians for selling their lands through fear of the Dutch. They hoped no more ruin would be given them and no lies told about thein. " We coul I now see by this magnificent present what heart our sachem hivd. Asked if he would reciprocate it. Theu they would discover he was in earnest and give more land. A Chris- tian hand is easily tilled. It will be a proof of your goo:l-will."
Unfortunately for the colony, the settlers had nothing to grease the Indians' hearts. They Had expected something, but " the meeting was a dry one." All they could do was to make promises .* Commissioners, consisting of Martin Cregier, Peter Wolfertseu vou Couwenhoven, Peter Corne- liscen Vander Veer, and Augustyn Heermance, were ap- pointed to treat with them in connection with the Governor, but they too had returned to New Amsterdam. These Ia- dians went away dissatisfied, leaving the Dutch suspicious.
THE FIRST SCHOOL IN ESOPUS.
While these negotiations were progressing towards such futile ends, Andries Van der Sluys applied to be appointed " voorleser," or reader. As the Dutch Church was then a state church, its ministers, readers, aud choristers were supported by tax . The schoolmaster must belong to it to be able to collect his salary. Hitherto the settlers had conducted their religious exercises among themselves. Van der Sluys had assisted in these, and now wished to be sole conductor. He was born in Utrecht, Holland, and married, in 1655, Maritje Peters, of Amsterdam. It was this that gave him a chance to say in his petition he had lost much on the Strand, " which places a young couple in the background." On this request the director and council commissioned him, October, 1668, empowering bin also to " catechise the children, and to learn them the art of reading and writing." He does not seem to have remained loug, however, for he soon afterwards turned up in Catskill. He opened the first school in Esopus, which was only kept nights and in the winter-time.
THE THIRD SHERIFF APPOINTED.
William Beekman was commissioned sheriff of Esopus, and arrived there on the 14th of July, 1664, when he took the oath of office. He was born in Hasselt, iu Over- yssel, in 1625. He came to New Netherland in 1647, was appointed schepen of New Amsterdam, 1656, vice- director of Altona, on the South ( Delaware) River, 1058,
* All. Ree., xiv. 350, vi. 41, 59; O'C. N. N., ii. 367-70 ; Brodhead's N. V, j. 650.
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
where he served the company with great faithfulness, but in great uurest. His troubles, trials, and efforts while there form a large part of " Hazzard's Annals of Pennsyl- vania." He was recalled from thence on his own request, and rewarded with the appointment above indicated. He married Catharine De Hoough, by whom he had six chil- dren. One of his daughters married Balthazar Stuyve- sant, and lived with him in Wiltwyck. This accounts for the favoritism shown Beckman. Ilis eldest son, Henry, settled in Esopus. He died in New York, 1707, in his eighty.fifth year. His name frequently appears in the annals of that city, and of Fort Orange, or Albany. Alto- gether he lived a useful life, and died possessed of a good fortune.
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