USA > New York > Ulster County > History of Ulster County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. II > Part 52
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JACOB II. DAVIS,
son of Henry A. and Elizabeth ( Keator) Davis, was born in Marbletown, now Rosendale, Oet. 2, 1802. He is the eldest of eleven children, only seven of whom are now liv- ing, namely : Frederick, Alexander, Hiram, George II., Jacob HI., Anna Maria, and Cornelia. His father and mother were natives of Ulster County, the former born in 1780 and died in 1828, the latter born in 1787, who died in 1864, aged seventy-seven years. Andrew Davis, great- grandfather of Jacob H., was a Revolutionary soldier, and was in active service. Henry A., a farmer by occupation. was also in active service in the war of 1812. Jacob H. spent his boyhood at home till twelve years of age. His education was luited to the common schools of his native town. In the spring of 1815 he commencel life for hin- self by hiring out to work on a farm, to Christopher Suyder, with whom he remained seven years, receiving for his first year's salary thirty-tive dollars.
For the three following years he was engaged by differ- ent parties as a farm laborer, when he purchased a pair of oxen and engaged in hauling timber till 1831, when he purchased the farm now owned by George S. Coutant, where he resided for nearly forty years, when he sold out and removed to Marbletown, where he now resides. He has followed, the business of farming since his first pur- chase, and by industry, frugality, and economy has in- creased his worldly possessions so that now he is the owner of nearly two thousand one hundred acres of land, nearly all of which is located in Ulster County. Mr. Davis is considered one of the largest farmers in the county. He has been thrice married : first to Rachel, daughter of Jacob
Photo. by Lewis, Kingston.
Isert d. Davis
RESIDENCE OF P. KORTRIGHT, KYSERIKE, ULSTER Co., N.Y.
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TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
Snyder, of Marbletown, with whom he lived but fourteen months. For his second wife he married Amelia, daughter of Dr. Andrew Snyder. The result of this union was as follows : Harriet (wife of Abram Du Bois), Christina (wife of Simon Van Wagenen, of Rosendale), Rachel Aun ( wife of Jacob S. Wood, of Rosendale), and Melissa, who died when sixteen years of age. After the death of his second wife he married Maria Susan, daughter of Andrew Smith, of Marbletown. She was born May 9, 1815. In politics Mr. Davis was originally a Whig, and is now a staunch Re- publiean. Although he never sought politieal preferment he has been supervisor, commissioner, collector, and con- stable of his town.
He has been for several years a director of the Rondout
National Bank, also of the State of New York Bank, of Kingston.
Though not a member of the church, he is a liberal sup- porter of the same, and was one of the founders of the Dutch Reformed Church of Rosendale.
Mr. Davis is familiarly known as Captain Davis, from the fact that he was captain of a cavalry company of the old State militia.
He is at present a member of the Agricultural Society of Ulster County, and was one of the organizers of the same. Mr. Davis has ever been a hard-working, calculating, pru- dent farmer, whose many years' toil has yielded him a con- petence for his declining years. He is a self-made man, a kind neighbor, sympathetic friend, and generally esteemed.
ROCHESTER.
T. - SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AREA, TITLE.
ROCHESTER is one of the interior towns of the county, lying just south of the centre. Like many other towns in this section, its lines of survey are neither paraliel to the meridian nor at right angles to it. The boundaries of Rochester may be stated as follows : Northwest by Wawar- sing and Downing; northeast by Olive and Marbletown ; southeast by Marbletown, New Paltz, and Gardiner; south- west by Wawarsing. The area is stated in the census of 1875 as 43,982 acres. Of this area 20,645 acres are classed as improved land, and 23,337 acres as unimproved. Of the unimproved 17,303 acres are woodland, leaving 6034 agres described as " other" uuimproved.
The title to the soil is derived from the crown of England through the Rochester patent. The boundaries and de- seription of this patent as originally recited in the royal letters, hearing date Jine 25, 1703, are as follows :
" All that Tract or Part of Land lying and bring in the county st I leter aforesaid, an i beginning at the South bound of the Lord of Jan Van Camp, Low in his possession: from thence running with a South east line to the land of Capt. John Evans, and so along the South west bounds of the will Capt. John Evans his land till you rtle over against the said bill ; from thenec with a North west like : The Great Mountains, commonly called the Blue Hills; thence North east something Northerly along the said hills to the bounds ' Marbletown; and thenve along the bounds of Marbletown to the " we where first begun."
This included the present towns of Rochester and Wa- war-ing; also a portion of Sullivan County. The title was o-ted in trustees, who conveyed to settlers. Capt. Joa- Him Schoonmaker, Moses De Puy, and Col. Henry Beck- man were the first trustees. The latter seems to have never told here, and was also a trustee of Marbletown.
For convenience of reference we add here the legal state- bent of the boundaries of the town :
"I Town of Rochester shall contain all that part of said county Cold antheasterly by the towns of Shawangunk and New Paltz ; . .. nestenly by the town of Wawaring ; northwesterly by the agree- ti . I 'the between the patente of Rochester and Hardenburgh; north.
ensterly by the sonth bounds of Marbletown, and the same continued northwesterly to the aforesaid agreement live."-Received Statutes, vol. i. page 220.
This description was modified by the act erceting the town of Gardiner, as stated in the chapter upon that town.
II .- NATURAL FEATURES.
The east and west borders of this town are traversed by ranges of mountains, and the central portions are a rolling upland. The surface is varied, and there are many charm- ing landscapes, though the elevations are not as lofty as in the towns farther west. The Rondout Creek flows across the south part of the town in a northeast direction. It has numerous branches, the principal ones from the south being Sanders' and Peters', and from the north Mill Brook and Rochester Creek. In the southwest part is Vernoy Creek, which flows southward. The valley of the Rondout Creek is traversed by the Delaware and Hudson Canal. The rocks of this town are of a valuable quality, and Esopus millstones are manufactured here to a considerable extent. Most of the town is adapted to settlement and cultivation, though there are still wild and unsettled por- tions in the north and northwest.
The stream ealled Rochester Creek upon the maps is Known locally as the Mombarens, and is described by that name in the old deeds recorded in the office of the town elerk. It has several branches, the principal one from the southwest being Mill Brook.
The geological formation of this town is of an interest- ing character, but can only be incidentally mentioned here. For a full discussion of this subject reference is made to the chapter upon the geology of the county. The lower slopes of the Catskills, in the west, furnish inexhaustible quantities of bluestone for flagging or for building purposes. From the Shawangunk range, in the southeast, are obtained a splendid quality of Esopus millstones, known far and wide throughout the country. According to the geolog- ical survey of this State, some traces of gold appear in the
20S
HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
rocks of the Shawangunk range, and other valuable metals exist to a greater or less extent. D. D. Bell, Esq., of Rochester, has given long and patient study to this subject, and is enthusiastic in its pursuit. He is at present experi- menting in the sands of the Rondout Creek, and is confi- dent of obtaining gold in paying quantities. His belief is, however, not shared by the community around here, nor is it generally regarded as sustained by geological science.
The Coxing Creek, in the southeast, is the outlet of Lake Miunewaski. Near this lake is a mountain-house for sum- mer boarders, established by the Messrs. Suriley in 1879. The place is an easy drive from Accord, in the Roudout Valley, but is more generally reached from the New Paltz station, on the Wallkill Valley Railroad.
Lake Mohouk, ou the line between Rochester and Mar- bletown, is one of the finest mountain-ponds in the State.
A boarding.house was opened there about twenty years ago by John F. Stokes. The Messrs. Smiley now own the place, and have connected it with the Minnewaski House, above mentioned. One ereek kuown upon the maps by a moderu term has a musical Indian name that ought not to be lost sight of. It is said to be named for au Indian princess,-Mettacahonts.
III .-- EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The time of the settlement of Rochester is usually given as 1703, -- the year when the patent was obtained from the Euglish crown, -- but the first location here by white men was at an earlier date.
In the conveyances by the trustees, in 1703, a " saw- luill" and " corn-inill" are spoken of as already built. In the salue or other deeds there are given names in describing boundaries, as if farms were already laid out, and some of these names do not appear in later lists of patentees.
It is known that the Joachim Staats patent to the Sand- burg Valley of Wawarsing bears date 1688, as shown in the chapter upon that town. It is also known that the Anna Beek patent, north of Napanoch, is still older, for the Staats patent is bounded upon that of Anna Beck. In the documentary history of the State the population of Roch- ester is given as 334 in 1703. This would imply from forty to fifty families, and the deeds recorded in the towe clerk's ofice at that time do not show more than six or eight. Besides, the pastor of the Reformed Church has been able to show in recent historical discourses, with reasonable certainty, that public worship took place in the vicinity of what is now Accord before 1700, and that even a log meeting-house had been erected. Taking all these indieatious,-and there are doubtless others that might be ad- dueed,-it seems tolerably elear that Capt. Joachim Schoon- maker and his associates had located here, perhaps by treaty with the Indians, perhaps as squatters without any title, from ten to twenty years before 1700; that after a settle- ment had been made steps were taken to secure the patent, which was finally granted in 1703.
J'rom and after that year the ducumcuts bearing upou the subject of settlement are very full and clear. The town clerk's office of Rochester is rich in historical materia !.
Its old time-stained volumes furnish an unbroken series of records down to the present time, a period of one hundred and seventy-seven years. Among the miscellaneous papers in excellent preservation are some that date back to 1725 or earlier ; others more numerous at a later period, 1750 to 1770; and others still (road lists, road surveys, and school reports) are abundant between the Revolution and 1800. There are field-notes of early surveys, particularly a fiuely- written field-book of the Cockburn survey in 1776, between Rochester and the " Great Patent." A map of the Lacka- wack Valley above Honek Falls, executed in 1785, and many others make this a valuable collection. The volumes of records, too, eoutain the deeds from the trustees to in- dividuals, so that to some extent every man's title to his farta and his home depends on the preservation of these in- valuable papers ; or at least his title is rendered historically clear by means of them. The inhabitants of the town may well feel a pride in this collection, and may well appropriate a sufficient sum of money to rebind the earlier volumes and collect the more valuable loose papers into a permanent form between the leaves of large blank-books, as such papers are arranged in the archives of the State. None of them should be allowed to crumble into fragmenty or be carried off by those seeking for historical relics.
There is perhaps no better way of showing the settlement under the patent of 1703 than by copious extraets from the records, as follows :
" Att a meeting of the Trustees of Rochester held in the said (town ) the 14th of September, 1703, Present Coll. Henry Beckman, Capt. Jonchem Schoonmaker, Mr. Moses De Puy, trustees, and Cornelius Switts, Teunis Oosterhoudt, assistants, and the major part of the free- holders and inhabitants, ---
" It is ordered and established that no land be given out, but (ex- eept) wood and stone shall be reserved free for the use of the free- holders and inhabitants of said town; any part of said land tunt shall not be fenced nor also sufficient ways over any of said lands to be reservel, and if any take up land are to pay for cach 94, and for upland GJ per acre.
" Iodewick Hoornbeeck pro-luces a survey of -- ---- ,f by bin: purchased for a certain parcel of land on both sides of the Mombas- eus Kill, aud desires a conveyance for the smac ; granted.
' Capt. Jochim Schoonmaker desires a conveyance for one hundred acres of land to the south side of his land, and also for balfe of the s'reime of the Mombaccus Kill, where now the saw -mill stands. tor himself and -- + Quick io company, it being the south side of said kill; gemed.
" Teunis Oosterhoudt desires a conveyance for the other half of the streame of said Mombaccus kill, being the north side, where now eorne-mili stands; granted.
" Leendert Cool delivered in a survey of two parcells of land now in his possession att Rochester, and desires a conveyance for the same; granted.
" Hen Irick Rosenkranz desires a conveyance for one hundred an ! fifty acres of land, fifty ueres on the north side of the Rondout Creek next to Peter Lambortson, and one hundred acres on the south si-le ci the ereek opposite the fifty acres; granted.
" Antony Hoornbeek brings in a warrant to the Surveyor-Generall to survey for Humphrey Davenport (whose right he hath bought) tro bandrol arres of land on both sides of the Momboceus Kill, and to the north of the land of Frederick Phillips, and desires a conveyance for the same; grante.l.
" Jan Cartreght desires a conveyance for five and twenty acres of land lying on the north side of the great Creplebugh ; granted.
"Gysbert Van Gardy brings in a survey for one humIrel agres ef land, and desires a conveyaner for the same, as also for one hundred
€ An Indian name, interpreted by Rev. N. W. Jones as " Great
t Manuscript obscure : perhaps the name of a surveyor is intended. # Given name appears to be Roymorig.
209
TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
and fifty acres of land to the east of the land of the heirs of Harmoon Hendrickx ; granted.
" Moses Do Pay desires a conveyance for one hundred and fifty neres of land to the east and south of his Innd. Referred to the 21st instant, that the heirs of Harmon Hendrickx bring in their title to the land above desired.
" Hendrick Jansen Cartreght desires a eonveyanee for two parcells of land now in his possession ; granted.
"John Garritse Decker desires a conveyance for two hundred acres of land ; granted.
" Ilarmanus Decker desires a conveyance of thirty acres of land for the heirs of Willinm D. Lamontrag; granted."
" Att a meeting of trustees of Rochester at said town this 21st day of September. 1793, Present. Coll. Henry Beekman, Capt. Jo. Schoon- maker, Mr. Moses Du Puy, Trustees, and Cornelins Switts, Teunis Osterluidt, Assistants, and the Major part of the freeholders aud inhabitants of said town,-
" Mr. Moses Du Puy and the heirs of harmon hendrickx agreed before this day so that the one hundred and fifty aeres of land are granted to said Du Puy."
" Trustee meeting, Feb. 1702.# ordered that a conveyance be drawn for the town house and a lot of seventy yards square in order Jan Gerritse Decker sign over the same to the towne, it being formerly given by him to the town."
"Trustee meeting, March 20, 1701 .- Leendert Cool, surveyor, de- sires a conveyance for : certain truet of land lying on the north side of the town, and will have it measured by the first opportunity ; granted.
" Arufries Davis desires a conveyance for his land he bought of Ilillgont van Slechtenborst now in his possession, which is two hun- dred aeres."
" Att a meeting of the Frecholders and inhabitants of the town of Rochester the 6th day of June, 1704, bring the first Tuesday in said month according to the direction of the trustees of said town, by virtue of the power to them given by Her Majesty's Royall letters Pattent bearing date the 254 day of June, 1703, -- upon examination of the voices then taken from the freeholders and inhabitants afore- said it appears that Col .. Henry Beckman, Capt. Joachim Schoon- maker, and Mr. Moses De Puy were duely elleetei Trustees for this following year, an l likewise forpelius Switts and Teunis Oosterhoudt Assistants, according to the d.rectious of said Letters Patient."
" Att a Trustee meeting. O .:. 5th, 1704, it is orderel and resolved that no freebollers and inhabitants of sail town of Rochester which have nott nor will not pay towards the obtaining of the Letters Pat- tent for said town shall have no liverty to Cutt any sort of wood what- soever on the town lande, and who dous shall be prosecuted for said trespasse."
" Coll. Henry Beekman desires that a certain traet of Land Called by the In.lians wawesinck may be granted him if it Lyes within the limits of this town ; grante.l."
" Aug. 30th, 1706, memorandum .- That Collo. Henry Beekman is agreed with the trustees of Rochester that they bin -! convey unto bits all the land in is: Indian purchase of the land called Wawesink and thereunito brionging, provided that what lyes beneath a fall in the erek calle l Hoonek shall not be reckoned in said purchase, but shall remain nato the town, but upon this condition that so many of the town a, will may come in for a part of said land as great as they will provided they cleare according to what land they take the charges of the Letters l'attent that is behind unpayed, the money to said town first being dedneted, and theire part of the Indian purchase accor.1- ing to the quantity of the land they take as above said, which Indian purchase is to be reckoned one hundred and fifty pounds current money of New York, for which said land he is to clear all the charges of the sail letters Pattent in arrebrage, the money due said town first being de lueted."
This grant seems to have been finally confirmed by the trustees Dec. 17, 1706, with this proviso :
" There double dates for January and February appear at this period of history. To those who began the year with January Ist it was the year 1:01; to there why began it March Ist it was still 1703. Dla lower figure must in every ense be usel to obtain a correct state- 1. 1 according to our present method of recording time.
" Itt is ordered that if any of tho land this day conveyed unto Coll. Henry Beekman, lying upon the wagnehkemeeck Creek, might nott be in the line or bouals of said town, that is, that lyes above a great fall in said creek, called Hoonek, shall be allowed him according to proportion of what he gives for the whole for what shall be withont said town bounds."
" At a trustee meeting. Oct. 28, 1706, Jan Cortrecht desires ltd acres of land between the Paneaeeks Kill and the Stony Kill, on the Northwest side of Rochester highway; granted.
"Moses De Puy desires 50 acres of land on the south of his land where he now lives on, and 100 acres near the land above granted to Jan Cortrecht.
"Gysbert Van Gorden desires 150 acres of Land to the Northwest of his land already taken up ; granted.
" Johannis Ver Nooy moves, in behalfe of his father. Cornelins Ver Nooy, Senior, for tho stream, or Rivelett, that runs through his Land.
" Lodewyck Hoornbeeck desires 50 acres of Land neare the Mudder Kill and the elay-pitt, to the northwest of his land he tow lives upon, and five aeres of marsh, or ilye, by or neate the path that leads from his house to Ashokan ; grantel.
" Tennis Oosterhout desires 5 acres of marsh, or flye, being part of the same alive granted to Lodewyck Hoorubeek; granted.
" David Du Bois desires fifty aeres of land on the south side of the Rondout Kill, between the said Rondout Kill and the Stony Kill."
"At a Trustee meeting, June 22, 1708, it is ordered that all the grants tuade by the former Trustees shall be and are hereby confirmed for good and valid."
" At a trustee meeting. Feb. 23, 1709, Alexander Rosekraus desires a conveyance for fifty acres of marsh, or flye, and woodlland therennt> aljoining, lying on both sides of the mill-ereck, of him and Gysbert Van Garden ; granted.
" Alexander Rosekrans desires a conveyance, for and in behalf of himself and the rest of the heirs of the deceased Harmon Hendrix Ro ekrans, for the upland lying adjoining theire low land; granted.
" Marynus Van Aken desires a eoureyance of about one hundred aeres of laud lying over against the land of Coll. Jacob Ratzen, called Kaharcka,iek, known by the name of Naassecck ; the trustees refer it to the next meeting, and if Coll. Rutsen brings no sufficient pretence to sail land next meeting, then it shall bee granted unto said Mary- ous Van Aken.
"Capt. Thomas Garton desires a conveyance for his wife for 200 acres of land lying on the Rest Place bottom, called Mrs. Garton s lani; granted.
" Lodewyk Hoornbeck desires a'conveyance for a certain tract of land lying behind1 Lis land, to run along Direk Westbroeck's land aul north line next sail Lodewyek's land, on the North side of Moibac- en: Kill, to Mettekchonks Kill, and farther as he shall moasure; grauted.
" Dirck Westbrook desires a conveyance of all the land that lyes between his land and the Mettekehonks Kill behind his land ; granted.
"Gerrit Decker desires a conveyance for all the land on the south side of the Mou baccus Kill now in bis possession that is not in his father's Patent; granted.
"Teunis Ouzterhondt desires a conveyance for a Crenyswl Bush lying behind the land taken up by Jan Cortrecht, ealled groote Crvuyswi Bush, and that to the quantity of fifty acres, and twenty- fre acres to the North of bis land bought of Jan Gerritse Decker: grante.l."
Thus far we have transcribed the records in full, except the opening of the meetings, showing the trustees who were present. We add still other miscellaneous extracts as show- ing many old names of mountains, meadows, and streams, er as possessing some other special interest :
" Fept. 6th, 1709 .-- At a court of sessions beld in Kingston, pros- ent the following gentlemen, esquired : Mr. William Lagg, Captain Dirk Schepenves, Major Johannis Wynkoop, Captain Charles Brood- bend, Mr. Moses Depuy, Mr. Edward Whittaker, Mr. Evert Wynkoop, -an order of the town of Rochester submitted to the court was duly aprovel. via .: ' That after what summer grains that are sowe be- fore the 13th day of May, yearly, shall be gott in, in harvest, that. then Hogy, have free range untill people begin to sow ngain in the
27
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HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Spring, and be that begins to sow is to acquaint his neighbors for to keep up their h
"Sept. 4, 1711, the following order received a similar approval : ' That all the freeholders that linve lands lying within the king's fences shall be obliged to make a sufficient fence to turn horses, cattle, and sheep, and that sheep may run free in the commons, and that the last orders made about hogg, shall stand and be in force.'"
" April 15, 1718, John Fortune desires a conveyance for one hun- dred neres lying uuder tho strawberry hill, otherwise called the Dheymsbergh, beginning at a fountain comes out of said bill, and waters that ruu into Mattecohunks Kill; grantel."
" May 30, 1715, Jacobus Wynkoop desires a couveyance for thrco hundred acres of woodland lying on tho cast and the west side of tho Cobuneksink Kill if it doth not belong to Peter Louw; granted."
As a specimen of the proof of prior settlement we add the following. In the first deed recorded conveying land to Jan Gerrits. Decker, in describing the boundaries of his land,-other residents are spoken of as already settled here, -- Decker's land is described as
" All that certain tract or parcel of land lying and being at Ro- chester, aforesail, on the North side of the Rondout Kill, beginning at the Northeast bounds of the land of Thotuas Quick, thence with a northeast line to opposite the boun Is of Gysbert Van Gorder, Ibence with a south southeast line to the highway, thence along the said highway to opposite the Northwest corner of the bounds of the land of the heirs of Win. De La Montanye, thence with a southeast line to the Rondout Kill, thence along the kill as it runs to the Mothaccus Kill, then along the Mombaccus Kill as it runs to the first place."
Among the miscellaneous papers in the town clerk's office is a quit-rent roll, endorsed " List Quit-rent, Roches- ter, 1729." It has very little other explanation, but it ap- pears to give the date when each lot began to be chargeable with quit rent, and the name of the person of whom it was to be collected for the year 1729. If this theory is correct it throws much light ou the actual dates of early settle- ment by individual families, and on the changes that had taken place in twenty-six years :
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