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 87
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rough, rocky, and mountainous. " Auntrens" Pond is a fine sheet of water, lying between the Flatbush road and the Saugerties road, in the north part of the town. It is a pleasant place of resort, and a summer boarding-house is now (May, 1880) being ereeted for the accommodation of visitors. Hendricks' fish-pond is another attractive feature in the seencry of the town.
III .- EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The discussion of this subject in the general history and in the chapter upon Kingston covers the whole territory now constituting the town of Ulster. The memoranda of deeds given under the head of " Corporations" locate a large number of the pioneers in the valley of the Esopus or along the banks of the Hudson. The "freeholders" of 15g -. the military rolls of 1738 or about that time, and a latze number of other similar papers included in this voltter undoubtedly furnish the name of every pioneer settler wh !! made his home from 1657 to 1757 in the present town of Ulster. To enlarge upon this point is but to repeat. To all these earlier papers the reader is referred. The -fi !!! of the town of Ulster is scarcely determined as this volutie goes to press, the signature of the Governor to the R.l ratifying the proceedings of the supervisors not bei. . affixed. It is unnecessary to trace locally the dead. : settlement as applied exactly to the new town. . The har. . of citizens residing in all parts of Ulster are in inany the same as those found in the old documents two hus it years ago. Burhans, Osterhoudt, Turek, Delemater, Whs taker, Livingston, Wynkoop, Legg, Brink, Sharp. V ... Aken, Shufeldt, Bruyn, Britt, Keator, Heermance, Fre ! # bergh, Winnie, Hasbrouck, Radcliffe, Krom, Schoonmit .. : all represent the early families. Catalogues a curry :
a half apart show many of the same names. The .I. f freemen" of 1728 and the " polltax" of March, 1 ~. . the new town of Uister are worth comparing to th ail . permaneney of the ohl families upon the same soil the ... successive generations.
IV .- ORGANIZATION.
This town was created by the board of supervisor annual session of 1879, as shown in the following att
1
2
Echarand Burkem
EDWARD BORHANS, brother of Jacob Burhans, formerly of Kingston, was a lineal descendant of Jacob Burhans, . who came from Holland prior to the year 1660, locating at Kingston, then known as Wiltwyck, and was prominent. in both church and political circles. A fuller account of the family is given in the biography of Jacob Burhans. on another page of this work.
Of the sisters of Edward Burhans, Elizabeth married Thomas V. G. Van Steenberg; Maria became the wife of Hezekiah Schoonmaker, of Kingston; Catharine and Ann uover married, the latter, who is still living, being the last survivor of a family of six children.
Edward Burhans was born in Kingston, on March 11, 1804. His earlier years were passed at home, and his edu- cation was limited to the schools of Kingston. On April 7, 1812, having decided to turn his attention to agricultural pursuits, he purchased a farm at Plattekill, in the town of Kingston, which he occupied for nearly ten years. In March, 1842, he removed to the farm now occupied by his sons, in the town of Ulster, purchasing the sante of Peter Legg. The place had, previous to the ocenpaney of the latter, been occupied by L. and M. Saulsbury, and an old stone in one end of the family dwelling-house bearing the inscription " L. S .- M. S. 1740" indicates the date of its erection. On this site Mr. Burhans passed the remainder of a long and useful life. Possessed of a modest and re- tiring temperament, he avoided the bustle and confusion of active business life, and confined himself to the tilling of his farm and to social and domestic enjoyments. Repub-
lican in polities, he neither sought nor accepted public office. He was a devout and useful member of the First Reformed Church of Kingston, and filled the office of dea- con for a time. In earlier years Mr. Burhans was a member of the well-known military organization called the " Ulster Greys," and took great delight in its martial gath- erings. He was universally respected and esteemed for lis plain, simple, and ingenuous manners, for striet integrity of character, honesty of purpose, and fidelity to principle; and died, greatly lamented, on April 30, 1858, aged fifty- four years, one month, and nineteen days.
On Feb. 15, 1831, Mr. Burhans was united in marriage to Gerritjo Newkerk, daughter of Levi Van Keuren, of Kingston, and who subsequently resided in Plattekill, in that town. Mrs. Burhans was born in July, 1-04. The children of the union have been eight in number, of whom seven are living. Their names were Maria, Catharine Ann. Sarah Jane, Elizabeth, Edwina, Clinton, Hezekiah S .. and Louisa. Maria married Richard W. Tappan, and re- sides in Kingston ; Catharine Ann married Ephraim Bur- hans, of Flatbush; Sarah Jane married John Kieffer, of Kingston ; and Elizabeth became the wife of George Sagen- dorf, and resides in Ulster. Clinton is unmarried, and oeenpies the home residence. The old farm has been divi- ded since the death of Mr. Burhans, being occupied in part by llezekiah S. Burhans, the younger son, who is an infu. ential resident of the town. He married a daughter of Caleb M. Merritt, of Kingston. Louisa, the youngest daughter, lives with the widow of Mr. Burhans, who survive- li.
Photos. by Lewis, Kingston.
Philf Hendon che Martin &. Hendricks
. THE HENDRICKS FAMILY.
Among the old families of the county, whose annals cx- tend far back into Holland, and to a settlement in this county long prior to the Revolution, the Hendricks family seems worthy of special mention.
Philip Hendricks, the second in line of whom anything is known in the county, with his father, occupied a long, low, Dutch house, three rooms in length, with garret and kitchen, on the site of the present residence of Martin E. Hendricks, long anterior to the Revolutionary war; and here, on the same site, still dwell the fourth and fifth gen- erations from his father. In earlier years, when drawing nets was a more profitable employment than driving the plow, the members of the family engaged largely in fish- ing in the Hudson River, on the bank of which their house stands, the deep cove that there occurs in the river forming an enticing retreat to the mmecrous members of the finny tribe that sought its waters.
The family dwelling-house was one of the first along the western side of the river, and when they first located the Indians sojourned in large numbers all around. During the Revolutionary war this house and the one now owned by the Knickerbocker Ice Company, just above, were the only two left untouched by the incendiary fire of the enemy, as they worked their way up the river.
Philip Hendricks married Catharine Van Steenberg, and his children were Abraham, Elizabeth, and Philip, Jr. (represented above). The daughter married John L. Hendricks, and was subsequently a resident of Tivoli, Dutchess Co. Philip, Sr., was a devout member of the First Reformed Church of Kingston, and died Nov. 28, 1834, aged eighty-seven years and four months. His wife died May 9, 1835, aged eighty-eight years, nine months, and twenty-eight days.
Philip Hendricks, Jr., was born Sept. 3, 1798, on the old homestead of his father and grandfather. He was a man of industrious habits, strict integrity, prominent in church circles (being an elder of the First Reformed Church of Kingston), and was honored and respected in the community in which he passed a long and useful life.
He died Nov. 16, 1876, aged eighty-five years. His wife, Elsie Elmendorf, was born March 21, 1795, and died Oct. 27, 1860, aged nearly sixty-six years. The children of the union were Martin E., Rachel C. (deceased), born Jan. 5, 1830, and Abraham, born Jan. 26, 1834, and who resides in Kingston.
Martin E. Hendricks was born on May 28, 1822, on the old place. He passed his earlier years on his father's farm and in attaining such an education as the district schools of his day afforded. Attaining manhood, he married, on Sept. 26, 1850, Harriet Ann, daughter of Tjerck and grand- daughter of Henry Wynkoop, of Plattekill, in the town of Saugerties, where the latter was an early and prominent settler. The former removed to Flatbush, in the town of Kingston, and occupied a farin adjacent to that of the Hen- dricks family. But one child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks, Clarence, born Sept. 29, 1856, who mar- ried Rita, daughter of Henry B. Luther, of Kingston. vn June 18, 1879. He is the fifth in line of descent from the father of Philip Hendricks, who has occupied the old place.
The life of Mr. Hendricks has been a quiet and indus- trious one, free from public annoyances, and devoted to the cultivation of the old farm, to social and religious obser- varices, and to the enjoyments of his own fireside. By the will of his father he became owner of the old place. and takes a just pride in its antiquity and in the ancestra! memories that cluster around it. He is a member of the liberal branch of the Democratic party, and, though aveis" to accepting public office, has filled the offices of school trustee, and of overseer of the poor in 1872 and 1-73. Prior to his marriage he united with the First Reisenie i Church of Kingstou, where he has continued a us fil ard valuable member, and has filled the offices of both das and eller for two years each. He has also acted as v'ifor- intendent of the branch Sabbath-school of the church at East Kingston. He has been a liberal supporter of the various benevolent and philanthropie enterprises of the d.o . and identified actively with all movements of an ek vating and Christian character.
335
TOWN OF ULSTER.
" An Act to divide the town of Kingston, in tho county of Ulster, and erect therefrom the town of Ulster, aud attach a part thereof to tlu town of Woodstock, in said County, passed by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Ulster, at their annual meeting the 28th day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred und seventy-nine. Two-thirds of all the members of said Board voting in favor thereof nuder and ju pursuance of Chapter 319 of the laws of 1872.
"The Board of Supervisors of the County of Elster in annual luceting assembled do hereby enact as follows :
"SECTION ONE. All that part of the town of Kingston in the County of U'ister, in the State of New York, inclu led within the fol- lowing bounds, is hereby erected into a new town, by the name of Ulster. Beginning on the division hne between the towns of Kingston and Hurley, at the point where the northerty line of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad erosses such division line; thence casterly along the said northerty line of the railroad to its intersection with the northerly line of the Ulster and Pelavare plank (or ston-) rond; thence casterty along such northerly line of the said plank (or stone) road to the division line between lots Nos. 9 and 14 of the Clove class of the Kingston Commons; thence north 21° 00' east (as in 1804) along such division line, and along the division fine between lots Nos. 10 and 15 of said Clove class to the division line between the Clove and Binnewater classes, being the corner of lots Nos. 4y'and 61 of said Bin- newater classes ; thence south 66° 00' cast (as in 1801) along the said division between the Clove class and the Binnewater class to the corner of lots Nos. 121 and 133 of the Binnewater elass; thence north 21° 00' est (as in 180}) along the division line between said lots Nos. 121 and 133, and its continuation crossing the Sawkill Creek to the corner of lots Nos. 128, 129, 143, 114 of said Binnewater class; thence south 66º 00' cast (as in 1804) along the division line between said lots Nos, 143 and 144 to the southeasterly corner of said lot No. 144; thence north 24° 00' east (as in 1804) along the easterly fine of lots Nos. 144 and 145 of said Binnewater class, and its continuation to the south line of the first class; thence south 60° 00' east (as in 1801) along the division hetweeu the Binnewater nud first classes to the casterty line of the Kingston Commons; thence northcasterly along said casterly line to the northeast corner of lot No. SO in said first class ; then along the division fine between lots $9 and 90 in the said first class to the bounds of lot 83 ; thence along the division line between lots 83 and 80 in said first class to the northeast corner of lot 82 in said first class ; then along the division fine between lots 82 and 83 to the line of lot No. 74; then along the easterly bounds of lot No. 74 to the northeasterly corner of lot No. 73; then along the northerly bounds of lots 73, 65, 57, 49, 41, and 32 to the northwest corner of lot 33; then northerly along the westerly bounds of lots 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and By to the northwest corner of lot No. 39 in said first class, being the southerly bounds of the town of Sangerties ; thence easterly along said bounds to the easterly bounds of the county of Ulster; thence southerly along said bounds to the northerly bounds of the city of Kingston; thenee along snid city bounds westerly, sontberty, and southeasterly to the southerly corner of said city of King ton ; thener southwesterly along the bounds of the town of Resque to the bounds of the town of Hosendale ; theare northerly and northwesterly along the bounds of the towns of Rosen lale and Hurley to the place of beginning, containing all that parcel und part of the territory now lying and being in the present town of Kingston, bounded as aforesaid. " Srcrios Two. All that part of the said town of Kingston de- scribed as follows : Beginning At a large pile of stones where the towns of Hurley, Woodstock, and Kingston adjoin each other, and running thence south 10º aud twenty minutes west along the bounds of the said town of Hurley one hundred and thirty-six chains; thence south sixty-two degrees and thirty minutes east one hundred and twenty-seven chains to the most southerly corner of fot nunleer 42 in the Binnewater class of the commons of the town of Kingston ; then north twenty-seven degrees and thirty minutes east along the west- erly bonnils of lots 31, 55, 56, 37. 58, 59, and Go in the Binnewater class, and lot 33 in the first class, and then continuing the same course along the westerly bounds of lots 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 of the first class two hundred and forty -eight chains to the bounds of the town of Saugerties; then north sixty-two degrees and thirty minutes west along the bounds of the said town of Saugerties one hundred and ninety-ene chaine and eighty-eight links to the bounds of the town of Woodstock ; then south twenty-five degrees and thirty min- ntes west along the bounds of the town of Woodstock one hundred and
twenty-seven chains and fifty-eight links to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby attachel to and made a part of the town of Woodstock.
" SECTION TAREF. And the remaining part of the present town of Kingston not included in either of the aforesaid boundaries shall be and remain a separate town in the county of Ulster hy the name of Kingston, and the first town-meeting therein shall be held at the house of Owen Trod len, in said town.
"SECTION ForR. The first town-meeting in the said town of Ulster shall be held at the hotel of George A. Stoddard, in such town, at such time as is now provided for the holding of town-meeting in the county of U'lster, and Teunis P. O.terhoude, Gilbert S. Lock wood, and Josiah Lefever, three electors of said town of Ulster, are hereby designated and appointed to preside at such town-meeting, may ap- point a clerk, open and keep the polls, and for that purpose have and exercise the same powers as justices of the peace when presiding at town- meetings.
"SENIos Five. Nothing in this act shall affect or abridge the term of office of any justice of the peace of the town of Kingston, or other town officer whose terin of office has not expired."
" SUPERVISOR'S CLERK'S OFFICE, CITY OF KINGSTON, N. Y.
"Pursuant to the directions of Chapter 482 of the laws of 1875, we do hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of an act passed by the Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, at their annual session in 1879, two-thirds of all the members elect to the Board vot- ing in favor of the passage of the same.
" In Witness Whereof, We bave hercunto set our hands as chairman and clerk of said Board, and affixed the seal of the Board of Snper- visors of Vister County, this first day of December, 1879.
. "R. LOUGHRAN, Chairman. " ALFRED TANNER, Clerk."
The above act of the supervisors was subsequently ratified by the Legislature, as follows :
" As Acr to legalize and confirm the action of the board of super- visors of the county of Ulster, in the division of the town of Kings- tou, in said county, by crecting the town of Ulster therefrom and attaching a portion thereof to the town of Woodstock, in caid county.
" The people of the State of New York, represented in Scante and Assembly, do enact as follows :
"SECTION 1. An act entitled ' An act to divide the town of Kings- ton, in the county of U'ister, and creet therefrom the town of Ulster, and attach a part thereof to the town of Woodstock, in said county, passed by the board of supervisors of the county of Ulster at their annual meeting, the twenty-eighth day of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, two-thirds of all the tem- bers of said boandl voting in Favor thereof, umler and in pursuance of chapter three hundred and nineteen of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-two,' is heichy, together with all the provisions thereof, in all respects legalized and confirmed, and the action of the board of supervisors in the passage of said act hereby legalized and declared valid.
"SECTION 2. This act shall take effect imque liately."
The first town-meeting was held at the hotel of George A. Stoddard, on the first Tuesday of March, 1880, when the usual town officers were chosen. the three citizens designated in the act presiding, viz. : Teunis P. Osterhoudt, Gilbert S. Lockwood, and Josiah Lefever. With the officers hold- ing over from previous organizations, the following consti- tutes the list of the first town officers of Ulster : James Myer, Jr., Supervisor ; Hezekiah S. Burhaus, Town Clerk ; John S. Dederick, Collector ; John S. Babcock, Charles Saunders, Lewis B. Black, Assessors ; Joel Bur- hans,* Hiram Humphrey, George P. Wilson,t Bernard
# Elected for all term, commencing Jan. 1, 1ss1.
t Office expires Jan. 1, 1581.
336
HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Johnson, James O'Connor, Justices of the Peace ; Samuel Rickard, Edward L. Griffin, Andrew McGuire, Commis- sioners of Highways ; Martin E. Hendricks, James II. Lockwood. Overseers of the Poor; Abram E. Smith, Uriah HI. Wilson, Francis Arnold, Van Keuren Ritta, Constables ; George Barnes, Town Scaler ; Jacob Coons, Poundmaster; James E. Kennedy, Game Constable ; Chauncey Stewart, D. Brodhead Hendricks, Calvin Winne, Town Auditors; Elected, Distriet No. 1, John H. Carle, Alfred France ; Elected, District No. 2, Orson M. Wilson, John O'Reilly; Elected, District No. 3, John P. Folant, Peter J. Clare ; Elected, Distriet No. 4, Edward L. Grif- fin, David D. Addis ; Elected, District No. 5, George W. Banks, John S. Roosa, Inspectors of Election. Another inspector was appointed for each district. Charles Van Keuren, Teunis P. Osterhoudt, Thomas Dougherty, Ex- eise Commissioners.
V .- VILLAGES. EDDYVILLE
is situated on the Rondout Creek, below the rapids. It has grown up mainly or wholly since the opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It takes its name, however, from John Eddy, who formerly had a grist-mill, operated by the splendid water-power at that place. The canal company became the owners of the water-privilege, and it has not been utilized since. The power is said to be valu- able, and might be made to operate a large amount of ma- chinery, and thus create important manufacturing interests at that place. At Eddyville there is a canal about eighty rods long, by which boats finally reach tide-water in the Rondout Creek. From Creek Locks, in the town of Rosen- dale, the channel of the creek constitutes the canal until the Eddyville rapids. . The short canal has a " guard-lock" at the upper end, erected last year. It is a fine specimen of workmanship, and succeeds the former one, which went out in the great freshet of Dee. 10 and 11, 1878. At the lower end is the tide-lock, which opens into the ereck.
During the season of canal navigation the business of providing for the horses aud mules at this eastern end of the canal is one of considerable importance. A good mer- cantile trade also exists at Bullyville, not only with the canal men, but with the adjacent towns of Rosendale and Esopus. The wants of the people of Eddyville are also largely supplied by their home merchants, as communica- tion with the central part of Kingston or with Rondout is not quick and easy enough to destroy the village trade.
The principal business of Eddyville (May, 1880) may be summarily stated as follows: engaged in canal stabling are Black Bros., James O'Connor, Connelly & Shaffer, Benjamin Turner, George Diamond, and Johu MeCune. John Snyder has a boat-yard. This dates back twenty years ago or more. Connelly & Shaffer have cement-works, located near the guard-lock. The principal stores are kept by Black Bros., James O'Connor, Connelly & Shaffer, Rob- ert S. Kerin, M. J. Soule, HI. J .. Manning, Bryan Turner, George Diamond, John MeKeon, and Alfred Riker. Other business-places are the meat-market, by Dewitt Relyea ; barber shops, by Thomas J. Scott and John Lash ; harness- shop, by Richard Schick; restaurant, by C. B. Riggins;
hotels, by Charles Schuman and Lewis Wooster ; black- smith-shops, by Newton Davis, Matthew Deyo, and Rich- ard Mooney ; a wagon-shop, by Robert Herdman ; a news- room and confectionery-store, by John H. Mackey.
A portion of the village is pleasantly located on a ro- mantie bluff, lying adjacent to the rapids, and made into an island by the canal. Thomas Rosecrans has a grist-mill about half a mile from Eddyville.
FLATBUSH.
This name is applied somewhat variously to all the border along the river, from the Kingston line at Whisky Point to the Saugerties line and a short distance beyond. The Re- formed church of Flatbush is located in the town of Sau- gerties. North and northwest of Whisky Point the various lime, cement, and other business enterprises constitute a somewhat thickly-settled village. A horse-railroad connects the Flatbush road with the dock. In this village is a Ro- man Catholic church and a union chapel. The cement- works of E. M. Brigham constitute the principal business enterprise. Several very large and commodious ice-houses are located at this place. There are various shops, a store an ] a hotel. Farther north, under the same general name, may be mentioned the Burhans neighborhood, on the river, where there are ice-houses, a school-house, a saw-mill, and a cemetery.
DUTCH SETTLEMENT.
This hamlet acquires its name generally from the nation- ality of its people, as distinguished from the localities of Irish citizens,-Stony Hollow, Jockey Hill, and Halli- han Hill, formerly in the same town, but now in the new town of Kingston, while the Dutch settlement is in Ul- ster, on the borders of Saugerties. The quarries in the vicinity furnish the principal employment to the people. There is a Roman Catholic chapel in this vicinity. At Dutch Settlement, also, is the hotel of Mrs. Flogans, P'. Carl's blacksmith-shop, and a chapel of the Lutheran church, and the school-house of District No. 3.
MAPLE GROVE.
This is a village plat laid out just beyond the city line, on the Saugerties road, in the vicinity of the Stoddard ti ... tel. It contains the handsome residences of Benjamin J. Winnie, J. P. Fclans, J. Var Gaasbeck, and others.
VI .- SCHOOLS.
At Eddyville the school is arranged for two teachers, but this building is not a new and modern one. A better vil- lage school-house is imperatively needed to adequately por vide for the educational wants of this growing plice.
A part of the present territory of Ulster is intito .¿ within the Kingston Consolidated District, and share p: the advantages of the thorough system established the ?. in 1S63.
School District No. 6 lies along the Hudson River. i .. cluding most of the river-front, with the schoolhousenu the Flatbush road, in the Davis neighborhood.
District No. 16 is on the northeast corner, adgrand t the Saugerties live; the school-house is located on a si !! river road, near the large ice-houses at that point
325
TOWN OF ULSTER.
Distriet No. 4 is a long, narrow traet lying upon the cast side of the Esopus, with the school in the Snyder and Vandebogert neighborhood.
District No. 3 includes what is known as the Dutch Settlement, near the Saugerties line.
VII .- CHURCHES.
The people of a large part of Ulster lying around and near the city are connected in their church associations with the various denominations of Kingston. At Eddyville there is located a Methodist church with a handsome and commodious house of worship. The history of this is given below. Near the Dutch Settlement, so called, is a Roman Catholic church, established some years ago, and providing the opportunity of Catholic worship to the large population engaged in quarrying and other occupations in that vicinity, and who are attached to the forms and faith of that church.
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