USA > New York > Orange County > New Windsor > History of the town of New Windsor, Orange County, N.Y. > Part 12
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a kindly face and presence-a man whose integrity was never ques- tioned.
Rachel DeWitt died June 4th, 1830, in her 68th year. Their chil- dren were:
I. Alexander Clinton, born Dec. 9th, 1785; married Mary Ann Cur- tis, Dec. 19th, 1807, and had thirteen children: 1, Robert; 2, Curtis, 3. Moses DeWitt; 4, Sylvester: 5. Jacob: 6, Rutsen; 7, Alexander ; 8, Charles ; 9, Rachel Ann : 10. Sarah; II, Mary Jane; 12, Ann Eliza ; 13. James Alexander. Alexander Clinton died Dec. 2, 1845, aged 60 yea 3, his wife, Ann Curtis, is also deceased.
2. Charles, born July 13th, 1787; married first, Elizabeth Brown. May 3rd, 1810. She died Jan. 7th. 1814, aged 23 years, leaving two children : 1, Rachel DeWitt and 2, James. He married second, Mary Ann, daughter of Capt. Joseph Barber of Montgomery, May 13th, 1817, and had five children: 1, Joseph B .; 2, Jane Ann ; 3, Charles Fowler ; 4, Helen Eliza ; 5. Robert, died in infancy. He died Nov. 9th, 1869, in his 83d year, and his wife, Mary Ann Barber, died February 19th, 1875, in her 82d year.
3. Jane, born June 18th, 1789; married first, Samuel Crawford, Dec. 15th, 1807. He died August 10th, 1810, leaving 1, Eunice Watkins Craw- ford, who married Dr. James VanKeuren. She married second, Capt. John Finley, May 12th, 1812, and had I, James ; 2, Robert ; 3, John ; 4, Samuel; 5, Mary Elizabeth. Robert Samuel and Mary Elizabeth ale dead (1879). She died Oct. 25th, 1857, aged 68 years ; her husband, Capt. John Finley, died March 9th 1839, aged 66 years. 2, Francis Crawford, known as Francis Crawford, Jr., who married and resided in Newburgh, from whence he removed to Detroit, Mich., where he clied.
4. Moses DeWitt, born Jan. 13th, 1792, married first, Margaret,. daughter of John Barber, July 16, 1817. She died April 14th, 1818, in her 27th year, leaving one son, the present (1879) John Barber Burnet of Syracuse. He married second, Mrs. Helen Creed, of Syracuse. He was in service in the war of 1812, and was subsequently Sheriff of Orange- County. He removed to Syracuse, where his uncle, Moses DeWitt was largely interested in real estate, and died there Dec. 29th, 1876, in his 85th year. His wife, Helen, died April 27th, 1874, aged 76 years.
5. Mary DeWitt, born Dec. Ist, 1795; married Samuel Hall, Au- gust 27, 1814, and had six children: 1, Margaret DeWitt; 2, Mary Jane ; 3, Robert Burnet; 4, Rachel Ann; 5, Moses DeWitt; 6, John James. She died Oct. 28th. 1874, aged 46 years ; her husband, Samuel Hall, is also dead.
6. Robert, Jr., born May 6th, 1803, died April 23th. 1804
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DENNISTON .*
The Denniston family of New Windsor, now widely dispersed, are the descendants of Alexander Denniston, the brother-in-law of Charles Clinton and one of the company of immigrants who settled in Little Britain in 1730. Alexander Denniston, the father of this immi- grant, was an officer under St. Ruth, in 1691, at Athlone, and aided in the defence of that place against the English. In this contest the Irish troops defended their works with undaunted bravery. In the final charge, in which the English were repulsed, the Irish troops set fire to the enemy's breastwork, destroying all their defences and pontoons and producing great consternation in the English camp. After the reduction of Athlone, he accompanied St. Ruth to Kilcommeden in Roscommon, where the latter was killed and his forces dispersed. After this battle followed the period in which it is said that "Ireland had no history." a period in which was developed nothing by tyranny on the part of the gov- ernment and bitter suffering on the part of the people. This induced Denniston to remove to Scotland to avoid threatened persecution. In 1701, he returned to Ireland, where he remained quiet and secluded in the Town of Grenard, until the accession of George I. in 1714. when the Whigs obtained the ascendancy and all adhering to them were taken in- to favor. In 1727, on the accession of George II, by bills which passed Parliament, five-sixths of the population of Ireland were disfranchised ; stringent additions were also made to the penal code, and other legisla- tive action taken which convinced many that Ireland was to be treated as a conquered province, and induced them to emigrate to America. " This," says the author of the foregoing brief sketch, Hon. Goldsmith Denniston, " was the cause of the emigration of what is known as the Clinton company in 1729, among whom was Alexander Denniston, son of the officer under St. Ruth, already described."
Alexander Denniston (1), married first Elizabeth Beatty, who died childless, probably on Cape Cod in 1730, second Frances Little, a fellow passenger on the "George and Anne," daughter of George Little* and sister of James and Archibald Little, by whom he had 1. James, who married first Jane Crawford (marriage license Oct. 11th, 1760), and second Rachel Falls, ** (marriage license dated Oct. 13. 1773 : 2, George
*Properly Dennis'son, or son of Dennis. The name goes back to a period when the given name of the father became the surname of his son. Dennis is the French form of Dionysius was born about the middle of the century before Christ. The name was probably introduced in Ireland by the Normans.
** Said to have been widow of George Falls and daughter of Peter Mulliner.
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married first Isabella Craig, daughter of David Craig, marriage license dated Dec. 10, 1769), second Mary McClaughry, daughter of James Mc- Claughry, (marriage license dated Aug. 12, 1772), and died in 1804; 3, Alexander married first Nancy Gray, second Margaret J., third Martha Sears, (the widow Ellison), and died in 1817 aged 77 years ; 4. William, married Fanny Little, and died in 1825 aged 86 years ; * 5, John, married Anna Moffat, and died in 1836 aged 85 years; 6, Charles, married the widow Milligan, (Mary Blake). and died in 1808: 7, Esther married first Alexander Falls, second Phineas Helme; 8, Elizabeth married Henry Douw ; 9. Mary, married, first William Mulliner, second Matthew DuBois; 10, Catherine married, first Edward Falls, second Samuel Wood.
James (2), son of James (I), married Prudence Morrison, daughter of John Morrison and his wife Elizabeth Scott, of what is now the town of Montgomery, and was the father of the late Hon. Robert Denniston. He died July 9, 1825, aged 59 years.
Abraham, son of James (1), married Bathsheba Goldsmith and was the father of the late Goldsmith Denniston, and the late Mrs. Aaron P. Johnes ofNewburgh. He died Sept. 10. 1825, aged 55 years.
George (2) was the father of Colonel James Denniston, who was the father of George A. Denniston, for one term Sheriff of Orange County. The sons of William (4) were Isaac,* Andrew and Archi- bald. This branch of the family settled in Cornwall and gave to its local history a long list of honored names. Archibald, the youngest son of William, removed to Sullivan County and settled in the present Town of Tremont.
"Another branch of the descendants of Alexander, son of a brother of Alexander (1), of Little Britain. He was a native of the county Longford, Ireland, from whence he came to Little Britain in 1798, and soon after opened a store in Newburgh. His wife, Sarah, died in Little Britain Dec. 11, 1813, in her 44th year, and was buried in the Clinton burying ground. He took an active part in the War of 1812 and attained the rank of Colonel of the 27th Regiment, U. S. Infantry. One author-
*John Denniston died Jan. 7, 1836, aged 85 years and 23 days. His wife, Ann Moffat, died Feb. 13, 1835, aged 84 years. She was the daughter of Saml. Moffat, (born in Ballehag, county Antrim, Ireland, 1704, died at Blagg's Clove, Orange county, 1787), and his wife Jane, (born at Slush Hall, county of Fermanaugh, Ireland, 1716, O. S., died at Blaggs Clove, 1794, aged 78 years). John Denniston, jr., son, born Dec. 14, 1778, graduated at Yale college 1807, died Jan. 13, 1810. Ann,, daughter of John and Ann Denniston, married Jacob Schultz; she was born Jan. 22, 1780, and died Sept. 22, 1849;their daughter, Mary Ann, married Thomas J. Fulton Samuel M., son of John and Ann Denniston, died July 23, 1862, aged 87 years.
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ity states that he removed to the west, and another, that he settled in Sullivan county, in 1815, in company with Archibald Denniston, referred to in the text. The latter located at a place now known as Denniston's Ford, where he died in 1863."*
Members of the family have had part in all the principal wars of the country. Alexander Denniston (I), the founder of the family, was a member of Capt. Ellison's New Windsor militia in 1738, and on frontier service in the war of 1755; Daniel, was Lieutenant in the 2d N. Y. Continental, 1776, served to the end of the war, was half-pay officer for life, and a member of the Cincinnati : George L., son of Alexander was Adjutant in Col. James Clinton's Southern Ulster militia, (his five brothers were privates in the same regiment), member of the Com mittee of Safety of New Windsor, 1775, Ensign, 3d N. Y. Continental, 1776, promoted Lieut., served during the war, half-pay officer for life and member of the Cincinnati, and William, was Lieut. in Col. Clinton's Southern Ulster militia, 1776, and Captain of IIth Co., Wallkill Pre- cinct, 1775. The name of another George stands on he rolls as Lieut. in 4th N. Y. Continental, but we fail to place him except as son of George L. The name of the latter, by the way, was George L., and not George I. as entered in several lists.
A complete genealogy of the family has not been preserved, and the details which have been obtained are fragmentary. It is perhaps suffi- cient to say that the descendants of Alexander Denniston are still nu- merous in New Windsor, Cornwall and Blooming Grove, and that he has representatives in other towns, in other parts of the state, and in the west. Taken as a whole there have been few families in the state that have been the peers of the soldier under St. Ruth.
David Denniston was, it is believed, the first printer in Newburgh, for, although it is of record that the Newburgh Packet was printed by Lucius Cary in 1795, a book printed the same year by David Denniston is in existence, and his name is associated with the publication of The Mirror and The Rights of Man, of Newburgh, and the American Citi- zen and Watch Tower, of New York. His occupation was that of a printer and book-binder; his association with newspapers is presumed to have grown out of his interest in the religious discussions of the era in which he lived. The New York Evening Post has the following record of his death: "At Newburgh, Dec. 13, 1803, of an inflammation of the lungs, Mr. David Denniston, late proprietor of the American Citizen." In another announcement his death is recorded as having been from "malignant fever." His proper place in the genealogy of
* From Quinlan's Sullivan County.
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the family has not been ascertained. He was a man of decided strength of character.
Robert Denniston, son of James Denniston and his wife, Prudence Morrison, daughter of John Morrison, and his wife Elizabeth Scott, of the town of Montgomery, was born in what is now the town of Blooming Grove, October 15, 1800. He married first, Julianna Howell, September 24, 1823, who died without issue Feb. 21, 1825. His second wife was Mary Scott, only daughter of William Scott, of Northumberland, England, who settled near Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1795, and subsequently removed to New- burgh. By this marriage he had five sons and six daughters. He ser- ved as an officer of militia and as justice of the peace in his native town; was appointed by Governor Marcy judge of the court of common pleas of Orange County ; was elected member of the assembly in 1835, and again in 1839 and 1840, and in the fall of the latter year was elected senator in the second senate district, in which position he remained for seven years, during the whole of which time he was chairman of the committee on canals, then a very important committee ; by virtue of his office he was also a member of the "court for the trial of impeachments and the correction of errors." In 1859 he was elected comptroller of the State, and at the close of his term retired to his farm in Blooming Grove, where he resided until his death, Dec. 2, 1867. His five sons were in the service of the United States during the Civil War, viz. :
William S., as volunteer surgeon died in the service; Robert, Jr., as paymaster's clerk, died in the service; Henry M. was paymaster in the Navy and has subsequently attained the rank of Rear Admiral, he married Emma J. Dusenberry, they have one son, Robert ; James O. was lieutenant in Co. G., 124th Regt., N. Y. S. Volunteers, after the war he entered the ministry and is a Presbyterian minister, he married Mar- garet Crosby, they have one daughter, Mary; Augustus was quarter- master of the same regiment, and has since served two terms as mem- ber of Assembly for the first district of Orange County, has been presi- dent of the Orange County Agricultural Society since 1878, and direc- tor, vice-president and president of the Highland National Bank of Newburgh and has filled many other positions of honor and trust.
The six daughters of Robert Denniston and his wife Mary Scott were Juliana H., who married Edward Stevens of Buffalo, and died leaving a son who died young, and a daughter Catherine C., who married Frank B. Phillips ; Mary S., who married Walter R. Marsh of New York city, and has one daughter, Antoinette, who married Willard C. Reid; Caro-
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line M., unmarried; Jane C., who married R. Emmet Deyo of New York and has four daughters, Cornelia, Juliana, Margaret and Eveline ; Abbey L., unmarried, and Agnes, who died in 1868.
Goldsmith Denniston, son of Abraham and grandson of James and Prudence Denniston, was born in the town of New Windsor, where he resided until 1838, when he removed to Newburgh and engaged in mercantile business, from whence he removed to Steuben county. He was elected member of assembly in 1838, and from Steuben county in 1858. He was also judge of the court of common pleas of Orange county from April, 1841, to the expiration of the court under the con- stitution of 1847. By his wife, Fanny, he had Abraham, Harvey G., and Aaron J. Abraham was born in New Windsor in 1827; enlisted as a volunteer in the 107th Regiment, August, 1862; died in hospital at Washington, Feb. 5th, 1863. Harvey G., born August 23, 1829; enlisted in Co. G, 107th Regiment, August, 1862; promoted second lieutenant ; resigned in 1864; subsequently captain of Co. C, 188th Regi- ment ; mustered out July 1, 1865. Aaron J., commissioned second lieu- tenant Co. D, 188th Regiment, in 1864, but was compelled to resign soon after entering the service.
JOHN LITTLE.
John Little, gentlemen, as written in his will, and Rev. John Little, as of other record, was an early settler in the original town, and gave to his plantation of many acres the name of "Stonefield." where he erected, in 1745, the stone mansion which is still standing and is known .as "The Denniston or Robert's House," and in local notings as "Moffat's Academy." The house is now in the town of Blooming Grove, near Salisbury Mills. His sister, Fanny, was the wife of Alexander Den- niston, and Alexander Denniston's sister was the wife of Charles Clin- ton, from which fact it is presumed that he was one of the Clinton com- pany who immigrated from Ireland in 1729-30. After his death his mansion was occupied by his son-in-law, Rev. John Moffat, who con- ducted therein a private school. James Denniston bought the property from the heirs of John Moffat, and sold to James Roberts.
Very little is known of Rev. John Little. By his wife. Frances. who survived him, he had, as noted in his will, dated Feb. 21, 1753, five daughters, viz: 1, Elizabeth; 2, Frances, who married John Nicoll, of New Windsor, and had son, Isaac, who was Sheriff of Orange County during the Revolution and executed Claudius Smith, the noted partizan ; .3, Elinor, who married John McGarrah, of Cornwall, and had son,
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John ; 4, Hannah, who married David Gallatian, of what is now Walden, and had sons John and David, as named in will of John Little, and pre- sumably James, who administered the estate of David in 1760; 5, Mar- garet, who married Rev. John Moffat, as stated above, and had son, John Little Moffat, who located in Goshen prior to the Revolution; Elizabeth, married, it is presumed, John McLean, of Cornwall, in 1762, as per marriage license dated June 10th of that year. It is said that Rev. John Moffat has no descendants now residents of Orange County. John Nicoll was married twice. From his son, Isaac, he was repre- sented in the war of the Rebellion by Captain Isaac Nicoll, of Bloom- ing Grove. David Gallatian was the holder of a patent for 1,000 acres of land on the west side of Wallkill river, at Walden, June 14. 1719. His grandson (?) James conducted a mill at Walden, and descendants are still met in Orange County. John McGarrah has, or did have until recently, descendants bearing his name in the town of Monroe. John McLean, 2d, was a paymaster in the army of the Revolution, and later Commissary-General of the state of New York, although this is not certain.
The descendants of Rev. John Little, through his daughters, were among the most useful and substantial members of the Colonial era.
THE ELLISON FAMILY.
The Ellisons, of New Windsor, are the descendants of Cuthbert Ellison, of New Castle-on-Tyne, merchant, sheriff of New Castle in 1544. and mayor in 1549-54: died 1580. His children were Robert, William, George, and Cuthbert. The latter was the father of Ben- jamin, who was the father of Robert, who was the father of John, born February II, 1647.
John Ellison emigrated from New Castle-on-Tyne, England, accom- panied by his sister, Elizabeth Finch, and her two daughters, in 1688,* during the reign of James II. In 1691, after a legal residence of three years, he was admitted a freeman of the city of New York, where he became a merchant, and amassed what for those times was a large fortune. The city then was of small dimensions, the business portion lying about Broad and Bridge streets. Broadway was laid out, and extended from the foot of Bowling Green to the Palisades at Wall street, erected to prevent the incursions of the Indians. It contained forty-five houses. Mr. Ellison made his principal investments in real
*The fact remains unexplained that among the inhabitants of Hempstead, L. I., in 1673, were John Ellison and John Ellison, Jr. Thomas Ellison and Thomas El- lison, Jr., and Richard Ellison .- Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 658. There is remarkable similarity in the names whatever may have been the family connection, if any.
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estate in the business part of the town, near the Great Dock, and what is now known as Whitehall. In 1703, he purchased of Matthew Hutch- ins a piece of land described as being "in the country" and "without the north gate of the city," bounded by Little Queen street, Thames and Lumbard street, the latter being its easterly boundary, and extending thence to Hudson's river. Here he erected dwellings and built a wharf; the maps of 1728 show the Ellison dock, it being one of the four at that time existing on the west side of the city. Portions of this purchase still remain in the possession of his descendants.
In 1718, to secure the payment of a certain sum of money loaned to William Sutherland, he received from that person the deeds of a tract of land "lying in the precinct of the Highlands, at a place afterwards called New Windsor." This property was the southerly third part of what is known as the "Chambers and Sutherland patent." * His title was perfected in 1723, at which time his son, Thomas, was living upon it. He died in 1724, leaving a widow, Eleanor, and four sons : I, John; 2, Thomas ; 3, William; and 4, Joseph. The two former continued the mercantile business established by their father, while the two latter (William and Joseph) followed the sea, making voyages to the West Indies and South America. John (1) married Mary Van Imburgh, daughter of Gysbert Van Imburgh, who lived in "The Broadway." He died in 1725, leaving two children, John and Mary. John married Mary Wessels, and Mary married John Jeffreys. William (3) married Mary -, and left but one child, a daughter, who married Robert Cromeline. Joseph (4) married Margaret - -. He died in 1733
without issue.
Thomas (2), in whose history we are more immediately interested, was born in 1701. He was married in 1723, by Rev. Mr. Bull, Dutch minister, in New York, to Margaret, daughter of Francis Garrabrant, merchant. He immediately removed to the property at New Windsor, purchased by his father, and commenced improving it. From the de- scription in the survey made at the time-"commencing at a certain tree on the shore and running thence directly into the woods"-it will be inferred that the tract was mainly in its primal condition. His house, a Dutch cottage in style-which nearly sixty years afterwards became the headquarters of Washington-was situated on a bluff over- looking the river, and was probably erected about 1723-4. ** He also built
*Ante p
** There is a tradition that he first lived in a log house, but such was not the fact. The log house was built for his negro slaves, a number of whom were set- tled upon the property some six months before he came to reside upon it. The occupations of the homestead by Washington is referred to in another part of this volume.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF NEW WINDSOR.
a dock and a large warehouse, established a line of sloops from thence to his father's, at the foot of Little Queen street, and became in a few years the principal merchant and banker, not only of the neighborhood, but of a very considerable portion of the district now embraced in the county of Orange. In 1754, he erected the old stone building known as the "Ellison House," near Vail's Gate, after the style of the farm houses of his English forefathers; the mason was Wm. Bull (husband of Sarah Wells, the reputed first white woman on the Wawayanda patent). At the same time he built the mill where for very many years was converted into flour and meal the grain of the inhabitants of a large section of country, and whose busy wheel continued in motion for over a century. The old house, though so many years have elapsed since its foundations were laid, is still as sound as ever, and bids fair to last another century. It is one and a half stories high with dormor windows and irregular roof. The chimneys are very massive, covering nearly one side of a room, and are entirely covered with paneling ; the original fire-places very large and adapted to the burning of wood. At the time of the occupation of this neighborhood by the American army, the mansion became the headquarters of General Knox,* and on a window of the parlor, scratched with a diamond, is still to be seen, the names of three of the belles of Revolutionary times- Sally Janson, Getty Winkoop and Maria Colden.
There were few larger landed proprietors. In addition to the Suth- erland tract, he purchased, in 1724, the Vincent Matthews patent of 800 acres adjoining. In 1737 a patent for about 2,000 acres, in three several parcels, was granted him by the government; in 1750 he ob- tained patent for six several parcels embracing 3.554 acres, and in 1753 patents for two parcels embracing 1,080 acres; at the latter date he was also granted patent for 31 acres of land under water at New Windsor, covering the entire front of his property on the Hudson to a distance of 600 feet from high-water mark. The record of his land purchases in addition to the foregoing is altogether too voluminous for publica- tion in this connection.
When he first came to New Windsor, he was appointed Deputy Queen's Ranger under Cadwallader Colden, an office involving no little local administration. In 1738 he was captain of "the foot company of military of the precinct of the Highlands"; and in 1756 he was com- missioned colonel of the second regiment of militia of Ulster county, continuing his duties in that capacity until the outbreak of the Revolu- tion in 1775. His command was in service on the western frontiers of
*Ante p.
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the county against the Indians, and also in the expedition for the relief of Fort Wm. Henry in 1757. He was also a local magistrate.
He died in 1784, at the advanced age of 79 years, nearly sixty years of his life having been spent in New Windsor. His wife died in 1783. He was the father of eleven children, seven of whom survived him, viz: I. Elizabeth, born in 1726, married Cadwallader Colden, Jr., of Coldenham. They had twelve children, of whom three died in infancy. and three before reaching maturity .* Her surviving children were : Cadwallader, Thomas, Alexander, David, Alice, Margaret.
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