USA > New York > Orange County > New Windsor > History of the town of New Windsor, Orange County, N.Y. > Part 15
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a line laid chevronways, az. Supporters- two greyhounds ar. each collared and lined gu. Motto-"Loyaulte n' a honte,". Charles Clinton brought this coat of arms with him to New Windsor, and it is retained my the family the present day, changing the motto, however, to the more appropriate: "Patria cara, carior liber- tas."
*By a receipt preserved among his papers it appears that the charter party was composed of ninety-four persons, heads of families with children and servants. The names of most of these heads of families will be found in Clinton's journal Appendix.
** See Biographical Sketch by Joseph Young in Appendix.
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land was hailed with joy and in a few hours thereafter the survivors of the company were on shore at Cape Cod on the coast of Massachusetts. The season was then so far advanced that little could be done and 1 considerable portion, if not all, of the company remained at Cape Cod until the Spring of 1730, when they removed to New York and from thence to Ulster County, and located on and in the vicinity of the An- drew Johnston patent,* in the district known as Little Britain .**
Clinton was an acknowledged leader among his neighbors in the wilderness, as he had been in the community from which he had en1- grated. He was a good mathematical scholar and surveyor and quali- fied for any duty which might be required at his hands. He soon be- came an agent for the sale of patented lands in his vicinity, to which no doubt was due the subsequent settlement in the district of so large a number of immigrants from his old neighborhood. He was appointed Justice of the Peace soon after his arrival and in 1769, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ulster County. In 1756 he was commis- sioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment of Militia of Ulster County, and in 1758, by Governor Sir Charles Hardy, Lieutenant-Coi- onel of the battallion under the command of Colonel Bradstreet, in which capacity he took part in the French and Indian war. He was stationed at Fort Herkimer, in the valley of the Mohawk, in 1758, and in the Summer of that year was in the capture of Fort Frontenac .*** At the close of the war he returned to Little Britain where he spent the re- mainder of his days in the cultivation of literature and the management of his estate. Dr. Joseph Young writes of him at this period: "Col. Charles Clinton possessed an accute genius, a penetrating solid judg . ment, an extensive fund of useful as well as ornamental knowledge, with the affability and polished manners of a polite gentleman. He was a tall, straight, graceful person, of a majestic appearance." In his private and in his public relations he sustained a pure and elevated character, and exerted a great influence in the district in which he lived. He was also active in the cause of religion and good morals. Bringing with him
*The purchase of farms was made in the autumn of 1730, sometime having been spent in prospecting.
** Clinton has had the credit of naming the settlement, but it is now asserted that that honor belongs to Peter Mullinder, a prior immigrant. The question has been referred to in Chapter IV.
*** The New York troops, under Col. Bradstreet, consisted of two detachments, one commanded by lieutenant-colonel Clinton, consisting of 440 men, under Cap- tains Ogden of Westchester, DuBois of Ulster, Bladgley of Duchess, and Wright of Queens. The second was commander by lieutenant-colonel Isaac Corse of Queens, and consisted of 668 men.
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from Ireland a certificate of his church connection, ** he united with the Bethlehem church, of which he was made an elder and held that relation until his death. He was born on his father's estate in county Longford, Ireland, in 1690, and died at his residence in Little Britain, November 119, 1773, in his eighty-third year, in full view of the approach of the Revolution. "He expired," writes Dr. Hosack, "breathing an ardent spirit of patriotism, and in his last moments conjured his sons to stand by the liberties of America." His wife, Elizabeth Denniston, was the daughter of Alexander Denniston, an officer under St. Rutte in 1691. She was well acquainted with the military operations of the times, and shared largely in the patriotic ardor of her husband and sons. Her let- ters to her husband, during the periods of his official absence, places her in an interesting and commanding light. She was born in 1704, and died at the residence of her son James (the old homestead of her hus- band) on the 25th December, 1779, in her seventy-fifty year .*
Charles Clinton and Elizabeth Denniston had seven children :
I. Catharine, born in Ireland August II, 1723; married James Mc- Claughry June 22, 1749; died without issue November 28, 1762, in her fortieth year.
2. James, born in Ireland March 31, 1726; died at sea August 28. 1729.
3. Mary, born in Ireland July II, 1728; died at sea August 2, 1729.
4. Alexander, born in Little Britain April 28, 1732; married Mary Kane, November, 1757; died March 11, 1758, without issue, aged 26.
Alexander Clinton was a graduate of Princeton college in 1750. He studied medicine in New York with Dr. Middleton; located at Shawan . gunk, and "practiced with great success and reputation. He excelled in everything to which he turned his attention; he was a good classic
** This certificate reads : "Whereas the bearer, Mr. Charles Clinton, and his wife, Elizabeth, lived within the bounds of this Protestant dissenting congregation from their infancy, and now design for America; this is to certify, that all along they have behaved themselves soberly and inoffensively, and are fit to be received into any Christian congregation that Providence may cast their lot. Also, that said Charles Clinton was a member of our Session, and discharged the office of ruling elder very acceptably, this, with advice of Session, given at Corbay, in the county of Longford, Ireland.
JOSEPH BOND, Minister.
*Charles Clinton and his wife, Elizabeth, his daughter, Catharine (Mrs. Mc- Claughry), his sons, Charles and Gen. James, with the wives and children of the latter, were buried in the family burial ground at Little Britain. The plot was enclosed with a substantial wall and monuments erected; but the removal of the relatives from the vicinity left the place to the care of strangers. The wall and gate becoming broken, and rank weeds and bushes springing up, induced John A. C. Gray, grandson of Mrs. Mary Gray Clinton, to remove the remains and monu- ments to Woodlawn Cemetery in 1875. They now occupy a fine plot, with a sub-
James Clinton
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scholar, a great physician, a considerable poet, an excellent musician and understood the use of the broadsword in a superior degree. He was as estimable in character as in acquirements and was beloved and re- spected by all who knew him. He died of confluent smallpox and was buried in the cemetery at Bruynswick (Shawangunk).
5. Charles, born in Little Britain July 20, 1734 ; died at his reidence in Montgomery, April 3, 1791, in his fifty-seventh year, without issue.
Charles Clinton also studied medicine under Doctor Middleton, and, was much esteemed for his skill in surgery by the celebrated Dr. Houck. He was a surgeon in the British army at the capture of Havana. He ultimately settled in the precinct of Hanover (Montgomery) where he practiced with success. He died of consumption, unmarried.
6. James, born at Little Britain, August 9, 1736: died December 22. 1812, in his seventy-seventh year.
James Clinton received an excellent education, and acquired much proficiency in the exact sciences, but his ruling inclination was for mili- tary life. He was appointed a lieutenant in the second regiment of mi !- itia of Ulster County in 1756, and was subsequently captain of a con- pany in the battalion of which his father was lieutenant-colonel, and par ticularly distinguished himself in the war between the English and the French, at the capture of Fort Frontenac, by taking a sloop of war on Lake Ontario, which had obstructed the advance of the English forces. In the militia regiment, of which he was lieutenant, he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1772, but in the interim was appointed captain-com- mandant of four regiments levied for the protection of the western frontiers of Orange and Ulster, a post of great responsibility and danger. as it devolved upon him the protection of a line of settlements of at least fifty miles in extent, which were continually threatened by the In- dians. At the outbreak of the revolution he was appointed by the Pro- vincial Convention of New York (1775) colonel of the militia of south-
stantial granite monument around which the old monuments are suitably grouped. As a question may at some time arise as to the title of the Little Britain plot, the following extract from Charles Clinton's will is here quoted: "It is my will that I be buried in the graveyard on my own farm, beside my daughter. Catharine; and it is my will the said graveyard be made four rods square, and an open road to it at all times, when it shall be necessary ; and I nominate and appoint my said three sons, Charles, James and George, to see the same executed accordingly ; and I order that my said Executors procure a suitable stone to lay over my grave, whereon I would have the time of my death, my age and coat of arms cut. I hope they will indulge me in this last piece of vanity." The remains of some of his neighbors were also buried in the plot, among others, Mrs. Jane Armstrong, daughter of his aunt Margaret. Her remains were not removed, and strange to say, the remains of Mary DeWitt. the first wife of General James Clinton, and mother of DeWitt Clinton, were left in the old burial ground.
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ern Ulster, embracing part of the regiment theretofore commanded by Colonel Thomas Ellison, and in the same year was appointed colonel of the third continental regiment of New York, marched with Montgomery to Quebec and took part in the heroic campaign in Canada. August 9th. 1776, he was promoted brigadier-general, and was placed in command of the construction of the forts in the Highlands. In October, 1777, he commanded under his brother, Governor Clinton. at forts Clinton and Montgomery, in the defense against Sir Henry Clinton, who with three thousand men carried the forts by storm, they being defended by only about five hundred men. Himself and his brother narrowly escaped capture, the latter by springing into a boat and rowing away in the dark- ness, and the former by sliding' down the steep bank of Poplopen's Kill and passing up the bed of that stream. Although wounded he made his way to his home in Little Britain and commenced the reorganization of the militia for the defense of Kington. In 1779, with sixteen hun . dred men, he joined General Sullivan in the expedition against the Six Nations. Proceeding up the Mohawk in bateaux, about fifty miles above Schenectady, he conveyed his boats by land to the head of Otsego Lake, one of the sources of the Susquehanna, down which stream he was to proceed. As the water in the outlet was too low to float boats, he constructed a dam across it and thus accumulated water in the lake. By letting out this water and suddenly flushing the stream, his boats and troops were rapidly conveyed to Tioga, where he joined Sullivan, who had ascended the Susquehanna. After one engagement the Indians fled -were pursued and fifty-four of their towns burned. In 1780 he was placed in command of the northern department, with his headquarters at Albany, and was next in the field at Yorktown. In 1782, some pro- motions were made in which junior officers were given the precedence,. and he solicited and obtained leave to withdraw from active duty until such time as there should be pressing need of his services .* He made his last appearance in arms on the evacuation of the city of New York by the British, when he bade farewell to Washington, whose respect he enjoyed. He subsequently discharged several civic trusts; was one of the commissioners to adjust the boundary line between Pennsylvania and New York; a member of the legislature and of the convention which
*His letter of application bears date April 10, 1782, and is characteristic of the man. "At an early period of the war," he writes, "I entered the service of my country, and I have continued in it during all the vicissitudesof fortune, and am conscious that I have exerted my best endeavor to serve it with fidelity. I have never sought emolument, or promotion, and as the different commands I have held were unsolicited, I might have reasonably expected, if my services were no longer wanted, to have been indulged at least with a decent dismission."
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adopted the constitution of the United States, and a State Senator. A !! these offices he filled with credit to himself and usefulness to his country. In private life he was mild and affectionate, although reserved, in manner -a trait peculiar to his father and also to his son, DeWitt ; in battle he was calm and collected but full of energy and activity. He was an able soldier, an incorruptible patriot and a true hearted man.
By his wife, Mary DeWitt,* "a young lady of extraordinary merit," he had: I. Alexander ; 2. Charles; 3. DeWitt ; 4. George ; 5. Mary ; G. Elizabeth ; 7. Catharine. May 1, 1797, in New York city, he married, second, Mrs. Mary Gray, ** by whom he had: 8. James, died young ; 9. Caroline H .; 10. Emma L .; 11. James G .; 12. Letitia ; 13. AAnna.
Alexander (1), born at Deerpark in 1765, was drowned while sailing from New York to Bull's Ferry, in a "ferry periagua." March 15. 1787. in his twenty-second year. He was appointed a lieutenant in Colonel Lamb's regiment of artillery. in the War of the Revolution, when but fourteen years of age, and became a member of the Society of Cincin- nati. After the war he was private secretary to his uncle, Governor George Clinton. He died unmarried.
Charles (2), born at New Windsor, February 18, 1767, was a lawyer in Newburgh; he was also an excellent surveyor, and more of his time was spnet in that profession, (which he preferred), than in the law. He was employed in various positions of trust in the village and town of Newburgh-was one of the trustees of the Newburgh Academy and i director of the Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike, one of the most im- portant local undertakings, and served as a member of the legislature in 1802. He died in New York, April 26, 1829, aged 62 years. He mar - ried Elizabeth, only daughter of William Mulliner. of Little Britain, in 1790. Her mother was Mary, daughter of Alexander Denniston, whose sister married the first Charles Clinton. She was born in Little Britain
*Daughter of Egbert and Mary DeWitt, of Deerpark, born Sept: 5. 1737, died Dec. 12, 1795. The marriage was by Rev. John Goetchius, of Shawangunk. Feb. 19, 1765. Their first child, Alexander, was baptized in Shawangunk church.
** Mrs. Gray was the daughter of Graham Little, of the town and county of Longford, Ireland, where she was born. Aug. 22, 1768, and died at Newburgh. N. Y., June 23, 1835. She was married on May 19, 1788, to Alexander Gray, and in 1795 came with him to America. They landed at New Castle, July 22d, and pro- ceeded thence to Philadelphia, where Mr. Gray took ill and died. A few days after Mrs. Gray, with her four children, left for New York. the place of their original destination. Having letters in her possession to General Clinton, she came to Little Britain, where she was kindly received. In a short time she re- turned to New York, and with a view to support herself and children opened a ladies' cap store. After her marriage to him, General Clinton adopted her child- ren and divided his property equally between them and his own children. After the General's death, she removed to Newburgh, where she maintained the repu- tation of a very excellent woman.
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April 27, 1770, died in New York, August 15, 1865, in her ninety-sixth year. They had three children: I. Maria DeWitt, born in Little Brit- ain, March 26, 1791 ; married May 1, 1816, Robert Gourlay captain in U. S. army in 1812. 2. Alexander, born in Little Britain, April 7, 1793; died in New York, February 18, 1878, in his eighty-fifth year; married September 22, 1821, Adeline Arden Hamilton, fourth daughter of cap- tain Alexander James Hamilton, of the British army-a Scotch gentle- man of the family of Ianerwick-and Mary Deane, youngest daughter of Richard Deane, an Irish gentleman of good birth and standing. Mrs. Clinton was born in Brooklyn Heights, September 5. 1795; died in New York, July 15, 1873. They had seven children: I, Mary Elizabeth, who married John Rhinelander Bleecker; 2. Adeline Hamilton, who married Thomas Ellis Brown; 3. Alexander James, president of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company of New York ;* 4. Anna E., who married Thomas A. Wilmerding; 5. Catharine Spencer, who died young; 6. Charles Will- iam, architect; 7. DeWitt, stock-broker, who married Elizabeth Sigour- ney Burnham. 3. Ann Eliza, born April, 1795, died June 14, 1845, married James Foster, Jr .*
DeWitt (3), third son of Gen. Jas. Clinton, and his wife Mary De- Witt, was born in New Windsor, March 2, 1769; died in Albany, Feb. II, 1828, in his fifty_ninth year. He married first, Maria Franklin, eldest daughter of Waiter Franklin, a wealthy Quaker of New York city, and Maria Bowne, daughter of Daniel Bowne of Flushing. Mrs. Clinton was a "lady of great beauty, and was highly accomplished." She was born in 1775 and died in 1818; married Feb. 10, 1796. Ten children were the is- sue of this marriage, viz: I. Franklin, who died young ; 2. Charles Alex- ander, died November 23, 1861, married Catharine Hone, daughter of John Hone and niece of Philip Hone. She died October 5, 1841. Six children-DeWitt, Catharine S., George William, Augusta, Maria E., Maria F .- all of whom died young except Catharine S., who married Joseph M. Carville, and died May 15, 1870, and Augusta, who mar-
*Dr. Alexander Clinton was educated at Columbia college and was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1819. He practiced for some years in his native county and returned to this city in 1831, where he continued in the exercise of his profession until advanced age obliged him to abandon it. He was a successful practitioner, and notwithstanding the great degree of sensibility and diffidence that characterized him, his skill and talents were well known and justly held in high esteem by his brother physicians, some of the most noted of whom were among his most intimate friends. He, was an officer in the United States army during the war of 1812 and with one exception the oldest member of the Society of the Cincinnati at the time of his death. A true gentleman of the old school, he was unostentatious and courteous to every one, inferiors as well as equals .- N. Y. Herald.
** Her descendants deny this, although it may be true.
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ried Thomas L. Winthrop, and died October 25, 1859. 3. Walter, died young. 4. Julia died young. 5. James Henry, born in 1802, died in 1824, unmarried. 6. DeWitt, died young. 7. George William, a lawyer of Buffalo, N. Y., born April 13, 1807, married Laura Catharine Spencer, daughter of Hon. John C. Spencer, May, 1832, by whom he had seven children, viz .: DeWitt, a lawyer of Buffalo,-judge advocate with the right of major in the Civil War-married Eleanor Sappington died 1873, bearing no issue; Elizabeth Spencer, who married Henry L. Clinton; Charles A., married Mrs. Mary Lightner Sonthard ; Spencer, lawyer ; married Sarah Riley; Catharine Norton, who married Albert J. Wheeler; Mary Norton, who married Abraham H. Bald- win; George, lawyer, who married Alice Thornton; 8. Mary, daugh- ter of DeWitt, married David S. Jones; 9. Franklin, died unmarried : IO. Julia, born August 20, 1815, died unmarried November 21, 1839. Me married, second, Catharine Jones, a "lady of accomplished manners and superior talents and acquirements." She was the daughter of Doc- tor Thomas Jones, an eminent physician of New York; her mother was the second daughter of Philip Livingston. She died without issue, July 2d, 1855, at the residence of her step-daughter, Mary Clinton Jones. widow of David S. Jones, at Poughkeepsie.
DeWitt Clinton was one of the most remarkable men of his time. He was born in New Windsor village* in 1769; received his primary education in the school conducted by Rev. John Moffat in the Little Brit- ain neighborhood; attended the Kingston Academy in 1782; graduated at Columbia College in 1786 and entered the law office of Samuel Jones,
*The question of his birthplace will perhaps never be authoritatively deter- mined. Although a matter of little importance, it has elicited considerable dis- cussion. A local tradition has received credence to considerable extent that he was born in Deerpark, at the residence of Jacob Ruken DeWitt. Mrs. Clinton's brother. This tradition is countenanced by Mr. Eager in his "Orange County," (p. 630). The story is that Mrs. Clinton went on a visit to her brother, in Feb- ruary, 1769, and while there was prevented by a heavy snow storm from returning until after the birth of her child. The probability of the story is marred by its preciseness. That Mrs. Clinton left New Windsor in February and traversed the rough mountain roads for forty-five miles in her condition, would have been an indiscretion to say the least. Rev. Charles Scott attempted to correct the state- ment by saying that Mrs. Clinton went from Wawarsing to the residence of her brother in March, not thinking, perhaps, that in so writing he makes her take her trip about twenty-four hours before confinement. The tradition in its most reason- able form comes through the Burnet's, of New Windsor, one of whom, (Robert 2), married Mrs. Clinton's niece, who says Mrs. Clinton went to Deerpark in the early part of the winter, that a heavy snow storm came on soon after and so blocked the roads that she did not deem it prudent to return.
James Renwick, L. L. D., Professor of Columbia College, says in his bio- graphy : "DeWitt Clinton was born March 2. 1769, at Little Britain, the residence of his father, Genl. James Clinton." Assuming that this statement was made after special inquiry on that point, either at the time of DeWitt's entrance at col-
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of New York, then of high rank in his profession. In 1789, he was ad- mitted to the bar, but accepting the appointment of secretary to his uncle, Governor George, he gave up law for politics and from that time until his death was identified with the political history of the state. He was member of the assembly in 1798; elected United States Senator in 1802, but resigned the place to accept the office of Mayor of New York, serving in the latter capacity in 1803, 1808-9 and 1811-15; was a mem- ber of the State Senate from 1799 to 1802, and 1806 to 1811; Canal Commissioner 1816 to 1822; Governor 1817, and in 1820, '24 and '26, being elected in the first instance by 43,310 votes out of a total cast of 44,989. He died of hydro-throax, or dropsy of the chest, while sitting in his study, on the evening of February 11, 1828. "In person he was, says Hammond in his Political History of New York, "the most perfect specimens of humanity, combining dignity with elegance and symmetry of features ever produced in the state of New York." As governor, he was the reputed author, and at any rate assumed the responsibility of rec - ommending a larger number of great and important measures, which be- came laws, than all the governors who had preceded him. Perhaps 110 man who had yet lived in the state had equal natural abilities combined with equal advantages for becoming what he was. He was the pupil of his uncle in politics and in the requirements of the state, and those at all familiar with the expressed convictions of the former, cannot fail to see their reflection in the latter. He carried out his uncle's views in regard to internal improvements and other measures of state policy, through evil and through good report, with a steadiness of purpose that no obstacle could divert, and lived to see the former a successful com- pletion. "Among the masses of his fellow citizens," says Hammond,
lege or subsequently, it cannot fail to be received as authority, but presuming that it was based on "the residence of his father," at the time he entered college, it is of no special value. It is not, however, unsupported by local tradition.
Barber, in giving the place of birth as New Windsor village, is sustained by testimony, of no little force, but of which he was perhaps ignorant. That testi- mony is, that Charles Clinton, the grandfather of DeWitt, was surveyor and agent for the sale of lots in the village of New Windsor; that he acquired there a lot on which he erected a house, barn, etc. ; that he transferred his agency to his son, James, about 1762, and soon after, (Sept. 17. 1763-Ulster Records G. G., 110), sold and transferrd to him the property referred to, and that there the latter opened an office, and after his marriage, (probably in the fall of 1765), took and continued his residence there, remaining until after the death of his father in 1773, when he removed to the old homestead. Letters are extant written by Col. Clin- ton, dated "Little Britain," addressed to Capt. James Clinton, "at New Windsor," which are additional evidence of the latter's residence there. The removal to Lit- tle Britain during his infancy would explain the tradition that DeWitt was born there, while the fact that his brother, Alexander, was born in Deerpark and bap- tized in the church at Shawangunk, explains the probable origin of the story that DeWitt was born there.
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