USA > New York > Orange County > Orange County, New York : a narrative history > Part 7
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"When the colt that the Kent mare dropped in March, 1849, was two or three months old, Jonas Seely got a horse deal streak on and made up his mind to nse the mare and colt in making it. He first applied to my brother, Cornelius, in Chester, and endeavored to sell the mare and colt to him, but Cornelius did not fancy them, and declined to purchase, claiming that he had all the horses he could take care of. So that deal was off, and possibly it was a fortunate thing for the future Hambletonian.
"Seely C. Roe heard that the mare and colt were in the market and went to Jonas' farm and looked at them. He thought well of them and had fully made up his mind to buy them when he returned from attending court at Newburgh. He drove to Newburgh with Dan Durland, of Chester, who was driving a mare that bo- longed to a man living near the New Jersey line, in the vicinity of Edenville. Dan Durland told Seely C. Roe that the mare he was driving had a colt sired by Abdal-
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lah about the same age as the colt belonging to Jonas Secly. He was so favorably impressed with the per- formance of the mare Dan Durland was driving that he thought her colt would turn out better than the one Jonas Secly's mare had. That was a lucky turn of affairs for William M. Rysdyk, who was a farm hand at that time, with little ready cash, but he was a remark- able judge of horse flesh. He managed to scrape up $125, the price Jonas Seely wanted for the mare and colt, and bought them. Hambletonian was naturally a wonderful horse, but it was Rysdyk's genius in caring for and developing him that made him the marvel that he became.
"And now we come to the history of Roe's Abdal- lah, later known as Roe's Abdallah Chief. He was also a wonderful horse in many respects, though not as celo- brated in the stud as Hambletonian. He was sired by old Abdallah. His dam was a daughter of Phillips, out of a daughter of Decatur and an unknown; Decatur was by Marske, out of a daughter of Imported Emperor; Marske was sired by Imported Diomed out of a daugh- ter of Imported Medley. Phillips, the sire of the dam of Roe's Abdallah Chief, was sired by Duroc, out of a daughter of Imported Messenger; Duroc was sired by Imported Diomed out of Amanda; Amanda was sired by Gray Diomed out of a daughter of Old Cade and a daughter of Independence; Imported Diomed was out of a daughter of Sloe and a daughter of Vampire and Im- ported Calista. Thus you see that the dam of Roe's Abdallah Chief had a generous mixture of Imported Diomed blood in her veins, as well as the blood of Im- ported Messenger.
"I bought the colt from the Edenville owner of the mare, which Seely Roe intended to buy, paying $250 for it, and named it Abdallah, after his sire, old Abdal- lah. After my folks found out what I had paid for the colt, they made a tremendous fuss about it. It was a pretty stiff price to pay for a colt, even in those days, but I had an idea that I had not made a bad bargain. My folks changed their minds a year or so later. I had bought a farm after purchasing the colt and needed money to stock it. Seely C. Roe had been casting fond
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eyes on my young $250 stallion, and after a while offered me sixty good cows for him. I accepted the offer and stocked my farm nicely, and incidentally, heard no more about my extravagance in buying horses.
"Roe's Abdallah Chief, as he came to be known later on, was the sire of Messenger Duroc. Messenger Duroc was the famous stallion owned by the late Charles Backman, owner of Stony Ford Stock Farm, situated near Goshen, and was for years the premier stud there. His progeny was famous for beauty, strength and speed. Messenger Duroc was the sire of Prospero, 2:20, and seventeen others in the 2:30 list, also sire of the dam of Virgo Hambletonian, sire of Charlie Hogan, 2:1834 ; also sire of the dam of Lysander, Fire of William Kearney, 2:20%, and three others in the 2:30 list; also sire of the dam of Banker, sire of Ber- muda, 2:2012, also sire of the dam of Beecher, sire of Mike, 2:28; also sire of the dam of Standard Bearer, sire of Marloe, pacer, 2:15, and three others in the 2:30 list; also sire of the dam of Ulster Belle, pacer, 2:221/2, Coriander, 2:2034, and Josephine, 2:241/4. Thus you see that Roe's Abdallah Chief was the sire of a horse whose numerous progeny were celebrated for speed in their day and generation.
"I was one of the pall-bearers, so to speak, at the funeral of the Kent mare. I don't remember any men- tion having been made by writers on Hambletonian and his forebears about the death of his dam and the dis- posal of her remains. Hor end came as befitted the mother of a royal line, well housed and well cared for. She died carly in the fifties, about the same time, I re- member, that old Abdallah, sire of the same line, came to his ignominious death. I helped to bury the Kent mare in a meadow now on the Tuttle farm, at a spot long since forgotten, perhaps, by everyone but myself. The grave of Hambletonian's dam was unmarked, but it is a few rods from and overlooked by the imposing granite shaft that marks the grave of her illustrious son, on the Rysdyk hill at Chester.
"The last days of that grand old sire, Abdallah, were pathetie in the extreme, for if there over was an aristocrat in the horse kingdom, it was old Abdallah.
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He had a royal pride and air about him that refused to be humbled even in adversity and want. After his days of usefulness in the stud were over he was sold to a fish peddler of Hempstead, Long Island, N. Y. The first time he was hitched to a fish wagon he positively refused to draw it, and promptly proceedeed to kick it to pieces, and would not permit his owner to approach him afterward. Although he was a remarkably docile and easily handled stallion, his owner had to give up trying to conquer him and he was finally turned out to die on Hempstead Plains of exposure and neglect. The crows picked the bones of this sire of a line of royal, magnificent animals, whose progeny to-day is the pride of the American trotting turf."
ALEXANDER'S HAMBLETONIAN .- This horse, familiarly known in Orange County as Edsall's Hamble- tonian, was one of Hambletonian's first get, having been foaled in the year 1852, out of a mare by Bay Roman, and he by Messenger. He was purchased when quite young by Major Edsall, of Goshen, and was kept by him until 1859, when he was sold to Alexander, of Lexing- ton, Ky. During the time he was owned by Major Edsall he proved himself not only to be very speedy, but also one of the finest stock horses ever produced. It is said that during the Civil War he was stolen by the Confed- erates, and that Alexander offered a reward of $1,000 for his recovery. Stimulated by this reward, parties immediately set out for his recapture and one of the pursuants, mounted upon a thoroughbred mare, suc- ceeded in overtaking the thief, when a conflict in arms commenced, during which the stallion was accidentally shot. He was returned to his owner, the reward paid, but either from the effects of the wound, or from over exertion, he died very soon thereafter. He was the sire of Goldsmith Maid, in her day, the acknowledged Queen of the Turf; of Major Edsall, a very fast stallion, and of many other good ones not so well known.
EDWARD EVERETT .- This horse was first named Major Winfield. In consequence of the achievements of
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his colts he became celebrated as a stock horse. His dam is said to have been Imported Margrave, and was for- merly owned by the late Thomas George, of Orange County. He bred her to Hambletonian. Everett was the sire of two noted horses, Judge Fullerton and Joe Elliott. He was purchased by the late Robert Bonner for $20,000.
VOLUNTEER
VOLUNTEER-The stallion Volunteer, owned by Alden Goldsmith, of Washingtonville, Orange County, N. Y., was one of the earliest foals of Rysdyk's Hamble- tonian. He was foaled in 1854, his dam being Lady Patriot, by Patriot, a son of Patriot, by Blucher; second dam, the Lewis Hulse mare, who was a speedy trotter and runner as well. Volunteer trotted to a wagon rec- ord of 2:37. He was a remarkably handsome horse, but it is said he was rough-gaited, though what he accom- plished as a sire of fast trotters will make him long remembered.
One of his first great trotters was Gloster. This horse was a bay golding. His dam was Black Bess, by Stockbridge Chief, second dam by Mambrino Paymaster. He trotted in 2:17 at Rochester, N. Y., August 14, 1874. and this frat made him celebrated throughout the trot- ting world. He died in California October 30, 1874.
Among the other noted trotters sired by Volunteer were Powers, 2:21; Huntress, 2:203/1; Driver, 2:1912; Bodine. 2:1914; Alloy, 2:19; Domestic, 2:20. St. Julian, who once divided honors with the celebrated Maud S., was the speediest of Volunteer's get. He was a large. handsome bay gelding, dam, Flora, by Harry Clay, 45: second dam, by Napoleon. He was driven to a record of 2:1114 at Hartford. Conn., August 27, 1880. The pro- ducing record of Volunteer was 38 trotters and one pacer, and 41 sires and 54 dams of speed. Volunteer was a bay horse of commanding appearance, stood 15.3, and possessed unusual strength and courage. He died at Walnut Grove Farm, Orange County, N. Y., Dec. 13, 18SS.
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Old Taverns
"ROM the earliest times the old taverns of Orange County were important factors in cach local com- munity and around each the social and political life of the people centered. Licenses for the sale and mann- facture of intoxicating liquors date from the carliest recording period. Local travel in early times required a greater number of taverns than later periods, or since the introduction of railroads. It was in these hostelries that the people gathered at their political conventions and elected their representatives to county, state and uational gatherings. To record the history of even the prominent and well-known taverns of early days would require many volumes, and only brief mention can be made of the most celebrated where important events of the past were enacted.
Perhaps the most celebrated of those old public houses still standing to-day, but long since discontinued as a tavern, is what was for over one hundred years known as the old Yelverton In at Chester, which is now used as a residence, and is in an excellent state of pres- ervation. The Yelverton Inn was owned by the Yelver- ton family for six generations in direct line; John (emi- grant, before 1700,) John, Jr., Abijah, Anthony, John H. and Thomas. Since 1869 this property has been in the possession of the Dhrland family.
Early records state that Philip Rockby sold his un- divided interest in the Wawayanda Patent in 1704 10 Daniel Cromline and two others. Again, Hendrick Ten- eyck, in 1704, sold his undivided interest in the same patent to Cromline, and ten years later Cromline sold two-thirds of his purchase to Messrs. Everett and Clews, retaining one-third, or 1.706 acres, English measure. This is the tract of land which is now the township of Chester, embracing the site on which Cromline made a settlement. In 1716 he erected the first dwelling which he called Greycourt. This building was located on the road from Chester to Craigville, not far from the Grey- court Cemetery, and was known as the Cromline House. or the Greycourt Inn. It was probably the main public building between New Windsor and New Jersey prior
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to 1765 when the Yelverton Inn was opened. In 1721 John Yelverton, of New Windsor, came to this section, and later purchased land and erected dwellings thereon. The original deed, recorded by his grandson and execu- tor, Abijah Yelverton, conveys three parcels of land in Goshen to John Yelverton in trust for a "parsonage, minister's house and a burying place; also to build a meeting house thereon or public edifice for the worship of God in a way and manner of those of the Presbyter- ian persuasion." The meeting house mentioned has reference to the Goshen Presbyterian Church of 1720.
Around this old inn some of the most important events of Revolutionary days occurred. It was from this inn, while Abijah Yelverton was the innkeeper, that the first delegate was sent to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. On Sept. 3, 1774, a meeting of the inhabi- tants of the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall were assembled in Chester and Henry Wisner, by a majority of votes, was sent to the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia to protest against unjust taxation. During the month of December, 1776, it was stirring times about the Yelverton Inn for the militia of Orange and Ulster counties gathered at the square in Chester on their way to join Generals Lee and Gates.
General Washington and many of the prominent officers of the Revolutionary army frequently stopped at this celebrated ing on their journeys from the Hlud. son River to New Jersey. General Washington was en- tertained there while on his way from Philadelphia to join the main army at the Hudson River on July 27, 1782, which fact is recorded in his expense account filed at Washington.
In 1785 disputes over the boundaries of the Wa- wayanda and Cheesecock Patents arose because of the indefinite descriptions of those tracts of land. The Wawayanda patentecs claimed that their line was on top of the Schunnemunk and Warwick Mountains. A- late as 1754 the Minisink and Wawayauda patentees had a strife before the Colonial Council, and it can thus be seen that the bounds of those Patents were very in- definite. It became necessary to settle the boundaries. as the titles of many homes were at stake and a hearing
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was held at Chester from May to October, 1785. The record shows that the hearing was held in the barn of the Yelverton Inn, as it provided more space for the proceedings. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were the attorneys for the Wawayanda patentees, and during their stay at Chester were quartered at the Yel- verton Inn.
In commemoration of the historic events enacted in and about this old Inn the Minisink Chapter of the D. A. R. of Goshen, has placed a bronze tablet on the building which was unveiled in June, 1927. It is in- scribed as follows:
1765 1927
YELVERTON INN BUILT IN 1765 USED AS A TAVERN FOR 67 YEARS AND OCCUPIED BY SIX GENERATIONS OF THE YELVERTON FAMILY AMONG DISTINGUISHED GUESTS ENTERTAINED WERE GEORGE WASHINGTON ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND AARON BURR THIS TABLET ERECTED BY MINISINK CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION JUNE 13, 1927
The old Morrison tavern in the Town of New Wind- sor, about two miles West of Little Britain Church, was in its day an important and famous tavern in Revolu- tionary times, but has long since disappeared.
Another well-known tavern of those early days was Rock Tavern and distillery, a short distance west of Morrison Tavern. There were also many well-known taverns in Montgomery, Walden, Goshen, Monroe, Wash- ingtonville, and other places, but the days of their glory have passed and they are only a memory for the changes of time and the National Constitution have brought about many radical changes in our modes of liv- ing and habits, which those of other days never dreamed could be brought about.
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