USA > New York > Greene County > Catskill > Reminiscences of Catskill : local sketches > Part 11
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a Member of Assembly, when that position was considered highly honorable, and before the Capitol desks were converted into the tables of money changers, or the members got into the present practice of picking pigeons, if not of selling doves in the legislative temple. Mr. SEAMAN'S colleague was ADDISON PORTER, and the representation of Greene County, that year, was one of which any constituency might well be proud. Mr. PORTER's health failed, keeping him from his seat almost the entire session, and, so, Mr. SEAMAN was left alone to do double duty. And nobly did he advo- cate and maintain, not only the interests of his immediate section, but the honor and dig- nity of the State. Neither time nor newspa- per space will permit me to recite the various measures to which he contributed his support, and, perhaps, it is sufficient here to say that a review of his arguments and votes on all the questions and enactments of that session, will present a record to which his descendants, as well as the County of Greene, can point with a just pride.
Mr. SEAMAN will long be remembered (in connection with HENRY ASIILEY and others) as one of the leading men in (if not one of the originators) the Catskill Mechanics' Benevo- lent Society, as the friend and patron of all worthy young mechanics, and as one of the founders of the Apprentices' Library-an in- stitution now, I believe, extinct. I remember many young men who served their appren- ticeships with Mr. SEAMAN, but I do not re- member one who did not, faithfully, serve his full term, and enter his majority with a good reputation and a fair promise of becoming a worthy member of society. I remember one, however, whose bright hopes and fair pros- pects were blasted, even while he was cross- ing the threshold of manhood. Poor AlRA- HAM OSTERHOUT had just arrived at age, and was indulging in high hopes of the future, when he was called away. One of the carli- est of my sad remembrances, as it is one of the most lasting, is the event of his death : It was on a Christmas Eve, while I was being led to church, by my mother, that it was told that he was drowned. I think he had been skating on the Creek, and was taking off his skates, when the ice gave way, and he was lost-the indentures which had bound him to earth and earthly toil were cancelled forever. Such casualties were infrequent in Catskill then, and I well remember that this one cast a deep shadow over the holiday festivities.
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success of the ticket seemed jeopardized by | us by Deacon JIM OLMSTEAD, we awaited the local dissensions, and when a journey through the mountain towns by Mr. SEAMAN, on his famous horse Jack, was potent to harmonize all difficulties, and to restore faith and confi- dence to the doubting and the despondent.
But not alone are the public services of WILLIAMS SEAMAN to be approved andimitated. In all the walks of private life, he held the confidence and esteem of those who knew him. He was a kind and considerate master, ever solicitous for the welfare and good name of his apprentices. He was a just, impartial, but indulgent father, a friend to the worthy unfortunate, and a comforter and consoler of the sick and afflicted. His presence and care diffused cheerfulness even in the death cham- ber, and when all of earthly care and kind- ness was unavailing, he was still found assist- ing at the last sad obsequies of the departed, and assuaging the griefs of surviving mourners.
I have given more time to the subject of this sketch, than I have usually devoted to the old inhabitants of Catskill, but I could not help it, and I only regret that time will not permit me to pay a fuller tribute to the mem- ory of one so universally esteemed, and to one to whom I am, individually, indebted for much good counsel, and many kind favors.
WILLIAMS, Junior, the son and eldest child, was my special crony and companion. To- gether, we have fished in all waters, from DIEPER's Hook to the Ram's-horn, and hunted all over the Long Swamp, along the banks of the Cauterskill, and through VAN VECHTEN'S woods, before vandal hands felled the forests, to make room for that unsubstantial bubble, the Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad.
Young WILLIAMS was imbued, too, with a considerable degree of martial spirit, and I remember well with what pride I carried the colors of an adolescent company of which he was Captain, and JOHN B. COZZENS 1st Lieu- tenant.
I also recollect an occurrence which signally evidenced the strategy of Captain "BILL." Our Company had, upon some public day, marched to Madison (now Leeds), where the Artillery, the Rifles and the Light Infantry were parading. We were generously enter- tained by the Madisonians (especially by BILL SCHUNEMAN), and, after filling our uniforms with cakes, spruce beer, and, mayhap, some- thing a little stronger, we started homewards in advance of the older Companies; and, just here, the military tact of Captain SEAMAN manifested itself. Leading us, silently, from the turnpike, he directed us to conceal our- selves behind an elevated knoll nearly oppo- site the place since known as "the upper JACKSON'S." Loading a small swivel, loaned | tion, I say Good Night !
coming of the Light Infantry, under the com- mand of I couldn't tell his name if I recollected it. Pretty soon, like JOHN BROWN'S soul, they came "marching on." It was a warm day, and all was silent, save the meas- ured tap of the drum, to which they kept in- different step, when, just as the center of the column came opposite our hiding-place, the match was applied to our gun, and the woods and rocks rang with the reverberation. Such another stampede was, probably, never wit- nessed between the days of Chevy Chase and Bull Run. Faint orders to halt, and form, and dress, were unheeded. As they scattered in all directions, there was not a perceptible halt in any man among them, and it is doubt- ful if they would have stopped to dress, had they been nude as new-born babes. It was said (I do not vouch for the truth of the story) that the Captain didn't get home until the fol- lowing morning. After that, we were all heroes, of course.
Young WILLIAMS SEAMAN went to Buffalo a long while ago, and I do not know whether he is still living or not. I have not heard from him in many years.
ELLEN was next oldest, and, I believe, an only daughter. As she is still living, and held in deserved esteem among you, any lengthy notice, by me, would be ill-timed now.
The other boys were VICTOR, CHARLES, HENRY, EDWARD, JOHN and ROBERT. "VIC. learned the printer's trade, in the office of the Recorder, with. CALEB CROSWELL or N. G. ELLIOTT, (or both,) but afterwards took to a sea-faring life. I have not seen him for many years, and the last time I heard from him, he commanded the vessel in which our old townsman, HENRY MEIGGS, and family, made their hegira from San Francisco.
CHARLES died in the year 1844. He was an estimable young man, and his death is still remembered with sorrow by those who were his companions.
HENRY, JOHN, ROBERT and EDWARD, all, I believe, reside in New York. They were all younger than I, and as I have been an absentee from Catskill for twenty years, I cannot, of course, give their histories. It is, perhaps, enough to say here that they have all been deservedly successful in life's affairs, and that each is a living exemplification of SOLOMON'S aphorism : "Train up a child in the way he should go, and, when he is old, he will not depart from it."
But the hour is late, and so, with my sin- cerest wishes for the health and happiness of each and all the survivors of those of whom I have now and heretofore made brief men-
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CATSKILL CEMETERY PAPERS .- SECOND SERIES. - No. XVIII.
FEBRUARY 7th, 1866.
Those who have taken up the Recorder with the expectation of finding, in these sketches, any coherent record of old times in Catskill, or connected history of its ancient inhabitants, have, of course, been disappoint- ed. Snatching, here and there, an occasional hour of leisure, (usually at night) I have had no time to study my subjects or revise my lucubrations, and they are, consequently, thrust upon your readers in all their crude and undigested, if not indigestible imperfections. I sometimes wonder how they have been en- dured, to say nothing of the actual favor with which they have been received by some of my old friends and townsfolk.
Looking over the last number, I am tempted to say a word or two of the carly military companies of Catskill, though (as I keep no copy of these articles) the sketch may be somewhat iterative, and the reminiscence be "like a thrice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."
First among the warlike organizations, was the Artillery. This company, if not founded by JARED STOCKING, was commanded by him at my carliest remembrance. Its depot, or gun-house stood adjacent to his dwelling, and not far from my early residence. I do not distinctly recollect the style of uniform worn at that time, except that the hats, or eaps, were of the chopping-knife shape, and I used to imagine that they were a part of the offen- sive armor, the wearer running, head foremost, at his enemy and splitting him.
Of the rank and file, I ean now only recall to mind JERRY DOBBS, a blacksmith, and that he was once forcibly ejected from his house by one GATES, for non-payment of rent, and that there was a prodigious hubbub raised about it in Catskill, DOBBs challenging GATES to mortal combat with broad-swords. An- other-JOE SIMPSON-also a blacksmith. He enlisted in the regular army near the close of the War of 1812, and the last I saw of him he was bestowing a hearty farewell kiss on BETTY DOUGHERTY. He never returned, and that was probably lucky for WM. WYNKOOP, who shot JOE's brother for stealing pork.
After the war, the Company languished, and at last "gin out." It was revived by APOLLOS COOKE, a few years later, and, through his exertions, soon became a rather large crowd of good looking "sojers." A fencing- master, named CHEESEBRO, was engaged to teach his art-a military spirit was infused into the people-even youngsters essayed to
be swordsmen, and every board-fence and dead-wall was marked by diagrams of "Cut one, two, three, four, five and six-in the rear."
I believe I have not, in any of my former articles, spoken more than casually of APOLLOs COOKE, and it is not fitting that I should pass without due and respectful notice one so prom- inent in the history of Catskill-one who was so well and favorably known among its citi- zens-and one whose sad and sudden death was so deeply depłored.
My earliest recollections of him are as one of the firm of T. B. & A. COOKE, doing busi- ness in the building on Main street, just North of Liberty street, and my first remembranee of that store is of seeing it brilliantly illumi- nated, with movable lights, at the celebration of the treaty of peace with Great Britain, about February, 1815. This business was multifarious-in dry goods, groceries, hard- ware, drugs, and every other commodity which contributes to make up the promiscuous as- sortment of a country store. They had, be- sides, store-houses on the Creek, bought coun- try produce, and were also largely engaged in the forwarding trade. Many years ago, they dissolved their mereantile copartnership, and built the brick block just above the Tanners' Bank, APOLLOS occupying the Northern half of the building, as a general store, and THOMAS B. going in the hardware business, exclusively, in association with JOSHUA ATWATER Sr. and BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT.
I never knew a more whole-souled, kind- hearted or honorable man than APOLLOS COOKE, and, even at this hour, I seem to hear again the jocund tones of his hearty laugh, which was often accompanied by a vigorous slap on the shoulder, or a "dig in the ribs, " and which was, sometimes, a little uncomfortable.
Mr. COOKE was a warm politician of the Democratic stripe. Ile was, with DORRANCE KIRTLAND, a delegate to the State Convention of 1828, which nominated MARTIN VAN BUREN for Governor, and endorsed ANDREW JACKSON for President. His name was appended to an address to the Electors, which in my opin- ion is so applicable to National affairs, as they have existed for a few years past, that I can- not forbear to quote from it briefly. Speak- ing of the formation of the Constitution, and its guaranties to the States, the address says :
The States were left, as distinct sovereignties, not merely for the purpose of securing a better administration of our domestic concerns, but as an additional precaution against the growth of an
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absolute government. These Federal sentinels were stationed as so many intermediate guards to observe the march of usurpation, and to give timely notice of alarm. Should they ever be cor- rupted or betrayed, our Federal Constitution will be swept into the attractive vortex of national consolidation ; the true friends of the Union may then abandon all hopes of perpetuating a popular government, for it will rapidly degenerate and bc lost amidst the splendors of an absolute monarchy.
Again, speaking of the faithlessness of the public functionaries of that day, it reads thus :
Whilst the public interest has suffered at a thou- sand points through the culpable remissness of our public agents, -those agents, from the highest to the lowest in the executive branch, have found time to traverse the whole country, and vitiate the public taste and outrage the public feeling by table barangues and partizan discourses in sup- port of their own personal interests. Every ap- pointment, if not every act of the government, has had its bearing upon the next election stamped upon it in letters so plain as to be obvious to the dullest capacity. To this end also, has the patron- age of the government, and particularly that por- tion of it which is connected with our foreign re- lations, been prostituted to an extent that defies cxaggeration.
And, once more, in treating of the Supreme Court, it says :
Little did our ancestors suppose, when, with a wise precaution, they placed this august tribunal far above the reach of executive influence, and in- vested it, not merely with the power of adminis- tering justice among men, but of deciding on the constitutions of states and adjusting conflicts be- tween sovereignty and sovereignty-little did they imagine, that the the time could ever arrive, when our judges would be engaged in our political con- flicts, with all the unregulated zeal of partisans- when the supreme court of this union of sover- eignties would become the pliant and supple in- strument of an unpopular and suspected adminis- tration.
And so, in this democratic strain the address of 1828 warned the people against executive, legislative and judicial corruption, in language which might appropriately have been written thirty-five years later.
This is the first time I have introduced any political matter into these sketches, and I shall not do so hereafter, but, as the name of APOL- LOS COOKE is signed to this address, I could not refrain from adding this evidence of his sound political faith to the record of his per- sonal worth and private virtues.
Mr. COOKE died, I think, in 1832. The cholera had, that year, made its first appear- ance in this country, and with a commendable solicitude for the health of his family, he had removed them to the region of purer air, among the mountains, and away, as he hoped, from the track of the pestilence. One morn- ing, as he was about to mount his favorite young horse, for a ride, he was seen to fall, and was dead before those who hastened to his assistance reached the spot.
His grave is in "Our Cemetery," and the inscription on the head-stone tells us that he died in the prime of manhood, and in the midst of his usefulness. Even now his loss is mourned, not only by affectionate relatives, but by more friends than it is common for a single individual to number.
But what of the Artillery ?
A fit successor to APOLLOS COOKE Was SAM- UEL A. BAKER. Capt. BAKER, when I first knew him, kept a grocery and provision store on the North-east corner of Main and Thomp- son streets. He married a daughter of SOLO- MON CHANDLER, of whom I have heretofore written. Afterwards he went into the lumber trade, and for some years sailed a sloop be- tween Catskill, New York, and sometimes Eastern ports, and succeeded in accumulating a snug property, but, subsequently, an unfor- tunate connection in business resulted in his, almost, utter financial ruin. I knew him in prosperity and adversity, and never discovered any change in his happy disposition and de- portment. Open-hearted and open-handed when fortune smiled, he met reverses with cheerful resignation, and engaged in the most humble, if honest, occupations with the same indomitable will with which he pursued higher and more dignified aims. In truth, I have never known a man who seemed to enjoy more fully the fruition of that prayer which asks for "patience under any afflictions which Heaven may see fit to lay on us, and minds always contented with our present condition." But his death occurred so recently that it is unnecessary to speak at much length of one whose memory cannot have faded from the hearts of most of your readers.
RODMAN G. DAY came after (though per- haps not as immediate successor to) SAMUEL A. BAKER as Captain of the Artillery, and, under his management, the Company revived and flourished. He was, I think, in command at the time LAFAYETTE "made a flying visit" to Catskill, and I recollect that on that occa- sion he deployed solid column across the street to intercept the too hasty return of the caval- cade to "the Point." I recollect, too, how very much we were all disappointed then, and most especially BETTY WYMAN, who so much desired, and who was so emphatically prom- ised that she should "see LAFAYETTE."
Afterwards, my old "friend and pitcher," RALPH OLMSTEAD, ran the military machine, until it "resolved itself," at last, into a sort of suburban organization, generally commanded by some OVERBAGHI or other, with ranks filled chiefly from Cauterskill, Kiskatom and "the Groedt Embaught." [At my last visit to Catskill, on the fourth of July, I saw one of the old members under Captain COOKE,-AN- THONY THOMAS. He looked hale and hearty
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as of yore, and as though he could still wield the old cheese-knife as well as he formerly did, in many a tough combat with CHEESEBRO, the fencing-master. ]
The Light Infantry, or "Union Volunteers, " was another old military company, but I have no time, to-night, to speak of it. I propose, hereafter, to give a succinct sketch of it, from its early commander, JACOB HAIGHT, down to MATTHEW DICE VAN LOAN.
JOHN C. JOHNSTON formed a Rifle Company, at about the time the Artillery was resuscitated by Capt. COOKE, but I must also defer any notice of it until another paper.
There was another Rifle Company which used to train in Catskill, although I believe it was raised, principally, in Cairo, and it was commanded by IRA T. DAY. Mr. DAY was a | readers.
tanner, and a very prominent citizen of Cairo. He was, more than once, Supervisor of that town, and was a very competent and indus- trious member of the Board. I was not very intimately acquainted with him, yet I remem- ber him as being of an extremely active (rather nervous) temperament, and as having a habit of biting off the heads of his words, in his rapid enunciation. But, notwithstanding this peculiarity of speech, IRA T. DAY was a most excellent man, and his death left a void, wide and deep, in the community in which he re- sided, and where he was much respected during the many years of his life.
I hope to be able to return to our military heroes in a future number-until when, I am the humble servant of yourself and your
CATSKILL CEMETERY PAPERS .- SECOND SERIES .- No. XIX.
WEDNESDAY EV'G., FEBRUARY 21, 1866.
I notice that in your last paper you apolo- gize to your readers for the absence of a "Sketch," on the ground that none was re- ceived. Allow me to add another, and quite 3 as cogent, reason-none was written. Busily engaged in closing up the affairs pertaining to my present situation, and uncertain, then as now, as to my future course or condition, I had neither time nor much of inclination to devote to reminiscences of the past.
And I am not sure but that it is time to bring these idle sketches to a close, at once and for all. It is true that my subjects are not yet exhausted-indeed, they seem to accumulate as I progress, but I somehow feel as though they deserve a notice from worthier pens than mine, and I have earnestly hoped that others would, long since, have taken the pleasant task from my hands. But the hope seems vain ; the drowsy atmosphere of your ancient burgh appears to have engendered as deep a lethargy, in regard to past events and people, as, whilom, wrapped poor RIP VAN WINKLE in long forgetfulness in one of the shaded ra- vines of your overlooking mountains.
And so, I suppose, I must continue, a little longer, to revisit the gallery of memory, and essay to brush the dust from the pictures which hang upon its walls.
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been elsewhere, for, iu those days, all sorts of buildings were locomotive-a person de- siring to "change his base" usually mounting his house on rollers, and traveling off like a snail with his shell.
The lot referred to was, fifty years ago, in- closed by a board fence, weather-beaten and moss-covered, extending from the BUNNELL house to the store of HALL & BLAKESLEE, and standing a little back from the street was the stone dwelling-house of Dr. JAMES THOMPSON. I think the first buildings erected here were a frame store at the corner of the alley, occupied by LEMUEL HALL and LUTHER SPENCER, and, a short distance North, a brick house built by JOHN F. DARROW, with two stores in front, one occupied by himself as a watch and jew- elry shop, and the other by RACHEL BELLAMY, as a millinery. Afterwards, a dry goods store was erected by, or for, the Quaker, SAMUEL SMITH. The only other buildings which I recollect were the book store and bindery of Deacon ELLIOTT, and VAN ORDEN'S office, both, I believe, removed from other sites .- Forty years ago, a fire broke out, at night, in the store of SAMMY SMITH, and, as the only engine in the Village had an extensive rat- hole in it, the contlagration had it all its own way, and swept the block.
Afterwards, the row now known as the "Center Brick Block," was put up and occu- pied by CROSWEL & BRACE ; HAIGHT & VAN VOORHIS; PORTER, COIT & TAPPAN ; ADAMS & ELLIOTT, and others, and it still stands, pretty much in its original shape. This, and the THOMPSON Block, built some eight or ten
I have been trying to bring to mind the place where I first saw the sign of "JACOB VAN ORDEN, Attorney and Counsellor at Law." I believe it was a small office on the lot adjoin- ing that upon which the drug store of BENJA- MIN WEY now stands, though it might have | years earlier, by TOMMY THOMPSON, EZRA
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HAWLEY, ISAAC HARDENBURGH, &c., were | even the sad obsequies of the dead were looked upon as magnificent structures, and miracles of architecture-in fact, I once tho't they were the tallest buildings in the world.
On the whole, the fire alluded to, though it was considered very disastrous at the time, was a real benefit to the place ; nor do I think it was very deeply regretted by SAMMY SMITH, who was the greatest sufferer pecuniarily, for he was a good citizen, and had the inter- ests of the Village strongly at heart. He was, as I have said, a Quaker, and had the smooth and plausible manner peculiar to the sect, and was, consequently, quite successful in trade. He at one time held the office of Trustee of the Village, and was extremely active in en- forcing the municipal by-laws, though his zeal, on one occasion, outran his discretion, and resulted in a mortifying defeat. There was then, and I presume is now, a Village ordinance prohibiting the sale of fire-works to any minor or intoxicated person, and, as "a burnt child dreads fire, " SAMMY was especially "down upon" all offenders in this particular. SAMUEL DUBOIS kept fire-works, and SMITH determined to punish him to the extent of the law, but found it difficult to fasten the charge of selling to either of the prohibited classes ; and, so, he sent a young lad to buy powder- crackers. The boy obtained then, and SMITH prosecuted DUBOIS, bringing into Court his witness of non-age. But, alas, SAM. turned the tables upon him by proving that SMITH furnished the money for the explosives, and was, therefore, the real purchaser; and, as the Quaker could not prove himself a minor, and didn't like to admit that he was an intox- icated person, he was non-suited, with costs. That hurt SAMMY SMITH's feelings.
But I have wandered away from the little tin sign of "JACOB VAN ORDEN, Attorney & Counsellor at Law." I am not sure but that it was J. & S., instead of JACOB, solus, for I remember that his brother SAMUEL was, at one time, his partner. SAMUEL VAN ORDEN died long ago, and I only remember him as a pleasant, quiet and amiable man, and that he was beloved and respected as widely as he was known.
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