USA > New York > Greene County > Catskill > Reminiscences of Catskill : local sketches > Part 15
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Joel Persons.
Prescilla Addoms
Sally Spicer 6
2922 .€10 19 11
On a leaf torn from the day-book of Mr. ORRIN DAY, the well-known merchant, nud father of Mr. S. SHERWOOD DAY, We find the following reference to the unele of Mr. Tint 1 :- LOW WEED, under date of May 18th, 1811 :
JOSEPII WEED,
Dr.
To 1 Blk. Coat .. . 108.
If he goes Regularly to one of the Churche every Sunday for one year, and keeps away from the grog shops on the Sabbath, and reformnhi moral conduct-then this to be a present.
On the left-hand margin are the memo- randums :
1st Sunday in June, absent. 22d 66 66
0 6
0 10
0 9 1 1/
2 8 1
0 10 8 17
1 9 9%
WALKS AND TALKS.
OLD DOCUMENTS.
76
OLD DOCUMENTS,
MEMORANDA, &c.
And on the opposite margin, the following :
Mr. Weed attended public worship a few Sab- baths, but very soon broke off, and has not been seen in a church for several months. March 27, 1812.
Then, Mr. DAY despairingly wrote, in a bold hand, across the entry "Gave in."
Allusion having been made in the Harmony Lodge Papers, to the Catskill Mechanical So- ciety, we have been presented by Mr. JOHN BREASTED, with a copy of the "Charter and By-Laws of the Catskill Mechanical Society, Their Rules of Order, &c., published by or- der of the Society, printed by MACKAY CROS- WELL, Catskill, 1807." The following open- ing paragraph explains the laudable object of the Society :
CHARTER.
AN ACT to Incorporate the Catskill Mechanical Society.
WHEREAS John Blanchard, Stephen Root, Da- vid Thorp, Ephraim Baker, Nathaniel Hinman, Reuben Sanderson, Isaac Nichols, James Cole, Adonijah Baker, Henry Ashley, Benjamin Sole, Elisha Furgurson, John Hyde, Franeis Botsford, Mackay Croswell, Lemuel Hall, Adonijah Sher- man, Peter Breasted, John Doan, Richard Hill, Hiland Hill, John P. Bolen, Jehiel Preston, and Henry L'Homedieu, meehanies of the village of Catskill, in the county of Greenc, have, by their petition to the legislature, represented, that they are associated into a body, under the name of "The Catskill Mechanical Society," for the relief of their unfortunate and indigent members, their widows and children, and other charitable objects, and pray to be incorporated into a body politic, for the purpose of securing and confirming the funds of said society to those benevolent purposes: And whereas the views of the said petitioners ap- pear to be laudable, and worthy of legislative pa- tronage and assistance-Therefore,
Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York, ģc., §c., åc.
To this Act are appended the following official signatures :
STATE OF NEW YORK.
In Assembly, February, 27, 1807.
This bill having been read the third time- Resolved, That the bill do pass.
By order of the Assembly.
A. M'CORD, Speaker.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
In Senate, March 16, 1807.
This bill having been read the third time- Resolved, That the bill do pass.
By order of the Senate.
JNO. BROOME, President.
In Council of Revision, March 20, 1807.
Resolved, That it does not appear improper to the council, that this bill should beeome a law of this state.
MORGAN LEWIS.
Then follows the By-Laws, &c., signed by JOHN BLANCHARD, President, and ADJ. SHER- MAN, Secretary.
The pamphlet concludes with the printed list of membership :
MEMBERS' NAMES.
Ashley, Henry, tanner.
Blanchard, John, cordwainer.
Beach, Abijah H., saddler.
Botsford, Francis, tailor.
Bolen, John P., saddler.
Baker, Ephraim, blacksmith.
Baker, Adonijah, blacksmith.
Bennet, James, mason.
Breasted, Peter, painter & glazier.
Bounds, Matthew, ship-wright.
*Croswell, Caleb, painter & gilder.
Cole, James, cabinet-maker. Croswell, Mackay, printer.
Doan, John, house & ship-joiner.
Eells, Nathaniel, house-joiner. Ferguson, Elisha, cooper. Gager, John, ship-carpenter. Hill, Richard, ship-wright. Hill, Hiland, ship-wright. Hinman, Nathaniel, eordwainer.
Horton, David, weaver.
Hinman, Herman, house-joiner.
Hyde, John, blacksmith.
Hall, Lemuel, cordwainer. Hall, Aaron, mason. Homedieu, Henry L', wheel-wright.
Laey, John T., ship-carpenter. Nichols, Isaac, cord-wainer.
Ousterhout, Peter, blacksmith.
Olcott, John S., rope-maker.
Preston, Jehiel, clock & watch maker.
Root, Stephen, tanner. Sherman, Adonijah, taylor. Sanderson, Reuben, house-joiner. *Stebbins, Josiah, nailor. Selleck, Henry, house-joiner.
Sanford, Simeon, cordwainer. Sole, Benjamin, ship-carpenter. Stocking, Jared, blacksmith. Thorp, David, cordwainer.
Thayer, Hezekiah, house-wright.
*Waight, Thomas, house-wright.
*Webb, Eliphalet, brickmaker.
White, Shadrach, cordwainer.
N. B .- Those marked (*) are names of deceased members.
The following document was found among the papers of ISAAO VAN LOAN, and is en- dorsed on the back, "Question for the Philo- logan Society-1799 :"
Can any one of the U. S. withdraw itself from the National Compact without Genral Consent, Or resist the National will Exprest through the organs of its magority without being Considered in a State of Rebellion ?
MEMORANDA, &C.
OLD DOCUMENTS,
CATSKILL ACADEMY.
Mr. S. SHERWOOD DAY has furnished us with a supply of memoranda, found among the papers of his grand-father, STEPHEN DAY, from which the following are selected, for the purpose of embalming the names of old resi- dents of Catskill. The first is a subscription paper, dated August 23, 1793, "for the pur- pose of raising the sum of Four hundred
pounds, to haye an Academy erected at the , Constellation, where, under date of August
Landing, in said town of Catskill- which sum is to be divided into one hundred shares, com- puting each share at four pounds." The sub- scribers were :
Stephen Day, shares .. 2|John Sole 1 Thos. Thomson. .4 Benjamin Nichols. 1 Elnathan Fitch. .3 Jane Dies. . . 3
Alex. Thomson .4 John V. D. S. Scott . 2
George Taylor. 2 Abraham Overbagh ... 2 Noah Evensham .2 Isaac Van Loan. 1 4
Joseph Graham. .3 Kezia Camp ..
Gideon Ball. 2 Reuben Webster 1
Beman Brockway. ... 1|Darling Ham)in. 1
Theophilus Demmack 1 David Van Bargen 1
Peter Raymond.
.3 Enoch Calkin. 1
Josiah Rodgers. . 1 David Hamlin. 1
M. Croswell & Co ..... 3 David Marajan. 1
Ira Day. 2 Aaron Rumsey 1
Geo. & Tho. Hale .6 Egbert Bogardus 2
Wm. W. Wetmore. ... 2 James Bogardus
1
Caleb Street. 6 Andrew Brosnaham ... 1
Henry Pratt .. 1 Samuel Van Vechten .. 4
Cole & Newell. . 2 Samuel Haight. 1
Wm. Van Orden. .3 Gideon Brockway 1
Edward Boylston. ... 1 Joseph Adams
1
Benjamin Van Orden. . 1 John Dubois.
1
Matthew Bellamy ... 1 John Lay. 2 Israel Gibbs 3 Hugh Fiddis
James Smith .1 Uriah Blaan.
1
John Doan. .1 John Bunce. 1
Isaac J. Lacey.
1 Hezekiah Van Orden .. 9 Edmund Ogden
"At a meeting of the proprietors of the Academy at Catskill Landing, at the house of NATHAN PADDOCK, Inn-holder, May 10, 1795, it was among other things resolved that 120 shares should be added to the number already subscribed, subject to the regulations contained in the original subscription and rules estab- lished, in order to carry on and erect the said miles, on the West side of Hudson's River,
Academy-the shares at four pounds." The undersigned agreed "to pay to STEPHEN DAY, GEORGE HALE and CALEB STREET, the trustees of said Academy," for the number of shares set opposite their respective names :
Thos. Thomson, shares 2 Levi Brownson 2
Reuben Webster. .3 M. Croswell & Co. 2 Nathan Paddock. .1 Beman Brockway 3 Wm. Chapman. 4 Gideon Ball. 1 John Blanchard .2 Edmund Ogden. 2 Jane Dies. 1 Abijah H. Beach 1
Peter Raymond 1 Terence Donneliy 2
John V. D. S. Scott ... 2 Stephen Root.
4 John Lay. 1 Stephen Day
Ira Day. 4 Gideon Brockway 1
Caleb Street .8. Hiland Hill.
Geo. & Thos. Hale. 8 John Bogardus
Joseph Graham 2
1
SUSQUEHANNA TURNPIKE ROAD.
That eminent jurist, the late JOSHUA A. SPENCER, upon the occasion of his last visit to Catskill, remarked to his son-in-law, S. S. DAY, that he "believed the Susquehanna Turnpike Road to be the oldest chartered highway in this State." We have no other means now at hand to substantiate Mr. SPENCER's conclusion, except by recourse to a file of the Western 23, 1800, we find the following :
SUSQUEHANNAH TURNPIKE .- Since the subscrip- tion books for the turnpike road, from Salisbury, in Connecticut, to Watiles' Ferry, on the Susque- hanna River, have been opened, upwardsof twenty- five hundred shares have been subscribed, and they are filling up very rapidly. Some distance of the road is already laid out, and a company of gentle- men have contracted for making a part of the same, and began their work.
October 4th, 1800, the Western Constel- lation announced that "A Public Mail will commence running, on Tuesday next, from this town to Atheans (Tioga Point.) Mr. JOSHUA WHITNEY is the contractor for carry- ing it, and will perform the route once a fort- night. The mail will run between this town and Hudson twice every week. The mail days are Tuesdays and Fridays."
On the 10th of the same month, that paper contained a communication, congratulating the people of Catskill upon the rapidity with which the Susquehanna Turnpike Road, from Salisbury, Connecticut, to Wattles' Ferry, is progressing ; that it "exceeds anything of the nature heretofore known, and is at once an evidence of the wealth and public spirit of the inhabitants living on the Road, and also of the immense travel through Catskill to and from the Western Counties of this State. Notwith- standing the recent date of the act for estab- lishing the Corporation, such has been the vigilance of the gentlemen appointed to carry it into effect, that the distance of twenty-seven
will be made in the present, aud fore part of the next season, seven miles of which is now nearly completed. Proposals have also been received by the Directors, who are about to make contracts for finishing the Road on the East side of the River, to Salisbury line the next Summer, which is about the distance of 30 miles ; so there is the fairest prospect of having 57 miles completed within 18 months from the passing of the act. The shares in the above Road have hitherto been chletly 1 | taken up by gentlemen residing in Catskill, and its vicinity, from whose spirited exertions the Road will undoubtedly be completed much 1 sooner than was contemplated by the Leris- lature.
20
78
OLD DOCUMENTS,
MEMORANDA, &c.
A meeting of the Company was advertised | To Mr. CROSWELL-
to be held "at the Academy in Athens, Lu- zerne county, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Sep- tember 6th, 1802, at which time and place the proprietors are requested to attend, as bu- siness of the utmost concern, as it respects the proprietors in general, and the settlers in particular, will be brought forward to be acted upon at said meeting." That this Turn- pike Road was a great thoroughfare, at that time, is evidenced by a paragraph attached to the notice above mentioned, as follows: "The printers in the States of New York, Connec- ticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are requested to publish the above as a matter of concern to many of their customers."
The next mention of this Company is a notice, signed by SAMUEL HAIGHT, Treasurer, dated January 12th, 1803, announcing that "a dividend of four and an half per cent. for the period of six months (from the 12th of July last) is made on the capital stock of the Com- pany."
CATSKILL BRIDGE.
In the same paper, under date of Sept. 13, 1802, we find the following :
The new draw Bridge over the Catskill Creek at the village of Catskill, is so far completed as to become passable. This elegant and highly useful structure extends about five hundred and fifty feet in length, and is of a sufficient height to give it a noble appearance. The streugth and elegant sim- plicity of the work is highly applauded by every gentleman acquainted with architecture who has seen it. On Tuesday, that being the day on which It became passable, the gentlemen and ladies of the village assembled and crossed it in procession, preceded by music. On their return they were met by Mr. BURR, the architect, attended by his workmen, with the implements of their calling.
On behalf of the Villagers, the following address to Mr. BURR was then delivered :
Sir-The inhabitants of the Village of Catskill, finding their hopes so happily realized in a work under your superintendence and direction, joy- fully embrace this opportunity of presenting to you a tribute of their unanimous approbation- And while we felicitate ourselves upon the pros- pect of encreasing commerce by means of an easy, safe and commodious conveyance to our market from the most productive soil in our vicinity, we wish you, sir, to be assured of the high sense we entertain of your skill, perseverance and fidelity in the science which you profess-The implements of your occupation, sir, are justly considered by all true republicans as the noblest insignia of mer- it-And we sincerely wish that your performance here may redound no less to the reputation of the Architect than to the ornament of our village and the public convenience.
AN INGENIOUS DUN.
We find the following in the Western Con- stellation, and reproduce it here as an un- surpassed specimen of the dunning art :
Sir-
Please to give the following a place in your Paper :
Not long since one of my creditors came to me for some money-I, being in a situation at that time by which I could afford him not the least assistance, very soon discharged him with-"I can't pay you now-call again." He accordingly called again. "Well, HINMAN, have you any money for me now ?" "No, upon my honor, I have not, sir." "I want to know," retorted the gentleman, "the reason of your always being destitute of money ? You seem to have work- men, a plenty of them, and all at work almost constantly. I cannot conceive," continued he, "why you have not money in abundance-you must dispose of a considerable amount weekly." I answered the gentleman in the following humble and mortifying manner: "You well know, sir, that you will not receive in payment for leather anything but money, and have a very good reason for so doing ; because it will command the money. But, sir, let my shoe-knife get a rip at it, then see if it will command the money ! No, the very in- stant my knife enters its borders it loses the de- mand of money-indeed, it loses its value, inso- much that it will procure nothing excepting TRUST. This article, I must confess, is so abun- dantly plentiful, that I have taken in a greater quantity than I know how to dispose of; for I find that my creditors will not give me the price I have given for it; therefore, of course, I must either abandon the idea of receiving any more of that produce, or keep my shoe-knife out of the leather. 'Of two evils chuse the least.' I shall, therefore, (if I am correct in making choice) chuse the former ; I am sensible, if I do not, that I must in a short time adopt the measures of many others before me, namely, to get ground over a-new ; or, crawl into the big end of Poor RICHARD's horn, and squeeze out at the little end, a poor-Bitch."
Those customers who have done justice to me, will, I hope, accept the subscriber's most grateful thanks for their custom and attention.
NATHANIEL HINMAN.
N. B. It is wished that all those who are indebted to my books, would come forward and see that their accounts are crossed immediately, or pay the cost. Catskill, Feb. 15, 1803.
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH IN 1819.
The following is a record of the sales of Pews and Slips in St. Paul's Church, Monday, November 1st, 1819 :
No. PEWS.
1 Donnelly and Adams $13 00
2 Haight and Dorlon, 12 00
3 James Pinckney 12 00
4 J. V. D. S. Scott and Jacob Van Voorhis 12 25
5 John A. Thomson. 13 00
6 Seaman and Ashley. 12 50
7 Capt W. Britton 18 00
8 Isaac Dubois. 12 25
9 John Dubois and Judge Abeel. 8 25
10 Tho. O'H. Croswell. 8 00
11 Egbert Bogardus. 6 25
12 Jacob Van Orden. 6 25
13 Palin and Limbrak 6 00
14 William Sturges 6 00
OLD DOCUMENTS,
MEMORANDA, &.
79
No. SLIPS.
19 Caleb Benton. 6 50
20 Cap. James Bogardus 6 50
21 Cap. Van Loan 5 00
22 Adam Stewart 4 00
23 William Van Loan
4 50
24 Torhand K. Cook
26 Edwin Clark. 4 50
4 25
27 Van Valkenburgh and Man.
4 50
28 Peter Breasted.
4 00
29 Charles Rogers. 5 00
30 Cornelius Dubois
4 00
31 W. H. Wey
5 00
32 Andrew Brosnaham
4 50
33 Edwin Croswell. 4 50
34 Saml. Baker. 3 50
35 Hiram Comfort
3 00
36 R. R. Pennoyer 3 00
38 JohnAshley
2 00
REAL ESTATE SPECULATION IN 1837.
The real estate speculative mania, in 1836-7, pervaded nearly all parts of the Union, and, to show that Catskill was not an exception to the rule, we have been furnished by JOHN VAN VLECK, Esq., with a copy of a book of 48 pages, printed in New York in 1837, for the "Catskill Association, formed for the purpose of Improving the Town of Catskill, in the County of Greene, State of New York, and for other purposes." The officers of this Association were : GEO. S. DOUGHTY, Pres't. ; EVAN GRIFFITH, Treasurer; L. B. WOODRUFF, Counsellor ; THOMAS DUGUID, Secretary .- Directors : GEO. S. DOUGHTY, RUFUS DAVEN- PORT, H. F. TALLMADGE, PETER R. WYCKOFF, JAMES L. CURTIS, SILAS M. STILWELL, EVAN GRIFFITH, L. B. WOODRUFF. Trustees : J. R. PETERS, HENRY OGDEN, THEOPHILUS S. MORGAN.
This Association made large purchases of real estate in West Catskill-the DUBOIS farm, and other lands-which were laid out in city lots, on streets with high-sounding names, and this little book was issued to advance the en- terprise. Accompanying the book were two maps ; one, a "Map of two proposed routes of a Canal by the way of the Schoharie and Catskill Creeks-also the Railroad now under contract from Canajoharie to Catskill"; the other, an elaborate map of the "Property of the Catskill Association." Scrutinizing the latter, we observe that, in the cedar grove near the present site of COOKE & HARDWICK'S brick-yard, was an Elysium-on paper-de- signated "Clinton Terrace" ; while in the rear of the lower brick-yard was a triangular- shaped Park-"St. Nicholas Park"-between "Lafayette Street" and "Cornwall Avenue," and fronting on "St. Nicholas Place." That well-known landmark, "Broomstick Hill," was handsomely laid out in city lots, numbered from 1 to 15, while from "Day's Island" (at "the Rifts") over the hill to the present resi- dence of ROBERT STORY, streets and lots were
as plentiful as are brambles on the same lo- cality at this day.
The resources of the Association were set forth as follows :
Capital Stock, in Lots, estimated at ..... 9746,000 Stock appropriated for the improvement of the Land of the Association 74,600 Number of Shares. .3730
Par value of each Share 200
After setting forth, in language somewhat florid, the advantages of the location, and the then flattering prospective importance of Cats- kill, unrivalled by nothing less than New York, copies of Deeds of Conveyance in Trust are published at length, together with the Articles of Association, and reports (from the Village papers) of the proceedings of meetings held in Catskill, by those favorable to the project.
At a meeting held at the Court House, Feb. 10th, 1837, on motion of FRANCIS SAYRE, the meeting was temporarily organized by calling JACOB HAIGHT to the chair. A committee appointed for that purpose reported the fol- lowing permanent organization : THOMAS B. COOKE, President; ORRIN DAY, JACOB HAIGIIT, JOHN ADAMS and PETER SHAURMAN, Vice Pre- sidents ; IRA DUBOIS and CALEB CROSWELL, Secretaries. At this meeting a committee of fifty gentlemen was appointed, "to prepare suitable memorials to the Legislature, praying to have such laws passed as will most effect- ually promote the trade and commerce of this place," &c. The President named AMOS CORNWALL, JACOB R. GREENE, and HENRY M'KINSTRY a committee to report fifty names, which they did as follows :
Thos. B. Cookc, Horace Willard, Joshua Atwater, Orrin Day, J. R. Greene, Leonard Kinsley
John Adams, J. A. Thomson, Edm'd. Hatfield,
Ezra Hawley, Caleb Hopkins, Robins'n Hazard
Jacob Haight, Rob't. Dorion,
Peter Breasted, Fred'k. Hill,
Edgar B. Day, J. W. Baldwin,
Hiram Comfort, Tuzar Bulkley, Geo. G. Harden- Isaac Van Loan, S. S. Day, burgh,
P. T. Mesick, Abel Brace,
H. M'Kinstry,
Amos Cornwall, Judson Wilcox, Fr's. I. Marvin, J. M. Donnelly, J. R. Sylvester, Nathan Farrell,
Francis Sayre,
Wilkes Hyde, Ira Dubois,
Peter Shurman, J. Van Valkenb'h Caleb Croswell,
Caleb Day, Geo. Marvin,
S. L. Penfield, John Abcel,
Luke Kiersted, T. C. Atwater,
Jonathan Rowe, Steph. Bosworth
F. N. Wilson,
Jno. Van Vleck, Ephraim Beach.
The financial revulsion which soon succeed- ed these "flush times," suddenly burst the bubble, and inflicted heavy pecuniary losses upon many of the enterprising citizens of Catskill. The effects of the collapse were painfully visible for several years in the Vil- lage, the prosperity of which was seriously affected in consequence, but after a season of sack-cloth repentance, the temporary blight was effaced, and the ancient town began a new career of growth, which has been un- checked to this day.
M. Watson,
9707
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