USA > New York > Westchester County > Tarrytown > Souvenir of the revolutionary soldiers' monument dedication, at Tarrytown, N.Y. October 19th, 1894; > Part 15
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The original from which this was eopicd is on a leaf taken from the old family Bible . on file, with Adjutant Isaae Requa's commis- sion, in the Pension Office at Washington, and is in the handwriting of Wm. Paulding, Sr., as averred by his son William. It is among the papers in application made for a pension for Hemietta Paulding Requa, widow of Adjutant Isaac Requa.
As will be seen by William Panlding's family record he must have come to this place with his family between 1766 and 1768, as the birth of a daughter the latter year makes the first mention of Philips- burgh. Gen. Paulding at first removed his family to Bedford probably in 1776, immediately after the battle of White Plains, and soon after removed to Great Partners, present Putnam County, where two of his children were born.
Commissary William Paulding was from the first one of the most influential men who supported the patriot cause on the Manor. He was a member of the Provincial Congress, and on Aug. 10, 1776, was appointed "Commissary of the Militia raised or to be raised in this State northward of King's Bridge," and so continued to render efficient service during the entire period of the Revolution, as the result of which, owing to the depreciation of the currency and the inability of the Gov- ernment to make his promises to pay for supplies good, he was impov- erished. Having been arrested for debts ineurred in the publie service he was confined for many months in the old log jail at White Plains. One day it burned down, and walking home to Tarrytown he was not afterward disturbed. A grand old patriot who deserved a better fatc.
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In1 1784 William Paulding was elected Supervisor of the then Manor, being the first one chosen so to serve after the Revolution. Evidently he was held in high and descrved esteem by his fellow towns- men. He continued to reside here until his death, and his son-in-law, Adjutant and Judge Isaae Requa, in a house erected adjoining. They were quite pretentious residenees in their day. His son, William Paulding, Jr., who became Mayor of the city of New York, was born
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there, and one of his daughters was there married to William, a brother of Washington Irving. The Paulding homestead was on the riverside, near the Martling-Requa dock. The houses were removed only a few years since, the picture of that which here appears, having been taken but a short time previous. Washington Irving when a young man was intimate with the family, and it was in that house that some of the famous Salmagundi papers were written. It was from his frequent
visits there that Irving first became familiar with and attached to Tarrytown. William Paulding, Sr., died February 10th, 1825. Thc family vault is in the old Dutch Churchyard.
As stated, William Paulding, Jr., was Mayor of New York. He was also Adjutant General of this State, a Brigadier General of Militia, Member of Congress, delegate to the State Constitutional Con- vention, and came to be the owner of the present Jay Gould place, which on his death became the property of his son Philip R. Paulding. James Kirke Paulding, son of William, Sr., distinguished as an author, was Secretary of the Navy under President Van Buren. He married Gertrude Kemble and had a son Peter Kemble Paulding who married Elizabeth Pearson and had Gertrude who married Col. S. C. Lcyford, U. S. A., Robert Parrott Paulding who married J. C. Pennington,
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M. D., William Paulding, Captain U. S. A., also daughters Beatrice Aliee, and Mary Pearson who married Geo. W. Murdock, M. D., 20g resides at Cold Spring, N. Y. James Kirke Paulding had so ;.. Win. Irving, James, Nathaniel, Governeur, and daughter Mary Kem- ble. . James Kirke Paulding wrote the inseription which appears on the monument to the Captors of Andre at Tarrytown. He died 1869.
Joseph Paulding, Sr., lived at present East View, about two miles east of Tarrytown; had sons Joseph, Jr., John, and Peter, besides William. He died Feb. 24, 1786, and was buried in the old Dutch Churchyard.
John Paulding the son of Joseph, born Jan'y 28, 1755, says in his application for a pension date of Sept. 3, 1832, that he was then 77 years old, and resided in the town of Mt. Pleasant. Enlisted as a pri- vate in May, 1779, in Capt. Glode Requa's Company. Was stationed at Bedford, Yorktown, and Philipsburgh. Was unmarried; died in his 92d year.
Ensign Peter Paulding, son of Joseph or Joost, in his application for a pension date of Sept. 3, 1832, says that he was then a resident of the town of Mt. Pleasant and was aged 82 years ; that he entered the service as a private in Capt. Win. Duteher's Company in December, 1776, at Tarrytown ; that he marehed with it in an expedition against the enemy in the southern part of the county ; that in 1777 was a private in the Company of Capt. Gilbert Dean, and was stationed at the house of Peter Van Tassel ; that he again entered the service in May, 1779, as an Ensign in Capt. Daniel Martling's Co .; that he was born in the City of New York, 1749, and lived in that eity until he was about 15 years of age. He died Marel 3, 1842, aged 93 years, and was buried in the old Dutch churchyard. He had married Jane Fowler, Aug. 19, 1787, Rev. Silas Constant of Yorktown officiating. They had sons, Joseph and John and daughter Susan. John and Harriet Paulding his wife had Win. Carlton, Geo. Washington, Eliza M., Wmn. Henry, Catharine, Charles Webster and Susannah Paulding. Major Hiram Paulding, Postimaster at White Plains, is a grandson of Ensign Peter Paulding through his son John Paulding.
Joseph Paulding, Jr., who appears to have been the eldest son, was baptised at New York, April 22, 1733. He married Sarah Gardenier. Was chosen Supervisor of the Manor in 1778, and was a member of Capt. Geo. Comb's Company. His son John, famous as one of the captors of AAndre, was born at the Paulding homestead east of Tarrytown, Oct. 16, 1758. He is said to have been over six feet tall
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and to have exeelled in feats of strength. One of his earliest adven- tures was as follows: The house of his father had been plundered by a party of British ruffians and his mother compelled to submit to indig- nities. Coming home and learning what had happened he seized his gun and hurried towards the eamp of the enemy intent upon revenge, but finally was forced to retreat before a dozen horsemen. On one of his visits to his sweetheart, Miss Sarah Teed, whom he afterwards mar- ried, he was set upon by a number of Tories among whom was Ensign 'Teed of Delaneey's Corps. Jolin ran into a barn whenee he fired upon his assailants. Angered,by the wounds he had so inflicted the attacking party desired to kill him, but young Teed dissuaded them. Paulding finally surrendered and was taken to the old Sugar House Prison in New York, from which he es- eaped shortly after and but a few days before he participat- ed in the capture of Major Andre. Capt. Harry Chi- chester says of his escape : "John Paulding was a pris- oner in the Sugar House in 1780, and made his escape in the middle of the day by jumping on a pile of boards from a window. I drew the attention of the sentinel while lie did it." Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt says that after he got out "he went to Nathan Levinus who kept a livery JOHN PAULDING. stable in Chatterton Street, where Lorillard's manufactory afterwards was. Paulding there got a Hessian's coat, green trimmed up with red, got a boat at the North River and escaped to the Jerseys. At Wehawken he was taken up and brought before Marquis de La Fayette as a spy, but Col. Cort- landt knew him and procured his release." He then crossed the river at or below Tarrytown and returned home, making his first af- pearance at Reed's Tavern above and east of that place.
Of how important a part that Hessian coat played in the Andre drama the whole world knows. Paulding had previously been a prisoner, and had wonderfully escaped as related by Samuel G. Clark, a
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kinsman of Azariah Clark who lost his life in the attempt which they and others had planned, by a tunnel extending from the prison across the street, as was published in the "Journal of Commerce " in 1852. Paulding it appears was the only one who got away. The story of his being taken prisoner the third time, is told in another connection and need not be related here.
THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE.
On May 6, 1817, a statement was made and sworn to by John Paulding, one of the captors, of which the following is a copy : John Paulding, of the County of Westchester, one of the persons who took Major Andre, being duly sworn, saith, that he was three times during the revolutionary war a prisoner, with the enemy :- the first time he was taken at the White Plains, when under the command of Captain Requa, and carried to New York, and confined in the Sugar House : the second time he was taken near Tarrytown, when under the com- mand of Lieutenant Peacock, and confined in the North Dutch Church in New York ; that both these times he escaped ; and the last of them only four days before the capture of Andre ; that the last time hie was taken, he was wounded, and lay in the hospital in New York, and, was discharged on the arrival of the news of peace there ; that he and his companions, Van Wart and Williams, among other articles which they took from Major Andre, were his watch, horse, saddle and bridle, and which they retained as prize ; that they delivered over Andre, with the papers found on him, to Colonel Jameson, who commanded on the lines ; that shortly thereafter they were summoned to appear as witnesses at the headquarters of General Washington, at Tappan ; that they were at Tappan some days, and examined as witnesses before the court martial on the trial of Smith, who brought Andre ashore from on board the sloop of war ; that while there, Colonel William S. Smith redeemed the watch from them for thirty guineas; whichi, and the money received for the horse, saddle and bridle, they divided equally among themselves and four other persons, who belonged to their party, but when Andre was taken, were about half a mile off, keeping a lookout on a hill ; that Andre had no gold or silver money with him, but only some continental bills, to the amount of about eighty dollars ; that the medals given to him, and Van Wart and Williams, by Congress, were presented to them by General Washington, when the army was encamped at Verplanck's Point, and that they on the occasion dined at his table ; that Williams
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removed some years ago from Westehester County to the northern part of the State, but where, particularly, the deponent does not know. And the deponent, referring to the affidavit of Van Wart, taken on the 28th of January last, and which he has read, says that the same is in substanee true. .
JOHN PAULDING.
Capt. John Romer relates the following : "Paulding was a very brave man. He was onee during the war upon Kaak-out, or David's Hill, with a party of militia, when the Refugee's horse appeared on some rising ground half a mile or a mile to the south. Paulding pro- posed to attack them there, but the militia refused, considering it too hazardous. He then went alone, and getting under cover advanced and fired at them several times. Annoyed they at length rushed upon him, and he escaped, but with difficulty, by getting into the bushes and swamp."
After the Revolution, John Paulding settled upon the farm given him by the State which had been the property of a Tory, Dr. Hugge- ford, on the road from Peekskill to Crompond. Afterwards sold the place and lived near Lake Mohegan, where he died in 1818, and a monument was erected to his memory by the eity of New York in the cemetery at Cortlandville. He was three times married and had nine- teen children, one of whom was surviving as late as 1894. His most distinguished descendant was his son, the late Admiral Hiram Paulding, of the U. S. Navy, who died in 1878. Joli Paulding was considered the leader among the eaptors of Andre, and the bronze statue which surmounts the monument erected in their memory is moulded after his stalwait forit.
Mrs. Margaret Fisher, a daughter of Caleb Paulding, says in an interview of the date of 1845: "My father, Caleb, and my uncle, Major Jonathan H. Paulding, were both strong and resolute, not to say vio- lent Whigs. My father and unele, in consequence of their decided principles were repeatedly plundered by Refugees and Cow Boys. Our house was robbed so often that to the last moment of her life my mother was terrified when she heard the barking of a watch dog at night. It
was on a Saturday in the summer season that Major Bearmore burnt our eider mill and carriage shed, compelling my mother to bring out a burning brand and fire the cider mill roof with her own hand. For this insult to my mother my father never forgave Major Bearmore, who was afterwards killed in a skirmish near Twitching's Corners. My father, Caleb Paulding, was twiee taken prisoner."
The Martling Family.
Riker, in his History of Harlem, says : "Isaac Martling married Anna, at Staten Island. Abraham Martling married Rachel de Vaux, or de Voe, who was of Hackensack 1694, but removed to Tarrytown where his mother's kinsfolk, the See family had gone. Abraham Mart- ling was a Deacon in the old Dutch Church 1718, and an Elder, 1728-30. His name appears on the old tax roll of 1732. The old record of laying out the Post Road, 1723, shows him to have been living on the west side of the road at what is now Tarrytown. After his death a part of his farm was laid off in lots, and so became the nucleus of the present village. From 1742 to 1749, inclusive, Abraham Mart- linghs, senior, as he signed himself, was Town Clerk of the Manor. He was also a Justice of the Peace and a blacksmith. The following is the first entry in the old Manor book under the head of ear marks :
1742, 16 day of August-Entred the car-mark of Abraham Martlinghs. His ear. mark is a flowar the luas att the ofe ear.
The ear mark of Hendrick -Martlinghs of same date follows. The name of Lieut. Peter Martling appears as an officer in the French war, 1761, and Isaac Martling, as a private soldier. Daniel Martling was a Lieutenant under Capt. Win. Dutcher until 1778, when he became Captain of the Company, and served with distinction. Was the owner of what was then known as the Martling Landing, afterwards the Requa Dock, and lived near there in a house still standing on the east side of Water Street. His brother, Sergt. Isaac Martling, lived near by. Also a brother Abraham, who was a soldier in the Revolution and wounded in the galley fight off Tarrytown.
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An Abraham Martling lived on Beaver Hill, near the Saw Mill River Valley. In his application for a pension, dated April 17, 18IS, says he was aged 55; that lie enlisted some time in October, 1779, in Captain Shaffer's Company, in Col. Armand's Regiment of horse and foot, N. Y. Line, and so continued in the service until May, 1783, when · he was discharged at Charleston, South Carolina. That he was in the battle at Yorktown at the taking of Cornwallis. He was a pensioner from 1818, and died January 1, 1841. His widow, Fanny Romer Martling, applied for pension 24th December, 1846. He was buried at Greenburgh, Elinsford Churchyard. He is said to have been of the party that went down the river in boats and raided and burnt Gen. Oliver Delancey's house, near Bloomingdale, on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 25, 1777, in retaliation for the destruction of the Van Tassel Houses in the Saw Mill River Valley a few nights previous. Capt. Jolin Romer gives the following account of that affair : "I don't know who commanded the party that burnt Gen. Delancey's house on the 25th of November, 1777, but believe it was Capt. Buchanan of the Water Guards. The party came down the river from above in whale boats with muffled oars and stopped at Tarrytown. After taking some volunteers on board they then went on down the river. They burnt the house and brought off considerable plunder."
Sergeant Isaac Martling, the story of whose tragic deatlı still lives in tradition, as well as on the pages of history, and with all of its grim import is perpetuated on the moss-covered tombstone at his grave, herewith reproduced, was a son of Abraham Martling, Sr., and a brother of Captain Daniel and Corporal David Martling. He had been a soldier in the French war, having enlisted in Captain Gilchrist's Company, March 27, 1759, and mustered ou May i of that year. On the original roll his age is given as 17 at that time, his height 5 feet 7 inches, with dark eyes and dark complexion.
The account of his tragic death is thus related by Mrs. George Lawrence, now 76 years of age, and residing at Hartsdale, Westchester County, whose maiden name was Adaline Requa, granddaughter of Gabriel Requa, a soldier of the Revolution, and Elizabeth Martling his wife, who was the daughter of Sergeant Isaac Martling: Her great- grandfather was killed in front of the old Martling house, at Tarrytown. He had been to the nearby spring, still in common use in that neighbor- hood, for a pail of water and was just about to enter the house, when lie was murderously stricken down, inhumanly slain, as is recorded upon his tombstone, "by Nathaniel Underhill," the "inhumanity" of
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the act being aggravated by the fact that Sergeant Martling was unarmed as well as one-armed, and had no opportunity to defend himself. This statement is fully corroborated by the aged widow of Abraham Mart.
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In Memory of MnISAAC MARTLINGS who was Inbumindy , 01
slon by NATHANIEL UNDERHILL May 26
on- ID 779 the 39" Year
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ling, the latter being a nephew of Sergeant Isaac, who has been from childhood familiar with all the facts of the case as handed down in the family ; and also by Miss Elizabeth Revere, who still lives in that
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vieinity, and whose grandmother, "Granny " Recd, well remembered that after hic was slain he was taken and laid in the rear room of Mr. William Paulding's residence, which had bech vacated on account of the war, and that his blood ran down the doorstep, a gory spectacle. This is doubtless the truc story of his death. The Nathaniel Under- hill who so slew this one-armed patriot of two wars was a notorious Tory who lived on the southern part of the Manor in the vicinity of Yonkers. It is said that Sergeant Martling had once caused his arrest, henee personal animosity sharpened his cruel hate. After Independence was achieved he found it 'convenient to retire to Nova Scotia, with other Tory refugees, and died there.
Capt. John Romer in his later years gave the following account of the affair : "On the 26th day of May, 1779, a party of Refugces (Tories) suddenly came upon Tarrytown. The inhabitants drove their cattle in great aların into the woods north of Pocantico Brook, on the first approach of the enemy. In consequence of their numbers, Capt. Buchanan, (of the Water Guards, ) had found it necessary to retreat across the Pocantieo, where he lay in ambush awaiting their advance, but they did not go so far. At Tarrytown they killed Isaac Martling or rather Nathaniel Underhill killed him. They then pushed for the house of James Requa, where a guard was kept during most of the war, . which they surprised, but the whole party made their escape except one, who was killed, and whose name was John Van Tassel." It will be noticed that this is a very different account of the affair from that given in Bolton's History, and then he locates it at Capt. Glode Requa's, while Capt. John Romer says that the attack was made at that time upon the house of James Requa, which was on the Bedford road. And then Capt. Romer gives a different version and place of the killing of Polly or Katrina Buekhout. He says she was "killed by a Yager rifleman belonging to a party under Emerick who were patrolling on the west side of the Saw Mill River. She imprudently appcared at the door of the house with a man's liat on, when two hostile partics were near each other, and was killed by mistake for an enemy. The Yager fired without orders, and Emerick mnade apology, being much morti- fied at the occurrence. The house where this occurred was near to and a little above the Saw Mill River Church."
Anne Martling applied to the State for a pension on account of "the death of iny late husband, Sergt. Isaac Martling, who was slain May 26, 1779," and it was duly granted. The name Martling, form- erly so prominent here, has entirely disappeared from this vicinity.
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The Storm Family.
The Storm family are the descendants of Dirck Storm, who came from Utrecht, Holland, to Harlem, N. Y., in 1662. Arms: Field, a ship at sea under storm sail. Crest : The helmet of a Knight, vizor closed, affronte : surmounted by eagle's wings. Motto: "Vertrouwt," (In God we Trust.) Riker in his "History of Harlem," says that "Dirck Storm sailed from Amsterdam Sept. 2, 1662, with his wife, Marie Pieters, and three sons, Gregoris, Peter and David. In 1670 was Secre- tary of Brooklyn, and afterwards for some years Town Clerk at Flat- bush. Was made Clerk of the Sessions for Orange Co., 1691, and in 1697 lie and his family were living on Philipse Manor, where his descend- ants became numerous and noted." In 1699 David Storm was chosen as one of the Deacons in the old Dutch Church, and afterwards served several terms as Elder. In 1730 Thomas Storm was Collector of the Manor. In fact, the Storm family was very prominent in the carly days in this viciuity.
Nicholas Storms, Sr., married first, Rachel, and had Abraham, Elizabeth who was the wife of Cornelius Van Tassel, and Isaac. He married second, Maritje Dutcher, daughter of Johannis, and had Maritje, Rachel who married Isaac Van Wart, one of the Captors, and Nicholas, Jr. Nicholas, Sr., lived at present Elursford, his house being on the site of the hotel there. He was a staunch Patriot and his name was enrolled among the Militia of the Manor. Abraham his son was for a short time Captain of the Tarrytown Company, was Major of the first Regt. of Minute Men, and Member of the Committee of Public Safety 1776-7. Lived on his father's place at Elmsford, at that time called
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Storm's Bridge. By his will, dated April 4, 1792, he gave to his wife Rachel, (widow of Jacob Boice) to son of his brother Nicholas Stormns, and £15 to the old Dutch Church by sale of Slave Sam, the balance of the proceeds of said negro to go to his sister, Catharine De Voos.
Nicholas Storms, Jr., in his application for a pension, dated March 27, 1838, says that he entered the service in July, 1776, in Cap- tain Win. Duteher's Company ; was stationed at Tarrytown for a term of 6 weeks. In October again enlisted in Captain Win. Dutcher's Company, and for a time stationed at Throgg's Neck ; in Jannary, 1777, again enlisted in Capt. Dutcher's Company, and was in the Expedition against Fort Independence under General Hcath. In January, 1778, again enlisted in Captain Dutcher's Company, and that the whole of said Captain Dutcher's Company was at that time in the service. In May, 1779, served inder Captain Daniel Martling. Was born on Philipse Manor, present town of Greenburgh, November 20, 1756. Widow's applica- tion in February 18, 1837, says she was married 19th of December, 1778, at Bedford, N. Y. He died May 28, 1835, in his 79th year. Lcaney, his widow, died in 1844, aged 83. Nicholas, Jr., resided upon the farm now occupied by Mrs. Decker, who is one of his descendants.
It is of interest in this connection to record the fact that John Storm, who was carried away from his home near Dobbs Ferry to the old Sugar House Prison, New York, at some time early in the Revolu- tion, and who died on his way home, it is said from poison administered to him there, was the grandfather of the late Capt. Jacob Storm of Tarry- town, and great-grandfather of Capt. Jolin I. Storin of Peckskill.
Isaac, Jeremiah, and Thos. Storm were among the soldiers in the French war from this Manor.
The late Gen. Henry Storins, of Tarrytown, was of this family.
While the Continental Army lay at White Plains, in October, 1776, Gen. Schuyler had his headquarters at the House of Nicholas Storms, Sr. An old colored woman used to tell how he powdered his hair.
The Verks Family.
The first of that name (it was then written Jurkse) appearing here were Herman Yerks and Maritie Storm his wife. She was from Gowanus, L. I., and united with the old Dutch Church in 1714, which was the year of their marriage. Johannis Yerks and Rachel his wife, had a child baptised there in 1724, and Jacobus Yerks and Elizabeth his wife had Johannis baptised there in 1725.
Herman Yerks made a will May 7, 1769 by which he gave his son William, "all of my improvements where I now live on the Manor of Philipsburgh," also to the children of his son John, deceased, daugh- ters, Engeltie Jewel, Altie Martling, Mary Dean wife of Thomas Dean (mother of Sergt. John Dean,) Jeune Helliker, Margaret Van Wart, Catharine Garretson, and Elizabeth wife of Thomas Champenois.
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