USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 28
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In addition to his homestead farm, Daniel Crommelin Verplanck had several thousand acres in the county, which were divided into farms of about two hundred and fifty acres each. After his death the land was "actually" partitioned. The Rev. John Brown, of St. George's Church, Newburgh, Robert Gill, and Dr. Bartow White, of Fishkill, were the commissioners. The notes of Dr. Brown are now in my pos- session by gift from John Brown Kerr, Esq., of New York, a grand- son of Dr. Brown. From these notes the following facts are gathered:
The commissioners were chosen by the parties to make partition of all the Dutchess County property except that of Mount Gulian. The first "view" was made on the 10th of November, 1835. Soon after a heavy snowstorm interfered with the work, which the commissioners were not able to take up again, owing to the severity of the ensuing winter, until the 23d of May of the following year. The whole num- ber of farms viewed was thirty-five, besides two commons, in all, 6,475 87-100 acres, which were appraised at $320,913.39, or $45,- 844.77 for each of the seven heirs, after deducting the widow's dower and the value of the life leases which were running on most of the farms. On the 6th of July the commissioners completed their appraise- ments, and in August, 1836, the partition deeds were recorded. The names of the heirs were James deLancey, Elizabeth V. P. Knevels, William Walton, Gulian C., Samuel, Anne Louise and Mary Anna.
Daniel C. Verplanck was one of the directors and a principal share- holder in the Middle District Bank of Poughkeepsie. In 1830 this bank failed, Daniel C. losing heavily. He deemed that the credit of the bank had been to a great extent dependent on his name, and he
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TOWN OF FISHKILL.
made good out of his own funds the losses sustained by the depositors and other creditors. He died suddenly March 29, 1834.
His son, Gulian C., spent the greater part of his life in the city of New York where he was active in political life. He represented the city in Congress for several terms, and was influential in securing the enactment of copyright laws. As State Senator he sat in the old Court of Errors and Appeals, where he rendered several opinions in important commercial and financial disputes. He edited an edition of Shakespeare which took high rank with scholars. He died in New York at the age of eighty-four, and was buried in Trinity church- yard, Fishkill Village.
James de Lancey and William S., son and grandson of Daniel C. Verplanck, continued to live on the family property until they died, the former in 1881, and the latter in 1885.
William S. Verplanck, though educated for the bar, soon dropped this calling to take up agriculture. About ten years after his mar- riage with Miss Anna Newlin, he built "New Place," overlooking the Hudson. He was one of the founders of the Mechanics Savings Bank, on its incorporation in 1866, and on the retirement of General How- land in 1868, he became president. He was also one of the incor- porators, and until his death in 1885, a director of the First National Bank of Fishkill Landing.
Mount Gulian, owned by William E. Verplanck, is the only one now standing of three old homesteads1 built in the early part of the eighteenth century on the land set off to the heirs of Gulian Ver- planck. The old part is of stone, and stuccoed; over it is a curved roof with dormer windows. This house was for a time the head- quarters of Baron Steuben during the Revolution, and under its roof was instituted, in May, 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Washington was the first president, an office he retained until his death.
A singular and interesting character who lived for many years in Fishkill, was James F. Brown, born a slave in Maryland in 1783. At the age of thirty years he escaped and came north, and from 1829 to
1. The two others were the Lawrence Lawrence, and the John Van Voorhees houses. Lawrence was a nephew of Gulian Verplanck. His house stood on the river about a mile south of Low Point, and was later the home of Garrett Brinckerhoff. The Van Voorhees stood on the Poughkeepsie road, about two miles north of Fishkill Landing, on a tract of land of nearly 3000 acres, sold to him early In the eighteenth century by Philip Verplanck.
314
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
1864 was the gardener at Mount Guilian. During this period he kept a diary, in which he made a record not only of the weather, the con- dition of the garden, etc., but also of the visitors to the house, local news and items of more than family interest. When his whereabouts were discovered by his southern master, his freedom was purchased, and he was soon joined by his wife Julia, whom he had married in Baltimore in 1826. Brown died in 1868, and Julia made her home in the village until her death in 1890.
FISHKILL-ON-HUDSON. This village has grown up around the original Five Corners, and become a place of importance within the last thirty years. In 1864 it was incorporated under the Act of 1847, the first general act for the incorporation of villages through- out the State, and was given the name of Fishkill Landing. Samuel Bogardus was chosen its first president. In 1878 the village was reincorporated in accordance with the Act of 1870, under the pro- visions of which it still continues.
In 1804 a postoffice was established under the name of Fishkill Land- ing, and Egbert Bogardus appointed first postmaster. Five years later he was succeeded by Peter Folsom. During the Civil War, when Nehemiah Place was postmaster, the name of the postoffice was changed to Fishkill-on-the-Hudson. The early impetus of the village was largely due to the enterprises of John Peter DeWint,1 a man of great energy and activity. His operations were not confined to this side of the river alone, but he was a property owner and interested in the industries of Newburgh. He had a shipyard on the river bank just 'south of the Long Dock, and was interested in the freighting business which for many years was conducted by sloops from the Long Dock, as well as from the Lower and Upper Landings. Towards the end of his life he was thought to be rather indifferent to the growth of the village, and was, as I think, unjustly criticised for standing in the way of further improvements in the village. He died in 1870, appointing for his executors the late William S. Verplanck, J. De- Wint Hook and James Mackin. Mr. Mackin was a prominent man in Fishkill; he was President of the National Bank from 1870 to 1886; chairman of the Railroad Committee of the Assembly for several terms, and State Treasurer. He was also a close friend of Mr. Tilden, and .
1. For biographical sketch of Mr. DeWint, see Part II.
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TOWN OF FISHKILL.
had Tilden been inaugurated there is every reason to believe that Mr. Mackin would have received an appointment of distinction in the federal government.
Under the direction of the will, Mr. DeWint's executors began to settle the estate, and by judicious sales made throughout the village, which were mutually advantageous both to the estate and the pur- chasers, and largely through the co-operation of the late Lewis Tomp- kins,1 who built several hat factories and houses here, the village be- gan to grow rapidly. Mr. Tompkins not only built a fine residence for himself, but he also laid out that part of the village through which Dutchess Terrace and other streets and avenues now run, in a judi- cious and tasteful manner, making this part of the village both attractive and valuable. Spy Hill about the same time had been laid out and several handsome houses built by the Hon. John T. Smith, Mr. W. A. Jones and others. In consequence of this the village was greatly improved in its general appearance, and ceased to have the somewhat squalid appearance which it had in former times.
Before the advent of the railroad, the river was largely used as a means of reaching points north and south, sloops being employed for this purpose. Travel between Albany and New York by stagecoach, which passed through Fishkill, was wearisome. It took from ten to twelve hours to make the trip from Fishkill to New York. Much pleasanter was travel by sloops. They were fitted up as packets, and many of them had accommodations for twenty-five passengers. They made the run to or from New York and Fishkill inside of twelve hours, and now and then a great run was made. For instance, the sloop "Caroline," owned by John P. DeWint and named for his daughter, Mrs. Monell, sailed from the Battery to the Long Dock in five hours.
After the introduction of steamboats by Fulton, a disaster which affected Fishkill was the burning of the "Henry Clay" in 1852. She was racing with the "Armenia" and when a short distance north of Spuyten Duyvil she took fire. Several of the passengers who were in
the stern were either burned or drowned. Among the number was the wife of John Peter Dewint, and his son-in-law, Andrew J. Downing.
From Mr. John Place, treasurer of the Fishkill Savings Bank, I learn that in 1857 he went into the freighting business with the late
1. For biographical sketch of Mr. Tompkins, see Part II.
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
Walter Brett and Joseph Cromwell. This firm had the barge "Inde- pendence," which was towed to New York by the Kingston steam- boats. At one time the steamboat "William Young" of which Charles Adriance, of Low Point, was captain called at the Long Dock and took its freight. This was the genial "Captain Charley," who succeeded to the old freighting business formerly done from Low Point by sloops. One of them was the famous "Matteawan," which was built on the shipyard at Low Point, belonging to Cornelius Car- man. Two trips a week were made. On the death of Joseph Crom- well, the firm of Brett & Matthews was formed, which ran the steamer "Walter Brett." Later the firm built the "River Queen." She was the old "Mary Benton," which was rebuilt at a cost of $60,000, being fitted up with staterooms, saloons, etc. She proved too expensive for the business and was sold at a great loss to Garner & Company of Wappingers Falls and Newburgh, who ran her in connection with their factories. At this time Captain Walter Brett retired, and the firm of Brundage & Place was organized. They made an arrange- ment with the late Homer Ramsdell of Newburgh to carry their freight on the steamboats owned by him, and for that purpose the firm employed a small barge to run between Dutchess Junction, the Long Dock and Newburgh, where the freight was transferred to the Ramsdell boats. Now all this freighting business has passed under the control of the Central Hudson Steamboat Company.
The Hudson River Railroad in early days felt the competition of the steamboats, and made every effort to meet it, sharp rivalry exist- ing between the two enterprises for many years. After the com- pletion of the Hudson River Railroad in 1851, no other railroad enter- prises were started until after the Civil War. In 1866 the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad Company was organized for the purpose of build- ing a line from a point at the mouth of the Fishkill Creek northeasterly through the county to the village of Millerton on the Harlem Rail- road, in the town of Northeast. This company was largely promoted by the firm of Brown Brothers, bankers in New York, who had large interests in the town of Washington. Several towns along the pro- posed line, Fishkill among them, bonded themselves in aid of the con- struction of the railroad, and the road was accordingly built and fin- ished in 1868, Mr. Oliver W. Barnes being its chief engineer. It was unprofitable and soon passed into the hands of its bondholders. Ten years later the lower end of the road from Hopewell Junction to
LEWIS TOMPKINS,
317
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
Dutchess Junction was purchased by the New York & New England Railroad Company, and has since been absorbed by the Central New England.
The house now occupied by Dr. Kittridge, on Ferry street, was for- merly owned by A. King Chandler, who built the house and laid out the adjacent grounds, all in a somewhat pretentious style. It was a conspicuous object from the river, with peaks and gables and many outbuildings. All the land in front was open as far as Beekman street, then a mere country road, and generally called the Old Plank Road. Mr. Chandler kept a large dry goods and variety shop in Newburgh, somewhat on the order of the department store of to-day, and did a profitable business for many years.
PLANK ROAD. The certificate of the Fishkill and Beekman Plank Road Company was filed August 22, 1851. The company was or- ganized by about seventy-five persons, with a capital stock of $30,000, divided into shares of $50 each. The subscribers each took from Railroad Co., the successor of the original Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad.
John S. Thayer
Fishkill
5 shares
John B. Rosa
¥
2
Samuel A. Hayt
¥
20
Jacob G. Van Wyck
5
Guernsey Smith
4
66
Bartow White
5
Lewis B. White
¥
2
H. F. Walcott
2
66
James B. Brinckerhoff
¥
10
Walter Brett
2
Catherine E. Rapalje
«
10
James B. Vandervoort
New York
5
Chauncey DeLavan
East Fishkill
10
"
Richard B. Horton
¥
2
«
Wm. HasBrook
3
¥
Alfred Storm
2
..
Abraham Brinckerhoff
5
Peter H. Schenck~
Matteawan
6
D. S. Ackerman
W. B. Sheldon
Beekman Fishkill Landing
4
Charles Davies
¥
Louis Meyer
2
James E. Member
8
S. A. Benson
2
Isaac Sherwood
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
It was proposed to build a line from Fishkill Landing to Storm- ville, via Matteawan, Fishkill Village, Johnsville, Gay Head and Courtlandville, a distance of fifteen miles. The two roads leading to the river through Fishkill Landing were considered too steep for such a line, and a new road was laid out over the lands of J. P. DeWint, Martin Wiltse, Louis Meyer, Russell Dart and others. This is now Beekman street. The company also occupied an extension of Main street by continuing it straight to Matteawan over the low and swampy lands of the Teller estate instead of following the Old Road to Fishkill Village, which still passes over the higher ground to the north, where now are St. John's Church and the Methodist cemetery. The company thereupon began building the road and extended the same for about seven miles eastward into the township, setting up toll- gates at certain intervals in pursuance of the charter, the most east- erly one being at Brinckerhoffville. The company failed, however, to complete the road and otherwise comply with the terms of its char- ter. The road, too, was never kept in good order or repair and the people became exasperated and annoyed at the condition of things. The people, too, were used to the free road laid out by Madam Brett over her property from the river eastward to the limits of her lands, that is the road now in use through Matteawan, Glenham and Fish- kill Village along the west side of the creek, and they looked upon the Plank Road Company as an attempt to pervert the ancient highway of Fishkill.
Litigation ensued, and according to tradition, on one occasion a mob, made up of many of the respectable people of the neighborhood, assembled on a certain night and smashed the tollgates and otherwise put an end to the further exaction of toll along the road so far as the same was built. Thereafter the road again became free.
When the electric railroad was being built over the line of Beekman street in Fishkill Landing many of the old planks were brought to the surface. The late Samuel A. Hayt of Fishkill was president of the Plank Road Company at one time and meetings were held at his store, and Augustus Hughson was secretary. Later A. J. Vandewater of Matteawan, who had been an original subscriber to the stock, became president, and made unsuccessful attempts to revive the project.
MATTEAWAN. The name of this village was originally restricted to the mills. It was incorporated in 1886,1 and now includes within
1. Willard H. Mase was the first president of the village.
319
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
its limits Byrnesville, Wiccopee and Tioronda. Local names for other neighborhoods were Glory Hill, where the Sargent Industrial School now stands, and Pancake Hollow on the east side of the creek oppo- site the railroad station.
The first factory in Matteawan was established in 1814 by Philip Hone (at one time Mayor of New York), and Peter A. Schenck, who had married Margaret Brett, granddaughter of Madam Brett. Hone and Schenck built the mill now belonging to the Matteawan Manufacturing Company. It was a cotton mill. Peter A. Schenck built the house now owned by the Green Fuel Economizer Co., formerly the Larch house and earlier the Joseph Blossom house. He left no children. His brother, Henry Schenck, married and lived in what is now known as the Teller house, built by Roger Brett in 1709. Henry Schenck bought this house, together with a large tract of land adjacent, from his brother-in-law, Theodorus Brett.
Joseph Blossom came to Matteawan from New York, and married Emerette, daughter of Henry Schenck, and granddaughter of the Henry Schenck above mentioned. Joseph Blossom made a fortune in the lumber trade in the South before the war. Peter H. Schenck was a nephew of Peter A. Schenck, and succeeded his uncle to the ownership and management of the mill. Peter H. Schenck married a Miss Courtney of Philadelphia. Their son, the late John P. Schenck, M.D., built the house now occupied by the Sargent Industrial School. He was a famous physician of southern Dutchess, and his professional record appears in the Medical chapter in this book.
BYRNESVILLE. This district of Fishkill is now better known as Tioronda. From the county records it appears that William Byrnes bought a tract of land comprising 274 acres, from Isaac DePeyster Teller, in June, 1792, and soon after entered into a partner- ship as millers with Cyrus Newlin, to whom, in September of the same year, he conveyed an undivided half interest. The deed described the property as beginning at "Fishkill Bay, adjoining the land of William Allen" (who then lived on Denning's Point) and running up the Fish- kill on each side about half a mile, together with the mills and other water rights. In 1811, the partnership seems to have been dissolved, for in that year the property was partitioned between its two owners, Cyrus Newlin taking the lower mill property with fifty-one acres and
1
320
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
other land adjoining consisting of forty-seven acres more, excepting a small lot of one-half an acre reserved by the Tellers for a burial place. Cyrus Newlin, in the deed, is described as "of the county of Newcastle and State of Delaware." He never lived in Fishkill, though he often came there to visit his son Robert, who was the manager of his interest in the partnership and succeeded him after Cyrus died in 1824.
Both William Byrnes and Cyrus Newlin were of the "Society of Friends," commonly known as Quakers. The house where Cyrus New- lin's sons Robert and Isaac made their home was built by Madam Brett for her sister who married a DePeyster. The Newlins enlarged the house, each brother with his family having separate apartments, and there they lived until Isaac died. Robert Newlin's daughter Anna married the late William S. Verplanck .. The Newlin homestead with the adjoining land passed temporarily into the possession of the Bos- ton, Hartford & Erie Railroad, a company which was organized soon after the Civil War. A deep cut was made across the property close to the house, making it undesirable for a residence. This company failed before rails were laid to Denning's Paint, and later was re- organized under the name of the New York & New England Railroad Co. and the terminus changed to Fishkill Landing.
WICCOPEE is an adjoining neighborhood. The name was applied to the district along the creek between Wolcott bridge and Tioronda.
Daniel Annan, a lieutenant in the War of the Revolution, bought a tract of land from the Brett estate. His purchase extended east of the creek from a point opposite the present Tioronda bridge, north- easterly along the creek to a point near the railroad station in Mat- teawan, thence it extended eastward into the mountains to "Solomon's Bergh" (North Beacon), thence southerly to a point in range with Tioronda-in all a tract of about 750 acres. The Daniel Annan home- stead stood on the road leading to Cold Spring, east of the residence of the late Joseph Howland. The house afterwards fell into ruin, and there was built on its site the house known as "Mountain Rest," where the Misses Wagner had a boarding school for girls for a number of years, and which was discontinued about twenty years ago. Daniel Annan was buried in the cemetery of the Presbyterian Church at Brinckerhoffville. Lieutenant Annan's first wife was a Miss Van Wyck. By his second wife, Miss Allen of Quaker Hill in the town of
321
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
Pawling, he had a son, Daniel Annan, Jr., who married Margaret, daughter of Theodorus Brett. This Daniel Annan was a surgeon in the War of 1812, and he was buried in what is now St. Luke's ceme- tery, Matteawan. Their children were: Mrs. James W. Andrews, Mrs. Samson Adolphus Benson, and two sons, William and Alexander, the latter a captain in the Civil War.
The Oil Grounds. The district lying between the villages of Mat- teawan and Fishkill-on-Hudson known as the Oil Grounds takes its name from the circumstance that about 1865 petroleum oil was found flowing on the surface of the swampy land then quite extensive here. Oil and mining schemes were then rife all over the country, so it was not surprising that the people of Fishkill should become seized with the craze. An examination of the oil proved that it was the genuine article. The land was soon sold and a company organized, and there- upon pumping operations begun. The result was a complete failure. Investigation showed that the genuine petroleum had been surrepti- tiously brought to the spot in cans and sunk into the ground. The result was such that when prospectors walked about or ran poles down here and there, oil would constantly rise to the surface. The person who actually did this became known as the "Swamp Angel." He con- fessed in order to secure exemption from prosecution. A few people of prominence were implicated and several reputations suffered, but no one seems to have been sent to prison.
The house now occupied by Mr. Winthrop Sargent, known as Wodenethe, was begun by Robertson Rodgers of New York, who sold the property, before the house was fully completed, to Mr. Henry Elliott of New York. He had married a sister of Samuel Whittemore, mentioned below. In 1840 Mr. Elliott sold the property to the late Henry Winthrop Sargent, who enlarged the house and greatly em- bellished the grounds, which when he bought the property were a rough, somewhat sterile piece of land partially covered by a poor growth of trees. The opportunities of the place were obvious to a person of Mr. Sargent's discernment. Although an amateur, he may justly be called the originator of landscape architecture in the United States. He was a friend of Andrew J. Downing, who lived at Newburgh, where he wrote several books that made an impression in connection with the development of landscape gardening and horticulture in this country, and where he conducted numerous experiments in horticulture and
322
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
floriculture. An ingenious feature of the laying out of Wodenethe is the concealment of the boundary line, thus giving the effect of much larger area. The river, too, although nearly a half mile distant, seems to reach the grounds. Vistas were made through the trees giving superb views of the Highlands and the river.
A neighbor of the late Henry Winthrop Sargent, whose place, Rose- neath, also has superb views of mountain and river was the late Charles Moseley Wolcott, born 1816. He married first, Mary, daughter of Samuel C. Goodrich, who died without issue. He married second, Catharine, daughter of Henry A. Rankin, a merchant of New York.
Mr. Wolcott had extensive real estate holdings in Fishkill, includ- ing farms and village property, as well as interests in manufacturing, in which he was at one time associated with Robert G. Rankin, who also lived at Fishkill some years and built there. Mr. Wolcott, by his second marriage, had three children who lived to maturity. His son, Henry Goodrich, married Julia, daughter of the late Waldo Hutchkins; and his daughter, Katherine, married Samuel Verplanck and they now occupy Roseneath. This house was built by Lieutenant Ward of the United States Navy about seventy-five years ago. His wife was a sister of Samuel Whittemore, who married Louisa, daugh- ter of John Peter DeWint, and lived in the Wren's Nest, a cottage with attractive grounds on the river a short distance south of the Long Dock. The place had two entrances, whence the name.
Nearby were the homes of the brothers, Davies-Henry E. at one time Judge of the Court of Appeals of this State, and Charles, a dis- tinguished professor of mathematics at West Point and afterwards at Columbia College. The houses built by them are both standing, Prof. Davies's house being now occupied by the Wilson School, and Judge Davies's house by Daniel W. Burnham.
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