USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
The house now occupied by Mrs. Douglass W. Burnham was for- merly the home of William Kent, many years Judge of the Supreme Court of this State. Judge Kent was the son of Chancellor Kent. He died in 1861 and is buried near his father in St. Luke's cemetery. Other former residents of Fishkill were the preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, Dr. De LaMontague and Dr. James Sykes Rumsey.
The Denning family occupied the old house on Denning's Point, built by William Allen about a century ago. He had married Maria, the daughter of Gulian Verplanck, who had purchased the property
JOHN T. SMITH.
323
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
from the DePeyster family. This property was then known as the "Island in Fishkill Bay," as the records at Poughkeepsie attest. From this it can be inferred that originally the Point had been an island. It is probable that it was the Dennings who built a causeway, thus converting the island into a point, for they gave it the name "Pres- quile" (almost an island). The Dennings remained at the Point until the death of Miss Jane Denning about fifteen years ago.
Joseph Howland, who married Eliza N. Woolsey, came to Fishkill about 1855. He bought the Freeland property of over a hundred acres lying on the slope of the mountains east of the creek, where he built the house "Tioronda." On the breaking out of the Civil War Mr. Howland went to the front, where he soon attained distinc- tion and rose to the rank of General. He was much interested in the development and improvement of the two neighboring villages, par- ticularly Matteawan, where he established a library which bears his name. He also took an active part in the establishment of the National Bank at Fishkill-on-Hudson, as well as the Savings Bank.
Smith T. Van Buren, a son of the President, lived at Fishkill for many years. Mr. Van Buren had been Secretary of Legation under Washington Irving when he was Minister to Spain.
GLENHAM takes its name from Rocky Glen, a wild and picturesque part of the creek between Matteawan and Fishkill Village, where the water rushes through a gorge. It was here that the factories were built about 1811, and a village sprang up which soon absorbed the little hamlet of Red Rock nearby.
An interesting and well-known character of days past, who lived here, was Joe Tom, a coal black negro, a fish peddler through the week, and on Sunday a preacher. He had a stentorian voice, and possessed a fund of anecdotes, humorous as well as pathetic. Joe was an expert in smoking hams and herrings.
The Allard Anthony house on the east side of the road between Glenham and Fishkill Village, now known as the Knapp house, was built by Heinrich Knapp in 1737. The initials "H. K." could at one time be deciphered on the gable of the house. This house and adjoin- ing farm afterwards came into the possession of the late Frederick Scofield, the uncle of Mrs. Charles Bartow. Miles Scofield, one of three brothers, came from Stamford, Conn., soon after the Revolu- tionary War, and settled in the Highlands below Fishkill Village.
324
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
Another brother, Lebeus, the ancestor of Mrs. Bartow, bought this land near Glenham.
FISHKILL VILLAGE dates from a period long prior to the Revolu- tionary War, and it sprang up like many of the old villages of New England, from houses being built along a thoroughfare near a cross road. Though picturesque with its old churches and houses of past days, its two broad, slanting streets, shaded by overhanging trees, and uniting near the Dutch Church, it lacks the "Green" of a New Eng- land town. But this want is more than offset by its proximity to the mountains, its situation at the north gate of the Highlands, through the narrow defiles of which the old turnpike passes between Albany and New York. This road was laid out two centuries ago and follows the line of the old Indian trail. Along it the stage coaches rumbled in years long past, by the old mile stones, some of which are still standing. To the west is the "Green Fly" (Dutch Vly), a large swamp, although it is much reduced in size since the days of the early settlers. In former times the line of the Post Road to Albany, via Wappinger's Falls and Poughkeepsie, was carried over high ground, once known as Osborn's Hill, to avoid the swamp, and it is this hill which shelters the village from the westerly winds,-cold in winter, dry and hot in summer.
Just beyond Trinity Church, the road through the village branches in two, one eastward toward Brinckerhoff and Johnsville, passing sev- eral old homesteads, and the other, the Post Road, southward through the Highlands, past the Rapelje homestead, soon to cross the Put- nam County line.
The village has always been quiet and secluded, the creek even lend- ing itself to such repose. Rapid and impetuous, above and below, yet so slow and placid is this stream as it passes through the village that it lacks the energy to turn the wheel for a mill. The coming of the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad forty years ago roused the old place from its slumbers and a few factories sprang up, but they soon languished and finally gave up the ghost. In 1876 a great fire rav- aged the town, destroying many of the old style wooden buildings, which have since been replaced by brick ones. Fifty years ago Ben- jamin Aymar, Judge Jackson and other families from the city of New York spent the summer months at the village. Later the Aymar place was occupied by the distinguished engineer, Oliver W. Barnes, until his death.
325
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
Other residents of two or three generations back were: J. W. Oppie, counsellor-at-law, and Miss Oppie; Mrs. Chatterton ; Hon. J. L. Jack- son, whose house was on the corner of the Post Road where it turns west; C. A. Jackson lived further down the road leading to Matteawan and the river; I. E. Cotheal lived in the Rapelje house of his ances- tors, now owned by Mr. W. T. Blodgett. There was a boarding school for girls, and another for boys. Dr. Lewis H. White was prac- ticing medicine, and J. E. Van Steenburgh was cashier of the bank, then a prosperous concern. Samuel Hayt was a wool dealer with a large county business, and Charles Burnham was a carriage maker.
BAXTERTOWN is a small hamlet on a by-road two miles to the west of Fishkill Village. It is mostly occupied by negroes, in whom flows blood of the Wappinger Indians. As the settlers came in and occupied the best of the land the Indians were relegated to the poorer land of the interior, for they did not take to agriculture, and inter- marrying with the negroes who were originally brought into the country as slaves they merged with them, and thus lost their identity. Many of the Fishkill negroes bear Indian features and some of them Indian traits. The Catskill family of Baxtertown is an illustration of this-old Harry was a well-built and handsome man with straight hair and almost no negro features. Harry would work on the farm for a few days in the "hay and harvest," then the blood of the old Wappinger would begin to stir, and he was off to stream and forest with rod and gun, leaving his wife Maria as the bread winner to do cooking in the kitchens of some of the old families.
About two miles south of Fishkill Village on the old Post Road is a monument, erected October 14, 1897, by the Melzingah Chapter Daughters American Revolution, to mark the spot where were buried the soldiers who died in large numbers, of diseases, while in camp here during the Revolution. The tablet on the monument reads as follows:
1776-1783 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE BRAVE MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND WHOSE REMAINS REPOSE IN THE ADJOINING FIELD.
Washington expected that the British would force their way north- ward through the Highlands, so he reinforced himself strongly against them in this neighborhood. A short distance below, on the Post Road,
326
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
where the valley is narrow, earth-works were thrown up against the enemy's advance. They, too, have been marked by an appropriate tablet, viz .:
ON THE HILLS BACK OF THIS STONE STOOD THREE BATTERIES GUARDING THIS PASS 1776-1783 MELZINGAH CHAPTER DAUGHTERS AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1902.
The "Battle of Fishkill" never took place, however, and other places reaped the glory in the achievement of our independence.
West of this road, on the mountains, is the monument on North Beacon to commemorate the burning of signal fires on North and South Beacons during the War of the Revolution, erected by Melzin- gah Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, July 4th, 1900.
BRINCKERHOFF. About two miles northeast of Fishkill Village is the hamlet of Brinckerhoff, named from the family which had two homesteads in the neighborhood, that of Derrick being near the old Presbyterian Church and the Star Mills, while John Brinckerhoff's was further up the Fishkill near its confluence with the Sprout.
At the gate of the Derrick Brinckerhoff homestead, now owned by his descendant, Mr. Frank Brinckerhoff, formerly stood the Presby- terian Church, built in the eighteenth century. It was here that Chancellor Kent's father used to preach frequently on his way from his home in Putnam County to Poughkeepsie. The church in those days, and until it was destroyed by fire about forty years ago, had a considerable congregation, but with its destruction the congregation scattered among other churches in the neighborhood and no new build- ing was erected. The adjacent graveyard, now known as the Rom- bout cemetery, contains the old graves of early settlers of the neigh- borhood.
In 1902 Melzingah Chapter, D. A. R., erected a tablet with an in- scription as follows:
ON THE KNOLL STOOD THE "MIDDLE CHURCH" (PRESBYTERIAN) BUILT 1747-RE-BUILT 1830-BURNED 1866. USED AS A MILITARY HOSPITAL DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
327
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
The same chapter of D. A. R., in June, 1905, erected a tablet to preserve the story of the old mills, which reads :
STAR MILLS. BUILT BY ABRAM BRINCKERHOFF BURNED ABOUT 1777 AND RE-BUILT BY THE ORDER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON WHILE THE TROOPS WERE ENCAMPED AT FISHKILL.
Near the graveyard is a monument erected May 30th, 1898, by the Lafayette Post, N. Y. G. A. R., to commemorate Lafayette's illness and sojourn during the Revolution when he was the guest of Colonel Brinckerhoff. General Daniel Butterfield and Henry Tremain, Esq., made addresses on the occasion of the dedication.
CHURCHES.
THE DUTCH CHURCH, Fishkill Village. According to the late T. Van Wyck Brinckerhoff, the Dutch Church at Poughkeepsie was the first church that was built in Dutchess County. The exact year of building is not so apparent. Probably about 1720. The writer adds that the church at Fishkill was built in 1731. "The petition to his excellency, John Montgomery, Esq., states 'that the members of said congregation have agreed amongst themselves to erect and build a convenient church, to the public worship of God, nigh the said Fish- kill Creek.' The glebe land for the first church at Fishkill, which by the way was the first church built on the Romboudt Patent, was given by Madam Brett and by Johannis Terboss. For twenty years it was the only church in the Patent. It was attended on alternate Sabbath mornings, by people living far in the interior beyond Hopewell and Hackensack. For, beside Poughkeepsie, there was no other church, at that day on the east side of the Hudson, above the Highlands, unless in the vicinity of Albany. Whenever, therefore, the preacher lifted his voice at Fishkill, it was the only voice, the only open pulpit in all that land. Rev. Cornelius Van Schie was the first pastor of the churches of Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. He was duly installed over this field of labor on the 4th of October, 1781. He removed to Albany in 1788. He was succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin Meinema, the sec-
ond pastor of the two churches. * * * Mr. Meinema was suc- ceeded by Rev. Mr. Van Nist, in November, 1758. But little is known of Mr. Van Nist. He only lived to retain his charge three years, and
328
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
died in early manhood in 1761. He was buried in the ground adjoin- ing the church." Rev. Reginald Duffield is the present pastor.
A dominie of the Dutch Church, Fishkill, of the eighteenth century, who should not be forgotten was Dr. Rysdyck (or Rysdike) ; he was pastor of the church there from 1772 to 1790. Brinckerhoff says of him :
"About this time Dr. Rysdike discontinued his charge over the Poughkeepsie congregation, devoting his time to Fishkill, Hopewell and New Hackensack. He died in 1790, and was buried under the spire of the church at New Hackensack, the floor being removed for that purpose. He was considered in his day one of the most accomplished preachers and scholars in America. The classics were as familiar to him as his own Holland tongue, and he was, also, a thorough Oriental Hebrew scholar. Educated in the best universities abroad, the accomplishments of the gentleman and the scholar were so blended as to be inseparable. His affa- bility and address are to this day spoken of, and his appearance is said to have been very imposing. In person the Doctor was rather stoutly made, and, as was the custom of that day, rode through his charge on horseback. He always wore a cocked hat and wig, and invariably lifted his hat from his head in passing any- one, and gave them a friendly salutation. Upon Sabbath mornings he would ride to the church door and dismount, handing his horse to the sexton, who stood in readiness waiting his coming."
From the tablet on the Dutch Church, placed on the occasion of the one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary, we learn that it was or- ganized in 1716-Building erected in 1731-Provincial Convention met here 1776-Military Prison during the Revolution-Enlarged 1786-Remodeled 1806-'20-'54-'82.
The graveyard of the Dutch Church contains many interesting tombstones. The inscription on the earlier ones are in old Dutch. They mark the graves of the families of Van Voorhis, Brinckerhoff and others. Here, too, lies the bodies of the Rapelje, Swartwout, Verplanck, DuBois and Mesier and other early settlers of the Town- ship. The late Elias Van Voorhis, in his family history, has written on this graveyard, and later Miss Laura Rosa of Fishkill also pub- lished a valuable article on the same subject. Many of the inscrip- tions on the early Brinckerhoff gravestones, tending to become ruinous were placed on the walls inside the church by the late Abram DuBois, a noted physician of New York. Dr. DuBois was a native of Fish- kill and much interested in its history and development. He was a liberal donor in aid of the Rural Cemetery.
MoCutive
329
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
TRINITY CHURCH, Fishkill Village.1 To find the origin of this par- ish we must go back to the year 1756, when this State was a province under the sovereignty of Great Britain. At that time the Rev. Sam- uel Seabury was one of the Missionaries of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel (a body established in this country by the Church of England). He had settled at Hempstead, Long Island, for more than ten years when he rode on horseback up into Dutchess County to found the church in this region. He had been a student at Yale, but ended by taking his degree at Harvard in 1724, and in August, 1730, he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of London. After staying in England two years he went by appointment to New London, Connecti- cut, his native place, there he remained ten years before taking up his charge at St. George's Church, Hempstead. Owing to the acrimony which existed on Long Island at that time between the various sects, in which Dr. Seabury took no part whatever, he decided to leave that part of the country and become a missionary.
Dutchess County in 1756 had a population of 14,157 people, and included within its boundaries all of Putnam and a good part of Columbia counties. On Dr. Seabury's arrival he was entertained for several days at the house of Judge Terbos, and afterwards by the courtesy of the Dutch minister and the deacons he held services in their church. As many as three hundred people attended, coming from many miles away, several of whom offered to aid Dr. Seabury in the purchase of a glebe and the erection of a church. An unfor- tunate dispute arose with the churchmen at Poughkeepsie over the right to use these subscriptions. It was settled, however, in favor of Fishkill, whereupon the building which is now standing was erected. The land on which the church stands was given in September, 1767, and pledges for the erection of a church were not fully completed until 1769.
The tablet placed on Trinity Church on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation tells us: Founded by Samuel Seabury in communion with the Church of England, 1756 -Building erected about 1760-Rev. John Beardsley, first rector, October 26, 1776. Occupied by New York Provincial Convention which removed from White Plains, September 3, 1776 .- Used as a Hospital by the Army of Washington until disbanded, June 2, 1783.
1. Extracts from an historical address by Rev. Joseph Ivie, a former rector.
330
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
At a vestry meeting of Trinity Church, Fishkill, held November 2, 1796, the following vestrymen were present: Jeremiah Green, Ben- jamin Snider, John F. Carman, John Southard, Greenlief Street, Francis Peyer, Daniel C. Verplanck. The present rector is the Rev. Clinton Durant Drumm.
THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH at Fishkill-on-Hudson, was estab- lished in 1813, as an offshoot of the present church at Fishkill Village, which the growth of population on the river warranted. Among the principal donors of land and money was John Peter DeWint, also the Wiltse, Brett, Van Vliet, Verplanck, Cromwell, Bogardus, Crosby, Brinckerhoff, Purdy and other families.
The name of the first pastor does not appear on the records, but the Rev. Cornelius Westbrook was in charge from 1819 to 1823. His successors were Rev. William S. Heyer, 1823-'51; Rev. J. Howard Suydam, 1852-'63; Rev. Joseph Kimball, 1863-'65; Rev. Martin L. Berger, 1865-"70; Rev. Charles W. Fritts, 1871-'99; Rev. Edward A. MacCullum, 1899 -.
In 1860 the old church was replaced by the present building, during the pastorate of the Rev. J. H. Suydam, who was very active during the Civil War in arousing the patriotism of the people of this neigh- borhood, and instrumental in organizing relief societies of various kinds.
Within the past year a tablet has been placed in the church in mem- ory of Dr. Fritts, testifying to his long, useful and honored services both for his church and the community.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. The following review of the Methodist Episcopal Society in Matteawan and Fishkill Landing was furnished by the Rev. Arthur Thompson, recently pastor at the for- mer place.
In 1819 a surveyor, afterward editor of the Poughkeepsie Eagle, found Methodist societies of considerable strength along the eastern border of Fishkill, and in the adjoining towns of Kent and Patterson in Putnam County. Already a large camp-meeting had been estab- lished in the vicinity.
For several years prior to 1819, meetings were usually held in the Tillott and Ketchum neighborhood, a short distance from Matteawan, on the east side of the creek. An old stone house, formerly occupied
331
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
by the family of John Tillott, was appropriated to that purpose. Ser- vices were held occasionally at the house or barn on the farm of Mr. Ketchum, now owned by Mr. John R. Maddock.
In 1819 the usual meeting place was changed to the school house west of the creek, and located on the old road about midway between Matteawan and the Landing near the old Methodist cemetery.
During the earlier years this field was included in the Dutchess Circuit, which required a six weeks' journey of its pastors in order to cover the field. In 1819 it was changed to a four weeks' appoint- ment. On the opening of the new road or Main street, a site was selected for a church edifice.
On March 29th, 1824, a meeting was held in the school house, and a board of trustees was elected for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Fishkill, consisting of Gerardius De Forest, John Tillott, Henry McDonald, Jacob Cooper, and William Doughty.
The building was erected and dedicated in the fall of 1824. On the day of dedication sermons were preached by Rev. Mr. Washburn of Poughkeepsie ; Rev. Mr. Cochran, one of the circuit preachers, and Rev. William S. Hyer, pastor of the Reformed Church. The con- sistory of this society closed their own church for this occasion.
In the spring of 1825 this appointment was made a station. Ser- vices were held in the Main street church until after the division of the society in 1860. The last service was held Sunday, February 3rd, 1861. The building was sold to Horatio N. Swift, and used as a public hall for many years. It was while occupied by the Roman Catholics and known as St. John's Church that it burned, February 12, 1890.
Previous to the division of the church in 1860, the society came to be known as the Matteawan Methodist Church. The Fishkill Land- ing portion of the divided society purchased a Presbyterian Church which was to be sold at foreclosure, and improved it for their church home. The Matteawan people secured a lot where the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut station now stands. The corner stone was laid October 13, 1860, and the building dedicated January 16, 1862. This was a brick structure seating four hundred persons in the audi- torium, having lecture and class rooms below, and cost $7,000. The new Matteawan society began with a roll of 115 members. In 1869 the building of the N. D. & C. railroad compelled the abandonment of
332
THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
the church building, which was sold to the company. St. Anna's Episcopal Church building was then purchased and torn down.
The corner stone of the present structure was laid August 3, 1869. The building was completed at a cost of $37,000 and dedicated May 7, 1870. Toward the cost of the property $10,000 net proceeds from the sale of the former church was applied. Nearly $10,000 was pledged on the day of dedication. A substantial reduction was made in the indebtedness during the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Loge (1871- "72). There yet remained a mortgage of $12,000, when Rev. J. J. Dean began the securing of pledges October 16, 1878. The whole amount was finally secured and the mortgage was paid under the pastorate of Rev. C. R. North, August 18, 1880.
The parsonage is located on North street, and is free of all in- debtedness. The church building on Main street is one of the finest specimens of semi-Gothic architecture along the Hudson river. The membership numbers about three hundred and seventy.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Matteawan. In August, 1907, this church celebrated its "Diamond Jubilee." On this occasion a historic address was delivered by the Rev. Paul Stratton, and Mr. Joseph N. Badeau wrote a historic sketch, both of which were published in the Fishkill Standard soon afterwards. From these sources the following information is gathered:
Seventy-five years ago the Presbyterian Church began when the "Presbytery of North River" met in the little schoolroom over the Mat- teawan store. The existence of the society goes back much further than this for it appears, according to the early records, that "a num- ber of the inhabitants of Matteawan and its vicinity met and formed a society by the name of the First Presbyterian Society at Mattea- wan." On 'this occasion twenty-four persons signed their names to the roll and these became charter members. They continued to meet in the upper part of the old Matteawan store and were first preached to by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong. These quarters soon proving too small, "the Presbytery of North River" met on the 27th of August, 1833, and organized the first Presbyterian Church in Mattewan, and thereupon, in response to a petition which was subscribed by a great number of people, a building was erected on the same ground on which the present building now stands-a building which stood for thirty- eight years thereafter.
333
TOWN OF FISHKILL.
About 1870 it became evident that the old building was no longer large enough to suit the increased size of the congregation and steps were thereupon taken for the erection of another building. Plans were prepared by the celebrated architect, Richard M. Hunt, of New York. The committee to raise the funds consisted of Miss Violet Gordon, Messrs. James M. Taylor, Robert Gordon, William H. Laurens and Mrs. Thomas J. Way. The result was that on the 17th day of July, 1872, the building was completed and dedicated.
Among those who subscribed liberally to the fund were Gen. Joseph Howland, Robert H. Halgin and Willard H. Mase. The last pastor of the old church was the late Dr. F. R. Masters, who, however, to the regret of all was never able to preach in the new church. The first minister who officiated there was the Rev. J. L. Scott. The Rev. Dr. Wickham was the first pastor ; Dr. Irenaeus Prime was pastor for one year, being followed by the Rev. Sylvester Eaton. Then came Dr. Van Zandt, who was followed by the Rev. James Harkness, D.D., and later Mr. Davies and Dr. Carver.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.