USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 30
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Mr. Theodore Van Vliet was a trustee of the church for thirty-four years.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the church the Rev. Thomas Reeves was then pastor, when the occasion was appro- priately recognized by services in the church. The Rev. Frank M. Carson succeeded Mr. Reeves, remaining for five years. The Rev. Plato T. Jones succeeded him, remaining for eleven years, and he in turn was succeeded by the Rev. Paul Stratton.
The Rev. Mr. Carr has recently become pastor of the church.
ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, Matteawan. The church of the parish which is now known as St. Luke's was built in June, 1870, under the rector- ship of the Rev. Henry E. Duncan. The land consisting of twelve acres was given by Judge Henry E. Davies, in memory of his son, Colonel C. T. Davies, and the ground for the building was broken on the 10th of August, 1868. On the 17th of October of the same year a corner stone was laid by the Rev. Dr. J. J. Robertson, a former rector of the parish, when it was known as St. Anna's, and on the 15th of December of the following year the church bell was first rung.
The architecture of the church and the laying out of the grounds were intrusted to the late Henry W. Sargent, to whose good taste and judgment the parishioners readily deferred. The late Frederick C.
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Withers, whose first wife was Miss Emily DeWint, was selected as the architect. Owing to the great cost of the church a large debt was carried for several years; but during the rectorship of Dr. Bartlett these incumbrances were discharged so that on the 17th of October, 1879, the church was consecrated by Bishop Potter.
On the completion of the church in 1870 the officers were: Rev. Henry E. Duncan, Rector ; James S. Rumsey and John B. Seaman, Wardens; Cornelius Van Tine, John J. Monell, John VanderBurgh, Adrian V. Knevels, Henry Slack, James Wade, Smith T. Van Buren and Winthrop Sargent, Vestrymen. During this year a school house and rectory also were built on the new grounds. In 1887 the new rectory was burned and the rector, Rev. Henry Bedinger, and his family barely escaped with their lives. A great part of the parish records and other property were lost in this fire. It followed imme- diately after the great affliction which the rector was compelled to suffer in the death of two of his children within a few days of each other.
On the 9th day of June, 1895, the parish appropriately commemo- rated the twenty-fifth anniversary of completion of the church. As a matter of fact, however, the parish was then nearly sixty-three years old, for St. Luke's is but the successor to, or rather the same as, St. Anna's parish, for when the vestry of the latter church determined to move from the center of the village in Matteawan, owing to the build- ing of the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad, it seemed wise to give a new name to the parish. When St. Anna's was torn down and St. Luke's was built no other change took place in the parish or among the communicants. St. Anna's stood on the site of the present Metho- dist Church. It was built of brick and about sixty-five feet long and thirty-six feet wide. It was in the Grecian temple style of archi- tecture, with six white columns on the front, and faced north.
The new parish of St. Anna's was one of the daughters of old Trin- ity, at Fishkill Village, and the work of establishing this parish was begun before 1832 by Miss Hannah Teller and her sister Margaret, who afterwards married Robert Van Kleeck, the first rector. These good women lived in their ancestral home, the Brett house, and there had a Sunday-school, which afterwards assembled over the Matteawan store. Services were soon held there. Mr. Robert Van Kleeck was the lay reader for the new parish and he continued with them until
OLIVER WELDON BARNES.
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October, 1832. During the succeeding winter Professor Hackley, of West Point, took his place. Mr. Van Kleeck was afterwards ordained and became the first rector. The present rector is the Rev. George Herbert Toop.
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, Fishkill-on-Hudson. "The beginning of the movement which resulted in the establishment of this church," says Rev. Mr. George A. Green, the present rector, "takes one back to the year 1870, when the Rev. Henry E. Duncan, rector of St. Luke's Church, Matteawan, held a service over the First National Bank, on January 6th. May 15th, 1870, saw the formation of a Sunday-school which became incorporated under the name of the 'Teachers' Associ- ation of Fishkill Landing.' This organization developed into a self supporting parish. The Sunday-school, under the direction of the late George A. Seaman, was most successful, the books at times con- taining the names of 170 scholars and 15 teachers. The Sunday- school removed from the bank building in October of 1875, to what became known as the DeWint street chapel. Nineteen years later the property on South avenue between Main and Beacon streets, with a building thereon, was purchased for $3,500, and the first service held December 2, 1894. During the occupancy of both these buildings the work (of a 'mission' sort) was conducted under the oversight of the rectors of St. Luke's."
"In 1898 definite efforts were made to organize an independent parish, and in the spring of 1899, St. Andrew's Church obtained its charter from the State. July 3rd its first vestry was elected. Church Wardens, James M. DeGarmo, George H. Williams, M.D .; Vestry- men, John P. Rider, Ralph S. Tompkins, John F. VanTine, Charles H. Seaman, Ferris C. Shahan, Andrew Bleakley. Its first rector, Rev. Joseph Cameron, entered upon his duties September 21st of the same year. Almost immediately steps were taken looking to the erec- tion of a church, and May 4th, 1900, the first sod for its foundation was turned. January 6th, 1901, the new church was opened for divine service. Through the kindness of Mr. John P. Rider, a rec- tory became possible and was built in 1903, adjoining the church. The whole property represents an outlay of $27,000."
An historical sketch of the Catholic churches will be found in an- other chapter.
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INDUSTRIES OF FISHKILL.
Mention has already been made passim of the various enterprises of the town since the days of Madam Brett, who may justly be called the founder of them. It is now proposed to give a brief history of the other and later industries, banks, etc., that have tended to develop the town.
Matteawan and Fishkill Landing are now supplied by water from the mountains, the ponds, dams, pipes and plant generally, having been purchased by the village of Matteawan about five or six years ago, when the private enterprise failed. This was the Fishkill and Matteawan Water Company, which about fifteen years ago began operations in the valley south of the North Beacon, by building reser- voirs on the stream which passes into the river over the beautiful cas- cade and glen known as Melzingah. A few years afterwards, the company acquired land on the mountains on the north slope of the North Beacon and there impounded a considerable body of water on the stream which passes through Matteawan under the name of Dry Brook. When the village of Matteawan took over both these prop- erties, an arrangement was made with the village of Fishkill Landing to take part of the water and purvey it to the inhabitants at cost. On the whole the scheme has worked well, and when the contemplated improvements are made to the entire plant there will be a satisfactory solution of the water question, and a most important one it has be- come, owing to the system of sewers which the two villages have re- cently installed. Events of this kind are tending to bring them to- gether, and many years will not elapse before they are consolidated into one municipality.
The gas and electric light works are operated by private capital. Principally through the enterprise and activity of the Hon. John T. Smith an electric railroad was opened about ten years ago, connecting the ferry at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson with Matteawan and Fishkill Vil- lage. The power is taken from the creek, supplemented by steam. The electric light plant, which is also largely due to Mr. Smith, has since been consolidated with the electric railway and the combined companies furnish power to several of the industries of the neighbor- hood.
The historic beacons of the Fishkill mountains have recently been made easily accessible by the building of an inclined railway, such as
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has been in successful operation on the Catskill mountains for several years past. The construction of commodious buildings for a summer pleasure resort has brought large numbers of tourists to the moun- tains and also enabled them to be readily enjoyed by the inhabitants of the town, and the increase in the number of tourists has warranted the opening of a firstclass hotel within the past year. For the incep- tion and successful operation of this enterprise the town is indebted to Mr. Weldon F. Weston, his brother, the late W. H. Weston of Newburgh, and to Mr. Eugene S. Whitney and some others from New Hampshire.
The following historical review of the industries, banks and trans- portation is from the pen of Mr. Theodore Brinckerhoff, president of the Matteawan National Bank.
The first mill was erected by Madam Brett near the mouth of the Fishkill Creek. This mill served not only all the inhabitants of the Rombout Patent, but also a portion of Orange County, grain being brought across the river in boats to be ground at that mill.
The next mill was erected on the Brinckerhoff lands a few miles east of Fishkill Village. Two brothers of that name came from Long Island in 1718, and purchased two thousand acres of land of Madam Brett. During the Revolutionary War this mill was owned and oper- ated by Derick Brinckerhoff, who was very prominent in organizing and supplying the Continental troops with provisions and forage. Washington, in passing to and from the department of the east, made his house his stopping place, and LaFayette was confined to his hos- pitable mansion by illness for six weeks. The room which he occupied was kept intact when the rest of the house was torn down to make room for a more commodious mansion. This incident has been com- memorated by the erection of a monument on the lawn by Lafayette Post, G. A. R., of New York, who dedicated it with appropriate cere- monies on Decoration Day, 1898.
It is said that Colonel Derick became somewhat inquisitive in regard to the movements of the troops, when Washington asked him "if he could keep a secret." On being assured that he could, Washington replied that he also could. This mill was burned during the war and tradition relates it was rebuilt by the soldiers stationed near Fishkill,
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for the purpose of supplying flour for the troops. This mill is still in existence, and is owned and occupied by Alexander Dudley.
Colonel Derick Brinckerhoff, like all others of the name in America, was a descendant of Joris Brinckerhoff and Susannah, his wife, who came from Flushing, Holland, and settled at Newton, L. I., in 1638. Five hundred acres of this purchase of the Brinckerhoffs still remain in the family, being owned and occupied by Frank Brinckerhoff. Another of the old Brinckerhoff houses was the homestead of Colonel John Brinckerhoff, now owned and occupied by Myers Brownell. Its date of erection as indicated by large iron letters inserted in a stone in the wall, was 1738.
- The next mill was the Schenck mill, erected by Abraham H. Schenck in the year 1800.) This mill did a large business grinding grain, and much of its product in early days was shipped to New York. It is still in existence, near the railroad station.
Later, Joseph Byrnes and Robert Newlin erected a mill on the navi- gable waters of the Fishkill Creek. They dug a canal from the old Madam Brett dam, nearly a quarter of a mile, to convey water to their wheel. This mill burned in the late thirties. Messrs. Byrnes and Newlin dissolved partnership and each built a brick structure, Mr. Newlin continuing in the milling business and Mr. Byrnes' mill being used for the manufacture of white lead.
The presidential campaign of 1840 was carried on with great zeal and earnestness, the principal dividing line being the tariff, the Whigs advocating a high protective tariff and the Democrats one for revenue only. The Whigs had nominated General William Henry Harrison for President, mainly on account of his popularity as an Indian fighter. He had subdued Tecumseh, the ablest Indian of his genera- tion, at the battle of Tippecanoe, and for that reason the admirers of Harrison had given him the name of that battle. The country rang with the plaudits of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and from the fact that General Harrison was born or supposed to have been born in a log cabin, that was made the emblem of the party. The Whigs of Fishkill had erected their log cabin and had met to dedicate it. Speak- ers and music (and it was said hard cider too) were provided in abundance, but a little incident occurred that placed a damper on their enthusiasm. Some one, supposed to be of the opposite political party, had procured the bladder of a skunk and placed it in the cabin,
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and when it was stepped on, anyone acquainted with the pungency, all pervadingism and persistency of that perfume can imagine the deep disgust and indignation of the partisans in and around that cabin.
The Whigs won that election, and as they had been for twelve long years outside the breastworks, they hastened to carry out their prin- ciples.
A high tariff was soon enacted and then came a wild rush to get into manufacturing, largely the spinning and weaving of cotton goods. New mills were erected wherever water power could be pro- cured, as steam had not as yet been used to any extent on land as a source of power. Flouring mills were dismantled and cotton machin- ery installed. Both the Newlin and Byrnes mills underwent this trans- formation, George Pine and associates in the one, and John Brown and Epenetus Crosby in the other. They had hardly got in opera- tion when the Democrats came into power in 1844 and with them the reduction of the rates of duty. This fact, together with the over- production, drove many of these new ventures to the wall and among them the Pine and Brown mills. They were again stripped of their machinery and laid idle for a number of years, when Mr. Sleight fitted them up as flouring mills. He brought his wheat from the west in canal boats and elevated it directly into the mills, as the raising of wheat had been largely discontinued in the Hudson Valley, having followed the Star of Empire, and Rochester was the largest producer of flour in the United States, the magnificent water power of the Genesee River being used for this purpose. Mr. Sleight's enterprise did not prove a success and he was succeeded by Mr. Coleman. Dur- ing his occupancy, which was not a long one, the mills burned, Sep- tember 9th, 1862, and have never been rebuilt.
During the cotton craze of 1841 and '42 Robert G. Rankin and Mr. Freeland, his brother-in-law, erected a dam and factory at Wiccopee, about a quarter of a mile south of the Matteawan Works. During the collapse of the cotton spinning business this factory was turned over to Charles M. Wolcott. He sold it in 1858 to the New York Rubber Company. This concern was organized in 1852 for the pur- pose of making rubber belting and toys, under the Goodyear patents, and removed to this point from Staten Island. It has been excellently managed, has paid good dividends to its stockholders, and been very liberal to its employees. Mr. John P. Rider is president of the com- pany.
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The Glenham mill was organized by Peter H. Schenck, John Jacob Astor, Philip Hone, Dr. Bartow White and others in the year 1822.
They built a factory for the manufacture of woolen goods. Mr. Schenck was its first president and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Russell Dart, Sr., and he in turn was succeeded by his son, Russell Dart, Jr. The company operated their factory with varied success until the breaking out of the Civil War, when the demand for indigo blue goods to clothe the army became so great that the company were compelled to enlarge their mill to many times its former capacity. In addition many tenements were built during the inflated period. Be- tween 1862-1873 or soon after the latter date, the company having expended a large share of their profits in brick and mortar and costly machinery, was unable to stand the shock of the financial panic and the general drop of prices in rough material and finished goods and was compelled to make an assignment September 29th, 1873, with liabilities of $700,000, assets $300,000 in stock and material. B. Platt Carpenter, a lawyer of Poughkeepsie, was the asignee, but sub- sequently a commissioner in bankruptcy was appointed, and under his direction the property was sold to A. T. Stewart, the noted New York dry goods man, for $190,000-only a portion of its cost. This sale included not only the original Glenham factory, about one hundred tenements and a farm on the east side of the creek, but also the site of the former Rocky Glen Cotton Mills which had been acquired from Garner & Co. by the Glenham Company, and also several smaller fac- tories at Groveville. Mr. Stewart kept the mills in operation and also built at Groveville in 1876 large and costly factories for the manu- facture of carpets.
These buildings were equipped with the best and most modern ma- chinery that money could buy. They had hardly got in successful operation when by the death of Mr. Stewart the property by some means came into the possession of Judge Hilton & Sons. Soon after the Hilton blight fell on all this property, the original factory at Glen- ham was allowed to fall into ruins, the machinery sold for junk, and where was once heard the whirl of the looms and the voices of hun- dreds of operatives earning their daily bread, is now heard nothing but the crash of falling ruins and the roar of the waters of the creek as they pass on unused and unutilized.
The Groveville mills, owing to their newness and strength, have so
JAMES G. MEYER.
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far escaped a similar fate. They ceased operations in the fall of 1893 and have never resumed; the machinery for the most part has been sold for junk. How long, O men, how long is this Dog in the Manger policy to be continued? How long are these natural resources of the town to be wasted and the splendid property which A. T. Stewart built up allowed to go to decay and ruin?
The Matteawan Company, organized in 1812 by Peter H. Schenck, J. J. Astor, Philip Hone and others, erected the stone cotton mill in 1814, as attested by the inscription in the wall. The company was reorganized in 1825, and shortly thereafter they built the machine shop and foundry on the east side of the creek, devoted largely to the production of cotton machinery. In 1848 and '49 they built two locomotives for the Hudson River Railroad Company. The company made an assignment to Robert G. Rankin and Robert Carver. The property and assets were sold in the same year by John A. C. Gray, the receiver, to the Matteawan Manufacturing and Machine Co., of which Samuel B. Schenck was president and manager. The property on the east side of the creek was sold under a mortgage held by Charles M. Wolcott, and purchased by him. This sale was set aside by the court in justice to the creditors. At a second sale Mr. Wol- cott purchased the stone cotton mill and the property known as the Clay mill farther up the creek, together with several outbuildings. Mr. Wolcott disposed of the property to John Falconer, who operated it under the name of the Seamless Clothing Manufacturing Co., in which he was associated with Mr. William Carroll. The company failed in 1876, and the concern subsequently resumed business under the name of William Carroll & Co. Mr. Carroll was obliged to sus- pend payment in 1883, but a few years later liquidated all claims at one hundred cents on the dollar, and has since continued successfully in the manufacture of wool and straw hats.
The Rothery File Works was established in 1835 by John Rothery, who came from Yorkshire, England. Mr. Rothery was the first to manufacture new files in America. After the business had outgrown several shops, Mr. Rothery, in company with his sons John and Wil- liam, purchased property in Tioronda avenue, and erected a commo- dious plant. In 1873 they erected another large building, which was destroyed by fire October 28, 1886. It was rebuilt and leased by the Rotherys to Messrs. Rockwell & Son for a silk factory. The Roth-
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erys had no faith in machine-made files, and refused to thus equip their plant. They were eventually compelled to give up the business, as they could not compete in price with the machine-made file.
The Fishkill Landing Machine Co. was incorporated February 17, 1853, to engage in the manufacture of stationary and marine engines, and a general machine business. The original capital was $25,000. The company was composed of some seventeen individuals, mostly resi- dents of Matteawan, who had been employed by the Matteawan Co. as iron workers.
The Matteawan Manufacturing Co. was organized in 1864, with a capital of $150,000, for the manufacture of fine wool hats. This in- dustry is one of the largest of its kind in the State, and is fully described in Part II of this work, together with various other indus- tries of the town, including the New York Rubber Co., the Green Fuel Economizer Co., the Fishkill Landing Machine Co., the Dutchess Hat Works, the Dutchess Tool Works, and the A. V. Rockwell Silk Mills.
The Fishkill and Matteawan Water Works was organized in 1885, the late Wm. H. Van Vliet being its promoter, and Taintor & Holt, bankers of New York City, its financial agents. They purchased twenty acres of land of Catherine and Theodore Brinckerhoff, and built a dam across the Melzingah stream nearly four hundred feet above tidewater, laid mains to the villages and two years later con- structed another dam farther up the stream. These two reservoirs not being sufficient to meet the growing necessities of the villages, another one was constructed on the east side of Mt. Beacon with an independent outlet. On the morning of the 14th day of July, 1897, about 2 A. M., after several days of rain, a cloudburst struck the upper dam at Melzingah and tore a great hole in it. The imprisoned waters rushed down the gorge, breaking through the lower dam and carrying everything before it-rocks weighing ten tons that had laid in the ravine since the glacial period were hurled like pebbles before the rush of waters to a distance of five hundred feet. Bridges were carried away, and at Timoneyville tenements were wrecked and seven persons drowned. This disaster crippled the company, and after re- pairing the lower dam they offered it for sale, and it was purchased by a syndicate in the name of Eugene Whitney, and was subsequently turned over to the villages.
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BRICK INDUSTRIES.
In the late thirties of the nineteenth century John Gillies and Henry Churchill of Breakneck, Isaac Brinckerhoff of what is now Dutchess Junction, and John Gowdy on the Wiltse property at Fishkill Land- ing, established brick yards. These men were the pioneers in a busi- ness which has since grown to great proportions and has been a source of employment for many and of great profit to the town. They used the circular pit and wheel for mixing the materials and a hand press for moulding the brick. Previous to that time the clay and sand were mixed by driving oxen through it and moulding it by hand-a slow and laborious process. In the early forties Mr. Adams invented a machine, that bore his name, which was used in connection with the circular pit and wheel for many years, and which mixed and moulded the brick in one operation. On the advent of the Hudson River Rail- road in 1847 the Gillies, Churchill and Brinckerhoff yards were dis- continued, the railroad running through them. Mr. Gowdy continued to operate his yard and on his retirement was succeeded by Mr. Joseph Lomas, who, in connection with Stephen Saunters, rented and afterwards purchased the property from a concern who had acquired it for the purpose of installing a Chambers machine. This machine mixed the materials and ran it through a die in a continuous stream and the brick was cut off the right length by a knife on a large wheel. During the hard times succeeding the panic of 1873 Mr. Lomas be- came financially involved and the property was acquired by Mr. Wel- ler of Newburgh, who sold it to the New York & New England Rail- road Company and the plant was discontinued. In 1852 Thomas Aldridge, a shrewd and successful manufacturer, purchased of John Van Vliet and Isaac Brinckerhoff forty-six acres of clay property and established a small yard thereon. This has been gradually enlarged and now has a daily capacity of four hundred and eighty thousand brick. The property is all operated under leaseholds under control of the Aldridge Brothers Company.
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