USA > New York > Dutchess County > The history of Dutchess County, New York > Part 38
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Upon the organization of the society in 1765, the Rev. Wheeler Case was installed as pastor. His labors with this congregation extended over a period of twenty-six years, until his death, which occurred August 31, 1791.
Succeeding pastors were: Reverends Methusaleh Baldwin, 1792- '99; John Clark, 1800-'29; Benjamin F. Wile, 1829-'67; Henry J. Acker, 1868-'73; William Whittaker, 1873-'79; Augustus B. Pritch- ard, 1800-'87; Edgar Beckwith, 1887-'01; George T. Galbraith, stated supply, 1901-'04; Frank W. Townsend, 1904-'08; Rev. R. H. Stearns, 1908.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH. The settlers in the vicinity of Salt Point were principally of the Baptist faith, and organized a society previous to the Revolution. It was not until 1790 that their first house of worship was built, on a half acre of ground given by John Van Voor- hees. The records begin with the year 1793, and Elder John Dodge became the first pastor. He continued until 1813, and was followed by Elder Roberts, who officiated seven years at different periods. The membership has dwindled and with the exception of a few years the pulpit has been filled by "supplies."
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. It is not known when Meth- odism was introduced in Pleasant Valley, but probably about 1788, the year the Dutchess circuit was formed. Meetings were held for several years in a school house on the hill one mile east of the village. In 1825 the society bought of James Odell for $150.00, one acre of land situated on the "Dutchess Turnpike" and proceeded at once to build a church. In 1845 the edifice was removed from the hill to the village, during the pastorate of Rev. Jeremiah Ham. This church
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
and the Methodist Church at Washington Hollow are now supplied by the Rev. Mr. Hawley, of Poughkeepsie.
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, Pleasant Valley. This society was organized through the efforts of Rev. F. W. Hatch, Mr. Homer Wheaton and Bishop Onderdonk in 1837. A lot was obtained from James Odell and John Newcomb in 1842, and a church edifice erected, which was consecrated January 25, 1843. Up to this time the Rev. Mr. Hatch was in charge of the parish. He was succeeded in 1842 by the Rev. Sheldon Davis, who remained until 1862. He held services in various parts of the county, and left to this parish a rectory and $600 in trust. The church has been repaired and improved under the rector- ship of the Rev. Dr. Richard Russell Upjohn, who has been in charge since 1903.
THE WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH at Salt Point was or- ganized December 20, 1860, by seventeen members of the Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Valley, who had requested their dismissal from the parent society for that purpose.
A church site was donated by Mr. Charles Brown, and the edifice erected in 1862. Rev. A. C. Frissell was installed the first pastor. The church is now prospering under the care of the Rev. J. A. Mac- Gowan.
According to the Friends' records which occupy a chapter in this work, the Quaker meeting house at Pleasant Valley was erected in 1802. Among the early members were the Deans, Flaglers, Drakes, Stringhams, Hicks and Farringtons. Regular meetings were dis- continued in 1855.
The following have been the successive Supervisors of the town since 1824:
1824-'25 Samuel M. Thurston
1847-'48 George Holmes
1826-'27 Peter K. Du Bois
1849-'50 Franklin Dudley
1828-'32 Anthony Badgley
1851-'52 Isaac F. Smith
1833-'84 Robert Laurence
1853 '54 Isaac Van Wagner
1835 Charles Brown
1855 Isaac P. Marshall
1836 Thomas Welling
1856-'58
1837-'39
Charles Brown
1859
(Records lost) William Herrick
1840-'41 John H. Newcomb
1860 George Lamoree
1842-'43 Isaac Van Wagner
1861-'62 John W. Lattin
1844-'45 Oliver Devine
1863-'64
V. M. Townsend
1846 Daniel O. Ward
1865 Thomas Alley
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TOWN OF PLEASANT VALLEY.
1866
1888-'89 John W. Edwards
1867
V. M. Townsend Dewitt Webb
1890-'91
E. Wright Vail
1868-'70 Isaac P. Marshall
1892
Edward C. Drake
1871-372 George E. Brower
1893 Calvin Coon
1873 Anthony Briggs
1894
Anthony Briggs
1874-'78 John M. Bowman
1895
Samuel Lynch
1879-'80 Abram Devine
1896-'97
William H. Bower
1881-'82 Frank L. Akerley
1898-'99
Benjamin Van Wagner
1883-'84 Theron H. Marshall
1900-'08 Joseph Doty
1885-'86
Edward C. Drake
1904-'05
William G. Lary
1887 Theron Marshall
1906-'09
Charles L. Cole
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE TOWN OF RED HOOK.1
T HE town of Red Hook was formed from Rhinebeck, June 2, 1812, and its early history is more or less blended in that of the latter town.
It lies in the extreme northwest corner of Dutchess, bordering Columbia County, which forms its northern boundary. It is bounded on the east by Milan; on the south by Rhinebeck; while along the western border flows the matchless Hudson.
The surface of the town is a rolling upland, and the soil chiefly a gravelly loam, except in the broad and fertile valleys of the Sawkill and Stony creek, where it is clayey. Spring Lake, in the eastern part, formerly called Long Pond, is the largest body of water in the town, and forms the source of the Sawkill.
Overlooking the Hudson are several beautiful country seats of historic interest ; while the interior of the town is devoted principally to agriculture and the cultivation of fruits.
The town has changed but little since the publication of the last history of Dutchess County. The villages of Red Hook and Tivoli- Madalin continue to be the chief centers of population, and Barry- town maintains its importance as a railroad depot for the surround- ing country.
Tradition relates, and has been supported by some evidence, that about the year 1700 an aboriginal battle was fought on Magdalen, now Cruger's Island, between fifty chosen warriors of each of the tribes composing the "Six Nations," namely, the Oneidas, Onondagas, Mowhawks, Cayugas, Senecas and the Tuscaroras. It was arranged that but one man from each tribe should enter the conflict at a time.
1. We are indebted to Mr. John N. Lewis, of Annandale, for the greater portion of the material embodied in this chapter.
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TOWN OF RED HOOK.
At its close there were only a few of the Mohawks and Tuscaroras left, with the advantage in favor of the latter. The Mohawks fled in their canoes to the island about a mile north, then called Slipsteen, now Goat Island. There they lighted their camp fires and spread their blankets over sticks of wood and stones, expecting the visitors to fall upon them during the night. As they imagined, the vic- torious Tuscaroras came and proceeded to attack, as they supposed, their sleeping enemies. But they sprang from their hiding places behind the rocks, and in turn vanquished the Tuscaroras. The Mo- hawks thus went home victorious, and held the supremacy of the Six Nations, over which the dispute had arisen.
The last accounts of Indians located in this vicinity were of those in the Northwest portion of the town facing the North Cove. There they remained long after it was settled by the white people. In some of the deeds of the early settlers the lands are described as bounded on the north and west by the Red Man's Corners, and from this, it is presumed, originated the name of Red Hook. The land they occu- pied being hook shaped, and in possession of the red men, the Dutch settlers called it Roed Hoek.
In 1688 Col. Peter Schuyler obtained from Governor Dongan a patent to lands in this neighborhood, the boundaries of which are defined in Chapter IV. The following year Schuyler disposed of a portion of his patent to Harme Gansevoort, who in turn sold it to the Knickerbacker family in 1704. Other divisions of the patent Col. Schuyler sold to Tierk De Witt of Ulster County, Joachem Staats of the manor of Rensselaerswick, and Barent Van Benthuysen of Dutchess County, in 1719.
The reservation of mill sites on the Sawkill, which was found to have three falls of water, and the right to cut and haul timber there- for over any of the adjoining lands, all of which is clearly set forth in the deeds, would indicate that there were no mills in this vicinity in 1720, nor highways, except the Post Road.
Magdalen Island (now Cruger's), which was included in the Schuy- ler grant, was sold to the Van Benthuysens. When Hudson sailed up the river, in the Half Moon, he anchored off the north end of the island and passed the night there. Dr. John Masten, of Kingston, purchased the island from the Van Benthuysens. He built a house at the south end and gave himself up to a life of ease and luxury on
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
this island until 1835, when he removed to Buffalo, where his sons were engaged in the practice of law.
Mr. John C. Cruger then purchased the island, but did not spend much of his time there for the first few years, though his father, Mr. Peter Cruger, was there most of the time. The Crugers were a noted New York family. In 1739 John Cruger was Mayor of New York City, and his son subsequently was also Mayor. Another son was a colleague of the celebrated Edmund Burke, a representative in Parlia- ment for the city of Bristol, England. Mr. John C. Cruger died in New York, November 16, 1879, a few days after his return with his family from Europe, beloved and lamented by everyone. His wife, the daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany, died April 27, 1888, and was buried beside her husband, beneath Trinity Church, New York.
The mills that were built subsequent to 1725 on the Sawkill and the White Clay Kill (now Stony creek) were a prominent feature of the earlier times. On the former stream at one time stood Judge Livings- ton's mill at the river ; General Armstrong's mill at Cedar Hill; Van Benthuysen's mill, and a woolen factory in the same place; the Chan- cellor's mill, in the interior, and Robert G. Livingston's mill on the Rock City branch.
At the mouth of Stony creek was the mill of Jannetje Bradt, Park's mill at Myersville (Madalin), Cook's factory, and Zachariah Hoff- man's mill. Several of the above mentioned mills and adjoining build- ings were burned by a detachment of British troops immediately after the destruction of Kingston in 1777. The only dwelling spared was the home of Gilbert Robert Livingston, who remained loyal to the crown during the Revolutionary War.
A large portion of the land about what is now known as Tivoli was owned by the Hoffmans, who built the Hoffman mills northeast of Tivoli, nearly a century and a half ago. They were freighters, store- keepers, and millers before and after the Revolution.
Nicholas Bonesteel and Anna Margretha Kuhn, his wife, with some of their children, were among the early settlers. A portion of the village of Red Hook is now on the easterly part of their farm. Of their descendants, Philip N. Bonesteel was a merchant, magistrate and postmaster in Red Hook for many years. His son, Virgil D., was Surrogate of Dutchess County in 1844.
429
TOWN OF RED HOOK.
Peter Contine and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Jacob Heermance of Kingston, lived at Upper Red Hook previous to the Revolution. In 1791 he kept a store at what is now Barrytown Landing.
John, James, Daniel and Robert Wilson, four brothers, settled in the vicinity of Upper Red Hook before 1770, and engaged in farm- ing. The two eldest married the Kuhn sisters, daughters of Simon Kuhn.
Another early resident of the town was Hendrick Weidman, after- wards written Whiteman. He came from Zurich, Switzerland, about 1736, and ten years later settled on a farm here, acting as land agent. His son Jacob, in 1796, purchased the fee of the farm. Both father and son warmly supported the cause of the Colonists during the Revolution, and the night of October 15, 1777,, a band of Tories attacked the Whiteman homestead, but were effectually repulsed.
The history of the fine old estates bordering the Hudson is linked with prominent families of revolutionary days. The Montgomery place, which is identified, in a measure, with our national history, was the home of the widow of General Richard Montgomery, as well as of Edward Livingston. Shortly after Montgomery married Miss Janet Livingston, he settled on his wife's estate, "Grasmere," near Rhinebeck. When hostilities commenced between England and the colonies he warmly espoused our cause. When he was ordered to join Arnold at Ticonderoga and proceed to Canada, his wife accompanied him as far as Lake Champlain. His last words in bidding her good- bye were: "You shall never blush for your Montgomery." She was never permitted to see him again, for he fell within a few weeks while leading the advance on Quebec. His widow then bought of Abram Van Benthuysen the estate now called "Montgomery Place." She im- mediately built the house at present occupied by Carleton Hunt, Esq., and sisters, where she spent the rest of her days in quiet and comparative seclusion. She died in 1828, leaving the place by will to her youngest brother, Edward Livingston, who at that time was in the United States Senate. He had previously served two terms in Congress, and in 1801 was elected Mayor of New York.
Almont was built by General John Armstrong, who helped to cap- ture Burgoyne at the battle of Saratoga. The mansion was destroyed by fire thirty years ago, and the beautiful and extensive forest of giant white oaks and chestnuts will soon be converted into timber for
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
the New York market. A corporation, in 1908, paid $10,000 for the lumber rights of this property.
The estate was purchased from General Armstrong about 1800 by Col. Andrew De Vaux, a native of South Carolina. After the death of Col. De Vaux in 1812 his widow and her two daughters resided at Almont until 1816, when the place was purchased by John C. Stevens for his brother-in-law, Robert Swift Livingston, who held the prop- erty until his death. It then passed to his two sons, Frank and and Clarence. They sold it in partition to Gen. James H. Van Alen, but the transaction was not completed and Almont remained in the Livingston family, and finally passed to the two sons of Frank Liv- ingston, Robert and Charles, who sold it a year ago to Cord A. Meyer, of Brooklyn, the present owner.
The estate known as "Rokeby," now owned by Mrs. Richard Al- drich, and containing some three hundred acres, was first established under the name of "La Bergerie" by General John Armstrong, who built the house and so named the place after he returned from France, where he was American Ambassador, 1804-1811. Mrs. Armstrong was the daughter of Robert Livingston, of Clermont, in Columbia County, and a grand-daughter of Henry Beekman, of Rhinebeck.
General Armstrong employed to build the house a Scotch carpenter, named Warner Richards, whom he moved from Cedar Hill to a cot- tage near the site. There was a quantity of panelling in the ample halls and many of the twenty rooms, all of which this skillful work- man made and placed, besides being the master builder. No archi- tect's name has been connected with the plans, but there is a tradition that one or more French country houses were freely copied by the General. Letters and bills of lading relating to the material, which came in sloops, are in the house; but the records are incomplete; it is impossible to arrive at any conclusion as to the relative cost of build- ing then and now.
The War of 1812, during which General Armstrong was Secretary of War, his two grown sons being engaged upon the Canadian fron- tier, delayed the building, and placed the responsibility of its slow progress upon Mrs. Armstrong, who received many letters concern- ing flooring and beams, cellars and farm buildings, from her absent husband. On March 18, in 1815, General Armstrong wrote to Judge Ambrose Spencer :
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TOWN OF RED HOOK.
"I have been entirely occupied devising ways and means to make my family comfortable in their new quarters. We were driven out of our old ones rather prematurely, and with a loss, the extent of which every day makes us better ac- quainted with. Of my papers all were saved excepting one box brought from France. Most of its contents was literary lumber, but my memorials of conver- sation with French functionaries, some of which were very curious, and might have been useful in illustrating the character of Buonaparte and his Ministers, are lost, and no exertion of memory can now replace them. We are tolerably lodged in the new house, and have the music of saws and hammers to wake us at daybreak, and to keep us awake through the day. In another month we shall have the additional felicity of mortar within and without."
As the name La Bergerie implies, this place was designed to be a sheep-fold. The Armstrongs imported merinos from France, on the advice of Napoleon, and sheep of this breed brought good prices in the hands of a lady who understood them, for Mrs. Armstrong sold five for fifteen hundred dollars.
It is commonplace in the talk of the neighborhood that the Erie Canal ruined the husbandry of Red Hook. Once the central part of the State could reach New York's market, a rich and more virgin soil produced better crops, animals and fruit. The peach crop, long very successful, lost its security of ripening, whether owing to changes in the soil, as it was longer under constant cultivation, or to changes in the climate, is not certain, but after this last staple passed from the neighborhood the estates ceased to be productive, and have been sold by all who could not afford to run them without employ- ing labor regardless of what its return might be.
General and Mrs. Armstrong were the parents of five sons and one daughter. The latter married William B. Astor, and in 1836 the house and grounds of "La Bergerie" were sold to Mr. Astor, the French Empire furniture which it contained, as well as the price, being reserved for the brothers.
In 1813 was published Sir Walter Scott's poem of Rokeby. Just when a resemblance between the scenery of this poem and that of "La Bergerie" was first fancied, we do not know, but because of such re- semblance the name was changed to Rokeby. Mr. and Mrs. Astor lived to enjoy their inheritance until after their golden wedding, Mr. Astor dying in 1875, three years later than his wife. Rokeby was bequeathed by him to the child of their long-deceased eldest daughter Emily, wife of Samuel Ward, Esq., namely to Margaret Astor Chan-
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
ler. Mrs. Chanler only outlived her grandfather a few weeks. In December, 1875, her ten children, among them the present owner, inherited Rokeby, and there lived during a long minority. The place was again a sheep-fold.
It was at Rokeby that Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, formerly Lieu- tenant-Governor of the State of New York, and brother of Mrs. Aldrich, received the official notification of his nomination by the Democratic party in 1908, for the high office of Governor of this State, and it was here that he delivered his speech of acceptance.
Others members of this family who have been prominent in public affairs of the State and Nation are William Astor Chanler, formerly Congressman from New York City, who, during the Spanish-American war presented the United States Government with a mountain battery, fully equipped, for use in the Philippine army; and Robert Winthrop Chanler, member of the State Legislature in 1904, and the present Sheriff of Dutchess County. Mrs. Aldrich (Margaret Astor Chanler) rendered faithful service to her country as an army nurse in the Cuban campaign. Her sister, Elizabeth, is the wife of John Jay Chapman. Their country seat, "Sylvania," occupies a portion of the Rokeby estate.
The chateau of Tivoli, now occupied by Mrs. J. L. de Peyster, was built shortly after the Revolution by a Frenchman who spelled his name Delabegarre, but tradition says this was an Americanism for L'Abbe de Seguard, which would indicate that he was a waif of the French Revolution. He was ambitious, and in 1795 laid out his farm of sixty acres into lots for a proposed city. His enwalled dwelling was styled "Le Chateau de Tivoli," and from this chateau and illusory town, the name of the present village was derived.
This old home in time came into the possession of Col. Johnston Livingston de Peyster, who remodeled it so that merely the original octagon center remains.
The Callendar House was built by Henry Gilbert Livingston, who, in October, 1795, sold it to Philip Henry Livingston. Mr. Livings- ton and his wife called this seat "Sunning Hill," and occupied it until 1828, when it was purchased by Robert Tillotson, who sold it to Richard T. Auchmuty in 1835. It passed into the hands of William E. Toler in 1854, and ten years later into those of Jacob R. LeRoy, who presented it to his daughter, the wife of the Rev. Henry de Koven. In 1860 it became the property of Mr. Johnston Livingston, who,
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TOWN OF RED HOOK.
with his son-in-law, Mr. Geraldwyn Redmond, at present occupy it.
A portion of the homestead at Annandale now occupied by Mr. John N. Lewis, president of the First National Bank of Red Hook, was built by his grandfather, Thomas Lewis, in 1754, who occupied it until his death. It then passed to his son Peter, who married Mary Neher, the parents of John N. Lewis.
Blithewood, the country seat of Captain Andrew C. Zabriskie, was formerly the property of Mr. John Bard. After the death of Mr. Bard the estate was sold to St. Stephen's College. In 1904 Captain Zabriskie purchased the property, and the old house was replaced by the present mansion.
Annandale was originally only the name of Mr. Bard's estate. It has now come to designate the site of St. Stephen's College and the immediate neighborhood.
The College grew out of the Church of the Holy Innocents and its parish school, of which the Rev. George F. Seymour was the rector in 1855. In connection with his parochial work he gave instruction to several young men who were preparing themselves to enter the General Theological Seminary. Through the interest and financial aid of Mr. and Mrs. Bard it became possible to make this class the nucleus of a training school, where young men looking forward to Holy Orders might obtain their preparation for the study of theology at a minimum cost, and amidst healthful surroundings. The need of such an institution had been keenly felt by both Bishop Wainwright and Bishop Potter.
Mr. Bard agreed to convey to the proposed college the Holy Inno- cents Church which he had erected, the parish school house, some eighteen acres of land, and other property, valued in all at sixty thousand dollars, and to pay an annual subscription of one thousand dollars during his life and ability. In recognition of this gift the Diocese of New York, assembled in convention in 1859, adopted reso- lutions recognizing the training school as a Diocesan institution, and tendering the thanks of the Church to Mr. Bard.
March 20, 1860, the Hon. John V. L. Pruyn, LL.D., obtained from the Legislature a charter which conferred upon the trustees of St. Stephen's College full collegiate powers and privileges, The trustees organized under the charter April 11, 1860, and appointed the Rev. George F. Seymour warden. He was succeeded in 1861 by the Rev.
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THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS.
Thomas Richey. Two years later the Rev. Robert B. Fairbairn, who had been professor of mathematics and natural philosophy the previous year, was chosen as his successor. During his able warden- ship of thirty-five years, the college increased in numbers and influ- ence. Valuable buildings were erected, endowments were secured, and students were attracted to the college from all parts of the country. He was succeeded in 1899 by the Rev. Laurence T. Cole, Ph.D., who resigned in the summer of 1903, and was followed by the Rev. Thomas R. Harris, D.D., who held the wardenship for three years and a half. The Rev. George B. Hopson, D.D., D.C.L., professor of the Latin language and literature, became acting warden until the spring of 1909, when Rev. Dr. Rogers was elected warden.
CHURCHES.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Red Hook was originally an appointment on the Milan circuit, supplied with only occasional preaching. In the year 1840 this appointment was made a station, and was called the Red Hook Mission. The church edifice was erected in 1849. Among the earliest and most active members were Samuel Fancher, Mrs. Christian Mowl and Mrs. Jane Nicks. The first min- ister stationed here was Albert Nash. He was succeeded in 1841 by Rev. Bartholomew Creagh, who drew to the church some of the wealth- ier and aristocratic families of the neighborhood and town, including Mrs. William B. Astor and Mrs. Col. Armstrong and daughter. Mr. Creagh's labors were also blessed with a revival, and this favorable combination of circumstances gave the church a standing which it has since maintained. The Rev. W. T. Brush is the present minister.
ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL CHURCH is an butgrowth from the old "Pink's Corner" Church, which was the parent body and was German Reformed. The baptismal record runs back to 1730. About the year 1800 a new church was built at Lower Red Hook village, and its members being largely affiliated with the Lutherans by association and intermarriage, it became a Lutheran church, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. N. W. Goertner. The present pastor is the Rev. George Hipsley.
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