USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 12
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ory of those who perished with him in that ill-advised and ill-equipped ex- pedition ; also to the memory of Captain Isaac Nicoll and those who died with him, in the War of the Rebellion. Captain Richard Caldwell left two children, John R. Caldwell, long well known as a prominent citizen of New Windsor, and Mary, the wife of Marcus Sears, M.D. The old house erected by John Caldwell in 1803 is still standing, long known as the home of Andrew J. Caldwell and his son, Richard Caldwell, both of whom stood firm for righteousness and temperance. In a part of the same grounds was the home of a sister, Mrs. Chambers, now occupied by the widow of Richard Caldwell, and from which still emanates a powerful in- fluence for good to the whole village. Also the old home of the oldest son, John Caldwell, who was a merchant in New York, and on retiring came to live with his kindred in Salisbury, was the first president of the Orange County Agricultural Society, and was much interested in keeping silk worms and actually produced silk from the mulberry trees growing on his grounds in Salisbury.
Near the village stands a part of the old stone house, the home of Major DuBois, who was a prominent man in the War of the Revolution, as major in Colonel Woodhull's regiment, who was a prisoner for ten months in the hands of the British, and who lost his extensive lands by the depreciation of the Colonial money and his enforced absence from home; also the beautiful home of the family of Hon. Robert Denniston. The ancestor of the Denniston family was Alexander Denniston, the brother-in-law of Charles Clinton, who with many of his friends and neighbors, all being Scotch Presbyterians, and tired of the exactions and demands of the crown, emigrated from the town of Edgeworth, county of Longford, Ireland, in the early summer of 1729. After a long, tedious voyage of nearly five months, they landed on Cape Cod : thence two years later they came to Little Britain. A family legend is, that these pioneers stood upon a hilltop about two miles northeast of Washingtonville and called the land in sight to the north, Little Britain, and there they settled. Alexander had six sons, James, George, Alexander, William, John, Charles, and four daughters. They were all stern patriots devoted to their country. The father was a member of Colonel Ellison's New Windsor regiment in 1738, and on frontier service in 1755. The six sons were all members of the Third Ulster County regiment, which was called out many times during the dark days of the Revolution. Two were members
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of the Committee of Safety and one served in the line during the whole war. Of these sons James was the only one that settled in the town of Blooming Grove, the others settling elsewhere, New Windsor, Cornwall, etc. He purchased, in 1790, the farm one mile east of Washingtonville, which still remains in the family. He had three sons, James, Alexander, Abraham, and two daughters. He died in 1805, leaving the homestead to his son James. The latter had one son, Robert, and four daughters, Dying in 1825, the homestead was inherited by his son Robert. The latter served as an officer of the militia, was justice of the peace in his native town, judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Orange County, was elected member of the New York State Assembly in 1835, and again in 1839 and 1840, and was State senator from 1841-1847 and State comptroller in 1860 and 1861. He was very active and energetic in his endeavors to maintain the Union during the War of the Rebellion, and was chairman of the military commission in the Orange and Sullivan Counties district. He had five sons, William Scott, James Otis, Robert, Henry Martyn, Augustus, and six daughters. These sons, like their an- cestors, were all interested in the war for the preservation of the Union, and served either in the army or navy. William Scott was a surgeon in the volunteer army and died of fever, July, 1862. James Otis was first lieutenant and captain, Company G, 124th N. Y. State Volunteers, July 2, 1862, to September 3, 1863, when, on account of wounds, he was mus- tered out. He afterwards studied theology and retired from active church work in 1905. Augustus was first lieutenant and quartermaster in the same regiment from July 15, 1862, to February 3, 1863, resigning on account of physical debility. Henry Martyn entered the pay corps of the U. S. Navy in September, 1861, and after serving over forty years, on reaching the age of sixty-two years was placed on the retired list with the rank of rear admiral. Robert served as his assistant from March, 1863, to October, 1863, resigning on account of ill health, and died August, 1864. Augustus was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1874-1875, and president of Orange County Agricultural Society, 1879, to date ; also president of Highland National Bank, and resides on the old homestead, which he owns.
West of Blooming Grove about two miles is located the village of Craigville, upon the falls of the Greycourt Creek, which formerly al-
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lowed three dams, all now gone, the combined power of which, together with the fact that the stream may be replenished from Walton Lake, or Long Pond, will at some future date be of value, as it was in the past. On the upper fall was located in the early days a forge, and some of the old slag is still in evidence. In later years a saw-mill and grist-mill were erected by Hector Craig, used afterward as the first manufactory of Hornby's Oats-H. O. The machinery has been removed since to Buffalo. The second fall was utilized by James Craig and his son, Hector Craig, for a paper mill in 1790.
After the death of Hector Craig, Barrett Ames, a son-in-law of Hector Craig, who had been a cotton merchant in Mobile, and his son-in-law, E. Peet, erected here a cotton factory, which was operated successfully for a number of years, but after the death of Mr. Ames, the property passed into other hands, and the cotton factory was burned down. Later the high dam was swept away and nothing remains but the ruins and the old house, which was once surrounded by beautiful gardens and was the scene of much social life when the home of Hector Craig. Barrett Ames and Irving Van Wart, who was a son-in-law of Mr. Ames. At this home Wash- ington Irving, an uncle of Irving Van Wart, made one of his last visits, if not his last visit, far away from Sunnyside. To this old home came James Craig, in 1790, from Paisley, Scotland, bringing with him his family. His son, Hector Craig, born in Scotland. 1775. married a daugh- ter of Jolin Chandler, 1796. He was a member of Congress, 1823-1825 and 1829-1830. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, is said to have cast the first vote in Congress for Andrew Jackson for President, and was by him appointed surveyor of the port in 1830, and U. S. com- missioner of bankruptcy in 1832. Hector Craig carried on the paper mill during his life, and also for a time the manufacture of hemp from the Chester meadows, which had been drained by act of Legislature in 1790. The old storehouse built by him is still carried on by Edwin Duryea, and the old hotel is still standing, a part of the Hornby prop- erty. The third fall, much lower, turned the mill of Uncle Silas Sea- man and his son, Valentine Seaman, but is now out of use, and the prop- erty of H. S. Ramsdell. Just beyond the terminus of the Blooming Grove and Greycourt turnpike is the old Greycourt Cemetery, the burial place of many respected citizens of this and adjoining towns.
Two miles south of Craigville is situated Oxford Depot, on the Erie
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Railroad, with a general country store, kept formerly by Peter B. Taylor, but for many years the store and post-office have been in charge of S. C. Van Vliet, who has also served the town as supervisor, justice, etc. Here is also a creamery run by the Alexander Campbell Co. The old settlement of Satterly's Mills and the adjacent Campbell Tillotson prop- erty are now the beautiful country residence of William Crawford, a well- known New York merchant, who is doing much to improve that part of the town. Near Oxford Depot is the beautiful home of Judge Charles R. Bull, supervisor from 1899 to 1903, and associate judge of County Court, and a lineal descendant of Sarah Wells. The old-time homes of the Seelys and Marvins and the Fletcher Woodhull families, for a long time famous for their well-tilled farms, and in the old times well finished fat cattle, have passed from their hands, with the single exception of that of Courtland Marvin, still in the hands of his grand-daughter, Fannie Marvin, regent of Blooming Grove Chapter, D. A. R., and grand- daughter of Fannie Woodhull Marvin, mentioned by Eager in his sketch of Claudius Smith as being used by her mother, wife of Captain Wood- hull, in saving the family silver. The stone house built under the supervision of William S. Woodhull is still the property of the widow of his son, Jesse Woodhull, who was a daughter of Marcus Sears and Mary Caldwell. And the Youngs homesteads are still held by their de- scendants, Joseph W. Young, Mrs. Durland and the family of William B. Hunter. The Bulls in the southern part of the town near Monroe, still dwell upon the old homestead. John Brewster, the town clerk of Cornwall, 1765-1799, lived near Blooming Grove, and a part of his old homestead remains in the hands of his descendants, Thomas C. and Walter H. Brewster, who have both been supervisors of the town, and whose beautiful homes are beside the Tappan on Satterly's Creek, and near the ancestral home of Selah E. Strong, supervisor of Blooming Grove, 1875-1882, and sheriff of Orange County, 1888-1889-1890, and is now the home of his widow and their son, Sherwood Strong. This fine, old home was built by his grandfather, Selah Strong, the first super- visor of the new town of Blooming Grove, having been justice of the peace for the town of Cornwall for ten years. His father, Major Na- thaniel Strong, came to this farm with the Howells and Woodhulls from Long Island, and married Hannah, daughter of Major Nathaniel Wood- hull. He was a prominent citizen, a major in the Continental Army, and
The Abimal Youngs House, Oxford Depot, Built, 1733.
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was murdered in his home on his farm, by the notorious Claudius Smith, October 6. 1778. This homestead adjoins that of the Strong family, now occupied by Charles F. Bull, from which came Major Samuel Strong and Captain Nathan Strong, who was at Valley Forge with the Continental Army. The descendants of Samuel Strong now live in Blooming Grove on the Benjamin Strong farm, near the Blooming Grove church, and Charles Strong in Blagg's Clove. This homestead adjoins that of Colonel Jesse Woodhull, who settled here on 500 acres of land in 1753, aged eigh- teen years, a part of which still remains in the family of N. D. Woodhull. The Woodhull family were descendants from Richard Woodhull, born in North Hampton, England, 1620. Zealous for English liberty during the Protectorate, he sought freedom here. His grandson, Nathaniel, married into the Smith family, who were large proprietors of St. George's Manor, L. I. His daughter, Hannah, married Major Na- thaniel Strong. His son, General Nathaniel Woodhull, remained upon the old homestead at Mastic, Long Island, and took an active part in oppos- ing British oppression, and was killed by a British officer, September 2, 1776, tradition says because he would not say, "God save the King."' Jesse settled in Blagg's Clove, and his son Richard married Hannah, daughter of Judge William Smith, of Long Island, and was the father of William Smith and Nathaniel DuBois. William Smith was the father of William Henry Howell and Jesse Woodhull, and Nathaniel was the father of Rich- ard and Francis Mandeville and grandfather of Nathaniel D. Woodhull, well known in Orange County as a leader of the New York milk business. Adjoining the Woodhull tract is the old Howell homestead to which Hezekiah Howell came from Long Island about 1730, and tradition says that as they came over Schunemunk Mountain they were obliged to stand by their horses to prevent the wild turkeys from eating up their oats. He with Sylvanus White and others took up the patent of 2.000 acres called Blagg's Clove, and he married a daughter of Job Sayre in 1735. His son, Hezekiah 2d, was born here, 1741, and married Juliana, daughter of Nathaniel Woodhull, of Mastic. L. I. His son, Charles Howell, was born in 1752, married a daughter of Major Nathaniel Strong, and after her death. Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Board, and settled near the Blooming Grove church, upon a farm of 150 acres, which still remains in the hands of the family of his son, Edmund S. Howell. He served in the Independent Corps under General George
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Clinton in building Fort Putnam, and was on guard after the burning of Kingston. Hezekiah Howell was the first supervisor of the old town of Cornwall, and was sheriff of Orange County during the Revolution. His son, Hezekiah 3d, married Frances, daughter of Major Tuthill, of Orange County. His grandson, Nathaniel W., graduated from Williams in the year 1853, was supervisor of Blooming Grove, 1871 and 1872, and a member of Assembly, 1863-1864. He has lived upon the old Howell homestead, and also inherited his father's farm, and has just conveyed . the whole Howell tract of 700 acres to C. T. Purdy, who is as closely connected with Sheriff Howell as Nathaniel W. Sylvanus White, Jr., was born on Long Island, Southampton, and was son of Sylvanus and Phoebe Howell. They came with the Howells and Woodhulls and Strongs and Moffatts, to Blagg's Clove, and settled upon 300 acres of land. His daughter married Anselm Helme, and the family still retain the old Helme homestead, near Coleman's Mills. His son, Nathan H. White, was born in 1770, entered Columbia College at the age of eighteen, and graduated in 1781 in the same class as John Randolph of Roanoke. He taught a classical school in Montgomery for six years, and was principal of the Newburgh Academy two years. Returning to the old home in 1802, he married Frances, daughter of Hezekiah and Juliana Woodhull Howell and added 200 acres to the old homestead. He was elected first judge of Orange County, and was the friend and associate of Judges Kent, Van Ness, Platt and others; in 1806 was commissioned by Governor Morgan Lewis, captain of an Orange County Company of Militia. His son, Albert S. White, went to Indiana about 1825, was a member of Congress from Indiana two terms, and U. S. Senator contemporary with Clay, Calhoun and Webster. One daughter married Harvey Denniston, and after his death, John Nicoll, of Washingtonville, and the old White homestead is still held by her son. Charles Nicoll; and from this union of the Woodhulls with the Strongs and the Howells and from the Wood- hull family came the numerous descendants who, together with the Seelys, Tuthills and Moffatts, Hulses, Hudsons, Duryeas, etc., have com- bined to make the old town well known, both at home and in very many distant States, as one after another has left his ancestral acres to seek a home, if not a fortune, in other parts of our native land. Those who remained at home have kept the ancestral acres up to the standard of productiveness set by their fathers, have been the sup-
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porters of the old church and of the schools, and have erected beau- tiful homes.
Instead of the droves of fatted cattle which slowly wended their way through the Ramapo Valley to the Christmas market in the city, and the county butter, now the Erie Railroad carries its daily freight of milk, and the accustomed leisure, the good old-fashioned all-day visits, and early teas, have given way to the daily rush to the trains, or cream- eries, and the more elaborate, though no more enjoyable festal occasions, with formal invitations and great preparations.
Who shall succeed these old families who have so loyally supported the Church, the State and the School? Shall their fine residences, which now crown the hilltops, with their beautiful views, and the valleys with their peaceful streams, attract the residents of the nearby cities, as the neighboring town of Monroe is doing? Or will these homes pass into the hands of those who have to labor for their daily bread, day by day. and neither the one nor the other caring for the traditions of the past. caring not for the old churches, the old burial grounds, nor anything of the past.
This question comes home to many of us, as we see the changes going on about us, and we cannot answer.
CHURCHES AND PASTORS.
The first house of worship was erected in Blooming Grove, 1759. The old church stood until 1823, when the present building was erected. The first pastor was Rev. Enos Ayres, who stood first on the roll of the first class graduated at Princeton College. He died in 1762 and was buried in the old burial ground, a part of which, including his grave and the graves of Rev. Samuel Parkhurst and Rev. Benoni Bradner, was covered by the new church building. In 1764 he was succeeded by Rev. Abner Reeve, father of the celebrated Judge Reeve, who founded the law school at Litchfield, Conn. Rev. Abner Reeve resigned about 1786. In 1786, Rev. Samuel Parkhurst came as a supply and soon died here, and his grave is also under the present church. Then followed, in 1770, Rev. Anasialı Lewis, Rev. Case, Rev. Green and Rev. Silas Constant, as stated supplies for a time. Rev. Benoni Bradner filled the pulpit from 1786 until 1802. dying in 1804. He was buried here, his stone still standing erect un ler
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the church. After his retirement Rev. Joel T. Benedict preached a few months. Rev. Noah Crane, 1803 to 1811. He was succeeded by Rev. William Rafferty, who married a daughter of John Chandler and re- signed in 1815, to become president of St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. Returning on a visit in 1830, he died here, and is buried in the old Chandler family burial ground on the old homestead now occu- pied by B. C. Sears. August 7, 1816, Rev. Luther Halsey was installed as pastor. The church was admitted under the care of the Presbytery, with the reservation of its form of government, and remained in the Presbytery of Hudson until 1833, but has always been in fact Congrega- tional. Rev. Luther Halsey served the church with great acceptance. Great revivals blessed his ministry, at one time nearly one hundred being added to the church. The present church building was erected under his ministry, and frequently filled. He resigned in 1824 to accept a professorship in Nassau Hall; later became professor of theology in Alleghany, in Auburn, and in Union Seminaries. He died in Pittsburgh on November 2, 1880, aged eighty-seven years. He was succeeded at Blooming Grove by James Arbuckle, then pastor of the Eighth Presbyte- rian Church of Philadelphia, who was pastor of the church until his death, July, 1847. In 1847, Rev. Ebenezer Mason, son of the celebrated John M. Mason, D.D., of New York City, became pastor, who died here the next year. After his death the pulpit was supplied until April, 1851, when Rev. Austin Craig was called, and served this church for fourteen years, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Antioch College, Ohio, and later was president of the Biblical School at Stanfordville, Dutchess County, N. Y., where he died, but is still held in loving remembrance by many of the congregation and in the town. He was succeeded in April, 1866, by Rev. Warren Hathaway, D.D., who still occupies the pulpit. Although he has had frequent calls to what seems to have been more attractive fields of labor, he still remains loyal to his old congregation and they to him. Both Eager and Ruttenber, to whom we are indebted for part of the facts herein stated, excuse a lengthy report of this old church, because of its being one of the landmarks of the town, and it still stands for right- eousness, temperance, and charity toward all those laboring for the good of their fellow-men, but the congregation is greatly changed. In the place of the Marvins, and Seelys, Moffatts and Roes, who came in large loads containing the whole families, come very few of those still
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left of the Woodhulls and Marvins. Although the Tuthills and the Shons, who represent the old Moffatt family, the Hulses and Hudsons, Gerows and Sears, and Howells and Brewsters, still contribute their quotas toward the congregation, there are many vacant pews, and very many who trooped up the long aisles, and listened attentively to the in- structive and eloquent sermons, and visited upon the old door stones, are seen there no more. In place of the tall form of David H. Moffatt, Jr., who used to lead the choir in the old gallery, stands the handsome pipe organ erected to his father's memory by David H. Moffatt, of Denver. And the church has a fund in memory of David Wright, given by his daughter Susan Wright.
In. 1830, an effort was made to start an Episcopal church in Washing- tonville, but met with no success. August 21, 1851, under the leader- ship of Rev. Henry Belden, a Congregational church was organized, and a building erected, which was afterward sold to the Methodist congre- gation, incorporated 1855. The First Presbyterian Church of Wash- ingtonville was organized 1841. Connected with the Hudson Presbytery under the charge of Rev. Henry Belden the church grew to a member- ship of 121, when Rev. Henry Belden was succeeded by Rev. Phineas Robinson. A church building was erected in 1847, and Rev. Luther Halsey was called to succeed him and occupied the pulpit until October, 1856. Rev. Daniel Higbee served the church from August, 1858, until his death, October, 1867. He was succeeded by John Griswold, who served until April, 1871, when he was succeeded by Rev. James B. Beau- mont, 1871 to 1881, George W. Morrill from 1882 to 1884, when an effort to unite the congregations of the First and Second Churches was made, but failed. In 1886, Rev. Joseph Greenleaf was called, and died in 1888. William M. Yeoman was pastor from 1898 to October, 1902. Jolin A. McCallum, installed 1903, resigned June 20, 1907, leaving the church withont a pastor at this date. Their church property has been increased by a new parsonage. 1872, and a handsome chapel and Sunday school- room, to the memory of Mary Scott Denniston, the widow of Hon. Robert Denniston, erectedl by her children.
In 1855. Dr. Luther Halsey, having a matter of difference with the New School Assembly, did not feel he could any longer remain under its care, and many of his congregation joining with him, they formed the Old School Presbyterian Church of Washingtonville. The church
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was organized in 1857, a house of worship built in 1858, and a parsonage added in 1871. Dr. Luther Halsey occupied the pulpit until April, 1862, when Rev. Arthur Harlow was called and ordained and installed, Sep- tember, 1863; resigned in October, 1871, and died June 19, 1883. In 1872, B. G. Benedict became stated supply until 1875, when on account of ill health he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. N. M. Sherwood, who served the church ten years, resigning in 1885 in order that his occupying the pulpit might not embarrass the effort to unite the two Presbyterian churches. This effort failing, Rev. Eugene L. Mapes was called, April, 1886; installed 1887, and resigned a year later, having re- ceived a call to the Presbyterian church of Carlisle, Pa. The church was then supplied for some time, and then sold its property, and divided the proceeds between the Foreign and Home Mission Boards of the Pres- byterian Church, part of the congregation giving to the First Presby- terian Church and part to the old Blooming Grove Church, and part to Bethlehem and Little Britain.
The Blooming Grove Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated De- cember 3, 1855. This is now the Washingtonville Methodist Church. It was for a long time on the circuit of Monroe, Oxford, Craigville and Highland Mills, but now is associated with the church at Salisbury Mills, has a fine church property, kept in very good repair, and has recently installed electric lights in connection with other improvements.
The Catholic Church of St. Mary is near Washingtonville on the State road, the first building erected in 1872, has been of late much enlarged and beautified under the direction and by the effort of Rev. Father Tetrau, and now has a fine property consisting of the enlarged church and rectory.
The Methodist Church of Salisbury Mills was incorporated in 1854, was connected with the New Windsor circuit until 1898, when it was connected with Washingtonville. It has a convenient and finely located building.
In Salisbury, largely through the efforts of Richard Caldwell and his wife, Sarah Beattie Caldwell, the Hope Chapel, connected with the Beth- lehem Presbyterian Congregation, was built, and has been an active or- ganization ever since, and its Sunday school, supported by its founders, is large and active, and Sunday evening and other services well attended.
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