USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 20
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The Goshen Presbyterian Church was organized in 1720, and Rev. John Bradner, to whom more extended reference is made later in this article, became its pastor in 1721. Two hundred acres of land were deeded to him on April 17, 1722, and recorded at the request of his widow on April 8, 1742. In 1724 the erection of a house of worship was begun on the spot where now stands the court house. The first court was convened in Goshen in 1727, and on December 16, of that year an act was passed providing for the building of a court house and jail, which were erected and completed in 1740, on the site of the present Orange Hotel. On October 24, 1754, the General Assembly appropriated 100 pounds for an addition to it, and in 1775 it was demolished and a new one built at a point where now stands the county clerk's office. The arms of King George III were placed upon its front, but were torn down by indignant citizens.
A schoolhouse was built in 1801 on the church plot, the same spot where the public school building on Greenwich street now stands. Here Noah Webster taught for a time before he published his first dictionary in 1806.
Goshen, after its original settlement, soon became the most important
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and populous district of the county, and a census taken in 1738 showed a total of 319 males above the age of ten. These were stirring times for the people and most of the affairs were of a warlike nature. There was frequent trouble with the Indians. The frontier was only four miles away. Block houses were built at Dolsontown and Scotchtown, and tra- dition has it that a block house once stood back of the present race course on the property known to-day as the Parkway Farm. In those days the settlers west of the Wallkill made Goshen their rendezvous when Indian raids were feared.
In the reign of George II, when Hon. George Clinton was Governor, the General Assembly passed an act to enable the inhabitants of Goshen in the County of Orange to elect two additional constables. This act ex- plained that the inhabitants of the Precinct of Goshen had liberty to elect only one constable and as the precinct had considerably increased in num- bers of inhabitants and settlements, it was necessary that an increased number be elected. The act was passed December 17, 1743, and provided that one of the constables "be elected and chosen from and out of such of the inhabitants as have habitations in the south part of Goshen, commonly called Wawayanda, and the other from and out of such of the inhabitants as have habitations northward near the meeting house, commonly called the Water-Side Meeting House.
On September 21, 1744, the General Assembly passed an act to author- ize justices of the peace in the counties of Dutchess and Orange to "direct so many constables and overseers of the highways to be chosen, in the sev- eral precincts as to them shall seem meet." On the same day an act was passed for the relief of the poor in the counties of Orange and Suffolk.
COVENANT CHAIN TREATY.
During these years the settlers had as allies two tribes of Indians, some- times known as the Cashigton Indians, whose principal lodges were lo- cated near where now stands the village of Cochecton in Sullivan County. They formed a part of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Confederacy. once powerful, but at that time reduced in numbers. From time immemorial Western Orange had been their hunting ground, but late in the year 1744 they showed signs of distrust and retired to their lodges on the upper Delaware. The colonists were loath to lose these faithful allies, for their
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withdrawal left the outlying settlements on the frontiers exposed to attack of hostile savages, incited to rapine and murder by the French.
The attention of the Colonial Government was called to this matter and Colonel DeKay was ordered to take a party and visit the Indians in the hope that friendly relations might be restored and the redmen induced to return to their old hunting grounds. As a result of this visit the Indian Treaty of Orange County was enacted and the ceremony of the Covenant Chain performed at Goshen. Colonel Thomas DeKay took with him, upon this expedition, Major Swartout, Ensign Coleman, Adam Weisner, who acted as interpreter, Benjamin Thompson, and two Minisink Indians as guides. The pilgrimage was made in the depth of winter. The Indians were found and agreed to come back, claiming that they left because they were afraid of the people of Orange County, who were always under arms. When it was explained that this was by order of the Governor and for protection against the French and their allies, the Indians rejoiced. They explained that they were of two tribes, using for totems the signs of Minsi, or Wolf, and Uralachtgo, or Turkey, and that their sachem had recently died. They were about to choose a new sachem to govern all, and they promised that when he had been chosen they would send representa- tives to make a treaty. New Year's Day was fixed upon as the date.
On January 3, 1745, two days late, the Wolves and Turkeys, a dozen of the head men in all, led by the new sachem, came into the village of Goshen and marched in savage bravery up its main street. Just where the ceremony took place is unknown, but the old manuscript record says that the weather was severe, and it is probable that the meeting was held in the rude court house. The Indians by their spokesman explained that they had brought a Belt of Wampum that friendship and brother- hood might be restored. They asked that some one be appointed to enact with them the ceremony of the Covenant Chain.
Colonel DeKay informed them that the Governor alone had power to make such an appointment and that as there was not time to communicate with him, it would be best for the Indians to select a man. They chose the colonel and he was then chained to them for an hour or more as a token of their being united again in the bonds of friendship. Speeches were made by the Indians and they solemnly pledged themselves to be true "as long as the sun and moon endured," and promised to send in runners at once if they learned of any plots against the English. They also agreed
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to join in fighting the enemy and asked that aid be given them in case of attack by the French. This was freely promised and while the Colonel was still chained to the Indians they gave him the Belt of Wampum to be sent to the Governor. The Indians, according to the record, 'again rejoiced with three huzzas and departed very much pleased." The Belt of Wampum, so states the books of the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London, was taken to the Colonial Council in New York by Colonel DeKay a fortnight later and delivered to the Council, which in turn sent it to the Governor, who recommended that one be given in return to the Indians. This was the only occasion on record when the ceremony of the Covenant Chain was enacted in Orange County.
On April 18, 1748, an act was passed by the General Assembly providing that "for the time to come, all elections of representatives of the County of Orange to serve in the present or any future General Assembly shall begin and be first opened at the court house in Orange Town, or at the court house or some other convenient place in the town of Goshen."
About this time settlers who had dealings with the sheriff began to find considerable fault with the manner in which mileage charges were computed. On April 8, 1748, an act was passed providing that for all writs and process papers served on inhabitants on the north side of the mountain range called the Highlands, mileage should be computed by the sheriff from the court house in Goshen, and for all papers served on the south side from the court house in Orange Town. The preamble to this act fully explained the situation. It stated : "Whereas the County of Orange is very extensive in length, and by reason of a ridge of moun- tains across the same, and for the better accommodation of inhabitants, it was found necessary to have two court houses, the one at Goshen on the north, and the other at Orange Town on the south thereof ; yet by the sheriff having his residence sometimes at the one and sometimes at the other extreme of the said county, the computation of his fees for mileage in the service of writs hath hitherto been made from the place of the sheriff's abode, which has been found to be very inconvenient and burden- some to the parties concerned."
MILITARY MATTERS.
When the French and Indian War began in 1756 the men of Goshen were continually under arms. The old Journal of the Assembly relates
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the services of Captain George DeKay as express between Goshen and Minisink. It mentions as his guards Peter Carter, David Benjamin, Philip Reid and Francis Armstrong. It tells also of the payment of nearly 100 pounds to Colonel Vincent Mathews for furnishing guides to regulars posted at Goshen from October, 1757, to February, 1758, and refers to the work of Colonels Clinton and DeKay in laying out block houses for the settlers' defense. Mention is also made of the payment of 56 pounds to Samuel Gale for provisions furnished troops on the frontiers near Goshen ; and of reimbursing Colonel Benj. Tusten, Captain Daniel Case and Captain J. Bull for money advanced in building block houses Nos. I and 2 on the western frontier in January, 1757.
In 1763, Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader Colden appealed to the General Assembly for troops to relieve the militia on the borders of Or- ange and Ulster which were infested by the enemy. At this time the town of Goshen extended from the Hudson to New Jersey. In 1764 a bill was passed dividing the precinct of Goshen into two precincts, to be called Goshen and Cornwall. After this division Cornwall embraced the present towns of Cornwall, Monroe and Blooming Grove, while Goshen included the present town of Warwick.
During the years prior to the Revolution when the colonists were growing desperate under the exactions of King George, patriotism and valor were manifested to a marked degree in Goshen. On June 8, 1775, over 360 men signed the Revolutionary pledge at Goshen and the name of Henry Wisner headed the list. The Reverend Nathan Ker, an ardent patriot, and the fourth pastor of the Goshen Presbyterian Church, who came to Goshen in the fall of 1766, and remained until his death, Decem- ber 14, 1804, on one occasion is said to have dismissed his congregation in the midst of a Sunday service to prepare food for a troop of horse that had halted on the way to Philadelphia. Once General George Washington, riding eastward on the Florida road towards his headquarters at New- burgh, stopped with his staff to chat awhile with the children at the old school house near the stone quarry.
NOTABLE EARLY RESIDENTS.
Many of the old families of Goshen to-day are descendants of the patriots who fought in the colonial service and whose names appear on
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Frederick 11. Lavard
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the roster of the Goshen regiment at the battles of Long Island and White Plains, at the struggle in the Highlands, and the capture of Fort Mont- gomery, as well as in the memorable slaughter of Minisink.
The highway between Goshen and Florida, over which Washington rode, is a historic thoroughfare and in Revolutionary days was lined with the homes of famous men. Goshen was then the stronghold of the Whigs. In a stone house nearly opposite the present Sayer homestead, lived Moses Hatfield, a captain, afterwards a major, in the Goshen regi- ment, who was taken prisoner at a night assault on what is now Randall's Island, on September 23, 1776, and was kept a captive until 1778.
A little further along the way lived Henry Wisner, the elder. Hc and his son of the same name were makers of powder for the Continental Army at Phillipsburg, between the highway as it now stands and the grist mill near by. Traces of the old raceway and mill can still be seen. Another on the opposite side of the stream, and one at Craigville, oper- ated in conjunction with John Carpenter, were also erected by Henry Wisner. The Sons of the Revolution arranged some years ago to mark the site of the Phillipsburg powder mill by an historical tablet.
Henry Wisner stood foremost among those who advocated the inde- pendence of the colonies. He represented Orange County in the Con- tinental Congress which declared that "these States are, and of right ought to be, free." His son Gabriel, hardly past his majority, was slain in the slaughter of Minisink. On the 16th of August, 1774. Henry Wisner was chosen as one of the delegates to represent Orange County in the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia in September of that year. The election was by the committee of the county held at the house of Stephen Slot and the purpose was for the delegate to attend at Philadelphia "to consult on proper measures to be taken for procuring the redress of our grievances."
A question was raised as to the regularity of this election and a meeting of the inhabitants of the precincts of Goshen and Cornwall was held at Chester on September 3. 1774, at which Henry Wisner was chosen to go to Philadelphia "in order to meet the rest of the delegates and consult on proper measures to be taken with respect to the claims made by the British Parliament of taxing America in all cases whatsoever."
William Wickham was a prominent citizen of Goshen, and his attitude was one of extreme loyalty to the crown. With other adherents of the
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king he attempted to set aside the election of Wisner. The correspon- dence, which still exists, shows that political feeling was very bitter. The scheme came to naught and Wisner took his seat. In April, 1776, he was elected by a convention held at New York City, as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in which he took part, leaving it for the purpose of manufacturing powder for Washington's tattered army.
Mr. Wisner's signature may still be found in the list at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. He continued in Congress until the memorable 2nd of July, 1776, when the "Resolution of Independency" was passed. He was heartily in favor of the measure and remained for the purpose of casting his vote for its final passage, had the Provincial Congress of New York given such instructions to its delegates. Tradition affirms that he actually did vote for the "independency" that day. He was not present to sign the Declaration. He had proposed in Congress " a method for the manufacture of saltpetre and gunpowder" which had been approved, and in agreement with which he was requested or appointed to build works and prepare powder for the "Army of the North." To do this he left Philadelphia on the third of July and applied himself to the making of powder. For three years, and until his mill was burned and his fortune exhausted, he continued to supply powder to the American forts and thius beyond any man in the Continental Congress of 1776 contributed to his country's triumph.
On the square at St. James' Place in the village of Goshen stands a monument of native Pochuck granite erected to the memory of Henry Wisner by his great granddaughter, Mrs. Frances Wisner Murray, widow of Ambrose Spencer Murray, of Goshen. The monument was dedicated on July 22. 1897, by Dr. John H. Thompson, who presided and Harrison W. Nenny, Esq., who made the dedicatory address.
Adjoining the residence of Henry Wisner, and separated from it by what is now known as Steward's lane, was the home of John Steward, an ardent patriot. He was one of two brothers, John and Walter Stewart, or Steward, the name having been spelled both ways, who came from Ireland to New England about 1740. Walter settled in Rhode Island, where he started a snuff-mill and became the father of Gilbert Stuart, the noted portrait painter, whose unfinished picture of Washing- ton is the likeness that the world knows best to-day. Gilbert after reach- ing manhood, wrote his name Stuart, because by reason of the fact that
E. R. Parece DOS.
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his ancestry was by tradition connected with the Jacobite cause, he had a great admiration for "Bonny Prince Charlie."
The tradition was that. at the time of one of the early Jacobite risings, a nurse in charge of two young children appeared in Belfast, Ireland. They came from Scotland and the woman immediately on arriving fell ill of small-pox and died refusing to tell anything about the children except that their names were John and Walter Stewart, and that they were the sons of a man of rank who would soon come for them. She had with her no money but some fine jewels, no one ever came to claim the children, but as it is recorded in history that some Jacobite families are known to have been exterminated in their bloody and unfortunate battles. this may have been the fate of the relatives of these boys, too young to tell anything about themselves. They were brought up by a man, appointed their guardian. He treated them harshly and as soon as grown they left him and came to try their fortune in a new land. John first acquired some property in Boston, which he left in his will to his son Nathan, but soon came to Goshen and settled there, buying in 1744 eighty acres of land, "and the houses thereon" from William Jayne. From this it appears that the Steward house may have been erected previous to 1744. but "houses thereon" may have been a mere legal term, and the house was probably built by John Steward. It is certain, however, that it has been standing since 1744. He bought more land, about 120 acres in all, at a later date. To farming John Steward joined the occupation of blacksmith, erecting a little to the left of his house a forge, which was in operation as early as 1758, the family having still in their possession, a deed of sale bearing that date of a slave named Tite, warranted to be a good black- smith. Later at this forge. John Steward H, during the Revolutionary war made sabres and bayonets for the Continental Army.
John Steward I, married Elizabeth Bradner, the daughter of Rev. John Bradner, first settled clergyman in Goshen. As John Bradner was the father of nine children. viz .. Calvin, John, Benoni, Gilbert, Susanna. Mary. Sarah. Christian and Elizabeth, and to him many families in Orange County trace their descent, the following may be thought worthy of record. When a young divinity student in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Bradner was employed by a gentleman called Colvill. a Huguenot refugee. as a tutor to his sons. His daughter Christiana shared her brothers' studies and she and the tutor fell in love with each other. but Colvill
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thought the tutor no match for his daughter, and told her if she married him he would never speak to her again. She put love before duty and having married John Bradner they sailed for America. The voyage oc- cupied six months. Violent storms in which the ship nearly foundered were encountered. These Mrs. Bradner thought were sent by Heaven to punish her for her disregard of her father's wishes. Rev. John Brad- ner received the degree M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, February 23rd, 1712, was licensed to preach March, 1714, ordained May 6, 1715, pastor of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church, Cape May, N. J., before being called to the church in Goshen, 1721. He died 1732. His widow died 1759. She was well educated in the classics and assisted in pre- paring her son; Rev. Benoni, for Princeton College. He graduated 1755, was settled in Jamaica, L. I., 1760, and two years after was called to Church Nine Partners, Dutchess County. There is now in the possession of Mrs. M. H. C. Gardner, of Middletown, a piece of a quilt brought from Scotland by Mrs. John Bradner. The colors of the design, birds, fruit and flowers, are as bright as though it was new. John Steward I had eight children and their mother used to relate with pride that never once during their infancy or childhood was she obliged by reason of the illness of one of them to strike a light during the night. John Steward I died in 1770, of a fever then epidemic. In his will he left to his widow, as long as she remained his widow, the use of the best room and the "salon" room. The small adjoining room, now a store closet, was her prayer closet, where she used to retire to pray, as was the good custom of those times.
Her eldest son, John Steward II, although holding no commission in the Continental Army was an ardent patriot, mention being made in Rivington's New York Gazette, the Tory organ, that "rebellion in Orange County was continually fomented by those two firebrands, Squire Steward and Old Wisner, the latter being Henry Wisner, member of the Conti- nental Congress and John Steward's friend and neighbor.
John Stevard II, who was thirty years younger than Henry Wisner, was a justice of the peace, and a number of Hessian prisoners passing southward through Goshen, probably after the battle of Saratoga, were quartered over night at his house. The common soldiers slept in the barn. but the officers, of whom there were several, were accommodated in the house and on leaving the next morning told Mrs. Steward that the coffee
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General Alfred Neafie.
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made by her black cook was the best they had tasted since leaving Ger- many.
In a house that stood about 100 feet cast of the present residence of Campbell Steward, Esq., lived General Reuben Hopkins, whose son, Hani- bal, married Elizabeth Steward, daughter of John Steward Il. General Hopkins's portrait and his appointment as attorney-at-law dated 1771 and signed by Lord Dunmore, now hang on the walls of the Steward house, which contains other objects of interest, among which may be mentioned an original broadside of the Declaration of Independence addressed to John Steward, Esq., his commission as Major No. 1 of the regiment of militia in the County of Orange, signed by Geo. Clinton in 1798, and a bag of old counterfeit silver Spanish dollars. A band of counter- feiters was arrested in Orange County about the time of the Revolution and they were tried at Goshen, their judges, among whom was Judge Steward, keeping some of the coins as curiosities. In the house can also be seen a small stone hammer presented to the wife of John Steward I. as a token of friendship by a member of a band of Indians who, at the time Steward settled in Goshen, and for some years after, lived in a hickory grove at the rear of his house. His family always made a point of main- taining friendly relations with their savage neighbors, and were never troubled by them, although once during the French and Indian War on an alarm being given that Indians on the war path were approaching Goshen. the family fled to the cedar swamp. It is said that on leaving they looked back for what they feared might be a last look at their house. but the alarm proved a false one. Goshen was spared an Indian massacre and they returned to find their house still standing. The main body of the house, with some minor alterations, is the same to-day as it was in those old Indian days, its cedar shingles, oak beams and large stone chimneys seeming still sound and strong. The house being too small for modern requirements, two wings have been added at different times and the chim- ney tops rebuilt, but care has been taken to preserve as far as possible every antique feature of the house in its original condition.
During Revolutionary days the inhabitants of Orange County were terrorized by the depredations of Claudius Smith, a notorious outlaw, and his gang of ruffians, who were known as cowboys. Smith was indicted on three charges, one of which was the murder of Major Strong. Re- wards were offered by Governor Clinton, and Smith was taken captive at
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Smithtown, L. I., by Major Brush. He was given into the custody of Col- onel Isaac Nichol, sheriff of Orange County, and on January 22, 1779, was publicly executed at the west corner of church park in Goshen, with two other criminals, De La Mar, a burglar, and Gordon, a horse thief. On the gallows near the same spot forty years later two others were pub- licly put to death for murder.
BATTLE OF MINISINK.
On July 22, 1779, occurred the battle of Minisink, in which the Goshen regiment, under Colonel Tusten, met almost complete annihilation at the hands of nearly 500 Indians and Tories under Joseph Brant, the half- breed chieftain, who was known as Thayendanegea, the Scourge, and held a colonel's commission from George III. The Goshen regiment marched against Brant's forces to avenge a raid made by Brant upon the settlers near Minisink on the 20th of the month. They were joined by a small reinforcement, under Colonel Hathorn, of the Warwick regiment, and the latter assumed command. While marching along the west bank of the Delaware at nine o'clock on the morning of July 22, the Indians were discovered about three-quarters of a mile away and Colonel Hathorn has- tened his command in pursuit. Brant, taking advantage of intervening woods and hills made a detour which enabled him to gain the rear of the attacking party, and in the battle which followed the savages completely routed the small force that opposed them. The colonists had little ammu- nition and this was soon exhausted. A part of them fled, and more were killed in flight than in battle. Colonel Tusten, who was a skilful surgeon, dressed the wounds of his men, and refused to abandon them, staying on the field until he fell. Of the eighty men in the engagement, 44 were killed outright and others died later of their wounds.
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