USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
The manufacture of pot and pearl ashes was an important industry in. the early history of the town. Benjamin Smith was engaged in it during and after the Revolution.
458
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Tanneries were once of much importance in the industries of the town. There were at least two in Greenville at one time, one in Minisink, and a large one for those times, in Brookfield-Slate Hill, in the eighteenth cen- tury. The one in Slate Hill was where Elijah Cock now has his Creamery and where Samuel Hornbeck resides. The last proprietor of it was Hol- loway W. Stephens. He was a justice of the peace in 1851.
In those early days it took a full year to tan a cowskin, an art now per- formed in a few days.
There is not a tannery in existence in this locality now.
Besides tanning, previously mentioned, two other important industries have passed out of existence in these towns-milling and distilling. When the white settlers first invaded this country they did as the Indians did, pounded their corn and grain into flour by means of wooden mortars and stone pestals which the Indians taught them to use; but in a short time grist mills were erected and a little later milling grew to be a great part of the work of part of the population. Large mills were at one time in Gardnersville, Dolsentown, Waterloo Mills, Unionville, Brookfield, and Millsburg. Old millers remembered were: The Gardners, Christian Schultz, Peter Kimber, John Racine, James C. and Adirondam Austin. The course of trade has now caused all the flour to be purchased of west- ern millers, and the old mills are now closed or simply used to grind cow and horse feed. Frank Mead's, at Millsburg, is now the only flouring mill in the town. In those first days whiskey was a common beverage in al- most every family, and when visitors came it was considered a breach of hospitality to neglect to set out a glass of it for the guests. It sold then, as we find from old account books, at about seventy-five cents a gallon. Distilleries abounded everywhere. But there came a time when taxes were laid heavily on distillers, and the price of liquor was put up by the action of the taxes. In consequence the distilleries dropped out one by one, until now only one remains in Wawayanda, near Centreville ; and one in Minisink, near Johnson's.
WAWAYANDA CHURCHES.
The Baptist church of Brookfield (now Slate Hill) executed a certifi- cate of organization at the house of Lebbeu. Lathrop, which, we have been informed, was then in the village, Decer ? :: 15, 1791. Isaac Finch, John Fenton and Benjamin Smith were the : : Ses. Previous to that
459
TOWN OF WAWAYAND.1.
date several members had, in July, 1783. stated to the Warwick church, in an application, that they lived west of the Wallkill and desired to be set off as a separate church. August 28. 1783. Elder Benedict, of War- wick, with two brethren named Sillsbee, came west of the Wallkill, bap- tized seven members, and constituted the church. A brother named Clark was ordained the next day to preach for the new church. The meetings of the congregation were held at private houses and in barns to suit con- venience until 1792.
In December, 1791, John Hallock, whose lands extended from his resi- dence, a mile south of Ridgeberry, across the flats and to Brookfield!, ceeded a lot to the church for its use. In 1792 the new meeting house was erected on the lot. In those days the difference between the meaning of church ( an organization for religious worship) and the building used for meeting purposes was clearly defined, and the edifice was called a meeting house invariably. The building at first was without a steeple and just as it stands to this day, except it now has a steeple. The steeple was added to it in 1828. The church interior is to-day just as it was first built and should be preserved as an excellent specimen of oldtime archi- tecture.
A Congregational church was organized in Ridgeberry in 1792. which hield until 1817, when it was changed to Presbyterian. The regular organi- zation of the church dates from November 27. 1805, when a certificate of it was filed at the house of Jonathan Bailey in Ridgeberry.
The next oldest church organization to Ridgeberry was the Presby- terian as Centerville. This was incorporated April 5. 1827. The church edifice was built and dedicated in 1829.
The Presbyterian church of Denton was organized and dedicated in I839.
The Methodist Episcopal church, at what is now called South Center- ville, was incorporated September S. 1873.
460
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TOWN OF WOODBURY.
T HE town of Woodbury is located in the southeast section of Orange County. Bounded on the north by the towns of Blooming Grove and Cornwall, on the east by the town of Highland, on the south by Rockland County and the town of Tuxedo, while the town of Monroe forms its western boundary. It has an area of 23,839 acres, and the title to the soil is mainly derived through the Chesecook patent. The assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1907 was $802,371.
Topography .- A striking feature of the town is the continuous valley extending from the northern to the southern boundary which divides the town into nearly equal parts, and which has been made the line of the Newburgh short-cut branch of the Erie railroad, and of the new State road. Through this valley flows Woodbury Creek northward, uniting in the town of Cornwall with Moodna Creek. Not far south of the sources of Woodbury Creek are the headwaters of the Ramapo, which flows southward through the town of Tuxedo. The summit between these two valleys is low, and the rivulets of the two streams flowing in opposite directions are found very near to each other. The eastern portion of the town is drained by Popolopen Creek in the town of Highlands. Numerous ponds of surpassing beauty are within the town limits, of which Crom- well, Forest and Cranberry Lakes are the largest.
The Schunnemunk Mountains, appropriately described as the "high hills to the west of the Highlands," extend along the northwestern bound- ary of the town and are divided longitudinally by the boundary line of Blooming Grove and Woodbury. This was the original dividing line be- tween the Wawayanda and Chesecook patents, and also one of the monu- ments in the line of the Evans patent. This range has an elevation of from 1.300 to 1,600 feet. Eastward across the valley filling out to a section of the southeast border of the county and forming a portion of the Highlands, is a battlement of mountainous elevations, including Pine Hill, Black Cap, Cranberry Hill, Stockbridge, Stevens, Goshen, Letter- rock and Black Mountains.
TOWN OF WOODBURY.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The southeastern portion of Orange County was settled mostly from the Eastern States and Long Island. The families were generally of English ancestry. All accounts of Revolutionary times indicate a population of considerable numbers in this territory. The Chesecook patent was granted in 1702, and there was no settlement for some years following that date. The Smiths were in this region as early as 1727, and the name Smith's Clove near the present village of Highland Mills ap- pears in the town records of Cornwall of 1765. The records of Corn- wall having been preserved, the following names are taken from them as having belonged to what is now the territory of Woodbury. Solomon Cromwell and Jonathan Hallock were among the earliest settlers. John Earle in 1765 was a chosen fence-viewer for Woodbury Clove He lived near Highland Mills. His sons were Peter, John and Solomon. Isaac and John Lamoreux are both mentioned in Cornwall records before the Revo- lution. Thomas Smith was overseer of highways in 1705. William Thorn was a justice of the peace in 1770 and lived at Highland Mills. Captain Austin Smith was chosen assessor in 1775. Nicholas Townsend came from Long Island previous to the Revolution. Tobias Weygant was a town officer of Monroe at the first town meeting in 1799. Jonathan Taylor, one of the first school commissioners, lived near Highland Mills, and Linus Rider lived on the "Ridge" west of the same hamlet. Patrick Ford lived near Woodbury Falls. His son, David Ford, was the father of ten children, of whom Charles T. was the eldest. Further reference 10 the early settlement of this locality is made in the historical sketch of the old town of Monroe.
ORGANIZATION.
In the year 1863 a movement was set on foot to divide the town of Monroe into three towns. A petition was sent to the board of super- visors, which was granted at its usual meeting. The names of the new towns were respectively Monroe. Highland and Southfield. Monroe held its town meeting March 22, 1864, electing Chauncey B. Knight, super- visor. Highland did likewise, choosing its old favorite. Morgan Shuit. The town of Southfield organized in the same manner. elected Josiah Pat- terson, supervisor. This triple division was at length di-approved. an lin
462
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
1865 the Legislature was asked to overrule the action of the board and reorganize the old town of Monroe. This movement was successful.
December 19, 1889. the board of supervisors, upon representation of the diverse interests of different parts of the town, resolved to redivide the same into three parts. The three new towns erected were named re- spectively, Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo. The lines were run so as to give Monroe 12,101 acres, Woodbury 23,839 acres and Tuxedo 27,839 acres. It was further resolved that the division of the town should be made on the old lines, but that the names Woodbury and Tuxedo should be substituted for Highland and Southfield. The reason advanced for this redivision was that the town was too large and its interests too di- verse for harmonious government. In January, 1890, John A. Patterson represented the newly created town of Woodbury in the board of super- visors. James Seaman was the second supervisor from this town, Alex- ander Thompson the third, and William E. Ferguson, who was elected November, 1907, the fourth. The town hall is located at Highland Mills, where the present town clerk, B. S. Pembleton, resides. The assessors in 1907 are Charles Jones and William Wilson, of Highland Mills, and Richard Bullwinkle, of Central Valley. The highway commissioners are E. C. Cunningham, of Central Valley, N. B. Hunter, of Highland Mills, and John H. Hunter, of Woodbury Falls. The justices of the peace are W. M. Gildersleeve and John Rodgers, of Central Valley, Amos W. Sutherland, of Highland Mills, and Charles E. Hand, of Mountainville. The town is divided into four school districts, of which the Free School at Central Valley is the most important. A new school building is in course of construction at Highland Mills at a cost of $18,000. Places of worship include the Friends' churches at Woodbury Falls and Highland Mills, a Methodist Episcopal church at Highland Mills and another of the same denomination at Central Valley. A Roman Catholic church is now being erected midway between Central Valley and Highland Mills. The Society of Friends had a meeting house in Cornwall, built before 1788, and it was the only meeting house or church in that town until 1825. The meeting house at Smith's Clove was built in 1799. After the separa- tion of the society in 1828, a meeting house one and a half miles easterly of Highland Mills was built. The first Methodist Episcopal church in the old town of Monroe was organized and duly incorporated May 2, 1829, and a church edifice soon afterward erected at Highland Mills.
Charles T. Ford.
403
TOWN OF WOODBURY
VILLAGES.
Central Valley, a noted summer resort, is the most thriving and popu- lous village in the town, on the Newburgh branch of the Erie railroad. A post-office was established here December 27, 1871. Alfred Cooper was appointed postmaster and held the position many years. Mr. J. M. Barnes received the appointment of postmaster in 1885 and again in 1892. Henry T. Ford, the present incumbent, received the appointment July 15. 1899. Among the leading industries of the village is the Bamboo Fishing Rod factory of which Reuben Leonard is superintendent. This was estab- lished by the late Hiram L. Leonard, who came to Central Valley in 1881. The Leonard rods are shipped to all parts of the world where fly-fishing is pursued. The carriage factory of R. F. Weygant's Sons is another important industry. It was established in 1867 by Robert F. Weygant. who died September 3. 1902. He was a descendant of Michael Weigand of the Rhine Palatinate, who settled at Newburgh in 1709. The sons. Frank E. and Fred, conduct the Central Valley establishment, and William M. operates the blacksmith shop and garage at Tuxedo. The flour and grain warehouse of J. M. Barnes had an extensive trade. Mr. Barnes located in Central Valley in 1876, engaging in the mercantile busi- ness with Alfred Cooper. In this village is located the office of the super- intendent of the Good Roads Construction Company. Mr. Charles T Ford, who in his sixty-third year is one of the most active citizens in the county. Many miles of good roads in Orange County are evidence of the splendid work accomplished under his direction. Here also is a branch of the Arden Farms Dairy Company. Both these enterprises are the product of Mr. E. H. Harriman, who owns extensive farms throughout this section. Mr. Isaac L. Noxon erected many of the beautiful homes and other substantial structures in and adjoining the village. He also conducted for a time a classical boarding school. Here also was the home of the Cornell Institute, a high-class boarding and day school of which Mr. David Cornell was principal. In the fall of 1885 Tomas Estrada Palma established the Palma Institute over which he presided. It was a school for boys in which they were prepared for college. English. French and Spanish being taught. Mr. Palma was a Cuban and in 1868 joined the Revolutionists. After fighting nine years he was captured and taken to Spain, where he spent a year in prison. His first visit to Central
464
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Valley was in 1879, making his home here with Mr. David Cornell. "Falkirk," an institution designed and built for the special care of patients suffering from nervous diseases, was founded by Dr. James Francis Ferguson in 1889. Its elevated location, a mile and a half from the vil- lage, and the beautiful surroundings, contribute to make an ideal home for such patients. Following the death of Dr. Ferguson in 1904, the sani- tarium was conducted for two years by Dr. Henry A. Ferguson and Will- iam E. Ferguson, when it was purchased by Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald, who has associated with him Dr. Clarence J. Slocum as resident physician. Among the New Yorkers who occupy their homes here during the entire year may be mentioned Mr. Edward Cornell, Mr. W. E. Ferguson, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Theboldt and Mr. Bullwinkle.
Highland Mills is situated about a mile north of Central Valley, and is the home of the descendants of some of the earliest settlers in this region, notably the Cromwells, Townsends and Hallocks. The place grew up around the mills established at this point. The Townsend tan- nery and the Townsend flour mill were in operation many years ago. The place was formerly known as Orange and a post-office was established here under that name in 1828. Mr. Vail was the first postmaster. He was succeeded by Peter Lent in 1844, and a few years later Morgan Shuit received the appointment. It was about this time that Mr. Shuit began taking an active interest in local politics in which he soon became a leader. For thirty-one years he was supervisor of the town, and for a like period justice of the peace. From 1879-1880 and 1880-1881 he was a member of the State Legislature; retiring from a mercantile career in 1864, he purchased large tracts of farm land, and followed this vocation to the time of his death in 1884. Among the business enterprises of the village is the fishing line factory ; the high-class livery of Tannery & Hull, whose stables contain forty head of horses; the fish rod factory of Ed- ward Paine, and the firms of James & Terry and Harding & Eames, build- ing contractors. The leading mercantile establishments are those of George Cromwell, B. S. Pembleton and Albert Fitch. The present post- master is Henry Hallock. The only hotel in the village is conducted by George Lamoreux. Hill Crest, a fashionable summer hotel, is a mile and a half west of the village. It has accommodations for two hundred and fifty guests. The Cromwell Lake House, bordering on this beautiful sheet of water, accommodates one hundred and fifty guests, and is con-
-
James F. Ferguson, M.D.
465
TOWN OF WOODBURY.
ducted by Oliver Cromwell. The water supply for the villages of High- land Mills and Central Valley is obtained from Cromwell Lake.
Woodbury Falls is a hamlet in the north part of the town, taking its name from the falls in Woodbury Creek. It was formerly the seat of a furnace. A post-office was established here August 11, 1874, and Lewis A. Van Cleft was the first postmaster. James Seaman is the present in- cumbent.
The specific details of the settlement of this region are blended with the histories of the towns of Cornwall and Monroe, to which the reader is referred.
4
466
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE BENCH AND BAR.
BY WILLIAM VANAMEE.
A T the unveiling in Goshen, September 5th, 1907, of the monument in memory of the gallant soldiers of the 124th Regiment, erected by that modern exemplar of medieval knighthood, that truest of men, of gentlemen and of heroes, Thomas WV. Bradley, it was mentioned by one of the speakers that just forty-five years before, upon that very spot, as the regiment was about to start for the front, the stand of colors destined to be carried by it through many a battle, was presented to it in behalf of the Daughters of Orange by Charles H. Winfield.
His noble, inspiring speech upon that occasion was fitly responded to in behalf of the regiment by David F. Gedney, then Mr. Winfield's only rival at the Goshen bar and his acknowledged equal. The highest praise that can be bestowed upon either is that each feared for the success of his cause when opposed by the other. Indeed they were nearly always opposed, for what timid, anxious client, learning that his adversary had engaged the services of one, ever failed to suggest to his local attorney the importance of averting prospective defeat by the employment of the other. This remark of course applies chiefly to litigations arising in the Western end of the county, in which the trials were usually held at Goshen, for in Newburgh, Stephen W. Fullerton, who was admitted to the bar in 1844, just one year before Mr. Gedney was admitted and two years before Mr. Winfield, had from the first successfully challenged their supremacy in the county at large. Well might he do so, for while he was not the equal of Winfield in magnetism and force or of Gedney in scholar- ship and style, yet he excelled them both in acuteness, in industry and in mastery of the rules of evidence. This, then, was the great triumvirate that forty years ago reigned supreme throughout the county of Orange in the affection of their associates, in the admiration of juries and in the plaudits of the multitude-Winfield, Gedney, Fullerton. All three pos- sessed genius of an uncommon order and no court, however insensible to the graces of oratory, could wholly restrain its flights or direct its
Miriam Navance
THE BENCH AND BAR.
course. When the vexations details of the testimony were over-for in those days the testimony was regarded by the public as a tedious formality preparatory to the great event of the trial, the summing up-and when it was understood that the addresses to the jury were to begin, the court- room was quickly filled by people from all parts of the county, eager for the intellectual treat that was sure to follow. Winfield was wont to begin his closing argument somewhat slowly and even laboriously. This was due partly to the habit of his mind, which required the stimulus of exer- cise to quicken it to its highest exertions, but partly also to rhetorical de- sign, by which he sought to make his subsequent outbursts of impassioned eloquence seem wholly unstudied, spontaneous and irrepressible. Indeed. they usually were. As the thought of his client's wrongs surged in upon him, as he dwelt upon his client's right to protection or relief, or contem- plated the disaster involved in defeat, his words could scarcely keep pace with the torrent of impetuous, sincere and deep emotion on which they were upborne. He always struck the human note which the case pre- sented. To him a trial did not involve a mere application of legal prin- ciples to an ascertained state of facts, but to him every case, however dry, barren or abstract, was a human drama. He saw, with the eye of imagina- tion and the insight of genius, those forces of hate and revenge, of greed and falsehood, of cunning and cruelty, of devotion and affection. of honor and truth, which in one form or another, surcharge every trial, and pro- ject their palpitating figures upon the most intensely vital, vibrant stage for which the scenes were ever set-the conscious court-room, the austere judge, the impassioned advocates, the enthralled spectators: human life or liberty, human happiness or despair, human rights or relations, hanging in the balance upon a jury's nod. All this Winfield saw. In every trial the panorama of human life unfolded itself to his inspired vision. He took the broken, confused fragments of human testimony and, subjecting them to the kaleidoscope of his own fervent, symmetrizing. mirroring imagination, they were transformed into pictures of beauty or shapes of evil. as he willed.
It can easily be imagined that his power over juries was well nigh irre- sistible. If David F. Gedney, who was so often pitted against him, had sought to counteract his influence by the exercise of similar gifts, he might well have despaired of success. But happily for himself and for the delight of juries and the bar, no advocates were ever more unlike each
468
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
other in method of argument, in point of attack, in form of expression, in appeal to the sentiments, than Winfield and Gedney. Winfield filled the eye; Gedney charmed the ear. Winfield visited upon wrong or duplicity the bludgeon blows of invective. Gedney pierced it with the envenomed shaft of sarcasm. Winfield sought to break the armor of his adversary with the broad axe of denunciation. Gedney penetrated it with the slender arrow of wit and the fatal spear of ridicule. To Winfield language was a necessary vehicle of thought, a familiar medium of expression. To Ged- ney language was a divine instrument, over the responsive chords of which his master touch swept with unerring taste and classic grace, evoking notes of exquisite harmony and images of surpassing beauty. The words that flowed unbidden from his enchrismed lips were music indeed. His sentences, chaste and polished as though chiselled in the very laboratory of thought, were but the unconscious reflection of a min 1 steeped in the literature of every age and tongue. Even Winfield often found to his dismay that those weapons of solid argument which would have defied all the onslaughts of the gladiator, were powerless before the arts of the magician. Not indeed that Gedney elevated style above matter or sacrified strength to beauty. But in him style and matter were so delicately balanced, beauty and strength so discreetly blended, that each borrowed from the other and none was poorer for the exchange.
The personal characteristics of the two men were also different. Win- field loved the approbation and applause of his fellows and aspired to poli- tical honors. Gedney looked out upon the world with philosophic calm, undisturbed by its clamors and untempted by its baubles. The only offices which he held were strictly in the line of his profession-district attorney and county judge-while Winfield acquired a conspicuous po- sition in Congress at a time of intense public interest and excitement. Winfield bore defeat with impatience, Gedney with equanimity. Win- field, who especially could not endure the thought of defeat by a younger adversary, often treated him with unnecessary severity ; always, however, taking care to express his regret afterwards that the heat and zeal of con- flict had carried him too far. Gedney, on the other hand, never suffered to arise the occasion for apology or regret. He disdained to use his un- rivaled powers of sarcasm and ridicule at the expense of a weaker adver- sary, and throughout the entire course of a trial, he was scrupulous not to say one word which might in any degree woun ! the sensibilities of a
+(1)
THE BENCH AND BAR.
younger member of the bar. Moreover, he always took pains to speak a word of encouragement and praise to the younger lawyers whenever their maiden efforts justified interest or respect.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.