USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 14
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With a whoop and cheer they broke cover and dashed at the startled foe. That foe had but just time to draw pistols and fire, but their aim was so hurried that not a patriot was injured. Before the dragoons could draw sabres the Americans were on them, overturning horses and riders, cutting them down with each sabre sweep, until, wild with terror, the British turned and fled through the narrow causeway. The pursuit was not abandoned by the patriots till the first picket line of the enemy was passed and one of the pickets made prisoner. Of the dragoon force, all were captured or cut down except one.
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One other incident of a local nature in Ramapo township comes to my notice. An old gentleman in this section was, until the war begun, the happy owner of pictures of King George and Queen Charlotte. At the outbreak of hostilities this firm patriot, with grim determination, turned the pictures face to the wall. Long before the close of the struggle the old man was stricken with paralysis and bed-ridden. In one of the many alarms, when it seemed as though the enemy would overrun our County, the old gentleman was observed to be restless and uneasy, and, at length, when news was brought that the foe was approaching, he made the most violent gesticulations to have the faces of the pictures turned out again.
Sad had been the lot of the patriots during the long years of the war. From Tappan, whose residents had been harried by the incursions of British troops and Tory partisans, whose citizens had seen neighbor after neighbor robbed, 'beaten or slaughtered, to whom the awful realization of conflict had come in the execution of John Andre; to Peploaps kill, where the festering, bloated corpses of our yeomen poisoned the pure mountain air. From the shore of the Hudson, which had been the scene of many a sanguinary struggle; to the Ramapo Valley, where the patriots had been wasted by Claudius Smith and his band; there had arisen, time and again, the cry of agony: "How long; O Lord ! how long!"
Now the war was ended, and, as the loyalists had acted toward the patriots in days gone by, they now, in their hour of triumph, took revenge seven-fold upon their foretime persecutors. Commissioners of Forfeiture, appointed by the State authorities, confiscated the property of such as had excited suspicion of their patriotism ; and many of the old families of the County found it safer to abandon their homes and possessions, than to trust to the clemency of the victors. These people joined the refugees in New York, and sailed under British protection to other lands.
Among those who fell under the ban was Theodorus Snedeker. We have already seen that he claimed to have supplied the American army with food, and thus drawn upon himself the enemity of the British ; that they had visited and robbed him. He then goes on to state that he visited New York to obtain redress for the robbery, and thus caused the distrust of his patriot neighbors while he was unsuccessful in his mission ; and that, while he was absent, his furniture, stock and lands were seques- trated and sold. Snedeker's disloyalty to the patriot cause was too noted. His petition was rejected and his property was sold by Samuel Dodge and Daniel Graham, the Commissioners of Forfeiture, to Jacobus Swartwout, on Aug. 18th, 1782. Snedeker's house, still standing, is now owned by Hon. A. B. Conger.
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Turn from this picture of human selfishness, greediness, cowardice, and treason, to that other picture, where, on Sept. 28th, 1779, wrapped in a few rags, in the midst of inconceivable filth and vermin, exhausted by pri- vation and hunger, breathing the mephitic, noisome air of the old Sugar House; the son-in-law and nephew of Theodorus-Johannes Snedeker- lay dying ; so crowded by fellow prisoners that his death struggles dis- turbed them, and hearing, with dulled ears, not the familiar voice of Dominie Ver Bryck in prayer, but the oaths and imprecations of men half frenzied with suffering.
Captain James Lamb, of Haverstraw, was another Tory whose property was confiscated. This land lay between Florus Falls and Stony Point. Owing to the patriotism of his sons-in-law Jacob and John Waldron, part of the property was saved and granted to Lamb's children.
Cornelius Mabie, of Tappan, had cast his lot with the British during the war. At its close, he sought a new home in Nova Scotia, while the Com- missioners of Forfeiture disposed of his mill, farm and stock for the benefit of the State.
A. Hawks Hay, Colonel. Gilbert Cooper, Lieutenaut-Colonel. John L. Smith, Major.
John Smith, Major.t
John Ferrand, Surgeon.
James Clark, Adjutant. Joseph Johnson, Quartermaster. Joseph Hunt, Quartermaster Sergeant. James Onderdonk, Sergeant Major.
Jacob Onderdonk, Captain.
Resolvert Van Houten, First Lieutenant, Andries Onderdonk, Second Lieutenant.
Resolveert Van Houten, Ensign.
Rueloff Stephens, Sergeant.
Jacobus Blauvelt, Sergeant.
Claus Van Houten, Sergeant.
Abraham Blauvelt, Sergeant.
James Vanderbilt, Corporal.
Peter Stephens, Corporal. Abraham Van Houten, Corporal
Tunis Van Houten, Corporal.
Johannes Ackerman, Fifer.
Blauvelt, John Garrison, Abraham Jr.
Stagg, John
Blauvelt, Peter
Seaman, Joseph
Stephens, Albert
Copoelet, Daniel
Seaman, Towles
Stephens, Resolvert
Campbell, I.uke
Secor, Isaac
Stephens, Stepen A.
Campbell, Stephen
Smith, Isaac
Stephens, Stephen H.
Campbell, William
Smith, John
Taylor, William
Cooper, Hendrick
Smith, Nathaniel
Van Houten, John
DePew, Peter
Smith, Stephen
Van Sickles, Daniel
Garrison, Abraham
Riker, Mathew
Johannes Bell, Captain. Joseph Crane, Captain.
William Graham, Second Lieutenant.
John Fitcher, First Lieutenant. Daniel Onderdonk, Ensign.
Ackerson, Garrett
Gardener, John
Blauvelt, Aurie Hogenkamp, John A.
Blauvelt, Johannes
Onderdonk, Jacob
Sickles, William Smith, Aurie Tourneurs, Henry
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Captured at Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery :
Conklin, Johnt
DeLa Montagne, Jamest Lent, Jacobt
Crom, Hermant Garrison, Samuelt Sears, Francist
Storms, Johnt
Lieutenant-Colonel, Johannes David Blauvelt. Major, Johannes Joseph Blanvelt. Quartermaster, Isaac Perry.
Johannes Jacobus Blauvelt, Captain. James Lent, First Lieut. Hendrick V. Ver Bryck, Ensign. James Smith, Second Lieut.
Isaac Smith, Captain.
Johannes Isaac Blauvelt, First Lieut. Wm. Van Sickles, Second Lieut. Lambert Smith, Ensign.
The appended list is of Rockland County people who served during the Revolution, but to what regiments or branch of the service they were at- tached, I do not know.
Ackerman, William
Freeland, Peter
Palmer, Henry, Captain.
Archer, Jacob*
Garrison, John
Paul, Arthur
Blanch, Thoms Colonel,
Jones, Jacob
Sarvent, Abram
Blauvelt, Abram
Lewis, James
Schucraft, James
Blauvelt, C. A.t Con., Army
Meyers, Gerritt
Steel. John
Carson, James
O'Blenis, Abram
Storms, Abramt
Clarke, David*
O'Blenis, Gerrit
Suffern, John
Cuyper, Cornelius Lieut-Col.
Onderdonk, Andrew
Tallman, Harmanust
Ellison, Robert
Onderdonk, Thomas
Taulman, Peter, Captain.
Trout, Adam
Weygint, Tobias
Dorey, James, Con. Army.
Trout, Michael
Wilson, Jamest
De Ronde, Abram*
Snedeker, Johannes;
Gross, Peter
Cornelison, Michael, Sr.t
Allison, Wm. Colonel.
Smith, Jacobus
Waldron, John
Tinkey, John
Waldron, Jacob Ver Bryck, Sam'l Gerrit, Sr.t
Two companies from Haverstraw were in the Continental Army.
Benjamin Coe, Captain. Abraham Onderdonk, First Lient. Paulus M. Vandervoort, Second Lieut. Daniel Coe, Jr., Ensign.
*Killed tCaptured #Died prisoners.
Colonel, Abraham Lent.
Adjutant, Jacobns De Clark.
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John Suffern was an officer in the Commissary Department, C. A. Blauvelt, of the Continental army, was captured, transported to England, and held there as a prisoner of war for nine months. James Wilson was confined in the Sugar House; after his release he lived to the age of 90 years. Peter Gross served in Colonel John Lamb's Regiment of N. Y. Artillery, and was present at the surrender of Yorktown. Abram De Ronde was captured by a party of Tories while conveying provisions to the American army at Stony Point. On the way to New York he and his captors were fired on by an American scouting party, and he was mor- tally wounded.
As anindication of the material condition of the County during those days, it may not be amiss to mention the following facts: General Heath, when on his march from Tappan to Hackensack to quell the turbulence of the Tories, sent to Col. Hays for flour, beef and pork. To his requisition Hays returned answer, that there was no pork, that while he could fill the order for flour there were neither horses nor wagons to transport it, and that plenty of beef was on the way.
At a later period, in 1777, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the Board of Supervisors for each county to meet and ascertain the real value of rye, oats, Indian corn, flour, beef and pork, in specie for the year 1777. The valuation in this County was fixed as follows : Wheat 8s. per bushel ; rye and corn 5s. each per bushel; oats and buckwheat at 3s. per bushel ; flour at 22s. per cwt. ; beef, 40s. per cwt. ; pork at 60s. per cwt. As may be imagined these prices fluctuated during the different quarters of the year, sometimes as much as 50 per cent.
We have seen that the old Tappan church was used both as a prison and court-room. The English church at Kakiat, if we may believe the tradition, was used as a stable, and from John Coe's hotel at that place, La Fayette dated, at least, one letter.
It is interesting to note that even the horrors of war could not entirely obliterate the gentler muse. Captain Johannes Jacobus Blauvelt appears to have had an ear for music, and the words of the following song, used by the Virginia troops, so attracted his fancy as to lead him to copy it in his Orderly Book.
" Com all you bref Virginiae man I have you all to know
It is to fight your enemy you must prepare to go Our king he has fell out wyth us hes a mind to bindus slavs
Before we well put up wyth it will reither choose our graeves
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We will put op with his Masety our anything that gust
And if he wont put op with et he may do his worste Our king he has fell out with ous he is very angry now
I hope that brave America will conker general how
As for Lord north he es very proud and grand He has no friend in America as we can under stand
Long thim has ben trying some quarrel to begin That he might heuve a change the pretender to brign in
As for our gonvenor he acted very mene
He stole away our powder out of our magazine Hle stole away onr powder and likwist our led And if hae dont return it he is surd to loose liis head
This is one of the worst wars that ever was be- gun
It is lyke the father that wns against his sun
I never hard of such a war no not sens neohs flood
That any christian king crueves his subjects blood
Thir is manas a brave souldier must go and loose hys lyf
And menys lonven husband must an leve his loven wif
But we will kill them my brave boys lik brim- ston kild the bes
Whear we cold find themse mongst the woods and thress
Dount you remember the issralits ont of bond aege roodis be
And by the hand of moses end by the power of God
And by the hand of moses struck water with rod.
Johannes Blauvelt neeft gehut van Abraham ryker vooghi van die Staaet Van Kaspaarus Conklyn 4 Gin. mis."
Authorities referred to : " IIistory of Haverstraw," by Rev. Dr. A. S. Freeman ; " History Clarkstown," H. P. Fay; " History of Ramapo," E. B. Cobb; "History of Orange County,'' Eager ; Papers in " City and County," R. H. Fenton. Magazine American History, Vols. III., V., IX., X., XI., XII. Old documents. "Lectures on Rockland County," by William G. Haeselbarth.
CHAPTER VIII.
OLD TIME CUSTOMS AND OCCUPATIONS.
DREADFUL FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTY AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION-ENERGY OF THE PEOPLE TO RE-ESTABLISH BUSINESS- THE FIRST HOUSES OF THE SETTLERS-LATER ARCHITECTURE-DO- MESTIC LIFE AMONG THE DUTCH-THEIR OCCUPATIONS AND MANNER OF WORK-THE MODES OF TRAVEL IN EARLY DAYS-THE STYLE OF DRESS-AMUSEMENTS-CAUSES OF VENERATION FOR THE CLERGY- CHURCH ATTENDANCE-FUNERALS-FORMS OF OLD WILLS.
"Though one-third of the labor of the country at the close of the Revolution was probably devoted to the cutting of timber," says Greely, in his American Conflict, "the ax-helve was but a pudding stick; while the plough was a rude structure of wood, clumsily pointed and shielded with iron. A thousand bushels of corn (maize) are now grown on our western prairies, at a cost of fewer days' labor than were required for the production of a hundred in New York or New England eighty
years ago." * * "Almost every farmer's house was a hive, wherein the 'great wheel' and the 'little wheel'-the former kept in mo- tion by the hands and feet of all the daughters ten years old and upwards, the latter plied by their not less industrious mother-hummed and whirled from morning till night.
In the back room, or some convenient appendage, the loom responded day by day to the movements of the busy shuttle, whereby the fleeces of the farmer's flock and the flax of his field were slowly but steadily converted into substantial though homely cloth, sufficient for the annual wear of the family, and often with something over to exchange at the neighboring merchant's for his groceries and wares."
Peace found this County devastated and scathed. Where once had been great fields of waving grain or grass or tassled corn, now lay a waste rankly o'ergrown with weeds ; where once capacious barns had stood, filled to bursting with the glad earth's produce and giving shelter to lowing kine, and bleating sheep, and well-fed swine; there now could be found a few charred, blackened fragments of the buildings, while the cattle had been long since taken by one or the other army; and, turning to the home, where once had been comfort and plenty, great chests and presses filled with home made cloth; cupboards stored with pewter, earthenware, and,
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perchance, china and silver table sets ; garrets redolent with the odors of garden and orchard fruits ; now stood open chest lids, cupboard doors ajar, exposing empty shelves, while the once filled garret was a home for bats and owls. Turn from this scene of sadness and look at the condition of New York City, the commercial depot for this County, and the spectacle is not more cheering. Two great fires had swept four hundred houses from existence, and in the ruins stood huts and dens built from rubbish and fragments of canvass; the long, cold winters fell chill upon the invaders, yet the dangers of attacks from the patriots, if they ventured far from their quarters, were such as to lead the enemy to cut down the trees in the city and the forest on the island for fuel, and now unsightly stumps and low underbrush stood in the streets and covered the adjacent country. Commerce was dead. The Continental money worthless. The States bankrupt.
This was the first fruits of the patriots' victory, death and ashes. From death and ashes in the physical world springs fresh life, and from the ashes of an old social life was to spring forth a new, a more thriving, a better social system. Brave men and women came from the crucible of suffering undismayed, and began once more the struggle for existence. The earth was theirs and on their industry depended the fulness thereof.
Where all alike were equally poor, each was dependent on his own labor, and at once, as if by magic, the Army of the Revolution melted into the busy citizens of the Republic, industriously reassuming the peace- ful vocations they had abandoned at the call to arms. With wonderful rapidity, considering the exhausted condition of the people, houses and barns were rebuilt ; the fallow land reploughed, and the deserted farm yards replenished with domestic animals. Soon again was heard from every house the hum of the " great wheel " and the " little wheel," and on countless looms was being woven the warp and woof of a new existence. Once more the many long untrammeled streams, were fretted into foam as the water came in great surges from the slow revolving mill wheels; and here and there, along the highways of the County, the ringing blows of hammer on anvil, the roar of the fire, and the scattering sparks, proclaim- ed that the brawny armed artisan within had only ceased to be a son of Mars to become a son of Vulcan.
The first houses of the settlers were of two descriptions, depending in great measure for the style on the location chosen. In one case an ex- cavation in the side of a hill, lined with bark and faced with upright posts set in the earth, furnished with shelves and slaap bancks, was their home till better accommodation could be had. In the other case, a hut made of
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interwoven saplings, covered with bark, was used. These rude dwellings were only occupied till a log house could be erected. In the course of time the simple log houses were replaced by more pretentious and per- manent buildings, and it is with these that we have to deal.
Before the introduction of saw-mills, frame buildings with shingled sides and thatched roofs were constructed. The shingles, made by hand from well seasoned cedar, were almost as durable as stone. Such houses, though expensive, were not as costly nor as difficult to build as those of stone. As their general arrangement was much the same as the latter, I need not give them a separate description. While a few of these shingle- built houses can still be found in the County, the great majority of those built before the close of the last century, which still stand, are of brown stone. These stone buildings were one story high, with an overshot roof, forming a portico, in some cases both in front and behind; in others the portico was only in front, while in the rear the roof, called a " lean-to," ex- tended to within a few feet of the ground. Admission to the house was through half-doors, of which the upper half, containing usually four small panes of glass, could be opened for ventilation without disturbing the lower.
The entrance was into a broad hallway, through which a horse and car- riage could be driven and then leave space between hubs and walls. Low and unceiled were hall and rooms. Overhead ran the heavy oak beams, which became a rich, dark color with age, and on these rested the garret floor. The lower half of the wall in many houses was wainscoted, the upper half plastered. The fire-places were enormous, generally extending to a width sufficient to accommodate the whole family with seats near the fire. The chimneys, which were capacious, were built outside of the house. They were generally kept clear by "burning out " during a wet day to prevent danger from fire.
In the more pretentious dwellings, the jambs of the fire-place were set round with glazed, blue, delft-ware tiles, imported from Holland, on which were depicted Scriptural scenes-these were a never-failing source of amusement and instruction to the children-and each had its huge and- irons and heavy fire-shovel and tongs.
In the front of the house, on either side of the hall, were the parlor and kitchen, and in the rear, two bedrooms, which were lighted by a window in each end of the building. In many houses the parlor was never opened except for the purpose of a weekly cleaning, and as soon as that was finished it was closed again. This cleaning consisted of a thorough scrubbing, after which heaps of white sand were scattered on the floor,
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which, later, when the boards were dry, were swept into fanciful forms by the housewife's broom. In all houses, the parlor contained a high posted, corded, and unwieldly bedstead, which, with its hangings, formed the index of the social standing of its owner. Upon it, were two feather beds-one for the sleeper to lie upon, and another of a lighter weight, to be used as a covering. The pillow-cases were generally of check patterns, and the curtains and valance were of as expensive materials as could be afforded.
Not infrequently a round tea-table, with a leaf which could be dropped perpendicularly when not in use, also occupied the parlor and on this stood a family Dutch Bible with heavy wooden covers, bound and clasped with brass, which covers were seldom or never opened, except to record a mar- riage, a birth, or a death. Looking glasses, for common use, were small, with narrow black frames, but in the parlors of the wealthier families hung a large glass, framed with mahogany, trimmed with gilt, while from the top of the frame projected forward a gilded sheaf of wheat stalks or other like fanciful designs. Clocks were extremely rare-those great eight-day clocks, which are now so highly prized, being introduced into this country about 1720-and the early settlers marked the flight of time by an hour- glass and a sun dial.
The cellar, the entrance to which was always outside the house, was used as a storehouse for such farm products as needed an equal tempera- ture in winter, and as the dairy all the year round.
The garret was the store house. Here were laid up the fruits of the harvest which needed to be kept dry. Along the collar beams hung strings of dried apples and ears of sweet corn ; here in one corner stood the bin for rye, in another the bin for corn ; along one side were piled bags of flour, along the other stood barrels of apples. Not infrequently boards were laid on the collar beams, and on this improvised floor the lighter farm- ing utensils were placed side by side with the spinning wheel and loom.
What weird old places those garrets were. The one or two panes of glass placed in the gable served but to make the darkness more visible, and an air of ghosts always pervaded them. Tolerated they might be by the children during a stormy winter day when no other place could be found for play ; but oh ! what an agony of terror was produced by an order from the parent at night to go up there and bring down some needed ar- ticle. How with quivering muscles and trembling limbs the messenger would start, trying to keep up an air of courage by whistling ; how the whistle would die out at the head of the stairs; how each shadow thrown out by the candle light would assume grotesque, weird, and gigantic out- lines : how the mind would rapidly fall into such a whirl that every action
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was performed automatically; and then, if a mouse disturbed by the un- wonted light, should scamper across the floor, how, with bristling hair and starting eyeballs, the frightened messenger would fly to the stairs and get down any way, caring little whether it was head first or feet first, so long as he got down quickly, and without creating disturbance enough to be heard by his parents; for the terror of parental anger exceeded even the terror of ghosts, proving the power of the visible and tangible over the imperceptible and impalpable.
The kitchen in many houses was used alike as the cooking, eating and living room. On one side stood the vast open fire-place, with bright wood fire and shining andirons ; across its top ran an iron bar upon which hung pot-hooks and trammels-the crane was as yet too expensive a lux- ury for common use. Along the walls hung racks for culinary utensils, and in one corner stood a three-cornered closet called a pudabunk, in which the plates, knives and forks were placed. The crockery was delft- ware, which came into use in this colony about the close of the seven- tecnth century ; previous to the introduction of delft-ware, wooden and pewter dishes and vessels were used, and pewter continued the common table service in this County till the beginning of this century; the knives and forks were of steel. Among the very wealthy, blue and white china and porcelain, curiously ornamented with Chinese pictures, were kept for display, and used, perhaps, once in a lifetime. Some of these families decorated their parlor walls with China plates suspended by a strong rib- bon passed through a hole drilled in their edges. Silver spoons, snuffers, candlesticks, tankards and punch-bowls were owned by such as had accumulated more money than they could otherwise use. With them the purchase of silverware was an investment for surplus funds, as the different interest-paying stocks and ventures which exist in our time were unknown in those days.
Further furniture consisted of high, straight-back chairs, sometimes covered with leather and studded with brass nails, but more frequently seated simply with matted rushes. The capacious chest, brought from Holland, occupied a prominent place in the house for several generations, and was ever kept filled to overflowing with clothing and cloth by the in- dustrious good wife. Another useful article was the kermis, or trundle- bed, which was concealed under the large bed by day, and drawn out for the children's use at night.
Such was the general arrangement of double houses. In those of smaller size the interior was changed only by the hall occupying one side of the front, the other side being used as the parlor, after the manner of
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our city houses to-day, and opening into the sleeping rooms in the lean-to. In such houses the kitchen stood alongside the dwelling, generally com- municating with it by a doorway. When the kitchen was thus detached from the house, its attic was used as the slaves' quarters, or, if there were many of these, for one family.
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