USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 16
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Not infrequently during the pleasant summer Sundays, several neigh- bors on the river bank at a distance from Tappan, or Clarkesville, would embark on sloop-board, and start for the church at Slaeperigh Hol (Sleepy Hollow.) Sometimes they would get across the uncertain Tappan Zee without trouble and in plenty of time for service, but it often times hap- pened, that when the sloop got well out from shore, the breeze would die out and then the vessel would drift idly about the bay till an afternoon wind sprang up and wafted the belated pilgrims back to shore.
The churches of those early days differed so radically from the build- ings of our time that a brief notice of that at Tappan, may not be uninter- esting. Opposite the entrance stood the wine glass shaped pulpit, fastened against the wall by its stem, and reached on either side by a flight of cir- cular stairs. Surmounting it was a sounding board which was embellished by a sheaf of golden grain. Underneath and in front of the pulpit, was the clerk's desk. On each side of the church was a gallery which was reached by stairs built within the body of the church, that on the right being occu- pied by the young men of the congregation while the one on the left was used by the negro slaves. In keeping with the simplicity of the people and the universality of attendance at church, the quaint habit existed of making the doors of the sacred edifice a place of advertisement. Nailed to them might be seen, notices of strayed or impounded cattle, descrip- tions of lost property, or intelligence of an approaching vendue.
Other religious meetings were held at irregular intervals. Prayer meetings at the houses of the different church members, at which the Dominie would be present if it was possible; and every two or three weeks a lecture on Bible subjects would be given at the home of some deacon or elder. Saturday evening was the night always selected for these lectures, and as time and place were announced from the pulpit on the preceding Sabbath, the meeting was always well attended.
The healthful out-door life, the nature of their occupation, the plain but substantial articles which formed their food, the freedom from bad sanitation which exists in a sparsely settled country, and the homely com-
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mon sense of our ancestors in this County ; rendered them unusually free from disease and exceedingly long lived. Yet the custom of preparing for death was universal. From the hour of attaining his twenty-first year every man began to lay aside a sum in gold, which should be used to de- fray his funeral expenses, and under no circumstances was this ever touched except for that purpose. At the same time a linen shirt, handkerchief, etc., were laid away and were never allowed to be worn, but kept clean to be buried in. When sickness entered a household, domestic remedies were tried by housewives, who were by no means unskilled in the appear- ance or treatment of disease. If, to their keen sight, the symptoms were alarming, either Doctor Osborn, who had settled at Stony Point as early as 1730, and begun practice, or later his son, Doctor Richard Osborn, or Doctor Thomas Outwater, of Tappan, were sent for.
If the malady proved fatal, preparations were at once made for the final obsequies. The coffin, usually made from well seasoned, smooth, and beautifully grained boards, which had been selected many years be- fore by the deceased and carefully kept for the occasion, was constructed by some neighbor skilled in carpenter craft, and covered with a black pall. In case a woman died in child-bed a white sheet, instead of the black pall, was spread over the coffin. In a community where all were neighbors and friends, but little call existed for funeral invitations, for, unless the illness had been unusually brief, the mortal sickness of one of their number was widely known among the residents; but, when such invitation was given, it was through the chorister of the church.
At the hour appointed for the last rites, the neighbors for miles around collected at the late home of the dead. In one corner of the parlor stood the coffin, resting on a table, near it was seated the dominie, while round the room were the mourners, for in those days all mourned as for one of their own. Just previous to the beginning of the service, the sexton en- tered, followed by a slave bearing a tray on which were glasses and decan- ters. These were passed to each guest and most of them poured out and drank a glass of wine or rum. Following this, the sexton again entered, bearing pipes and tobacco. Such of those present as smoked filled a pipe and puffed in silence ; when the pipes were empty, the dominie rose to his feet and delivered his funeral remarks, ending the service by a short but fervent prayer.
The custom of using liquors and tobacco at funerals prevailed in this County as late as 1809. How much later it obtained here I do not know, but among the conservative Dutch families of Flatbush, in Kings County, on Long Island, it was still in vogue in 1819.
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At the close of the house service, the coffin was carried to the vehicle by bearers, who were chosen from among the most intimate friends of the deceased, and then borne to the grave. The location of that grave de- pended altogether on the situation of the dead person's residence. If it was near the church the body was laid in the church-yard. At a distance too great to render this spot available, the corpse was either interred in some local spot of sepulture, chosen by the neighbors for that purpose, or the lumber wagon bearing the remains was driven to some place on the farm which the deceased or his ancestors had selected, and there con- signed to the dust from which it came. Wills are still extant in which provision is made for the preservation of these family burying places through all time.
The last wills and testaments of those days are worded with remark- able clearness. The testator knew how he wished to dispose of his property, and, if he could write, placed his desires on paper, or, failing in penmanship, obtained the services of some educated and trusted neighbor to express his bequests for him. Competition for success was not as great in those days as at present because wealth was not regarded as so important a social factor; closer relationship existed between the different members of families, and fewer lawyers had to be supported ; for these reasons wills were never contested in our County, and the importance of having them drawn up with a view to future attempts at breaking them, did not exist.
Before the adoption of the Constitutional form of Government, the law of primogeniture existed. To avoid its force, when desired, an opening clause devised a certain sum to the first-born male in lieu of legal privileges, thus: " Item, I do give, devise and bequeath to my eldest son, Gerret Lydecker, the sum of £5 current money of New York, which shall be in full of all demands or pretention he shall or may have to any part of my estate as heir-at-law." * * * After the disposal of this matter, the testator then proceeds with his bequests.
" These old Dutch wills seem not to trust a widow in a second mar- riage. The restraints placed upon re-marriages by wills were generally in favor of the children of the first marriage, and the widows thus restricted generally signed consents to accept the bequests in lieu of dower, for the good reason that propriety did not allow them to refuse so soon after the death of their first husband; and, because the devises and bequests in lieu of dower vested an estate for life, or three-thirds of the estate subject to a contingency in their own control, instead of one-third absolutely." Thus in the will already quoted from, which is that of Albert Lydecker, made in 1774 and is a type of others which I have read of that time. All the
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stock of furniture or its value, which he obtained with his wife at marriage, he bequeaths to her and directs his executors to deliver it in case she should marry again, and he again further directs his five sons to pay her a yearly sum, and gives her the use of a room in the home, so long as she remains his widow. Another will provides liberally for the widow of the testator during her widowhood. "But if she marry, then her husband must provide for her as I have done."
In reality, women, maids or widows, were not dealt by with what we should regard as a spirit of fairness. It was expected that they should marry and that their husbands should support them ; and then, not in any sense regarding the fact that in the partnership of marriage the wife had done her share in accumulating the property devised, if she married a second time, she was disinherited by the will of her first husband.
The wills of those days entered most minutely into a list of behests ; " cupboards," "pewter table sets," " silver plate," " beds and their furni- ture," " chairs," "tables," and so on ; are devised piece by piece to the dif- ferent heirs. Slaves were bequeathed, sometimes to one person in the total, and sometimes they were separated by the last earthly wish of a man, who shortly, before an inexorable Judge, to whom souls are alike whether in black skins or white, was to appear and answer for his life work.
In case disagreement followed the reading of the will; and in other cases where the testator thought it advisable; the executors were directed to sell everything at public vendue-spelled phonetically in those days, vandue-and divide the proceeds among the heirs according to the pro- visions of the will. Different terms of sale at those auctions were agreed to by the executors. Those of one held in 1773, I will quote.
" The articles of this Vandue held this 10th day of August, 1773, are that all Persons have their free Bid and be Entitled to such things as are struck off on their Bid, with giving good Shurety if regard (required) by the Collector, if such shurety be Refused, ye thing or things to be set up at a second Sale if sold for more than the first time the first Buyer to have no Profits, if sold for Less than the first time, the first Buyer to make good the Damage, the Buyer to have untill ye 10th day of February next, for time of Payment, if any money Remains unpaid after the time given, it is to draw Lawful Interest until paid. The Collector to have good Right to seize on the Buyer or goods any time before payment. And the Money to be paid to me.
GILBERT CUYPER, Collector."
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Such were the customs, almost all now obsolete, of the people who dwelt in this region before the close of the eighteenth century. It has been said that they were bigoted in their religious opinions, crude and rough in their manners, and utterly without amusement. I have seen a lithograph, published many years ago, which was intended as a hit at the religious fanaticism of early days. It represents an inn, in front of which stands the inn-keeper, Bible in hand ; around him are collected his family, all their faces wearing a cold, stern, rigidly just expression. Pendant from the branch of a neighboring tree hangs the body of the house cat, while a jolly-visaged guest standing by, explains the scene in these words :
"To Banburry came I, O profane one, To see a Puritane one ; A hanging of ye cat on a Monday, For ye killing of a mouse on a Sunday."
To the liberal ideas of the present time, the sectarian prejudices of olden days, must at a superficial glance seem bigoted ; but when we re- member that the spirit of their religion moved our ancestors to live honest, pure, and upright lives, trying as best they could to love their neighbors as themselves, to do unto others as they would be done by ; when we re- member that they paid their personal debts and kept the church as God's house and not as the property of some mortgage-holder; when we re- member that they attended divine service to worship Him in whose care they committed their bodies and souls, and banished worldly thoughts and vanities at the church door, we may find cause to believe that with all our boasted liberality of views, our ancestors walked as near beatitude as we do.
True it is, that the culture and society polish of the present day were not known to that generation of men ; but they reverenced their women next to their God and honored their old people as they themselves would wish in their age to be honored. True it is, that labor was severe and al- most constant among the pioneers, and they had little of the amusement that we of to-day enjoy ; but their labor founded a County, now rich and prospering, and kept poverty so far from the door that not a pauper was reported for over a century and a half-till 1845-in that section now known as Rockland County ; and, as Greeley says, " a passionately earnest assertion, which many of us have heard from the lips of the old men of thirty to fifty years ago, that the days of their youth were sweeter and happier than those we have known, will doubtless justify us in believing that they were by no means intolerable."
Authorities referred to. "American conflict." Vols. II. Horace Greeley. "Field Book of the Revolution." Vols. II. B. J. Lossing. " Ilistory of Kings County." Vols. II. Stiles. " Sketch Book." Washington Irving. Archives of the Rockland County Ilistorical Society. " History of Haverstraw." Rev. A. S. Freeman, D. D., and William S. Pelletreau.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT TILL THE ERECTION OF ROCKLAND COUNTY.
THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE CREATION OF A FEDERATION-THEIR SLIGHT INFLUENCE ON THIS SECTION-THE FEELING AMONG THE PEOPLE REGARDING IT AND THE REASONS FOR THAT FEELING-THE VOTE OF THE DELEGATES AT THE CONVENTION-REASONS WHY ROCK- LAND COUNTY WAS ERECTED-ITS BOUNDARIES-ITS TOWNSHIPS-ITS FIRST OFFICERS.
The Confederation was a failure. Its Congress had been granted sole power to declare war, but it could neither compel the levying of troops, nor arni and support them should they be raised; it had been given sole power to fix the needed amount of revenue, but had no authority to en- force the collection of taxes; it had had conferred upon it sole power to decide disputes between the States, but had no means of enforcing its de- termination ; it stood a political monstrosity, with just sufficient life to realize its own impotence, and just sufficient energy to feel that it was the laughing stock of the world.
Long before the close of our struggle for liberty, this weakling had demonstrated its inefficiency. The troops, naked and starving, had clam- ored without effect for their pay, and had, at length, broken out in mutiny, while Congress vainly sought financial assistance; its partisan bickerings and the intrigues caused by old local jealousies, which even the awful grandeur of its object could not lead it to lay aside, full often hampered the commanding officers in the field; and when, at length, the war was ended, and the terms of peace agreed upon, it was only by the most strenuous efforts and after repeated appeals that a quorum of its members could be obtained to sign the treaty.
A broken reed in the hour of danger, what hope could be entertained that in quieter times it would display more strength. Futile indeed were its efforts to meet the requirements of its position in peace. Many of the States neglected or openly refused to pay their allotted share of interest upon the public debt. The year after the evacuation of New York, bills of the Confederation for $600,000 were protested in Holland, and the annual requirement of the Treasury-$4,000,000-was universally felt to
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be a sum too large to demand, and which could not be collected. Nor did the following years bring relief to this helpless semblance of authority. Commercial and offensive and defensive treaties were formed between different States and between separate States and foreign nations. Matters rapidly advanced from bad to worse.
The value of the Continental money had ceased and further loans could not be effected because of the loss of credit. Commerce, ruined by the war, was prevented from reviving by two proclamations from Great Britain, one, that all importations of American products should either be carried by British vessels or by those belonging to the State from which the produce was shipped; the other, prohibiting American vessels or citizens from trading with British colonies. Our infant manufacturcs-abruptly checked by the war-were prevented from reviving by the influx of foreign goods, and a refusal by the States to permit Congress to impose a duty on imports, had caused those imports to exceed the exports by $20,000,000, and an incubus of debt amounting to $80,000,000 rested on this people.
Such were the conditions, which led Hamilton and his colleagues to commend and earnestly labor for a change in the form of authority, by which certain powers, then vested in each of the many separate States, should be granted to a central government, and from the many common- wealths a single nation exist. The result of a convention to decide on the necessities of the public weal, which met at Philadelphia, in 1787, was a recommendation for a federal form of government. This recommendation was transmitted to Congress with the suggestion that it be submitted to conventions in each State, chosen by the people thereof, called by the re- spective Legislatures. Congress, following the advice of the Philadelphia Convention, adopted a resolution on September 28th, 1787, referring the new Constitution to the various Legislatures for submission to the people of the respective States. In pursuance of the Congressional resolution, the Legislature of New York adopted a joint resolution, on January 31st, 1788, providing for a State Convention to meet at Poughkeepsie, June 17th, 1788. The delegates to that Convention, chosen by the people of Orange County, were: John Haring, Henry Wisner, John Wood, Jesse Woodhull.
We have already traced the growth of the spirit of liberty in the people of our County. We have already seen what they suffered to obtain their liberty. At the outset, they had found counties created which were sub- servient to the State; they had seen townships or precincts arise subject to the county ; and they had learned to respect and revere their civil gov- ernment from interest and association. The overthrow of royal power had
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been a sudden and tremendous revolution, and in the startling phases of the change, this people had failed to grasp the magnitude of the result.
Then, too, as we have seen, the disasters of war, which fell so heavily on manufacturing and mercantile counties and States, crushing their busi- ness and commerce from existence, touched lightly on Orange. She was a producer that supplied her own consumption and had surplusage. Lib- erty to her residents meant as little interference from outside sources as possible. It was with an unpleasant feeling that they submitted to a ma- jority rule in the State government, when that rule did not benefit them, and they paid their ever increasing taxes for the benefit of sister counties, which were not yet self-supporting, with many a murmur. But those sec- tions they thus aided indirectly were of their own State.
When now, therefore, the proposition to form a central government was heard, it was greeted by the residents of this County with vehement pro- test. Unable to grasp the fact, that if some of their liberty was not ab- negated, they would lose all of it; unable to appreciate the ruin which was being accomplished, through lack of some central authority, in other States and even in parts of our own; the people of Orange felt that the proposed federation was only a name for another form of tyranny, and that under the simple title of President lurked the authority of King. Nor was the fact that all the branches of that government were to be under their control-the House of Representatives directly, the Senate and Executive indirectly-any relief to their feeling of concern. If they were annoyed at the power of majority vote in their own Legislature, among their own people, seven-fold more annoying would it be, when their States' Repre- sentatives in Congress were outnumbered and out-voted by the members of Congress from other, perhaps rival, and certainly far distant States, for whose welfare they cared nothing. Liberty to the different factors in this nascent State and Nation, while not yet reaching license, was trending to- ward it, and from the first had been a synonym for selfishness.
Perhaps no better illustration can be given of the feeling toward the Federation among our farmers, than to quote the language of a citizen from our neighbor State, New Jersey, concerning his sentiment toward the new form of government, and this ten years after the change was an accom- plished fact.
"Timothy Meeker, at one time, while a portion of the standing army, under the administration of John Adams, was at Elizabethtown, visited General Dayton, in person to pay his direct tax for the support of the army. ' Of what use is your standing army ?' asked Meeker. 'To sup- port Congress ;' replied Dayton, 'Ay, to support Congress indeed ; ' said
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the old man bitterly. 'To support Congress in taking away our liberties, and in altering the Constitution so as to place men in public office for life. I fought for freedom through the war for nothing (his Continental money was worthless), and now I want to pay for my land and be independent indeed, but tax upon tax keeps me poor. I could at any time raise one hundred men among my neighbors upon the Short Hills, say privately to your standing army, come and help us-and they would come, and we'd to Philadelphia and take your Congressmen from their seats. We will not have a standing army. Disband it.'
'Our standing army,' said Dayton, 'will intimidate the British.' 'Look aliere, General Dayton ; ' said Meeker, ' you are well acquainted in London. Write to your acquaintances there, and tell them that Timothy Meeker is dead, and that he has left seven sons, every one of whom is a stronger man than he. Tell them we are seven times stronger than before, and that will intimidate them more than all your standing armies, that suck the life blood from the people.'"
But there was another and perhaps even stronger reason for the bitter feeling against the proposed Federation among our County people. Her representative men were earnestly opposed to the change, and in their speeches to and conversations with the electors, denounced the step to- ward royalty in no measured terms. On the borders of a neighboring County-Ulster, in a section now belonging to Orange, Governor George Clinton was born and lived. In the early years of the War for Independ- ence, he was in command of the militia of Orange and Ulster Counties, and with them had seen service in more than one well contested battle. The militiamen had grown to respect, admire and love their old comman- der, and had watched his elevation to and actions in the gubernatorial chair with pride. In the first election, Orange had given him the victory over Philip Schuyler, and at every following election, he had been return- ed by increasing majorities.
All history is filled with the records of successful generals raised to high command in the State, and generally, with the history of their ad- vance, has been compelled to record their failure in civil office. But in the administration of George Clinton there were no grave political errors from his view of polity. He was a man who combined the power of win- ning men with great political astuteness, and his views were generally ac- cepted by those who associated with him in affairs of State as exceedingly wise. To the student, who looks into Clinton's career, there can be no question, that in his opposition to the proposed federation, he was guided by strong conscientious principles. As a patriot, he had responded to
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the call for duty among the first, and had placed his property, his liberty and his life in jeopardy ; and now he firmly believed that the proposed new form of government was but the beginning of another monarchy under a different name.
But with this conscientious objection to national power, there was another and a more avaricious scruple. Clinton was an ambitious man. He aspired to leadership among the people, and he had attained his am- bition, only to see his power, in great measure, vanish by an unforseen proposition. In an instant his perspicacity had grasped the fact, that greater influence and fame belonged to the executive head of an inde- pendent commonwealth, than to the governor of a State, which with twelve others went to form a nation; and biased by personal as well as political reasons, he combatted the idea of centralization.
Among the electors of Orange and Ulster, as I have said, the word of Clinton was all-powerful. But to still further strengthen the Governor's stand, the leading statesmen of this section were his political allies. John Haring and Henry Wisner had both been fellow members with him in the Provincial Convention of 1775, and his vote had been cast for Wisner as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In the sessions of the Third and Fourth Provincial Congress, Ilaring, Clinton and Wisner, had again been fellow delegates. When Clinton was elected Governor, Wisner was sent to the Senate, and in this body, he was joined by Haring in 1781, both remaining till the period of which I am speaking-1788. To make the tie still closer if possible between the Governor and his allies, Haring was made one of the Council of Appointment in 1782, while in 1785-86- 87 he was a member of the Continental Congress.
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