USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 24
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The following is a list of a company under Capt. Daniel Brodhead. Compared with the list that went into the army during the Revolution and the Civil War, it will be seen that the same family name often occurs, showing that the heroic blood of their ancestors flows in the veins of the children, who are prepared at any time to defend with their lives the heri- tage their fathers gave them.
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TOWN OF MARBLETOWN.
Muster-roll of a company of Militia of the town of Marbletown in the year 1738:
Capt. Daniel Brodhead, Lieut. John Dewitt, Ensign John Brodhead, Sergts. Martin Bogart, Jacobus Bush, Thomas Keator, Corporals Cornelius Van Campen, Christopher Davis, Jacob Keator, Peter Vanderbergh; Clerk, Richard Pick, Lambert Brink, Johannes Van Leuven, Andries Van Leuven, Frederick Davis, Gysbert Roosa, Jan Roosa, Jacob Keyser, Balentine Smith, Teunis Clearwater, Johannes Bush, James Robinson, Matthew Algar, James Algar, Hartman Hine, Arien Van Demark, Jacob Van Demark, Jacob Middagh, Jacobus Tack, Isaac Tack, Johannes Jansen, Dirck Bush, Melgart Keator, Henderick Roosa, Thomas Van Demark, Augustinus Keator, Hendrick Van Demark, Dirck Keyser, Samuel Davis, Samuel Cock, Benjamin Davis, Alexander Ennis, Andrew Kernitts, Isaac Van Kampen, Samuel Moorits, Johan Thomas, Moses Cantine, Nicholas Keyser, William Hine, John Wood, Johannes Eltinge, Anthony Gerrits, Cornelius Tack, Jr., Henry Jansen, Thomas Bush, Frederick Keator, Hendrick Bush, John Pierce, Lambert Bush, Moses Depuy, Johannes Van Demark, Thomas Van Demark, Jr., Nicholas Van Demark, Arie Keator, Thomas More.
Under the act of the Council of Safety, passed Nov. II, 1777, at the house of Andrew Oliver, the export of flour, meal and grain to any part of the country in possession of the enemy was strictly forbidden. A license to make a single sale was necessary. David Bevier was a commis- sioner for this section, and several oaths on procuring such licenses are among the papers of his grandson, Louis Bevier. Leonard Hardenbergh had a license (Feb. 10, 1778), to export not more than four barrels of flour, on condition that he brought into this country an equal value of salt, either for the use of his family, or to retail to others. Others licensed were Johannes Roosa, Jacobus Morris, Daniel Johnson, Christopher Snyder, Roeloff Eltinge and Abraham Terpening.
At this date the inhabitants had increased in prosperity and wealth, also in deep religious beliefs. The total amount of tax collected in 18II was $409.72. For the same area, nearly a century later, in 1907, it is $17,812.90.
The Marbletown Reformed Church is among the most ancient religious associations in the county, being probably second to the parent Dutch Church in Kingston, with which its early history seems closely inter- woven. While the precise date of the organization is not definitely known, though stated in the "Manual" as 1737, the records show that as early as Sept. 27, 1677, a petition signed by the consistory of Kingston, Hurley and Marbletown, was sent to Lord Andross, Gov. General under James, Duke of York, reading as follows: "Inasmuch as we, in the three villages, are at present without a Pastor, and cannot be served by our neighbors, being so far from each other, we have by voluntary promises, secured 600 bushels of wheat, for which we would gladly call a Pastor, and in which
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may your Honor be pleased to be favorable to us in the calling of the same." This request was signed by Wessel TenBroeck, Jan Mattyssen, Dirck Schepmoes, Jan Hendrickse, Allardt, Heymanse Roosa, Roelof Hendrickse, Jan Jorsten and Wm. Jansen. It was promptly approved, and Dominie Laurentius Van Gaasbeck was sent over from Holland. While at Kingston he seems to have served the Marbletown people, and in 1679 he reported 20 mefbers there. There seem to have been meet- ing-houses in Hurley, Marbletown and other places in 1730, but all were appendages of the Kingston church at that time. A unity of feeling and general thirst for the gospel not easily understood in these days, is shown to have existed then, by the fact that three and four different congrega- tions would call a single pastor and dwell together in harmony.
The first church building, 44 x 54, capable of seating 250, was com- pleted in 1746 at a cost of £225. The pews were sold to cover this out- lay, with the reservation of certain free pews for the Justices, Dominie's family, and the consistory. This list of original pewholders contains 132 names. In 1750 the churches of Marbletown, Rochester and Wawarsing combined, and continued thus unitl 1795. But they were unsuccessful in securing a permanent pastor for a time, owing perhaps to a somewhat unique system of mathematics which seems to have prevailed in the minds of the consistory which made out the calls. For it is said that a copy of one of these ancient documents now in possession of Mr. Louis Bevier, of this town, states that "Marbletown was to receive three-sixths of the pastor's services, Rochester three-sixths, and Wawarsing "one-seventh." A new church was erected on the present site in 1851.
The North Marbletown Reformed Church, an offshoot from the old church, now at Stone Ridge, was built in 1852, near the site of the original church in the burial-ground, about half way between Kings- ton and Rochester. The following is the early succession of pastors of the old church: Hendricus Frelinghuysen, 1754; Dirck Romeyn, 1764; J. R. Hardenbergh, 1781 ; Abr. Van Horne, 1789; Stephen Goetschius, 1796; John H. Carle, 1814; Christian E. Paulinson, 1826; Cornelius L. Van Dyke, 1829; J. L. McNair, 1854; William A. Shaw, 1859; J. L. Mc- Nair, 1860; Wm. W. Brush, 1868; Victor M. Hulbert, 1872; Bastion Smits, 1884; Wm. W. Schomp, 1885.
There are several other churches in the town, including Methodist
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TOWN OF MARBLETOWN.
churches at Stone Ridge, High Falls and Kripplebush, and an Episcopal church at Stone Ridge.
The fertile soil of Marbletown is especially adapted to farm cultiva- tion, and it has often been called "the garden spot of Ulster County."
The first Supervisor of Marbletown was Moses Cantine, Jr., who served from 1808 to 1810. Louis Bevier, who is still living, served for eight years, beginning in 1874, and Dr. Herman Craft served nine years. The present Supervisor is Lemuel Bogart.
The rare scenic beauty spot of this old town is Lake Mohonk, a small part of which nestles in the triangular point on the southern border near the Rochester line. This of late years has become one of the most famous and favored summer resorts in the country. For romantic beauty and wild wood rocks it has no equal east of the Rocky Mountains. The place is also unique and notable because of the fact that it is one of the very few popular resorts in the land which has been operated strictly upon the temperance plan with high moral standards from the very start, and has proved a continued success in every way. The following paragraphs from a recent descriptive writer as to its scenic charms will be of interest :
To a lover of nature in its wildest, most romantic and picturesque phases, there are few localities on the American continent offering more attractions than Lake Mohonk and its immediate surroundings. In cer- tain of its aspects the region has much to remind one of Switzerland, with its cliff-encircled glens, its high mountain reaches and wide-spreading vistas of hills and valleys. Situated on a plateau of the Shawangunk Mountains, thirteen hundred feet above the Hudson, the Lake Mohonk estate comprises an area about six miles in length by nearly a mile wide. Near one end lies the little lake from which the place takes its name, a body of water which the Indians called Moggunk (Sky Top), changed in later days to the more euphonious Mohonk. This lake, which is more like an enormous bowl of clear, cold water, carved out of the solid cliffs which rise sheer from its edge on every side save one, has a depth of from forty to eighty feet and a circumference of something over a mile. Tow- ering above the lake on its eastern side, and three hundred feet above its surface, is Sky Top, the highest peak of the Shawangunk range. From this elevated point, which has been made accessible by a winding foot- path up the cliff, and also by an easy carriage road, a panorama rolls out which is scarcely paralleled for magnificence in the world. Within the
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REFORMED CHURCH OF MARBLETOWN. (Built 1744-1746.)
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TOWN OF MARBLETOWN.
vision are portions of six States-the hills of New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania, the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and, in the foreground on the east, the Highlands skirting the Hudson River valley, and on the west and north the Catskills. In the nearer foreground on the east, and immediately below, at the foot of the mountain, lies the broad and fertile valley of the Wallkill with its orchards, cornfields, and wide-rolling meadows, and in the midst of these, the thrifty old town of New Paltz. Immediately below the mountain-crest on the west, stretches away the Rondout valley in an entrancing vision of rich farm lands, pretty villages and winding streams, with the classic country of Rip Van Winkle on the distant horizon. Truly, one must have less than the eye of an artist or the soul of a poet to look out over this encircling landscape of mountains, valleys and uplands, when mantled in the fresh greenery of early June, or when decked out in the glories of October, and not feel a thrill at the heart and the coming of thoughts too deep for words.
Stretching along the cliffs west of the lake opposite Sky Top, is the great hostelry with its battlements and towers, suggestive of some old castle on the Rhine, within whose spacious walls have been held for these twenty years and more the two conferences which have given the place world-wide fame.
While the utmost care has been taken to preserve and develop all the natural beauty of the Mohonk estate, the finest landscape art and a vast amount of money have been drawn upon to enhance its loveliness and make it accessible with ease and comfort to guests and tourists. To this end some fifty miles of macadamized roads have been constructed under the cliffs and around the mountains, while half as many miles of winding paths, carefully guarded at dangerous points, lead to the glens, the caves, the peaks, the ledges above the lake, and other places of interest. At frequent intervals along these roads and paths pretty little summer houses thatched with straw after the Swiss pattern, have been erected and pro- vided with restful seats. Running out from the lake and the hotel at their northern extremity is an open space of fifteen acres converted from a rock-strewn forest plot into spacious lawns and gardens, wherein is a profusion of the rarest vines, shrubs and flowers.
The first humanitarian work to which Mohonk opened its doors was in behalf of the Indians. The first conference in their interest was held at
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
the Lake in October, 1883, and has been held annually in that month ever since. Mr. Albert K. Smiley was prompted to this step by the fact that he had been a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners for some years previous and had become deeply concerned in the welfare of the aborigines. In 1904 this conference broadened its scope by taking under its consideration the native peoples of Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philip- pines.
The establishment of the second conference, that in the interests of international arbitration, was in 1895. These conferences are usu- ally held about the first of June, while the Indian conferences are held in October. To each of these conferences Mr. Smiley invites and entertains as his personal guests some three hundred men and women, carefully selected from among those who have special knowledge of the subjects to be considered, and the interest and influence to make their knowledge felt by the public at large and in places of power.
.4.
C. Meech Woolsey.
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TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH.
CHAPTER XXIII. TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH.
By HON. C. M. WOOLSEY.
N this brief history no attempt is made to give all the events that have transpired in the town from its first settlement, but merely to record the earlier events, the trials and struggles, the habits and customs, of the sturdy, industrious people who settled here, and carved a home and name among these stony hills and valleys. They are worthy of all praise for what they accomplished, because several colonies at dif- ferent times had previously examined and inspected these shores, and discouraged at their ruggedness and barren soil, settled in other places. These settlers had hardly completed comfortable houses and buildings, and cleared a small part of the land, when they were called upon to face a long and bitter war with a foreign nation, and many of their neighbors took sides in opposition. They had to endure great suffering and priva- tion. But the earlier papers and records have disappeared, and little has been left to us. In this paper, family history is omitted. My great-great grand parents, Richard Woolsey and Sarah Fowler, were among the first settlers. They had twelve children, all of whom left families, and I can- not even give all the descendants correctly. It appears impossible to trace the bounds and locations of the various patents of land correctly except the Bond Patent, so they are simply referred to.
Some new information has been gathered, mostly documentary. I have personally examined the records and originals and consider them correct.
There was no civil organization of the lands now embraced in the Town of Marlborough, until the colony called the Palatines, settled where Newburgh now is, in 1709, when the Precinct of Highlands was formed and attached to New Paltz, all within the County of Ulster as it then existed.
Prior to 1697 "Dennis Relje," or, as he was afterward called, "Old Dennis" and "The Old Man," came here. He was the first settler and
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
was probably put into possession by Capt. John Evans (of the Royal Navy), who had an immense tract of land along the river from Cornwall north, about eighteen miles, and extending back into the woods a long distance. This patent, granted to Evans in 1694, vacated and set aside in 1699, required that there should be an actual settlement within three years after the grant, and Relje was put on it for that purpose and settled on the Kill where Marlborough now is.
It was claimed by the people who petitioned to have the Evans patent annulled, that there was but one house upon the tract and that was where Cornwall now is. But Evans claimed that he had several settlers on the tract and had expended considerable sums of money on improvements. It appears by the petition of Egbert and Hendrick Schoonmaker that they asked for about 600 acres "on both sides the Oudtman's Kill or Creek." This petition was dated 1697, and the Kill was so named at that time, being the Kill running from Lattintown to Marlborough and the river.
This Kill was named after "Old Dennis," and has ever since gone by the name of "Old Man's Kill," or Creek.
The organization of the territory remained the same until 1743, when by Act of Assembly three full precincts were formed, having all the officers of towns and exercising all their duties. These were Wallkill, Shawangunk, and Highland. Highland embraced what is now Marl- borough, Plattekill, Newburgh and New Windsor, covering the patents along Hudson River, from Murderer's Creek (Moodney Creek) to the line of New Paltz. It was bounded on the east by Hudson's river, on the south by the line dividing the counties of Ulster and Orange; on the west by the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk and the neighbor- hoods annexed to the New Paltz; and on the north by the bounds or line of New Paltz Town. "The precinct meetings were to be held at the house of John Humphrey, Jr., on the first Tuesday of April, annually," for the election of officers. This house was at Little Britain.
In 1743, by an Act of Assembly for the better clearing and further laying of public roads, Capt. Thomas Ellison, Capt. Alexander Coldon, and Zacharias Hoffman, Jr., were appointed Commissioners. The roads were to be four rods wide except through meadow and improved lands. Each Commissioner received a sum not to exceed six shillings a day for his care and trouble.
The Highlands precinct remained in existence until 1762, when it was
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TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH.
divided into Newburgh and New Windsor "by a line beginning at the mouth of Quassaick Creek and running thence along the south bounds of a tract commonly called the "German patent," to another tract granted to Alexander Baird, and then along the southerly bounds of this tract to the Wallkill precinct; all the lands in Highland, lying southward of the dividing line to be called by the name of New Windsor, and all the lands within the said Highland precinct, lying to the northward to be called Newburgh.
The Act dividing Highland into Newburgh and New Windsor directed that the first precinct meeting for Newburgh should be held at the house of Capt. Jonathan Hasbrouck. This house is the present Washington Headquarters at Newburgh. At this time the population was about equally divided between the Newburgh precinct and the other two pre- cincts. It all remained Ulster County until the Act of Assembly, April 5, 1798, when Newburgh and other towns were taken off.
These precincts did not take the names of towns until 1788. And in 1800 the Town of Plattekill was set off and Marlborough was left as it is to-day. When the Law of 1813 was enacted, dividing the counties into towns, the boundaries of Marlborough were stated as follows :-
"That part of the County of Ulster bounded easterly by the middle of Hudson's river, southerly by Orange County, westerly by a line begin- ning on the line of the said County of Orange, two chains and seventy-five links east of the north corner of a tract of land called the five patentees from thence on a straight line northward to the most easterly bounds of Robert Teft's land where it joins the Town of New Paltz, and northerly by a tract of land granted to Louis DuBois and his partners, called the New Paltz patent, shall be and continue a town by the name of Marl- borough." The area is 14,300 acres.
EARLY PATENTS AND LAND GRANTS.
What is known as the Evans' tract, mentioned elsewhere, formerly embraced the whole territory of this town and much more. This was an immense tract, granted by Governor Fletcher, of this Colony, to Capt. John Evans.
There was a controversy during 1691, 1692, 1693, as to the right to make a grant so large. On the accession of the Earl of Bellomont to the governorship, he annulled the transaction, but his act was not ap-
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
proved by William III. The English government took up the matter in 1698, and the grant was annulled on May 12, 1699, the land reverting to the crown. After that date it became the policy of the government to make grants of land only to actual settlers, so far as possible.
Few of the old applicants for patents lived in Marlborough. Among them Capt. Bond was probably the first. He came with his daughter, Sukie or Susanna, and built a cabin in the vicinity of the Hicksite meet- ing house. He was Deputy Surveyor in 1717, and the legend is that he and his daughter were both buried near the site of the cabin. He had many slaves, and kept up style for those times. There were seven tax- payers in Marlborough in 1714 and 1715.
Francis Harrison was a resident in 1623. Part of the Harrison patent, 500 acres lying south of Marlborough, was purchased by Samuel and Isaac Fowler, in 1647. Francis Harrison paid taxes in 1726. The Bond patent near the center of the town is now a great fruit district.
Capt. William Bond was the first settler of that part of the town, now known as Milton, of whom there is any authentic record. He appears on the tax roll of 1714-15 as Capt. Bond, and on the succeeding tax rolls. His patent appears to have covered the present site of the railroad depot, the Milton dock property and the south part, if not all, of Milton Village
TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH IN THE REVOLUTION.
ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO THE PROVINCIAL CONVENTION.
At a meeting of the Committees of the several Towns and Precincts, in the County of Ulster, to appoint Deputies, to serve in the Provincial Convention, at the City of New York, on the 20th day of April, or at such other Time and Place as may be agreed on, held at New Paltz in the County aforesaid, the 7th day of April 1774. Col. Johannes Hardenburgh was chosen President, and Charles De- Witt, George Clinton and Levy Paulding, Esquires, were elected Deputies to serve in the Provincial Convention, for the purpose of choosing delegates, to represent this Colony in General Congress, to meet at the City of Philadelphia, on the 10th of May next; with full power to declare the sense of this county relative to the grievances under which His Majesty's American Subjects labor, and of the meas- ures pursuing and to be pursued for obtaining Redress, and to Join with the Depu- ties for the other Counties and Cities, in this Colony at such Provincial Conven- tion, in instruction to the delegates so as by them to be appointed, if they shall deem it necessary.
Ordered that the same be signed by the President.
JOHANNES HARDENBURGH.
ELECTION OF DEPUTIES TO THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS FROM ULSTER COUNTY.
At a meeting of the Committee of the Several Towns and Precincts in the County of Ulster, held at New Paltz, at the house of Mrs. Ann DuBois in the County aforesaid, the IIth day of May 1775.
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TOWN OF MARLBOROUGH.
The following appeared for the different towns and precincts : For New Marlborough. Lewis DuBois Benjamin Carpenter, Esq. Joseph Morey.
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Charles D. Witt, Esq., was chosen chairman. Col. Johannes Hardenburgh, Col. James Clinton, Egbert Dumond, Dr. Charles Clinton, Christopher Tappen, John Nicholson and Jacob Hornbeck, Esquires, were chosen Deputies for the said County, to serve in Provincial Convention at the City of New York, on the 22nd day of May.
On the 29th of May, the Provincial Congress directed the Committee holding the pledge to return the same before the 15th day of July, 1775, with the names of the signers and those who refused to sign, which was done. All who signed were avowed friends of the American Cause, whose efforts and influence the Patriot leaders could depend upon, while those who refused to sign were equally well known by all as the sup- porters of the king and ministry. In 1775 there were 270 in the male population of the town of sixteen years and upwards.
Lewis DuBois, born September 14, 1728, Captain 3rd N. Y., 28th of June, 1775; Major, 25th of November, 1775; Colonel, 21st of June, 1776; Colonel, 5th N. Y., 25th of November, 1776; to rank from 25th of June, 1776. Resigned 22nd of December, 1779. He served also as Colonel on N. Y. levies. He died December 29, 1802. Some years after, when his son's house was burned, all his commissions and valuable papers were lost.
It appears that Lewis DuBois, of the Precinct of New Marlborough, was a Captain and William Martin a Lieutenant in the 4th Regiment of the line in 1775, upon the Invasion of Canada.
On the 8th of January, 1776, the Continental Congress issued its first formal call for troops, for the purpose of reinforcing the Army in Canada. Under this call Ulster County furnished one Company, of which William Martin, of New Marlborough, was Captain.
Capt. Lewis DuBois was promoted to Major in Canada, and on Febru- ary 28, 1776, James Clinton was Colonel and Lewis DuBois, Major of the 4th Regiment of the line while at the siege of Quebec.
Major or Colonel Lewis DuBois, who was a man of means and promi- nence here, had many recruits from the precinct, and some were killed in Canada, and at Forts Clinton and Montgomery. In October, 1777, the brunt of the battle here fell upon DuBois and his regiment, and many were killed.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
By the town records of 1778, it appears that the precinct meeting "voted that the donations collected in this Precinct be applied to such poor, whose husbands or parents were either killed or taken prisoners at Fort Montgomery, etc."
A part of Colonel Cantine's Regiment, the 3rd of the line, were from this part of the country, but their names cannot be traced; and others from the town served in other regiments. William Woolsey was an Ensign in 1778 in Roswell Hopkin's Regiment of Dutchess County.
It appears that Col. Lewis DuBois and Capt. William Martin were the most prominent soldiers in the service from this town. They were both with the army upon the invasion of Canada and the siege of Quebec, and at other places where they took active part.
TORIES.
Josiah Lockwood was arrested for being unfriendly to the cause of Liberty and gave a bond for 300 pounds, dated March 7th, 1777, Uriah Drake as surety, to appear before a General Court Martial for trial.
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