USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 30
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"Given under my hand this 5th day of August 1757.
"JACOB HORNBECK."
On the back were the names of
Cornelius Van Wagonen, Thomas Graham, Edward Wood, Jr., Henry Harp, Aurdt Van Wagen,
Ephraim Depuy. Petere Harp, Daniel Wood,
Johin Louis,
The town is bordered by ranges of mountains on its northwestern and southeastern sides, and a rolling upland fills the space between. The Rondout Creek flows across the town in a northeasterly direction and has as tributaries from the south, Stony Creek, Sanders Kill and Peters Kill. Coxing Kill also passes through the southeast portion and empties into the
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TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
Rondout in Rosendale. The principal tributary to the Rondout from the north is the Mettacahonts Creek, which rises in the hills in the extreme northern point of the town. Into this many streams flow, including the Mombaccus Creek, or Mill Brook, as it is sometimes called, which rises in nearly the same neighborhood as the Mettacahonts but takes a more southerly course and adds the Fantine Kill to its waters before discharg- ing into the stream a short distance above the village of Accord. There are also the Fountain Kill, the Beaver Dam Creek, and many smaller streams, which swell the parent stream. In the western end of the town is Vernooy Creek, which rises in the same neighborhood as the Mettaca- honts and the Mombaccus, and taking a course almost due south passes into the town of Wawarsing, where it empties into the Rondout near Port Benjamin.
The soil of the valleys is a sandy loam, and that of the upland and hills between the water courses principally gravelly loam. Both are very productive.
Lake Mohonk is an attractive feature of the town. It has long been regarded among the most desirable summer lake regions in the United States by the better class of tourists because of its charm- ing location, picturesque wildness and its careful and progressive management. Among its patrons are some of the best people in the country, and even the large hotel accommodations have usually been inadequate. The first summer boarding house there was established by John F. Stokes nearly fifty years ago, when the place was locally known as "Paltz Point." The property was purchased by Albert K. Smiley in 1879, and he at once began to build and develop it in the most energetic and practical manner, spending thousands of dollars every year upon the mountain roads, walks and various picturesque structures, with singular intelligence, good taste and judgment. Being a great lover of nature, and most enthusiastic in his admiration of this marvelous region, he knew just what to do to make these rare native attractions available and enjoy- able without disturbing Nature's handiwork. He has thus labored there for thirty-seven years, and to-day this mountain estate embraces 5,000 acres, upon which over fifty miles of excellent roadways have been con- structed, with numerous mountain paths, attractive rustic summer houses, seats, arbors, bridges and various other picturesque structures, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
The lake is a charming bit of placid mountain water, which is held in a basin of solid rock 1,245 feet above tide. Three hundred feet above the water is "Sky-Top" mountain, and all around is a wall of tumbled rock piled in sublime confusion, with a labyrinth of wild variety and beauty which challenges the admiration and wonder of every beholder, and sur- passes anything of its kind east of the Rocky Mountains. The large hotel at the north end of the lake accommodates about 450 guests. Two impor- tant public conferences are held here every year, the International Arbi- tration Conference in the early summer, and the Indian Conference late in autumn. This hotel is in the town of Marbletown, as the boundary line crosses the lake west of the house.
When it is stated that Mohonk has been conducted strictly on the temperance plan from its inception, with a code of Quaker blue-laws rigidly enforced at all times, the great success of the enterprise seems the more marvelous.
The Minnewaska Lake resorts, some miles south of Mohonk, known as the Cliff House, and the Wildmere, are alike charming in scenic beauty. The lake is larger than Mohonk, the cliffs higher. It was owned by a brother of Mr. Smiley until his death, and is now run by his sons. It is included in another vast mountain estate, which reaches west to another beautiful Shawangunk lake shown as "Awosting," which, how- ever, is in the town of Wawarsing. All these names are of Indian origin.
During the Revolutionary period Rochester was intensely loyal, some two hundred and seventy men signing the Articles of Association at the beginning, and the names of the families in the town being well repre- sented in the different regiments of militia. In the First Regiment it would seem that the two Captains Schoonmaker, Hendrick and Edward, Major Adrian Wynkoop, Lieutenant Abraham Van Aken and several others, must have been Rochester people. Adjutant Denniston of the Second, bears a name well known to the records of Rochester; in the Third Regiment, Colonel John Cantine, Lieut. Col. Jacob Hoornbeck, Quartermaster Philip Hoornbeck, Captains Cantine, Hardenbergh, Kort- right, Frederick and Joachim Schoonmaker, Lieutenants Brodhead and Van Wagonen, and several others, present an array of Rochester names, while the Fourth Regiment, with an adjutant and a Captain Schoonmaker, Captains Hoornbeek, Cantine and Swart, Lieutenants Cantine, Harden-
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TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
bergh, Depuy and Osterhoudt, all indicate that Rochester held a high place in supplying officers as well as men for that great conflict.
During the war there was much trouble from the Tories and Indians. In 1777 or 1778 the Indians, presumably led by Tories, attacked the houses of Shurker, Miller and Baker at Pine Bush. The two former were killed and the latter was probably carried away and subsequently killed, as his remains were not found. Captain Benjamin Kortright got a band together and attacked the Indians, driving them away. It was found that the women and children had not been harmed. Captain Kort- right pursued the Indians as far as his supplies would permit and returned.
At that time, according to a pamphlet published in 1846, and assumed to be reliable, there were 200 to 300 troops at the fort on Honkhill. An expedition was fitted out, which was placed in charge of Lieutenant John Graims, or Grahams, who volunteered for the service. He only took eighteen men, one sergeant and a corporal. They planned to intercept the Indians by getting ahead of them, and did so, but the Indians in great number took them by surprise and shot them down. Three men escaped, one of them Abraham Van Campen, having been detailed to hunt game for the expedition, not being present at the massacre. A large body of troops set out at once, but their only duty was to bury the dead; the Indians had gone into the wilds.
In 1778 a petition was presented to Governor Clinton by the people of Rochester asking for greater protection against the Tories and Indians. As no reference is made to the Pine Bush and Grahamsville massacres, it is probable that the petition was made previous to the attack. The document was signed by Captain Benjamin Kortright, Captain Joachim Schoonmaker, Lieutenants Dirick and Frederic Westbrook and Jacobus Bruyn, Jr., Ensign Jacob Hoornbeck, Jacobus Wynkoop, Moses Depuy, John Sleight and many others.
In the civil organization the trustees provided for in the patent were the dominant factors of government. They seem to have been the only government until 1709, when a supervisor, two assessors and a con- stable and collector were elected. The first supervisor was Capt. Joachim Schoonmaker; the assessors were Moses Depuy and Lodewick Hoorn- beck, while Jan Cortrecht was constable and collector. In 1710 a sur- veyor of roads was elected, Hermanus Decker being chosen.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
From 1713 to 1729 there is no record of town officers except Trustees, except for the single year of 1717, when the officials are named as fol- lows : Supervisor, David DuBois ; Constable and Collector, Cornelius Cole ; Assessors, Moses Depuy, Sr., and Johannis Ver Nooy; Surveyors of Highways, Derrick Rosekraus and John Van Camp, Jr. There is every indication, however, that the organization was practically continuous. after 1709. The records give a list of the trustees for one hundred years, elected annually, after the Revolutionary War, and the changes brought about by the State government, the final settlement of the land titles under the constitution, their duties became perfunctory, and their elec- tion of no moment.
After the adoption of a State Constitution, and its permanent estab- lishment by the arbitrament of war, long, bloody and costly in men and money, Rochester, as did other towns in Ulster County and elsewhere, turned its energy and productive capacity again to the establishment of material prosperity. The school system was organized, new church organizations gradually came into existence, new industries were opened up; greater area of land was planted; more saw-mills, grist-mills and tanneries were constructed. The denudation of the forest lands served the double purpose of supplying the mills and adding to the arable area. Thus passed more than two generations of progressive civilization, pro- lific in its production of American men and women, brainy and energetic in its accumulation of material advantages, and sending off from the body of its population, into other parts of this, and other States, the brains and broad ideas, the bone and sinew, as well as the means, which has broad- ened and enriched the development of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
There is a record of the appointment of Abraham T. E. Dewitt, An- drew Bevier, Jacobus Bruyn, Richard Brodhead, Jacobus Wynkoop and Richard Davis as school commissioners of Rochester in 1796, and Philip D. Bevier, Benjamin Kortright and Jacobus Bruyn in 1797, 1798, 1799, and 1800. There is no further action recorded until 1813, when the modern school system was organized under the law of 1812. From that time until the change in the law in 1814, school commissioners and in- spectors were elected annually. Practically all of them came from the early families of the town. In 1813 the first school-tax of record is noted.
In the Newtown district, Simeon J. Van Wagonen taught one year,.
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TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
from January 9, 1798, to January 30, 1799, for twenty-eight pounds and board. Barbazon Nugent followed him for three months, beginning February 4, for ten shillings a week and "to find himself." Jacobus Shenich and Cornelius Hoornbeck were the trustees.
Isaac Frinch taught the Mombaccus school for the year ending Feb- ruary 12, 1795, for twenty-seven pounds, ten shillings "and to be boarded," and was employed the next year at forty pounds and "to be boarded." He was still teaching at the same salary in 1799, according to the report of Jacob Coddington, Henry Dewitt, Jr., and Cornelius Hoornbeck, trustees, so it must be assumed that he was a good teacher and gave general satisfaction.
The Kyserike school was presided over by Henry J. Hoornbeck, from May 14, 1798, to March 18, 1799, at a salary of seventy-five dollars a year. The Pleasant Ridge school, near the Coxing Clove, was taught by Benjamin Louw.
The Luren Kill school was taught, December 7, 1795, to March 7, 1796, by Levi Bradley. The trustees were Richard Brodhead and Conradt Bevier. Elizah Devoe taught the school at Fantine Kill from April 9, 1795, to March 1, 1796. Andries Bevier and Simon Bevier were the trustees.
A work of vast importance to the town of Rochester was the construc- tion of the Delaware and Hudson canal in the valley of the Rondout. This enterprise was incorporated April 23, 1823, and the full employ- ment of labor, and the home market for supplies, created by the large force of workmen during the five years of the work, gave a mighty im- petus to agricultural development. Many fine residences were built dur- ing that period, some of which are still standing. The opening of the canal in 1828 gave an opportunity to place agricultural products in the ' large markets cheaply ; it also made an outlet which permitted the fuller operation of the bluestone quarries and the easier shipments of the Esopus millstones. The canal was enlarged at great expense in 1842 and again in 1851.
The churches in the town, except the Dutch church, the early history of which has been mentioned, are as follows: The Reformed Church at Cherrytown, which was organized in 1858. The Methodist Episcopal at Port Jackson in 1847; that at Alligerville in 1857, and that at Cherry- town in 1867.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
The territory of the town of Rochester has been changed materially since the original patent in 1703. The formal incorporation under the State laws was in 1788. In 1789 a portion of the territory was annexed to Delaware County and is included in the present town of Middletown ; in 1798 the town of Neversink, Sullivan County, was separated from it ; in 1806 Wawarsing was created from a part of Rochester, but some of the territory was returned in 1823. The town of Gardiner was taken off in 1853, leaving Rochester as it stands at present.
The canal was abandoned in 1899, and the railroad, which had been talked off "for forty years, more or less," and surveyed several times, was opened in 1902.
For the Civil War Rochester furnished one hundred and sixty-two soldiers, according to the most reliable information. These were scat- tered through the various regiments and parts of regiments raised in Ulster County, with a fair sprinkling of representation in regiments from other localities. Several officers of prominence were among them.
Among the historic places of interest in the town of Rochester are the following residences which date back to ante-Revolutionary times :
The old stone house formerly known as the Depuy homestead, now owned by Lucas E. Schoonmaker. The stone house owned and occupied by Cyrus Schoonmaker, which was built by his ancestors in 1756. The old Hoornbeck homestead in Whitfield, now owned by Lincoln Dunn. The Philip Hoornbeck homestead, now owned by Morris Myers. The old Davis Sahler homestead, now owned by the New Paltz savings bank.
Of the grist-mills which were once plentifully distributed along the creeks, only two now remain. One of these is located at Pataukun, and is known as the Wilkinson mill. It stands on the site originally granted by the trustees of the township to Anthony and Joost Hoornbeck in 1709; the other is located at Mill Hook, and owned at present by Friend Wilk- low. It stands on the site granted to Capt. Joachim Schoonmaker in. 1703, where his saw-mill then stood.
The Schoonmaker family of Rochester presents a very interesting his- tory, not only by reason of its numerous members, but also on account of the influence which it has always maintained in civil affairs, and in the military history of the town, county and State. There has never been a war in which the State was engaged, that one or more members of the family were not engaged in it, nor has there been a period, except
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TOWN OF ROCHESTER.
possibly a year or two, since the time of the original settlement of the town, when there was not a Schoonmaker in public office. The family as a whole, is well-to-do; and so numerous have been the intermarriages during the various generations, that a large proportion of the population possess Schoonmaker blood, more or less remote. Mr. John J. Schoon- maker, the present Town Clerk, is the eighth generation from the orig- inal settlers, whose son was trustee under the patent.
Among the old Rochester merchants were Joshua Dumond, William N. McDonald, James Gillespie, and Joachim Schoonmaker. Among the early tavern-keepers were Caty Depuy, Henry T. Oosterhout, Andries Dewitt, Elizabeth Dewitt, Elisha Hoornbeck, Cornelius P. Low, Benjamin Coddington, Peter Aldrich, and many others. Dr. Dewitt was an early physician in the seventeenth century, and Dr. Louis D. Bevier some years later.
Only 744 votes were cast in the town at the general election last year when the taxable property was assessed at $795,101. The present town area is placed at 51,575 acres.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
CHAPTER XXVIII. TOWN OF ROSENDALE. By CHARLES E. FOOTE.
T HE town of Rosendale is located immediately west of the town of Esopus, from which it is separated by the Wallkill and Rondout.
Further to the north a small portion of its eastern boundary is made by the town of Ulster. It is bounded on the south by the town of New Paltz, on the west by the town of Marbletown, and on the north- west by the town of Hurley, the northernmost portion being the apex of an acute angle. It has an area of 11,413 acres.
The town was erected by act of General Assembly, April 26, 1844, parts of Hurley, New Paltz and Marbletown being taken in its forma- tion. A stiff fight was maintained for some years by the people of the section for separation, on the ground of convenience in official business, and the untiring energy and persistence was tardily, but finally rewarded by the act named. The law thus enacted gives the boundaries as follows :
"All the territory hereinafter described, agreeable to a map made by Jacob A. Snyder, being part of the towns of Hurley, Marbletown and New Paltz, in the county of Ulster, shall be and hereby is set off into a new town by the name of Rosendale, commencing at the Wallkill on the bounds of the farm of Jonathan Deyo, late of New Paltz, deceased, and the farm now in possession of Abraham Relyea; thence running along said bounds north eighty-four and a fourth degrees west, eighty-seven chains to the bounds of Marbletown, on the farm of John J. Stokes; thence north ten degrees west, one hundred and seventy-five chains to the towing-paths of Delaware and Hudson canal, northeasterly as it winds and turns about, thirty chains, to the cement quarry of William P. Cole; thence north twenty- seven degrees west, one hundred and one chains sixty-four links to a white-oak tree standing at the south side of the road leading to a stone ridge on the farm of John D. Gillespie; thence north thirty-five degrees east, two hundred and thirty- three chains twenty links, to a stake and stones on the farm of James Harden- burgh, now in the possession of Mr, Weeks; thence north seventy-four degrees east, one hundred and seventy chains to the bounds of Kingston at a chestnut tree on the farm of Mrs. Pink; thence along the said bounds of Kingston south one hundred and fifty-seven chains to the Rondout Creek; thence up along the same southerly as it winds and turns, one hundred and twenty-five chains to where the Wallkill intersects said Rondout; thence up alongside Wallkill to the place of beginning."
The Rondout flows northeasterly through the center of the town, and there are a number of small streams tributary to it and to the Wallkill,
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which forms the southern portion of its eastern boundary. One of the noticeable physical features is a chain of lakes called the "Binnewaters," and named by the numerals one to five inclusive. The first is on the line between Rosendale and Hurley, and is of considerable size; the second and third are almost due south, within a short distance to the southwest.
The surface is a rolling and hilly upland, much broken in places, with deep gorges and ravines, presenting some remarkably attractive scenery. There are plains in the eastern part along the valley, which originally gave rise to the name of the locality, which is found in old records as far back as 1700, nearly a century and a half before the region received the name by law.
In its early settlement the record of Rosendale is found in that of the three towns from which parts were taken for its creation. The names of a majority of its people can be recognized as being those families, who, in the early days, settled Hurley, Marbletown and New Paltz. The natural, and, in fact, the only logical inference, is, that the families whose names were originally recorded in those towns, and in later years appeared in Rosendale, had settled in those portions of the older organ- izations which were taken to form the new town of Rosendale. Reference is made to those towns for the earlier records.
Among the land papers at Albany is a description of 963 acres of land in "a place called Roasindale, on the south side of the Rondout River," surveyed by Philip Wells, surveyor for Jacob Rutsen. This is dated May 28, 1685. Another survey and description of similar kind must have been located where the Wallkill enters the Rondout, as it is described being "672 acres of land lying upon both sides of Rondout Kill or river, including part of the Paules river," surveyed for William Fisher, dated two days before Rutsen's, May 26, 1685.
October 21, 1723, Jacob Rutsen received a deed from the town of Hurley for 600 acres of land, located apparently to the south and east of his previous tract.
In the assessment roll of Marbletown for 1811, the following names seem to constitute a practically complete list of those families in the part of that town which was subsequently detached in the creation of Rosen- dale. In that list is embraced the following :
Abraham Auchmoody, John Churchwell, Abraham Coutant,
Charles Burr, Jacob Coutant, Oswall Dewall,
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
Andrew I. DuBois,
Abraham Deits,
Cornelius A. Delemeter,
Philip Dewall,
Christian Deits,
Jacobus Elmendorf, Jr.,
Frederick I. Elmendorf,
Joel Hine,
Cornelius Keyser,
Benjamin A. Krum,
Moses Keator,
George Patterson,
Jacobus and other Keators,
Abraham Sluyter,
John Sluyter,
Cornelius Sammons,
Henry Snyder,
Christopher Snyder,
Jacob Snyder, John Sammons,
Jacob A. Snyder,
Cornelius D. Sluyter,
John M. Williams,
Probably others might be disclosed by a complete and exhaustive examination of the Assessment roll, and a comparison of the result with the property holders of record.
Cornelius Lefevre was from New Paltz and had a large family, most of whom settled in the neighborhood. His four daughters married John Ostrander, Caleb M. Roosa, James E. Schoonmaker, and one of the Snyders. Other settlers in the upper part of the town were Peter Van Wagener, Johannis and Jacob Van Wagenen.
Charles Dewitt settled early on the Green Kill and built the Dewitt Mills. He was a member of the Provincial Congress when it met at Kingston. The old family residence is marked with the date 1736.
The schools of Rosendale were under the control of the original towns during the entire period of the original district system, Rosendale being created a separate municipality the same year that the law was enacted placing the schools in charge of town superintendents. Of the earlier teachers, the names of Abram Hasbrouck, Tammerlane Hine, Dr. Andrew Snyder, and John James Snyder are mentioned, and there were probably many others whose names do not appear. The superintendents during the dozen years during which the law was enforced were as follows :
1844-Jacob A. Snyder. 1845-1846-James H. Bogardus. 1847-Jacob A. Snyder. 1848-James H. Bogardus. 1849-E. W. Buddington. 1850-1853-Simon Schoonmaker. 1854-Isaiah Snyder. 1856-Simeon Schoonmaker.
The beginning of the religious worship in what is now Rosendale be- gan at Bloomingdale along in 1796 or 1797. Previous to that much diffi- culty had been experienced by the devout inhabitants in attending divine
Abraham Sammons,
Heber Williams,
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TOWN OF ROSENDALE.
worship, on account of the great distance, and the movement to establish a church began by the appointment of a committee to consult with the con- sistory of the Kingston Church, of which Andries Snyder, Simon Lefevre and John C. Dewitt were the members. When their report was made, a committee, consisting of Petrus Smedes, Simon Lefevre, and Samuel Schoonmaker, was appointed to petition the Classis for permission to organize, which was soon accomplished, the official organizers being Rev. Stephen Goetchius and Moses Freligh.
In 1800 the Church joined with the Kleine Esopus Church in calling the Rev. Thomas G. Smith to the joint pastorate, a position he held for some years. It was joined with the Esopus Church until 1835, and was incorporated December 6, 1797. On the same day Abraham Van Wagenen deeded to the trustees a piece of land nearly an acre in extent, for church purposes, and on July 7, 1798, the trustees of the town of Hurley made a grant of thirteen acres. The first church edifice was erected in 1797 and stood until 1846, when it was destroyed by fire. It was at once decided to rebuild, and George W. Lefevre and Abram Van Wagenen had charge of the work. The new building was erected some distance north of the old one, and a handsome parsonage is near by.
The Friends, or Quakers, established meetings about the year 1800, in what is now the town of Rosendale, and meetings have been held, with occasional interruptions, since that time. The organization here is a branch of the Marlborough Monthly Meeting.
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