USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 33
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The Ulster Hat Company has a large brick factory in the village of Wallkill, and employs about one hundred and twenty-five hands in the manufacture of soft felt hats. The building is on the site of an old paper mill, which was formerly operated there. The company was incorporated in 1900.
The G. B. Mentz Co., of Wallkill, have an inportant factory in the vicinity of the railroad, and manufacture brick moulds, wheelbarrows, trucks, and all kinds of brickmakers' supplies. The plant was established in 1886 by Charles J. Langer, who erected the present building. It was purchased by the present company in 1905. About twenty-five men are employed.
There is a large factory at Dwaarskill, located on the site of one of the old mills, where wagon rims are made. It is owned by Wilson Bruyn, and has been in operation many years.
There were many taverns in this town in the olden time. Among the first was that kept by John Graham, near the site of the Reformed Dutch Church. This remained in the possession of the Graham family for many years. During the Revolution George Smith kept a tavern at Bruynswick. Among other old bonifaces there were Cornelius Louw, William T. Schoonmaker, Eli Wilkinson, Andrew Schoonmaker, Simon Mullen, John Hart, W. E. Marnes, and Hugh O'Donnel. Among the oldest merchants were Robert Hoey, McEwan & Houselander, Cornelius DuBois Bruyn, Jonathan Vernooy, and Thomas Edwards. Among the first physicians was Dr. John Smedes. He was followed by Dr. James G. Graham and
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TOWN OF SHAWANGUNK.
many others. John L. Lyon seems to have been the first practicing lawyer in 1830.
The name "Shawangunk," besides being difficult to pronounce, has given rise to controversy and speculation regarding its origin and sig- nification. The commonly accepted pronunciation is "Shong-um." In Mather's "Geology of New York," the meaning of the word is given as "the place of white rocks." Others claim it to be "South Mountain," "South Water," "swift current, or strong stream," "Mink River," "the place of leeks," etc. The origin is unquestionably Indian.
In an old census report of 1782, the population of the town is placed at 1,343-males 717, females 626. In 1870 this total was increased to 2,823, and in 1880 to 2,910. Last year the State census made it 2,467, of which all except thirty-one were citizens. There were 555 persons who voted in the town last year. The total value of real and personal property last year was given as $866,899. The farms were valued at $1,574,970.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
CHAPTER XXXII. TOWN OF ULSTER By CHARLES E. FOOTE.
T HIS is the youngest town in Ulster County, and its birth was due to years of political misrule in the old town of Kingston, its civic parent. It is located on the Hudson river, beginning just north of the city of Kingston and extending to the south boundary line of the town of Saugerties. From the river it extends westward, embracing the lower portion of the Esopus Creek to the town of Kingston, with an extension between the city and town of Kingston which reaches the bounds of Hurley. Geographically, it is bounded on the north by the town of Saugerties; on the east by the Hudson river; on the south by the city of Kingston, and on the west by the towns of Hurley, Woodstock and Kingston. It was organized in 1880.
It is in many respects one of the most attractive towns in the county. Along the river front it has the high and sometimes precipitous bluffs usual along this section of the Hudson, with deep ravines, and noisy, chattering brooks breaking or cutting through at intervals, in a way to delight the artistic eye of the landscape gardener who is preparing the surface for the summer homes of those who can afford them, or ar- ranging and beautifying the ancestral homes of those families whose forebears wrested the ground from the denizens of the forest.
To the westward, the surface is undulating, sometimes hilly and occasionally rocky. The Esopus Creek, which flows northward almost the extreme length of the town, presents many attractive historical aspects which are more properly treated in the town of Kingston, but the physical beauties belong to Ulster.
It would be difficult to find a more delightful section of country than the valley of the Esopus as it flows through the town of Ulster. The "alluvial flats" which are a part of the early colonization of the Esopus region, are here seen in their perfection, and their value as agricultural lands have maintained the promise which they held forth nearly three
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TOWN OF ULSTER.
centuries ago. The only tributary to the Esopus in the town of any importance is the Sawkill, which comes in from the west about midway of the town, and adds variety to the aspect.
In the northern part is Lake Katrine, a handsome sheet of water, with private camps on the western side for those who desire relief during the season of heat, and farms and fruit gardens in the vicinity for the comfort and profit of the inhabitants.
The authorization for the erection of the town of Ulster was the en- actment of the Board of Supervisors, the preamble of which reads as follows :
"An act to divide the town of Kingston, in the county of Ulster, and erect therefrom the town of Ulster and attach a part thereof to the town of Woodstock, in said county, passed by the Board of Super- visors at their annual meeting the 28th day of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine. Two thirds of all the members of said board voting in favor thereof under and in pursuance of Chapter 319, of the Laws of 1872."
This action of the supervisors was ratified at the session of the Legis- lature, the following winter, and the first town meeting was held on the first Tuesday in March, 1880. This was at George A. Stoddar's hotel, and the presiding officers were Tunis P. Osterhoudt, Gilbert S. Lockwood and Josiah Lefevre.
One section of the law creating the new town provided that the change should not abridge the terms of local officers who might find themselves in the town by reason of the change; consequently there were some officials on hand when the meeting was called.
James Myer, Jr., was the first Supervisor.
There are various commercial enterprises in the town. The farming, gardening and dairying industries are extensive and profitable.
But the most important and extensive industry in the town of Ulster at this time, and since its formation, is the manufacture of brick. The vast deposits of clay which are found along the entire river front, and the convenient shipping facilities, have made this part of the town very valuable. Most of the farms there have been sold at large prices, far beyond their agricultural value, and converted into immense brickyard plants. These have been fitted with every modern appliance for the most profitable operation, and the product ranks well in the market.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
In this way many country homes with fine river-views, once so highly prized, have been given up to the merciless march of commercialism. The broad sweeping lawns that sloped so gracefully toward the river-bluff or beach are now yawning chasms of raw clay flanked with immense kiln- sheds and docks, and thickly strewn with various other rude structures required in the business.
Thus today there are twelve separate brickyard plants on this busy river front upon which nearly three thousand men are employed in the heart of the brick-moulding season, which covers over five months of the year. Beginning at the north end of the line, near the town of Saugerties, the following yards are now in operation :
The Burhans yard, the Ulster Brick Company, the Goldrick yard, the Rose Company, Smith Brothers, Lynch Brothers, the Dinan yard, Wash- burn Brothers, the Hendricks Brick Company, the Terry Yard, Brigham Brothers, and the Schultz yard. The largest of these are probably the Schultz and Brigham yards. The total output of these various yards for the season of 1906, as estimated by a practical and intelligent member of one of these firms, was about 140,000,000 bricks. Taking his low esti- mate of the average price for the whole season of $5.75 per thousand, the total value of this product would be $795,000. While many of these laborers reside in the town permanently a large number remain only during the brick-moulding season.
Another important industry on this river front is the gathering and housing of ice from the Hudson in the winter months and its shipment to market in summer. There are many huge storehouses which require thousands of men in the season of ice-cutting, gathering and storing, who earn good wages at a season when they would otherwise be idle.
Ulster lies so close to the city of Kingston, that for educational pur- poses, some of its territory was included in the District of Kingston. There are now, however, schools in what is known as the Dutch Settle- ment, at the north, one in Pine Bush neighborhood on the east side of the Esopus, and two in the extreme northeast corner of the town; one in the Flatbush neighborhood, along the Hudson, one in East Kingston, and one at Eddyville.
As to the early settlement of the territory covering the town, one has only to glance at the names of the present inhabitants and connect them with the families of the early settlers of more than two centuries ago.
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TOWN OF ULSTER.
There were among those strong characters of the earlier years the Osterhoudts, the Burhans, the Hendricks, the Delmaters, Whittakers, Liv- ingstons, Wynkoops, Leggs, Van Akens, Shufeldts, Bruyns, Keators, Heermances, Fredenberghs, Hasbroucks, Schoonmakers, Kroms, and many others. Their descendants are here and form a fair proportion of the population of the town, and control a considerable portion of the acreage. Ulster as a town is an example of the permanency of hereditary attachment to the soil.
For their religious worship many of the people are affiliated with the various churches at Kingston or Saugerties. There is a Roman Catholic Church near the Dutch settlement, also one at East Kingston, and Methodist Churches at Eddyville and East Kingston. Eddyville Church was organized somewhere about 1825 or 1830 and incorporated August 25, 1836. For services it was connected far nearly twenty years with either Kingston or Rondout, but began to have a regular pastor about 1855. A church building and parsonage were erected in 1871 at an expense of about $18,000.
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
CHAPTER XXXIII. TOWN OF WAWARSING. BY HON. THOMAS E. BENEDICT.
ABORIGINAL DAYS.
1 N the year 1663, one hundred and twelve years before the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, an armed force of one hundred and twenty- seven soldiers, with eighty-three Indian allies, under the command of a gallant Dutch Captain and two Lieutenants, entered the territory now comprising the town of Wawarsing. They were well armed and equipped, and had with them two cannon. They took possession of a palisaded Indian fort which had been abandoned two days before by a force of Indian warriors, who had taken part in the burning and massacre of the inhabitants of Wiltwyck, (now Kingston), a short time previous. The Indians had brought a part of their prisoners, women and children, to this fort. There is no evidence that a white person had set foot in Wawarsing prior to the coming of Captain Martin Creiger and Lieutenants Stillwell and Courvenhover, who had been sent by Governor Peter Stuyvesant from Albany, (Fort Orange) to punish the Esopus Indians. While this military expedition was bloodless, it was no holiday undertaking, for the command was pursuing a victorious band of Indians through a pathless wilderness for over twenty miles and upon their own territory. Capt. Creiger, in his report of the expedition to the Indian fort, wrote thus of the locality :
"When about four English miles from the fort, Lieutenants Corven- hover and Stillwell, and Ensign Niesen, with one hundred and nineteen men, were ordered forward to effect the surprise, if possible" (while he followed with the cannon). "They executed their task with great celerity but found the fort abandoned." * When night came on they had only taken a squaw and three horses, the latter having been car- ried off at the time of the massacre. At the break of day (July 28, 1663), the officers held a council and determined to go in search of the Indians to the mountains, where Mrs. Van Insbroch, the guide, had been a pris- oner. Accordingly one hundred and forty men ascended the rugged
Thomas E. Benedict.
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TOWN OF WAWARSING.
mountain sides of the blue hills (Shawangunk Mountains), taking the squaws with them, but met with no success. They were then directed to a great high mountain, whither the Indians had fled, taking with them seven Christian prisoners. After experiencing vast difficulty, no Indians were found there. * * * * "As our forces were discovered on all sides, and the friendly Indians advised against any further pursuit, be- cause the whole tribe was alarmed, the expedition returned to the fort, having failed to find the Indians." Capt. Creiger wrote further: "I went out of their fort with fifty men to a distance of half a mile, there cut down several plantations of maize, threw into the fire divers pits full of maize and beans." On July 31, Creiger at early dawn set fire to the Indian stronghold, and, while it with the council house were in full blaze, took up the return march to Wiltwyck, where he arrived the same evening.
Beside this mention of the Indian fort, it is recorded by Captain Crieger and confirmed by statements of Mrs. Insbroch and the squaws, that the fort was on a high hill near a stream as wide as the Esopus at Wiltwyck, within speaking distance of the blue hills, Creiger having parleyed with the Indians thereon from the fort. It is further described as near a stream with rifts and rapids in three or four places, with table lands around, and with great hills west and southwest. While it is idle to attempt to rescue from the two centuries and a half which have nearly elapsed since the loca- tion of this historic fort, it seems that the great majority of the facts brought down to us point to Indian Hill, at Wawarsing, east of the old cemetery, as the place indicated by the late Jonathan W. Hasbrouck in his history of the fort. The location of the fort at the head of the Kerhanksen creek, west of the village of Kerhonkson, in a rocky ravine near the boun- dary line between Rochester and Wawarsing, by Rev. Charles Scott, D.D., in a paper read before the Ulster County Historical Society, does not ap- pear to be supported by the facts. Indian Hill, in 1663, was probably much higher than now, as the erosions of time on such a glacier moraine have greatly depressed its lines. At that period it must have stood nearly one hundred feet above the creek (Rondout), which then flowed at its east base, some hundreds of feet west of the present channel. An accurate estimate of the distance of Creiger's march to the fort must be based upon the time taken. Any distance more than twenty-six miles southwest direct . from Wiltwyck would place the fort south of Napanoch amidst sur- roundings not supported by any three of the necessary physical facts re-
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
quired by its accurate location. There is no point which can successfully challenge the location at Indian Hill, except the promontory at Lost Cor- ners, between Wawarsing and Napanoch, at the great bend in the stream which gave the name of Wawarsing to this locality. An authentic loca- tion of this ancient fort would render the spot a worthy object of interest among the historic colonial landmarks of New York.
E. M. Ruttenber, author of "The Indian Tribes of the Hudson Valley," writes me as follows regarding the old fort:
KAHANKSEN and -SON in treaty of 1665; KAHANSINCK in patent to Peter Lowe, 1708-22, etc. It takes interest from its connection with the location of what is known, historically, as the "Old Fort," as distinguished from the "New Fort," in the war of 1663, when both forts were destroyed by the Dutch. Its site is uncer- tain. It is spoken of without name in the treaty of peace of 1664, in connection with a district of country admitted to have been "conquered by the sword," extena- ing as far as the "two captured forts." In treaty of 1665, with Governor Nicolls, the district is described as "A certain parcel of land lying and being to the west and southwest of a certain creek or river called by the name of Kahankson, and so up to the head thereof where the Old Fort stood, and so with a direct line from thence through the woods and crosse the meadows to the Great Hill lying to the west or southwest, which Great Hill is to be the true west or southwest bounds, and the said creek called Kahanksen the north and northwest bounds of the said lands." In treaty deed with Governor Andross, April 27, 1677, the boundary lines of the tract, "as they were to be thereafter," was described: "Beginning at the Ronduyt Kil, thence to a kil called Kahakasnix, thence north along the hills to a kil called Magowasing-inck, thence to the Second Fall, easterly to Freudeyack- Komick on the Groote River, south to Ronduyt Kil." The stream called Magow- asing-inck seems to be certainly identified in patents to Henry Beekman and Ann Beake in 1685, as that now known as Wawarsing creek, and its identification, if correct, places the creek called Kahankson south of that stream. Its location is perhaps made specific in patent to Peter Lowe in 1722, the survey of which located its south line as "Beginning by a Great Fall called Honeck, thence up the creek northerly to ye High Mountains, including several small pieces of land, * from ye bounds of Kahansinck to the bounds of the High Mountains, as the bounds were formerly settled by the articles of peace." The record evidence seems to be conclusive that the fort was in the vicinity of the stream now known as the Sand- berg or Napanock creek, the falls called Honeck, now called Honk, being at Napanock a short distance north of Ellenville. More specifically than this record location its site cannot be fixed. Two efforts have been made in that direction, evidently by parties who did not have the opportunity to examine the records, or who knew nothing concerning them. The first was by the late John W. Hasbrouck, who assigned it to Vernoy creek, opposite Wawarsing; and the second by the late Rev. Charles Scott, D.D., who, in a paper read before the Ulster County Historical Society in 1861, assigned it to the head of what is now called Kahanksen creek, some miles north of "the Great Fall called Honeck," "on the south side" of that stream "near the boundary line between the townships of Wawarsing and Roches- ter, just north of what is now called Shurter's hill, about two miles from the mouth of the stream and one mile from its head, in a rocky ravine and difficult of access." Aside from the record location quoted above, which cannot be disputed, there are several points in the Doctor's location that would require examination and com- parison with Kregier's Journal, the Great Hill to the west and southwest especially, and his estimate of thirty miles from Wildwyck. Kregier wrote: "The road or course from Wildwyck to the fort of the Esopus Indians lies mostly to the south-
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TOWN OF WAWARSING.
west, about ten (Dutch) miles from our fort." Dutch miles were frequently counted as equal to four English miles. By standard measure the distance would be about thirty-six English miles. Kregier's miles were probably based on the time rule of one and one-quarter hour's walk to a Dutch mile, which was a frac- tion over three and one-half English. His time on his return trip over the road which he had made on going out, was about sixteen hours, probably more, as he set fire to the fort "at the dawn of day" and marched out, and arrived at Wild- wyck at nine in the evening. Sixteen hours' walk would yield a fraction over forty-four English miles. The location of the fort seems to have been well known when the treaty deed of 1677 was negotiated. Dr. Scott's site may be about thirty miles from Kingston, but it was not Kregier's site according to his Dutch miles.
The fort was a palisaded village larger than that at Shawongunk. Around it were maize fields and pits filled with maize and beans, and "full half a mile" (Dutch, about two miles English) from it were several plantations of maize which were cut down by Kregier's soldiers, in all "about fifteen morgens," or about two hun- dred and fifteen acres. There were meadows beyond also, while on the "west or southwest," was "the Great Hill." There was no defence of the fort; its occupants had abandoned it "two days before" Kregier's troops entered it. A particular de- scription of it has not been handed down. Under date of July 31, 1663, Kregier wrote: "In the morning at dawn of day, set fire to the fort and all the houses, and while they were burning marched out in good order." And so disappears forever the Indian stronghold, even its precise site unknown. Probably since Kregier left it in flames its site has never been trodden by an intelligent white man.
The several orthographies of the name of the creek, near the head of which the fort stood, may, apparently, be resolved into KAHANGH'SING, from Lenape Gahan, (with guttural aspirate gh), meaning "shallow, low water-next to being dried up"; es, 's, diminutive, "less than" at, and -ink, location, the combination reading, "Near a place of shallow water." In other words, the fort was near the head of a small stream of water, a spring or fountain.
E. M. RUTTENBER.
THE WAWARSING CLAN.
The Esopus Indians were the equals of other contemporary savages anywhere in the land. They were distinguished as agriculturists. Captain Creiger, in his report to the Governor of the Colony after the capture of the Indian fort in 1663, said the Indians raised enough corn and beans in Ulster to supply the whole colony of New York. The Wawarsing Indians were the peers of any others of their tribe. The capital village of the tribe, with the council house and their largest fort was located among them. They were the guardians of the pits filled with corn and beans for use in war or famine. They were located midway on the great trail from the Hudson to the Delaware. Within their territory converged from the West the trails which centered at the Rondout from the Neversink and Esopus rivers, and which led to the Delaware at Peenpack (Cuddeback- ville), up the Neversink to the Beaverkill, thence down the East Branch of the Delaware to the main stream and thence to a point further West. Until the advent of the white man, there was no doubt an inflow and out- flow of rival parties over these trails, which did not stop when civilization
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THE COUNTY OF ULSTER.
set its foot in Wawarsing, as it was over these very trails that Brant and his Tory allies came to massacre and strike terror at Pine Bush, Fantine- kill and Wawarsing over a century later. Across these trails General Sullivan led his army which in 1779 destroyed forever the war power of the Six Nations within this State.
Amidst these environments, the Wawarsing Clan kept well the charge given them. They celebrated here the sacred feasts of the seasons and of war, danced and performed the weird rites of their worship, and roused their fury for the war path. Their surrender of their fort and capital to Captain Creiger was dictated by the fact that they had not yet learned the use of firearms, and had no chance of success against the force of well- equipped and experienced soldiers with cannon. This clan afterward lived in peace with the whites to whom they sold their lands. It is prob- able that the settlers with whom they came in contact were more prudent in dealing with Indians than were those of Wiltwyck, where the selling of rum to the savages was the prime cause of the troubles that led to the Esopus wars. Indians held small tracts of land in Wawarsing up to 1787, as on May 2d of that year an Indian sold to Johannes G. Hardenbergh a tract of land south of Kerhonkson .*
WAWARSING AN INDIAN NAME.
The town was incorporated under the name of Wawarsink. In the treaty deed with the Esopus Indians, made by Governor Stuyvesant in 1667, it is written "Magowaassinghinck." The incorporate name was no doubt taken from the Indian deed given William Petersen Beake in 1680, and the survey of patent given to his widow, Anna Beake, in 1685, in which the name is spelled "Wawarsink." Old deeds and surveys of the colonial period spell the name Wawarsincke, Warsink, Wawasing and Wawesinck. There is no doubt as to the name being of Indian origin, as it has been applied to this section from its earliest history by the whites, who evidently adopted it from the Indians. Sylvester's History of Ulster County quotes Rev. N. M. Jones, of Samsonville, an authority on Indian names, as defining its meaning to be "Holy place of sacred feasts and dances." Mr. E. M. Ruttenber, author of the "Indian Tribes of the Hud- son River," writes that "Mr. William R. Gerrard, an Algonquin student
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