USA > New York > Ulster County > The history of Ulster County, New York > Part 48
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During the removal of the powder a panic existed among the residents of Wilbur, most of whom fled to the adjoining hills for safety.
The old sloop Martin Wynkoop had many owners and captains, and the name of always being unlucky. She was believed by all boatmen to be bewitched. Every one who owned her had bad luck while she was in their
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possession, and every Captain who sailed her was always doing damage. It is said that at the time she was launched a young man was killed and the vessel was cursed by his mother. Captain Edwin Young once sailed her. He was a first-class boatman, a man of good common sense who did not believe in ghosts, witches or anything supernatural; a man of great courage. Captain Young told the writer that this old hulk defied all natural laws, that he had known her to drift and drag her anchor and foul another vessel against both wind and tide. He said he never had a day's luck while sailing her, and gave up his command in disgust. The different crews of this old sloop would tell her that she was at anchor in the river ; they would go ashore at night to enjoy themselves, and on returning would find her lighted from stem to stern, and merry music and witches dancing to ghost time, and that all would vanish in darkness as soon as their boat touched the vessel's side.
One of the largest vessels built on the Rondout was the two-masted schooner Henry H. Pitts, built at New Salem at the ship yard of Frank Haber by Henry H. Pitts. She was 165 feet long, 30 feet 6 inches beam, drew 9 feet, loaded, 4 feet light, and carried 500 gross tons. She was launched during a violent thunder storm in the summer of 1872. Old boatmen said that the thunder storm was a bad omen for the vessel. She was fitted out for the deep sea and coast trade, and was chartered for her first voyage to the lower coast of Mexico to bring home a cargo of mahogany logs. On her first outward trip from New York she en- countered a heavy northeast gale, which lasted ninety hours, and was so badly damaged that she was compelled to put into the port of Kingston, Jamaica, in distress. On her return from Mexico loaded with mahogany, she encountered a fierce gale in the Straits of Florida, the Captain lost his reckoning and ran on the Bahama rocks. The Captain proceeded on his voyage to New York, but when off Cape Hatteras encountered a ter- rible northwest hurricane, and after trying to round the Cape was com- pelled to put off before the gale and did not stop until he made Tybe light at the mouth of the Savannah River, in distress. After a stormy passage up the coast she arrived safe in New York. She was com- manded by Captain S. B. Fletcher of Islesboro, Me., who never had a day's luck while on her, and the owner sold her to the firm of C. W. Alcot and Company of New York, who made money with her. She is still running and has had good luck ever since.
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THE SHIPPING OF TWAALFSKILL.
The Addison, the Henry Clay and the Greene County Tanner were all famous vessels in their day, and all hailed from Wilbur. The advent of the fast steamer Alida and the propeller Nicholas Elmendorf, in the summer of 1852-53, started a business boom in Wilbur. A company was formed composed of Nicholas Elmendorf, Philip V. D. Lockwood and William Masten of Kingston, who purchased the Alida and placed her on the route as a day boat from Wilbur to New York, returning the same day. The Alida made her first trip in the spring of 1854, and left the Rondout Creek with the largest number of passengers she ever carried. She rolled so that a panic prevailed, women fainted and men were unnerved, so that when she landed at Rondout hundreds left her and could not be induced to return. After leaving the creek and getting under good headway in the river she stopped rolling and made the trip to New York and return quickly and safely. The owners then purchased the propeller Nicholas Elmendorf, and placed her on the route as a freight boat. After running about one year the company failed, all its members lost every dollar they had. The Alida could make the trip from New York to Wilbur in less than five hours, and her time has never been beaten.
She was commanded by Captain William Masten. Her first pilot was Captain Judson Morey, and her second Pilot Mortimer Van Etten, all of Kingston.
The propeller Elmendorf was commanded by Captain DuBois Lowe of . Eddyville.
The following vessels commanded as stated, also sailed from Twaalfs- kill :
Sloop Gideon Lee. Captain James Smith.
Schooner Everett, built at South Rondout by Captain William Gurnee.
Sloop Beckey Ford, South Rondout. Captain David Houghtaling.
Sloop Robert North, Mingo Hollow. Owned and sailed by Captain Adam Beam.
Sloop Dollie, of South Rondout. Owned and sailed by Captain William Gurnee. Sloop Victor. Captain Steve Schoonmaker.
Sloop Henry Clay, 185 years old, had many captains and owners, is still running in the Creek.
Sloop Milan. Sailed by Captain Alfred Hyde.
Sloop John Leach. Sailed by Captain John Myers, Hyde.
Sloop Hannah Ann. Owned and sailed by Captain Abe Hyde.
Sloop Ambassador, of South Rondout. Owned and sailed by Captain Dick Ham- ilton.
Old Sloop Canfield. Owned and sailed by Captain Thomas Requa, of Eddyville, one of the veterans of the Hudson.
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Sloop Martin Wynkoop. Sailed by Captain James Smith, Edwin Young and many others.
Old Sloop Kemmannah. A fast sailor. Sailed and owned by Captain Edwin Young.
Schooner Kate and Mary, built at South Rondout. Built, sailed and owned by Captain James Cogswell.
Captain William Gurnee, big and fearless, built and owned the Sloop Sarah Gurnee, and the I. & W. Gurnee. Captain Isaac Houghtaling, the strong man, car- ried anchor to blacksmiths for repair. Owned and sailed many of the old Sloops. Sloop Dutchess. Captain Cottrell.
Sloop Venus. Owned and sailed by Captain Thomas Martain.
Sloop Josephine. Owned and sailed by Captain Thomas Martain.
Sloop Congress. Big Sloop. Captain Thomas Martain.
Sloop James Lawrence. Captain Sam Van Aken.
Sloop Bell. Owned and sailed by Captain William DeLanoye, of South Rondout. Sloop John Beveridge, a fast sailor. Captain William Hopkins.
Schooner John H. Gould. Captain William Myers.
Sloop Hoaxer. Sailed by Captain Tom Cherrytree Cox. Always unlucky. Cap- tain Theodore Bush. Carried lime and powder.
Sloop John Jay. Sunk, and raised. Owned and sailed by Captain John Forsyth. Sloop Lafayette. Owned by H. H. Pitts. Sailed by Captain Philip Kelly, Cap- tain John Forsyth. Rebuilt.
Sloop Ohio. Captain Dennis Donovan.
Sloop Canal. Captain Timothy Donovan.
Sloop Congress. Owned by Edward Kearney. Sailed by Captain Mat Kav- anaugh.
Sloop Nellie Wales. Sailed by Captain Mat Cavanagh.
Sloop Holbrook. Rebuilt. Captain Joseph Lynch.
Sloop George W. Hurst. Sailed by Captain William Quinn.
Sloop Hadden. Captain John Quinn, Captain Thomas Bouls.
Sloop Milan. Captain James Henry, Captain Hyde.
Sloop Hellen Brown, of Rondout. Owned and sailed by Captain John Quinn. Sloop Will Mail. Owned and sailed by Captain Charles Felton, a Frenchman.
Sloop Quackenbush. Owned and sailed by Captain Richard Degraff, who was killed aboard her.
S. & W. B. FITCH LINE.
Sloop Addison. Captains Louis Shultis, Peter Ball, Edwin Young and Jas. Smith.
Schooner Green County Tanner. Captain Alfred Hyde.
Schooner Bride. Sailed by Captain William Hyde.
Sloop William H. Bridger. Sailed by Captain Robert Henry.
Sloop Thomas Colyer. Sailed by Captain Philip Shultus.
Big Sloop Canal. Captain Mauric Lahey and Captain Peter Ball.
Sloop Iowa. Sailed by Captain William Hyde.
Sloop Asa Biglow. Sailed by Captain Peter Bell.
Sloop Jacob Lorilard. Owned and sailed by Captain Ben Simmons.
Big Sloop Othelo, of Wilbur. Captain Aeris Johnson.
Sloop Thomas Adams. Captain Lou Van Aken, of New Salem. Sloop Missouri. Captain Alfred Hyde.
541
BLUESTONE.
CHAPTER XLVII. BLUESTONE.
By CHARLES E. FOOTE.
T HIS species of sandstone has for many years formed a foremost industry in Ulster, as well as in other sections of the State. As briefly mentioned in an early chapter of this work, this stratum belongs to the Upper Devonian period. Beginning at a point near Albany, the boundary of the productive region extends southward, from five to twenty miles west of the Hudson, to the vicinity of Hurley, when it turns to the southwest along Rondout Creek. The northern boundary of the formation stretches westward across the State on about an east and west line, beginning about fifteen or twenty miles south of the Mohawk and ending near the shore of Lake Erie, the district thus covering the principal portion of the southern and southeastern part of the State. The most prolific regions are in Ulster, the southeastern portion of Greene County, and a strip along the Delaware River.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the first quarry of bluestone was opened by Silas Brainerd, near Saugerties, in 1832. While others are said to have preceded him, authentic data thereof is lacking. In any event the quar- ries were not worked to an extent which would make them commercially historical.
Bluestone is a peculiarly hard, fine-grained quality of sandstone. The name was originally applied to the blue colored stone quarried in Ulster County, but its commercial application of recent years has been extended to cover most of the flagstone produced in the State, some of which is green and some of a reddish color. The beds are generally horizontal, or dip at gentle angles, so that the working is comparatively easy.
This district, which comprises Greene, Ulster, Delaware, Sullivan and Broome Counties, according to the division made by the State Geologist, is composed of a large number of quarries, most of which are small and short lived. To offset this, however, is the further fact that there are thousands of them known, but still under cover, and presumably other
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thousands which have not yet been looked for. It may be safely said that there is enough bluestone in Ulster County alone to keep the quarrying portion of its population busy for centuries to come.
Most of the stone quarried in Ulster is subjected to mill-treatment, known commercially as quarry-dressed at the mills in the vicinity of the quarries. The balance, probably twenty-five per cent of the whole, is treated at the mills along the Hudson River.
Commercially the Ulster bluestone is divided into three classes as follows :
No. I. Flagstone. No. 2. Edge. No. 3. Rock. No. I includes the stone used for sidewalks, and requires little dressing. Stone an inch and a half thick or over, with a smooth surface and edges at right angles, fulfil the requirements. Its density is so great as to absorb little mois- ture, and this renders it almost impervious to wear, while its character is such that it never becomes smooth and slippery with the moisture as does clay slate.
No. 2 includes such stone as curb, window and door-sills, lintels and other house trimmings. This stone requires dressing; curb requires "axing" on the face and edge. All this class of stone requires one or more perfect edges for market.
No. 3 includes the stone sold in the rough to dealers for mill-treatment. It ranges from four inches to as many feet or more in thickness, and is sawed or planed in the mills for platforms, steps, and building-stone. The first two classes are often treated in the mills when finished work is required.
The beds of stone in the Ulster quarries are divided naturally by vertical joints at right angles, one system running north and south and the other east and west. The east and west joints are known to the quarrymen as the "heads," or "headers," while those running north and south are called "side seams." These seams are five to seventy-five feet apart, and the distance determines the maximum size of the stone that can be taken from them. The layers into which a ledge is divided by horizontal seams are known as "lifts." These are split apart by means of thin wedges, driven to make a practically uniform pressure along the entire front, so as to raise the layer back to the next joint. If the joint be too far back, so that the stone would be too large for handling, a place of cleavage, or breaking point, is made by drilling holes in a line across it, thus dividing it into
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sections. It sometimes occurs that the stone is brittle, or that for some other reason the stone refuses to split, and breaks into fragments at the in- troduction of the wedges ; this destroys the value of the quarry, so far as that particular lift is concerned. More loss may be incurred by following it up in search for better results, or the very next lift may be a perfect one. Judgment and experience seem to have no place in the determination of "when to stop" under these circumstances. To proceed may mean to add to the loss already incurred by "stripping," (uncovering the top) or it may mean to develop a fine and profitable quarry which will repay many fold the time and labor spent upon it. This feature constitutes the "miner's gambie," and no unlucky gold miner ever saw a fine prospect "pinch out," with feelings of more acute regret, than have Ulster County bluestone quarrymen watched the continuation of the breaking and crumbling of the stone as the wedges tried to cleave it from its bed.
In addition to the open seams which separate the lifts, and which are often filled with a thin stratum of shale called "pencil," there are often numerous closed seams, sometimes very close together, which show where the stone may be split if care is exercised. These are called "reeds," and frequently indicate that very thin layers may be produced if desired. These "reeds" do not detract from the durability or excellence of the stone, but rather add to them, by giving it a condition of comparative elasticity, which better enables it to resist the extremes of weather.
When a quarry is first opened the lifts are usually thin, but they become thicker as each successive tier is removed. Sometimes the thicker lifts are at the bottom, at other times at the top. Quarries which run prin- cipally to flagstone may be operated by hand or horse-power. The "stripping," by which is meant the removal of the soil covering, clay or hardpan, and sometimes rocks, from the top of the bluestone ledge, is usu- ally done in winter, when the ground is frozen, as it may then be blasted and removed more readily. Most of the quarrying is done during eight or nine months of the year, few quarries are operated in the very cold weather of winter.
After the stone is taken from its bed, it is turned over to the stone- cutter, who prepares it for the market. Flagstone is cut to commercial sizes and irregularities of the surface are chiseled down. Curb or other "edge" stones must be broken or split to the proper dimensions, "axed" on the face, and the top edge pitched to the proper angle. Rock and
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platform stone require no dressing at the quarry, the finer dressing being done at the docks. At many of these docks, stone mills are in operation. The mill-treatment consists of sawing the large blocks, planing and rub- bing the house trimmings, steps, platforms, etc., and boring sewer heads.
A planer consists of a stationary base and upper frame, with an oscil- lating carriage on which the stone is firmly fastened. In the upper frame the plane-bits are firmly fixed, which take off the irregularities of the surface of the stone as it passes under them on the carriage. "Rubbing" is done by a circular cast-iron plate, which is made to revolve swiftly against the surface of the stone. Sand and water are fed to facilitate this work.
Most of the quarries in Ulster are worked by from two to five men; sometimes in partnership, sometimes as employer and helpers. The quarryman rarely owns the land on which the quarry is located, but usually leases it at a rental of five per cent. of the value of the product. Many of the larger quarries are owned by the wholesale dealers, who lease to the quarrymen, and maintain mills for preparing the product for market. One of the difficulties under which the quarryman labors, is the transportation of the stone to the dock of the dealer to whom he sells. In some cases the cost of this is equal to half the value of the load hauled ; in other, and more favorable locations, it runs as low as eight or ten per cent. Settlements are made weekly or monthly as may be agreed upon.
Flagstone is sold by the square foot. Curbing and crosswalk by the linear foot. Rock, the thick large stone, is sold by a sort of inverted lumber measure, per inch, by the square foot. For instance, a stone 10 by IO, containing one hundred square feet of surface, would, if ten inches thick, at two and a half cents an inch, bring twenty-five dollars. The same stone, sixteen inches thick, would bring forty dollars.
PART II. BIOGRAPHICAL
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
HENRY ABBEY was born at Rondout, now the Eastern District of Kingston, New York, on July II, 1842. His father was Stephen Abbey. . His mother's maiden name was Caroline Vail. Stephen Abbey's grandmother was Lucy Knox, a lineal descendant of John Knox, the famous Scotch reformer. Caroline Vail was a daughter of Elias Vail, of Masonville, New York, and a descendant of one of two brothers Vail that came over in the time of the Mayflower and is said to have mar- ried a daughter of Massasoit.
Henry Abbey was sent to school when he was six years old and, when he was eighteen, had been a student, at Kingston Academy, at the Heading Institute in Greene County, at the Delaware Institute in Delaware County and at the Hudson River Institute in Columbia County. Owing to his father's financial reverses in the panic of 1857, he was obliged later to give up his studies preparatory for col- lege, but was tutored for some time by John N. Pomeroy, the writer on inter- national law. In 1861, Henry Abbey became assistant editor of the Rondout Courier.
In 1862 he published his first book of poems. It was probably the first book ever published by a resident and native of Ulster County. It was entitled May Dreams and by permission dedicated to William Cullen Bryant.
Soon after the publication of May Dreams, Mr. Abbey went to New York and was a clerk in the office of a monthly magazine. He made the acquaintance of Henry Clapp, Jr., literary editor of the New York Leader. Mr. Clapp encouraged Mr. Abbey, invited him to write for his paper, and introduced him to George Ar- nold, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Ada Clare and other contributors to the Leader. In 1863, Mr. Abbey went to Orange, New Jersey, where he edited the Orange Spec- tator. In 1864, he returned to Rondout and, for about two years and a half, was teller in the Bank of Rondout. He had the impulse and found time in which to write more verses, and in 1866, published his second book, Ralph and Other Poems.
In December, 1865, he married Mary Louise DuBois, of Kingston. She died November 2, 1889. In 1867, he left the bank and went into the flour and grain business with his father and, later, with his brother, under the style of Stephen Abbey and Sons, and continued to be a merchant in that business until 1900. For the greater part of this time and until the end of it he was a member of the New York Produce Exchange.
In 1869, he published his third volume, Stories in Verse. It bore the imprint of A. D. F. Randolph & Co., New York, and was dedicated to Richard Grant White. Soon after its publication Mr. Abbey contributed poems to The Galaxy, to Apple-
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tons' Journal, to Chambers's Journal, to Bret Harte's Overland Monthly, to Har- per's Monthly and Weekly, to Edward Everett Hale's Old and New magazine and to other periodicals.
Mr. Abbey's fourth book was made up of these contributions and was entitled Ballads of Good Deeds. D. Appleton & Company were the publishers and it was dedicated to George William Curtis. With a few additions, and under the same title, this volume was re-published in England in 1876 by Henry S. King & Com- pany, London. The sixth book was entitled Poems by Henry Abbey and was published by D. Appleton & Company in 1879. Mr. Abbey's seventh book was issued in 1883 by the same house and was entitled The City of Success and Other Poems.
Mr. Abbey has been a Freemason since 1871. In 1874 he was Senior Warden of Kingston Lodge No. 10.
Since that time he has also been a member of the Fair Street Reformed Church, and in 1902 and 1903 was a delegate to General Synod. From 1883 to 1885 he was a member of the Kingston Board of Health. In 1888 he ran for Alderman on the Republican ticket and was defeated.
In this year, 1888, he published, in pamphlet form, his poem Gettysburg, which he read, on the battlefield, on October 4th, 1888, at the dedication of the monu- ment to the Eightieth New York Regiment of Volunteers. The veterans said that the poem was true in every detail and that it brought back to them vividly the scenes of the battle.
Mr. Abbey was a director, vice-president and, in 1895, president of the State of New York National Bank of Kingston. Since 1884 he has been a member of the Authors' Club. He is a life member of the New York Shakespeare Society. For several years he was a member of the National Sculpture Society.
In 1885, Mr. Abbey published a complete edition of his poems, and a third edition enlarged, in 1895. In 1901, he published Phaethon and Three Other Stories in Verse. The book was dedicated to his sister, Mrs. James G. Cutler, of Rochester, New York. In 1904, the fourth edition of The Poems of Henry Abbey, complete to date, and containing in all about 370 pages, was published by D. Appleton & Com- pany, New York.
Since 1900 Mr. Abbey has not engaged in any business.
CHARLES J. ACKERT .- The late Hon. Charles J. Ackert, son of Samuel Ackert, was born at Hyde Park, Dutchess County, N. Y., May 1, 1830, and died at New Paltz, June 1, 1900. He learned the printer's trade at the office of the Poughkeepsie Eagle and was engaged in newspaper offices in Dutchess and West- chester Counties, as foreman or editor and proprietor, until June, 1860, when he became a resident of Ulster County and established the New Paltz Times, a live Democratic paper, vigorous in discussion, but fair, readable, clean, a power in the community.
Mr. Ackert was a Civil War veteran of honorable record, from 1862 to 1864 in Company A, 156th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry. A Private, Sergeant, Second Lieutenant, promoted for personal bravery. On his return he resumed
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charge of his paper, which during his absence had been published by his wife. He was appointed Postmaster of New Paltz by President Cleveland, and served as Town Clerk for fifteen years, President of the Village for two years, Supervisor from 1896 to 1899 and Member of Assembly in 1899 and 1900. Mr. Ackert, with the exception of one year, was commander of Elting Post, G. A. R., and for six years, previous to his death, was President of his Regiment Association. Mr. Ackert was a charter member of Walkill Lodge, K. of P., No. 162, of New Paltz, and a member of Veteran Firemen's Association of Poughkeepsie. He was a man full of energy, courage, honor and charity, and his friends were legion.
In 1851 he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Varick Silvernail, of Pough- keepsie. Mrs. Ackert has succeeded her husband in the publication of the Times, and under her management it has maintained its high place in weekly journalism. Their only child, Isabella, is now the wife of Mr. George E. Johnston, druggist, President of the Lone Brick Company of New Paltz, President of the Electric Light Company and Town Clerk.
JOHN B. ALLIGER was born at Alligerville, town of Rochester, Ulster County, May 23rd, 1847. Elijah Alliger, the grandfather of John B., was a native of Rochester township. He married Ann Decker, of Shawangunk township. They lived in the town of Rochester for a time after their marriage and then moved to what later became the village of Alligerville. He erected the first building and founded the village. He conducted a general store there, dealt in millstones, operated extensive quarries and also constructed, on contract, portions of the Dela- ware and Hudson canal in 1825. In the war of 1812 he served as a commissioned officer. He was a leader in church and temperance work as well as financial en- terprises and was one of the pillars of the Dutch Reformed Church of Alligerville. He died in 1856, aged sixty-nine years, and his wife died in 1852 at the age of sixty- two years. Seven children were born to them, of whom Cornelius D. was next youngest. He was born January 5th, 1825, at Alligerville, and remained there until 1864, when he moved to Stone Ridge, in the town of Marbletown, where he remained three years. He then removed to Rondout, where he died in 1897. He married Maria Hasbrouck, daughter of Philip and Sarah Westbrook Hasbrouck, on June 10th, 1846, and they had four sons. Mrs. Alliger died in September, 1884, at the age of sixty-four years.
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