USA > New York > Greene County > The "old times" corner : first series, 1929-1930 > Part 12
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As the editor of the Albany Evening Journal in 1830, Thurlow Weed was destined to become one of the outstanding men of our country, upon whom, and the Hon. John Bigelow, hung the fate of this nation in their securing and holding the precarious neutrality. though never the friendship, of Great Britain at the time of our Civil War. The little man who at eight years stood on a box to pump the blacksmith's huge bellows and keep his father out of prison.
Remembering that it was in 1830, when Weed took up the cudgels at Albany, that the State Legislature made its first move to free the debtors, we quote one more passage.
"The present generation," he writes, "in looking back to the struggle of our forefathers for independence, will wonder why they did not then emancipate the country from imprisonment from debt.
"And yet, up to the year 1832, hard-working men, with families de- pendent upon their labor, when by reverses of fortune [or. as he elsewhere points out, by failure of others to give them their earned wages] they were unable to pay their debts, were thrown in company with felons into prison. I remember, with a shudder, a sad and sleepless night occasioned by the incarceration of my own father, who though a poor man was known to be an honest one, and for that reason was enabled to give bonds that he would remain on the "gaol liberties' until the debt (of something less than $20) was paid.
"Creditors generally kept a vigilant eve upon debtors who were out on bail, and not infrequently beguiled them across the line long enough to enable the sheriff to serve a process npon the bondsman, and thus would secure payment of the debt."
Who says human nature is getting worse ?- C. June 12, 1930.
[Correction. ] The name of Dr. Fanning was a slip for that of Dr. Eben- ezer R. Mackey, as the bullder of the Philip Richman block on Bridge and Hill streets. The contractors were William Ruland and George W. Hold-
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ridge. We hesitate to print the figure at which they did the job for Dr. Mackey, but those were the days when mechanics received $3 to $3.50 a day; laborers from $1.50 to $2; brick sold at $4.50 to $5 a thousand, and the contractors did most of the work instead of sitting around and "boss- ing." Across Bridge Street, where Ebneth's bakery is, lived the father of "Tom"Bell the blacksmith, whose smithy was on Water Street opposite the foundry, and whose memory is green in the minds of many whom he befriended. He made (for the late Charles Beach) my first geological hammer. Let's hear from some who remember him .- C. June 26, 1930.
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Our friend and old neighbor, Mr. Samuel Holt, formerly of Day & Holt, and well-remembered in our village, sends me the following most welcome letter about
"Tom Bell"
Rhinebeck, N. Y., July 8, 1930.
My dear Mr. Chadwick:
This line comes from a schoolmate of your maternal uncle, the late Marcus Halcott; and is called forth by your invitation to furnish informa- tion relating to the late Thomas W. Bell, in whose Water street black- smith shop I served a three-year apprenticeship. And when you write that his memory is green in the minds of the many he befriended, it calls to memory the numerous deeds of kindness Mr. Bell did for all and sundry. Your article bore date of June 26th, and was read by me but recently upon returning from an auto trip through Massachusetts and Connecticut.
After leaving Catskill High School I was like most boys with a Re- gents' diploma, possessed with a rather high opinion of my future value in this good old world of ours; and shortly after, learned that Mr. Bell needed a young man to keep his books and make himself generally useful, Now that position was hardly to be considered a white collar job, but I was looking for work, and felt quite elated when I obtained it. The book- keeping work occupied but an hour or two each day, and consisted in charging for work performed, making out and collecting bills, etc., with the remainder of the time occupied by pulling off horse shoes, blowing the forge bellows, and, generally speaking, doing what I was told to by the several journeymen employed by Mr. Bell, whether I liked tlie jobs or not.
At that time the Bell shop did quite an extensive business specializing in heavy forging work for the Catskill Foundry across Water street, keep- ing the motive power in running condition for the old Catskill and New York Steamboat company, then run by Black & Donahue; and It also had a wagon making department which turned out very many of the six seated boarding-house wagons then used to transport summer guests from Cats- kill Point to the various towns back in the county. Mr. Bell also had in his charge the maintenance of the numerous Catskill Mountain House and Laurel House (Schutt's) stages-which were of the older type, hung on leather, instead of steel springs, and frequently drawn by four horses. During my days in the shop, Mr. Bell employed John Clark and Thomas Tynan as horseshoers, Alfred N. Hinman and James Grady as wagon ironers, together with other men who worked in where most needed. The four whose names I mention are all gone, Mr. Grady, a brilliant young man,
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being killed by a boiler explosion in the Steam Woolen company's mill, now the Wiley branch of Union Knitting company: Mr. Hinman, whose wonderful bass voice was heard in our church choirs, and who later be- came for many years the Village Clerk, and during his latter years was associated with the Kortz undertaking firm: and Mr. Clark, who for many years ran his own business in a brick shop on Hill street, at the rear of the present Daily Mail building.
Mr. Bell, during both his younger and middle aged years, was a great dancer; so much so, that no party or public dance was considered complete without his presence. And best of all epitaphs that can be written of any man, he was forever doing good to those in distress or poor circumstances. Many are the loads of food and groceries he had me take to sick persons, not only in the village but throughout the county to persons in need; fre- quently hiring rigs from Babcock's stables-now Van Densen garage and service station-for me to drive with one of our village ministers to com- fort those who were in a dying condition.
I have frequently thought of the vast amount of quietly done good Tom Bell did, and though like all humans he had hls faults, yet my im- pression is that when he passed away at his daughter's home near Chicago, his would be a grand welcome in a better land, as one who had visited the sick and given to those who needed assistance.
C. July 24, 1930.
I remain, very truly yours, Sam'l E. Holt.
The Meyer or Myer Family
is another of which information is desired. One branch sprang from Chris- tian MEYER. a Palatine who settled just west of Saugerties, at "Church- land," where his fine old stone house stands in good condition on the Palenville concrete road. We have the earlier generations of this family, and we know a few of its modern representatives; but we need to hear from all the others, with what they can give us of their parentage, so that we can link them in. Much of the history lies at Kaatsbaan and elsewhere over the county line. as does that of the inter-related Wynkoop family. But they had large holdings extending north towards Kiskatom. The stone house of Jonathan Myer just south of the Kaaters Kill from Britt's Corners was burned some time ago .* This is likely the Jonathan Myers aged be- tween 30 and 40 who is listed in the 1830 census of Catskill with 5 in family as living between Mary Myers on one side and Stephen Root on the other; we suspect that Mary, being past 60, was his mother, and that Hezekiah Myers next beyond Mr. Root was his brother. Can someone tell us?
In 1830 Tobias Myer was advertising for sale the water power and a grist mill and saw mill at "Myer's Falls" seven miles southwest of Catskill, on the Kaators Kill. Which falls are these ? Are they High Falls, or the dam at the mill (in Ulster county ) on the road from there to Asbury ?* Ruins of old mills are plainly to be seen below High Falls. [ *See correction following. ]
This Tobias Myer is buried in the Bloom cemetery on the Palenville road, below Kiskatom, with his wife Hannah Post (daughter of Isaac Post
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THE MEYER FAMILY
and Catrina Snyder). Their children were two daughters: Emeline 1813/ S/29-1900/8/4 married 1842/10/15 Isaac (son of Frederick and Maria Dederick) SAXE 1816/10/29-1889/11/17; and Christina 1816/10/14-1905/ 3/1 married 1844/11/7 Barzillai (son of Joseph and Elizabeth Snyder) RANSOM 1813/9/17-1884/6/4. Are there any descendants of Tobias Myer living?
He was a great-grandson of Christian Meyer 1688-1781 and his wife Ann Geertruy Theunyes through their son John Wilhelm 1714-1794 mar- ried Sarah (daughter Ariaan and Altjen Bogaard) Newkirk, and the latter couple's son Rev. Johannes Myer "jr.," familiarly known as "Oom Hans" [Uncle John], 1746-1829 married Seletje [Celia] (daughter Col. Johannis of the Revolution and Rachel Swart) Snyder. Tobias was the son of Oom Hans and Seletje.
Buried at Kiskatom somewhere, also, are.an aunt and cousin of Tobias. Can someone direct us to their graves? These are Hendricus Myer (baptized at Saugerties 1796/1/6) and his mother Annatje (daughter Gerrit and Geertje Schermerhorn) Heermans, widow of Benjamin Myer 1755/11/11- 1800/5/19, a brother of the Rev. Johannes, who may have afterward mar- ried Gerrit (?) MYNDERSE. Information about these is desired. An- natje was born 1764/5/8 and long survived hier Inisband Benjamin, whose children by her were (1) Garritje, died young, (2) Cornelia 1791, (3) Garritje 1793 (baptized at Saugerties 7/28), (4) Hendricus. as above, and (5) William B. 1798 (baptized Saugerties 6/10). There must be de- scendants living of these. Hendricus is probably the Henry B. Myers with 6 in family, of the 1830 census, which also lists a William Myers with 3, both being under 40 years.
Other Myers in 1830 census, besides those already mentioned, are Andrew P. (two males over 70). Adam, Susanna and Frederick ( who had a bakery), in Catskill: William in Coxsackie; Abram in Hunter; Herman and Jacob in Windham.
The Myer family furnishes an interesting series of intermarriages. Living in a restricted community. they could scarce avoid this. Petrus B. (son of Benjamin and grandson of Christian) married his own cousin Jan- netje (daughter of Petrus, Benjamin's brother), and their daughter Helen married Charles SNYDER, and afterwards Charles DEDERICK. It will be recalled that the mother of Tobias and the mother of Tobias's wife were also Snyders; I cannot at the moment give the exact degree of relationship. More complicated is the history of Gerrit Mynderse Myer and his wife Mary. Gerrit's parents were own cousins-Benjamin C. (son of Christian, and grandson of John Wilhelm) and Rachel (daughter of Rev. Johannes. Chris- tian's brother). The parents of Mary his wife were Henry I. (son of Rev. Johannes) and Sarah Wells (daughter of Catharina and granddaughter of Christian). Thus both he and his wife were descended from the two brothers, Christian and Rev. Johannes. His wife's father was his maternal uncle; his wife's mother was his second cousin of the same generation. They had six children, four of whom grew up and at least three were mar- ried. Word from any descendants would be welcome.
The parents of Gerrit Mynderse MIver were nephew and niece ( by marriage) of Annatje wife of Benjamin, and I think he was named for
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Annatje's second husband, supposed to have been a Mynderse, but await correction.
In old Prattsville cemetery we found buried "Cathrine Myres who died Dec. 15th, 1810, in the 62 year of her age." Now who was she?
Two other unplaced members of the family are the Maria Meyer mar- ried Philip FENTON, whose son John P. married 1833/12/20 Ann Eliza Burhans, and the Jacob P. Myer married 1827 Ann Maria Dederick. The latter's children were (1) Rachel Catharine married John A. VAN ETTEN, (2) William E. married Sarah Jane Plank, (3) John H., and (4) Andrew D. married Margaret Rightmyer.
Quite Another Line from that of Christian seems to be represented by the Annatje MEYER who married ( Kingston 1711/6/1) Gerrit Van Bergen, and the Catrina Meyer, perhaps Annatje's sister, who married (Albany 1715/6/7) Gerrit's brother, Marten Van Bergen. Then we have the Jeremiah DE MEYER or Demeyer married Annatje Moor, whose daugh- ter Elsie married 1804 William Herman Dederick, while a Catharine (perhaps Elsie's sister ) married 1801 Wilhelmus Schuneman as his second wife.
Benjamin Demyer, between 20 and 30, with three in family, lived in Leeds in 1830, next to John Osterhout and Richard P. Elmendorf. He was senior member of the firm of Demyer, Demarest & Co., which dissolved in the spring of that year. but their business is not stated. Who knows abont him?
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Still another form of this name may perhaps be represented by the spelling Mairs, while Moyer seems to be another extreme. The wife of General William SALISBURY of Catskill village was born Jane Mairs, but I do not know her descent. Out at Kiskatom. I am told, on the Jonathan Myer place before mentioned, lived "Hannie Moyer" as the name was pronounced, and I judge that this was Johannes Meyer (in English form John Myers) .- C. June 19, 1930.
[Corrections] It was not Jonathan Myer's stone house that burned- that house was demolished by the hand of man- but the later frame building of John C. Rider that had replaced it. The Tobias Myer mills, and his old stone house vet standing, are not where I guessed, but nearly two miles above High Falls, toward Kiskatom -- a lovely spot with the road crossing a bridge just below the dam and passing close between house and mill. The old overshot water-wheel has been replaced by a turbine, but in many ways the place is unchanged since 1830. There are two or three other old stone houses in that vicinity, on the Myer-Wynkoop tract, that are now falling to ruin. Who can give us their history? Has anyone good photographs for ns of these houses in their prime ?- C. June 26, 1930.
We Begin Next Week
printing a genealogy of the FIERO family, prepared by Mr. Peter Fiero after he was past eighty and presented by him in manuscript to Mrs. Emory A. Chase, a Fiero descendant, with a few other copies to other rela- tives. Mr. Fiero's work. at such an advanced age, is another proof of the salubrity of Catskill Mountain air. It is prefaced by an account of the Palatine settlements. especially at West Camp, that of itself is an historic
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REV. JOHN MASON PECK
document of first importanee. There are mighty few of the older peopje of Greene and Ulster counties that do not have some blood of the Palatines in them. A list of the family names of these heroic settlers would waken many memories and we hope some day to find time to prepare and publish it.
But in carrying out this undertaking, Mr. Fiero has not tried to cover certain branches that early diverged from his own line, namely that of Peter and Mercy Fiero. As these other lines have also had a prominent part in the life of our county, I would like to receive as proniptly as pos- sible whatever information anyone ean now give me about them, so that they may be included in the published account.
We ask, therefore, that every Fiero or Fiero deseendant send word to us very soon. The information needed is the name of yourself. your husband or wife, your children, your parents, uneles and aunts, brothers and sisters, and your grandparents on back as far as you can give them. Whatever dates you ean give, especially for the deceased members of the family, will be helpful. Birth dates of the ladies, while living, are not asked and are never divulged-without permission. So have no qualms .-- C. July 3, 1930.
[Editor's note. The "Fiero family" ran for ten weeks in the "Old Times Corner," but because of the fact that members of the family desire to reprint this genealogy for themselves in more complete form it is deemed best to omit it liere. Additional data will, however, always be welcome.]
John Mason Peck.
There was recently found upon my desk a book entitled "Jolin Mason Peek and One Hundred Years of Home Missions. 1817-1917." by Austen Kennedy DeBlois, D. D., L. L. D., and Lemuel Call Barnes, D. D., with the compliments of the American Baptist Home Missionary society, per C. Hayne, of New York eity.
John Mason Peck onee lived at Big Hollow, in the town of Windham. and Mr. Hayne was in Catskill seeking further information about his life and endeavoring to confirm statements already written.
As a Greene county man, for a time at least, it may be of interest to older residents to give some of the facts concerning him and his life as a missionary. Most of the material in the book was taken from one written by Dr. Rufus Babcock more than 50 years ago.
John M. Peck was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1789 and was the only child of Asa Peck, a descendant of Paul Peck, who with his wife. Martha, came to America in 1634. At the age of eighteen he .was a sehool teacher, with a little edueation. but much common sense, and of a de- termined character. Becoming converted in 1807. he directed all his efforts to becoming a lay helper in the church, at the same time following the professions of teaeher and farmer.
In 1809. Mr. Peek married Sally Paine, who was born in Greene county in 1789, but had been living with her grandparents in Litchfield. They were both members of the Congregational church, but when their first child was born they began to think seriously on the subject of in- fant baptism and finally decided for the Baptist faith.
In 1811 they came to Greene county and settled at Big Hollow (now Maplecrest ). Only eight families were living there at the time, within a radius of three miles, and no Baptist church nearer than New Durham,
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They followed the winding path over the mountain to that village and in September, 1811, were received into church fellowship, Baptist services being held only once a month in a school house on the Batavia turnpike, seven miles from Mr. Peck's new home. There would seem to be some mistake about this statement, as the present Durham village was first known as New Durham and was not on the Batavia but on the Susque- hanna turnpike.
At the next meeting of the church he was given permission "to im- prove his gift" within the limit of the local church until the members should be convinced of his call to the ministry and his qualifications for pastoral service. At their request he preached the following day, October 13, his first sermon, from the text, "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Thus he began his public ministry, which lasted forty-six years.
He soon received a license to preach and accepted a call to the pastorate at Catskill. . He removed to that place and during the week taught school to piece out his uncertain salary, which considered of the offerings at regular services. It is said he preached three times during each week and the sum of the offerings averaged one dollar. At the close of his first year's work he had received $01.95, which included $18.92 in gifts and special contributions.
Before beginning his ministry in Catskill in 1812 he walked to Liteh- field, Conn., a distance of 182 miles, in a little more than two weeks, preaching fifteen times on the way. On June 19, 1813, he was ordained and six months after accepted a call to Amenia, but his stay in Catskill was always remembered with satisfaction.
Born to be a missionary and alive to world-wide service, he caught the spirit of missions of Luther Rice, a kindred soul who had returned from service in India in 1813 and this resulted in the departure of Mr. Peck, his wife and three children in 1817 to what was then known as the "Far West." It took them 129 days to take the trip from Litchfield to Shawnee- town, Illinois, where he began his life-long labors. From this place to the Mississippi, and then up the river to St. Louis took twenty-two days, and he arrived there on the first day of December, in a serious physical condition, and was ill for two months, living with his family for nine months in one room.
At last he was recovered sufficiently to begin his work and in a small room in the rear of a store was begun a schoot and a preaching station. the real beginning of definite Baptist enterprise beyond the Mississippi. Here pioneer work was carried on for years, and he spent himself unstintingly, establishing as the years passed a seminary and a religious newspaper, and the history of Baptist journalism in the West began. He died in 1858, when settlements had grown into towns and cities, had seen many changes, and himself been a maker and moulder of better things in the New West, "pioneer explorer and planter of churches, leader of leaders, inspirer of men."-V. Not. 8, 1930.
The Rundle Family.
Reuben Rundle was born at Greenwich, Conn. ( Fairfield county ),
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March 10, 1757. In 1776 he enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and was attached to Col. Thomas's regiment, New York State Militia, and did some service at Kings Bridge and other places. He served in various capacities as a soldier, at some time acting as lieutenant, until in the spring of 1781 he received his discharge. He married Saralı Holly, of Stamford, Conn .. Dec. 25, 1781, and soon after started in the business of tanning, currying and shoemaking in his native place.
Meeting with reverses, Mr. Rundle determined to seek a home in the west and landed at Catskill on the Sth or 9th of April, 1786. His family at this time consisted of wife and two sons, Josiah and Reuben. Leaving them at Wessel Salisbury's, in the vicinity of Sandy Plains, he came on to Greenville and built a log cabin on the farm now owned by Frank Deane. There he moved his family on the first day of May, 1786. His reverses had left. him poor, and for the first few years he was compelled to devote part of his time to his trade, that of shoemaking, to keep his family from starvation. The leather was purchased in Catskill, brought home on his back, made into boots and shoes and exchanged for grain, which in turn had to be carried ten miles to the nearest mill, then without a bolt.
With the wilderness around him and no team, he was obliged to roll and heap the logs on his first clearing by hand, but he was a man of extra- ordinary endurance and well calculated to surmount the difficulties that surrounded him. His sympathizing wife should not be forgotten in the part she bore during these trying times, for in addition to household duties slie was daily to be found in the fallow, heaping and burning brush.
In after years when Rundle's efforts had been crowned with success and he was in the possession of a well earned competency. he frequently alluded to his early hardships and trials, which, to us of the present day. would seem almost insurmountable.
His occupancy was on the Ten Eyck portion of the Coeymans Patent, and although limited at first was afterward extended by additional pur- chases. In 1837 he made a division of all his personal property and real estate among his children, continuing to reside upon the farm until his death, which occurred October 25. 1849.
He was a communicant of the Episcopal church and at the organ- ization of the one erected near him in 1825, toward which he and his family contributed so largely, he was chosen senior warden and served as such until his death. In his will he bequeathed to the wardens and vestry for the church the interest of $500 in perpetuity.
Reuben Rundle left three sons, who settled in Greenville: Josiah, Reuben and Hardy. Josiah commenced- business for himself near West Greenville, on the farm now occupied by William Smith, where he re- niained until his death. Two daughters lived in Greenville. Reuben kept the old homestead, where he lived until about 1850. He was killed while crossing the river from Athens to Hudson by a stone from a blast on the Hudson River Railroad. lle left no children.
Hardy commenced on the farm afterward occupied in part by his daughter, Julia, widow of James F. Burroughs, where he soon after opened a hotel and store. as well as the manufacture of cider brandy. He left three children at his death: Margaret, Julia and George L.
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Hardy Rundle's wife was Cornelia, daughter of Peter Simpson and Margaret Brice, who came to Cairo from Dutchess county in 1812. Hardy. with his brother, Reuben, furnished most of the funds for building the old Episcopal church in 1827, and the bell was a gift from Reuben. ( Informa- tion given by J. Henry Deane, of Catskill. For further information on genealogy of the family see Historical Society ) .- V. Nor. 13, 1930.
Edward Reynolds.
Greene County Historical society records with deep sorrow the death of Edward Reynolds on November 9, 1929, at his home No. 47 Poplar place, New Rochelle, New York.
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