USA > New York > Greene County > The "old times" corner : first series, 1929-1930 > Part 4
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2S
AN OLD SAMPLER
having by their certain Deed of Conveyance made and executed the 27th Day of September 1722. Conveyed the said Lot of Land N.o + . .. . unto Waldram Du Mond of Kingston in the County of Ulster and Province of New York and the said Waldram Du Mond having by his Certain Deed bearing Date the 29th Day September Anno Domine 1722. for and in Consideration of the Sum of One Hundred Pounds Current Money of New York, reconveyed the same Lot of Land N.o 4 unto the same William Van Orden and Temperance Van Orden his Wife .
Now this Indenture Witnesseth that the said Temperance van Orden for and in Consideration of the Natural Love and affection which she has and beareth unto the said Egenadeus Van Orden . , [etc. ]
her
(Signed ) Temperance (L) Van Orden (Seal) mark
Sealed and Delivered
in the Presence of Andries Ehmann
Henderick Burhans
I Christ.r Tappen
Be it remembered that on the twenty ninth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty one personally appeared before me Robert Yates Esquire one of the Puisne' Judges of the Supreme Court of Indicature of the state of New York Hendrick Burhans who being duly sworn on the h (ol)y Evangelists of almighty God deposeth and saith that he saw the (within) named Temperance Van orden seal and deliver the within Instrument as her voluntary act and deed for the uses therein mentioned, and that he this deponent together with Christopher Tappen & Andries Ehmaan severally subscribed their names as witness to the Execution thereof, and i having examined the said Instrument and finding and finding [sic] therein no material Razures Interlineations or obliterations other than those noticed before Execution do allow the same to be recorded.
(Signed ) Robert Yates
Recorded in the Clerks office of the City and Coun (ty of ) Albany in Liber K of Deeds Pages 270 &t. ex.d an(d by me) Compared this second day of March 1781c
(Signed ) V Mat: Visscher Clk
( Words and parts of words destroyed in the frayed margin of the original are supplied in parenthesis). - C. Sept. 11, 1930.
A "Delicious" Old Sampler [1771]
came to our notice lately. It belongs to Mr. L. B. Lampman of Coxsackie and bears the following quaint sentiment worked in various shades of blue:
"A. D. 1771 "How pleasant it is at the Close of the Day, No Follies to have to repent, But reflect on the Past and be able to say That my Time has been PROPERLY SPENT."
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OLD TIMES CORNER
This is on a cloth about eighteen inches square-the workmanship perfect. Can't you picture the little maker, name now unknown, in those pre-Revolutionary days doubtless a loyal little subject of old King George, sitting with the family circle and forcing her awkward fingers to learn the deft stitches while her soul was absorbing the sentiment of the verse ? They made sturdy stock in the quiet home life of those old days.
And in an Old House we have seen a real Revolutionary "cocked hat" that we should have a proper museum case to exhibit, when it comes to us, together with the real "carpet bag" that goes with it. How much we need a home for the Society, with an historical museum of Greene County! There's something to work for .-- C. Mar. 13, 1930.
Burial Spoons are something new to us. We have always associated spoons with births, not deaths, and in our childhood lamented that we were not born with a silver one in our mouth, but who of our readers ever saw a "burial spoon"?
As I understand it, when a person of prominence was buried, each of the bearers received a silver tablespoon on which was engraved the name of the departed and the date of his death, while on the reverse side was placed the monogram of the recipient. Such a spoon is therefore a valu- able record of the date at which the man died .-- C. July 3, 1950.
The Committee of Correspondence [1775]
was the backbone of the Revolution, but who of us ever heard of it? A big volume from Albany, prepared by our then State Historian, Dr. Sulli- van, gives us the actual minutes of this energetic body, a handful of men meeting day after day, often twice a day, risking lives and fortunes to win freedom for America. And they had their troubles, a plenty.
Right here in Catskill-then the "District of the Grote Imboght" --- David Abeel and John Van Orden were surrounded by British spies and Tories, yet managed to be frequently at Albany in these secret conclaves. Abeel paid for it, as we all know, through his capture by the Indians and terrible trip to Canada (see Beers' history, pages 103-105).
On May 10, 1775, these two men first attended the meeting, bringing the report of John B. Dumond from Grote Imboght. From "German Camp" came John Kortz, Jr .. and Philip Rockefeller, and Col. Ten Broeck made a verbal report for that locality. Hendrick ( Henry) Van Bergen, Philip Conine. James Barker (not the "patroon"?), Matthias "Van Lone" and llenry Oothout represented the "Districts of Cocksakie and Katskill."
Repeatedly we find some of these men in attendance. June 29 there were added from Grote Imboght, John Baptist Dumond, Henry ( Hendrick ) Fiero and John Persen falso written Perse); Oct. 4 from German Camp, Peter Rose and Wessel Ten Broeck. An election in Nov., 1775, added for "Coxackie," John L. Bronek, Philip Bronck. William Van Bergen, Samuel Van Veghten and Albartus Van Loon; for German Camp, Joseph Linking. By 1778 we find also Richard and Peter Bronek from Coxackie. The election that Jannary returned from Grote Imboght only Henry Mendersea ( Mynderse), Zacharias Dederick, Christian Mire ( Meyer), Johannis Sax and Frederick Marten; to German Camp it added Barrenharde ( Bernard ) Albarte.
30
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THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
Descent from any of these patriotic men surely confers eligibility to D. A. R. or S. A. R. (Sons).
Troubles Arose between our towns when they had to unite in choosing officers. On Sept. 5, 1775, the committee considered the following petition: "To the Committee of Safety for the City of Albany
"Whereas the Committees for the Districts of Coxackie and the Great Imboght having this day met for the purpose of Electing the Field Officers to Command the Battalion or Regiment of the said Districts
"A difference arose whether the Great Imboght District should have the same Priviledge of Electing them, as the Coxackie District, That the said Coxackie Committee did not chuse to Vote without having the Privi- ledge of Electing the Colonel & Lieutenant Colonel in their District, which the Committee for the said District of the Great Imboght could by no means allow of.
"That the Committee for the said District of the Great Imboght, then offered to accept of the Lieutenant Colonel and Adjutant, and allow them (the Committee of the Coxackie Distriet) the other three (as the said Committee understand there are to be five field officers) which they also refused to accept of, That the said Great Inboght Committee then offered to put it to Vote for the chusing the field Officers, which the other ('om- mittee likewise refused to agree to- That the said Committee was there- fore Obliged to break up, without electing any of the field Officers- All which is humbly submitted by
"Gentlemen
Your Most Ob't Servants.
David Abeel Committee for John B. Dumond the District of
Hendrick feere Great Imboght. John Person
"Great Imboght Sept'r 5th: 1775."
And the committee then resolved "that it be recommended to the Members of the Committees of the Districts of Coxackie and the great Imboght to go, together and make out a list of the Persons, whom they would chuse to be recommended for field Officers." This soothing advice must have been taken, for on Sept. 20 we find that by "a return of the field Officers for the District of Coxackie and the great Imboght, it appears that the following Persons were recommended, to wit
Anthony Van Bergen Colonel
Cornelius Du Bois Lieutenant Colonel
Ignas Van Order first Major John L. Bronck Second Major John Ten Broeck Adjutant
Habartis Van Loan Quarter Master
"And the above Persons being approved by this Board, Ordered that they be recommended accordingly to the Provincial Congress to be C'om- missioned."
So Great huboght got its Lieutenant after all, and first major (Ignatius Van Orden ) as well as adjutant. Also we have another spelling of Coxsackie, in the petition.
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OLD TIMES CORNER
The Oath of Secrecy for admission to this band of patriots was signed also by other names familiar to our county, some of them almost as much residents here as in Albany or wherever else they served. Chief among these is Goose or Gozen Van Schaick, who served for the first ward of Albany from May 25, 1775, and seldom missed a meeting. There are, also Hezekiah Van Orden, "Necoles Veder" (see the Rip Van Winkle story ), Teunis T. Van Vechten (born in Catskill), and others. In these signatures we note the spellings Philip Connyne, Friederick Marden, and William Vanbergen, and that our Van Vechtens used the c, not g .- C. Feb. 13, 1930.
A Story of Captivity. [1778-1852] In the Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Associa- tion of July 1930 there is a narrative, contributed by Mrs. Charlotte T. Luckhurst, of the captivity of Mrs. Jane Whittaker, daughter of Sebastian Strope a Revolutionary soldier, then living in Bradford County, Penna.
Sebastian Strope was the son of Johannes Strope who lived in a log cabin on what is now the farm of Harrison Jones near Round Top. Johan- nes and his wife were killed by the Indians and their house burned (see page 33 of Greene County History ), during the Revolution and Jacob Schermerhorn who was stopping over night there was carried captive to Canada.
Mrs. Whittaker went West in the autumn of 1850 with her son Oliver and died at Toulon, Stark County, Ill., in 1852. It is believed that the story of her captivity has never before been printed. With her parents and the rest of the family she had removed from Catskill to Pennsylvania five years before the massacre at Wyoming and in 1778 her mother with six children and her grandparents ( Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Van Valkenburgh), who had also come from Catskill, were captured.
Thirteen Indians.
The Indians numbered thirteen, among them three squaws, and the family were at breakfast when captured. Mrs. Whittaker's father had gone to Wyoming to procure a guard for his family to take them to a place of safety, having obtained information from a friendly Indian that the settlement was to be molested. fle returned with the guard next day only to find the house burned and his family in the hands of the Indians. For three years he heard nothing of his family or they of him, excepting rumors that he had been slain.
Mrs. Whittaker was about eleven years old when the capture took place. The Indians took them to Tioga Point and gave them as prisoners to the English under Butler, while they returned to raid Wyoming. The captives were not abused but were obliged to get their living by picking berries in the field and were given no bread or salt. When they reached Bainbridge they were given the privilege of cooking at a fireplace, and the resemblance of a tent was made by weaving bushes together at the top. Here they had plenty of eels and fish and were finally sent on to Fort Niagara, travelling twenty miles the last day and then to Lachine, reach- ing there in winter where they were obliged to shovel snow to make a place for the hemlock boughs of their bed. They suffered greatly from
32
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CAPTIVITY OF THE STROPES
cold and exposure and in May of 1781 were returned to Montreal travelling on the ice and in August set out on the return, a company of 300 in all to be exchanged.
Back to Catskill.
At Whitehall they were furnished with carts and vehicles of all kinds to take them to Albany where they met the father who had read their names in the exchange list, and he brought them to Catskill where they remained until the elose of the war. Everything had been burned at their home in Wysox and their cattle carried away.
Mrs. Whittaker's maiden name was Jane Strope, her mother Lydia Van Valkenburgh Strope, her father Sebastian Strope. She married Jere- miah White and second Gideon Whittaker. This narrative is an interesting one touching as it does the history of Greene County, and describing in- cidents of the family's captivity, Queen Esther of Sheshequin and her castle on the Chemung, of Brandt and the festivals of the Indians, such as the Maple Sugar Dance, the Green Corn Dance and the Strawberry Festival.
Mrs. Whittaker also adds her testimony that Brandt was not among those at the horrible massacre at Wyoming which has been a disputed point. She says "I saw Brandt at Fort Niagara and his family. I do not recall seeing him at Tioga Point when the expedition was fitting out for Wyoming, or on its return. I think I should have recollected it if I had ever seen him before. I knew the English officers, heard their names and also the Indian in command, but it was not the man they called Brandt at Fort Niagara. I was young, to be sure, but things made a great impression then. He wore at Fort Niagara, a blue broadeloth blanket with red border and had epaulets. He was tall, rather thin and his expression frightfully fierce. He looked in his fine dress and shining epaulets, splendid to my childish eyes."
Clothes in Rags.
"When we reached Niagara our clothes were in rags. They then let my grandfather, Mr. Van Valkenburgh, out of confinement and he went with a friend by the name of Herkimer who had been a schoolmate of my father's near Catskill, and at this time kept a wholesale store near the Fort, and he told my grandfather to bring all his folks in and he would supply them. He did so, and we each had presents of two new dresses and the boys new clothes. He was a Tory to be sure, but a clever fellow if he was. He called my grandfather a rebel but he said that he could not forget that my father and he had been boys together."
Sebastian Strope after the Revolution lived and died on the same farm where his family had been captured. Minor Strope of Plover, Wisconsin, a descendant, writes in 1855 stating that there was then a living witness to the statements of Mrs. Whittaker, his aged father Isaac Strope and her brother whose "head is whitened by the frosts of more than eighty winters. He resides in Summit Co., Ohio, and well remembers his captivity, suffer- ings and return to the old farm at Wysox. Penna." There were two other sons, John and Henry .- V. Oct. 9, 1930.
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OLD TIMES CORNER
The Town of Durham. [1782 ?- 1880]
That part of Greene county known as the town of Durham, judged by other than a relief map, would give one the impression of a rolling country with little of striking scenic beauty. belonging as it does to what is known as the valley section of the county. Viewed from the Mohican trail at. East Windham, a stranger would naturally suppose it could scarcely lay claim to mountain scenery, for from this elevation the valley stretching from the foot of the Catskills to the Berkshires is a vast map of woods, fields and little villages, from which deep glens and turbulent streams are obliterated.
From Mitchell Hollow through Blakesley's Notch, a road at first narrow and steep, with an easier grade as you descend, winds along the side of Mt. Nebo (or is it Mt. Hayden? Maps seem to differ), then follows a high ridge by which you can finally reach "Prink" or the village of Durham. Below you, as you pass along this ridge, is a deep valley beyond which is another high ridge, while looking farther still, the country seems to sweep gradually up to the skyline. Behind yon is Mt. Pisgah, with feet in the valley, and Mt. Nebo, which stretches out more leisurely into the ridge you are following.
Having descended the steepest part of the trail along the side of the mountain one comes to the parting of the ways, the road on the right lead- ing to Cornwallville. Near the intersection of the roads seventy or more years ago lived one of the later pioneers, John Parks, who came from the City of New York, where he lived in Christopher street and had two cows. for which he rented pasture near by. He had saved money enough to buy this pasture (to-day worth millions) but decided to buy this farm on the mountainside. His oldest child, Alexander, was about eleven years of age. Here he raised a large family.
A Lonely Spot.
It must have been a lonely spot! ('nt off in winter from what little companionship there might be on other scattered farms, by drifting snow sweeping up between the ridges in blinding fierceness and filling the rough roads beyond all "breaking out" with ox team or horses, for there was no snow machinery such as we have to-day.
To these pioneers the beautiful and every changing view, after its first newness wore away, must have meant little, busy as they were clear- ing the land, taking care of the stock, seeking lost calves and lambs upon the mountain side, drawing and cutting wood for the immense wood piles, the replicas of which can still be seen at some of the farm houses, cheerful to look at as one passes by, speaking of comfortable kitchen and living room when zero weather shall come, a cheerful and homelike at- mosphere to which radiators are not comparable, although very likely now, outside the big kitchen, there is furnace heat.
There are few houses along this road, which grows smoother as yon descend, and most of these are equipped with electric plants, telephones. and other modern inventions which make life much more livable than in the eighteen hundreds, while motor car demands open roads even in winter.
34
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1753029 TOWN OF DURHAM
Uncle Daniel Simmons.
Keeping to the left a long sweep downward across Durham creek, a short steep grade, and we nose carefully out of the narrow road into the main street of Durham village. On the corner still stands the red brick house which in my childhood was that of Uncle Daniel Simmons. Ile had a general store next on Main street. This house was the objective of those long rides, sixty years ago, usnally in winter, when the sleighing was good, well provided with hot soap stones and buffalo robes, under which a small child could crawl to the sleigh bottom if the mountain air became too keen for comfort.
It was a long journey from Leeds, of from four to six hours, according to the condition of the roads, and tedions for a youngster in summer, sitting on a stool in the back of a "spring wagon" without a top, and much worse in winter although a stop was made at Walter's hotel in Cairo. The stone bridge near Durham was always a welcome sight, and it was with stiffened limbs that one descended from the high wagon to the immaculately scrubbed stepping stone and the white floor of Aunt Samyra's summer kitchen. In the house next Uncle Daniel's store at one time lived Aunt Samantha and Uncle Deacon Lem Baldwin. Afterward they moved to the farm up Prink hill.
In this house the wedding of the only daughter Mary to Luman Rams- dell was a great event, and made an indelible impression along with the tedious morning prayers and scripture lesson of Uncle Daniel, and the picture on the wall of his only son, Charles, who died in a rebel prison. There were plenty of books and papers, religious most of them, but being a devourer of literature of any kind from story book to sermon a lover of words, the longer and more euphonious the better, whether understood or Dot, these with the daily trip helping drive the cow to and from the pasture by the bridge, were diversions which made the time pass quickly.
Meeting a Circus.
An adventure was meeting a circus on what is known as "Broadway," a long stretch of road before entering Durham village. The horses refused to share the road with the elephant, not even turning their heads to the stone wall sufficed, and father was obliged to unhitch them from the wagon and drive them into the field. Even then it was difficult to hold the ter- rified animals. But while all this was going on, I was getting a satis- factory thrill looking at the animals in their cages and admiring the wonderful carved and colorful wagons as they passed slowly along. . circus in those days consisted of a long train of such wagons, always with from one to three elephants clopping along.
When Durham men came to Catskill, or to visit us in winter, they wore heavy grey blanket shawls and woolen tippets for warmth, in addition to their overcoats. With fur caps pulled down over their foreheads, ear muffs, wristlets and heavy mittens, often home made.
From the village of Durham, "Prink Hill" rises abruptly from the west end of Main street. Front the top of this hill you follow the crest
35
OLD TIMES CORNER
of the ridge you have seen from that which you came down. It has a view equal, if not superior, to the other. The farm houses are closer to- gether and the road keeps to the backbone of the ridge, giving an extended view on all sides.
As to West Durham.
The pioneers who settled the town of Durham seem to have had an unusual affection for the settlement they had left in Connecticut, attach- ing as they did the name to four villages which are so far apart as to have no connection with each other. West Durham seems at the present time to be stranded in the extrenie western part of the town, apparently for- gotten. It has a neat school house, a few pleasant homes and a burial place which looks down upon it from a hill, and to which a few beautiful red cedars. and a pine tree of considerable age and unusual shape, in effect that of a Japanese pagoda, adds dignity to this city of the dead.
The old seminary is a thing of the past. It sent forth many talented men and flourished for a period of years, but chiefly because of its location it did not remain a permanent institution. Prof. Zina Newell taught there for a long time. This village is an attractive spot, which will linger in memory and create a wish for closer acquaintance.
Leaving West Durham you see ahead a notch between Richtmeyer Peak and a spur of Steenburgh Mountain. Before you reach this notch you cross the county line and beyond it enter the Manorkill valley, which before March 3, 1836, was a part of the town of Durham. Through this valley you can reach the Gilboa dam of the New York city water supply.
Motorists who despise dirt roads know very little of their county or state. Along these roads, as Catskill's slogan has it, "Nature Reigns Supreme," without defacing sign boards and the all too numerous gas stations to which are now being added miniature golf. Some day concrete will intrude on these beautiful by-ways, but it will be at the sacrifice of much that pleases the eye to-day .-- V. Nov. 20, 1930.
Exciting Times in 1786 [1786]
in this region are shown by the following letter from the Reverend Lewis lampman, father of Mr. Leonard Bronk Lampman, to our lamented Judge Emory A. Chase, for which we are indebted to Mrs. Chase. Greene County, as we all know, was finally erected in 1800. fourteen years later, out of parts of Albany and Ulster counties. The letter and petition follow:
Feb. 3d, 1911. Coxsackie, N. Y.
My dear Judge:
I send yon herewith a copy of a petition with the signatures attached against a new county. The petition is dated Mch 4 - 1786.
I do not know whether this long petition will interest you or not but I wanted to assure you as to my statement that there was excitement in the community over the proposed new county in 175%.
Yours truly,
Lewis Lampman
3G
AGAINST A NEW COUNTY
To the Honourable the Sanate and Assembly of the State of New York in Legislature Convened,
The petition of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the District of the Great Imbought and others adjoining theareto Ihumbly sheweth - That Whareas your Petitioners haveing been greatly alarmed, by undoubted anthority, that petitions have been made and are now making by a number of Desineing men (under the title of a petition of the Inhabitants of the Distriet of the Great Imbought, Catskill, Lunenburgh, and others of Cox- seghkie District, together with the Inhabitants within the Limits of the City of Hudson and others of the Mannor of Livingston and East Camp. ) Theareby signifying that it is the Desire of the Inhabitants of the District of the Great Imbought and Coxseglikie, to be separated from the County of Albany,- into a County that is now petitioned for, by the Inhabitants of Claverack, Livingstons Mannor, City of Hudson, and others aiding and assisting thereto .- Which your ptitioners Totally Dissown, and farther de- clare that it is not the will, or Desire, of your petitioners, on any pretence whatever to be seperated from the County of Albany, as has been signified by the above recited petition, but farther assure the llonourable Body of the Legislature, that we are so far from Desiring to be seperated from the County of Albany, into any other that your Petitioners should Look upon it as a particular Grievance if we ware taken from it, Do thearefore Humbly pray the Honourable Legeslature to take our Case, into their Considera- tion, and pray that we your petitioners may be and remain Under that County Wheare our Ancestors wheare, which is the Cincere and Earnest Request of your petitioners .- But if it should be thought fit by the Honour- able Body of the Legislature, to Admit of a new County, we Beg that it may altogether be on the East side of Hudson's River and that the river may be the boundary of the said County's of Albany and the County Petitioned for by our advers party, so that the west side of Hudson River, may still belong and be under the Inresdiction of the County of Albany, is the Earnest Request, of your Humble petitioners, (and believe it to be the Real Voice of the princible People and Well wishers of both the Dist- riets of Great Imbought and Coxseghkie. We your Petitioners having thus Laid open the Grievence, which we Aprehend threatened us, do theare- fore pray that the same may be taken into your Consideration and have no manner of Doubt but what we shall Receive that Justice Due to us, from the Honourable Legeslature of that State we have the Honour of being citisins of.
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