USA > New York > Dutchess County > Poughkeepsie > The records of Christ church, Poughkeepsie, New York, Vol I > Part 5
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U NDER Providence. this parish was kept alive, during the Revolution and the dreary days that followed it, by the fact that it was an incor- porated body and held real estate which it was the duty of its vestry to take charge of and protect as trustees.
While the war was in progress, the Easter election was annually held in conformity with the charter, to perpetu- ate the Corporation, and from the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace in 1783, twenty-one men were elected to the vestry. Of these, Richard Davis, William Emott and Dr. Robert Noxon served continuously throughout the troubled period, and it may well be said of them that they, by their faithfulness to the interests of the con- gregation, averted its disintegration.
The eighteen other men who were more or less often in the vestry from 1776 to 1783 were Ebenezer Badger, Isaac Baldwin, Isaac Baldwin Jr., Charles Crooke, John Davis, Richard Davis Jr., Peter Delamater, Zachariah Ferdon, Daniel Lefferts, Henry Mott, Simon Noxon, Thomas Poole, William Post, James Pritchard, Daniel Smith, Samuel Smith, Gerard Smith, Melancthon L. Woolsey. Some of these were openly Tories, others were tacitly understood so to be, but the men connected
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with the parish who became really active supporters of the King were those whose names are associated with the earlier formative years of the mission.
For example, Eli and John Emons, Jacob Ferdon, several Lassings, John Mott, Peter Palmatier, Richard and Henry Van der Burgh, all lost their property by confiscation;1 Johannes Medlar suffered arrest,2 on the charge of having assisted Peter Harris in an attempt to enlist men for a company in the King's troops under Harris's command, and Peter Harris, himself, eventually disappeared from the community.
Bartholomew Crannell was, of course, the most con- spicuous Tory in the congregation, as, perhaps, in the village. He joined the British in New York in 1778, and, at the close of the war in 1783, made one of the party of Loyalists which founded the city of St. John, New Brunswick; he was one of the leaders in all that con- cerned St. John until his death, May 24th, 1790, in his seventieth year. At St. John he was spoken of3 as "Father Crannell," being the senior barrister, and, in. a way, the father of the bar of the city and province.
Mr. Crannell filed a claim as a Loyalist (at a Deter- mination of Claims from New York, held in May, 1787, in Nova Scotia),4 for losses of real estate and personal property at Poughkeepsie, and loss of income from the practise of his profession amounting in all to £2,500.0.0. Hesitation about paying this claim arose, owing to the fact that the real estate at Poughkeepsie was thought to
1 Platt's History of Poughkeepsie, p. 301.
2 Calendar of Revolutionary Manuscripts, p. 195.
3 Correspondence :- Letter of the Rev. Dr. W. O. Raymond, St. John, N. B.
4 Audit Office Transcripts, Vol. 29, p. 327, Lenox Library, New York City.
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be in the possession of the claimant's sons-in-law, Gilbert Livingston and Peter Tappen, and Mr. Crannell was desired to prove his loss. As a matter of fact, Livingston and Tappen did not obtain possession of the property until a year later, when (on May 30th, 1788), they bought it in from the Commissioners of Forfeiture, paying £600.0.0 for five separate parcels, aggregating two hundred and nineteen acres and a half. Ninety six acres had previously been sold by the Commissioners2 to Dr. Samuel Cooke of Poughkeepsie, for £240.0.0. Mr. Crannell's dwelling house stood on one of the lots purchased by his sons-in-law, and, it having been at the disposal of the Commissioners since 1778, it had been occupied by Governor Clinton for at least a part of the time in which he lived at Poughkeepsie.
William Emott was described3 by Peter Tappen and Gilbert Livingston and others, to Governor Clinton in November 1777, as "a Sly, Crafty, Designing Tory." He had applied to Clinton for a pass to go to New York to receive a legacy from the estate of an uncle, and Clin- ton had granted the application after enquiry as to Emott's moral character. A general protest was made at Poughkeepsie, desiring the withdrawal of the pass, which Clinton at once revoked. In the protest Emott is said to "always keep Regular Journals from day to day of every Ocurrance that happens;" he "has capt minutes of every transaction amongst us since the com- mancement of the warr." This journal would be racy reading, could it be found, and would add as much detail to the Revolutionary history of the city, as
1 Dutchess County Clerk's records, deeds, Liber 27, p. 179.
2 Ibid., Liber 8, p. 43.
3 Clinton Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 543-546.
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have Emott's other writings to the history of Christ Church.
Richard and John Davis, although Tories, were not aggressive ones. They remained in the background, attending to their own business interests, which were large, they being among the prosperous merchants of the town. A road (now Pine street) led from Market street to the river, ending at Richard Davis's landing, where he had a storehouse, and did a forwarding and freighting business by sloops. His daughter, Hester, was the wife of Dr. Robert Noxon, the third member of the trio which, with such constancy, served the Church. Dr. Noxon lived in the house on Market street, still remembered as his, and several of his descendants are members of Christ Church at the present time. He practised his profession here many years, and was a member of the vestry of Christ Church every year but four from 1776 to 1810.
During the nine and a half years under consideration in this chapter, which form the interval between the first and second rectorates, the vestry met thirty-four times, the meetings being held at the houses of Richard Davis, John Davis, Dr. Noxon and Thomas Poole; the latter was an inn-keeper in Poughkeepsie, who had been baptized as an adult by Mr. Beardsley in 1773, and who was a faithful member of the Church in its time of adver- sity.
The charter required that the Easter election should be held at the church, but, from 1776 to 1784, though the election itself was annually recorded, no mention is made of the place where it occurred. Apparently the church building was closed and entirely disused, for there is not a reference to it in the contemporary records. This
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complete silence does not lend color to the suggestion1 that it may have been used as a barrack for troops, for, so voluminous are the parish papers, some mention of such use must surely have been made, if only one for the needed cleaning and repairs which it would have necessi- tated. April 18th, 1786, the vestry, "Ordered that Richard Davis and Henry Mott be a committee for repairing the Church steepel, and any other repairs they may deem necessary for the preservation of the Build- ing," the wording of which resolution would indicate that the building was in fairly good condition.
It is well known that Trinity Church at Fishkill was put to good service for the patriot cause. Rombout Precinct's sheltered position behind the Highlands gave it a value in the years of the War for certain uses of the Army for which a protected place was needed, and, with- in a radius of two or three miles around the English and Dutch churches, troops and their officers from time to time were quartered, and depots for supplies established. The two churches were utilized, Trinity as a hospital, the Dutch as a military prison, and, by the time the war was over, they were sadly in need of renovation, after their hard usage.
The day after Mr. Beardsley's departure from Pough- keepsie, John Davis was installed by the vestry as tenant of the glebe-house. He lived there from Decem- ber 14th, 1777, to March 14th, 1780, when, as he wished to move off the place, it was offered for rental.
Poughkeepsie was then the State Capital; the Gover- nor was in residence, the Legislature holding sessions here, and civil and military officials, lawyers, and men of affairs were coming and going. The glebe-house, being
1 Platt's History of Poughkeepsie, p. 51.
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one of the desirable houses in the town, was easily let, Colonel Andrew Bostwick, Deputy Foragemaster-General of the Army, occupying it from April 13th, 1780, to November 12th, 1783, and he being succeeded by Colonel Udney Hay, Assistant Deputy Quartermaster-General, from November 20th, 1783, to April 20th, 1784.
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When Colonel Bostwick gave up the house he was in arrears for rent, and asked the vestry to take his negro, Jack, in part payment of his debt; Richard Davis, in turn, agreed to take Jack from the vestry, but it proved a bad bargain for him. Davis's own account of his experience with Jack contains several side-lights on the times; it will be noticed that Vermont in 1784 was the "New Clames," and that Red Hook was called "Read hook,"-a contribution to the discussion of the uncer- tain origin of the name Red Hook.
Acc't of a Neagro man Jack Bought of Co'll Andrew Bostwick By Order of the Vestry of Christ Church at Pough- keepsie in order to secure the payment of a sum of money Due to the Congregation of Christ Church at Poughkeepsie & Trinity Church at Fishkill, which money became Due for and on acc't of Rent for their Glebe & Parsonage at Poughkeepsie.
Viz: By a Neagro man Jack see Coll 1783 Bostwick's acc't Ledger B fol 212 a
Novem'r 22 settlement for. £75. 0.0
the Neagro proved to be onwell all winter & was not abel to do hard Labour all Winter at times was un- der the Doctor's hands and was very poorly clothed
1784
Septem'r Jack Run a way he Remained with me ten months
To cash paid for hors hier &c &c for two men in Persut of him to Read hook. £ 2. 0.0
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To a Jurney after him myself up to Bennington in the New Clames & true the New England towns ...... £ 5. 0.0 To cash paid to have him taken up .. £10. 0.0 he having bin gilty Steeling a hors at Read hook & taken up in Con- necticut with said horse by the Au- thority, I tought best to ship him be- fore our Laws tuck him in hand, my trubel & Expence for Irons & going Down with him. £ 3.0.0
To his Expences in Goal at New York. £ .16.0
To his cloathing while with me not less than. £ 5. 0.0
The above is a Large Compensation for the short time he was in my ser- vis
1786 July 15
By Cash Rec'd of Simon Scharma- horn at New York, he having shipt Jack to Carrolina for my acc't and Resque, and Consigned to John Johnson, see his acc't of the sales of said Neagro
£29.5.8
£45.14. 4 Lost.
Fishkill Vestry Dr. to half the loss on Jack. £22.17. 2
I do appeal to the Vestry of Christ Church if my Directions from them was not to take Jack of Coll. Bostwick, that if their was a loss in taking him they would bere it, as Coll. Bostwick sercumstances was looked upon bad. The Neagro's carrector was bad, but it was tought best to take him, as the Vestry of Poughkeepsie was Impowered by the Fishkill Vestry to con- duct this Business in particular with Bostwick. I think I have a Rite to Charge the above. Richard Davis.
In the leases for the glebe-house, the garden and orchard, barn and outbuildings and some farm land were included; but the greater part of the land was
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rented separately, for farming purposes only, John Le Roy and Francois Van der Bogert being regular and profitable tenants for some time.
When the two hundred acres of waste land, or com- mons, were added to the glebe by the charter, the tract was already built upon or used by a number of squatters who had entered upon the land without any just title, but who had come to regard it as their own by right of possession. Among them was Samuel Curry, a black- smith, occupying about twenty-five acres, who now took advantage of Mr. Beardsley's departure and the con- fusion in the town, and seized the opportunity to assert what he considered his claim as against that of the Church. The lack of law and order then existing is evident from the harassments Curry inflicted, unrestrain- ed, upon John Davis, who was forced to report the matter to the vestry in September, 1778. Davis gave a graphic account of it, saying:
In December 1777 I took possession of the Glebe by order of the Vestry, and in the winter of 1778 Samuel Curry laid Claim to the new Glebe, and in the Spring following began to be troublesome to me by throwing down my fences and bars in the night and putting in his Horses, and would take them out again by break of day: at length he grew more open, put them into my meadow in the day time: I catch't his people taking them out and forwarned them not to put them in again, but it altered not his Conduct. He now began to threaten me, and said he would put his Horses into my lotts in defiance of me, and said further that he would turn mine out.
In the summer of 1778 I ploughed the field which lays next to the place where John Wilson's House stood, and sewed Buck- wheat thereon. And I let John Wilson have a part of the said field to plant Corn in, upon shares. Curry put his Horses and Cows in. I sent them to the pound. He took them out again, and put them into my field again. I prosecuted him for damages, before Peter Tappen Esquire. He appeared,
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and demurred upon title, and then it was left to the Courts above.
He then openly committed all the damage he thought proper, turned in his Horses and Cattle and destroyed my Buckwheat and Corn. Came in and Cut all the grass which was fit for mowing in the valeys of the said field, and finally took pos- session of the afforsaid field and a piece of uninclosed land (part of glebe) laying to the North East of the said field and in the enclosing of which he frequently took my Rails from my fence and put them on his fence, which he made to inclose the said piece of land.
To the above damages I believe that Leonard Lewis, John Seabury, Francis Kip, John Boorum, John Van Wagener, and John LeRoy are well acquainted with-
John Davis.
John Davis, having taken this affair into court, the vestry appointed him, with his brother, Richard Davis, and William Emott a committee to take charge of the suit, and defend the Church's title. The committee promptly engaged Richard Morris and Egbert Benson as their attorneys, but the suit, for some reason not stated, did not come to trial until nine years later, Curry all that time withholding the land, when, in June, 1787, Curry "suffered Judgement to go against him by default."
One of the two attorneys chosen in 1778 by the com- mittee-Egbert Benson-was then a young lawyer, just at the opening of a distinguished career; he had been made Attorney-General of New York the previous year, and was a member of the Council of Safety and of the Legislature. As Poughkeepsie was the seat of the State Government, he opened an office here, and, after the war, when services were resumed, became a contribu- tor to the support of Christ Church. In his later years he was a member of Congress, a Justice of the Supreme
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Court of New York, and of the Circuit Court of the United States.
In May, 1777, a Board of Sequestration was created by the State to take charge of and lease the property for- feited by Tories, and in 1784 an act of the Legislature was passed, further providing for the "speedy sale of confiscated and forfeited estates" by the Commissioners of Forfeiture.
Dr. Samuel Cooke of Poughkeepsie called the attention of these Commissioners to the twenty-three acre lot, for which Mr. Beardsley had been given a deed originally, but which the charter had confirmed to the Church. Dr. Cooke was a resident physician, in practise at Pough- keepsie from 1767, who seemed to be alive to the chance of obtaining bargains in real estate through the sales made by the Commissioners of Forfeiture. He bought, as has been mentioned, ninety-six acres of Mr. Crannell's land, and apparently attempted to secure the twenty- three acre lot by having it confiscated as the property of the departed Tory clergyman.
William Emott wrote Mr. Beardsley, later, regarding Dr. Cooke's action, that1 the confiscation "was Averted By our personal appearance before the Governor, Attorney-General, and board of Commissioners, Where our title was duly examined, And your Agency mani- fested by the Records remaining in the Secretary's office, whereby you obtained the title and confirmation for the Corporation, without any reservation; expressly de- claring that the Church were the sole proprietors of the said lands."
Although the church was closed while the war lasted, and many of its members regarded with suspicion by the 1 Appendix, Beardsley papers, No. 14.
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Whig party, there were still those who disregarded these conditions sufficiently to welcome three visits from Episcopally ordained ministers. Mr. Provoost came down from East Camp in August, 1779, and baptized ten, and in September, 1782, and September, 1783, the Rev. Richard Clarke, of St. John's Church, New Milford, Connecticut, was here, and performed in all twenty-three baptisms. Whether services were held, does not appear.
It suggests an amount of vitality, hardly to be expected in the congregation as it emerged from under the strain of war, that, as soon as peace was declared, it became known as desirous of calling a rector. Mr. Henry Van Van Dyck, of Stratford, who had acted as lay reader to some extent in Connecticut, had decided to take Orders, and in 1784 visited Poughkeepsie with the object of effecting an arrangement with Christ Church for a call thereto, so soon as he should have been ordained. He held services in the church on the 20th and 24th of June, and, on the first occasion, produced so favorable an impression, that, without waiting for the second, a subscription was opened June 23d for pledges for a salary for him. The Dutch Church was then, and for some years after, without a pastor, and was still weak from its division over the ordination dispute. The few English Presbyterians in Poughkeepsie also had no minister, and they, as well as the Dutch, were therefore ready to join with the representatives of the English Church to promote the interests of the latter, and a combined list of ninety signatures was obtained for the pledge to support Mr. Van Dyck as Rector. Four of those who signed specified that their subscriptions were made until the other pulpits were filled, but it remained for canny Colonel Hay to still further safeguard his,
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with the qualification "well" filled, and to underscore the "well."
B. Ebenezer Badger; Valentine Baker; Isaac Balding; Isaac Balding Jr .; William Balding; John Barns; Elisha Bedle; Isaac Brooks.
C. Caleb Carman; David Carpenter; John Chamberlain; Francois Chandonet; William M. Cook;
D. Richard Davis; Richard Davis Jr .; John Davis; Richard De Cantillon; Lavina De Lametter; James Douglass; Henry Du Bois; Daniel Duffee; Jacob K. Duryea, "until the Dutch supplied with minister."
E. Conrad V D. Elmendorf; William Emott; Richard Ever- itt.
F. Abraham Ferdon; Zachariah Ferdon; Aaron Forman.
G. James P. Germond.
H. James Hall; Charles Hay, "until the Presbeterian pulpit is filled;" „Udney Hay, "until the Presbyterian Pulpit is well filled;" Stephen Hendrickson; Robert Hoffman, "un- til the Dutch Church is supl'd with a minister;" Martin Hoffman; Judith Hooper.
K. Jonas Kelsey; Eliazbeth Kip.
L. N. Lawrence; Daniel Leffeerts; John Le Roy Jr .; James Livingston; Beekman Livingston; Robert H. Living- ston; William Louder.
M. Silas Marsh; Uriah Mitchell; Jacob Mott; John Mott; Henry Mott; Joseph Mott Jr .; Thomas Mott.
N. Robert North; Robert Noxon; Simon Noxon.
O. Henry Ostrom.
P. John Pinkney; Thomas Poole; John Pride; James Pritchard.
R. Jacob Radclift.
S. George Sands; Paul Schenck; Peter Schryver; David Seaman; Daniel Smith; Israel Smith; Samuel Smith; Samuel Smith, boatman; Richard Snedeker; Joseph Southard; Stephen Stephens.
T. John Tappen; Peter Tappen, "until the Dutch Church is Supp'd with a Minister;" John Ter Bush; William Terry, silversmith; William Terry, hatter; John Thomas.
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V. James Van Blorcum; Jane Van Kleeck; Myndert Van Kleeck; Peter B. Van Kleeck; John Peter Vemont.
W. Richard Warner; Thomas Warner; Isaac Wood; Jesse Wood; Mary Wood; Melancthon L. Woolsey.
Negotiations were opened at once with the Church at Fishkill with a view to a joint call to Mr. Van Dyck, and, on August 8th, 1784, a meeting of committees was held at which it was agreed to extend this, he to become minis- ter to the two Churches, "whenever he shall receive Episcopal Ordination, provided such Ordination does take place within a Reasonable term of time." Mr. Van Dyck held service in Christ Church on August 1st, and the following Sunday at Fishkill. In October he again visited the congregations, and, the 4th of that month, committees from the two Churches met to com- plete the terms of his call. At this meeting the action taken on August 8th was ratified, and it was settled that one-third of Mr. Van Dyck's time should be given to Fishkill, and two-thirds to Poughkeepsie, for which he was to be given the use of the glebe, £40.0.0 in cash annually from Fishkill, and £80.0.0 from Poughkeepsie, partly in cash and partly in firewood.
Churchmen in Connecticut, in the autumn of 1784, were eagerly awaiting the result of the journey to Eng- land of the Rev. Samuel Seabury,1 who had been elected by them as Bishop of Connecticut, and who had then sailed to seek consecration at the hands of the Bishops of the English Church.
When the political tie with the mother-country was severed by the issue of the Revolutionary War, the situation of the missions and parishes of the Church of England in America was precarious. Many of them had
1 Son of the Missionary to Dutchess County.
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been largely dependent for support upon the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and these stipends were now withdrawn, as the constitution of the Society limited its missionary operations to the colonies and dependencies of Great Britain. The Bishop of London had had jurisdiction over the colonial Churches, and it became a grave question how to obtain Episcopal administration for the weak and poverty-stricken congregations. Con- necticut rallied to a strong effort, elected Mr. Seabury, and despatched him with her prayers on his difficult embassy,-difficult, because political considerations made the reception of him by the English clergy an indifferent one, not to say chilling. Their attitude led, finally, to his carrying his quest to Scotland, where he had better fortune. At Aberdeen, on November 14th, 1784, Mr. Seabury was consecrated by Bishops of the Scottish Church, returning to Connecticut the following summer.
It was for his arrival, therefore, that the Church at Poughkeepsie must wait, before Mr. Van Dyck could be ordained and assume the Rectorship. While so waiting, it was determined in December, 1784, that the church should be pewed, an evidence of some revival of material prosperity. It was voted to raise the money for the work by subscription, and, when the pews were built, to rent them annually by auction; the proceeds of each auction were to be applied to the repayment of the sub- scriptions, until those were all refunded. £115.18.0 was subscribed by sixty-nine persons, and forty-two pews built; number six was "reserved for Clergyman's family," and the "two pews nearest the door, each side of the Broad Ile left unhired for the use of strangers." Those who subscribed were:
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A. Nathaniel Ashford.
B. Ebenezer Badger; Theodorus Bailey; Valentine Baker; Isaac Baldin; Isaac Baldin Jr .; William Baldin; William Barns; Egbert Benson; Thomas Beyeaux.
C. John Chamberlain Esq .; Francois Chandonet; John Cooke; Cook & Hopkins.
D. Henry Davis; John Davis; Richard Davis; Richard DeCan- tillon; Timothy Doughty; Henry Du Bois; Daniel Duffee.
E. William Emott; Richard Everitt.
F. Zachariah Ferdon; Joakim Fosburgh.
H. Charles Hay; Udney Hay; Stephen Hendricksen; Mar- tin Hoffman; Robert Hoffman.
J. Samuel Johnson
L. N. Lawrence; Daniel Lefferts; John Le Roy; William Louther; Gilbert Livingston; Gilbert I. Livingston.
M. Henry Mott; Jacob Mott; John Mott; Joseph Mott Jr.
N. Robert Noxon; Simon Noxon.
O. Andreas Ostrander.
P. Ezekiel Pinkney; Thomas Pinkney; Thomas Poole; James Pritchard; John Pride.
R. James Rogers.
S. Israel Smith; Robert Smith; Samuel Smith Esq'r; Sam- uel Smith, skipper; Richard Snedeker.
T. John Tappen; Peter Tappen; Cornelius Ter Bush.
V. James VandenBurgh; John VandeBurgh; Baltus Van Kleeck; Jane Van Kleeck; John Van Kleeck; Myndert Van Kleeck; Peter B. Van Kleeck; John P. Vemont; Samuel Verplanck.
W. Melancthon Woolsey.
When the vestry of Christ Church first proposed to the vestry of Trinity that they should unite in asking Mr. Van Dyck to become their Rector, the Fishkill Church declared their readiness to do so, provided a question then under debate between them should be submitted to arbitration.1, 2
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