The number of children of those 18 families, according to my recollections, cannot have been less than 100, and may have been as many as 110. How many of them grew up to years of maturity, or how many died previous thereto I do not know. Major Decker had two or three children by his first wife, who died young; and John Decker, Sr., had one or more by his first wife, who also died young before the war commenced, but all of them after the decease of their respective mothers. The loss of a mother will affect the feelings of some children much, and no doubt many a child dies in consequence of the melancholy state of mind produced by such a bereavement. There were two or more premature deaths of boys or young men, and there may have been a few natural deaths in this neighborhood of which I have no recollection.
PEENPACK NEIGHBORHOOD.
The following were the number of children of each family in it during the war, and of two contemporary families who came into it after the war ended, to wit:
| Children of | Esq. Swartwout | 4 |
| " | Capt. Cuddeback | 6 |
| " | Esq. Van Inwegen | 10 |
| " | B. Cuddeback | 6 |
| " | J. D. Gumaer | 7 |
| " | P. Gumaer | 4 |
| " | Ez. Gumaer | 2 |
| " | J. Wallace | 2 |
| " | M. Terwilliger | 9 |
| " | Esq. Depuy | 6 |
| " | Capt. De Witt | 9 |
| " | M. Depuy | 3 |
| " | S. Depuy | 3 |
| " | Eb. Gumaer | 6 |
| " | Ab. Cuddeback | 4 |
| " | Widow Cuddeback | 3 |
| 84 | ||
| Residents after the war ended. | ||
| J. Davis | 7 | |
| W. Geegge | 2 | |
| 93 |
Of these 93 children a son of Ezekiel Gumaer died at the age of nearly five years, a daughter of Benjamin Cuddeback at the age of about six years, and a son of Esq. Van Etten, aged about 12 years. A son of Benjamin Cuddeback (Levi), died prematurely after he became a man, of a colic, caused by eating too many wintergreen berries, and a son of Abraham Cuddeback, Sr. (Philip), also died prematurely after he had arrived at manhood, of consumption, caused by overheating himself to put out a fire in the woods. Both these occurred a few years after the war ended. All the others lived until after they were married and had families of their own; but the greatest part of them did not become as old as their respective parents. The first wife of James Swartwout died in the fort at Gumaer's, of consumption, within about one year after she came into it, aged about 25 years; and Peter Gumaer died of palsy in this fort, near the end of the war, aged 71 years. There also were five premature deaths caused by the enemy—that of the three Swartwouts in this neighborhood, as has been mentioned—Gerardus Van Inwegen at Fort Montgomery, and Mathew Terwilliger, in the Minisink battle.
The following exhibits a certain number of the children mentioned who became as old, and older, than their respective fathers and of those who did not attain to such an age. In this I have excluded those families I could not ascertain, in consequence of having removed into other parts of our country, and of those untimely deaths not ended by nature's process, which leaves for calculation the following families. The left hand column of figures shows the number of those who became as old, and older, than their respective fathers, and the right hand column the number of those who did not arrive to that age, to wit:
| Parents. | Oldest Children. | Youngest Children. |
| Capt. Cuddeback | 2 | 4 |
| Esq. Van Inwegen | 2 | 8 |
| Benj. Cuddeback | 4 | 2 |
| J. D. Gumaer | 0 | 7 |
| Peter Gumaer | 0 | 4 |
| Ez. Gumaer | 1 | 2 |
| Esq. Depuy | 4 | 4 |
| S. Depuy | 3 | |
| Eb. Gumaer | 0 | 6 |
| J. Davis | 1 | 6 |
| Wm. Geegge | 2 | |
| J. R. De Witt | 4 | 5 |
| 18 | 52 |
This calculation, being as near as I can ascertain the same, in respect of correctness, shows that only about one-quarter of the children of those families became as old as their respective fathers.
[This] great degeneracy will naturally lead to an inquiry respecting the cause of the same. To answer which, or to throw some light on the subject in relation thereto, I consider it necessary to state the manner and circumstances of life of each generation, as near as I am able to do it, to wit: