This continued until 1798 when the town of Deer Park was organized. The first Mamakating precinct meeting was held at the house of Samuel Swartwout. This territory then included "all the land to the southward of the town of Rochester as far as the County of Ulster extends, and to the westward to the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk."
While the name Minisink was applied to the territory above named, it has been contended by some writers that there was in addition a precinct of Minisink, and there are documents which seem, to establish this fact even as early as 1739. But this precinct seems to have been erected along the Delaware River below what afterward became Carpenter's Point.
The territory now in Deer Park south of the old county line comprising Port Jervis and vicinity was a part of the town of Minisink from 1789 to 1825.
The first supervisor of the Mamakating precinct elected in April, 1774, was Benjamin Dupuy. The first supervisor of Deer Park elected in April, 1798, was James Finch, and he remained in that office by successive elections until 1810, when Peter E. Gumaer succeeded him. But Mr. Finch was again selected to serve the town in that capacity on three different occasions.
The earliest assessment roll of the town now preserved in the town clerk's office, which was the first roll of Deer Park after the division of the territory, is that of 1825. This shows a total valuation of $114,820, and there were fifteen persons on the list for over $2,000, the highest being Peter E. Gumaer at $6,230.
CENTERS.
With the exception of Port Jervis the centers of population in the town are small and unimportant. Among them may be mentioned Westbrookville on the line of the old canal, northeast of Cuddebackville; Port Orange, a short distance south on the canal line; Cuddebackville, in the northeastern part of the town, named in honor of the pioneer settler, Jacob Cuddeback; Rose Point, a station on the Monticello Railway; Port Clinton, still further down the valley; Gumaers, also on the old canal line, and Huguenot, between this and Port Jervis. Near this point are valuable mineral springs, discovered in 1860. In 1880 a pipe line for the transmission of petroleum oil to tide water was constructed through this section, with stationary engines and a power plant for forcing this oil to market.
Carpenter's Point is a very old locality, named for an early settler, who established a ferry across the Delaware River there at a very early period. It is near Port Jervis on the south and the famous "Tri-States rock" is located here at the extreme point. This rock marks the junction of the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There are several stores, an old grist mill, and many dwellings. A bridge here spans the Neversink River which was built in 1868.
Sparrowbush is another hamlet and post-office on the old canal line. Bushkill is in the western part of the town, and Quarryhill is a local mining district still farther west. Shin Hollow is a neighborhood on the slope of the Shawangunk Mountain where the Erie Railway crosses the town line into Mount Hope. Paradise is a small hamlet on the Sullivan border northeast of Cuddebackville, and Honesville and Bolton are other small hamlets born of the canal enterprise.
CEMETERIES.