The tradition was that, at the time of one of the early Jacobite risings, a nurse in charge of two young children appeared in Belfast, Ireland. They came from Scotland and the woman immediately on arriving fell ill of small-pox and died refusing to tell anything about the children except that their names were John and Walter Stewart, and that they were the sons of a man of rank who would soon come for them. She had with her no money but some fine jewels, no one ever came to claim the children, but as it is recorded in history that some Jacobite families are known to have been exterminated in their bloody and unfortunate battles, this may have been the fate of the relatives of these boys, too young to tell anything about themselves. They were brought up by a man, appointed their guardian. He treated them harshly and as soon as grown they left him and came to try their fortune in a new land. John first acquired some property in Boston, which he left in his will to his son Nathan, but soon came to Goshen and settled there, buying in 1744 eighty acres of land, "and the houses thereon" from William Jayne. From this it appears that the Steward house may have been erected previous to 1744, but "houses thereon" may have been a mere legal term, and the house was probably built by John Steward. It is certain, however, that it has been standing since 1744. He bought more land, about 120 acres in all, at a later date. To farming John Steward joined the occupation of blacksmith, erecting a little to the left of his house a forge, which was in operation as early as 1758, the family having still in their possession, a deed of sale bearing that date of a slave named Tite, warranted to be a good blacksmith. Later at this forge, John Steward II, during the Revolutionary war made sabers and bayonets for the Continental Army.
John Steward I, married Elizabeth Bradner, the daughter of Rev. John Bradner, first settled clergyman in Goshen. As John Bradner was the father of nine children, viz., Calvin, John, Benoni, Gilbert, Susanna, Mary, Sarah, Christian and Elizabeth, and to him many families in Orange County trace their descent, the following may be thought worthy of record. When a young divinity student in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Bradner was employed by a gentleman called Colvill, a Huguenot refugee, as a tutor to his sons. His daughter Christiana shared her brothers' studies and she and the tutor fell in love with each other, but Colvill thought the tutor no match for his daughter, and told her if she married him he would never speak to her again. She put love before duty and having married John Bradner they sailed for America. The voyage occupied six months. Violent storms in which the ship nearly foundered were encountered. These Mrs. Bradner thought were sent by Heaven to punish her for her disregard of her father's wishes. Rev. John Bradner received the degree M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, February 23rd, 1712, was licensed to preach March, 1714, ordained May 6, 1715, pastor of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church, Cape May, N. J., before being called to the church in Goshen, 1721. He died 1732. His widow died 1759. She was well educated in the classics and assisted in preparing her son, Rev. Benoni, for Princeton College. He graduated 1755, was settled in Jamaica, L. I., 1760, and two years after was called to Church Nine Partners, Dutchess County. There is now in the possession of Mrs. M. H. C. Gardner, of Middletown, a piece of a quilt brought from Scotland by Mrs. John Bradner. The colors of the design, birds, fruit and flowers, are as bright as though it was new. John Steward I had eight children and their mother used to relate with pride that never once during their infancy or childhood was she obliged by reason of the illness of one of them to strike a light during the night. John Steward I died in 1770, of a fever then epidemic. In his will he left to his widow, as long as she remained his widow, the use of the best room and the "salon" room. The small adjoining room, now a store closet, was her prayer closet, where she used to retire to pray, as was the good custom of those times.
Her eldest son, John Steward II, although holding no commission in the Continental Army was an ardent patriot, mention being made in Rivington's New York Gazette, the Tory organ, that "rebellion in Orange County was continually fomented by those two firebrands, Squire Steward and Old Wisner," the latter being Henry Wisner, member of the Continental Congress and John Steward's friend and neighbor.
John Steward II, who was thirty years younger than Henry Wisner, was a justice of the peace, and a number of Hessian prisoners passing southward through Goshen, probably after the battle of Saratoga, were quartered over night at his house. The common soldiers slept in the barn, but the officers, of whom there were several, were accommodated in the house and on leaving the next morning told Mrs. Steward that the coffee made by her black cook was the best they had tasted since leaving Germany.
In a house that stood about 100 feet east of the present residence of Campbell Steward, Esq., lived General Reuben Hopkins, whose son, Hanibal, married Elizabeth Steward, daughter of John Steward II. General Hopkins's portrait and his appointment as attorney-at-law dated 1771 and signed by Lord Dunmore, now hang on the walls of the Steward house, which contains other objects of interest, among which may be mentioned an original broadside of the Declaration of Independence addressed to John Steward, Esq., his commission as Major No. 1 of the regiment of militia in the County of Orange, signed by Geo. Clinton in 1798, and a bag of old counterfeit silver Spanish dollars. A band of counterfeiters was arrested in Orange County about the time of the Revolution and they were tried at Goshen, their judges, among whom was Judge Steward, keeping some of the coins as curiosities. In the house can also be seen a small stone hammer presented to the wife of John Steward I, as a token of friendship by a member of a band of Indians who, at the time Steward settled in Goshen, and for some years after, lived in a hickory grove at the rear of his house. His family always made a point of maintaining friendly relations with their savage neighbors, and were never troubled by them, although once during the French and Indian War on an alarm being given that Indians on the war path were approaching Goshen, the family fled to the cedar swamp. It is said that on leaving they looked back for what they feared might be a last look at their house, but the alarm proved a false one. Goshen was spared an Indian massacre and they returned to find their house still standing. The main body of the house, with some minor alterations, is the same to-day as it was in those old Indian days, its cedar shingles, oak beams and large stone chimneys seeming still sound and strong. The house being too small for modern requirements, two wings have been added at different times and the chimney tops rebuilt, but care has been taken to preserve as far as possible every antique feature of the house in its original condition.
During Revolutionary days the inhabitants of Orange County were terrorized by the depredations of Claudius Smith, a notorious outlaw, and his gang of ruffians, who were known as cowboys. Smith was indicted on three charges, one of which was the murder of Major Strong. Rewards were offered by Governor Clinton, and Smith was taken captive at Smithtown, L. I., by Major Brush. He was given into the custody of Colonel Isaac Nichol, sheriff of Orange County, and on January 22, 1779, was publicly executed at the west corner of church park in Goshen, with two other criminals, De La Alar, a burglar, and Gordon, a horse thief. On the gallows near the same spot forty years later two others were publicly put to death for murder.
BATTLE OF MINISINK.
On July 22, 1779, occurred the battle of Minisink, in which the Goshen regiment, under Colonel Tusten, met almost complete annihilation at the hands of nearly 500 Indians and Tories under Joseph Brant, the half-breed chieftain, who was known as Thayendanegea, the Scourge, and held a colonel's commission from George III. The Goshen regiment marched against Brant's forces to avenge a raid made by Brant upon the settlers near Minisink on the 20th of the month. They were joined by a small reinforcement, under Colonel Hathorn, of the Warwick regiment, and the latter assumed command. While marching along the west bank of the Delaware at nine o'clock on the morning of July 22, the Indians were discovered about three-quarters of a mile away and Colonel Hathorn hastened his command in pursuit. Brant, taking advantage of intervening woods and hills made a detour which enabled him to gain the rear of the attacking party, and in the battle which followed the savages completely routed the small force that opposed them. The colonists had little ammunition and this was soon exhausted. A part of them fled, and more were killed in flight than in battle. Colonel Tusten, who was a skillful surgeon, dressed the wounds of his men, and refused to abandon them, staying on the field until he fell. Of the eighty men in the engagement, 44 were killed outright and others died later of their wounds.
Colonel Benjamin Tusten, who was a physician and surgeon by profession, came originally from Southold, L. I., in 1746, at the age of three years. His parents located on the banks of the Otterkill on the patent granted to Elizabeth Denn. His father, Benjamin Tusten, was appointed one of the judges of the courts of the county and also a colonel in the Orange County regiment of militia. The son, Benjamin, was sent to an academy at Jamaica, L. I., and at the age of nineteen returned to Goshen and studied medicine with Doctor Thomas Wiskham. He afterwards studied in Newark, N. J., and New York City, returning in 1769 to practice medicine in Goshen, where two other physicians, Doctor John Gale and Doctor Pierson, had already located. He was very successful and was widely known as a surgeon. He married Miss Brown, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. In 1777 he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Goshen regiment of militia under General Allison, and in 1778 was appointed surrogate of Orange County, which office he held when he lost his life at Minisink.