The precinct of Wallkill, of which the present town is the legal successor, was erected December 17, 1743, by an act of the Colonial Legislature. The three towns of Crawford, Montgomery and Wallkill, and portions of Mount Hope and Hamptonburgh, were embraced in the area of this precinct. In 1772 the precinct of Hanover was erected, or set off, from the precinct of Wallkill, and included the towns of Crawford and Montgomery and a portion of Hamptonburgh, and, while it was generally supposed that Wallkill became a new precinct, legally Hanover was set off from the old precinct, and the statute directed that the rest of the territory "should remain" the precinct of Wallkill. It is also a fact that the town records of the precinct of Wallkill were left with, and became a part of, the records of Hanover, and, from the date of the separation, the precinct of Wallkill opened a new record, which is still preserved. Up to the time of the erection of the precinct of Hanover, the town or precinct meetings were held for the whole precinct, including all territory originally forming the precinct of Wallkill.
The first town meeting in the precinct of Wallkill, after the division, was held at the house of Samuel Watkins, April 7, 1772, and the following is the record of the officers chosen:
William Dunn, clerk and supervisor; Benjamin Booth, James Wilkins, Elijah Reeve, commissioners for regulating and laying out public highways; Stephen Harlow, William Watkins, David Moore, commissioners for laying out the money raised by act of Assembly on the highways; David Crawford, Moses Phillips, assessors; John McGarrah, John Patterson, constables and collectors; Abel Wells, George Booth, poor-masters; Jonathan Smith, Esq., Isaiah Vail, John Ketchum, Benjamin Vail, Jr., fence viewers and damage appraisers. Fences were to be four and one-half feet high, staked and ridered; five rails high or otherwise equivalent as the fence viewers shall judge.
Many items of interest could be gleaned from these old records, one of the principal being the fact that many of the persons in Wallkill to-day, occupying prominent social, business and official positions, are the direct descendants of these sturdy pioneers of earlier days.
The construction and care of the roads then, as now, seemed to be one of the principal subjects in which the people were interested. In order to demonstrate this, and at the same time preserve the names of many of those who then assumed the long-enduring business of road building in Wallkill, we make the following quotations from the records:
"Precinct to be divided in three districts, viz: The east side of the Wallkill, one; the west side, two, to be divided by the new northwest line."
"Samuel Watkins, from the Widow McBride's corner to Thomas Simeril's, and thence along the road to Campbell's bridge."
"William Bodle, from Esquire Smith's to the Minisink road, and from the schoolhouse on the road to Hezekiah Gale's; from thence to John McGarrah's, and thence to the schoolhouse; to work also on David Crawford's road to the bridge one day."
"John Hill, from Esquire Smith's road along the Minisink road to the middle of Connor's bridge; also a piece of road leading from the Minisink road to Orange County."
"James Rogers, Jr., from the precinct line to the Widow McCord's north gate."