Oliver Mills, Alexander Thompson and Hieromous Weller were the first school commissioners chosen at the formation of the town. From 1843 to 1856 the public schools were under the control of town superintendents chosen at each annual election. There were ten school districts in 1823, and 655 children between the ages of five and fifteen in the town, small portions of the towns of Wallkill and Montgomery being then included in this enumeration. The amount of public money received was $264.44. Among the early school teachers of this town were John Hardcastle, William Brown, Mr. Reed and Mr. Crosby. And they are said to have been firm believers in the free use of the rod in the inculcation of a thorough knowledge of the three "Rs" and the maintenance of proper discipline.
THE CRAWFORD CHURCHES.
The first effort to build a church in Hopewell was made in 1779 by the Presbyterian association. But they succeeded only in completing the exterior of the building and very little was done toward finishing the inside of the structure. And yet for the next three years those devoted Christian people were content to worship in this unfinished building with all its discomforts. They went to church faithfully and regularly. In 1792 they united in a corporate body and selected a full board of trustees, as follows: William Cross, Robert Milliken, Jonathan Crawford, Daniel Bull, Andrew Thompson, Nathan Crawford, Abraham Caldwell, Robert Thompson and Robert McCreery. Soon after this they finished their church and called the Rev. Jonathan Freeman as their pastor, who was installed August 28, 1793. This may be regarded therefore as the date of the organization of this church, which began with twenty-one members. Mr. Freeman multiplied this number by five during the next five years and then resigned for another field of labor. The next five years this little pulpit remained vacant. Rev. Isaac Van Doren took up the work there in 1803 and labored most successfully for 21 years, adding some 152 members to the little flock of worshipers during that period. Then, after further changes in the pastorate, a new and more commodious church building was built of stone on another site, which was completed in 1832. Rev. John H. Leggett was then the pastor for the next twenty-three years, when he went to Middletown. His ministerial work in this Hopewell church is highly spoken of in the records, he being a powerful preacher and a man of great activity and influence.
What was known as Graham's Church, associated Reformed, was established by Robert Graham in 1799. A house of worship was erected at once and it was opened for use in August of the same year. Mr. Graham died a few weeks later, but he devised 100 acres of land to this church organization for its pastor. This church was merely a branch of the older organization at Neeleytown until 1802, when it became independent, with Samuel Gillespie and Andrew Thompson as elders. There were then only 28 regular members, and the Rev. John McJimsey still served both this and the Neeleytown church. He left in 1809 but returned ten years later and remained until his death in 1854. Robert Graham, the founder of this church, was a staunch Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and he left a lasting impress for good upon this people.
The Crawford Methodist Church is located at Bullville and it was incorporated April 20, 1859. The trustees named were Jacob M. Shorter, Robert Hill and Herman S. Shorter. The original church structure was completed in the summer of 1861 at a cost of $8,000, which was donated by Mrs. Mary Shorter. Rev. John Wardle was the first pastor, being assigned there in response to a request of Mrs. Shorter.
The Methodist Church of Pine Bush was incorporated November 28, 1870. with the following trustees: William B. Barnes, John Walker, Samuel Armstrong, William H. Cowley and Francis M. Bodine. But there had been religious services there many years before this, especially in the school house. The old Reformed Church over the river at Shawangunk, in Ulster County, had many members in the Pine Bush village, and there was preaching in the little school house nearly every Sunday, either by the pastor of that church or by the Methodist preacher from Bullville. But the Methodist people were not satisfied with this arrangement and they finally built a church for themselves, completing it in the spring of 1871 at a total cost of $8,000, of which only half had been paid. But the balance was pledged at the dedication ceremonies held on the night of April 24, 1871. This building was repaired and improved some ten years later.
HISTORIC POINTS OF INTEREST.
Near the site of the old Slott grist mill on the bank of the river is an old log hut which is said to date back to the ante-Revolutionary period. During that war this hut was on the Van Amburg property, and that family was somewhat closely connected with the noted Anneke Jans, who once owned the ground now covered by the vast estates of Trinity Church in New York City, in which her myriad heirs, scattered all over America to-day, still claim an equitable share, and justly so, perhaps. In this old log structure once lived a stalwart female member of the Van Amburg family, and the story is that during the Revolution a big reward was offered by the British officers for her capture. "Shanks Ben," a noted Ulster County Tory, like Claudius Smith of Orange County, being attracted by this rich reward, planned her capture. He concealed himself in one of the farm haystacks where he knew she would come to feed her cattle at a certain time. But when he saw the huge old-fashioned hay-fork in her hand, he concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and was in fact glad to escape with his own life, fearing she might chance to puncture his brave anatomy in reaching for the required hay-fodder. If this somewhat noted woman was ever captured by the redcoats the records fail to disclose it.
Aside from the pursuit of farming and lumbering, this town has never been able to boast of any very important industries. Nearly every citizen was engaged in the cultivation of the soil during its early history at least. As already noted, the town was famed for its production of the choicest grade of Orange County butter. In later years, under the changed condition of transportation facilities, the manufactured products of the dairy were almost entirely discontinued and gave way to the natural product of milk, which was shipped to the New York markets in large quantities.
The growth of apples, peaches and other fruits, for which the land is so well adapted, has meanwhile increased in extent and importance, and many of the Crawford orchards that were properly cultivated and cared for have become sources of large profit to their owners.