In testimony whereof the said Jacob Codebec has hereunto set his hand and affisced his seale this 15 day of February in the 12 year of his majesties Reigne Annoq Dom 1725/6.
The word (the 14th inst) was interhned between the 26th & 27th lines before execution of the presents.
J Codebec SS Sealed and delivered in the presence of us Joseph Wheeler Jno Crooke June Jacobus Swartwout Jr.
[PIONEER DAYS]
These sturdy young people, ambitious, enterprising, accustomed to and delighting in the hardships of frontier life, found in this valley and at this place an ideal spot for their purpose. They determined to place themselves and their families beyond the realms of oppression and persecution, to live as free as the air they breathed, at a point relatively near, where their Huguenot countrymen had settled at Esopus and New Paltz. Game was abundant. Fish were in the streams in quantities. The soil was fertile, productive and easy of cultivation. The native inhabitants were kindly disposed and peaceable. Could anything be more alluring to these after their experience in their native land? Tradition relates that they were happy and contented in these new homes for many years. They were governed by a Christian sentiment and duty. Honor for honest industry abounded. Every person was comforted and ennobled by a "peaceful, pure and stimulating atmosphere of personal and religious freedom."
The typical pioneer's home has been described as a log house on sloping ground, on the brow of a hill, facing and overlooking the level meadow land, from which a path led up to its front door, which was about in the middle of the front of the house. Small high windows are on either side of it. Directly opposite the front is the back door, larger, wider and level with the ground. It opens against the sloping ground so that wood may be carried or rolled in or that the huge back log—the foundation for the fire—may be drawn in by a horse for the great wide fireplace which fills up one end of the single room—the "fire room"—the general living room. Across the ends of the house, logs surround the great stone chimney and are morticed in with the side logs. Between and around these clay and earth fill in the crevices.
Before the days when leaded window glass was first imported from England, thick oiled paper formed their semi-opaque windows. Sun-dials and hour glasses marked the time.
The ceilings were low, the stairs were short and steep. Ladders led to sleeping rooms above. The small cellars contained family supplies to supplement the food furnished by hunting and fishing, in which the Indian residents joined most willingly.
Indian trails widened to foot paths, as every one walked. Later travel by horseback was the custom, and pack horses carried their baggage, food and household effects—canoes and boats were of some service. For light, a bundle of yellow pine knots was burned in a corner of the large fireplace. This "candle wood" would be fastened there between flat stones. Later oil obtained from different sources was burned, as also tallow in betty lamps or brown bettys (shallow pewter or metal dishes two or three inches in diameter with projecting nose over which the wick hangs).
Phoebe lamps were similar but had a second shallow saucer to catch the drip. Later candles were made by dipping, afterwards by moulds. The pale brittle green bayberry candles from the taller shrub or candleberry tree gave most fragrant odor, while later, the brighter better light of the spermaceti candles was of service.