Colonel Henry Ludington: A Memoir

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

CARMEL, PUTNAM COUNTY, NEW YORK.

From a Painting by Jamee M. Hart, 1858.

(In possession of Charles H. Ludington, New York City.)

The precise date of Henry Ludington’s settlement in Dutchess County is not now known. Neither his nor his father’s name appears in the 1762 survey of Lot No. 6 of the Phillipse Patent, and it has been assumed that therefore his arrival there must have been at a later date than that. This reasoning must, however, be challenged on the ground that—as we shall presently see—on March 12, 1763, he was officially recorded as a sub-sheriff of Dutchess County. It is scarcely likely that he would have been appointed to that office immediately upon his arrival in the county, and we must therefore conclude that he settled there at least early in 1762, if not before that year. He made his home on a tract of 229 acres of land in Frederickstown, at the north end of Lot No. 6 of the Phillipse Patent, on the site of what was afterward appropriately, though with awkward etymology, called Ludingtonville. This land he was not able to purchase outright, but leased for many years from owners who clung to the old feudal notions of tenure; but at last, on July 15, 1812, he effected actual purchase and received title deeds from Samuel Gouverneur and his wife. On that property he built the first grist- and saw-mills in that region, there being no others nearer than the “Red Mills” at Lake Mahopac and those built by John Jay on the Cross River, in the town of Bedford, Westchester County—which latter, by the way, remained in continuous operation, with much of the original framework and sheathing, until 1906, when they were destroyed to make room for one of the Croton reservoirs. Ludington’s mills were of course operated by water power, generated by a huge “overshot” wheel, supplied with water conveyed from a neighboring stream in a channel or mill-race made of timber.

Near-by stood the house, which was several times enlarged. The main building was two stories in height, with an attic above. Through the center ran a broad hall, with a stairway broken with a landing and turn. At one side was a parlor and at the other a sitting or living room, and back of each of these was a bedroom. The parlor was wainscoted and ceiled with planks of the fragrant and beautiful red cedar. Beyond the sitting room, at the side of this main building, was the “weaving room,” an apartment unknown to our modern domestic economy, but essential in colonial days. It was a large room, fitted with a hand-loom, and a number of spinning wheels, reels, swifts, and the other paraphernalia for the manufacture of homespun fabrics of different kinds. This room also contained a huge stone fireplace. Beyond it, at the extreme east of the house, was the kitchen, with its great fireplace and brick or stone oven. The house fronted toward the south, and commanded a fine outlook over one of the picturesque landscapes for which that region is famed. Years ago the original house was demolished, and a new one was built on the same site by a grandson, George Ludington. The location was a somewhat isolated one, neighbors being few and not near, and the nearest village, Fredericksburgh, on the present site of Patterson, being some miles distant. The location was, however, important, being on the principal route from Northern Connecticut to the lower Hudson Valley, the road leading from Hartford and New Milford, Connecticut, through Fredericksburgh, past Colonel Ludington’s, to Fishkill and West Point—a circumstance which was of much interest and importance to Colonel Ludington in the Revolution, as we shall see. The population of the county at that time was small and scattered. In 1746, or about the time when Elisha Ludington went thither and Abigail Ludington was born, the census showed a population of 8,806, including 500 negro slaves. By 1749 the numbers had actually diminished to 7,912, of whom only 421 were negroes. In 1756, however, there were 14,148 inhabitants, including 859 negroes, and Dutchess was the most populous county in the colony, excepting Albany, which had 17,424 inhabitants. The county was at that time able to contribute to the army about 2,500 men. It had enjoyed exemption from the Indian wars which had ravaged other parts of the colony, and its situation and natural resources gave it the advantages of varied industries. It had the Hudson River at one side for commerce, it was well watered and wooded, its open fields were exceptionally fertile, it had abundant water-power for mills, and it had—though this was not realized until after the colonial period—much mineral wealth.

Such was the community in which Henry Ludington established himself at the beginning of his manhood and married life, and in which he quickly rose to prominence. The extent of his holdings of land, and the fact of his proprietorship of important mills, made him a leading factor in business affairs, while his bent for public business soon led him into both the civil and the military service. At that time, from 1761 to 1769, James Livingston was sheriff of Dutchess County, and early in 1763 Henry Ludington became one of his lieutenants, as sub-sheriff. The Protestant dynasty in England was so newly established that elaborate oaths of abjuration and fealty were still required of all office-holders, of whatever rank or capacity, and on March 12, 1763, Henry Ludington, as sub-sheriff, took and subscribed to them, as follows:

I, Henry Ludington, Do Solemnly and Sincerely, in the Presence of God, Profess, Testify, and Declare, That I do Believe, that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, there is not any Transubstantiation, of the Elements of Bread and Wine, in the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the Consecration Thereof, by any Person whatsoever. And that the Invocation, or Adoration, of the Virgin Mary, or Any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now Used in the Church of Rome, are Superstitious and Idolatrous, and I do Solemnly in the presence of God, Profess, Testify, and Declare, that I make this Declaration, and Every Part thereof, in the plain and Ordinary Sence of the Words read to me, as they are Commonly Understood by English Protestants, Without any Evasion, Equivocation, or Mental Reservation whatsoever, and Without any Dispensation Already Granted to me for this purpose by the Pope, or any other Authority Whatsoever, or Without Thinking that I am Acquitted, before God or Man, or Absolved of this Declaration, or any Part thereof, Although the Pope, or any Person or Persons, or Power Whatsoever, Should Dispence with or Annul the same and Declare that it was Null or Void, from the Beginning.

I, Henry Ludington, do Sincerely Promise & Swear, that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third, and I do Swear that I do from my heart Abhor, Detest, and Abjure, as Impious and Heretical, that Damnable Doctrine and Position, that Princes Excommunicated and Deprived by the Pope, or Any Authority of the See of Rome, May Be Deposed by Their Subjects or any other Whatsoever, and I do Declare that no Foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate hath or ought to have, any Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Pre-eminence, or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, Within this Realm, and I do Truly and Sincerely acknowledge and profess, Testify and Declare, in my conscience before God and the World, That Our Sovereign Lord King George the Third of this Realm, and all other Dominions and Countrys Thereunto Belonging, and I do Solemnly and Sincerely Declare, that I do believe in my conscience that the person pretended to be Prince of Wales During the Life of the Late King James the Second, and since his Decease, Pretending to be and Taking upon himself the Stile and Title of King of England, by the Name of James the Third, or of Scotland by the name of James the Eighth, or Stile and Title of the King of Great Britain, hath not any right or Title whatsoever, to the Crown of this Realm, or any other Dominions Thereunto Belonging, and I do Renounce, Refuse, and Abjure, any Allegiance or Obedience to him, and I do Swear, that I will bear Faith, and True Allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third and him will defend, to the utmost of my Power, against all Traiterous Conspiracies and Attempts Whatsoever, which shall be made Against his Person, Crown or Dignity, and I will do my Utmost Endeavors to Disclose and Make Known to his Majesty and his Successors all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know to be against him, or any of them, and I faithfully promise to the Utmost of my Power to Support, Maintain and Defend the Successors of the Crown against him the said James and all other Persons Whatsoever, Which Succession by an Act entitled An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown Limited to the Late Princess Sophia, Electress and Dowager of Hanover, and the Heirs of Her Body, being Protestants, and all these things I do plainly and Sincerely Acknowledge and Swear according to the Express words by me spoken and according to the Plain and Common Sence and Understanding of the same Words Without any Equivocation, Mental Evasion, or Sinister Reservation Whatsoever, and I do make this Recognition, Acknowledgement, Abjuration, Renunciation and Promise heartily, Willingly and Truly, upon the True Faith of a Christian. So help me, God!

Thus qualified by the taking of these oaths, Henry Ludington began public services which lasted, in one capacity and another, for more than a generation in the Colony and State of New York. The first entry in his ledger bears date of “May, A.D. 1763,” and runs as follows: “James Livingston Sheriff Dr to Serving county writs (seven in number) the price for serving each writ being from 11s. 9d. to £1—10—9.” There follow, under dates of October, 1763, and May, 1764, entries for serving other writs. Among the names of attorneys in the suits appear those of Cromwell, Livingston, Jones, Snedeker, Ludlow, Snook, and Kent; and among those of parties to suits, etc., are those of Joseph Weeks, Jacob Ellis, Uriah Hill, Jacob Griffen, George Hughson, Ebenezer Bennett, and Joseph Crane. In 1764 first appears the name of Beverly Robinson, as the plaintiff in a suit against one Nathan Birdsall. There is also mention of a suit brought in the name of the “Earl of Starling” as plaintiff before the Supreme Court of the colony—probably William Alexander, or Lord Stirling, the patriot soldier of the Revolution.