The History of
Orange County
New York
EDITED BY
RUSSEL HEADLEY
PUBLISHED BY
VAN DRUSEN AND ELMS
MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK
1909

[PREFACE]

In presenting this new History of Orange County to the public, we do so in the earnest hope that it will prove to be the most complete compilation of local chronicles that has up to this time been offered to our citizens. The authenticity of the facts contained in the various articles is as absolute as the utmost care could make it. The data have been procured from the best known authorities, and the sketches, when completed, have been subjected to the most searching examination for verification and correction. That no errors will be discovered in this production, is too much to hope for; but we do most certainly trust, that if any such errors there be, neither in number nor by their nature, will they be found to be sufficiently important to detract from that character for reliability, which it has been our constant aim and endeavor to impart to this history.

In this new work the design has been, to make clear the development of ideas and institutions from epoch to epoch; the social and economic conditions of the people have been preserved in the narrative, and much attention has been paid to describing the civil characteristics of the several towns and cities, both in the conduct of their local affairs and also in relation to each other and the county at large.

It is a well-known fact that considerable prejudice exists among a great body of the people toward county histories in general, for the reason that some such compilations in the past, have been composed of fact and fiction so intermingled, as to render it a difficult matter to know what was true and what was false. It has been our object in this work to hew straight to the line, satisfied to simply furnish such information as we were able to gather concerning each important matter or interesting event; and where the desired materials were lacking, we have not attempted to supply that lack, by filling in the vacant niches with products of the imagination. We have not striven for effect, but our object is merely to give an authentic account of facts recent and remote, so disposed in a proper and orderly manner, as to enable our readers to clearly understand the history of their county from its origin down to the present day.

It is the limitation attached to all works devoted to general history, that from their very character only a superficial knowledge of the men and their times can be derived from them, while on the other hand, that which they lack is supplied by local histories of this nature, whose great value in adding to the fund of human knowledge cannot be overestimated; for they are the only mediums through which we can get the whole story of the economy of life, practiced by those men and women in every county in our broad land, which eventually resulted in transforming a wilderness into a garden, and from a weak and needy folk, creating a rich and mighty nation. It has long been recognized by every scholar, that the knowledge of such humble elements is absolutely essential, in order that the mind may intelligently grasp the potent factors which go to make up history. Hence, our correct understanding of the advancement and growth of a people varies in just such proportion as the narrative of their daily lives is full or incomplete.

The history of our own county cannot be studied too often; for it is one of great interest, and the record revealed is a proud one. There is no section of the country possessing more of historic interest, nor does one exist, as closely identified with those crucial events connected with the formative period of the Republic. In this county was held the last cantonment of the Revolutionary army, here Washington passed a large portion of his time, and within our borders he rendered his greatest service to our country.

At the time the army went into winter quarters at Little Britain in 1782, although peace was not declared until the following year, yet it was well understood that the long war was over and the States were at last independent of Great Britain. The knowledge of this fact naturally inclined the minds of men to a consideration of the form of government to be adopted for the infant commonwealth, and nowhere did the matter receive more attention than in that encampment, and from those soldiers whose deeds in arms had made the happy consummation possible.

The leisure entailed from the long relief from active duty which ensued after going into camp, afforded ample opportunity for both the officers and men of the army to discuss this question in all its bearings. It must be borne in mind that republics were not much in favor at that period, while the incompetent and discreditable manner in which Congress had conducted the national affairs for years, had created profound distrust and widespread discontent. Under the circumstances it is not so surprising that, believing nothing but chaos and ruin would be the lot of the country should the form of government then in force be continued, the army should have finally declared for a limited monarchy, and desired Washington as king.

The deputation of Colonel Nicola to present the subject to Washington does not require repetition here, nor the details of the manner in which that great man resolutely put aside all feelings of personal ambition, and so sternly repressed the movement for all time, that our present form of free government became an assured fact. These events are merely mentioned to bring vividly to the mind the recollection of the important connection our county sustained toward that great drama, and also to bring clearly home the fact, that even though the sun of liberty rose first from the green at Lexington or the bridge at Concord, the gestation of the Republic occurred on the banks of the Hudson in the old county of Orange.

Some criticism of this work has been occasioned through the inclusion therein of biographical sketches; but we are certain that upon calm reflection it will be seen that such objections rest upon no substantial foundation. The narratives of the lives of men and their acts constitute all there is of history. If it be true that all that our county shows in the way of growth and development, is entirely due to the men and women who originally peopled this region, and worthily performed those parts allotted to them in the general scheme of life, during their existence here, it is equally true that their successors who still abide with us, took up the burden where it fell from the hands of the fathers, and most signally continued the work, and carried it forward to success. If the works themselves are deserving of commendation, surely the workers and finishers thereof are entitled to the honor of some mention.

In sending forth this volume, we trust that in addition to its value as a depository of accurate information and useful knowledge, it will also prove an effective instrument in creating a more active public sentiment regarding historical subjects, and especially foster an interest in the annals of our own county.

The editor would be wanting in gratitude did he fail to acknowledge his obligations to the well-known writer, the late Mr. Edward M. Ruttenber. The whole historical field comprising that period prior to the Revolutionary era, has been so carefully gleaned over by that indefatigable and accurate historiographer, that there remains little or nothing that is new, to reward any subsequent investigator into the history of that era, and therefore all who include that epoch in any sketch, must perforce draw largely from the store of valuable materials gathered by him. The editor also desires to return his sincere thanks to our numerous contributors, for their cheerful assistance, and especially for the painstaking care exhibited by them in the preparation of those articles which appear herein, and whose excellence constitutes the chief merit of this work.

That the efforts of myself and associates have fallen short of the high standard we had set up for ourselves at the inception of our labors, we are well aware; but we do at least claim, that we have in some material degree, contributed in this volume to the "rescuing from oblivion and preserving the services which others have performed for God and country and fellow men." If the public by its verdict allows this claim to stand, our reward will be ample and we shall rest well content.

Russel Headley.

Dated, July 14, 1908.

[CONTENTS]

Part I

CHAPTER I-X. [The County of Orange]
{[Chapter I:] County, Precincts And Towns. [Chapter II:] Early Indian Character And Conduct. [Chapter III:] First Settlements And Settlers. [Chapter IV:] Topography And Geology. [Chapter V:] Early Government. [Chapter VI:] Early Military Organizations. [Chapter VII:] French And Indian War. [Chapter VIII:] War of The Revolution. [Chapter IX:] The War of 1812. [Chapter X:] The Civil War. —added by transcriber}
CHAPTER XI. [The Town of Blooming Grove] . . . . . . By Benjamin C. Sears
CHAPTER XII. [The Town of Chester] . . . . . . . . . By Frank Durland
CHAPTER XIII. [The Town of Cornwall] . . . . . . . . . By E. M. V. McClean
CHAPTER XIV. [The Town of Crawford] . . . . . . . . . By J. Erskine Ward
CHAPTER XV. [The Town of Deer Park] . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER XVI. [The Town of Goshen] . . . . . . . . . . By George F. Gregg
CHAPTER XVII. [The Town of Greenville] . . . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney
CHAPTER XVIII. [The Town of Hamptonburgh] . . . . .By Margaret Crawford Jackson
CHAPTER XIX. [The Town of Highlands] . . . . . . . . By Captain Theodore Faurot
CHAPTER XX. [The Town of Minisink] . . . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney
CHAPTER XXI. [The Town of Monroe] . . . . . . . . . By M. N. Kane
CHAPTER XXII. [The Town of Montgomery] . . . . . By David A. Morrison
CHAPTER XXIII. [The Town of Mount Hope] . . . . . . By Wickham T. Shaw
CHAPTER XXIV. [The Town of Newburgh] . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER XXV. [The City of Newburgh] . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER XXVI. [The Town of New Windsor] . . . . . . . By Dr. C. A. Gorse
CHAPTER XXVII. [The Town of Tuxedo] . . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER XXVIII. [The Town of Wallkill] . . . . . . . . . By William B. Royce
CHAPTER XXIX. [The Town of Warwick] . . . . . . . . By Ferdinand V. Sanford
CHAPTER XXX. [The Town of Wawayanda] . . . . . . By Charles E. Stickney
CHAPTER XXXI. [The Town of Woodbury] . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER XXXII. [The Bench and Bar] . . . . . . . . . . . By William Vanamee
CHAPTER XXXIII. [The Medical Profession] . . . . . . . By John T. Howell, M.D.
CHAPTER XXXIV. [The Schools] . . . . . . . . . . . . . By John M. Dolph
CHAPTER XXXV. [The Churches] . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Rev. Francis Washburn
CHAPTER XXXVI. [Agriculture] . . . . . . . . . . . . . By David A. Morrison
CHAPTER XXXVII. [Journalism] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By W. T. Doty
CHAPTER XXXVIII. [Freemasonry] . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Charles H. Halstead
CHAPTER XXXIX. [Horse Breeding] . . . . . . . . . . . . By Guy Miller
CHAPTER XL. [Dairying] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[PART II.]

Biographical Sketches

[[Adams,] [Bailey,] [Caldwell,] [Dales,] [Eager,] [Fabrikoid,] [Gaffney,] [Hadden,] [Iseman,] [Jackson,] [Kells,] [Lain,] [McCarty,] [Neafie,] [O'Connor,] [Paddleford,] [Quaid,] [Ramage,] [Sanford,] [Taft,] [Vail,] [Wade,] [Yagel,] [Zint]—added by Transcriber]

[THE COUNTY OF ORANGE]

[CHAPTER I.]

COUNTY, PRECINCTS AND TOWNS.

Orange was one of the earliest counties of the State, dating back to 1683. when it was organized by a colony law. It was also one of those formed by a general act of organization in 1788, when it included the present county of Rockland, and was described as extending from the limits of East and West Jersey on the west side of the Hudson River along the river to Murderer's Creek, or the bounds of Ulster County, and westward into the woods as far as Delaware River—that is, all that part of the state south of an easterly and westerly line from the mouth of Murderer's Creek to the Delaware River or northerly line of Pennsylvania. In 1797 Rockland county was set off from it, and five towns from Ulster were added. Its boundaries were definitely fixed by an act of the New York legislature adopted April 3rd, 1801. The previous act of April 5th, 1797, provided that five towns, then a part of the County of Ulster, should be annexed to the county of Orange, and that the courts should hold their sessions alternately at Newburgh and Goshen. Two days afterward another act was passed defining the boundary lines of the towns composing the newly constructed county, and naming them as follows: Blooming Grove, Chesekook, Deer Park, Goshen, Minisink, Montgomery, New Windsor, Newburgh, Wallkill and Warwick. There were subsequent changes, and the following is a list of the present towns, with the years of their erection, and the territories from which they were taken:

Blooming Grove, 1799, taken from Cornwall; Cornwall, 1788, as New Cornwall, and changed to Cornwall in 1797; Chester, 1845, taken from Goshen, Warwick, Monroe and Blooming Grove; Crawford, 1823, taken from Montgomery; Deer Park, 1798, as a part of Ulster County and taken from Mamakating; Goshen, 1788; Hamptonburgh, 1830, taken from Wallkill, Goshen, Montgomery, Blooming Grove and New Windsor; Monroe, 1799, taken from Cornwall, original name Chesekook, changed to Southfield in 1802, and to Monroe in 1808, and divided in 1890 into Woodbury and Tuxedo; Montgomery, 1788; Mount Hope, 1825, taken from Wallkill, Deer Park and Minisink, original name Calhoun; Newburgh, 1788; New Windsor, 1788; Wallkill, 1788; Minisink, 1788.

There are three cities in Orange County, Newburgh in the town of Newburgh; Middletown, in the town of Wallkill, and Port Jervis, in the town of Deer Park. Newburgh was chartered as a city in 1865, Middletown in 1888, and Port Jervis in 1907.

The irregular county thus constituted is bounded on the northwest and north by Sullivan and Ulster Counties, on the east and southeast by the Hudson River and Rockland County, on the southwest and west by New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Sullivan County. It has nearly half a million square miles.

The towns along the northwestern and northern border are Deer Park, Mount Hope, Wallkill, Crawford, Montgomery and Newburgh.

Along the Hudson are Newburgh, New Windsor, Cornwall and Highlands.

Next to Rockland County are Highlands, Woodbury and Tuxedo.

On the New Jersey line are the point of Tuxedo, Warwick, Minisink, Greenville, and a section of Deer Park.

The most western town is Deer Park which lies along New Jersey, the Delaware River and Pennsylvania on the southwest and Sullivan County on the north.

In the interior are the towns of Wawayanda, Goshen, Hamptonburgh, Blooming Grove, Chester and Monroe.

The post offices of the county as distributed in the several towns are named as follows:

Blooming Grove: Salisbury's Mills, Washingtonville, Blooming Grove, Oxford Depot, Craigsville.

Chester: Chester, Greycourt, Sugar Loaf.

Cornwall: Cornwall, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Cornwall Landing, Idlewild, Mountainville, Orrs Mills, Meadowbrook, Firthcliffe.

Crawford: Bullville, Pine Bush, Thompson Ridge.

Deer Park: Cuddebackville, Godeffroy, Huguenot, Port Jervis, Rio, Sparrowbush.

Goshen: Goshen.

Greenville: Greenville.

Hamptonburgh: Campbell Hall, Burnside.

Highlands: Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery, West Point.

Middletown: Middletown.

Minisink: Minisink, Johnson, Westtown, Unionville.

Monroe: Monroe, Turner.

Montgomery: Walden, Montgomery, Maybrook.

Mount Hope: Otisville, Guymard.

Newburgh: Newburgh, Middle Hope, Liptondale. Cedarcliff, Cronomer Valley, Savilton, Orange Lake, Roseton.

New Windsor: Little Britain, Rocklet, Vail's Gate, Moodna.

Tuxedo: Arden, Southfields, Tuxedo Park.

Wallkill: Middletown, Circleville, Stony Ford, Howells, Crystalrun, Fair Oaks.

Warwick: Edenville, Warwick, Florida, Pine Island, New Milford, Wisner Lake, Bellvale, Greenwood Lake, Amity.

Wawayanda: New Hampton, Ridgebury, Slate Hill, South Centreville.

Woodbury: Woodbury Falls, Highland Mills, Central Valley.

To go back and particularize more fully: In 1686 the town of Orange was organized, and soon afterward adjoining patents were attached to it for jurisdiction and assessment. In 1719 the northern settlements were separated into the precinct of Orange, with Tappan as its center, and the precinct of Haverstraw, with "the Christian patented lands of Haverstraw" as its center. In 1714 the precinct of Goshen was organized, and included the entire county except the Orangetown and Haverstraw districts. In 1764 it was divided by a straight line, all the lands west of the line constituting the precinct of Goshen and all the lands east, the precinct of New Cornwall. The four precincts named were the political divisions of the county until after the Revolution. In 1788 the towns of Warwick and Minisink were erected from Goshen, and in 1791 the towns of Clarkstown and Ramapo were erected from Haverstraw. In 1797 the name of the town of New Cornwall was changed to Cornwall.

In the southern towns of the County of Ulster, afterward transferred to Orange, changes were made in 1709. The precincts of Highlands and Shawangunk were attached to New Paltz, and the present Orange County towns of Montgomery, Crawford and Wallkill were then embraced within its limits. These divisions continued until 1743, when they were changed to three precincts—Wallkill, Shawangunk and Highlands. There was also the precinct of Mamakating west of the precincts of Wallkill and Shawangunk, the northern part of which was made a part of Deer Park in 1798 by the law annexing the Ulster County towns. In 1762 the precinct of Highlands was divided into the precincts of Newburgh and New Windsor, and in 1772 the precinct of Newburgh was divided so as to form another precinct on the north, named New Marlborough. The same law divided the precinct of Wallkill so that its northern section became the precinct of Hanover. In 1782 the name of this precinct was changed to Montgomery by permission of the Provincial Convention of the State. By the general act of 1788 the Ulster County precincts which have been named were erected into the towns of Newburgh, New Windsor, New Marlborough, Shawangunk and Montgomery.

In the winter of 1797, after much opposition to plans for changing the boundaries of Orange and Ulster Counties, two bills were agreed upon by a Convention of Delegates from the several towns interested, and these were presented to the Legislature and passed. One of them set off from Orange the present County of Rockland, and the other annexed to Orange County the towns of New Windsor, Newburgh, Wallkill, Montgomery and Deer Park, then the southern section of the county of Ulster.

In 1801 a general law dividing the State into counties fixed the then somewhat undefined boundaries of Orange, and another law adopted the same year fixed the boundaries of its towns as they now are, with the exception of Woodbury and Tuxedo, into which Monroe was separated in 1890.

The first Board of Supervisors of the present county, which met in Goshen in 1798, was composed as follows: John Vail, Goshen; Francis Crawford, New Windsor; Reuben Tooker, Newburgh; Anselem Helme, Cornwall; Jacob Post, Warwick; Nathan Arnont, Minisink; James Finch, Deer Park; David Gallatin, Montgomery; Andrew McCord, Wallkill.

Since that time the three towns of Greenville, Wawayanda and Highlands have been erected.

[CHAPTER II.]

EARLY INDIAN CHARACTER AND CONDUCT.

Among the surprises experienced by Columbus and the explorers who sailed up and down the coast of North America soon after his great discovery, were the characteristics of the newly-found race of native Indians. Their tribal differences were comparatively slight, and although uncivilized, many of them exhibited traits which indicated a remote ancestry above savagery, and caused speculation which has not yet ceased.

Hendrick Hudson, from whom the magnificent Hudson River takes its name, has given us in his journal the first information about the tribes at its mouth and along its shores. Sailing from Amsterdam in the ship Half-Moon in 1609, he first landed near Portland, [fn] Me., on July 19th. Thence he sailed south to Chesapeake Bay, thence north to Delaware Bay, and thence to Sandy Hook, anchoring, probably off Coney Island, September 3d. Here and on the New Jersey coast Indians came to the ship in canoes, and bartered green corn and dried currants for knives, beads and articles of clothing. He wrote that they behaved well, but when he sent out a boat on the 6th to explore the Narrows, his men were attacked by twenty-six natives in two canoes, who killed one of his crew with an arrow and wounded two others. On September 11th he sailed through the Narrows and found a good protected harbor. Here his ship was again visited by many natives, who brought Indian corn, tobacco and oysters for barter, and displayed copper pipes, copper ornaments, and earthen pots for cooking.

[fn] To avoid circumlocution present names will be generally used to indicate localities.

Hudson started on his voyage up the river September 12th, and began his return September 22d. His ship stopped near the present city of Hudson, but he proceeded much farther in a small boat—as far, it is supposed, as Albany. About 25 miles below Albany an aged chief entertained him hospitablv, and the Indians offered in barter tobacco and beaver skins. Here the Indians of the Hudson, and probably of all North America, first tested the white man's liquor. Hudson gave them some to see how they would act under its influence. Only one drank enough to become intoxicated, and when he fell down in a stupor the others were alarmed, but after he became sober the next day their alarm ceased, and they manifested a friendly spirit. This was on the east side of the river. Below the Highlands on the west side the natives were of a different disposition, and shot arrows at the crew from points of land. For this they were punished by Hudson's men, who returned their fire and killed about a dozen of them. Hudson's journal says that above the Highlands "they found a very loving people and very old men, and were well used." One of his anchoring places had been the bay at Newburgh, and here he wrote prophetically: "This is a very pleasant place to build a town on," and the handsome and prosperous City of Newburgh shows that he judged well. At this point many more Indians boarded the ship, and did a brisk business in exchanging skins for knives and ornamental trifles.

At several anchorages the Indians brought green corn to Hudson's ship, and it was one of the agreeable surprises of the crew at their meals. Corn was generally cultivated by the Hudson River tribes, and grew luxuriantly. Ruttenber says it was long supposed to be native, but investigation shows it was transplanted from a foreign shore. It is certain that the early explorers knew nothing of it until it was brought to them by the Indians, and that it had been cultivated by the latter from immemorial times.

Hudson wrote that some of the Indians whom he met along the river wore mantles of feathers and good furs, and that women came to the ship with hemp, having red copper tobacco pipes and copper neck ornaments. Verrazano, who sailed along the North American coast 33 years after Hudson's expedition, said the Indians were dressed out in feathers of birds of various colors. He mentioned "two kings" who came aboard his ship in Narragansett Bay as "more beautiful in stature than can possibly be described," and characterized them as types of their race. One wore a deerskin around his body artificially wrought in damask colors. His hair was tied back in knots, and around his neck was a chain with stones of different colors. The natives who accompanied the chiefs were of middle stature, broad across the breast, strong in the arms and well formed. A little later Roger Williams was welcomed as a friend by an old chief, Canonnieus, and his nephew, and he described the Indians who accompanied them as of larger size than the whites, with tawny complexions, sharp faces, black hair, and mild, pleasant expressions. The women were graceful and beautiful, with fine countenances, and of modest appearance and manner. They wore no clothing, except ornamental deer skins, like those of the men, but some had rich lynx skins on their arms, and various ornaments on their heads composed of braids of hair which hung upon their breasts. These Indians were generous in their disposition, "giving away whatever they had."

Later the Indians were classed from language into two general divisions—the Algonquins and the Iroquois—terms given them by the Jesuit missionaries. The Iroquois occupied central and western New York, including the Mohawk River, the headwaters of the Delaware, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The Algonquins included all the Indians of Eastern New York, Eastern Canada, New England, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Eastern Virginia. Several tribes in the west Hudson River counties constituted the Lenni-Lenape nation, which held its council fires on the site of Philadelphia. Some of their names were Waoranecks, Haverstroos, Minisinks and Waranawonkongs. When Hudson came the Lenapes were the head of the Algonquin nations, but wars with the Iroquois and the whites so weakened them that they became the subjects of the Iroquois confederacy for eighty years previous to 1755. Then they rebelled, allied themselves with other tribes, became the head of the western nations and successfully contested nearly all the territory west of the Mississippi. During the period of their subservience they were known as the Delawares. The Mohawks were the most eastern nation of the Iroquois, and were called Maquas by the Dutch, and a branch on the Delaware, Minquas. The Iroquois, first known as the Five Nations, later received the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, who removed to New York, and with the Cherokees and other southern Indians became the sixth nation of that great Indian confederacy, to which they also were related by language.

Both the Algonquin and Iroquois confederacies were divided into tribes and sub-tribes of families, each with a head who was the father or founder. These combined for mutual defense and the heads elected one of their number chief sachem, regarding themselves as a nation to make laws, negotiate treaties, and engage in wars, the wars being mostly between the Algonquins and Iroquois.

The Esopus Indians occupied parts of Orange and Ulster Counties, and their war dances were held on the Dans Kamer, a high promontory north of Newburgh. Their rule extended to other families east and west of the Hudson, but their territory cannot be clearly defined.

Regarding Indian character, there have been presented by our historians some contrasting but not wholly irreconcilable views. E. M. Ruttenber, in his valuable contribution to the History of Ulster County, edited by Hon. A. T. Clearwater, says:

"When they were discovered the race had wrought out unaided a development far in advance of any of the old barbaric races of Europe. They were still in the age of stone, but entering upon the age of iron. Their implements were mainly of stone and flint and bone, yet they had learned the art of making copper pipes and ornaments. This would rank their civilization about with that of the Germans in the days of Tacitus (about the year 200 A.D.). They had, unaided by the civilization of Europe, made great progress. They had learned to weave cloth out of wild hemp and other grasses, and to extract dyes from vegetable substances; how to make earthen pots and kettles; how to make large water casks from the bark of trees, as well as the lightest and fleetest canoes; had passed from the cave to the dwelling house; had established the family relation and democratic forms of government; their wives were the most faithful, their young women the most brilliant in paint and garments and robes of furs; they carved figures on stone, and wrote the story of their lives in hieroglyphics, of which some of the finest specimens in America are preserved in the senate house in Kingston; and most remarkable of all, and that which carries back their chronology to a period that cannot be defined, they had developed spoken languages that were rich in grammatical forms, differing radically from any of the ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere, languages which were surely ingenious, and of which it was said by the most expert philologists of Europe that they were among 'the most expressive languages, dead or living.' . . . They were savages or barbarians, as you may please to call them, men who wrote their vengeance in many scenes of blood, the recital of which around the firesides of the pioneers became more terrifying by repetition; nevertheless they were representatives of a race whose civilization, though it was 1200 years behind our own, had no faults greater than were found in the races from which we boast our lineage."

In Samuel Eager's "History of Orange County," published in 1846-7, are found statements presenting a different conception of Indian qualities. It says:

"The Indian character in this State is well known, and we have no reason to believe that the character of the Indians of Orange was materially different. If you know one you know the general character of those who compose his wigwam, and knowing this you know that of his tribe. They are all alike—dirty, slothful and indolent, trustworthy and confiding in their friendships, while fierce and revengeful under other circumstances. Their good will and enmity are alike easily purchased. All have the war dance before starting upon and after returning from the warpath, and bury the dead standing, with their instruments. Their known rule of warfare is an indiscriminate massacre of men, women and children, and they are cruel to their captives, whom they usually slay with the tomahawk or burn up at the stake. They believe in a future state of rewards and punishments, and sacrifice to a Good Spirit—an unknown god. We have the testimony of Hendrick Hudson that the Indians above the Highlands were kind and friendly to him and his crew, and the more so the further they proceeded up the river. This, we presume, related to those on both sides of the river, though below the Highlands they were of a more hostile character. We have understood, as coming from the early settlers, who first located in Westchester and Dutchess and afterwards removed here, as many of them did, that the impression was very general that the Indians on that side of the river were less hostile and more friendly to the white settlers than those on the west; and this was given as a reason for settling there, which accounts in some measure for the earlier settlement of that side of the river. We infer, from the absence of written accounts of anything very peculiar or different in the habits and customs of the Indians of the county from others in the State, and from the poverty of tradition in this respect that there were no such peculiar differences, but they were similar and identical with those of the heathen Indians at Onondaga and Buffalo before modified and changed by white association."

These somewhat contradictory views of the Indian race seem to be a little too sweeping on both sides, they being neither so good nor so bad as represented. The native Indians have been both kind and cruel to one another and the whites. Their instincts are not unlike those of civilized peoples, but there are less control and restraint in savagery than civilization. Their tribal differences of conduct towards the whites depended less upon natural disposition than leadership and provocations. Vindictiveness towards real or fancied enemies seems to have prevailed everywhere among the North American tribes, and this was undoubtedly increased towards the whites by the latter's aggressions and by the former's indulgence in the intoxicants furnished them by their white neighbors. But cruelty is ingrained in the barbarian character almost everywhere, and often is manifested in communities called civilized. The tortures of the middle ages in the name of religion were as painful as those inflicted in the eighteenth century by our Indians, and both seem almost impossible to the philanthropist of to-day. Not until minds have been softened by such teachings as those of the Founder of Christianity, and extremes of bigotry have given place to tolerance and charity, is the natural disposition of the average man to give pain to antagonists dissipated.

There has been no more intellectual nation among the aborigines of America than the Senecas of Western New York—the most original and determined of the confederated Iroquois—but its warriors were cruel like the others, and their squaws often assisted the men in torturing their captives. When Boyd and Parker were captured in the Genesee Valley in the Sullivan campaign of 1779, Brant, the famous half-breed chief, assured them that they would not be injured, yet left them in the hands of Little Beard, another chief, to do with as he would, and the prolonged tortures to which he and his savage companions subjected them were horrible. After they had been stripped and tied to trees, and tomahawks were thrown so as to just graze their heads, Parker was unintentionally hit so that his head was severed from his body, but Boyd was made to suffer lingering miseries. His ears were cut off, his mouth enlarged with knives and his severed nose thrust into it, pieces of flesh were cut from his shoulders and other parts of his body, an incision was made in his abdomen and an intestine fastened to the tree, when he was scourged to make him move around it, and finally as he neared death, was decapitated, and his head raised on a pole.

Similar tortures were not uncommon among both the Iroquois and Algonquins when they made captives of the whites.

Returning to the Lenni-Lenape of the Hudson River's western lands, there is in Eager's history an account by a Delaware Indian of the reception and welcome by the Indians of the first Europeans who came to their country—on York Island—which is here condensed.

Some Indians out fishing at a place where the sea widens saw something remarkably large floating on the water at a great distance, which caused much wondering speculation among them. The sight caused great excitement, and as it approached news was sent to scattered chiefs. They fancied that it was a great house in which the Mannitto (Great Spirit) was coming to visit them. Meat for sacrifices and victuals were prepared. Conjurors were set to work, and runners were sent out. The latter soon reported that it was a great house full of human beings. When it came near it stopped, and a canoe came from it containing men, one elegantly dressed in red. This man saluted them with a friendly countenance, and, lost in admiration, the Indians returned his salute. They saw that he glittered with gold lace and had a white skin. He poured something from a gourd into a cup, drank from it, filled it again, and handed it to a chief. It is passed around, and the chiefs smell of it, but do not drink. At last a resolute chief jumps up and harangues the others, saying that they ought to drink, as the Mannitto had done, and he would dare to drink, although it might kill him, as it was better that one man should be destroyed than that a whole nation should die. Then he drank, soon began to stagger, and finally fell to the ground. He fell asleep, and his companions thinking that he was dead, began to bemoan his fate. But he awoke, and declared that he had never before felt so happy as when he drank from the white man's cup. He asked for more, which was given him, and the whole assembly imitated him and became intoxicated. After they became sober they were given presents of beads, axes, hoes and stockings. Then the Dutch made them understand that they would not stay, but would come again in a year, bring more presents, and would then want a little land. They returned the next season, began cultivating the grounds and kept bargaining for more land until the Indians began to believe that they would soon want all the country.

The scenes thus described by the Delaware Indian were probably soon after the voyage of discovery by Hendrick Hudson.

The Esopus Indians, according to early records, represented four sub-tribes—the Amangaricken, Kettyspowy, Mahon and Katatawis. In 1677 their chief deeded a large tract of land lying along the Hudson in Ulster and Orange Counties and extending back to the Rochester hills, to the English Government. The tract cannot be clearly defined. Previous negotiations and fighting led to this transfer. In 1663 Wildwijk (Kingston), where an infant colony had been started, was set on fire, and the colonists were attacked and murdered in their homes with axes, tomahawks and guns. They finally rallied and drove the Indians away, but not until twenty-five of them had been killed and forty-five made prisoners. The New Village, as it was called, was annihilated, and of the Old Village twelve houses were burned. When Peter Stuyvesant heard of the calamity he sent a company of soldiers from New Amsterdam to assist the settlers. They were commanded by Captain Martin Kregier, arrived at Wildwijk July 4, and a few days afterward Kregier had a conference with five Mohawk and Mohican chiefs who came from Fort Orange. He induced them to release some of their captives, but his negotiations with the Warranawonkongs were less successful. They were the proprietors of lands in the vicinity of Newburgh, and for some distance above and below the Lenni-Lenape confederacy. They would not agree to terms of peace unless the Dutch would pay for the land called the Groot Plat or Great Plot and add presents within ten days. Kregier would not agree to this, and on July 25th followed them to their castle. They abandoned it, and fled to the Shawangunk Mountains, taking their captives with them. They were followed, and again retreated. Kregier burned their palisaded castle, cut down their cornfields and destroyed about a hundred pits full of corn and beans which were a part of the harvest of the previous year. Then Kregier returned to Wildwijk and guarded the settlers while they harvested their grain. He resumed offensive operations in September, sending out about fifty men to reduce a new castle which the Indians were building "about four hours beyond the one burned." The Indians were surprised, but fought fiercely as they retreated, killing and wounding three of the Dutch soldiers. Thirteen Indians were taken prisoners and twenty-three Dutch captives released. The Indians fled to the mountains, the uncompleted fort was destroyed, and the soldiers carried away much spoil. Another force was sent to the same place October 1st, when the Indians retreated southward, and the Dutch completed the work of destruction, including crops and wigwams around the fort. Later the Indians solicited peace and an armistice was granted. They had suffered severely, and felt crushed, and their allies, the Waoranecks, were also subdued, although their territory had not been invaded. "The embers of their forest worship, which had for ages been lighted on the Dans Kamer, were extinguished forever." In the following May of 1664 they sought and executed a treaty with the Dutch at Fort Amsterdam, whereby the lands claimed and conquered by the Dutch were to remain the property of the conquerors, and the Indians were not to approach the Dutch settlements with arms. The ratification of the treaty was celebrated, and thus was closed the struggle of the Indians for the possession of their lands on the western slope of the Hudson from the Catskills to the ocean. The Minsis remained in the western part of Orange and some adjoining territory, and in 1692 and 1694 were strengthened by additions of large colonies of Shawanoes. For nearly a hundred years after the treaty there was but little trouble between the Indians and the settlers of Orange County.

The incursions during the French and Indian and the Revolutionary Wars properly belong to the military chapter of this history.

[CHAPTER III.]

FIRST SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS.

There is a tradition, supported by some evidence, that the first settlement of Orange County was in the old Minisink territory along the Delaware River. Although the supposed settlement was mostly in Pennsylvania, the reported excavations, roads and other work of the settlers were mostly in Orange County. The story of the tradition, and evidence that it has a basis of fact, are given in a letter by Samuel Preston, Esq., dated Stockport, June 6, 1828, which is published in Samuel W. Eager's county history of 1846-7, and reproduced in Charles E. Stickney's history of the Minisink region of 1867. Eager says the letter "will throw light upon the point of early settlement in the Minisink country," and Stickney assumes that its second-hand statements are substantially true. But Ruttenber and Clark's more complete history of the county, published in 1881, discredits them. The essential parts of Preston's letter are here condensed.

He was deputed by John Lukens, surveyor general, to go into Northampton County on his first surveying tour, and received from him, by way of instruction, a narrative respecting the settlements of Minisink on the Delaware above the Kittany and Blue Mountain. This stated that John Lukens and Nicholas Scull—the latter a famous surveyor, and the former his apprentice—were sent to the Minisink region in 1730 for the government of Philadelphia; that the Minisink flats were then all settled by Hollanders; that they found there a grove of apple trees much larger than any near Philadelphia, and that they came to the conclusion that the first settlement of Hollanders in Minisink was many years older than William Penn's charter. Samuel Depuis, who was living there, told them that there was a good road to Esopus, near Kingston, about a hundred miles from the Mine holes, which was called the Mine road. Preston was charged by Lukens to learn more particulars about this Mine road, and obtained some from Nicholas Depuis, son of Samuel, who was living in great affluence in a spacious stone house. He had known the Mine road well, and before a boat channel was opened to Foul Rift, used to drive on it several times every winter with loads of wheat and cider to buy salt and other necessaries, as did also his neighbors. He repeated stories without dates that he had heard from older people. They said that in some former age a company of miners came there from Holland; that they worked two mines, and were very rich; that they built the Mine road with great labor, and hauled their ore over it; that they bought the improvements of the native Indians, the most of whom moved to the Susquehanna.

In 1789 Preston began to build a house in the Minisink and obtained more evidence from Gen. James Clinton, the father of Gov. Dewitt Clinton, and Christopher Tappan, Recorder of Ulster County, who came there on a surveying expedition. They both knew the Mine holes and the Mine road, and were of the opinion that they were worked while New York belonged to Holland, which was previous to 1664. Preston did not learn what kind of ore the mines produced, but concluded that it was silver. He went to the Paaquarry Mine holes, and found the mouths caved full and overgrown with bushes, but giving evidence of a great deal of labor done there in some former time.

Ruttenber and Clark's history, as stated, discredit the tradition regarding the early settlement of the Minisink by Hollanders, as accepted by Clinton, Tappan, Depuis, Preston and others. It represents the Mine road to be simply an enlargement of an old Indian trail, and the mines to have been of copper and located in what is now the town of Warren, Sussex County, N. J. It says that the Dutch at Esopus during the war of 1660-63 had little knowledge of the country, even east of the Shawangunk, and that if the Minisink was penetrated at a much earlier period it was by way of the Delaware River. The historian discusses the subject further, and concludes that the first settler of the Minisink was William Tietsort, a blacksmith from Schenectady, who barely escaped the slaughter at that place in 1689, and went to the Minisink country from Esopus, by invitation of friendly Indians, and purchased lands of them in October, 1689. "There is little doubt that he was the first settler on the western border," says the history.

But Stickney, after recapitulating the traditions and evidence of the early settlement of the region, says: "Here generations lived the fleeting span of life in blissful ignorance of any outer or happier world beside, and were alike unknown outside the boundaries of their own domain until some wanderer chanced to come across their settlement, and went on his way, thereafter to remember with gratitude and envy the affluence and comfort that marked their rough but happy homes."

If Tietsort was the first white settler of the Minisink, Arent Schuyler was probably the second, as he settled there in 1697, having been granted a patent of 1,000 acres of its lands by Governor Fletcher. The governor had sent him there three years before to ascertain whether the French in Canada had been trying to bribe the Indians to engage in a war of extermination against the New Yorkers from their fastnesses in the Shawangunk Mountains.

The earliest land transfers and titles were so thoroughly investigated by Ruttenber and Clark that we cannot do better, perhaps, than condense mostly from their history.

Warranawonkong chiefs transferred to Governor Stuyvesant the Groot Plat or Great Plot, as it was called, in which Kingston is now situated. These lands are said to be the first for which Europeans received a title from the Indians, and are somewhat indefinitely described in the treaty with them of 1665 to which reference has been made. They were conquered by Captain Kreiger in 1663, and embraced three townships in southwestern Ulster. Chronology next takes us to the extreme south of Orange County. Here Balthazar De Hart and his brother Jacob, purchased of the Indians "the Christian patent lands of Haverstraw." They were on the south side of the Highlands and extended from the Hudson westward to the mountains. On the presumption that they were included in the boundaries of New Jersey, the Harts soon transferred them to Nicholas Depues and Peter Jacobs Marius, and purchased another tract north of them in 1671, which was bounded by the Hudson River on the east and the mountains on the south. This became the property of Jacobs. They also purchased a tract north of the previous purchase, and including a part of it, which was called Abequerenoy, and passed from them to Hendrick Ryker.

On the north a Huguenot, Louis Du Bois, with some friends who had been driven from France by religious persecution, located first at Esopus in 1660; and in September, 1667, after purchase from the Indians, twelve of them became patentees of a tract of 36,000 acres lying north of the Redonte Creek, as the Warranawonkong was then called. The patent was obtained from Governor Andros in the names of Louis Du Bois, Christian Doyan, Abraham Hasbroucq, Andre Le Febvre, Jean Hasbroucq, Pierre Doyan, Louis Beviere, Anthony Crespel, Abraham Du Bois, Hayne Frere, Isaac Du Bois and Simon Le Febvre, "their heirs and others." Nine families immediately settled on the land and founded New Paltz.

Between Haverstraw and New Paltz Patrick Mac Gregorie, David Fosbruck, his brother-in-law, and twenty-five others, who were mostly Scotch Presbyterians, occupied lands at the mouth of the Waoraneck, and Mac Gregorie purchased for them 4,000 acres on both sides of Murderer's Creek, on which they settled. Mac Gregorie built his cabin on Plum Point, then called Conwanham's Hill, and the cabins of his associates were in the vicinity, and on the south side of the creek David Toshuck, the brother-in-law, who subscribed himself "Laird of Minivard," established a trading post. "Within the bounds of the present county of Orange this was the first European settlement," says the historian, but the precise date is not given. Stickney thinks the year was 1684, but it was probably a little earlier, as about that time Mac Gregorie entered into the military service of the State without perfecting his patent, mistakenly trusting Governor Dongan to protect his interests, who, in 1684, obtained from three Indian owners their title to a tract extending from New Paltz along the Hudson to Murderer's Kill, thence westward to the foot of the high hills, and thence southwesterly along the hills and the river Peakadasank to a pond; and the same year added by deed from several Indians another large tract of the land called Haverstraw. These lands included a part of those which the Indians had previously sold to Mac Gregorie, and others which they had sold to Stephanus Van Cortlandt. The latter had preserved his deed, and succeeded in obtaining a patent attaching them to his manor across the river. Mac Gregorie was killed in the Leslie revolution of 1691. Governor Dongan sold his two purchases to John Evans in 1694, and the latter then proceeded to dispossess Mac Gregorie's widow and her family of their home, when he granted only leases to them and the other Scotch settlers. After some years, however, the Mac Gregorie heirs, in consideration of their original claim, obtained a patent of the Plum Point farm and a mountain tract.

The fourth and largest settlement was made adjoining "the Christian patented lands of Haverstraw" by emigrants from Holland, mostly of the Reformed Dutch Church. They were granted a township patent in March, 1686, under the name of the town of Orange. There were sixteen trustees of this grant, which began at the mouth of the Tappan Creek, extended north to Greenbush, and thence easterly and southerly back to Tappan Creek. The center of the township was Tappan, where a church was organized. The trustees of the grant were Claessen Cuyper, Daniel De Clercke, Peter Harnich, Gerritt Stenmetts, John De Kries, Sr., John De Kries, Jr., Claes Maunde, John Stratemaker, Staaes De Groot, Aream Lammatees, Lamont Ariannius, Huybert Gerryts, Johannes Gerryts, Ede Van Vorst, Cornelius Lammerts.

A vast tract of land immediately west of Haverstraw was conveyed to Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon, January 25, 1696. Adjoining this on the south were certain tracts containing 2,000 acres which were granted to Samuel Bayard. The Indian deed for this and other purchases was covered by Lucas Tenhoven and embraced 100,000 acres, for which no patent was issued.

Between the Haverstraw lands and the township of Orange was the rocky bluff known as Verdrietig Hook, including Rockland Lake, which became the subject of controversy between the John Hutchins Company and Jarvis Marshal & Company, both parties having obtained deeds, but that of the latter proved to be of prior date (Sept. 27, 1694). A few years later, in 1708, a patent was issued to Lancaster Syrus, Robert Walters and Hendrick Ten Eyck, covering the vacant river point described as beginning at the south bounds of Haverstraw, extending west to Welch's island, thence southerly to the lower end of the island, thence east to the creek running from the pond of Verdrietig Hook, and thence north to the place of beginning, "except the grant of Honan & Hawdon."

Ruttenber and Clark's history states that the indicated foregoing patents covered the entire district from the New Jersey line to New Paltz and west to the line of the Shawangunk Mountains.

Here is the proper place for some statements made by David Barclay in his paper on Balmville read before the Newburgh Historical Society in 1899. He said that Captain John Evans in 1694 obtained from Colonel Fletcher, then Governor of New York, a patent for a tract of land on the west shore of the Hudson, extending from Stony Point to the south line of New Paltz, and westward to the Shawangunk Mountains, including two-thirds of Orange County and parts of Ulster and Rockland Counties, and estimated to contain 650,000 acres. The only settlement thereon at that time was that of Major Gregorie's heirs and followers at Murderer's Creek in the present towns of Cornwall and New Windsor. The patent was afterward annulled by an act of the assembly, which was confirmed, and the title reverted to the crown. Included in these lands must have been those unjustly transferred to Evans in 1694 by Governor Dongan "under the title of the lordship of the manor of Fletcherdom." Ruttenber says that the Evans patents, with others, were for a long time a disturbing element, and were entirely undefined except in general terms.

Near the close of the 17th century there was active competition in the extinguishment {sic} of the Indian titles and obtaining patents, and several patents were granted. Three of them, to associations, were issued at the following dates: Chesekook, December 30, 1702; Wawayanda, March 5, 1703; Minisink, August 28, 1704.

The Chesekook patent was included in a purchase from five Indian proprietors to Dr. John Bridges, Henry Ten Eyck, Derick Vandenburgh, John Cholwell, Christopher Dean, Lancaster Syms and John Merritt. The Wawayanda patent was a purchase from twelve Indians by the same parties, and five more, namely, Daniel Honan, Philip Rokeby, Benjamin Aske, Peter Mathews and Cornelius Christianse. The Minisink patent was to Mathew Ling, Ebenezer Wilson, Philip French, Derick Vandenburgh, Stephen De Lancey, Philip Rokeby, John Corbett, Daniel Honan, Caleb Cooper, William Sharpass, Robert Milward, Thomas Wearham, Lancaster Syms, John Pearson, Benjamin Aske, Petrus Bayard, John Cholwell, Peter Fanconier, Henry Swift, Hendrick Ten Eyck, Jarvis Marshall, Ann Bridges, George Clark.

This last purchase was of parts of Orange and Ulster Counties, beginning in Ulster at Hunting House, on the northeast of Bashe's land, running thence north to the Fishkill River, thence southerly to the south end of Great Minisink Island, thence south to the land granted John Bridges & Company (Wawayanda), and along that patent northward and along the patent of John Evans to the place of beginning. There is no record that the purchasers received a deed from the Indians, and it was reported, probably correctly, that when Depuis obtained the Minisink lands from the Indians, he got them drunk and never paid them the money agreed upon—treatment which they resented for a long time afterward in hostility to the white settlers.

The Chesekook patent was bounded north by the patent line of Evans, west by Highland Hills, south by Honan and Hawdon's patent, and east by "the lands of the bounds of Haverstraw and the Hudson."

The Wawayanda patent was bounded eastward by "the high hills of the Highlands" and the Evans patent, north by the division line of the counties of Orange and Ulster, westward by "the high hills eastward of Minisink" and south by the division line of New York and New Jersey.

The boundary lines of the three patents were defined in such general terms that for a long time they caused trouble as to titles, and in the final adjustment the territory claimed by the Wawayanda patentees was cut off, while on the west a tract called the Minisink angle, embracing 130,000 acres, was formed.

The English government began investigating the patents of such immense tracts in 1698, and the next year caused the Evans patent to be annulled, after which the territory covered by it was conveyed in small tracts issued at different times up to 1775. These conveyances, exclusive of those outside of the present county, were as follows:

1. Roger and Pinhorne Mompesson, 1000 acres, March 4th, 1709. 2. Ebenezer Wilson and Benjamin Aske, 2000 acres, March 7th, 1709. 3. Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillipse, David Provost, Jr., Lancaster Symes and Thomas Jones, 3000 acres, March 23, 1709. 4. Gerardus Beekman, Rip Van Dam, Adolph Phillipse, Garrett Brass, Servas Vleerborne, and Daniel Van Vore, 3000 acres, March 24th, 1709. 5. Peter Matthews, William Sharpas, and William Davis, 2000 acres, Sept. 8th, 1709. 6. William Chambers and William Southerland, 1000 acres, Sept. 22, 1709. 7. Samuel Staats, June 5th, 1712. 8. Henry Wileman and Henry Van Bael, 3000 acres, June 30th, 1712. 9. Archibald Kennedy, 1200 acres, Aug. 11th, 1715. 10. Alexander Baird, Abner Van Vlacque, and Hermanus Johnson, 6000 acres, Feb. 28th, 1716. 11. Jeremiah Schuyler, Jacobus Van Courlandt, Frederick Phillipse, William Sharpas, and Isaac Bobbin, 10000 acres, Jan. 22d, 1719. 12. Edward Gatehouse, 1000 acres, Jan. 22, 1719. 13. Cornelius Low, Gerard Schuyler, and John Schuyler, 3292 acres, March 17th, 1719. 14. Thomas Brazier, 2000 acres, March 17th, 1719. 15. Phineas McIntosh, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719. 16. John Lawrence, 2772 acres, April 9th, 1719. 17. John Haskell, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719. 18. James Alexander, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719. 19. Cadwallader Colden, 2000 acres, April 9th, 1719. 20. David Galatian, 1000 acres, June 4th, 1719. 21. Patrick McKnight, 2000 acres, July 7th, 1719. 22. Andrew Johnston, 2000 acres, July 7th, 1719. 23. Melchoir Gilles, 300 acres, Oct. 8th, 1719. 24. German Patent, 2190 acres, Dec. 18th, 1719. 25. John Johnston, Jr., two tracts, Feb. 3d, 1720. 26. Thomas Noxon, 2000 acres, May 25th, 1720. 27. William Huddleston, 2000 acres, June 2d, 1720. 28. Vincent Matthews, 800 acres, June 17th, 1720. 29. Richard Van Dam, 1000 acres, June 30th, 1720. 30. Francis Harrison, Oliver Schuyler, and Allen Jarratt, 5000 acres, July 7th, 1720. 31. Phillip Schuyler, Johannes Lansing, Jr., Henry Wileman, and Jacobus Bruyn, 8000 acres, July 7th, 1720. 32. Patrick Mac Gregorie, two tracts, 660 acres, Aug. 6th, 1720. 33. Mary Ingoldsby and her daughter, Mary Pinhorne, and Mary Pinhorne and Wm. Pinhorne, her children, two tracts, 5360 acres, Aug. 11th, 1720. 34. Jacobus Kipp, John Cruger, Phillip Cortland, David Provost, Oliver Schuyler, and John Schuyler, 7000 acres, Oct. 17th, 1720. 35. Lewis Morris and Vincent Pearce, two tracts, 1000 acres each, July 21st, 1721. 36. John Haskell, 2000 acres, August 24th, 1721. 37. Patrick Hume, 2000 acres, Nov. 29th, 1721. 38. James Henderson, two tracts, one not located, 1600 acres, Feb. 12th, 1722. 39. Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, 2500 acres, April 25th, 1722. 40. James Smith, 2000 acres, Dec. 15th, 1722. 41. Charles Congreve, 800 acres. May 17th, 1722. 42. Ann Hoaglandt, 2000 acres. May 24th, 1723. 43. Francis Harrison, Mary Tathani, Thomas Brazier, James Graham, and John Haskell, 5600 acres, July 10th, 1714. 44. William Bull and Richard Gerrard, 2600 acres, Aug. 10th, 1723. 45. William Bull and Richard Gerrard, two tracts, 1500 acres, Dec. 14th, 1724. 46. Isaac Bobbin, 600 acres, March 28th, 1726. 47. Edward Blagg and Johannes Hey, two tracts, 2000 acres each, March 28th, 1726. 48. Nathaniel Hazard and Joseph Sackett, two tracts, 4000 acres, Jan. 11th, 1727. 49. William Bradford, 2000 acres, Sept. 1st, 1727. 50. John Spratt and Andries Marschalk, 2000 acres, April 12th, 1728. 51. James Wallace, 2000 acres, March 2d, 1731. 52. Gabriel and William Ludlow, six tracts, 4000 acres, Oct. 18th, 1731. 53. Thomas Smith, 1000 acres. May 8th, 1732. 54. Daniel Everett and James Stringhani, 3850 acres, Jan. 17th, 1736. 55. Elizabeth Denne, 1140 acres, Dec. 12th, 1734. 56. Joseph Sackett and Joseph Sackett, Jr., two tracts, 2000 acres, July 7th, 1736. 57. Nathaniel Hazard, Jr., 2000 acres, Aug. 12th, 1736. 58. Thomas Ellison, three tracts, 2000 acres. May 13th, 1737. 59. Joseph Sackett, five tracts, 2000 acres, Sept. 1st, 1737. 60. Ann, Sarah, Catherine, George, Elizabeth, and Mary Bradley, two tracts, 4690 acres, Oct. 14th, 1749. 61. Cornelius Dubois, two tracts, one not located, July 2d, 1739. 62. Richard Bradley, 800 acres. May 17th, 1743. 63. Jane and Alice Colden, two tracts, 4000 acres, Oct. 30th, 1749. 64. John Moore, 280 acres, Oct. 30th, 1749. 65. Peter Van Burgh Livingston and John Provost, 3000 acres. May 26th, 1750. 66. George Harrison, three tracts, 2000 acres, July 20th, 1750. 67. Jacobus Bruyn and George Murray, 4000 acres, Sept. 26th, 1750. 68. Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, six tracts, 4000 acres, Nov. 12th, 1750. 69. Alexander Phoenix and Abraham Bockel, 1000 acres, July 13th, 1751. 70. Thomas Ellison, 1080 acres, Dec. 1st, 1753. 71. John Nelson, 550 acres, Oct. 4th, 1754. 72. James Crawford, Jr., Samuel Crawford, James White, and David Crawford, 4000 acres, May 17th, 1761. 73. Cadwallader Colden. Jr., and Daniel Colden, 720 acres, June 20th, 1761. 74. Vincent and David Matthews, 1800 acres, Nov. 26th, 1761. 75. John Nelson, 1265 acres, Oct. 4th, 1762. 76. Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard, 2000 acres, Dec. 23rd, 1762. 77. Peter Hassenclever, March 25th, 1767. 78. William Smith and Edward Wilkin, 2000 acres, April 17th, 1768. 79. William Arisen and Archibald Breckenridge, 400 acres, 1770. 80. Daniel Horsemanden, Miles Sherbrook, Samuel Camfield, and William Sidney, 3210 acres, 1772. 81. Thomas Moore and John Osborne, 2000 acres, March 14th, 1775. 82. Henry Townsend, 2000 acres.

Only a small part of the Minisink patent was in the present county of Orange, but the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents were wholly within its limits, and covered its most fertile sections. The Wawayanda patent caused much trouble, and was unoccupied by settlers until 1712, when the surviving shareholders—Christopher Denne, Daniel Cromeline and Benjamin Aske—determined to make settlements thereon, and to facilitate their ends were made justices of the peace. Parties were sent out by each of them, and these began the settlements of Goshen, Warwick and Chester, where houses were soon completed and occupied. The agent who preceded Denne into the wilderness was his adopted daughter, Sarah Wells, then only 16 years old, who was accompanied only by friendly Indian guides. She married William Bull, the builder of Cromeline's house, and lived to the great age of 102 years and 15 days.

Soon after the settlement thus started in 1712 John Everett and Samuel Clowes, of Jamaica, L. I., took charge of the patent, and proved to be enterprising and efficient agents. Recorded sales to settlers and others prior to 1721, as well as to Everett and Clowes, were as follows:

1. Philip Rokeby sold his undivided twelfth part to Daniel Cromeline, John Merritt, and Elias Boudinot, June 10th, 1704. Merritt sold his third to Cromeline in 1705. Boudinot sold his third to George McNish, who sold to Clowes, Feb. 5th, 1714, for 150 pounds. 2. Cornelius Christianse sold to Derrick Vandenburgh, Sept. 8th, 1704, all his twelfth part. Vandenburgh sold to Elias Boudinot, and the latter sold one-sixth of same to Everett and Clowes, July 20th, 1714, for 66L 13S. Boudinot's heirs subsequently sold five-sixths to Everett and Clowes for 41L 13S 4D. This tract embraced New Milford, in the present town of Warwick. 3. Hendrick Ten Eyck sold his twelfth part to Daniel Cromeline, Dec. 8th, 1704. Cromeline, who also owned two-thirds of the Rokeby share, sold to Everett and Clowes, Jan. 1st, 1714, the sixth part of his interest for 83L 6S, excepting two tracts, one of which contained three thousand seven hundred and six acres. This tract was principally in the present town of Chester, and embraced the site on which he had made settlement and erected a stone dwelling, and to which he had given the name of "Gray Court." 4. Ann Bridges sold to John Van Horne, merchant, of New York, July 4th, 1705, all the equal undivided twelfth part held by her husband, Dr. John Bridges for the sum of 250 pounds. Van Horne was also the purchaser of a part or the whole of another share and sold to Everett and Clowes one-sixth part of one-sixth of one-thirteenth part for 58L 6S 8D. Amity was in Bridges's parcel. 5. Daniel Honan sold to John Merritt, 1705, all his twelfth part. Margery Merritt widow, and John Merritt, son, sold to Adrian Hoaglandt one-half and to Anthony Rutgers one-half. Rutgers sold to Everett and Clowes one-twelfth of his half, and Anna, widow of Hoaglandt, sold to the same parties one-twelfth, the latter, April 12, 1714, for 75 pounds. 6. Derrick Vandenburgh died holding his original share, and his wife, Rymerich and his son Henry, his heirs, sold the same to Elias Boudinot, Aug. 8, 1707. Boudinot sold his entire share to Clowes, Oct. 27th, 1713, for 355 pounds. This parcel embraced what is called in the old deeds the "Florida tract;" the name "Florida" is still retained. 7. John Cholwell sold his twelfth part to Adrian Hoaglandt, Oct. 5th, 1706 for 350 pounds. Anna Hoaglandt, his widow, sold to Everett and Clowes one-sixth of the share, and the remainder descended to Christopher Banker and Elizabeth his wife, James Renant and Bertilje, his wife, Petrus Rutgers and Helena his wife, her heirs. 8. John Merritt held his share at the time of his death, and his heirs, Margery Meritt, widow, and John Merritt, eldest son, sold one-half to Adrian Hoaglandt. John (then a resident of New London) sold to John Everett, Feb. 25th, 1714, the remaining half for 120 pounds. 9. Benjamin Aske sold to Everett and Clowes, July 20th, 1714, one-sixth of his thirteenth part for 50 pounds. He subsequently sold a portion to Lawrence Decker, Feb 28th, 1719, another to Thomas Blain, May 20th, 1721; and another to Thomas DeKay, Dec. 8th 1724. In all cases the land conveyed is described as part of his farm, called Warwick and in all cases the parties to whom the deeds were made were described as residents of the county and upon the land conveyed. 10. Lancaster Symes sold to Everett and Clowes, July 20th, 1714, one-sixth of his thirteenth part for 50 pounds. 11. Peter Matthews, then living in Albany, sold all his thirteenth part to Clowes Feb. 11th, 1713, for 200 pounds. 12. Christopher Denne sold, July 20th, 1714, to Clowes and Everett one-sixth of his share for 50 pounds. He also sold to Robert Brown three hundred and ten acres Sept. 3rd, 1721. Elizabeth Denne sold to William Mapes, Joseph Allison, John Yelverton, Ebenezer Holley, Joseph Sears, John Green, and John Worley, the Mapes deed bearing date March 1st, 1729. The remainder of her interest in the patent passed by her will to Sarah Jones, spinster, of New York, and Vincent Matthews. Sarah Jones afterwards married Thomas Brown. 13. Dr. Samuel Staat's thirteenth part descended to his children, Gerturv wife of Andries Codymus; Sarah, wife of Isaac Gouverneur; Catalyria wife of Stevanus Van Cortlandt; Anna, wife of Philip Schuyler; Johanna White, widow; and Tryntie Staats, who sold to Clowes and Everett one-sixth of said part for 50 pounds, Sept. 2, 1720.

By these conveyances Everett and Clowes came into possession of lands equaling four of the thirteen parts, and, as required by the terms of their deeds, laid out the township of Goshen in 1714, dividing it into farms and opening roads, and assigned 200 acres of land for the support of a minister.

Some of the first settlers—those of 1714—were: Michael Dunning Johannes Wesner, Solomon Carpenter, Abraham Finch, Samuel Seeley and John Holley.

The most prolonged and bitter contest of titles was between settlers of Orange County, mostly in the original Minisink region, and settlers of Northern New Jersey. This was continued for sixty-seven years with occasional border frays. The dispute had reference to the boundary line between New York and New Jersey. King Charles II of England in March, 1663, gave to his brother, the Duke of York, a patent of all lands "from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." The following year in June the Duke of York granted release of all the territory now known as New Jersey to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret. The northern line as described in this grant extended from "the northwardmost branch" of the Delaware River, "which is in latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes and crosseth over thence in a straight line to the latitude 41 degrees on Hudson's River." Sir Carteret took the east half of the province and Lord Berkley the west half. In 1673 the Dutch reconquered New York from the English, but on February 9, 1674, in a treaty of peace between the two nations, it was restored to England. Sir Carteret immediately took the precaution to have a new patent made out, which defined the boundaries in about the same general terms as before. Then came controversies as to which should be called "the northwardmost branch" of the Delaware. The point of 41 degrees on the Hudson was agreed to, but the New Yorkers insisted that the line should touch the Delaware at the southern extremity of Big Minisink island, and the Jerseymen {sic} that the point should be a little south of the present Cochecton. This difference made the disputed triangular territory several miles wide at the west end. Under the New Jersey government the land was parceled out in tracts to various persons, and when these came to take possession the men who had settled upon them long before, resolutely maintained their claims. In the border war that resulted numbers of the Minisink people were captured and confined in New Jersey prisons. The first series of engagements resulted from efforts to obtain possession of the lands of a Mr. Swartwout, who was a major in the militia of Orange County. One day the Jerseymen {sic} surprised him and put his family and household goods out doors. He went to Goshen for help, and a formidable company returning back with him, they in turn put the New Jersey occupants and their goods out of the house, and restored it to the major.

Then a spy was employed to watch the Jerseymen, and through the information which he continually furnished, their future operations were generally frustrated. About 1740 the "Jersey lines" made another attempt upon the major and his possessions, but they were anticipated and driven or frightened back, no one, however, being killed. In 1753 a Jersey raid was made to get possession of the lands of Thomas De Key, colonel of the Orange County militia and a justice of the peace. He tried to negotiate with them, and induce them to wait until the boundary question was determined, but they refused, and he then barricaded himself in his house, and threatened to shoot the first man who tried to enter, and they finally retired vowing that they would bring a larger force. The last important raid was in 1765, on a Sunday, when the Jerseymen came in considerable force resolved to capture Major and Captain Westbrook. They surrounded the church where the Westbrooks were worshiping, and when the service was over there was a fight, amid the screams and sobs of women, with fists and feet, in which the Jerseymen, being the more numerous, conquered and captured the Westbrooks. They were confined in the Jersey colony prison awhile, and then released.

In 1767 hostilities were suspended, and commissioners were appointed to run a boundary line, and soon afterward the territory was surveyed, and about equally divided between the claimants, and peace thenceforth was established between the two sections.

In 1683, when the county was organized, it did not contain more than twenty families. In 1698 a first census was ordered by Governor Bellmont, and it showed the population to consist of 20 men, 31 women, 140 children and 19 negro slaves. In 1860 the population had increased to 63,812; in 1880, it was 88,220; in 1900, 103,850; and according to the last census of 1905, our population was 108,267.

[CHAPTER IV.]

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

Orange County is unsurpassed by any other in the Empire State in variety of surface features and picturesque beauty of scenery. It has mountain ranges and extended ridges, streams with wide and narrow valleys, and is dotted with lakes and ponds. Along the mountain lines are a few lofty peaks, and there are many isolated hills and rocky precipices. Parts of its boundaries are the Hudson River on the northeast, the Delaware and Mongaup Rivers on the west, and the Shawangunk Kill on the northwest. Near the center the Wallkill winds along its rich valley into Ulster County, and thence into the Hudson. Its principal tributary on the northwest is Rutgers Creek—which also has several tributaries—and others are Monhagen Creek, Mechanicstown Creek and Shawangunk Kill. On the southwest it gathers in the waters of Warwick Creek—which is swollen by smaller streams in its course—and also Quaker, Rio Grande, and Tin Brook Creeks. The Otter Kill flows easterly from Chester into the Hudson. The Neversink flows from Sullivan County through the town of Deer Park, and becomes a tributary of the Hudson. The course of the Ramapo is southerly from Round Pond in Monroe to Rockland County, and it is fed by several other ponds. Other streams, large and small, are numerous.

The central portion of the county consists of rolling uplands broken by deep valleys. The most prominent of the mountain ranges are the Highlands along its eastern border. Their loftiest peak, Butter Hill, is 1,524 feet high, precipitous on the river side, and sloping on the north. Another name given to it is Storm King, because clouds occasionally gather there from different directions and concentrate in storms of rain and lightning. Cro'-nest {sic} adjoins it on the south, and is 1,418 feet above the Hudson. Bare Mountain is next, with a height of 1,350 feet. Mount Independence, with Fort Putnam on its summit, is the background of the West Point plateau. Other well known hills are in this broken range, where Arnold, the traitor, conferred with Andre, the spy, and is more intimately identified with the military history of the country than any other mountain region. It has been written of Butter Hill and Cro'-nest that "they have a charm which might induce a man to live in their shadow for no other purpose than to have them always before him, day and night, to study their ever-changing beauty."

The Shawangunk Mountains are a spur of the Alleghenies stretching northeast across the western angle of the county. They are less broken than the Highlands, and not so high as the Catskills, but of the same general formation. The western side is precipitous, but the eastern is sloping, and some of its lands are very fertile, producing sweet grasses from which much of the famous Orange County butter has been made. The peaks rise from 1,400 to 1,800 feet above tide water. This range was the original dividing line between the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents.

The Schunnemunk range is on the dividing line of the towns of Monroe and Blooming Grove and a part of that of Blooming Grove and Cornwall. An accepted descriptive phrase for the range is, "the high hills west of the Highlands." North of it, in New Windsor and Newburgh, is Muchattoes hill, west of it Woodcock hill, and southwest of the latter are Round, Mosquito, Rainer's and Peddler's hills; also Torn Rocks, which rise in two rocky peaks 200 feet high. To the southwest, in the town of Warwick, are the Bellvale Mountains, and south of these the Sterling Mountains. Several other mountainous elevations in Warwick and Woodbury punctuate this part of the county and also the border country on the west. The feet of Pochuck Mountain are in the Drowned Lands, and northerly in Warwick are Mounts Adam and Eve, with Adam looking down from his superior height upon the longer Eve. Easterly, in Chester, is Sugar Loaf Mountain, and west of this is Mount Lookout, the principal elevation of Goshen. With the further mention of Mount William and Point Peter, looking down upon Port Jervis, let us clip the long list of Orange County elevations.

Valleys connect mountains and hills. That of the Delaware River, along the border of Deer Park, is narrow and irregular, being much broken by tributaries and mountains. The most of the cultivated lands of Deer Park are along the Neversink valley. The valley of the Wallkill is wide, fertile and beautiful its bottom lands are among the best in the State, and its farmers are prosperous and thrifty. Wide flats, gradual slopes and steep declivities give variety of soil and scenery to the Otterkill valley, and much of its scenery is charming. The same may be said of its tributary, Cromeline Creek. Sugar Loaf valley extends from Sugar Loaf Mountain to the village of Warwick, taking in Wickham Pond in its course, and extending into New Jersey. Smith's Clove, extending from Highland Mills to the Ramapo valley, should be mentioned because it was the birthplace of Chief Justice William Smith, his brother, John Hett Smith, and the notorious Tories, Claudius Smith and his two sons.

One cannot travel far in Orange County in most directions without coming upon a lake or a pond, and there are dozens of them in the southeastern section. These feed its many streams, and when Eager wrote his history he said there was not one town in the county that had not water power to some extent. Beginning in the northern part of the Highlands in Cornwall the lake-and-pond system extends through the towns of Highland and Monroe to Greenwood Lake, thence west and north to Big Meadow Pond in the Highlands. Greenwood Lake, in Warwick, is the largest body of water in the county. It is about nine miles long and one wide, is partly in New Jersey, and is a feeder for the Morris Canal. Sutherland's Pond, half a mile long, southeast from Cro'-nest Mountain, has an outlet which runs into Murderer's Creek. Big Meadow Pond, in Highlands, covers about 300 acres, and its outlet pours over the rocks of Buttermilk Falls. The waters of Round Pond flow into Long Pond under a natural bridge about 80 feet wide, but the stream is lost sight of until it emerges on the other side. This is similar to the outlet of Washington Lake in New Windsor, which emerges at Trout-hole and there becomes a fall of forty feet. Sterling Lake, at the beginning of the Warwick series, covers about sixty acres, and in 1751 iron works were established at its outlet. Round Pond, in Wawayanda, is in shape what its name implies, has no visible outlet, its water is clear, pure and deep, and it is about a mile in circumference. Thompson's Pond, in the northwestern part of Warwick, covers about 100 acres, feeds Quaker's Creek, and this outlet furnishes power for mills. Orange Lake, in Newburgh, covers about 100 acres. But all the lakes and ponds of Orange are too many to be named. They are almost as interesting a feature of the county as its streams.

Orange County is richer in alluviums than any other in the State, as they cover about 40,000 acres. The "Drowned Lands," as they were formerly called, include about forty square miles, and are partly in New Jersey, but mostly in New York, extending in Orange from Cheeunk Outlet in Goshen through Wawayanda and Minisink to the New Jersey line, and covering about 17,000 acres. They contain a number of fertile islands, and thousands of acres of the waste lands have been recovered by means of an artificial outlet, which, at first a mere ditch, has been deepened and widened by the flowing water until the principal flow is through it. These recovered lands are rich and productive. They are belted by the Wallkill and three creeks, and the Wallkill's course through them is long because so crooked. The Gray Court meadows extend from near Craigville in Blooming Grove into the northern part of Chester, and embrace about 500 acres, which are nearly all under cultivation and very productive. They are drained by Cromeline Creek. The Black Meadows, in Chester and Warwick, are about 1,000 acres in extent, and Black Meadow Creek flows through them. Long Swamp, in Warwick, also contains about 1,000 acres, and is drained into New Jersey. Great Pine Swamp extends northward from Howells on the Erie railroad seven miles in the town of Wallkill, and embraces many oases and cultivated farms. There are several other scattered areas of swamp lands. In the marl and peat beds in several localities many bones of the extinct mastodon have been found, including two complete skeletons. One of the latter was taken from a bed near Coldenham in 1845, and weighed 1,995 pounds, and the other from a bed in the town of Mt. Hope, and weighed 1,700 pounds.

The topography of the county has been changed somewhat by its railroads, of which there are 250 miles, not including double trackage or trolley roads. The following places in towns extending across the county have each direct railroad communication north, east, south and west: Port Jervis, Middletown, Campbell Hall, Goshen, Chester and Newburgh. The wagon roads are numerous, generally good, and are charming arteries for carriages and automobiles.

The geology of Orange County is as varied as its topography. Along the eastern feet of the Shawangunk Mountains are Heidelberg limestones, gray and Medina sandstones, shales and grits, and the mountain rocks are mostly sandstones, shales and grits. The grits extend along the top of the range through the county and are from 60 to 150 feet thick. Heidelberg limestone extends from the Mamakating valley to the Delaware River. Grit and red rocks are on the west side of Greenwood Lake, and grit of various colors extends from Round Hill to Woodcock Mountain, and is also found in the southwest base of the Schunnemunk range and in Pine Hill. Grawacke is the rock on the southeast side of the Bellvale range in Warwick, and is found in the town of Blooming Grove in the Schunnemunk range. The Hudson River group occupies a large part of the surface of the county, and consists of slates, shales, grits, limestones, breccias and conglomerates. It extends from the Hudson River through Warwick to the Jersey line, and from the Hudson at Cornwall Landing to four miles above Newburgh. It is stratified with grawacke and grawacke slate. It forms the surface rock of the most of Goshen and Blooming Grove, and parts of Cornwall, New Windsor, Newburgh, Montgomery, Hamptonburgh, Crawford, Wallkill, Mt. Hope and Minisink. Dark Utica slate is found on the banks of the Hudson near Newburgh. Trenton limestone appears in Hamptonburgh near Mount Lookout, and this mountain is composed of Black River limestone, which is also found on Big Island in the Drowned Lands and in Minisink. There is a bed of blue limestone about a mile wide extending from the Hudson at Hampton southeasterly through Newburgh into New Windsor. It is also found in the towns of Cornwall, Blooming Grove, Warwick, Monroe and Goshen. Oolitic limestone is on Big Island, near New Milford, and on Pochunck Neck.

Slate rocks of the Taconic system are above Newburgh, and its limestone between the Highlands and Grove Pond Mountain. Its white limestone appears in Warwick, where it is in narrow ridges separated by other rocks. It is also found along the shore of the Drowned Lands at Amity, and near Fort Montgomery in the Highlands, from which it may be traced by way of Little Pond across the Ramapo. In some localities it is so white as to be translucent. Many different minerals are found in it.

The primary rocks of the county consist of gneiss, hornblende, granite, sienite, limestone, serpentine, angite and trappeau. They extend over parts of several towns, and several mountains and hills are composed of them. Granite is found at the foot of Butter Hill, sienite at Butter Hill and on the east side of Bare Mountain at West Point, gneiss along the Highlands, mica and slate north of Fort Montgomery, angite rock between West Point and Round Pond and at several points in Monroe, greenstone trap at Tuxedo Pond, granular limestone at Cro'-nest and Butter Hill. Quartz rock and hornblende are all along the Highlands and in Monroe and Warwick. Crystalline serpentine is in the white limestone in Warwick, serpolite at Amity, yellow garnet at Edenville, soapstone in Monroe. Large sheets of mica are found southwest of the Forshee iron mine in Monroe, and in this mine, which embraces an entire hill, are red garnet, brown tremoline, carbonate of copper, serpentine, cocolite and umber. In the O'Neil mine, half a mile northeast of the Forshee mine, are crystallized magnetic ore, magnetic and copper pyrites, carbonate of copper, serpentine, amianthus, asbestos, brown and rhombic spars, angite, cocolite, feldspar and mica.

There are beds of arsenical and titanium ores in Warwick and a bed of hemolite ore near Canterbury village. Magnetic oxide of iron abounds in the primitive rocks of the Highlands, and at West Point is associated with hornblende. Beds of lead have been opened at Edenville and in the towns of Mt. Hope and Deer Park, and zinc and copper ores have been found in small quantities. The Sterling iron bed in Monroe, which was opened in 1781, extends over about thirty acres, and has produced so strong an ore that it has been much used in the manufacture of cannon. There are a number of other iron mines. Searches for the traditional silver, gold, lead and tin mines have been without satisfactory results.

Many evidences of glacial action in Orange County include masses of boulders scattered in places throughout the county. These are mostly of granite and gneiss, and there is occasionally one of grawacke. The eastern slope of the Shawangunk Mountains gives evidence of the passage there of an enormous glacier, which ground the rocks into the rich soil that has been cultivated there for 200 years. Some of the county's drift deposits are valuable for casting, brick and pottery making, lithographic stones and glass.

The soil of the semicircular plateau from the Highlands of the Hudson to the Dans Kamer is mostly a mixture of gravel, sand and clay, which form a warm and fertile loam. That of the wide Wallkill valley is alluvium mixed with clay, sand and gravel and is easily worked and richly productive. So is the soil brought down from the hills in the town of Deer Park. The lands on the islands of the Drowned Lands are among the richest in the county. The alluvium of the Otterkill is a sandy and gravelly loam. In other sections of the county there is an alternating variety of soils, rich, medium and poor.

[CHAPTER V.]

EARLY GOVERNMENT

Until after the conquest of New York by the English in 1664 Holland methods of government, with a local government for each town, prevailed. The next year the English introduced courts and sheriffs. In 1682 Thomas Dongan was appointed governor, with directions to organize a council of not more than ten "eminent inhabitants," and issue writs for the election by freeholders of a general assembly, the members of which should consult with the governor and his council as to what laws were necessary for the good government of the province. The first meeting of the first general assembly was in New York in 1683, and it passed fourteen acts, which were assented to by the governor and his council. One of them established twelve counties, as follows: New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Westchester, Albany, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Duke's and Cornwall.

Except Orange, to be in the care of New York, and Ulster, to be in the care of Dutchess, the counties were to be entitled to representation in future general assemblies. Another act established town courts to be held for the trial of minor cases each month; county courts and courts of sessions, to be held quarterly or half-yearly; a general court of oyer and terminer, with original and appellate power, to be held twice a year in each county; and a court of chancery, or supreme court, composed of the governor and his council, for which the governor was empowered to deputize a chancellor to act in his place.

This was the system of administering justice eight years. Then, in 1691, Courts of Justices of Peace were organized in each town, and Courts of Common Pleas for each county. In 1701 an act was passed requiring justices of the peace in each county to meet once a year at a Court of Sessions, to examine and allow necessary charges against the county and its towns.

There were supervisors, assessors and collectors in each town from the first, and in 1691 the freeholders of each town were empowered to choose three surveyors to lay out and look after highways and fences, and also to ordain laws and rules for the improvement of village, pasturage and other lands.

Such were the laws which directed the early administration of government in Orange County.

For many years previous to 1701 Orange County shared in serious corruptions and frauds which were prevalent in the province. The Assembly which convened in 1698 was so turbulent and brought so much confusion into its councils that Governor Bellomont, who succeeded Governor Fletcher that year, dissolved it and ordered a new election, taking care that the untrustworthy sheriffs of his predecessor were retired from the management. Protests were made to the King, but without avail. The Governor had been clothed with power to correct abuses, to veto any law, and "to adjourn, prorogue and dissolve the Assembly." The new Assembly, which consisted of seven Englishmen and fourteen Dutchmen, instituted some important reforms. It nullified grants to large tracts of lands, regulated election methods, and provided punishments for frauds. Unfortunately Governor Bellomont died in 1701, before some of his plans could be carried into effect, and Lord Cornbury was appointed as his successor, and acquired the distinction of being "the worst of all the Governors under the English crown." He was notoriously ill-mannered, dishonest, rapacious, and openly vicious. The Assembly refused grants of money which he asked for, and asserted the rights of the people, declaring that they could not "be justly divested of their property without their consent." Thus began in New York the preliminary struggle which brought on the Revolution, ending in the establishment of the Republic, in which the representatives of Orange earnestly assisted.

The first sessions of the Court of Common Pleas and of justices of the peace as a Board of Supervisors were held in Orangetown in April, 1703. The court justices were William Merritt and John Merritt. The supervisors were William and John Merritt, Cornelius Cypher, Tunis Van Ronton, Thomas Burroughs and Michael Hawdon. The sheriff was John Perry, the clerk was William Haddleston, and the constable was Conradt Hanson. Orange and Ulster County people were then required to do their surrogate business in New York. This was continued until 1751, when the Court of Common Pleas of the county was empowered to take proof of wills and grant letters of administration. The Court of Common Pleas was an institution of the county until 1847, when the County Court was substituted. The Supreme Court began holding sessions in Orange in 1704, and was succeeded by Circuit Courts established under the Constitution of 1821, as these were by the judicial system of 1846, consisting of a Supreme Court, Circuit Court, and Court of Oyer and Terminer. Surrogate's Courts were not established until 1854. In 1727 the original county was divided into two court districts, and the sessions were held alternately in Orangetown and Goshen, the former being the shire town. Not until 1798 was Goshen made the shire town, when the sessions alternated between Goshen and Newburgh, an arrangement which still continues.

The first public buildings for the original county were constructed at Orangetown in 1703. In 1740 a building of wood and stone for court house and jail was erected in Goshen, at a cost of 100 pounds, and was torn down about 1776. a new stone court-house having been erected in 1773 to take its place, at a cost of 1,400 pounds. The old Orange court-house had been replaced by a new structure in 1704, and some years afterward was destroyed by fire. The Goshen building came into the present county when it was reorganized under the Act of 1775. It was two stories high, with a court-room on the second floor, and on the first a sheriff's office and dwelling, and a dungeon for prisoners. During the Revolution Tories and war prisoners were confined in it, one of them being John Hett Smith, arrested for complicity in Arnold's treason, and who managed to escape. A third story was added to this building about 1800, and on the new floor were a main jail room, a dungeon with one grated window which could be completely darkened, and three other rooms for the county clerk, surrogate and jailer respectively. Above were a cupola and bell. Court-houses were erected in Goshen and Newburgh in 1842, by authority of an act of the Legislature, the Newburgh building at a cost of $17,000 and the Goshen building at a cost of $13,000. The latter structure has been completely remodeled lately, and is now a fine, up-to-date building. The county clerk's office in Goshen—a one-story brick building—was constructed in 1851. and the building there for the surrogate and supervisors in 1874, at a cost of $7,400.

The county house for the poor, four miles south of Goshen, was built in 1830 at a cost of $11,000 for the building and $1,000 for 128 acres of land. The building has since been improved and is now 50 by 100 feet and 3-1/2 stories high. In 1848 a building for the insane was added, which is 30 by 50 feet, and in 1865 a separate building for colored people was erected. In 1875 another building for the chronic insane was erected, the cost of which was $20,000, and its dimensions 80 by 40 feet and 4-1/2 stories high. The farm has been increased to 263 acres, 200 of which are tillable, and has been provided with the requisite outbuildings.

[CHAPTER VI.]

EARLY MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS.

In the section of Orange County taken from Ulster the first two companies of militia were organized before 1738. The regiment to which they were attached consisted of nine companies, located as follows: Kingston 3, Marbletown 1, Wallkill 1, Hurley 1, Rochester 1, New Paltz 1, Highlands 1.

The regimental officers were: Colonel, A. Gaasbeck Chambers; lieutenant-colonel, Wessel Ten Broeck; major, Coenradt F. Elmendorf; quartermaster, Cornelius Elmendorf.

The following lists give the names of the officers and privates in the territory which is now a part of Orange County:

Foot Company of the Highlands.

Officers: Captain, Thomas Ellison; ensign, John Young; sergeants, David Davids, Moses Gariston, P. McCloghery; corporals, Jacobus Bruyn, James Stringham; Jonah Hazard; clerk, Charles Clinton.

The names of the privates were as follows:

Total, 85.

Company of the Wallkill.

Officers: Captain, John Bayard; lieutenant, William Borland; ensign, William Kelso; sergeant, John Newkirk; corporal, John Miller.

The names of the privates were as follows:

Total, 114.

The following, found in the records of the original County of Orange, is entitled "A List of Officers Belonging to the Regiment of Foot Militia in the County of Orange, in the Province of New York," and is dated June 20, 1738:

Officers of Foot Militia.

Colonel, Vincent Mathews; lieutenant-colonel, Solomon Carpenter; major, George Remsen; adjutant, Michael Jackson; quartermaster, James Thompson.

First Company: Captain, Ram. Remsen; lieutenant, Cornelius Smith; ensign, Ebenezer Smith. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, sixty-three private men. In all, 73.

Second Company: Captain, Samuel Odell; lieutenant, Henry Cuyper; ensign, Benjamin Allison. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, fifty-eight private men. In all, 68.

Third Company: Captain, John Holly; lieutenant, Michael Dunning; ensign, Sol. Carpenter, Jr. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, one hundred and eleven private men. In all, 121.

Fourth Company: Captain, Jacobus Swartwout; lieutenant, Johannes Westbrook; ensign, Johannes Westbrook, Jr. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, fifty-five private men. In all, 65.

Fifth Company: Captain, Nathaniel Du Bois: lieutenant, David Southerland; ensign, Isaac Hennion. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, sixty-three private men. In all, 73.

Sixth Company: Captain, Abraham Haring, Jr.; lieutenant, Garret Beanvelt; ensign, John Haring. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, sixty-two private men. In all, 72.

Seventh Company: Captain, Jacob Vanderbilt; lieutenant, Andrew Onderdonk; ensign, Aaron Smith. Three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, fifty private men. In all, 60.

Troop of Horse: Captain, Henry Youngs; lieutenant, William Mapes; cornet, Michael Jackson. Two sergeants, two corporals, one trumpeter, fifty-two private men. In all, 60.

Total officers and soldiers, 595; sub-officers, 56 foot.

In 1756 the Ulster regiment was divided into two regiments. Kingston was included in the northern one, and the southern was embraced in the precincts of Highlands, Wallkill and Shawangunk. These regiments took part in the French and Indian War.

In September, 1773, the officers of the Southern Regiment were: Colonel, Thomas Ellison; lieutenant-colonel, Charles Clinton; major, Cadwallader Colden, Jr.; adjutant, Johannes Jansen.

In 1775 the New York Provincial Congress passed a law for organizing militia which provided that counties, cities and precincts should be divided, so that a company might be formed in each district to consist of about 85 men, including officers, between the ages of 16 and 50 years; that these should be formed into regiments of from five to ten companies each; that the regiments should be classed in six brigades, under a brigadier-general and brigade major, and the entire force should be commanded by a major-general.

The Fourth Brigade when formed consisted of five Orange County regiments, the colonels of which were William Allison of Goshen, Jesse Woodhull of Cornwall, John Hathorn of Warwick, A. Hawkes Hay of Orangetown, and Abraham Lent of Haverstraw. The four Ulster County regiments were commanded by Johannes Hardenberg of Kingston, James Clinton of New Windsor, Lee Pawling of Marbletown, and Jonathan Hasbrouck of Newburgh.

Colonel Allison's regimental district consisted of Goshen and the western part of Orange County. Colonel Hathorn's of Warwick and the southern section, Colonel Woodhulls of Cornwall (then including Monroe and Blooming Grove), Colonel Hasbrouck's of Newburgh, Marlborough and Shawangunk, and Colonel Clinton's of Windsor, Montgomery, Crawford and Wallkill. The other four regiments belonged to territory now outside of the county.

Colonel Allison's Regiment.

William Allison, colonel; Benjamin Tusten, lieutenant-colonel.

Goshen Company, 1775: George Thompson, captain; Joseph Wood and Coe Gale, lieutenants; Daniel Everett, Jr., ensign. In 1776 Lieutenant Coe and Ensign Everett were transferred to a minute company, and in their places William Thompson was appointed second lieutenant and Phineas Case, ensign.

Wawayanda Company, 1775: William Blair, captain; Thomas Wisner and Thomas Sayne, Jr., lieutenants; Richard Johnson, ensign.

Drowned Lands Company, 1775: Samuel Jones, Jr., captain; Peter Gale and Jacob Dunning, lieutenants; Samuel Webb, ensign.

Chester Company, 1775: John Jackson, captain; John Wood and James Miller, lieutenants; James Parshal, ensign.

Pochuck Company, 1775: Ebenezer Owen, captain; Increase Holly and John Bronson, lieutenants; David Rogers, ensign. In 1776: Increase Holly, captain; David Rogers and James Wright, lieutenants; Charles Knapp, ensign.

Wallkill Company, 1775: Gilbert Bradner, captain; Joshua Davis and James Dolson, lieutenants; Daniel Finch, ensign.

Minisink Company, 1775: Moses Kortright, captain: Jolin Van Tile and Johannes Decker, lieutenants; Ephraim Medaugh, ensign. In 1777 Martinus Decker became second lieutenant vice Johannes Decker.

Colonel Hathorn's Regiment.

John Hathorn, colonel.

Warwick Company, 1775: Charles Beardsley, captain; Richard Welling and Samuel Lobdell, lieutenants; John Price, ensign. In 1776 John Minthorn became captain in place of Beardsley, deceased; Nathaniel Ketcham and George Vance, lieutenants; John Benedict, ensign.

Pond Company, 1775: Henry Wisner, Jr., captain; Abraham Dolson, Jr., and Peter Bartholf, lieutenants; Matthew Dolson, ensign. In 1776: Abraham Dolson, Jr., captain; Peter Bartholf and John Hopper, lieutenants; Mathias Dolson, ensign. In 1777: Peter Bartholf, captain; John De Bow and Anthony Finn, lieutenants; Joseph Jewell, ensign.

Sterling Company, 1776: John Norman, captain; Solomon Finch and William Fitzgerald, lieutenants; Elisha Bennett, ensign. In 1777: Henry Townsend, captain; William Fitzgerald and Elisha Bennett, lieutenants; Joseph Conkling, ensign.

Florida Company, 1775: Nathaniel Elmer, captain; John Popino, Jr., and John Sayre, lieutenants; Richard Bailey, ensign. In 1776: John Kennedy, lieutenant, vice Popino. In 1777: John Sayre, captain; John Kennedy and Richard Bailey, lieutenants; John Wood, ensign.

Wantage Company, 1775: Daniel Rosekrans, captain; Janus Clark and Jacob Gale, lieutenants; Samuel Cole, ensign.

Colonel Wooodhull's Regiment.

Jesse Woodhull, colonel; Elihu Marvin, lieutenant-colonel; Nathaniel Strong and Zachariah Du Bois, majors: William Moffat, adjutant; Nathaniel Satterly, quartermaster.

Oxford Company, 1775: Archibald Little, captain; Birdseye Youngs and Thomas Horton, lieutenants; Nathan Marvin, ensign. In 1777: Thomas Horton, captain; Josiah Seeley, first lieutenant; Nathan Marvin, second lieutenant; Barnabas Horton, Jr., ensign.

Clove Company, 1775: Jonathan Tuthill, captain; John Brewster, Jr., and Samuel Strong, lieutenants; Francis Brewster, ensign.

Bethlehem Company, 1775: Christopher Van Duzer, captain; William Roe and Obadiah Smith, lieutenants; Isaac Tobias, ensign. In 1776: Gilbert Weeks, ensign.

Upper Clove Company, 1775: Garrett Miller, captain; Asa Buck and William Horton, lieutenants; Aaron Miller, ensign.

Woodbury Clove Company, 1775: Francis Smith, captain; Thomas Smith and Alexander Galloway, lieutenants; John McManus, ensign. In 1776: John McManus, second lieutenant; Thomas Lammoreux, ensign.

Southwest Company, 1775: Stephen Slote, captain; George Galloway and John Brown, lieutenants; David Rogers, ensign.

Blooming Grove Company, 1775: Silas Pierson, captain; Joshua Brown and David Reeve, lieutenants; Phineas Heard, ensign.

Light Horse Company, 1776: Ebenezer Woodhull, captain; James Sayre, lieutenant; William Heard, cornet; Azariah Martin, second master.

Colonel Hasbrouck's Regiment.

Jonathan Hasbrouck, colonel; Johannes Hardenburgh, Jr., lieutenant-colonel; Johannes Jansen, Jr., and Lewis Du Bois, majors; Abraham Schoonmaker, adjutant; Isaac Belknap, quartermaster.

Clark's Newburgh Company, June 8, 1788: Samuel Clark, captain; James Denton and Martin Wygant, lieutenants; Munson Ward, ensign; William Albertson, Isaac Brown, Ebenezer Gidney and Hope Mills, sergeants; Hugh Stevenson, Isaac Demott, John Simson and William Palmer, corporals; Sol Buckingham, drummer.

Conklin's Newburgh Company, May 4, 1778: Jacob Conklin, captain; Jacob Lawrence and David Guion, lieutenants; John Crowell, ensign; Robert Erwin, Robert Ross, John Lawrence and Abraham Strickland, sergeants; Jacob Strickland, corporal; Abraham Smith, drummer.

Smith's Newburgh Company, April 24, 1779: Arthur Smith, captain; Isaac Fowler and John Foster, lieutenants; William Conklin, John Kniffin, James Clark and Reuben Holmes, sergeants; William Smith, William Michael and Samuel Griggs, corporals.

Colonel Clinton's Regiment.

James Clinton, colonel; James McClaughry, lieutenant-colonel; Jacob Newkirk and Moses Phillips, majors; George Denniston, adjutant; Alexander Trimble, quartermaster.

Eastern New Windsor Company, 1775: John Belknap, captain; Silas Wood and Edward Falls, lieutenants; James Stickney, ensign.

Western New Windsor Company, 1776: James Humphrey, captain; James Karnaghan, second lieutenant; Richard Wood, ensign.

New Windsor Village Company, 1775: John Nicoll, captain; Francis Mandeville and Hezekiah White, lieutenants; Leonard D. Nicoll, ensign.

First Hanover Company, 1775: Matthew Felter, captain; Henry Smith and Johannes Newkirk, Jr., lieutenants; William Crist, ensign.

Second Hanover Company, 1775: William Jackson, captain; Arthur Parks and James McBride, lieutenants; Andrew Neeley, ensign.

Third Hanover Company, 1775: Cadwallader C. Colden, captain; James Milligan and John Hunter, lieutenants; Matthew Hunter, ensign.

Fourth Hanover Company, 1775: John J. Graham, captain; Samuel Barkley and Joseph Crawford, lieutenants; James McCurdy, ensign.

Fifth Hanover Company, 1775: John Gillespie, captain; Jason Wilkins and Robert Hunter, Jr., lieutenants; Samuel Gillespie, ensign.

First Wallkill Company, 1775: Samuel Watkins, captain; David Crawford and Stephen Harlow, lieutenants; Henry Smith, ensign.

Second Wallkill Company, 1775: William Faulkner, Jr., captain; Edward McNeal and John Wilkins, lieutenants; John Faulkner, ensign.

Third Wallkill Company, 1775: Isaiah Velie, captain; Israel Wickham and John Dunning, lieutenants; Jonathan Owen, ensign.

Fourth Wallkill Company, 1775: William Denniston, captain; Benjamin Velie and Joseph Gillet, lieutenants; David Corwin, Jr., ensign.

Of the Hanover companies the First had been known as Captain Newkirk's Company, the Second as Captain Goldsmith's, the Third as Captain Colden's, the Fourth as Captain Crage's, and the Fifth as Captain Galatian's.

Of Wallkill companies the First was located on the east side of the Wallkill, the Second on the west side, between the Wallkill and Little Shawangunk Kill, the Third south of the Second, between the Wallkill and the Little Shawangunk, and the fourth northwest of Little Shawangunk Kill.

During the service of these organizations in the War of the Revolution there were many changes in the commands. They were home guards. In case of alarm, invasion or insurrection, the companies were instructed to march and oppose the enemy, and immediately send an express to the commander of the regiment or brigade, who was to control their movements.

Under a law passed by the Continental Congress in May, 1775, three companies of minute men were raised in the southern district of Ulster, with the following officers:

Newburgh Minute Company: Uriah Drake, captain; Jacob Lawrence and William Ervin, lieutenants; Thomas Dunn, ensign.

New Windsor Minute Company: Samuel Logan, captain; John Robinson, ensign; David Mandeville and John Scofield, sergeants.

Hanover Minute Company: Peter Hill, captain; James Latta and Nathaniel Hill, lieutenants; William Goodyear, ensign.

These companies and one organized in Marlborough formed a regiment which was officered as follows:

Thomas Palmer, colonel; Thomas Johnston, Jr., lieutenant-colonel; Arthur Parks, first major; Samuel Logan, second major; Isaac Belknap, quartermaster.

Another regiment was formed from two companies organized in Goshen and Cornwall, with the following officers:

Cornwall Minute Company: Thomas Moffat, captain; Seth Marvin and James Little, lieutenants; Nathan Strong, ensign, who was succeeded by William Bradley.

Goshen Minute Company: Moses Hetfield, captain; Cole Gale and Daniel Everett, lieutenants. Later James Butler and William Barker were chosen lieutenants and William Carpenter ensign.

The officers of the regiment were:

Isaac Nicoll, colonel; Gilbert Cooper, lieutenant-colonel; Henry V. Verbeyck, first major; Hezekiah Howell, Jr., second major; Ebenezer Woodhull, adjutant; Nehemiah Carpenter, quartermaster.

Both of these regiments of minute men were on duty in the Highlands in 1775-6; but the system did not work satisfactorily, and in June, 1776, Congress repealed the law.

Three drafts were made in 1776 to reinforce the army—in June, July and September. Under the first draft Orange County sent three companies and Ulster four to the vicinity of New York City, as a part of General John Morin Scott's Brigade. The second draft took one-fourth of the militia under Colonels Nicoll and Pauling, constituting a brigade under General George Clinton. By the third sixty-two men were drawn from Colonel Hasbrouck's Regiment, and were a part of 600 men which reinforced the garrisons at Forts Clinton and Montgomery.

In July, 1776, companies of rangers were organized for the protection of the frontiers, and three of them were raised in Ulster County, under Captains Isaac Belknap of Newburgh, Jacob De Witt of Deer Park, and Elias Hasbrouck of Kingston.

Of the four "Continental" Regiments organized in 1775 to serve six months, the one commanded by Colonel James Clinton was largely composed of Orange and Ulster County men. Orange furnished two companies—Captain Daniel Denton's of Goshen and Captain John Nicholson's of New Windsor. The four regiments were in the expedition to Canada in 1775.

Under a call by Congress of January 8, 1776, for troops to reinforce the army in Canada, New York furnished one battalion. A second call was made on January 19, under which New York was required to furnish four.

[CHAPTER VII.]

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

The French and Indian War was the result of rivalry between France and England for the possession of disputed territories in North America, and the Indians along the Delaware and other frontiers became allies of the French because they believed they had been cheated by the English and Dutch colonists, and were stimulated to hostility against them by French agents.

In 1754 England directed her colonies to oppose with arms the encroachments of the French, although the two nations were then at peace, and obedience to this command from the crown brought on the cruel war of 1755. In February of that year New York voted 40,000 pounds sterling to defray war expenses, and ordered a levy of 800 men to co-operate with troops of other colonies in the impending struggle. The law also declared that slaves were liable to military duty, and if over 14 years of age they were forbidden to be found more than a mile from their master's residence without his certificate of permission, and "if one of them were so found any white person might kill him without being liable to prosecution."

Along the Delaware River the Indians had been complaining that the whites appropriated lands which they had not bought, and by getting them drunk had defrauded them of the purchase money for their lands and their furs. These complaints led the Pennsylvania proprietaries to call a council, with the head chiefs of the Six Nations as arbitrators, and by bribing these chiefs with presents they obtained from them a decision which obliged the Delawares, then wards of the Senecas, to give up their lands and move to Wyoming. Soon whites followed them and bought in fraudulent ways their Wyoming lands. This angered the Senecas, and they drove away their chief who had aided the whites, and bade the Delawares defend their homes. The eastern and western chiefs met at Allegheny, rehearsed their grievances, and resolved on vengeance. The bloody scenes that followed have seldom been surpassed in barbarous cruelty and cunning, and the ravages of the Minsis were mostly confined to the western frontiers of Orange and Ulster Counties within the limits of the original Minisink patent.

The settlers of the Minisink observed that the Indians there, including squads who had been friendly, had suddenly disappeared, and the few that remained said they had gone west to join hostile tribes. Foreseeing trouble, some of the settlers sent their wives and children to places of comparative safety, and a well-settled region on the west side of the Wallkill, eight by fifteen miles in extent, was abandoned, some of the residents moving to the east side and others far away. Before they moved seven men and one woman had been killed by the Indians. In 1756, pending negotiations for peace, four men and two women were killed in the Minisink. Three of the men went into the harvest field with their guns and laid them down, when concealed Indians seized them, shot the men dead and scalped them. At Fort Westfall, which the Indians tried to capture by surprise, there was a fight in which several Indians and seven soldiers were killed. A large party of Indians attacked the upper fort at Neversink, which was well garrisoned, but the fort took fire from a burning barn near it, and its inmates had to leave. Only one of them escaped the Indian bullets and tomahawks, and among the killed was the wife of the captain, who was absent. Only a colored woman, hidden from view by the smoke, escaped. The captain returned a day or two afterwards, and took an oath of vengeance by the grave of his wife. A man named Owen was killed by strolling Indians in Asa Dolsen's meadow in the northwestern part of present Wawayanda, and Dolsen immediately moved to Goshen. David Cooley lived near him, and his wife was shot dead as she was walking from her house to an outdoor oven. In 1758, on the New Jersey frontier, one day, when Nicholas Cole was absent from home, thirteen Indians rushed in, tomahawked and scalped his two daughters and a son-in-law, and carried off his wife and a young son. When Cole returned the Indians were followed and frightened, and allowed the wife and boy to escape. In June of the same year a sergeant and several men went from Wawarsing block-house to Minisink, and not returning, a large party went in search of them and found seven killed and scalped, and three wounded, and that a woman and four children had been carried off. About this time a house containing seventeen persons was beset by Indians and all of them were killed. They carried off a little son of Mr. Westfall in Minisink, and he never saw his father again, but when the latter died, he came back with an interpreter after his inheritance. The persuasions and pecuniary offers of his mother could not induce him to abandon his life in the wilderness.

It was in 1758 that Governor Hardy caused a series of block-houses to be erected along the western frontier, which were a protection for the whites and a restraint to the Indians. In the latter part of that year negotiations with the head chief of the Delawares, Teedyusking, stopped hostilities for a time. The Minsis were paid for their lands in the Minisink, and the titles of the proprietaries were referred to the Government for adjustment. But subsequently "the Indian allies of the French" held the frontier in terror until after the fall of Montreal and Quebec, when all of French Canada was transferred to British authority.

In an address before the Newburgh Historical Society in 1885, E. M. Ruttenber said:

"In common with its associate regiments in Orange and Ulster, Colonel Ellison's Regiment had no little service in the French and Indian War of 1756, on the western frontier of the county, where the Minsis were scattering firebrands and death in their rebellion against the domination of the Six Nations, and for the recovery of the lands in the Minisink patent, of which they had been defrauded, and in 1757 marched to Fort Edward to aid Sir William Johnston. How great was the service performed or by whom personally we may never know. The depredations of the Minsis were terrible; the settlements west of the Wallkill were perpetually harassed, and many of them broken up; men were killed in the fields and in their houses; women and children became the victims of the scalping knife."

Colonel Ellison wrote in 1757:

"It is but too well known by the late numerous murders committed on our borders that the County of Ulster and the north end of Orange have become the only frontier part of the province left unguarded and exposed to the cruel incursions of the Indian enemy, and the inhabitants of these parts have been obliged to perform very hard military duty for these two years past, in ranging the woods and guarding the frontiers, these two counties keeping out almost constantly from fifty to one hundred men—sometimes by false detachments of the militia, and at other times by voluntary subscriptions—nay, often two hundred men, which has been an insupportable burden on the people, and yet all the militia of these parts are ordered to march to Fort Edward, while the officers had no orders to guard the frontier."

Mention may be made here of a famous character of the Minisink. whose unequaled career of revenge against Indians began during the French and Indian War. His name was Thomas Quick. His father was kind and hospitable to the Indians, and was shot dead while at work in his field by some of them whom he had entertained. Thomas, who was near him, and was then almost a youth, managed to escape. Over his father's grave he took an oath to avenge his death, and afterward to kill Indians became the passion of his life. It was said that he shot eighty-seven of them, the last one being the chief murderer of his father. He went by the name of "the Indian slayer." He was marvelously alert and cunning, escaped all of the many efforts of Indians to kill him, and finally died of old age. A monument has been erected to his memory in Milford, Pa.

[CHAPTER VIII.]

WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

The most interesting period of our national history was its beginnings in protests against oppressive demands and acts by the mother country, followed by a revolutionary resort to arms, and in these beginnings Orange County took a conspicuous part.

The non-importation resolutions adopted by the Continental Congress in 1774 drew the line of issue between Great Britain and her North American colonies, which started the war for independence. Perhaps their most significant feature was a call for the organization of committees of safety in every city, county, precinct and town. In the original County of Orange the people had held a convention in Goshen, which sent a delegate, Henry Wisner, to Congress, who voted for and signed the non-importation resolutions; and in the towns of Newburgh, New Windsor, Hanover, Wallkill and Goshen an opposition pamphlet which had been scattered broadcast was publicly burned and the desired committees of safety promptly selected. On April 29, 1774, the committee in New York drew up a pledge and sent it to all the counties and towns for signatures. The pledge was as follows:

"Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety; and convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of ____ do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves; and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor, and love of our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures are recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles (which we most ardently desire) can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and property."

When the signed pledges were returned to the Provincial Convention in New York it invested the committees of safety with power to appoint assessors and collectors, and these, with the committees, were directed to assess, raise and collect the quotas required for the support of the home government, and empowered to enforce collection from defaulters by "distress upon their goods and chattels." They might also arrest persons inimical to the measures which had been or might be taken. These powers were afterward enlarged by Congress, and the committees empowered to suppress the enemies of the revolutionary government. Legislative duties devolved upon the Provincial Convention until 1777, when the first Constitution of New York was adopted, and meanwhile the committees of safety attended to the execution of its laws. Methods differed somewhat in different counties. In Orange the precincts chose committees, and these constituted the county committee. A signature to the pledge formulated by Congress was regarded as evidence of loyalty to the revolutionary cause.

In the precinct lists of the Orange County signers of the pledge the signatures in Goshen embraced the present towns of Goshen, Chester, Warwick, Wawayanda, Greenville, and a part of Blooming Grove; in Mamakating those of Mt. Hope and Deer Park; Cornwall and Highlands were included in Cornwall; in Monroe parts of Blooming Grove and the present county of Rockland; in Newburgh, New Windsor and Wallkill with Newburgh. The signatures by precincts were as follows:

Precinct of Newburgh.

Precinct of New Windsor.

Precinct of Mamakating

Precinct of Goshen.

Minisink District.

Blooming Grove District

Precinct of Cornwall.

In Newburgh precinct the "Committee of Safety and Observation," appointed January 27, 1775, consisted of Wolvert Acker, Jonathan Hasbrouck, Thomas Palmer, John Belknap, Joseph Coleman, Moses Higby, Samuel Sands, Stephen Case, Isaac Belknap, Benjamin Birdsall and John Robinson.

In New Windsor precinct the committee appointed May 6, 1775, consisted of Col. James Clinton, Capt. James McClaughry, John Nicoll, John Nicholson, Nathan Smith, Robert Boyd, Jr., Samuel Brewster, Samuel Sly, Samuel Logan. In May, 1776, the committee became: Samuel Brewster, chairman; Robert Boyd, Jr., Nathan Smith, Hugh Humphrey, George Denniston, John Nicholl, Col. James McClaughry, Samuel Arthur.

In the precinct of Mamakating, John Young, chairman of committee, certified that the pledge was signed by all the freeholders and inhabitants of the precinct, June 26, 1775.

In the precinct of Goshen the committee appointed September 14, 1775, consisted in part of Isaac Nicoll, Benjamin Gale, Moses Hetfield, Daniel Everett, James Little, Joshua Davis, with Daniel Everett as Chairman. Later the names of John Hathorn, John Jackson, Henry Wisner, John Minthornes and Nathaniel Ketchum were chairman at different times.

In the Cornwall precinct, 1775, the committee consisted of Hezekiah Howell, Archibald Little, Elihu Marvin, Nathaniel Satterly, Nathaniel Strong, Jonathan Brooks, Stephen Gilbert, Zachariah Du Bois, with Thomas Moffat as chairman.

In the precinct of Hanover no names of pledge-signers were reported, but the committee, appointed May 8, 1775, consisted of Dr. Charles Clinton, chairman; Alexander Trimble, Arthur Parks, William Jackson, Henry Smith, Jacob Newkirk, James Latta, Philip Mole, John Wilkin, James McBride, James Milliken, Samuel Barkley.

In the precinct of Wallkill there was no return of pledge-signers, but the committee, Jan. 30, 1775, consisted of Abimael Youngs, chairman; James Wilkins, Hezekiah Gale, Moses Phillips, Henry Wisner, Jr.

The county committee of Orange in 1776 had Elihu Marvin, of Cornwall, for chairman, and David Pye was deputy chairman for Haverstraw and Orangetown. Robert Boyd, of New Windsor, was chairman for Ulster County.