We would like to give a list of the men who have served as

supervisors and also as elders of the church. Indeed our story could

well lengthen itself into a small volume were all to be told which

is of interest in our little town. We have tried to keep a class of

facts which hold more than a passing and local interest.

We have drawn for our material upon such published records as have

been within our reach, and have consulted with persons who have

knowledge of such points as may have been in dispute.

Let us hope we have wronged no one in anything said or left unsaid,

and have disseminated no more false facts than are unavoidable with

the most conscientious historians.

CHAPTER XIX.

TOWN OF HIGHLANDS.

By Captain Theodore Faurot.

This is one of the younger towns of Orange County, only those of

Tuxedo and Woodbury having been born later. It is, in fact, only

about thirty-five years old. But for scenic beauty and native charm

it easily outranks every other town in this county, if not all

others on the Hudson River. The fame of the Hudson River Highlands

is worldwide, and it is in this little town that the culmination of

this native grandeur and picturesque beauty is reached. No one who

has ever sailed up or down the Hudson, and who has not, will spend a

moment wondering why this township was thus named.

The general shape or contour of the town, laterally, may be roughly

classed as triangular. But the topographical surface is far more

difficult to classify. It has the most extended river frontage of any

town in the country, it being some nine or ten miles, beginning at

Cro' Nest, in the town of Cornwall on the north, and reaching below

Fort Montgomery, to the Rockland County line.

It is bounded on the north by the town of Cornwall, on the east by

the Hudson River, on the south by Rockland county and the town of

Woodbury, and on the west by Woodbury.

The area of this young town, as now estimated by the Orange

supervisors, is 15,514 acres. In 1879 it was placed at 9,324-1/2

acres. This fractional total would seem to indicate that a very

careful survey had been made previous to that time. But nobody has

been quite able to explain just how this unique engineering feat was

accomplished. Looking at the town from the river, the task presents

many features of serious import, even to the mountain engineer.

The whole thing was valued at $330,600 by the assessors of 1879. But

of course there was nothing allowed for sentiment or native grandeur

in that cold, business estimate. Perhaps such things really had no

cash value at that time, if indeed they have now. The tax of the town

that year amounted to $2,896.67. In 1906 the total value of this real

estate was placed at $857,112. Upon this amount a tax of $8,610.67

was levied. This was made up as follows: $3,474.20, general fund;

$4,423.37, town audits; $250.02, sworn off taxes; and $0.33,

treasurer's credits.

TITLE TO THE LANDS.

Concerning these, previous to the Revolution, little is definitely

known. The lands around the Point, from which West Point takes its

name, and to the north and west thereof, were originally granted by

the British Crown to Captain John Evans. In 1723 these lands, having

been re-assumed by the Crown, the larger portion was granted to

Charles Congreve upon condition that he, or his heirs and assigns,

should settle there and cultivate at least three acres out of every

fifty acres of land conveyed to him in the grant. The inference is,

therefore, that the first buildings at West Point were erected about

that time.

This Congreve tract comprised some 1,463 acres, which included the

northern portion of the Point. But the records do not give the names

of these early white settlers. In March, 1747, another portion of

this John Evans tract, covering 332 acres, was granted to John Moore,

on the same conditions contained in the first grant to Congreve. This

tract adjoined the southwest corner of the Congreve Patent. John

Moore afterward purchased the Congreve tract and thus became the

owner of 1,790 acres in the vicinity of the Point. This he

subsequently devised to his son, Stephen Moore, a merchant of

Caswell, N. C. Then after a forty-year tenure of this land by the

Moore family it was finally sold to the United States Government,

pursuant to an act of Congress passed July 5, 1790. The deed of

transfer was executed by Moore, December 10, of the same year. The

price paid was $11,085. The necessity of this purchase was urged upon

Congress by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, and

also by Henry Knox, who was then Secretary of War, who finally

conducted the negotiations for the purchase for the Government.

Captain John Evans obtained his original grant on petition, March,

1694, from Governor Dongan, who had purchased the land from the

Esopus Indians. It was described as extending "from Murderer's Creek

back," This stream finds the Hudson at Cornwall. Captain Gee, of the

ancient sloop Federal, who brought stores to West Point between 1790

and 1810, seems to have owned a dwelling house near the Point about

that time, when it was known as Gee's Point.

Adjoining the Congreve Patent on the south was one of the six tracts

originally granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, October 18, 1731,

under the conditions of settlement already named. This tract seems to

have passed to many successive owners, as follows:

Richard Williams, of Cornwall; Robert Armstrong, of Sussex County,

N. J.; Benjamin Rose, December 1, 1785; John Dunlap, of Ulster

County, September 6, 1788; and Thomas North, of Cornwall, November

22, 1704. North also purchased an adjoining tract on the south from

Isaiah Smith, June 3, 1790, and he held the whole tract for nearly

thirty years. Then it passed to Oliver Gridley, of Bergen County,

N. J., December 28, 1819. who deeded the same to the United States,

May 13, 1824, in accordance with the act of Congress, approved March

10, of that year.

At the time of the purchase of the Congreve and Moore grants by the

Government, Hugh McClellan, a Revolutionary soldier, occupied a small

house on the property. In recognition of his patriotic services in

that war he was permitted to remain and cultivate his garden by

Secretary of War John Knox. The old soldier spent the rest of his

life there, leaving a wife and a daughter on the premises. They

finally claimed the domicile by right of undisputed possession under

the laws of the State. But they were finally dispossessed by the

National Government in 1830, in an action for ejectment. {_sic_}

In addition to the patents already named the following list of

grants, covering other parts of this town of Highlands, are found on

the record: Gabriel and William Ludlow, 991 acres, October 13, 1731;

Alexander Phoenix, 1,000 acres, July 13, 1750; Thomas Moore and Lewis

Pintard, 1,100 acres, December 27, 1762; Samuel Staats, 400 acres,

June 5, 1712; Thomas Ellison, 770 acres, November 12, 1750; Richard

Bradley, 800 acres, July 30, 1743; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 407

acres, October 18, 1731; Vincent and David Matthews, 1,000 acres,

November 26, 1761; Gabriel and William Ludlow, 1,437 acres, October

18, 1731; Bradley children, 4,290 acres, October 30, 1749; Vincent

and David Matthews, 800 acres, November 26, 1768; William and Edward

Wilkin, 1,305 acres, April 15, 1768; John Osborne, 1,850 acres, March

14, 1775; Thomas Moore and Lewis Pintard 2,900 acres, December 23,

1762; Smith and Wilkin 100 acres, April 15, 1768; Moore and Osborne,

150 acres, March 14, 1775; Smith and Wilkin, 190 acres, April 15,

1768; John Nelson, 550 acres, October 4, 1752; Henry Townsend, 2,000

acres; Thomas Smith, 250 acres, June 14, 1750; the Hassenclever &

Co.'s tract, 1,000 acres, 1705.

Captain Horace M. Reeve, of the general staff of the United States

Army, in his history of West Point during the Revolution, says:

"Until the American troops began to cut timber for military purposes,

and to crown the surrounding hills with forts and redoubts, West

Point and the neighboring Highlands were little else than a

wilderness of rugged hills and virgin forests, presenting about the

same appearance as first greeted Hendrik Hudson when, in 1609, he

sailed up the river which now bears his name."

Hudson anchored near West Point September 14, 1609, and he was

probably the first European that ever saw that section.

Continuing, Captain Reeve says: "Although this tract of country could

never lend itself kindly to the agriculturist, yet before the advent

of the American soldier there were several houses standing at or near

West Point, which were subsequently used for purposes very foreign

to the peaceful intentions of their builders. Two of these became

noted. One was 'Moore's House' at West Point, used by Washington as

his headquarters during the whole, or a part, of the time he was

stationed at West Point--from July 21, 1779, until November 28. The

other was the 'Robinson House,' and was situated on the eastern shore

of the Hudson, about two miles below West Point. It was used as a

military hospital and afterward as the headquarters of several

successive general officers, among whom was Benedict Arnold, who was

in this house when apprised of Andre's capture. It was from this

house that Arnold made his escape."

The Moore house stood in Washington Valley, near the river, a short

distance from the northeast corner of the present cemetery. It was

built prior to 1749, and was a pretentious structure for that period,

being known as "Moore's Folly."

Every foot of land in these Highlands has its memories of the

Revolutionary War, and this town contains the culminating features of

native grandeur not only, but also the vital strategic point on the

famous river which figured so conspicuously in the war for

independence, and will continue to fill so many important pages of

our national history for all time to come.

These great hills of grandeur and beauty extend along the entire

river front from Stony Point on the south to old Storm King on the

north. Scientists tell us that these vast mountains of primitive rock

are composed of granite, gneiss and syenite, with veins of trap. But

regarding the formation of these towering masses of rock both

geologists and laymen have only speculated and guessed for more than

a century, as their descendants and successors will continue to do

for ages to come, and leave the maze of mystery as dark and deep as

ever. We can only wonder and admire, while scientists wrestle with

the mighty problem of creation here presented.

Just now, as the writer is gathering these data for this connected

record, he finds that the great mystery concerning the formation of

this particular region has become even more obscure than ever through

the developments of the vast engineering project now under way off

Storm King Mountain. In the effort to find a solid rock bottom

beneath the Hudson at this gate of the Highlands, through which to

construct the great aqueduct which is to convey the Catskill Mountain

water to New York City, the engineers have bored the river bottom to

a depth of 700 feet, and are still baffled. Geologists predicted that

this rock would be found at least at 500 feet. But now they are all

at sea and frankly admit that their supposed knowledge as to the bed

of the Hudson at this point was totally wrong. Some expected that

rock would be reached even at 100 feet. But now the engineers say

they may have to go down 4,000 feet before they can find proper rock

through which to build their aqueduct which is to carry 800,000,000

gallons of water daily at a pressure of 200 feet per square inch.

{_sic_} The old bed of the river is evidently covered with the

drift and silt of ages. And who will say when and how this vast body

of water broke through these adamantine hills, or by what Cyclopean

process of upheaval they were formed?

There are several small streams that flow into the Hudson at

different points in this town; one just south of Cro' Nest, others at

Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery. The pretty cataract, called

"Buttermilk Falls," from its characteristic resemblance to that

acidulous fluid, as it tumbles over the rocky shelves in fantastic

glee in its haste to reach the river, is admired by every tourist.

There are also other streams which become tributaries of Popolopen's

Creek, which finds the Hudson at Fort Montgomery.

The town also contains many inland ponds or small lakes, such as Bog

Meadow Pond, Round Pond, Long Pond, Cranberry Pond, Mine Pond,

Popolopen Lake and Highland Lake. Strangely enough, many of these

ponds have been left without more appropriate names. This Highland

Lake, just south of Fort Montgomery, is about 150 feet above the

Hudson, and about half a mile long by one-eighth of a mile wide, and

is fed by its own springs. "Blood Lake" and "Hessian Lake" are some

of its more ancient appellations, bestowed, according to

Revolutionary tradition, because of a company of Hessians who were

slain there when Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Montgomery.

It is now proposed by the New York authorities to locate a new State

Prison in the vicinity of this lake, which is northwest of Iona

Island in the Hudson. Most of the region in that immediate section is

a wild rocky forest, and sparsely populated. Half a mile or more west

of the river, however, there is a comparatively level plateau, some

200 acres in extent, from which a fine view of both reaches of the

Hudson is obtained. This is included in the site which has been

selected for the prison. Part of it, however, extends over into

Rockland County.

This property, which consists of some 500 acres, was purchased by the

State for this prison site, in December, 1907, at a cost of $75,000.

It is about six miles below Highland Falls, and it includes Highland

Lake and its entire watershed. Whether the name of this new prison

will be selected from the classic nomenclature which prevails in that

locality, such as "Doodletown," or "Popolopen," remains to be seen.

"Doodletown Bight," is the classic name handed down from the

Colonial period, which is here applied to a small bay in the Hudson

where small water craft find a safe and pleasant harbor. The new

State road which is to run from the New Jersey line to Albany, will

pass through the eastern side of this new prison tract. Bear

Mountain, on the west, has an inexhaustible supply of granite well

suited for building purposes.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

As before stated, the ancient records are almost devoid of names of

early settlers in this immediate region, and the presumption is that

these settlers were comparatively few. Major Boynton, in his history

of West point says: "The interval between the granting of the patents

and the transfer of the titles, down to the period at which the

American Revolution commenced, are blanks in historical literature.

No traditions even of early settlers are extant, and the

probabilities are that, beyond a settlement made to secure a site or

grant, West Point, being in a region of stratified rocks, heavily

covered with drift deposits, and without a suitable soil for

cultivation, remained a mere woodland tract, possessing no higher

value than attaches to similar adjoining points in the Highlands

which have remained unsettled and uncultivated to this day."

It seems well settled, however, that John Moore, the patentee, really

located upon his purchase about 1725. This homestead stood in what

has since been known as Washington Valley, from the fact that

Washington once occupied the same dwelling for a time. The original

house, and even the second one, which replaced it, have long since

disappeared, but the remains of the old cellar were visible for many

years afterward. This, then, may be regarded as the first point of

settlement in the town of Highlands. The Moore descendants, though

inclined toward loyalism, at the outbreak of the war, could not have

been outspoken or turbulent in their opposition to the American

cause, as their lands were not confiscated. They, however, soon fled

to Nova Scotia, but afterward returned to the State of North

Carolina, where some of them became prominent, one being elected

Governor of the State; and Stephen Moore sold the West Point

reservation to the Government, as already stated. A daughter of John

Moore married Hugh McClellan about the time the war broke out.

Although not in the army, as a soldier, McClellan seems to have

fought bravely against the invaders on his own hook, as it were, for

the records contain many instances of his personal prowess. He was

employed in hauling stone for the erection of Fort Putnam, and on one

occasion he crossed the river alone and brought powder for the

Continental Army at West Point at the risk of his life or capture.

James Denton, who came from Newburgh, seems to have settled at the

Point some time afterward. He had married into the McClellan family

and became active in pressing the claim against the Government for

the title to the old homestead there by reason of possession. These

descendants also claimed certain rights which came from the Moore

family direct and were not reserved in the deed to the Government,

although antedating that transaction, as they contended. Then, too,

it may be added in their behalf, the suit for ejectment was

terminated by a compromise, the widow of McClellan being paid a

certain sum to surrender her claim.

In the vicinity of Highland Falls Cornelius Swim seems to have been

the pioneer settler. This family originally came from England about

1686 and settled on the east side of the Hudson opposite West Point,

forming part of a colony there. They were offered an extensive tract

of land there at that time for ten cents an acre. But not being

possessed even of this modest amount of money, they were afterward

obliged to leave when a more fortunate immigrant took the tract at

fifteen cents per acre. The Swims, Faurots and Roses came to

Highlands in 1725. Cornelius Swim had six sons and six daughters,

most of whom settled in the vicinity. He was finally killed by a

British scout for refusing to tell where certain army supplies were

hidden.

Cornelius Gee was another ante-Revolutionary settler at West Point,

who came from the Colony opposite. He afterward established a ferry

from West Point, then known as "Gee's Point," to Constitution Island

opposite, being associated with Jacob Nelson in the enterprise. This

was called "Nelson's Ferry." Nelson also lived in the colony on the

east shore of the river opposite the Point and he had seven children.

Only one of these, however, seems to have settled on the west side of

the river. This ancient ferry is frequently mentioned in the

Revolutionary annals; and Nelson's Point opposite Fort Arnold,

afterward Fort Clinton, was regarded as a most important strategic

point by Washington, which he carefully guarded.

Tradition has a pleasant little Highland "tea story" connected with

this Gee family which may as well be perpetuated here. "Aunt Sally

Gee" was the happy possessor of half-a-pound of this most delectable

and very scarce beverage that caused so much trouble between the

mother country and her dependent Colonies on this side of the

Atlantic, at the outbreak of hostilities. It is said that while the

flames that were destroying Fort Montgomery illuminated this entire

region, announcing the triumph of the British forces, "Aunt Sally",

giving up all as lost, resolved upon having a final cup of tea to

assuage her grief before fleeing for her life. Grabbing the old

teapot from the shelf, she tossed the entire, half-pound of tea into

it in her haste, determined that none should be left for the

redcoats. But the decoction proved all too strong and bitter even for

her tea-stained palate.

An early pioneer in the West Grove section was John Kronkhite, who

came, about the opening of the war, from Westchester County, N. Y.

Some of his descendants are still in that region. Moses Clark was

another early settler there, whose name appears in the Cornwall

records between 1765 and 1775, which would indicate that he arrived

some years before the war. Tobias Weygant is also mentioned as an

early West Grove settler. Among other early settlers in the town were

Thomas and Joseph Collins, William Cooper, who lived near Fort

Montgomery, Thomas Cooper, Isaac Garrison, who lived in the Middle

Highlands section, Jonas Garrison, William Horton, Zaccheus Horton,

Maurice Havens, David June, who lived near the Rockland county line,

D. Lancaster, John Parker, Israel Rose, Samuel Rockwell, S. Sheldon,

Birdseye Young and James Stout. Isaac Faurot was also an ancient

resident in the Highland Falls section, who was a deckhand on the

first steamboat "Cleremont" that went up the Hudson under Captain

Wiswell in 1807. Captain Faurot, a descendant, is still a resident of

Highland Falls.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

Like several other of the younger towns in Orange county, Highlands

was the offspring of convenience and expediency. Its formation became

in fact almost a matter of public necessity owing to the peculiar

conditions prevailing. The old town of Cornwall consisted of a

thickly settled region north of the mountains, and the widely

separated localities of Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery far to the

south. Communication between these two ends of the township was in

those days very slow and inconvenient. The transaction of official

business of the town was very expensive and almost impracticable.

Boats had to be chartered to carry voters to the town meetings. Thus

the division of the town, which was authorized by the county

supervisors in 1872, met with little opposition.

The first town meeting of the new town was held at the house of

Charles Engleskircher, March 4, 1873. William Avery was then chosen

the first Supervisor, and a full list of town officials was selected.

Avery was succeeded by Jeremiah Drew in 1874, who continued in the

office several years. John A. Cook held the office one term and was

followed by Hon. Louis F. Goodsell, who was supervisor eighteen

years. Jacob L. Hicks was elected in 1905 and was succeeded by John

F. Pierce in the closely contested election of 1907.

VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.

Of these, West Point, if it can be called a village, is the more

important. A post-office was established here at an early period of

the nation's history. Major Roger Alden was the postmaster for some

years, and was followed by Mr. Hoh. In 1835 Prof. Claudius Berard

succeeded to the office and held it until his death in 1848. His

widow was then appointed and remained in office until 1870 when she

was succeeded by A. B. Berard, who was still there in 1880.

The place is composed almost entirely of the great Military School

of the nation in all its varied departments and imposing structures.

Aside from this there is very little business, except that arising

from the extensive improvements now in progress by the government.

The noted old West Point hotel is still standing, and in operation,

although even this is soon to be demolished under the plans for the

modern reconstruction of the post, which are being carried out on a

vast scale and at great expense.

The importance of West Point during the Revolutionary period is too

well understood by every student of our national history to need any

further emphasis or exemplification in this connection. It is visited

by thousands from every land annually as the great show-place of the

nation and river. And the rare native charm of its location enshrines

it as the beauty spot of America.

Busy Highland Falls, adjoining West Point on the south, was

incorporated in 1907. It is located on the Big Meadow Brook which

tumbles over the rocks into the Hudson at this point in a most

attractive cataract, which gave the village its name. It was first

known as "Buttermilk Falls," under which name the post-office was

established there July 14, 1849. Cornelius Nelson was the first

postmaster, but President Buchanan removed him and appointed Timothy

O'Leary in his place. He was reinstated, however, at the close of

Buchanan's term, and held the office in all about thirty years.

Joseph F. Stephens, the present postmaster was appointed in 1901.

Although still invested with much historic charm because of its 200

years' existence, the village now presents a pleasing modern aspect.

There are many business houses, stores and shops. There are two

national banks, both organized in 1907. A library and reading room,

and a village improvement society. A weekly newspaper was established

in 1891. South of the village overlooking the Hudson are some

charming private residences including those of John Bigelow, Major

General Roe, ex-Senator Goodsell and J. Pierpont Morgan. The place is

a favored summer region because of its picturesque natural

environment. The most imposing structure in the village is

Ladycliff Academy conducted by the Franciscan Sisters. This property

was originally Cozzen's and later Cranston's Hotel, and was purchased

and opened for its present purpose in 1900. Extensive additions and

improvements have since been made. The enclosed grounds cover an area

of twenty-two acres. There is an average attendance of one hundred

and ninety pupils, and the regular courses give the education

acquired in advanced high schools.

The old Revolutionary Fort Montgomery, which stood on Popolopen's

Creek, where the stream empties into the Hudson, is perpetuated by a

small hamlet with the same name. It makes no boast of its business

importance and points only to its patriotic history. It is, however,

the shipping point of large quantities of iron ore from the Forest of

Dean Mines some six miles west of this point.

West Grove is a pretty hamlet in the mountain section northwest of

Highland Falls. It was settled at an early date and the environment

is among some of the attractive lakes and ponds of the town.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

For the school records pertaining to this specific region between

1813 and 1856, the reader is referred to the parent town of Cornwall.

There are three common school districts in the present town, in

addition to the Post school at West Point which is maintained for the

children of the soldiers and officers of the post. District No. 2

comprises the Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery schools. George

W. Flood, school commissioner for the eastern district of Orange

County, is a resident of Highland Falls.

The First Presbyterian Society was incorporated October 12, 1830,

with William Howe, of Buttermilk Falls, Samuel Spencer of West Point

and Peter Meeks of West Grove as trustees. It was decided to erect

two churches for the better convenience of the separate settlements,

one near Buttermilk Falls, and the other in the Fort Montgomery

section. These churches were open to other denominations under

certain regulations. In 1850 the society was reorganized under the

name of "The First Presbyterian Church of the Highlands." The

following trustees were then chosen: David Parry, Cornelius Nelson,

Charles P. Smith, Alexander Mearns, and John M. Hall. The Rev. E. P.

Roe, the famous novelist, who then lived on his fruit farm in

Cornwall, was the pastor of this church for several years, being

succeeded by Rev. Mr. Williams.

_The First Methodist Church at Fort Montgomery_ was incorporated

January 11, 1831, with the following trustees: Thomas Potter,

Ebenezer Bull, Michael Jaquish, Hiram Tyler and Silas Rockwell. A

comfortable house of worship was built soon afterward.

_The First Methodist Church_ at Buttermilk Falls began its career

March 4, 1845, with Andrew Swim, David Parry, James Thackara,

Charles P. Smith and Wright Dusenbury as trustees. But for some

reason the society disbanded soon afterward and the members united

with other churches.

The present Methodist Church at the Falls came into existence some

years later, and it continues in a flourishing condition.

_The Church of the Holy Innocents_ (Episcopal), at Highland Falls,

was incorporated September 13, 1850, Robert W. Weir and Thomas Webb

being chosen wardens, and Dennis M. Mahar, W. H. C. Bartlett, A. E.

Church, Francis Rider, R. S. Agnew, Thomas Corris, B. R. Alden and

R. S. Smith, vestrymen. The church building, which was erected

largely through the liberality of Prof. Weir of the Military Academy,

was completed in July, 1847, being constructed of the native granite.

_The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart_ was erected opposite the

old Cozzens Hotel, at the Falls, in 1875, at a cost of $19,000. Rev.

T. J. Early became the first settled pastor.

"MOLLY PITCHER."

The oft-told story of this stout, freckle-faced young Irish patriot

of the Revolution is so closely identified with the ancient history

of this locality, where she lived and died, that its omission here,

even in this modern history, would be noted with regret.

At the capture of Fort Clinton by the British in October, 1777,

"Molly" was "in at the finish." When the enemy scaled the parapet,

her husband, an artilleryman, dropped his portfire and fled. But

Molly caught it up and discharged the last gun fired. Nine months

later, at the Monmouth battle, while she was devotedly bringing

water to her husband, who was serving a gun, he fell dead at her feet

from a British shot. Although the officer in command ordered the

piece withdrawn, Molly dropped her water-bucket, seized the rammer,

and vowed she would fill her husband's place at the gun and thus

avenge his death. Next morning, covered with dirt and blood, she was

presented to Washington by General Greene, and was appointed a

sergeant and placed upon the half-pay list for life. She became a

universal favorite with the army and usually appeared in artillery

dress, with a cocked hat. She was afterward provided for at the

Point by the Government authorities and died in that vicinity about

the age of thirty-three.

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY.

Colonel Henry Knox, who was appointed chief of artillery by

Washington in November, 1775, was the first to propose the

establishment of a military academy, of the Woolwich type, in this

country. In a letter to his wife, dated September 5, 1776, he said:

"We must have a standing army. The militia get sick, or think

themselves so, and run home." Later in the same month, in a letter

to Adams, he wrote: "Military academies must be instituted at any

expense. We are fighting against a people well acquainted with the

theory and practice of war, and brave by discipline and habit."

Here was the germ of the Military Academy of this nation. In the

following October a committee was appointed to "prepare and bring in

a plan of a military academy at the army." The Post of West Point

received its first garrison January 20, 1778, and work on Fort

Clinton was begun at once. There seems no room for doubt that in the

very midst of the Revolutionary War, at least as early as 1780, and

possibly two years before, an engineer school was in operation at

West Point. There were also a laboratory and library, which was the

parent of the present Academy Library, the oldest Government library

in the United States. It is clear that military instruction of some

sort had then begun. Early in 1783, when the success of the American

Revolution was apparent, the necessity for this permanent school of

military education was still recognized. General Washington and his

officers were agreed upon the importance of some such school, and

West Point was generally regarded as the "key to the United States."

In 1783 the necessity of retaining West Point for this purpose was

urged upon Congress. General Knox, Secretary of War in 1790, again

advocated the scheme in his report, which was approved by Washington.

But it was not until March 16, 1802, that the organic act for the

establishment of the United States Military Academy was finally

passed. This authorized the President to organize and establish a

corps of engineers at West Point which should constitute a Military

Academy.

Thus in 1802 ten Cadets of engineers were stationed at West Point

with their officers, which constituted the Military Academy there

until 1812. This force was increased from time to time, and the sum

of $25,000 was finally appropriated for the erection of suitable

buildings, and the provision of the library, apparatus and necessary

instruments for the use of the school.

Previous to this, however, while Washington, Randolph, Knox and

Hamilton strongly favored the West Point Academy plan, Jefferson

doubted the constitutionality of the scheme. But Washington was

inclined to take the risk, and at his recommendation the West Point

School was practically started in 1794, it being then held in the old

provost prison building, which was burned in April, 1796. The school

seems to have begun in earnest, however, in February of that year.

The fire, which had destroyed all the books and apparatus, was

thought to have been of incendiary origin, induced perhaps by

opposition to the school. In the following May a parapet for the

practice of field pieces, and some of the early wooden fortifications

were constructed.

In September, 1799, the superintendency of this academy, which

however had not yet been legally established, was offered by

President Adams to Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Military

Academy of Munich. But nothing came of this ill-advised proposition.

For nearly 25 years Washington had labored to establish a National

Military Academy, which he considered of primary importance.

On December 14, 1801, Major Williams, a grand-nephew of Benjamin

Franklin, took charge of the school as superintendent. Cadet John

Lillie, writing of his life there from 1801 to 1805, said: "All

order and regulation, either moral or religious, gave way to

idleness, dissipation and irreligion. No control over the conduct of

the officers and cadets was exercised."

As already stated the academy was legally instituted March 16, 1802,

and the school went into full operation on the 4th of the following

July. But its ancient history really dates from 1776. The act of 1812

established its present form, the main features of which have been

practically adhered to to this day. Washington is still regarded as

its founder, while Knox first proposed and strongly advocated a

military school of this very type, and Hamilton outlined the

well-considered plan of military education that was finally adopted

and has been pursued ever since.

CHAPTER XX.

TOWN OF MINISINK.

By Charles E. Stickney.

DERIVATION OF THE NAME.

The derivation of the name Minisink is undoubtedly from the Delaware

valley, which was the "Minisink" country of its Indian owners. They

had a large village and castle on the Jersey side of the Delaware

River, opposite a large island in the river, both that and the

village being known to them and to the early white settlers by the

name "Minisink." They were a sub-division of the Lenni-Lenape tribe

that somehow became known later by the name of Delaware, from an

English lord, who visited the mouth of the river about five minutes

once, and left his unmerited name to the river and its valley as well

as to the tribe of Indians about it. In truth a most foolish freak

upon the part of the white people, who had far more deserving names

to give, if they wished to observe and reward more daring explorers.

Foolish, too, because the Indian names were just as beautiful, even

more so than that of the old lord.

This sub-division of the Lenni-Lenape Indians was called the Minsi

(wolf), and they were easily recognized from other tribes by the

white people. In 1663 when Wiltwyck (now Esopus or Rondout) was

attacked, its white settlers declared that they saw the Munsey

(Minsi) Indians among their assailants.

In front of their village on the river flats south of the island lay

their great national cemetery covering acres of ground, where many

generations of their nation lay entombed. Some of them were buried so

close to the river that the sweep of its current often washed away

the dirt and exposed their bones as the writer saw them. The early

white people in the valley, all German, at first assumed that the

name Minsi, pronounced by them "munsey," was derived from the fact

that the water had at some time been drained by the Water Gap from

the lands in the valley and that the name was derived from "the water

is gone." We have never found any corroboration of that theory. The

village was the source of the name, but what is meant in the

Lenni-Lenape language we probably shall never know. From their

village the white settlers applied it to the whole valley.

William Tietsort, whom they induced to settle among them near present

Port Jervis, and do their blacksmithing, in 1690, found the name

there. Arent Schuyler, who has left on record his diary of the visit

he made there to find whether the French spies had been there from

Canada, said of it: "1694 ye 6th, Tuesday, I continued my journey to

Maghackemeck (Indian name for the neighborhood of the junction of the

Neversink with the Delaware) and from thence to within half-a-day's

journey of the Minisink." A half-day's journey would about represent

the distance to the village and castle of the tribe mentioned, and

where he was bound.

The Indians who occupied the territory in these three towns were one

of the three divisions of the Lenni-Lenapes. On the first map of the

country made they were called Maquas, which was later corrected to

Munseys and by the English to Minsies. The name of their

headquarters, Minisink, has come down to us from all the various

languages spoken by white settlers as Minisink. That corroborates it

as an original Indian word. Every clan or sub-division of the tribes

used an accent of their own, so that they were easily distinguished,

but the difference was not so radical but that the whole Lenni-Lenape

people could understand each other. Therefore the name Minisink was a

name known over a vast region before the white people came here. Its

meaning is a mystery which all linguists can guess at with some

probability of nearness.

ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARIES.

June 23rd, 1664, this region belonged to Holland, at least that

country claimed it; but Charles, then King of England, deeded that

day, to his brother, James, Duke of York, a tract "to the northward

as far as the northernmost branch of the Delaware River in 41

degrees and 40 minutes north latitude, thence in a straight line to

Hudson's River, to be called 'Nova Cesaria' or New Jersey." England

sent over a fleet and captured the whole country in this vicinity a

little later the same year, and that made the Duke's patent valid.

The region under consideration was then a dreary forest, but land

speculators soon began to deal in tracts of it, and New York Province

claimed that the line, 41.40 latitude north to the northernmost

branch of the Delaware River, ran from its beginning on Hudson's

River to the mouth of the Lehigh River (which they asserted was the

branch of the Delaware referred to in the deed) where is now Easton,

Pa.

On the other side the owners of New Jersey claimed that the branch

referred to in the deed was a tributary of the Delaware River at what

is now Cochecton, N. Y. It will be seen that this disputed territory

was of great extent, the apex of the triangle on the Hudson River

widening out to a base of near 50 miles from present Easton to

present Cochecton. In this triangle was comprised nearly all of what

we now call Sussex County, N. J., and, according to the New Jersey

claim, taking in the present city of Port Jervis and about all of the

present towns of Greenville and Minisink. The great dispute as to the

ownership of this triangle lasted for a hundred years and its tales

of warfare and contests in courts are of great interest, but not

altogether pertinent to our subject. The start upon Hudson's River is

thus mentioned in N. J. Archives, Vol. I, page 531, in 1685-6:

"Gawen Lawrie of New Jersey, Governor Dongan of New York and others"

fixed at a point nigh Colonel William Merrit's house (see mention in

first census of Orange County) on the west side of the Hudson River

and "marked with a penknife on a beech tree standing by a small run."

How different surveyors could locate the degree of latitude from

thence to such widely different points was explained in old documents

to be the fault of the crude quadrants then used.

In 1704 Queen Anne of England granted 23 persons a patent (deed), for

a tract of land which was named "Minisink," because it embraced the

land in Minisink along the Delaware River down as far as Big Minisink

island, and as far north as Peenpack (a nickname for the Gumaer

settlement on the Neversink). March 20th, 1765, Alexander Colden, of

New York, said of this patent, Vol. III, p. 988, Documentary History

of New York: "It contains not less than 250,000 acres, under the very

small Quit-rent of nine pounds current money of this Province."

The Wawayanda patent had been granted the previous year (1703) to 12

men and the Minisink patent lapped upon it, hence we may well

conclude that the quarrel between the Provinces of New York, New

Jersey, the owners of the Minisink patent and those of the Wawayanda

patent made a very mixed question of title. There does not appear to

have been any severe contests in the three towns of which we write

between individual land owners, except those of the large patents. In

1767 the Provinces of New York and New Jersey appointed commissioners

to run out a compromise line settled upon to run from the apex of the

triangle on Hudson River to the present station at Tri-states, which

was done and that line has since remained as the boundary between the

two States. Titles derived from the Minisink patent south of that

line were void, but the titles of landholders in the three towns were

all derived from the New York patentees, hence there followed no

confusion.

During the Revolution there were few changes in county matters, but

March 7th, 1788, the legislature of the State enacted that

subdivisions of counties should be called towns instead of precincts.

By that act Orange County was divided into the towns of Haverstraw,

Orangetown, Goshen, New Cornwall, Warwick and Minisink. The southern

boundary of the latter was the State line of New York and New Jersey.

The town of Minisink under that formation was bounded on the east by

the Wallkill River, northeast and north by the town of Wallkill and

the Ulster County line around on the northwest to the Delaware River,

and the State line.

In 1798 the town of Deer Park was created and it cut off from

Minisink its over-mountain lands, which had belonged to old

Minisink and thus cut off the base whence the name had been derived.

Since then the town has held to the name, a reminder of its old

associations and of being once the home of a part of the Minsi Indian

tribe.

In 1825 the town of Calhoun was formed principally from Deer Park and

Wallkill, and formed part of the boundary of Minisink on the north.

In 1833 the name of Calhoun was changed to Mount Hope.

In 1840 the town of Wawayanda was erected from the northeastern

portion of Minisink, and took the place of Wallkill in the boundary

of the former.

In 1853 the town of Greenville was taken from the westerly portion of

Minisink, and fixed the boundaries of the latter as they now are.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

The line between the States previously referred to on a westerly

course has set-offs to avoid great obstacles in some places, but

where it bounds Minisink it is a straight line. It crosses the

Wallkill a short distance south of Unionville.

Millsburg, is a small village, named from the large mills once

located on Bodinot's Creek at that place. Extensive saw-mills,

grist, cider, and plaster mills, were for a long time kept there by

John Racine, and did a very large business for years after his death.

They are now gone. Down stream a short distance were other grist and

saw mills, of which one, a grist mill, is still in existence and

managed by Frank Mead. A little farther down the stream were once

very large woolen carding and fulling mills, where cloth was made of

the finest quality. These are now in ruins.

Boudinot's Creek has gone by various names, such as Indegot and

Bandegot, but antiquarians have now settled upon the derivation of

the name from Elias Boudinot, and the probabilities are that they are

right. Elias was a merchant in New York City, and speculated in the

lands out in the wilderness, as many others were doing in those

times. The records show that he bought, June 10th, 1704, of Philip

Rokeby, one-third of his share in the Wawayanda patent; also, August

8th, 1707, a twelfth part of the patent. He soon sold out his

interests in the patent and so far as we have been able to find,

never saw the creek in question, and he certainly never made a

settlement in this county.

Rutger's Creek was undoubtedly named from the circumstance of Anthony

Rutger's buying of the widow and son of John Merrit, one-half of the

one-twelfth of the Wawayanda patent allotted to Daniel Honan, who had

in 1705 sold it to Merrit.

The creek in question rises in the town of Greenville and flows

eastward near Unionville, where it takes a northeasterly course

through Waterloo Mills, Westtown, Johnson's, and then southerly

through Gardnersville to the Wallkill. Its Indian name is not known.

Tunkamoose Creek, a small tributary of the Wallkill near Unionville,

has what is claimed to be an Indian name, but we cannot verify it.

The Wallkill is said by Haines to have drawn its name from some

families of Walloons who settled by it, and it has also had various

other derivations alleged. Its Indian name is well known. In the very

early surveys about Franklin Furnace, N. J., in 1712-15, the

surveyors have written the name plainly, Twischsawkin. That this name

was not of a mere local application is shown by the fact that on a

map accompanying Smith's History of New Jersey, made and published in

London, Charing Cross, by Wilham Faden, December 1st, 1777, from

surveys made in 1769 by the commissioners who ran the State line, the

name Twischsawkin is applied to the stream. On that map there is not

a settlement marked from Goshen to Mackhackemeck in this county. In

Sussex County the settlement of the Walling brothers, where Joseph

Walling kept an inn, now Hamburg, N. J., is marked "Wallins." They

were located there somewhere about 1725-1730, and a brother settled

in this town of Minisink at about the same time, by the river. We

take him to have been the first settler in the town, and mention is

made of him later. The true derivation of the name Wallkill is due to

their settlements. The name "Wallins" was known far and wide to the

stragglers who first came into the neighborhood and the river that

ran by their locations, first called by visitors, Wallinskill, about

1750 got abbreviated to "Wallkill." The Walloons spoken of by Haines

were undoubtedly "Wallins." The Indian name Twischsawkin has been

interpreted to mean "abundance of wild plums." A land abounding in

snakes comes nearer its true meaning in our study of the Minsi

language.

Unionville village, assumed to be derived from the union of good

feelings following the settlement of the line between the States of

New York and New Jersey, is near that line, and is believed to have

been settled about 1738. It now has three stores, two hotels, coal

and feed stores, a system of waterworks owned by a private company,

three churches, and other places of business. It was incorporated as

a village in 1871, September 26th. Isaac Swift was the first

president.

Westtown, a village so named because it was situated at the western

limit of the settlements when Goshen was headquarters of civilization

in the county, has three stores, two churches, one hotel.

Johnsons, so-named after William Johnson who gave the land for the

Middletown, Unionville & Water Gap Railroad when it passed through

the town where the depot is now located, has three good stores, two

feed and coal stores, one hotel, and Borden's large milk and cream

plant, and is a place of considerable business.

Gardnersville, on Rutger's Creek, about two and a half miles

southeast of Johnsons, is mostly in the town of Wawayanda, and

derived its name from the Gardner family who once owned extensive

grist, saw and cider mills there. It is now mainly known from the

feed mills of John R. Manning, at present its principal industry. In

the early settlement of the country there was a defensive place near,

known as Fort Gardner. Its location is not precisely known. In some

records it is spoken of as being southward from where Westtown now

is. It was most probably at Gardnersville. An old stone building on

the late Lain farm is the "Fort Gardner," says one tradition.

Waterloo Mills (derivation of name unknown) since the decline of the

milling industry has nothing now to show of its former important

grist mills but the ruins.

FIRST SETTLEMENT AND POPULATION.

Of the first settler in the present territory of this county, Patrick

Mac Gregorie, whose brother-in-law, David Toshuck, is spoken of in

Ruttenber & Clark's History of Orange County (p. 13) as having

"closed his earthly career in the bosom of his family at Plum Point,"

we desire to mention. In New Jersey Archives, Vol. I, p. 460, it

says: "David Toshuck, of Moneyweard, partner with James, Earl of

Perth, Captain Patrick Mac Gregorie, all sharers in Proprieties," were

so mentioned in 1864. In a note on Vol. IX, p. 337, mention is made

of the will of Edward Antill proven in New York, April 7th, 1725,

wherein he gives his wife all his interest in a "certain

proprietorship formerly purchased of David Toshuck, laird of

Minnevarre." On p. 338 it is stated that "Edward Antill, Jr., came

into the possession of the laird of Minnevarre's broad acres at

Raritan landing in Middlesex County where he spent the most of his

life." Donald Macquirrish, of Murderer's Creek, is mentioned with

David Toshuck, of Minnevarre, Scotland, in a deed dated March 13th,

1687. From all which we have doubts as to the death of the aforesaid

David Toshuck at Plum Point.

Governor Dongan bought, October 25, 1684, of three Indians, one of

whom was Joghem or Keghgekapowell, for ninety pounds and eleven

shillings in goods, all the land from the mouth of Murderer's Creek

on the Hudson, to a "water pond upon the said hills called

Meretange." The latter is the present Binnewater pond in Greenville.

This purchase embraced about thirty by forty miles of the territory

of Orange precinct, and a part of the lands in three towns. It lapped

on other grants also. September 12, 1694, he sold it to Captain John

Evans. In the latter sale went a house on Plum Point, which Captain

Mac Gregorie had built there on his land by advice of that very

Governor, who also sold the land without any scruple.

Lord Bellomont, in reviewing the transaction afterwards in writing

January 2, 1701, to the Lords of Trade, said:

"Capt. Evans's great grant of 40 miles one way and 30 another, has

but one house on it, or rather a hut, where a poor man lives, built

by Patrick Mac Gregorie, a Scotchman, who was killed at the time of

the Revolution here, and his widow compelled to sell her house and

land to Capt. Evans for 30 or 35 pounds."

The foregoing was not only a concise history of the first settlement

in this county, but it was in reality the first census, and shows

that then, 1701, there was not a single person in the limits of our

three towns as a permanent settler. It may be said in apparent

contradiction that a census taken by Bellomont in 1698 showed this

county to have in it 29 men, 31 women, 140 children and 19 Negroes.

They were all located along the Hudson River, in what is now Rockland

County. Yet there was at that time a blacksmith, William Tietsort

(Titsworth), in Minisink, near where Port Jervis now stands, who had

settled there in 1698 at the request of the Indians to work at his

trade for them. In 1703, the county had 268 people in it; in 1712,

439. The Gumaer patent was settled on in the Neversink valley by this

time, but there is no record of any settler in our three towns at

that time. In 1723 the census showed 1,097 white and 147 colored

people in the county. The owners of the big patents used great

inducements to get settlers to locate on their land, and it is

probable that some were in our territory but not of record. In 1737

there were 2,840; and in 1746, 3,268 people in the county.

Inman Walling was a settler, probably 1725-1730, by the Wallkill,

east of present Westtown, and John Whitaker died in 1742 near where

Unionville now is, and had been a resident there, no one knows how

long. His will on record in the surrogate's office in Goshen, liber

A. page 221, mentions his wife Eve, sons Richard, Peter and John,

and daughters Jean and Elizabeth. Their descendants are yet

residents of the town and of Sussex County adjoining. Those two

families were probably the first permanent ones in this town of

Minisink. There were others in the limits of what is now Wawayanda

at or about the same time.

There were two Smith families early in the precinct of Minisink. One

of them, Benjamin, settled near the present Slate Hill village, and

the other on the farm now owned by J. Cadigan near Johnsons, where he

kept an inn, the place being known as Smith's Village for at least

seventy-five years.

Other settlers came in rapidly. William Stenard in 1749; Captain John

Wisner from Warwick in 1776; George Kimber in 1750; Caleb Clark in

1800; William Lane in 1760. In an assessment roll made for Goshen

precinct in 1775 Godfrey Lutes, Peter Middagh, Daniel Rosencrans,

Inman Walling, Peter Walling, Increase Mather, John Whitaker, Jr.,

and Ebenezer Beers were shown to reside in this town besides the

other first settlers mentioned.

The census of the county in 1756 showed it to have a population of

4,446 whites and 430 slaves. In 1771 there were 9,430 whites and 662

Negroes.

The Horton family were early residents of this territory, but we have

no positive data of their first advent. October 20, 1764, a line run

to divide the county into two precincts was described as "beginning

near the new dwelling house of John Manno, and thence on a course

which will leave the house of Barnabus Horton, Jr., ten chains to the

westward." His house we do not think was in this town. A Barnabus

Horton in 1813 lived near what is now South Centerville in Wawayanda.

Gabriel Horton, justice of the peace, 1839-1843, lived about a mile

and a half west of present Slate Hill in Wawayanda. William Horton in

this town was a holder of important local offices, and his son

Charles W. Horton, former supervisor, is now one of the leading

citizens, as is also his neighbor, Reeves Horton.

In 1835, ten years after the town of Calhoun (Mount Hope) had been

set off, the remainder of the territory in old Minisink had 4,439

inhabitants, and the present limits of this town about 1,000.

In 1850 the town of Wawayanda was taken off, and in 1853 the town of

Greenville. In 1855, by the first census after their elimination,

this town had a population of 1,295.

Since then its limits have remained unchanged. In 1860 its population

was 1,266; in 1865, 1,209, a decrease owing to the civil war; in

1880, 1,360, including the incorporated village of Unionville, which

had 316; in 1905, the last census taken, 1,354, including

Unionville--a gain in 50 years of 59, which may be mainly said to be

in Unionville.

The first incorporated company to do business in the town was the

Goshen and Westtown Turnpike Company, chartered June 1, 1812,

consisting of Reuben Hopkins, Freegift Tuthill, Benjamin Strong,

Stephen Jackson, James Carpenter, D. M. Westcott, "and such other

persons as they shall associate with them." The purpose was to build

a turnpike road from the State line to Rutger's Kill near the mill of

Jones & Vancleft (at Gardnersville). Thence it ran to Pellet's round

hill and the Goshen and Minisink turnpike.

The Middletown, Unionville & Watergap Railroad Company was

incorporated and completed ready for business by June 10, 1868, from

Unionville to Middletown. Later it was leased to the Oswego Midland

Railway, and still later its 13.30 miles of track were leased by the

New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad Company, by which it is now

operated, under Erie Railroad supervision.

MILITARY.

There appear to have been no conflicts with the Indian owners of the

territory of the three towns under consideration, and its white

settlers, previous to the Minisink war, or as some historians call

it, "The French and Indian War" of 1754-1758. We call it the Minisink

war, because the Minsi tribe, at the outset of the war between France

and England, which led to the great struggle between Canada for

France and the colonies of our country for England, got permission to

take up the hatchet against the settlers in Pennsylvania Minisink

from their (the Minsis') masters, the Six Nations, to avenge their

wrongs in that region. The wrongs were alleged to be that the

proprietors of Pennsylvania had cheated the Indian owners of the

lands there, and there is now no doubt that the allegation was true.

There was no redress to be had for an Indian wrong in those years.

Teedyuscung and the leaders of the Indians issued imperative orders

that the war should be confined to Pennsylvania and they were pretty

generally obeyed. Occasional straggling parties of them, however, in

small numbers, disobeyed orders in order to avenge some injury to

some person or clan, and passed through east of Shawangunk Mountains

on marauding expeditions. They were vagrant Indians who had no

standing as warriors in their tribe and they perpetrated wanton

murders without the knowledge or sanction of their leaders. Of this

class no doubt were the ones who surprised a man named Owens at work

in Dolsen's meadow, in what was then Dolsentown, now in Wawayanda,

near Middletown, in 1756, and shot him. David Cooley, who is believed

then to have had a settlement at what is now the Charles O.

Carpenter farm near Pine Hill cemetery, about a mile south of where

Dolsen was located, alarmed at the murder of Owens, moved his family

to Goshen. The next spring he moved back. That summer a party of

Indians, in passing by his place, shot a woman of his household who

at the time was passing from the outdoor oven to the house.

A company of militia had been organized in 1738 in the county called

the "Company of the Wallakill (Willinskill)"; but none of the 144

names of its members appear to belong to our territory, except it may

be those of John Monell, Lieutenant William Borland, Benjamin Haines,

James Monell, Johannis Crane and James Davis. John Bayard was its

captain.

The murder of the widow Walling in 1758 was mentioned in the

Philadelphia _Gazette_ and in New York papers in that year and made

a profound impression throughout the colonies.

In the Revolutionary War, Colonel Allison's Goshen regiment contained

some names belonging to this territory. The officers of its Wawayanda

company were: Captain, William Blair; lieutenants, Thomas Wisner and

Thomas Sayre, Jr.; ensign, Richard Johnson; of the Drowned Lands

company--captain, Samuel Jones; lieutenants, Peter Gale and Jacob

Dunning; ensign, Samuel Webb; of the Pochuck company--captain,

Ebenezer Owen; lieutenants, Increase Holley and John Bronson; ensign,

David Rogers; of Minisink company--captain, Moses Courtright;

lieutenants, John Van Tile and Johannes Decker; ensign, Ephraim

Middaugh. The latter lived in the township of Wantage in 1764, where

he was commissioned as an ensign of Captain Kirkendal's company by

Governor William Franklin. The late S. M. Stoddard of that township

had and exhibited to the writer the last named commission. Middaugh

went with General Hathorn to the battle of Minisink, where he was

killed.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The town of Minisink was bonded in 1869, for $75,000 to aid in

extending the New York Midland Railroad from Unionville farther

south. This has not been paid in full yet. The sum of $3,280 was

ordered to be raised by tax on the town of Minisink by the board of

supervisors on the 22nd of November, 1907, to pay principal and

interest on those bonds.

The first town meeting after the town of Minisink was organized, took

place at the house of John Van Tuyl, April 1, 1789. Its territory

then covered the three towns, and that house supposed to be the old

stone house now in Greenville, on the former Jonathan Van Tuyl farm,

later the Hallock house, was a convenient place for the gathering.

August 11, 1864, the present town was bonded for $25,000 to pay

bounties for volunteers in the Civil War. It was paid off, principal

and interest, in eight equal installments as they fell due.

Hulet Clark bought land in Minisink in 1828 in the present town of

Minisink, where he died March 31, 1857. His son, William Harvey

Clark, early gave evidence of the good judgment and business ability

which his future life carried out. He married Emily Robertson of

Wawayanda and they lived on the old homestead near Westtown, where he

died in 1907. His son, Robert H. Clark, is the present supervisor of

this town, resides on the old homestead, and is establishing a

business reputation as popular and able as that which distinguished

his father and which will make his name long remembered in local

annals.

In March, 1799, the Legislature of the State passed an act for the

gradual abolition of slavery. All slaves were to become free at a

certain age. As an instance of its working, there was Frank Bounty,

a colored man, for whom Joseph Davis of Wawayanda had traded a pair

of oxen when Frank was a young man. When the time arrived at which

the law gave Frank his liberty he was called up by Mr. Davis and told

that he was then a free man. Frank asked him if he could not stay on

with him, but Mr. Davis said he could not, for the reason that people

would then say that he was being coerced. Mr. Davis gave him some

money and told him he must go and do for himself, and Frank told the

Writer that was one of the saddest days of his life.

Mr. Davis also gave him the use of a house and lot in Brookfield or

Slate Hill which he might, and did, enjoy for life by paying the

taxes on it. It was the last house on the west side of the street in

the west end of the village at that time. There he raised a large

family.

Not all Negroes were so lucky. Some of them were old and worn out and

their masters were glad to get rid of caring for them.

In the early history of the town in all its farming communities, the

farmers raised sheep, and made a double use of them. The rams were

used to churn with on the big wheel and on endless chain churning

machines then used, and the wool sheared from all the sheep was

carded, sometimes by hand, at other times in factories, and woven or

spun into stockings, mittens, and cloth, to furnish wearing apparel.

Up to 1850, butter was the chief product of the dairies in the town.

Then selling milk came into general practice, and making butter,

milling flour for home use, and traveling on horseback went out of

fashion.

The farmers universally kept sheep, raised the wool to make the

clothes for the members of the family, and at the same time used the

large sheep to churn with upon a tread or sweep power. Up to 1850

butter and hogs were the chief products. It is less than 200 years

since the first squatters settled in the limits of the three towns of

which we write. The first customs to pass away were their friendly

associations with the few Indians who clung to their old hunting

grounds with death-like tenacity. Then the hostilities engendered by

the helplessness of the Indians and the consequent overbearing

attitude of the settlers passed by, leaving a trail of traditions and

savage memories. Then followed the old logging, stone picking,

mowing, husking and quilting bees or frolics in which whiskey was

used as a general beverage. Then came the passing of the use of

whiskey for the universal medicine and social welcome. Next passed

the days when women carded the wool and spun and wove it, and knit

everywhere, knit, knit, knit. Next passed the days when the young

ladies worked samplers, and helped in the harvest and hay fields,

and grew up vigorous, stout and healthy. Next passed the fishing with

fikes {_sic_} and racks and the hunting for wolves and foxes. Now have

arrived the days when fish and game are about extinct.

Now are the days when the farmers sell their milk and buy their

butter; when they sell little else than milk and have become a great

generation of buyers; when social visits are about unknown; when the

old time good-natured sports and merriment are frowned upon; when men

no longer meet on the streets and argue politics, but bury themselves

in a newspaper on the trains or in any resting place and read, read,

read; when women no longer knit and spin; when the girls no longer

will do outdoor work and dreadfully dislike to do indoor work; when,

instead of the big boys and girls going to school a few months in the

winter season, they all go away to boarding school. In noting these

and other changes which have taken place in the towns as the years

have fled, it is noticeable that the people generally live better,

even luxuriously, compared with former years, but are their public

and domestic relations happier?

CHAPTER XXI.

TOWN OF MONROE.

By M. N. Kane.

The territory comprising the present town of Monroe is part of the

Chesekook Patent granted by Queen Anne, March 25, 1707. The

Chesekook tract was surveyed by Charles Clinton, father of George

and James Clinton, and grandfather of Dewitt Clinton. His field book,

the original of which is in the possession of Hon. MacGrane Cox, of

Southfield, N. Y. (Mr. Fred J. Knight, Civil Engineer, of Monroe,

N. Y., having a copy), contains much information and many interesting

incidents of the early history of this section.

The town was set off from the precinct of Goshen in 1764 and named

Chesekook. This name continued until 1801, when it was changed to

Southfield. On April 6th, 1808, it took the present name Monroe, in

honor of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States.

In 1863, the town (like ancient Gaul), was divided into three parts

by the erection of the three towns of Monroe, Highland and

Southfield, which division was the same as the present towns of

Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo, except that the then town of Monroe

embraced a small portion of the present town of Woodbury.

In 1865 the three towns were dissolved and the whole original

territory restored to the town of Monroe. In 1889 it again underwent

the Gaelic operation resulting in the creation of the present towns

of Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo. Monroe contains an area of 11,500

acres, Woodbury 23,000 acres and Tuxedo 50,000 acres.

The history of this town was written by Rev. Daniel Niles Freeland,

who was the beloved and scholarly pastor of the Presbyterian Church

from 1847 to 1881, and his volume of two hundred and fifty pages,

entitled "Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Times," is a history of

the town up to 1898.

LAKES AND MOUNTAINS.

Monroe has in recent years, because of its rugged beauties, its

beautiful lakes and mountain scenery, its high altitude, pure water

and healthfulness, and its proximity to the Metropolitan district,

become a favorite resort for the people of New York and nearby

cities, and has made very rapid growth. It is the lake region of the

county and located on the crest of the mountain divide, the village

being the highest station except Otisville on the Erie Railroad

between Jersey City and Port Jervis. There are four beautiful natural

lakes, located from one to three miles from the village, namely,

Mombasha, having an area of 340 acres and an elevation of 860 feet,

from which Monroe village gets it water supply; Walton Lake, having

an area of 125 acres and an elevation of 720 feet, from which Chester

obtains its water supply; Round Island Lake, ninety acres in area and

660 feet elevation, upon the eastern bluff of which Mr. W. M.

Haight's beautiful Cedar Cliff Inn is located, and Cromwell Lake with

an area of fifty-three acres and an elevation of 740 feet. There are

a number of smaller lakes which add to the beauty of this region.

Among them should be mentioned, the Mountain Lake recently built to

the east of the village, with an area of twenty acres and an

elevation of 550 feet, and Lake Winape, a most charming mountain lake

near Mombasha Lake, with an area of eleven acres and an elevation of

760 feet, just completed by Mr. George R. Conklin. The construction

of other lakes is contemplated.

[Illustration: M. N. Kane.]

The village of Monroe is in the pass on the mountain crest, the

waters from the northern part of the village flowing northeast into

the Hudson near Newburgh, and from the southern part of the village

flowing southeast through the Ramapo, which rises in Round Island

Lake, into the Passaic River.

Eager, in his early history of Orange County, with prophetic vision,

saw the beauties of this section. He wrote as follows: "These are the

Grampian hills of Orange. While this elevated range is severed by

many deep glens and valleys, the Alpine heights hold within their

rocky crests, ponds and lakes of pure water, which glitter like

diamonds in the noontide sun. Rude and forbidding as this region of

hills and rocks and mountain crags may at first sight appear to the

eye of a superficial observer, yet, to the true lover of nature in

the exhibition of her noblest works, and to the practical mind of the

really utilitarian, for a thousand purposes, the whole is well

arranged and unsurpassed by anything of the kind in the county. Here

are found without stint or measure, granite, mica or isinglass stone,

and every quality of iron ore, with other minerals, treasures of

present and future wealth to the nation. As early as 1778, during the

war of the Revolution, the great chain passed across the Hudson at

West Point, was made from the mineral of this region. In this

respect as regards quality and quantity, the county of Orange stands

unrivaled by any other in the State.

"The time will come when these hills, mountains, deep glens and

sparkling lakes, shall be the descriptive themes of some native bard,

who like Scott or Burns, caught up in spirit and wrapped in poetic

fire, will harmoniously weave them, one and all, into the thrilling

lays of the lowland and mountain muse. The time will come, when these

elevated heights of dreary aspect, these hills overhung and darkened

with vines and forest trees, and these lakes of picturesque beauty,

unknown to the common mind, decorated with the wildest garniture of

nature, and visited by the wing of the wild bird, shall be associated

in the minds of our children's children with all that is pastoral,

pleasing and heroic. True, Monroe cannot be made equal in

agricultural beauty to other more charming localities, and wave with

a golden harvest; for though her hills and mountains may be denuded

of their vegetable ornaments, they cannot be leveled down nor driven

over by the plough-share; yet the time will come, when every nook and

corner throughout the broad and variegated mass shall hold a

freeman's cottage, teeming with life and highland cheer, whose

tenants, honest and hardy, will sleep amidst the thunders which rock

them to rest, and the lightnings that play around and gleam up their

mountain dwellings."

The Rev. Mr. Freeland in writing of its mountains says: "As the

mountains were round about Jerusalem," so are the mountains round

about Monroe. On the east are the Highlands, like the mountains of

Moab, seen whenever its citizens look toward sunrise. Ten miles of

rock ridges, with many a peak, defend them on that side. Only one or

two passes give access in that direction--one over Bull Hill, the

other up to the Stockbridge Hotel. Either of these could easily be

defended against an enemy. On the south are Forshee Hill and the

Southfield Mountains. On the west, the Bellvale Mountains and

Sugar Loaf, standing like a sentinel, overlooking the valley below.

Schunnemunk guards the northwest. It has a bastion on the eastern

corner. High Point is a weather signal-tower to the observing. When

it wears its night-cap late in the morning, it indicates falling

weather; when the cap is early doffed, it betokens a serene day. The

black rocks loom up from the mountain-top, and from their summit a

wonderful scene presents itself. The eye sweeps the entire horizon,

taking in the Catskills, Butter Hill, the Fishkill Hills, Bull and

Pine Hills, Mount Bashan, Sugar Loaf, Bellvale and Goose Pond

Mountains, with lakes, farms, mines, mills and villages galore. The

Devil's Racecourse lies on the northern slope of old Schunnemunk, but

the visitor needs none of his counsel or company, for he who climbs

these steeps can find sweeter communion nearer to the heart of

nature.

"One other landmark is Bald Hill, very dear to us because at its foot

we first hung the crane. Here we toiled and studied, and here the

sunshine lingers in our memory longest and our children fell asleep.

It is the Acropolis of the village."

And in writing of its valleys he says: "Soils of great fertility

were laid down here; yes, brought from distant hills to furnish slope

and meadow. Here are alluvions of great depth and good grain lands;

but the town is best adapted to grazing. The grasses, like those of

the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, contain just those elements which

yield fattening and milk-producing qualities. Had the mountains of

Monroe been only a mass of rock, like some parts of Scotland, they

might have been abandoned to the heather and become great solitary

sheep-walks; or if they had been only picturesque vales and quiet

nooks, there would have been a temptation to some lord of the manor

to make it his park and country-seat. Heaven had a better destiny in

store for it, hence mingled rocks and soils so as to invite the plow,

scooped out the water courses to attract the loom and forge, hid away

such materials as would bring hither the herd-man and artisan, the

abhorrence of lordly pretension and elegant leisure. Monroe, from its

very physical constitution, was predestined to be the home of honest

toil and frugal industry. In the vicinity of what was to be the

greatest city of the New World, and on the route of its best

approaches from west to north, wealth and prosperity ought to be its

sure reward, and doubtless will when the wisdom of men is able to

master the situation."

MONROE VILLAGE.

But the growth and development of Monroe depends not alone upon its

picturesque mountains, beautiful valleys and charming lakes, which

attract so many city people, who are fast dotting the available lake

and mountain sites with charming villas and country homes, beautiful

inns, hotels and boarding houses, for the village itself is becoming

one of the most progressive and bustling of modern towns. Its growth

during the past five years being much more rapid than any other

village of the county.

Monroe village, incorporated in 1894, with a population of 781, now

has about 1,200. The incorporation was due in a large degree to a

disastrous fire occurring in November, 1892, which showed the

necessity of fire protection.

On July 31, 1894, a vote on the question of incorporation was taken,

resulting in favor of incorporation 111 for, and 45 against. On

August 21, 1894, an election for officers was held. Henry Mapes was

elected president; George R. Conklin, Gilbert Carpenter and Henry

Morehouse, trustees, and J. Lester Gregory, treasurer. On August

28th the Board organized as a board of water commissioners with

Gilbert Carpenter, president. At the election held November 10, 1894,

to vote for waterworks, there were fifty-eight for and fifteen

against the proposition. The board of water commissioners took the

necessary steps to acquire water for the village, and the village of

Monroe is largely indebted to this first board of water commissioners

for its splendid water plant which is contributing so largely to its

development.

The village purchased from the Sterling Iron & Railway Company the

right to raise the dam and store additional water at Mombasha Lake.

This lake affords one of the purest and finest water supplies to be

found in the State. About one mile of 14 inch pipe and two miles of

10 inch pipe bring the water to the center of the village with a head

of about 250 feet, and distribution is made with 8, 6 and 4 inch

pipes. The water was turned on October 10, 1895. No fire has since

extended beyond the building in which it originated. The cost of the

works was about $46,000, which is probably about two-thirds of what

it would cost at present, owing to the increased cost of labor and

material. The works are now not only self-sustaining but are

producing a comfortable surplus, and it is estimated that in not many

years the plant will pay for itself and will then produce sufficient

revenue to light and keep in repair the village streets--a splendid

example of municipal ownership of public utilities.

The town of Monroe has no bonded indebtedness and the village none

other than its water bonds, except that Union Free School District

No. 1, which includes the village, has issued $4,375, on account of

the purchase of a seven acre school site on a commanding height

overlooking the village.

The Warwick, Monroe and Chester Building and Loan Association has

been a potent factor in Monroe's development. It was organized in

April, 1890.

Standard Lodge No. 711 F. & A. M., instituted at Chester, N. Y.,

June 30, 1871, was, with consent of the Grand Lodge, moved to Monroe

in 1884, and has a membership of 180.

The Monroe National Bank, U. S. No. 7,563, although in its infancy,

is a flourishing institution. It was chartered by the Treasury

Department January 18th, 1905 and it was opened for business, March

1st, 1905.

Monroe has a very excellent fire department. The Mombasha Hose

Company was organized July 24th, 1895, and the Mombasha Fire Company,

April 5th, 1898.

The Orange and Rockland Electric Light and Power Company, which

furnishes light and power to the villages and communities in the

eastern end of the county, is located at Monroe and is now erecting

a very large plant. The Newbury Foundry Company is also located here.

Monroe has a fine telephone system, an athletic association, and is

now putting down cement walks in the village, and it is confidently

predicted that it will be the leading center of the eastern end of

the county within a short period.

A Methodist society existed in the neighborhood of Monroe prior to

1839, the M. E. Church at Oxford (near Quaker Hill) having been built

some time before, but in the year above mentioned Matthew B. Sweezy

deeded to the Trustees of the recently organized M. E. Church of

Monroe the land upon which the church now stands. In the following

year, 1840, the church was built. The first board of trustees was the

following: Stephen Post, Isaac Compton, Jeremiah Knight, Thomas D.

Tannery, John King, Samuel Smith and Peter Ball. Others who served

the church in its early history as trustees were Jonathan Mapes,

John S. Gregory, Matthew B. Sweezy, Solomon W. Esray, Townsend Mapes,

Job Mapes, William Hudson, George K. Smith, William Johnston, Martin

Konnight, Daniel Secord, Nathan Strong and Walter Roberts. John S.

Gregory was elected trustee in 1843 and served in this capacity until

his death in 1905, a period of sixty-two years.

The Rev. Mr. Bancroft is said to have been the first minister. Others

who followed him were the Rev. William Van Duzen, Rev. A. C. Fields,

Rev. Mr. Newmans, Rev. J. H. Hawkshurst, Rev. Mr. Blake, Rev. Mr.

Croft, Rev. N. Messiter, Rev. D. D. Gillespie.

Matthew B. Sweezy was chorister for a time. There was no organ in the

early days of the church, but the congregation was frequently led in

singing by the violin and the violoncello, though there were some who

objected to the use of so ungodly a thing as the "fiddle."

At first the Monroe church was a part of the circuit under the charge

of a pastor and his assistants. This circuit in the early days

comprised, besides Monroe, the churches at Highland Mills,

Washingtonville, Craigville and Turner. Finally, Monroe and Turner

comprised the charge, and this relationship was dissolved in 1895.

In 1875 it was voted to enlarge and repair the church, and the

pastor, Rev. David McCartney, and Mr. H. H. Lawrence, were appointed

a committee to solicit subscriptions for this purpose. Their efforts

were successful and the church was remodeled, and stands to-day

practically the same as they left it.

The church has reason to hold the memory of Mr. James Smith, Mrs.

James Smith and Sara Smith, their daughter, in lasting remembrance,

as they respectively left substantial legacies to the trustees of the

church, to the Ladies' Aid Society, and to the Sunday school, said

legacies to be held in trust for their use.

The church has a Sunday school and Epworth league. The

superintendents of the Sunday school during the last twenty-five

years or more have been Franklin Bull and Orville Eichenberg, the

latter having held the position for the last nineteen years.

The first available records of the schools of the town of Monroe are

dated January 7, 1819. These are receipts given by the trustees of

several of the school districts for State moneys received from the

commissioners of common schools. These moneys were for the benefit of

their respective districts and were in all cases small, the

apportionments ranging from eight to twenty-five dollars. At this

time the town's educational interests were in the hands of three

commissioners of common schools. The incumbents of these offices in

the town of Monroe in 1819 were Israel Green, Lewis H. Roe and George

Wilks.

In 1843 the office of town superintendent was instituted, thus doing

away with the board of three commissioners of common schools. The

duties of this officer were probably the same as those exercised by

the board which he had taken the place of. The first person to hold

this new town office was Joseph R. Andrews, who had been a member of

the last board of commissioners of common schools. The office of town

superintendent ceased to exist in 1857, when the office of school

commissioner was created. The new official assumed the powers of

licensing teachers, altering school district boundaries, etc., while

the care of the school moneys from the State was given to the

supervisor of the town. The office of town superintendent was held

for a short time by Morgan Shuit, and afterward for a period of

about ten years by Archibald Campbell, whose term was concluded in

1857, when the office was abolished.

In 1819, as they did in subsequent years, the commissioners reported

the text-books in use. This list varied little for many years and was

given in the following order: Webster's Spelling Book, Murray's

Grammar, Johnson's Dictionary, Scott's Lessons, English Reader,

American Selections, American Reader, Columbian Orator, Daball's and

Dilworth's Arithmetic. Later on a new and inexperienced board of

commissioners enumerates the above list with one exception, and

concludes with the information, "all of which are American

selections."

The commissioners of common schools in 1819 rearranged the boundaries

of the school districts of the town, and recorded these boundaries

somewhat definitely. The number at that time was thirteen, but since

that date the number has been changed many times and their boundaries

have frequently been altered.

Of the schools of the former town of Monroe four have become union

schools, having high school departments, viz: Central Valley, in

February, 1895; Monroe, in December, 1896; Turner, in May, 1902, and

Tuxedo, in December, 1902.

District No. 1 is the district that includes the village of Monroe.

Though it contains practically the territory of District No. 1, as

recorded in 1819, its boundaries have been materially changed. The

Rev. D. N. Freeland says, in his history of the town of Monroe, that

the first mention of a school in this neighborhood is of one held in

the Presbyterian church building at Seamanville. After that a log

school-house was built just west of the church. The old stone

school-house on the road to Mombasha followed, and this in turn gave

way to another built a few rods further south. In 1857 a two-story

building near the Presbyterian church was constructed and this was

made to answer the purpose until 1884, when the building now in use

(1907) was erected at a cost of $10,000. This building has now become

too small and the people of the district have purchased, during the

past year, a new site just north of the Episcopal chapel, containing

nearly seven acres, at a cost of $5,000. They have also appropriated

the sum of $40,000 for the erection of a suitable building, the

foundations of which are at this time completed.

Of the persons serving the district in an official relation the

following have rendered the longest continuous service; Henry Mapes,

as clerk, thirty-four years; George R. Conklin, trustee, twenty

years; A. B. Hulse, trustee, fifteen years.

The school of District No. 1 was admitted as a member of the

University of the State of New York December 17, 1896, having been

created a union school the preceding year. The following are the

names of the trustees appearing upon the certificate of admission as

petitioners: Eugene McGarrah, George R. Conklin, L. H. Marvin,

Solomon Fairchild.

The present board of education is: Fletcher B. Brooks, Solomon

Fairchild, Millard Mapes, Frank F. Griffin, and Clarence S. Knight.

In addition to the usual work of a board of education, this board has

the additional responsibility of building a modern school-house.

TURNER VILLAGE.

Many changes have to be recorded in the thriving village of Turner,

in the eastern part of the town of Monroe. By common consent the name

has been changed from "Turners" to "Turner," and this seems to be a

most reasonable change.

No longer do the trains of the Erie Railroad Company sweep

majestically into the depot, there to stand impatiently while its

hungry passengers regale themselves in that famous restaurant founded

by Peter Turner. The now common, every-day dining-car attached to

nearly every train, has crowded out that famous business. The large

brick building was destroyed by fire and the restaurant moved to the

wooden building on the opposite side of the track. This property is

now owned by the Ramapo Mountain Realty Company, but is fast falling

into decay. One end alone is used as a depot. Below the hill stands

the famous grist mill which receives its power from the village pond

near by. Across the street from the mill stands the old hotel of

stage coach days, now renovated into a modern hotel, known as

"Silver Fox Inn." This property and the farm connected therewith are

owned by the Ramapo Mountain Realty Company.

[Illustration: Geo. R. Conklin]

The old smithy, where Cortland Rumsey's hammer caused the anvil to

ring, has long since become a business house. The village blacksmith,

J. B. Hallock, has built a modern shop near by and causes the same

old anvils to ring as hearty and strong as ever.

The little old stone school-house where our fathers learned their

"three R's," is now a dwelling and a magnificent school-house stands

on a hill overlooking the entire village. There, four learned

instructors hold forth, where a few short years ago one was

sufficient.

The few rambling houses that constituted the little village of a few

years ago have given way to modern dwellings and business places,

constituting a thriving village of some eight hundred people, all

busy and prosperous.

Surrounding the village on every hillside stand the beautiful summer

homes of some wealthy New Yorkers. Among these are the homes of W. R.

Barr, "Stony Wolde"; Mrs. John Brower, "Blythlea"; and the homes of

E. H. Harriman, Ward Brower, Farrand Brower, Max Jagerhuber, Orrin

S. Wood and William L. Strout. Where once our farmers tilled the soil

beautiful lawns appear. To the east, where once hunters and trappers

alone journeyed, on the highest peak of the Ramapo Mountains, rises

the mansion of E. H. Harriman. Inch by inch and foot by foot this

great stone structure rises into view above the trees that surround

it. A railway has been hewn out of the side of the mountain and a

cable railroad operates cars that hoist workmen and materials to the

summit.

The village maintains two churches--a Methodist Episcopal and a

Catholic. Both have excellent sanctuaries and congregations of

earnest, sincere, right-living people. They have done yeoman work in

their territory and their influence has been widespread. Connected

with the Methodist Church is a Sunday school and Epworth league.

The famous old store of Thomas Earl has been torn down and the

village now has five stores. The old "Bombeetel" house still stands

at the cross-roads in the center of the village and now contains the

village market run by J. R. Brooks.

Time has indeed dealt kindly with Turner. The latest item to be

accredited her is electricity. Nightly the village streets are

brilliantly lighted and business goes on as busily as by daylight.

The magic current is introduced to the houses and brings light and

cheerfulness to the homes.

The old village of Centerville would scarcely recognize the village

of Turner, which is but the village of Centerville under a new name.

[Illustration: David A. Morrison.]

CHAPTER XXII.

TOWN OF MONTGOMERY.

By David A. Morrison.

This important town is in the northern part of Orange County,

bordering upon Ulster. It lies between the towns of Newburgh on the

east, and Crawford on the west. Each of these towns has a large

tongue of land that extends much further toward the north than the

territory of Montgomery, the northern bounds of which form nearly a

straight line. On the south are the towns of New Windsor,

Hamptonburgh and Wallkill, from which it is separated by rather

irregular rectangular lines. The area of the town as shown by the

last Supervisors' report, is 30,578 acres. The assessed valuation of

property taxable in the town and found by the Assessors in 1906

aggregated $2,094,640. The total taxes for that year amounted to

$23,953.01.

TITLES.

The territory of Montgomery is a part of the original John Evans

Patent, which seems to have been set aside subsequently for various

reasons. In 1714 it was in the precinct of Shawangunk, in Ulster

County, where it remained until 1743. when it became part of the

Wallkill precinct. At that time it embraced the following patents:

Cadwallader Colden, April 9, 1719 2,000 acres

John Johnson, Jr., February 3, 1720 1,000 "

Thomas Brazier, March 17, 1720 2,000 "

Henry Wileman, June 30, 1712 3,000 "

David Gallatian, June 4, 1719 1,000 "

Edward Gatehouse, January, 1719 1,000 "

James Alexander, April 9, 1719 2,000 "

Archibald Kennedy, April 9, 1719 2,000 "

James Smith, December 15, 1722 2,000 "

Patrick McKnight, April 9, 1719 2,000 "

Thomas Noxon, May 28, 1720 2,000 "

Francis Harrison & Co., July 7, 1720 5,000 "

Jeremiah Schuyler & Co., January 22, 1719 10,000 "

Phillip Schuyler and others, July 20, 1720 8,000 "

Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, April 25, 1722 2,500 "

Frederick Morris and Samuel Heath, January 24, 1736.

Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, Nov. 12, 1750

Cadwallader Colden, Jr. and David Colden, June 20, 1761--720 A.

In 1772 Wallkill Precinct was divided and the eastern part named the

precinct of Hanover. In 1782 this name was changed to the precinct

of Montgomery, which was erected as the town of Montgomery in 1788.

Ten years afterwards it was, with other towns, taken from Ulster

County and annexed to Orange County. In 1823 the town of Montgomery

was divided and the western part containing about 25,000 acres

constituted and named the town of Crawford. In 1830 the southern

part of Montgomery was detached to form (in part) the town of

Hamptonburgh. The last alteration in its boundaries was made in 1842,

when four farms containing nearly 600 acres were taken from the town

of New Windsor and annexed to Montgomery.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The fertile valley of the Wallkill, which extends through the town on

a northeasterly course, dividing it nearly into equal parts, is a

distinguishing characteristic. For nearly a third of the way, where

the stream enters Ulster County, it flows very nearly north in a

straight line. Then it deflects toward the southwest to the village

of Montgomery, when there is a sharp bend, which afterward turns

nearly at right angles toward the east and finally leaves the town in

nearly a straight course again, forming a part of the eastern

boundary of the town and dividing it from Hamptonburgh. The most

important tributary of the Wallkill is the Tinn Brook, which begins

in the town of New Windsor, pursues a sinuous career, and finally

tumbles into the Wallkill near the village of Walden. The Beaver Dam

stream rises in the southeastern part of the town and flows nearly

south into the Otterkill, in the town of Hamptonburgh. The source of

this stream is a large spring of great depth. McKnight's Kill also

rises in the southeasterly part of the town, and flows southerly into

the Otterkill near Burnside. The Muddy Kill rises in the western

part of the town, drains that section in a sluggish way, and ends

near the village of Montgomery. The surface of the town is

diversified with hills, rolling and meadow land. Comfort's Hills on

the west rise from 600 to 800 feet above tide and are much the

highest elevation. For adaptation to varied agriculture the town is

not excelled by any other town in the county. The uplands are warm,

fertile, and comparatively easy to cultivate. The meadows generally

produce large crops of grass, and afford excellent pasturage.

Numerous springs and small streams furnish an abundant supply of pure

water. Dairying is the predominant agricultural industry.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

On the east bank of the Wallkill, on the old Rogers farm, there was

an old Indian settlement. The red men had made a goodly clearing in

the forest here and, tradition says, had planted fruit trees, and

when the white man first set foot in this region he found full-grown

bearing apple trees on this ancient clearing. An Indian settlement

was found on the flat above the bridge over the Wallkill, near the

old Miller stone house. Another had its wigwams on the old

Christoffel (or Stuffell) Moul (Mould) farm about two miles north of

Montgomery on the main highway afterwards known as the stage road

from Goshen to Albany. These left for more remote regions in 1775.

Near the present village of Walden the settlement of Henry Wileman

was made. His patent contained 3,000 acres, and he settled upon it

very soon after its purchase in 1712. What was known as the Harrison

Patent was granted May 25, 1721. This was given to the following

persons: Francis Harrison, Allan Jarrat, Adolphus Phillips, George

Clarke, Johanes Lansing, Henry Wileman, Jacobus Bruyn and William

Sharpas. This entire tract was surveyed and a large village laid out,

and deeds were given to all actual settlers. Among these the

following were named: Hans Newkirk, Hendrick Newkirk, Matthias

Slimmer, Peter Kysler, ____ Kraus, ____ Brandos. These ancient

settlers upon this land were Palatines, and after a few years they

erected a small log church within the village, the site of which is

still fairly indicated by the old graveyard on the east side of the

Goshen road, a short distance south of Montgomery. This old village

was known as Germantown.

About a mile farther south on this patent Johannes Miller, a German,

made a settlement in 1727. The next year he built a stone house where

Mr. Elmer Miller afterwards lived. His grandson, Johannes Miller, was

a leading citizen of the town in later years--a progressive man,

prominent in promoting several important public enterprises, and

especially active in the construction of the Newburgh and Cochecton

Turnpike Road. His services towards establishing and maintaining the

Montgomery Academy have always been held in grateful remembrance.

The 5,000-acre tract granted to Schuyler & Co., was first settled by

Jeronimous Weller & Co., in 1721. Another grant of 10,000 acres was

settled by a company consisting of Johannes Mingus, his son

Jeronimous, Mattias Miltzbagh, and others whose names are not

definitely known. It was agreed by this company that a tract of 100

acres would be granted to each family that would locate permanently

upon it. Mingus built a mill, around which the old village of Ward's

Bridge soon clustered. But Mingus lost his life in this mill by

accident soon afterward, which resulted in considerable dispute over

the property.

The Wallkill or Goodwill settlement is supposed to date from 1724-25.

John Mackneel and Adam Graham were among the first settlers. When

they came into the Precinct is not definitely known. The former owned

a part of what is now known as the Downs farm; the latter settled on

what is now the Parsonage farm. In 1727 Archibald, James and Robert

Hunter purchased 200 acres of land, on which a house had then been

built, from James Alexander, the patentee; this purchase included the

Henry Suydam farm. In 1731 James Munnel settled on, or near, the

Charles Miller farm, now owned by Mr. William Y. Dennison. Alexander

Kidd settled on what is still known as the Kidd Homestead, about

2-1/2 miles north of the Church in 1736. Benjamin Haines came into

the neighborhood in 1739, and the Rev. Joseph Houston was installed

pastor of the Goodwill Church in 1740. Other early settlers were

James Barkley, on the James W. Bowne farm; the Rev. Joseph Moffat,

1758; John Blake who bought 475 acres of land in 1761, part of which

is owned and occupied by his great grandson, Mr. John P. M. Blake,

and whose son, John Blake, Jr., was in after years, a prominent man,

being supervisor sixteen years, and a member of assembly several

terms, sheriff and congressman; Samuel Miller, who came from Canada

previous to 1764; Peter Hill in 1767; Captain Hendrichs Van Keuren

in 1768; Colonel John Nicholson; John Morrison; Gideon Pelton, and

Tunis Van Arsdale, whose blacksmith shop is mentioned in the early

records of the town.

[Illustration: Robert Young.]

Adjoining the Goodwill settlement on the east, Cadwallader Colden had

been granted a patent for 2,000 acres and was settled in 1728 where

Mr. George W. Pimm now resides. The locality was named Coldenham in

his honor. He was one of the most prominent of the early settlers,

being surveyor-general of the Province, lieutenant-governor and

several limes acting governor. As a man he was esteemed for his

great learning, benevolence and strict honesty. As a public officer

he was distinguished for his unblemished integrity. Several buildings

were erected in that vicinity by members of the Colden family, some

of which are still standing.

The Neelytown section adjoins the Goodwill neighborhood on the south,

and was so called from a large and influential family which appears

to have been active in bringing in the early settlers, but whose name

has entirely disappeared from the community, it was settled before

1726. In that year the names of John Neely and Thomas Neely appear as

actual settlers. At that time Charles Booth who purchased 1,000 acres

of land had built his first house near where Mr. William Conning

lived in later years--his two sons, Charles and George Booth, were

with him. A defective list of freeholders made in 1728 contains the

name of Alexander Neely. William and Robert Neely were witnesses to a

will in 1731, and the name of John Neely, Jr., is seen in an old

record. William Eager with his sons, William and Thomas, came to

Neelytown in 1741. He built a log house where the residence of Mr.

Samuel W. Eager now stands. His second house was of stone and was

situated a short distance south of the first and built before the

Revolution. His descendants are very numerous and are widely

scattered. Samuel W. Eager, Orange County's first historian, was one

of them. Other early settlers in this section were James McCobb, who

located at a very early date on the Sherwood farm, now "Nestledown";

William Jackson, James Jackson, James Houston, William Young, Captain

Alexander Trimble, 1764; Patrick Barber, 1764; Captain James McBride

and Rev. Robert Annan, 1765.

A settlement across the Wallkill opposite the present village of

Montgomery, was made by Henry Crist, Stevanus Crist, Mathias

Millspaugh and others. This land was then considered the best in the

town. These Germans were a vigorous and hearty people, and they went

to work boldly to cultivate the land and establish comfortable homes,

with a determination to succeed. They soon began to extend their

farms to the Comfort Hills slopes, and into the section now embraced

in the town of Crawford. Their success attracted many representatives

of the sturdy Scotch-Irish race, who joined them soon afterward.

Among the more progressive pioneer settlers was Henry Crist, from

whom descended many active men and women who became leading and

influential citizens of the town. Jacob Crist is said to have been

drowned in the Hudson River on his return from New Amsterdam with his

wedding outfit. Henry Crist, the early immigrant, built near the foot

of the hill east of the old Dutch church. His son, Jacob, planted his

home on the hill opposite Montgomery village near the mill.

Among other early settlers were David Bookstaver, Jacob Bookstaver,

Frederick Sinsabaugh, and Johannes Youngblood who bought an 800 acre

tract. It is recorded of these pioneer German settlers that they were

even unable to build so much as a log cabin at first, and were

obliged to make excavations in the hillside in which to pass the

winter. This they did in the gravelly hill east of the old Brick

church. In these primitive dugouts they waited patiently for the

snowdrifts to melt away in the springtime, when they might renew

their labors and provide more comfortable shelter for their families.

Johannes Miller came to America in 1700, lived in Ulster County for

a time, and about 1727 settled upon a portion of the Harrison patent.

Frederick Shafer, a tanner by trade, was also among these old

settlers, and soon established a tannery, which was afterward

improved by his son Daniel.

Charles Booth purchased 1,000 acres of land in Neelytown, and this

tract remained in the Booth family for a long series of years

afterward. This family came into the town from Long Island, and

George Booth became a leading citizen and was so regarded all through

his life.

MILITARY NOTES.

In 1738 a company of militia of the Wallkill was organized under

Captain John Byard, and formed part of a regiment of which A.

Gaasbeck Chambers was Colonel and Wessel Ten Broeck Lieutenant-Colonel,

to protect the early settlers against the incursions of the Indians.

Among those whose names were enrolled in this company the following are

known to have been residents of what is now the town of Montgomery:

John Newkirk, sergeant; James Gillespie, Thomas Gillespie, Alexander

Milligan, Alexander Kidd, Archibald Hunter, James Hunter, John Mingus,

Stephanus Crist, James Munell, John Munell, George Munell, John McNeill,

John McNeill, Jr., Robert Hunter, Richard Gatehouse, Joseph Sutter,

Philip Milsbaugh, Cronimus Mingus, Stoffel Moul, Johannes Crans,

Matthias Meltzbagh, Hendrix Newkirk, Hendrick Crist, Benjamin Hains,

John Neely, Jr., Frederick Sanzabah.

In 1755 the regiment was divided into two regiments. The first

embraced Kingston and the northern part of the county; the second

embraced the Precincts of Highlands, Wallkill and Shawangunk, and in

this form took part in the French and Indian War. The roster of

officers in the second regiment included the names of the following

persons who then resided in what is now the town of Montgomery: Jacob

Newkirk, Captain; Cadwallader C. Colden, Captain; David Gallatin,

Captain; Matthew Rea, Lieutenant.

The militia of the Revolution was organized by an act of the

Provincial Convention passed August 22, 1775. Ulster County was

divided into four regimental districts. The second district comprised

the precincts of New Windsor, Hanover and Wallkill. At first there

were twelve companies in the regiment, of which Hanover furnished

five, commanded by Captain Matthew Felter, William Jackson,

James Milliken, John J. Graham and John Gillespie. In 1777 the

number of companies was reduced to nine, four of which were in

Hanover, under Captains Felter, Milliken, Hendrik Van Keuren and

James McBride.

An eminent historian said of the second regiment of Ulster County

militia that "it gave, perhaps, more fighting men than were drawn

from other similar organizations," and that "no other regiment of

militia was more active from the beginning until the end of the war."

There was fight in it from start to finish. "As a rule circumstances

would not admit of the calling out of an entire company from its beat

at one time; some must remain at home; but portions of this regiment

were in almost constant motion, some going, others returning." From

December, 1876, to April 12, 1778, less than 16 months, the militia

of Hanover and adjoining precincts were called out twelve times and

spent 202 days in the field.

Although the records of churches and traditions give glimpses of

controversies, the inhabitants of Hanover precinct acted with great

unanimity and showed an intense patriotic spirit during the War for

Independence. The pledge of association, dated May 8, 1775, in which

they pledged their "support to the Continental Congress in resisting

the oppressive acts of the British Parliament," and in the most

solemn manner resolved "never to become slaves," was signed first by

Dr. Charles Clinton and received 342 signatures.

The history of the men of Montgomery in the Revolution, who they

were, and what they did, if it could be written, would be a story of

toils, privation and exposure of great interest to the present

generation. In few sections of the State did the burden of the war

bear more heavily than in the valleys of the Wallkill and the Hudson,

and in no portion was it borne with more unflinching determination.

But this history cannot be written. The names of many of these men

and their deeds have sunk into oblivion. A few of those preserved by

history and tradition, together with the places where they lived, are

mentioned. To locate the places definitely the names of the owners at

the present (1908), are given.

Arthur Parks lived at Ward's Bridge (now Montgomery), on what was

afterwards known as the L'Hommedieu farm, now occupied by Mr. H. H.

Hallett. He was a member of the Committee of Safety in 1775 and 1776,

first Lieutenant in Captain William Jackson's company of militia,

Major of a battalion of minute men in 1776, member of the first

Provincial Convention, member of the convention that framed our first

State Constitution and of the convention that amended it, and State

Senator for eleven years.

Jacob Newkirk was captain under Colonel Thomas Ellison in the French

and Indian War, member of the Committee of Safety, Major, and

afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel of the second regiment Ulster County

militia, and commanded the regiment during the years that Colonel

James McClaughry was a prisoner and was recovering from his wounds

received at the capture of Fort Montgomery.

Henry Smith was also a member of the Committee of Safety for the

precinct and was first Lieutenant in Captain Matthew Felter's

company; he lived nearly two miles north of Montgomery on the farm

now owned and occupied by his descendant, Mr. James Smith.

Hugh Lindsay was a private in Colonel John Lamb's Artillery, and was

taken prisoner at the capture of Fort Montgomery; he lived at Ward's

Bridge and afterwards built and lived in the house on Bridge street

now owned by the estate of the late Jonathan M. Morrison.

[Illustration: W. T. Lodge.]

Alexander Trimble was quarter-master of the Second Ulster Regiment in

the War of the Revolution, and also a member of the Committee of

Safety; he lived about two miles south of Goodwill Church on the farm

now owned and occupied by Mr. George Van Alst.

Johannes Moul (Mould), who lived about two miles north of Montgomery,

where his great-great-grandson, Mr. John D. Mould, now lives, was a

sergeant in the French and Indian War, and with his son, Johannes

Moul, Jr., and his brother, Christopher Moul, were privates in

Colonel McClaughry's Regiment in the Revolution. These three patriots

also evinced their patriotism by loaning money to the Government when

it was urgently needed to equip the army for the capture of

Cornwallis.

James Milliken, a member of the Committee of Safety, lived on the

east side of the Wallkill, where Mr. Harvey N. Smith now resides, was

captain of one of the Hanover companies, and was killed at Fort

Montgomery.

Hendricus Van Keuren was a veteran of the French and Indian War, who

served throughout the Revolution as Captain, and according to family

tradition, gratuitously lived on what is known as the Downs farm,

between Montgomery and Goodwill church.

John Nicholson was Colonel of the Third N. Y. Regiment of the

Continental Line, which was brigaded under General Richard

Montgomery, and took part in the assault on Quebec when the brave

Montgomery was killed. The privations and exposures of that

campaign were so great that with impaired health he returned to his

farm, near Maybrook, which is now divided, and owned by Mr. John

Wiley and Mr. William H. Jewell.

Hamilton Morrison enlisted as soon as he was old enough, and served

first as a private and then as a sergeant in Captain James McBride's

company, Second Ulster County Militia. He lived about a mile south of

Goodwill Church on what is known as the Morrison Homestead, now owned

and occupied by his grandsons, Mr. George H. Morrison and Mr. John

G. Morrison.

Tunis Van Arsdale lived on the adjoining farm (now a part of the

homestead), and was a blacksmith. His shop was the rendezvous of the

patriots in that vicinity. He was also a private in Captain Van

Keuren's company and saved his life at Fort Montgomery by slipping

between the legs of a British soldier who was holding an American

bayoneted against the wall of the fort, and escaped in the darkness.

John Van Arsdale, who lived with his elder brother, Tunis, enlisted

in the Continental Army at the beginning of the war, and served

faithfully until its close. He suffered intensely from cold and

hardship in the Canada expedition, was severely wounded and taken

prisoner at Fort Montgomery, languished many weary months in the

"old sugar house" and in the foul hold of the "Jersey prison ship,"

was finally exchanged, and then braved the perils of Indian warfare

in several campaigns. On November 25, 1783, he witnessed the

evacuation of New York City by the British, which was the final

triumph of the cause for which he and others had fought and suffered

seven long years, and was present when the advancing Americans,

following closely upon the retiring British, reached the Battery to

perform the last formality in repossessing the city, which was to

unfurl the American flag over Fort George, but found the royal

ensign still floating as usual over the Fort. The British had nailed

their colors to the staff and taken away the halyards. In this

dilemma John Van Arsdale ascended the flag-staff, partly by ladder,

but mainly by shinning, tore down the British flag and rove the new

halyards by which the Star Spangled Banner was quickly run up while

the assembled thousands cheered, and the artillery boomed forth a

national salute. While other localities may boast of those who

struck the first blow for American freedom, Montgomery may justly

claim for one of her sons the glory of removing the last vestige of

British authority from this country.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN.

The town was originally organized under the name of Hanover Precinct

in 1772. The present territory of Crawford was then included, the

whole having been taken from the old Wallkill Precinct. In 1782 the

name was changed to Montgomery Precinct, and seven years later it was

finally changed to the town of Montgomery. This title was bestowed in

honor of General Montgomery, who was killed in the assault upon

Quebec in 1775. Major Colden was the supervisor of the old Wallkill

precinct in 1768-69.

The record of the first town meeting, now on file in the town clerk's

office, is of April 5, 1803. Reuben Neely was then chosen supervisor,

and Arthur Parks, town clerk. There were fifty-five overseers of

highways in the town that year. But the laborers were few, the system

of road-working was sadly defective, as in fact it remained for

nearly a hundred years afterwards, and the results were primitive and

unsatisfactory, although, of course, far less was required of a

public road in those days than is now demanded, and the people

accepted the situation without complaint, so far as the record shows.

The following is a list of supervisors of the town to 1908: David

Galatian, 1798; John Blake, 1799; Reuben Neely, 1800 to 1810; John

Blake, Jr., to 1826; Samuel W. Eager, to 1833; Nathaniel P. Hill,

1834; Edward Blake, to 1839; James Galatian, to 1841; William Blake,

to 1844; William Graham, to 1846; Stephen Rapalje, 1847; Joshua G.

Hallock, to 1849; Lindley M. Ferris, 1850; Johannes M. Hunter, to

1852; Stephen Rapalje, to 1863; Marcus K. Hill, 1864; Stephen

Rapalje, to 1873; Daniel M. Wade, to 1875; Marcus K. Hill, to 1877;

Charles J. Van Alst, to 1879; Robert Young, to 1886; Andrew K. Wade,

to 1889; Robert Young, 1890; Irving H. Loughran, to 1900; William H.

Didsburg, to 1905; Hector W. Millspaugh, to 1907; William G. Decker,

1908.

VILLAGES.

The old village of Montgomery is on the bank of the Wallkill in the

southern part of the town. It was here that Henry Crist, Stephen

Crist and Matthias Millspaugh settled at an early date, on the west

bank of the river. Johannes Mingus built a grist-mill there, which

was afterwards sold to James Ward with 200 acres of land, upon which

the village was built. Mr. Ward built a rude bridge across the

Wallkill in order that his customers might reach his mill. This was

really the first road bridge of any kind known in that vicinity for

years afterward. In fact, the place took its name from this important

structure, as well as the post-office itself, it being known as

Ward's Bridge for many years.

James Clinton and William Crist, having obtained an interest in the

Kennedy patent, upon which the village stands, laid out "a small town

called Montgomery town," which gave the village that name. Among

other early settlers there were John McFaugh, David Crist, John

McKinstry, Matthew Hunter, Samuel Smith, Arthur Parks and Oolis

Shulp. James Ward, the pioneer, lived in a log cabin.

The village was incorporated by a special act dated February 17,

1810. Hugh Lindsey was the first president. The first village tax

aggregated $60. Two years later $100 was raised to build a market

house, and in 1814, $200 was appropriated for a fire engine. But it

was not until seven years later that four professional firemen were

appointed. In 1880 this village tax had increased to over $1,200.

The location of Montgomery on a placid stretch of the Wallkill, with

its slightly elevated banks, affording a fine natural drainage, is

peculiarly healthful, and there are many attractive and commodious

private residences. Among the leading manufacturing industries is the

worsted mills of William Crabtree & Sons. The people of Montgomery

are noted for their hospitality and public spirit. The place is

surrounded by fine State roads, and ranks as one of the important

historic villages of Orange County.

Walden is the most thriving and important village. It is on the

Wallkill River at the high falls, by which indefinite name it was

known for years. The settlement began many years before the

Revolution. Of course, the first structure was the inevitable

grist-mill, as in nearly every instance in this region. James Kidd

built a mill at the foot of the falls on the east side of the stream,

though the precise date is not definitely known. In any event, the

records show that in 1768 this old mill had already fallen into the

possession of Johannes Decker. In 1789 it belonged to Cadwallader

Colden, Jr. The plant was afterward converted into a cotton factory.

Mr. Walden, the founder of this village, is said to have struggled

manfully under adverse influences and suffered defeat at the end in

his old age, causing him to retire ultimately from the scene of his

labors. Leaving the refinements of city life to establish

manufacturing interests in this sparsely settled region, and without

adequate protection, he spent his fortune and his active energies

here practically without reward. There being no railways, raw

material had to be drawn in sleighs in winter to these factories.

Mr. Walden was a prosperous New York merchant. While summering in the

Highlands, he extended his drive with Mrs. Walden many miles further,

and came upon this charming valley of the Wallkill, through which a

broad stream flowed. They saw the old mill at the very foot of the

cataract, and a tiny cottage in a grove of locusts further down the

stream. The old merchant perceived the wonderful possibilities of

this picturesque spot, and he lost no time in developing the place.

He purchased large tracts of land covering the region, closed up his

extensive city business and moved here. The place grew very slowly in

the earlier years, even after its incorporation in 1855. Down to 1868

the population of the village did not exceed 600 souls. Of course,

the manufacturing interests had not been fully developed at that

time. The people were still largely employed in trades and farm work.

The New York Knife Company began business in 1856 by purchasing the

cloth mills of Scofield, Capron & Gowdy.

[Illustration: Edward Whitehead.]

There are two fine iron bridges over the Wallkill at this point, many

handsome private residences on the heights on either side of the

river, several busy factories, churches, schools, newspapers,

numerous stores and shops of every kind, and there is a general

aspect of thrill and progress all through the pretty village. Most of

this growth is modern; nearly all the more substantial structures are

less than forty years old. The act of incorporation was passed April

9, 1855, and the first village meeting was held the following week.

Augustus F. Scofield was the first president, and continued six

years. Previous to the incorporation of the village the fire company

had been in existence some time. This organization was known as "The

Walden Fire Incorporation," and it constituted the Fire Department of

the village for years afterwards. In 1865 Daniel Torbush was the

chief engineer, and in 1880, when the company was known as

"Enterprise No. 1," the chief engineer was Granville Crist.