In the year 1690, as near as can be determined, Jacob Cuddeback,
Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Peter
Gumaer, John Tyse and David Jamison, [FN-1] settled in the present
town of Deerpark, in the County of Orange and State of New York, on
and near a handsome knoll or hill contiguous to a spring brook and a
spring of living water, in the central part of the Peenpack flats.
[FN-2] This spring still remains near its first location, but not as
flush as formerly. The upper surface of this hill is flat, and its
elevation about 20 feet higher than the lowland surrounding it. The
Indian name, "Peenpack," was, by certain of the ancient people, said
to be significant of this hill and spring.
* * * * *
[FN-1] Tyse and Jamison, it appears from other sources of
information, did not become permanent settlers here. Jamison was
from Scotland, and, from 1697 to 1714, served either as Vestryman or
Warden in Trinity Church, New York, where he was Recorder of the city
in 1712, and Attorney-General of the Province of New York in 1720.
Tyse (Tyson) lived at Kingston.
[FN-2] About three-fourths of a mile south of the old stone house,
which stands near A. E. Godeffroy's dwelling, all of which was
formerly owned by Peter E. Gumaer and family. Fort Gumaer was located
on the south end of this knoll, on which spot now stands the frame
dwelling owned by A. J. Gumaer, of Guymard, and occupied by a tenant.
Peter Gumaer located himself at the southwest end of the hill, John
Tyse between that and the spring brook, Bernardus Swartwout on the
easterly brow of the hill, a few rods westerly of the spring, where
the cellar now remains; Thomas Swartwout on the central part of the
hill, opposite the spring, where the cavity of his cellar remains;
Jacob Cuddeback a few rods northeast of the northeast end of the
hill, on the low ground, where has been a cavity of his cellar, now
leveled; Anthony Swartwout, where the house formerly of Cornelius Van
Inwegen stood, a few rods northeast of Cuddeback's place of
residence, and David Jamison, somewhere near this last location. Here
these few families had advantageously located themselves for material
assistance to repel Indian attacks, in case they should happen, and
also for all of them to get water out of the spring for their drink
in hot weather. The most distant of those residences was not over
thirty rods from it.
[Illustration: Gumaer's Old Stone House.]
Eager, in making researches for a history of Orange County, found
this settlement to be the earliest of any in it. [FN-1] The liberty
of settling here was probably obtained from the Indians by purchase;
for it appears that these settlers were and remained at peace with
them and on friendly terms until the commencement of the French war.
As the neighborhood in time extended about four miles in length, it
continued to bear that name, although there were several localities
within that distance which had other Indian names; one at my present
residence; one at the Neversink river, near the aqueduct of the
canal; one at the present residence of Col. Peter P. Swartwout,
[FN-2] and two between that and the first Peenpack locality. In these
several places resided small collections of Indians near living
springs and streams of water.
* * * * *
[FN-1] Since then it has been ascertained that there was an earlier
settlement in the county near New Windsor, at what is known as Plum
Point. In 1684, Patrick McGregorie, his brother-in-law David Toshuck,
who subscribed his name "Laird of Minivard," and twenty-five others
principally Scotch Presbyterians, purchased a tract of 4,000 acres,
embracing lands on both sides of Murderer's creek. Here, on
Couwanham's Hill, so-called from its aboriginal owner, but now known
as Plum Point, McGregorie built his cabin, and in the same vicinity
were those of his associates, William Chambers, William Sutherland
and one Collum, while on the north side of the creek David Toshuck
and his servant Daniel Maskrig established a trading post. (See
Ruttenber's History of Orange County, p. 21, 22)
[FN-2] Now (1889) owned and occupied by Benjamin Swartwout.
When this place was first settled, it was about 25 or 30 miles
distant from the nearest settlement of white people, which latter was
on the road from here to Kingston. Two of the first pioneers,
Cuddeback and Gumaer, were from France and of families who were in
comfortable circumstances of life, which appears evident from what
has been said by them in relation thereto, and from the fact that
they had been brought up without doing any manual labor. It was said
that their hands were so soft and tender when they first came into
America that they blistered and bled when they first labored for a
living in this country. The family of Cuddeback were in a trading
business, in which Cuddeback had served as clerk. It was said the
family of Gumaer were rich and in possession of large bills of
exchange, for which they could not get money before he had to flee to
escape persecution or death. From a certificate of his, in the French
language, in relation to his church membership and character, dated
the 20th of April, 1686, it appears that he then was in France and
about 20 years of age. In 1685, the edict of Nantes was revoked by
Louis XIV., King of France, whereby the Huguenots became unprotected
by the laws of that country and exposed to the vengeance of the
Catholics, who were the most numerous and powerful class of people in
that country, and, after they became unrestrained, exercised their
power to torture and murder the former, and to plunder and destroy
their property, which caused a flight of thousands of them from
France into other countries, in which the two individuals mentioned
made their escape from it.
The name Cuddeback, as now written and Codeback as written in the
patent, must both differ from the original orthography. Cuddeback has
said that his name was that of a certain city in France. On examining
an ancient gazetteer I find the orthography of one city in that
country to be "Caudebec," which, in the French tongue, has the same
oral sound as that of Codeback in the English tongue.
The Rev. Henry Morris, of Cuddebackville, has furnished me with some
historical accounts from Malte Brun's Universal Geography, Vol. 6,
being the following notice of Caudebec:
"Caudebec was formerly the capitol of Caux, a small country in which
agriculture has attained to a high degree of perfection, where every
house, surrounded by trees of different sorts, contributes to adorn
the different sites; indeed, the country, watered by the Seine from
Havre to Rouen, may vie with the vaunted banks of the Seine. Caudebec
was a flourishing town before the revocation of the edict of Nantes;
it was almost ruined in consequence of that impolitic measure, and,
although it possesses a convenient harbor, the population does not
exceed three thousand souls. It is situated in the district of
Yvetot, a small town of which the lords before the reign of Louis XI.
were styled kings by their vassals."
Morris further states that "Caudebec is situated in the department of
the Lower Seine, in which are the following towns: Lillebonne, Rouen,
Elbeuf, Gournay and Aumale," and judges that it lies on the river
Seine between Paris and the English Channel, and belongs to that part
of France that anciently was called Normandy.
I feel very thankful for this information. It reminds me of certain
occurrences which attended Cuddeback and Gumaer at the time of their
flight from France, and all in connection gives me reason to think
that both of them resided in the capital mentioned.
Caudebec said that the vessel in which he escaped from his country
had many wheat bread passengers on it, who, after a few days'
sailing, began to complain of their fare on the vessel, and that they
could not live on the diet furnished, when the same consisted of
plenty of bread, meat, beans, and other vegetables, and such eatables
as were generally had on ships, but were inferior to such as they had
been habituated to. As for himself, he said he thought he could do
well enough on such victuals, but, he said, before they arrived at
their place of destination, provisions became scarce and they began
to have good reason to complain. From which, it appears, that their
voyage must have been retarded by contrary winds, or a circuitous
route, to avoid being taken by their enemies. I have also understood
that Gumaer lived in a city, and, when his enemies sought for him, he
was reading in a garden, where he was informed of his enemies
searching for him and he fled to the top of one of the houses, where
he hid. Now, as it appears that this city was a flourishing place
before it became reduced by the persecutions mentioned and suffered
much in consequence of the same, and, as one of those two individuals
bore the name of the town, it appears very probable that the
passengers in the vessel mentioned were all from this capital.
I have been informed that Caudebec sometimes related the manner in
which the Protestants, or Huguenots, were tortured and murdered, one
of which I still remember, but consider it too shocking to our
feelings to embrace it in this work, being worse, in my view, than
the vile Nero's project of employing dogs to kill Christians. These
innocent people in the early days of Christianity suffered great
persecutions from those who were inimical to their professions and
doctrines. It seems strange that after their doctrine became popular,
the greatest proportion of those who embraced it in France became as
cruel as the monster Nero, who had the power to exhibit to the world
his thirst for imposing on mankind the numerous cruelties he caused
to be inflicted. He became so destitute of the feelings of humanity
that he caused even his own mother to be put to death to satisfy an
unnatural curiosity. Also the great moralist, Seneca, who had been
his tutor, did not escape his jealous disposition, but was put to
death according to his orders. All his impositions for self present
gratification will remain an everlasting stain on his character of
the blackest dye, and the sufferings he caused to be endured must
have affected thousands of his subjects.
Now, all these acts are only as a drop of water in a bucket to like
acts unnecessarily imposed from time to time on the Roman people and
other nations, by ruling characters of Roman dominions.
What shall we think of mankind, who, for self-exaltation, have so
overcome all those tender feelings implanted in their natures as to
kill, murder and plunder each other without any just cause, but
merely to satisfy the cravings of men who were a curse to the world?
I do not know of any species of creatures on the globe who have acted
as cruel as human beings have done in this respect. And by taking a
view of the sins of the ancient nations, who have been destroyed, it
appears that good reason existed for their destruction, and that all
the animal tribes have yielded more to the government and laws of
their Creator than mankind.
The name Gumaer, as now written, was on the certificate written
"Guimar." In another writing, which gave Gumaer the right of
citizenship in the English territories, it was written "Guymard."
This writing was also found among the papers formerly of Peter
Gumaer, Jr., now (1858) in possession of his son-in-law, Solomon Van
Etten, Esq. It is probable that the names Gomar, Guymard and Guimar,
in France, originated from one of those names, the last of which is
the name of a certain town within the French territories. I have
never seen the handwriting of Cuddeback or Gumaer. The children of
the first families were not educated, in consequence of which, when
it became necessary to write their names in their business
transactions, &c., the same was done in the Dutch tongue, without any
other guide than that of the oral sound, which of the latter name had
become somewhat broader among the Dutch than what it was originally;
and the French sound of "mar" was altered in the Dutch sound of
"maer," which is the same as that of "maur" in the English tongue.
A hasty flight of these two individuals prevented them from being
furnished with sufficient funds for a livelihood, in consequence of
which it was concluded that two sisters of Cuddeback, who were to
leave France afterwards and meet them at their place of destination
(which, the writer has understood, was to be England, but it may have
been in Holland), were to bring money for setting up a business of
trade. It is probable that there was an intended marriage of Gumaer
with one of those sisters. They did not arrive at the appointed time,
and, after all hope of their coming was given up, these two young men
embarked for America and landed in the State of Maryland, which
passage exhausted all their money, and here they began to experience
the want of it. After a short stay, they came into the State of New
York, where both entered into a state of matrimony, Cuddeback with a
daughter of Benjamin Provost, who was in a trading business either in
the city of New York or somewhere in the vicinity of the Hudson
river, whereby he became related to some Swartwout families, which
probably led to an association of Cuddeback, the three Swartwouts and
other companions to move into this part of the country. Peter, son of
the first Gumaer, has said that his son Elias took after the Deyo
family, which leads us to infer that Gumaer's wife was of a Deyo
family.
The name of the father of the three Swartwouts is not known, but we
have reason to believe it was Gerardus, as this is a name which has
been given to at least one member of each Swartwout generation from
the first in this neighborhood to the present; and also in the family
of Harmanus Van Inwegen, whose wife was a Swartwout, and the name of
their only son was Gerardus, which name has also continued in his
family descendants to the present time. The name Jacobus (James) and
the name Samuel, are Swartwout names, and have continued in those
families to the present time. In the early part of the settlement
here, there were two Swartwouts who sometimes came over here from the
east side of the Hudson river (probably from Dutchess or Westchester
counties) to see their relatives here. The name of one of them was
Jacobus (James), and he was generally called Dickke Jacobus (Thick
James), in consequence of his bodily thickness. It was said he was
uncommonly broad and thick around his shoulders and breast, and
unusually strong. It is probable that the Swartwouts in this place
either came from the city of New York or from one of the counties on
the east side of the Hudson river, and that their ancestry emigrated
from Holland into this country at an early period of its settlement
for advancing their interests.
Cuddeback, Gumaer and one of the Swartwouts were the only three of
the first settlers who remained in the present town of Deerpark, and
they became the owners of the land granted by the patent; and having
become too weak to defend their possessions against Jersey claimants,
they let Harmanus Van Inwegen have some of their lands to come and
reside here and help defend their possessions. He was a bold, strong
and resolute man, on whom much reliance was placed. He was originally
from Holland, and in the early part of his life had been a seafaring
man. At a certain time he was at the house of Cuddeback, and on
hearing him read that part of history which relates to Hindoo women
suffering themselves to be burned, after the death of their husbands,
in case of being the survivors, said that his own eyes had seen what
he (Cuddeback) was reading, and mentioned the place of the occurrence
and manner in which it was transacted. Van Inwegen had married a
sister of the three Swartwouts.
It is somewhat uncertain which of the three Swartwouts remained in
this neighborhood, but as the seats of Bernardus and Thomas became
vacated, and Anthony's continued to be occupied by Van Inwegen after
Samuel and James Swartwout removed more distantly from the
neighborhood first settled, I will make use of his name as the
father of the two latter. Another reason is that the seats of
Bernardus and Thomas became possessed by the second Peter Gumaer. He
bought the rights of two Swartwouts.
It is not known what became of the families of Tyse and Jamison, nor
where the two Swartwouts went, who removed from here. There are
Swartwouts down the Delaware river, in the State of Pennsylvania, or
New Jersey, among whom the name of Bernardus has been kept up. These
probably are descendants of Bernardus who settled here. There also
are Swartwouts on the Susquehanna. These may be descendants of Thomas
Swartwout.
After the seven first settlers had resided here a few years, they
sent Jacob Cuddeback to the Governor of the New York Colony to obtain
a patent to cover as much land as they intended to occupy, which was
granted the 14th of October, 1697, for 1,200 acres land to Jacob
Cuddeback, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout,
Jan Tyse, Peter Germar and David Jamison, who, as near as can be
determined, continued to be the only settlers of white people in this
part of the country for a term of more than 20 years. The strongest
evidence of this is that the children of the first settlers between
this place and the Delaware river were contemporary with the
grandchildren of the first settlers, and that some of the children of
the first pioneers were among the first settlers of both the lands
between this place and the Delaware river, and a few miles down the
same in the north part of New Jersey. One daughter of Jacob
Cuddeback, one of Van Inwegen, one of Swartwout, and a sister of the
second Peter Gumaer's wife, were among the first settlers between
this place and the Delaware; and one son and four daughters of
Cuddeback were among the first in the north of New Jersey.
There were two neighborhoods in this town, one of which, formerly
known by the name of Peenpack neighborhood, extended southwest to the
old county line, formerly between Orange and Ulster counties, and the
other extended from that line southwest to the Delaware river, and
was in the first instance designated "over the river neighborhood,"
in consequence of its population then being principally on the east
side of the river, but after the increase of inhabitants on the west
side of the river the whole district was generally termed "the lower
neighborhood."