The following were the number of children of each family in it during
the war, and of two contemporary families who came into it after the
war ended, to wit:
Children of Esq. Swartwout 4
" Capt. Cuddeback 6
" Esq. Van Inwegen 10
" B. Cuddeback 6
" J. D. Gumaer 7
" P. Gumaer 4
" Ez. Gumaer 2
" J. Wallace 2
" M. Terwilliger 9
" Esq. Depuy 6
" Capt. De Witt 9
" M. Depuy 3
" S. Depuy 3
" Eb. Gumaer 6
" Ab. Cuddeback 4
" Widow Cuddeback 3
____
84
Residents after the war ended.
J. Davis 7
W. Geegge 2
____
93
Of these 93 children a son of Ezekiel Gumaer died at the age of
nearly five years, a daughter of Benjamin Cuddeback at the age of
about six years, and a son of Esq. Van Etten, aged about 12 years. A
son of Benjamin Cuddeback (Levi), died prematurely after he became a
man, of a colic, caused by eating too many wintergreen berries, and a
son of Abraham Cuddeback, Sr. (Philip), also died prematurely after
he had arrived at manhood, of consumption, caused by overheating
himself to put out a fire in the woods. Both these occurred a few
years after the war ended. All the others lived until after they were
married and had families of their own; but the greatest part of them
did not become as old as their respective parents. The first wife of
James Swartwout died in the fort at Gumaer's, of consumption, within
about one year after she came into it, aged about 25 years; and Peter
Gumaer died of palsy in this fort, near the end of the war, aged 71
years. There also were five premature deaths caused by the enemy--that
of the three Swartwouts in this neighborhood, as has been
mentioned--Gerardus Van Inwegen at Fort Montgomery, and Mathew
Terwilliger, in the Minisink battle.
The following exhibits a certain number of the children mentioned who
became as old, and older, than their respective fathers and of those
who did not attain to such an age. In this I have excluded those
families I could not ascertain, in consequence of having removed into
other parts of our country, and of those untimely deaths not ended by
nature's process, which leaves for calculation the following families.
The left hand column of figures shows the number of those who became
as old, and older, than their respective fathers, and the right hand
column the number of those who did not arrive to that age, to wit:
_Oldest_ _Youngest_
_Parents._ _Children._ _Children._
Capt. Cuddeback 2 4
Esq. Van Inwegen 2 8
Benj. Cuddeback 4 2
J. D. Gumaer 0 7
Peter Gumaer 0 4
Ez. Gumaer 1 2
Esq. Depuy 4 4
S. Depuy 3
Eb. Gumaer 0 6
J. Davis 1 6
Wm. Geegge 2
J. R. De Witt 4 5
____ ____
18 52
This calculation, being as near as I can ascertain the same, in
respect of correctness, shows that only about one-quarter of the
children of those families became as old as their respective fathers.
This great degeneracy will naturally lead to an inquiry respecting
the cause of the same. To answer which, or to throw some light on the
subject in relation thereto, I consider it necessary to state the
manner and circumstances of life of each generation, as near as I am
able to do it, to wit:
* * * * *