Capt. Abraham Cuddeback was a man of six feet stature and over 200
lbs. weight. He was strong and athletic, and could with ease jump a
five-railed post or rail fence. He was very handsomely built, and in
all respects a very good looking man. He possessed a great mechanical
genius, dexterity and good judgment. When quite young, seeing how
shoemakers and weavers performed their work, he commenced and did the
shoe-making and weaving for his father's family, and became the best
shoemaker and the best and quickest weaver before he was a man grown
of any in this vicinity. In the time of the French war his father
sent him to Old Paltz, where, and in Rochester, he followed weaving
and had no equal in those places. After that war ended the people
here generally were destitute of fanning mills, and cleaned their
grain with hand fans. He had seen one at Gumaer's and may have seen a
few at the Old Paltz. He undertook and made one for his father or
himself, and afterwards made several; one for my father, which was
done in a good and handsome workmanlike manner, with which was
cleaned all the grain of those in the fort at my father's during the
Revolutionary War, and thereafter all his own grain during his life.
Before the commencement of that war a Mr. John Williams had given him
some instruction for laying out the frame work of a house and barn,
from which he considered himself enabled to do the carpenter work of
such buildings, and did the carpenter work of a house and one or two
barns before the war commenced, and after it ended a house and barn
for himself and two or three other barns. After the war ended, he
made a turning bench, repaired the old spinning-wheels in the
neighborhood, turned spools, clevises, &c., for rigging the same.
Before the war commenced, the wagons here had all been obtained from
Rochester, in Ulster county, some of which were nearly worn out at
its end, and a few years thereafter he undertook to contrive how to
make a wagon. He said the greatest puzzle he had in mechanical work
was to study out rules to make the wheels (of which he was entirely
ignorant), but, after thinking over it, he discovered by what means
he could make the same. After this he made wagons in a good and
workmanlike manner, and in as good style as those which had been
obtained from Rochester. He afterwards made pleasure sleighs
according to the Kingston fashion of his time, of which there were
only one or two old ones in this neighborhood as good and handsome as
those which in his time, had been made at Kingston, except painting,
which he did not do. He made the best ploughs, and all kinds of
farming utensils, of any which were made in his time in this part of
our country. He was the greatest marksman at shooting with a rifle
and one of the best hunters. And, notwithstanding all these
acquisitions and the attention he paid to his farm, he was one of the
greatest idlers in the neighborhood, and did often for the sake of
conversation visit his neighbors, and when in company of the best
informed, would generally introduce subjects to create argument,
either in accordance with his own views or contrary thereto, so as to
produce argumentation in which he delighted and was the best means of
discovering the natural and acquired abilities of his opponent. He
said he knew the mental abilities and natural characteristics of
nearly all the men who were contemporary with him for a distance of
20 miles down the Neversink and Delaware rivers, and 40 miles toward
Kingston. In his time Marbletown was the general market place for the
inhabitants in this valley throughout the distance mentioned, and
their travel to and from market made a great intercourse of those
people, whereby they acquired a general acquaintance with each other.
In respect to which I will relate an occurrence. In the commencement
of the Revolutionary War, John Westbrook, who lived about 20 miles
distant from Cuddeback's residence, was elected captain of a company
of militia, and, in saluting him, he was blinded by the discharge of
one of the guns, and remained blind. About 15 years thereafter, Jacob
Cuddeback, son of Capt. Cuddeback, went to Mr. Westbrook's, and,
after speaking to him, asked Mr. Westbrook if he knew him. He said he
did not, but the voice was that of Capt. Cuddeback, which he still
remembered, and judged from the resemblance of the voice of the son
to that of the father, though they had not been together during that
time.
In addition to what has been said respecting his mechanical
acquirements, he became a workman in the business of tailoring. In
the commencement of the war there were no men tailors in this town,
and he first cut for himself; in sewing his daughter assisted him,
and thereafter sometimes cut for others; and in the winters, when all
were collected in the fort, he and his daughter did so much at it,
especially in cutting and making up of deerskin leather, that he
became a good workman and had not his equal here before a Mr. Mather,
a tailor by trade, came into the fort.
It was said that at a certain time he and his wife took each a pound
of frolic flax to spin, which she refused to do for him. He said he
would do it himself and beat her. She was one of the quickest
spinsters in the neighborhood and thought that impossible, and one
morning both commenced on a strife, and he did beat her. At the
frolic they exhibited their yarn, and his was adjudged as good as
hers. While spinning she lost a little time to suckle a child. If he
had ever spun any it must have been when he was a boy. He had not his
equal in this town cradling grain. It was said that a few others in
their ordinary way of cutting might have been equal to him, but
whenever he undertook to race with a man, he made a reserve that his
competitor should cut as large a swath as himself and as good, which
no one could do, and cut as fast as he could.
At a certain time in going with my compass and chain to take the
distance across the Neversink river, to determine how long a bridge
it would require to reach across it, at a place where it was
contemplated to build it, I met Cuddeback, who asked me where I was
going to survey. I told him to take the distance across the river, to
ascertain how long a bridge it would require to reach across it. He
asked me if that could be done. I told him I could do it. This
appeared to be new to him and somewhat mysterious. A few days
afterwards I saw him again, when he told me that he had discovered
how the distance could be taken across the river, and informed me of
the manner in which it could be done. He differed some from one of
the theories by which it was sometimes done, but embraced the same
principle and was as correct to ascertain the distance as that theory
generally practiced where the land is level.
Having been commissioned captain of a company Of militia at or before
the commencement of the Revolutionary War, he had many duties to
perform during the same in that official capacity; for which, as well
as a mechanic, he had very suitable abilities. He was bold, sagacious,
prudent, and tenacious of his honor; he also was humane to those in his
power. The following were some of his military services, to wit:
He was first stationed at Fort Montgomery to command the men of his
company, who from time to time had to take turns to serve as militia
soldiers in that fort; and, previous to the attack of the fort, on
the day it was made, he was sent with a company across the river to
prevent the enemy from loosening the chain which had been put across
it. This chain ran through the centre of three successive logs,
fastened round it to prevent it from sinking, and was put there to
prevent the English ships from running up the river. On those logs
the company crossed the river and watched at the end of the chain
until sometime in the night after the fort had been taken, when, from
some unknown cause, the men became frightened and ran. He followed
them a short distance, but could not find any of them. He staid there
till morning, and was alone to defend the premises. After daylight he
took a distant view of the English shipping; had an invitation to
come on board, with a promise of good usage. He went home.
At Cochecton, 40 miles distant through the woods from this
neighborhood, some families continued to live, and for their own
safety kept in friendship with the Indians as long as they dared. In
the first instance when danger began to be apprehended of attacks
from the enemy, the Committee of Safety sometimes sent Captain
Cuddeback with a few men to Cochecton to procure what information he
could relative to the Indians, to discover whether there was any
danger here of being attacked by them. In these scouts he had to be
cautious to evade as much as possible the sight of the Indians, and
entered that place secretly in the night, where at one or two houses
he made secret inquiry respecting the Indians, and in the same night
left the place and returned back, and, in going and returning, tried
to discover signs of Indians. After two or three such scouts the
Indians made an attack, in 1777, on the family of a Mr. Sprague, and
next year on the family of a Mr. Brooks, some of whom they killed and
others were taken prisoners. These attacks made the Committee act
with vigilance. Persons suspected of being inimical to their country's
cause were apprehended and tried. One or more of those at Cochecton
were complained of, whom the Captain, with a few men, fetched from that
place. In one instance he had trouble to save his prisoner from the
revengeful abuse of a Mr. Brooks, one of the family who had suffered
from the enemy as mentioned. The prisoner, to reward the Captain for
interfering in his favor, presented him with a very handsome powder-horn
and bullet pouch. These were used by the Captain during the war and
thereafter, together with one of the best of rifles.
When the enemy in 1778 invaded the Peenpack neighborhood, the Captain
resided at the Gumaer fort and had the command of the men in it. In
the first instance he ordered all the pitchforks in the barn to be
brought into the fort to prevent its being scaled, and directed the
women to put on the spare coats and hats in the house, and each of
them to take a pitchfork or other stick and put it on her shoulder.
After being so equipped to appear like soldiers, he paraded all the
men and the women back of the house and fort in single file, and,
after the enemy came in sight, he ordered the drum to be beaten and
marched them to the front side of the fort, where they all passed
into it in view of the enemy, after which he ordered all the women
and children to go into the cellar. Anna Swartwout, a large, robust
woman, widow of Major Swartwout, asked permission to stay with the
men in the fort to assist them, which was granted. She took one of
the pitchforks to help defend the scaling of the fort, in case it
should be undertaken. The enemy passed round the east side in open
file at a distance out of gunshot; a few guns, however, were fired,
but ammunition was scarce and reserved for actual engagement; balls
were run the same day. As the enemy passed to where the barn
intervened between them and the fort, the Captain and Jacob D. Gumaer
went into it to prevent its being set on fire by them. Some of the
enemy in passing along the river came to a woman, who had fled, and
told her to go and tell the women in the fort that hundreds of
Indians would be there before night, and if they wanted to save
themselves they must leave the fort. This being done made a great
scare among them, and some made ready to go out of it. The Captain
ordered them all to stay in it, to which they quietly submitted.
After the enemy had passed towards Fort De Witt, a little smoke was
seen to rise on the roof of Cornelius Van Inwegen's house, which was
about 60 or 70 rods distant from the fort. The Captain and Thomas
White went and extinguished the fire, which had just begun to burn.
It was said by certain Tories, who returned after the war ended, that
the enemy had such a good feast of victuals and cider at this house
that they concluded not to burn it. The fire must have originated
from the act of a single individual, or the burning of the barn. At
Fort De Witt the enemy took a station on a hill, in woods, within
gunshot of the fort, and fired several volleys against the wall of
the house and picket fort. After a few volleys were fired, Benjamin
Cuddeback, a brother of the Captain, challenged the enemy to show
themselves, and, although they were out of sight, he, with a long
Esopus gun, heavily loaded, returned some shots whereby they became
about as much exposed to his firing as the inmates of the fort were
to their firing. In returning they passed on the west of the other
fort where they tried to catch some of my father's horses, which his
black man Jack happened to see, who stepped out of the fort and shot,
which started both horses and the enemy so as to let the horses go. A
fire was returned at Jack, and the Captain pulled him back into the
fort. The enemy left, took some of the best horses, plundered and
burnt houses and other buildings, and that day went out of the
neighborhood.
In July, 1779, after the lower neighborhood had been invaded by the
enemy, and a corps of militia from Goshen and its vicinity who had
volunteered to pursue the enemy arrived in that neighborhood, Capt.
Cuddeback and some others out of this town joined in the pursuit, in
which the officers, after having proceeded to a distance from the
neighborhood into the woods, began to have their consultations in
respect to continuing or returning, also in respect to the best place
to attack the enemy, in case of undertaking it. The opinions of
Captain Tyler and Captain Cuddeback, who were acquainted with the
path and woods, were had. Tyler proposed to make the attack where the
enemy had to cross the Delaware river, and Cuddeback to make it in
the night, where the enemy should lodge for their night's rest; there
to fall on them unawares, drive them from their prisoners and
plunder, recover these and return homeward with them in the night.
Very reasonable objections were made to both these plans by the
superior officers; but, in case of attack Tyler's plan was preferred
by the officers generally, and was urged, as is well known, by very
improper means.
In the battle, Cuddeback, with a dress of the color of the leaves,
one of the best rifles and other equipments, and a very great
marksman, was one of the most important fighting men of the corps,
and remained on the fighting ground until after the retreat had
commenced, and until he saw he had to run to save his life, when he
ran a short distance to one side of the course (the mass of men ran)
where he squat down, cocked his rifle and kept ready to shoot any
Indian who should happen to look at him, where he remained
undiscovered by those who passed him until a large Indian, came
slowly walking and looking round, at last turned his face towards him
when he shot and again ran, and in coming to steep rocks he slid down
the same on his back; and when he came to a good place to hide he
again hid and laid down. Here he remained until dark, and from thence
in the night started for home.
The militia soldiers, like the Indians, fought from behind trees,
stumps, rocks, etc. John Wallace, one of Cuddeback's militia company,
kept near his Captain at the different stations to which he was from
time to time removed by his superior officers. At one of which
Wallace received a slight wound, and in the flight made his escape
but became separated from Cuddeback, and in returning home hunted
through the woods and killed three deer. After Cuddeback had been
home three days, Wallace unexpectedly arrived with three deer skins
on his back, to the great joy of his wife and two children.
Cuddeback commended Col. Tusten very highly, and said he felt sorry
for him when he was wounded; that when the retreat commenced he was
called to where the Col. and other wounded officers and men were
collected in the safest place, and was solicited to try and stop the
retreat, but that was impossible; it had become too general. He had
to leave them to their fate, or become a sufferer together with them,
and made his escape as mentioned. The retreat was caused by a hideous
shouting, yelling and firing of guns, which had been undertaken by the
Indians as a last resort to put their opponents to flight; and it
happened to have the desired effect. Until this occurrence, the men
who suffered much in different ways from heat, warm clothing, want of
water and wounds, wonderfully sustained themselves for militia soldiers
against an enemy who had very great advantages in all respects.
Cuddeback, in his domestic concerns, had a great share of indulgence
towards his family and domestics, but was uncommonly severe in
reproof if any of his children happened to do an act of which he much
disapproved, although these never were of a criminal nature. He had
an uncommon gift to stigmatize and reprove a bad action.
Benjamin De Puy, Esquire, was a man of about six feet stature, not as
bony, muscular, and strong as the descendants of the first settlers.
He was a persevering business man, but after he had been a few years
in this neighborhood he became too fleshy and fat to perform any
labor on his farm himself, but still paid a very strict attention to
his farming business, the labor of which he managed to have done by
his slaves, and sons after they became able to work. He became a
Justice of the Peace here of the former county of Ulster, and served
many years in that office before, in, and after the war. He also
served many years as a Supervisor of the old town of Mamakating. In
the commencement of the war he was one of the Committee of Safety. He
was the greatest supporter of religious worship in the Mahackamack
congregation. He was tender and humane to his wife, children and
slaves, and provided a very plentiful living for all of them, in
respect to diet and the necessities of life, even to excess. He had a
strong memory and retained much of what had transpired throughout
this valley from here to Kingston.
De Puy was a heavy load on a horse and had about as good luck as
Alexander the Great had in obtaining a suitable riding horse for him.
This great conqueror had one to carry him safely in his great battles
and extensive conquests, and De Puy had one which carried him safely
for many years and on many bad roads until age rendered him unable to
continue his services. The former built a city and named it
Bucephala, after the name of his great war horse "Bucephalus," and
the latter continued to feed and nourish his horse as long as it
lived, and even sometimes with bread. I happened to come to his house
at one time just after he had given his horse some bread. He then
told me that this horse had never fallen with him in all his travels.
He related to me that at a certain time he and some other gentlemen
went on a very rough, stony road along Basha's Kill in great haste to
arrive in time at a certain meeting; that some of the horses did
often stumble, and in one or two instances fell, and that his horse
traveled over it without making a single blunder. All his travels on
this horse must have amounted to some thousands of miles distance.
About one half of his farm was between one and two miles distant from
his house, and whenever his laborers worked on those lands he
generally went to them on this horse once or twice a day. He had to
go every year twice or oftener to Esopus, 50 miles distant, to
perform his official duties and to many other places where his civil
and church offices called him. The horse was strongly built for
carrying, had a slow, easy pace, and was very kind. The continual
exercise De Puy had on his horse and sometimes in the wagon and
sleigh for doing his business at the mill, stores, blacksmith's, &c.,
had a tendency to keep him healthy, yet he had a few short, hard
sicknesses, but continued to live to a good old age, and in the last
part of his life sold the part of his farm which he had retained and
was removed by his sons to the town of Owasco, where, and in that
part of New York, all his sons and daughters, excepting two, had
previously settled and there his mortal life was ended.
Philip Swartwout was a large, strong man, upwards of six feet in
stature, portly and likely. Captain Cuddeback, who had seen General
Washington at Fort Montgomery, said he had never seen a man who
resembled Washington as much as Esquire Swartwout; the features of
his face, his eyes, forehead, size and form of his body, all he said,
had a great resemblance to those of Washington.
Swartwout in his business transactions was very persevering and
honest. In his public acts he was also honest and persevering to
obtain the objects of justice between individuals, and also to
promote the welfare of the public. He was a Justice of the Peace of
the former county of Ulster before the Revolutionary War commenced,
and in its commencement became one of the Committee of Safety. After
the decease of his father, August 21st, 1756, he became heir to his
estate, which consisted of a good farm, but was so much encumbered by
the debts of his father, that he concluded to let the creditors take
it. These were relatives of his, who resided at Rochester, in Ulster
county. They advised Swartwout to take the farm and they would give
him his own time to pay the debts, in consequence of which he obligated
himself to pay the debts and took the farm. His oldest boys must have
been about 10 or 12 years old at this time. He had one man slave and
an insane man lived with him, who remained in the family during life.
With this help he commenced to work the farm, and, after his son James
became old enough to learn the blacksmith trade, he built a shop, got
a blacksmith who, together with James, pursued that business, and the
father, with his other sons and slave, worked the farm and made money
last, so that he paid all his debts, and had money standing out at
interest when the war commenced.
Swartwout, as well as De Puy, was a great supporter of religious
worship, and paid a strict attention to the preaching of the gospel.
Anthony Van Etten, Esquire, was from Rochester or its vicinity, where
he had received a good education for his time. His visage and bodily
form and size were said to have resembled his youngest son Anthony
Van Etten, who was a man of about 5 feet 10 inches stature, and about
160 lbs. weight. He was a blacksmith by trade and became married to
Hannah Decker, daughter of Thomas Decker, in 1750, and obtained from
him a piece of land, on which he built a house and shop, and entered
into the business of his trade, and got an apprentice to assist him.
He soon received a great amount of work from the farmers and made
money fast. He built the stone house in which his son, Captain Henry
Van Etten, formerly lived, and as he became enabled, bought land and
obtained the old Van Etten farm, which consisted of some of the best
land in this town. He and Esq. Swartwout, who were contemporary, both
commenced business with small means, and became the most thriving
business men in this town. Van Etten became a Justice of the Peace of
the old county of Orange at an early period of his residence in this
town, in which he officiated to the end of his life in 1778. His
widow survived him many years. She was a short, strong woman of a
good constitution, an affectionate mother and agreeable neighbor,
sociable and much addicted to humorous conversation, and often told
funny occurrences of former times. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Anthony Van Etten, was a son of Jacob Van Etten, and Antie
Westbrook, who were married at Kingston, Ulster county, New York,
April 22d, 1719, they both being residents of that county at the
time. They had a large family and came with them to the Delaware
valley about 1730, taking up a residence at Namenoch, opposite the
island in the Delaware now so called, on the New Jersey side. Their
oldest daughter Magdelena, married Rev. Johan. Casp. Fryenmuth. From
their sons are descended the various Van Etten families of Orange
county, N. Y., Pike county, Pa., and Sussex county, N. J.
Anthony was born about 1726 at Napenoch, Ulster county, and baptized
at Kingston Ref. D. Church, June 12, 1726, At the time of his
marriage, August 3d, 1750, he resided at Namenoch, but thereafter
with his wife located in what is now the town of Deerpark.
The baptismal records of the Maghachemech Church furnish the names
of most of their large family of children as follows:
Thomas, bap. Sept. 8, 1751; Antie, bap. Jan. 14, 1753; Janneke, bap.
April 28, 1754; Margarieta, bap. Feb. 13, 1756; Levi, bap. Feb. 12,
1758; Alida, bap. Aug. 19, 1759; Hendricus, bap. June 14, 1761;
Blandina, bap. Sept. 4, 1763; Maria, bap. Nov. 11, 1765; Thomas,
bap. Oct. 16, 1768; Jacob, 1774; Anthony, bap. Oct. 29, 1780.
Of their sons, Levi married Grannetje Westbrook, and from them are
descended most of the families now in Deerpark. Anthony, Jr.,
married Jemmia Cuddeback, and located in central New York. A. V. E.,
Jr.
Cornelius Van Inwegen was a man of about 5 feet 8 inches stature, and
about 170 or 180 pounds weight. In his boyhood, after he was able to
handle a gun, he became very fond of hunting, and he and Capt.
Cuddeback, when boys, generally hunted together, and both became well
skilled therein; which the latter partially quit when he arrived to
manhood, but Van Inwegen continued to follow it through life and
killed more deer, bears, and other wild animals and wild fowls, than
any other individual of this town ever did since he became a hunter.
No family in the neighborhood enjoyed as plentiful a supply of the
best of wild meats as his family, and, being liberal therewith, he
often contributed some to my father's family and to Capt. Cuddeback's,
who were his nearest neighbors. The numerous skins of deers which he
acquired were valuable for himself and family, and for all his
neighbors. In his time the men and boys all wore short leather breeches
of deerskin, and some of the men had leather coats to put on in dry
weather to perform rough and dirty work, and in the latter part of his
life some individuals wore leather frocks in which to perform such work.
Moccasins of deerskin leather were also much worn in winter. Deerskin
leather was valuable for the inhabitants of this town in the time of
the war, in consequence of the inconvenience of manufacturing cloth
during that time. In those cheap times, when rye and corn were only
four shillings a bushel, a good buckskin was allowed to be worth from
twenty shillings to three dollars before dressed.
Now, these characters, which differed very widely, were all necessary
for the general welfare of the community. The other inhabitants of
the second generation, and their contemporaries in the lower
neighborhood as well as those mentioned, were useful members of
society, and each did more or less contribute towards the welfare of
others. They were generally an industrious, honest, prudent and
economizing people, who obtained their living by the sweat of their
brow, and had to manage their business suitable to their circumstances
and means of procuring a livelihood.
Men in a state of nature, like the wild animals, generally live on
the spontaneous productions of the earth, and each has to procure its
own food after the parent's help becomes unnecessary. The first
settlers here were nearly in the same self-procuring situation, and
only had a few manufactured implements in advance of the naked-handed
Indians.
By the introduction of scientific knowledge men have become dependent
on each other, and thereby enabled advantageously to cultivate the
earth and provide for a very numerous population, and also create
enjoyments far beyond what the unimproved races of mankind can
realize. The numerous branches of mechanical and scientific works and
occupations employ millions of people, who obtain a living thereby.
Each of these produce materials and literary works whereby others
become interested, all of which create an extensive social intercourse
which reaches all the civilized and manufacturing nations of the earth;
and, even in a small degree, some of the unimproved races of mankind.
All this beautiful order among men, for which they are formed,
suitable in body and mind, if the same could be sustained without
imposition and unerring conduct in all respects, might render man
very happy, but destruction has been the fate of the ancient
civilized nations who had, in a greater or less degree, become an
improved and scientific people, and good reasons must have existed
for producing this extinguishment.
In the year 1792, I was constable and collector of the old town of
Mamakating, in Ulster county, which then extended from the old county
line near the present dwelling house of Philip Swartwout, Esquire,
and son, about 20 miles northeasterly, and from Shawangunk Kill
northwesterly about forty-five miles to or beyond Cochecton, and
included part of the present towns of Deerpark, Mount Hope,
Mamakating, Forestburgh, Lumberland and Cochecton. The town was
divided into two collector's districts, of which mine was the largest,
and the amount of tax I had to collect was 15 L. O s. 6 d., ($37.56).
The highest taxpayer on the list was Esquire De Puy, whose tax was
seven shillings, ten pence, one farthing, and the whole number of
persons taxed in my district, 45 miles long and part of it about 12
miles wide, was 182. From this neighborhood to Cochecton, (40 miles
distant) there was only a foot path through the woods on which I
traveled on foot and carried a knapsack, in consequence of the
scarcity of horse feed and provisions along it. Rafting masts, spars,
logs, and a few boards had previously commenced. The timber at that
time was principally got from the sides of the mountains and hills
bordering on the river, under great disadvantages, for want of teams
and a road, until one was made with the State funds from the
residence or grist mill of Captain William Rose to Cochecton, about
the year 1803. After this the lumber business increased rapidly and
became very great, whereby the inhabitants of this town became
greatly benefited, both by the market it made for their produce and
the money some individuals made by that business. At the close of the
war Orange County was very thinly settled, and most of the land
unimproved.
Low as the taxes were in 1792, I found several unable to pay a few
pence, and thereby lost about the amount of my fees.
* * * * *
GREAT CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, TRAVEL AND
IMPROVEMENTS OF EVERY KIND.
We of the third generation of the first four families and our
contemporaries in the lower neighborhood, have passed through a period
of time in which greater improvements have been made in our country
than ever has been made within such a space of time in any country. Its
equal, probably, will never again occur; yet we know not to what state
of improvement men will arrive.
The arts and sciences have been stretched far beyond their former
bounds, and gigantic and minor productions have been brought to view
by the labor and ingenuity our countrymen have displayed, and great are
the benefits mankind have derived from their labors.
Some rulers of nations and great generals of ancient times have been
highly honored for acts of murder and plunder to aggrandize themselves,
who, instead of rendering benefits, were a nuisance in the world. Not
so with our scientific men. They crave not the loud applause of the
multitude, but their general welfare and their labors have created
benefits far beyond what we can calculate, and all are more or less
benefited from the results of their labors.
We have been spectators of the great changes mentioned and have seen
the time when the red men were yet among us, and were often refreshed
and cheered by their white neighbors with something to eat and a drink
of cider; and the time, when they disappeared and a great revolution
commenced, and the effects of the war it created, the restoration of
peace and the times when the constitutions of the several States, and
of the United States, were, from time to time, formed and become
established, and the effects of the laws which have from time to time
been passed under those constitutions, and the great benefits which
have resulted therefrom; also the career of our first and greatest
statesmen, who exerted their powers for the good of their country.
And here let us not forget that in the days of our boyhood we have
seen the time in which the military forces of our country, under great
sufferings and privations, nobly sustained their country's cause to
obtain an independent government, and have been spectators of its
achievement and the great results which have emanated therefrom; in
respect to which I will here give a very faint view of what has
transpired in relation to the improvements our countrymen have made
during the time of our life's journey, to wit:
We have seen the time of the commencement of the printing of newspapers
in this part of our country after the war ended, and the rapid increase
and vast extent to which that important business has arrived, whereby
every citizen with small means can now have information of the acts of
our legislatures and more than he can read of what continually
transpires both in our own and other countries.
We have seen the time when schools were in their infancy in this part
of our country, their progress and the vast extent to which they became
multiplied, even so that almost every citizen of this State, and
generally of the other states, has the opportunity of having his
children educated according to and even beyond his pecuniary means. We
have seen the time when there was not a minister of the gospel, lawyer
or physician, within 20 miles distance from our present town, and have
seen the continual increase of those professional men until every town
in our county had more or less of them, and the increase of education,
so that it reached nearly all the citizens, few of whom do not acquire
enough to read and write, and a very great proportion have reached the
higher branches of learning, and become fitted for all the different
business transactions of our country.
We have been spectators of the time when all transportation on the
Hudson river was done in vessels, whose speed depended on the winds
which impelled them, and of the time when the ingenuity of Fulton, with
the help of Chancellor Livingston, produced a steamboat wherewith the
Hudson river was navigated, and, when thereafter others from time to
time were built, until all the navigable waters with such boats in our
country were therewith navigated, and even the Atlantic Ocean crossed to
and from England and other places, and the time when other machineries
began to be impelled by steam power and their increase until thousands
got into operation.
We have been travelers on the early rough and stony roads in Orange
County and have seen the first construction of turnpikes in our county,
and the great improvement of our highways, and at last have beheld the
gigantic works of canals and railroads, on which the value of millions
of property is annually transported to and from all parts of our
country, and thousands of people are continually enjoying the easy and
speedy travel thereby furnished.
We have been co-operators with our respective parents in producing all
the articles of food and raiment for our own subsistence, and when we
wanted a few articles we could not make, such as salt, iron, &c., we
had to travel to the store of Nathaniel Owen, 22 miles distant or to
the store of Cornelius Wynkoop, 40 miles distant, to procure the same.
After this the ingenuity of some of our citizens produced machinery
for manufacturing all the cloth we wanted for our use with much less
cost and labor than what we could formerly manufacture the same; and
these are now so abundantly transported into all parts of our country,
that our little town of Deerpark now has more stores in it than the
whole county of Orange had at the close of the Revolutionary War, and
probably as many as there were in both the counties of Orange and
Ulster. These goods, by an exchange of commodities for the same, can
now be procured so much easier than formerly that our former apparatus
for manufacturing flax, wool and cotton into cloth has become useless.
And these stores now contain such a variety of articles, that as a
certain man once said "Many necessaries unnecessary."
We have taken wheat, rye and corn to New Windsor and Newburgh when
these were very small places and when Goshen was a very small village,
and have passed through the time in which all the other villages in
Orange County had their origin and growth and in which the whole
country west of the valley in which we reside, has become numerously
populated throughout its present settled parts, in which many handsome
and magnificent villages and cities have been built and now adorn those
parts which, in our early days, were a vast wilderness.
We have seen the time when news traveled from the printing presses to
us on horseback, and when the same became conveyed in light one and
two horse wagons, and in progressing, stage wagons and steam boats
became the swiftest carrier of news, and after the meridian of our
lives the swiftest traveler ever before known came into operation, in
which news, passengers and different commodities were conveyed to and
from distant parts of our country, and in the last part of our life's
journey originated the wonderful discovery of giving instantaneous
information of any matter or occurrence for any distance to which
telegraph wires can be extended.
We have been farmers and inured to all the different kinds of labor
thereunto appertaining. We have in early life ploughed with wooden
ploughs, to which a wrought share and coulter were fastened, sowed all
our grain by hand, harrowed the ground with square iron teeth harrows,
cut all our grain with scythe and cradle, threshed all our grain with
hand flails, mowed all our grass with scythes, and raked our hay
together with hand rakes, and commenced tillage when the soil of our
river lands was reduced to its lowest state of nutrition since the time
their cultivation was first commenced. In progressing from the
beginning of our business transactions, we became ploughers with patent
ploughs, constructed of wood and iron castings, on which many
improvements were, from time to time, made and have passed through the
time of the introduction of different kinds of cultivators to
cultivate ploughed ground, and of sowing machines, reaping machines,
threshing machines of different kinds, and different kinds of horse
power to impel the same, mowing machines to cut grass, and different
kinds of horse rakes to gather hay, and different kinds of corn
shellers, cutting benches, churning machines, &c., &c. We have
observed a slow improvement of the lands in this town, which commenced
about the year 1810, and progressed very slow at first, but increased
in rapidity until the present time, 1858, and lands in this town now
produce about double what they did in their lowest state of
cultivation. We have seen the time when society here was in the lowest
and most degraded state in which it has ever been in this valley, and
have seen its rise and progress from that state to its present good
and moral behavior.
Now all these works, which are of inestimable benefit, are only a small
part of the discoveries and improvements made by our countrymen in our
time of life. We do not claim to have stood alone as observers, not
that other countries have been idlers in respect to inventions and
improvements, but that all our contemporaries, both in our own and
other countries, have passed through a period of time which has produced
greater and more wonderful discoveries than that of any other like
term of years.
Our travel on this great highway of research is yet rapidly advancing,
and to what extent men will arrive is best known to the Great
Architect who fills the universe with his works.
In consequence of the improvements mentioned and the great prosperity
of our country, we also became spectators of their results in our
manner of living, and although we have comparatively with others
remained in humble walks of life, yet we have made great strides from
our early habits, which, in the days of our youth, were governed by
destitution and want of means to expand and gratify our desires. The
greatest complaint, however, in those anterior times, was the burden
of labor which all had to endure with greater or less perseverance,
much of which has now been done away with by means of machinery.
Some years after the war ended the inhabitants of this town began to
make money, and were enabled to live in a different style from that of
their former habits, and articles of fancy were introduced. The
acquisition of these progressed slow at first but increased as people
advanced in property and became enabled to procure the objects of their
desires, and the different luxuries thus introduced among us have
continued to become more numerous until the present time.
By contrasting the manner of living of our parents with that of the
present time, we behold the vast change made in a term of about half
a century. When our manner of living became changed diseases began to
afflict us, and these, as well as our habits of life, have continued to
increase, which, together with the great addition of our population,
now generates diseases which give employment to the physicians who
reside among us.
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