For about 60 or 70 years the inhabitants of that part of the present
town of Deerpark, which formerly was in the town of Mamakating in Ulster
County, had no nearer Justice of the Peace than in Rochester, in the
same County, which was about 35 or 40 miles distant from the Peenpack
neighborhood; and the services of that officer were unnecessary for the
inhabitants of that neighborhood during that time, in which they had the
honesty and prudence to adjust all matters relating to their mutual
dealings. And the inhabitants of the lower neighborhood, who were in the
County of Orange, and had settled there about 20 years after the
settlement was made at Peenpack, must have resided there about 40 or 50
years before any Justice officiated in that neighborhood.
I presume that Jacobus (James) Van Auken was the first Justice of the
Peace in the present town of Deerpark, and that he received his office
from the authorities of the State of New Jersey before the line between
the States became settled. He resided in the lower neighborhood. It was
said that he was entirely illiterate, and that the wife of his son
Daniel Van Auken, Leah Kittle, had been educated and could read and
write, and did the same for her father-in-law when it became necessary
for transacting his official business, in consequence of which she
received the name of Justice in his time of life.
Benjamin Depuy and Philip Swartwout, Esquires, officiated as Justices
of the Peace for the County of Ulster before the Revolutionary War
commenced, and Anthony Van Etten and Solomon Kuykendall, Esquires,
officiated as Justices of the Peace for the County of Orange, also
before the commencement of the war, how long previous thereto I cannot
determine, but think they must have come into office after the French
war ended and before the year 1770. After the decease of Swartwout,
Van Auken and Van Etten, which occurred, as has been mentioned, in the
time of the war, Harmanus Van Inwegen became a Justice of the Peace of
the County of Ulster and Levi Van Etten of Orange County. The former was
a resident of the old town of Mamakating, and the latter of the former
town of Minisink. Afterwards Peter G. Cuddeback became a Justice of the
Peace of Ulster County, and officiated until he removed to Cayuga
County.
After this time several individuals held the office in succession for
the County of Orange, which became so altered, together with an
alteration of the towns, as to include the present town of Deerpark in
which Cuddeback resided. When the first and second churches of
Mahackemeck congregation were built, a bench with a roof over it was
made in each of those churches for a seat of such magistrates in time
of divine service. [FN] When those civil officers were first introduced
into this part of our country they were more highly esteemed than at
present, though it did not require as good abilities and as much law
knowledge to discharge their duties honorably in former times as at
present, in consequence of the great increase of their business and a
more general diffusion of law knowledge, also by having become
familiarized among the people in a much greater degree than formerly.
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[FN] This was very common in the Dutch Churches in this country at that
time.
The descendants of the first settlers in the two neighborhoods mentioned
have generally settled all their mutual dealings without the process of
law, which has so continued to the present time; and before the
Revolution the Justices must have had only a mere trifle of business.
After the war ended law prosecutions and trials began, and their
increase a few years thereafter made a great addition of business for
the resident Justices in the towns mentioned, which rapidly augmented
until the County of Sullivan was formed and became established out of
a part of the old County of Ulster, and a part of the latter added to
the old County of Orange, which transferred a great amount of law
business from the present County of Ulster into the County of Sullivan.
After the Revolutionary War, the large forests of wild lands then in
Ulster County contained a great amount of valuable pine, oak and hemlock
timber, both near the Delaware river and for some miles distant from it.
This valuable property became an object of enterprise for people to get
and convey to market, first generally in the form of logs. Few owners
of the land were in this part of the country, which gave people the
opportunity to get it where they saw fit, but as the business extended
owners were found and many people became engaged in manufacturing the
timber into boards, scantling, &c., and into hewed timber, staves and
shingles for market. Among these quite a great proportion of the
residents in the former and present towns of Deerpark engaged, in which
some did a small business, others on a medium scale, and some to a very
great extent. This, with few exceptions, was done on a credit system,
by running in debt to merchants and farmers for the necessary supplies
the individuals wanted for their business, which generally was made
payable every ensuing spring and fall, at which time the lumber was run
down the river to market. In progressing in this manner many
disappointments occurred which caused failures in making payments
according to agreements, in consequence of disasters on the river,
unsteady prices of lumber and of the produce necessary for that
business, wages, &c., and many other causes of failures contributed to
make business for justices, and constables of the old County of Ulster,
who resided in the former town of Mamakating. As early as 1792 when I
was constable and a resident of that town, I had to travel several times
a distance of between 15 and 40 miles to serve processes for recovery of
debts from persons who resided along the river between Pond Eddy and
Cochecton, and who were in poor circumstances to pay debts. These
lumbered under great disadvantages in getting round timber from the
mountains bordering on the river, which business they had commenced
after the war ended.
After the war terminated, boards and other sawed timber were much wanted
for building purposes within the present town of Deerpark, where the
enemy had burned the buildings of the inhabitants, and these materials
were not manufactured in this vicinity at that time. It became necessary
to build saw mills to furnish those articles, and three men, Capt.
Abraham Cuddeback, Benjamin Cuddeback and Capt. Abraham Westfall, built
a saw mill on a brook at that time termed Bush-kill, at or near the
present tanning establishment of Mr. O. B. Wheeler, near the bridge
across the Neversink river on the Mount Hope and Lumberland turnpike;
and three other men, Benjamin Depuy, Esq., Elias Gumaer and Samuel
Depuy, built a saw mill on the present premises of Abraham Cuddeback,
Esq., on the same brook on which his present saw mill stands.
Near the Bush-kill saw mill at that time was much pine timber, and that
mill continued to do considerable business for several years, and the
same, and a few other mills west of it, manufactured the greatest part
of the boards formerly used for the buildings in Orange County, and the
shingles for roofing the same were generally made in the vicinity of
those mills. All of which, during a certain period of time, made a great
business, and some addition to that of our Justice's courts originated
from it.
A great trading intercourse generally creates many causes of contention
and fills our courts with a great amount of business, all of which has
its bad and good effects, and while some bear the burdens of contention
others receive the benefit of transacting the necessary business for
adjusting matters of dispute. All the consequences resulting from such
an intercourse of mankind, have a tendency to enlighten them, and,
according to the old saying "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any
good."
ANTERIOR PRICES OF LIVE STOCK, GRAIN
AND OTHER FARMERS' PRODUCE,
WAGES, &C.
For many years the prices of those productions, wages, &c., were about
stationary. At what time or times these were established is uncertain,
but I presume it must have been as early as 1740, when the same became
regulated according to the discretion of the people throughout this
valley or by the Esopus merchant, and continued until about the year
1790. The farmers generally paid mechanics and laborers with the produce
of their farms, and the latter paid what they bought of the former in
labor, and very little money was in circulation among them.
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