CHARACTERS.
There are certain predominating characteristics in families which, in some cases, will remain in their descendants from generation to generation for a great length of time, and some of those of the first pioneers have thus continued in some degree in their line of descent up to the present time; and where intermarriages have occurred, of such different characters, they have generally become united in the children and, in some cases, this union resulted in better characters than that of either of the originals, and in others, worse.
In respect to the characteristics of five sons of the first families who remained in the Peenpack neighborhood, I will here give a short narration, to wit:
Major James Swartwout was a large, heavy, strong, portly and likely man, of a noble and dignified appearance, very suitable for a military officer, and was possessed of a spirit as noble as his appearance. He was very witty, jocose and humorous in conversation (these were Swartwout family traits), and he was too liberal and easy in his business affairs to accumulate property, in consequence of which he became much involved. He was generally consulted in matters of difficulty, in respect to which I will relate one instance, to wit:
At a certain time after the fall of a light snow, the members of a certain family who were neighbors to him, discovered apparently the tracks of a person on the roof of the house where no person could walk, which extended from one end of the roof to the other end. This alarmed the family, who thought it ominous of some calamity which would happen to them, and after some conversation respecting it, concluded it was best to send for Major Swartwout, to see what he would think of it. They accordingly got him there, who, on viewing it, concluded in his mind that it had been done by some person, and mistrusted a slave of the family, who kept near them to hear what would be said respecting it. He stepped up to the black man and accused him of doing it, which was denied. The Major told him he had done it and that if he did not own it he would give him a flogging, and still denying, the Major took a gad and gave him two or three whippings before he would own it, and after owning it the Major told him if he would tell how he did it he would let him go. He said he took a long pole and fastened a shoe to the end and therewith made the tracks. This eased the family of their fearful apprehensions.
William Cuddeback was a man of somewhat over six feet stature, coarse-boned, muscular and lean. He was strong and very nimble, and could outrun many young men after he was fifty years old. In the French war, after his hair had begun to turn gray, he outran a soldier who thought himself swift. He was very talkative and witty, and I think from what information I have had in relation to him, that he never had his equal in this town for humorous discourse and a display of wit properly and suitably applied. He was characterised as a wise man in his time. Argument was his hobby, and, as there was much of it in his time in relation to the Scriptures, he, although uneducated, became so versed therein that when among strangers he was often thought to be a well read man. He was a disbeliever in the superstitious notions which many people in his time had in relation to witchcraft, &c., and would often tell very laughable occurrences in respect thereto. He was somewhat slack in his business concerns and careless in paying attention to the same, but he always had help enough to manage the business of his farm.
Peter Gumaer was a man of about five feet ten inches stature. During the time of my acquaintance with him he was fleshy and fat, and in his younger days was a very persevering business man. He never was a hard working nor an idle man himself, but all his children and slaves performed a great amount of labor. His family produced a greater amount of farmer's productions than any other farmer within 20 or 30 miles distance from his residence, and he had all the necessary fixtures for his different branches of business in the best manner of his time. He would not suffer idleness in his family, and was inimical to it in others. He was a man of good judgment and of an honest and independent principle.
Gerardus Van Inwegen [FN] {tn} was a man of about five feet eight or nine inches stature. He was lean, bony, muscular and strong, and had much of the Swartwout jocose and humorous disposition. He was the only son of his father, and was brought up without work, and in his neighborhood became fond of hunting, and did much of it in company with the white and Indian boys of the neighborhood, and in early life became a very skillful hunter and took great delight in it. He continued to follow it through life, and killed more deer, bears and other wild animals and wild fowls than any other man of his time in this vicinity, whereby he not only obtained a very plentiful supply of those meats for his own family, but contributed liberally to those of Cuddeback and Gumaer, his neighbors, and enjoyed a very happy life. He was much addicted to playing tricks on people, and, when any of them happened to be offensive, he could generally end the matter in good humor. (It appears those ancients generally were well calculated to extinguish those offensive occurrences and restore friendship, by means of which they maintained friendly relations with each other and with the Indians.)
[FN] Brother of Hannah, wife of Anthony Van Etten, page 59.
{Transcribers note: the footnote is hand written}
At a certain time he put a mean, dirty trick on a company of squaws and their children, which they discovered in going to a certain place, and immediately laid it to Gerardus, and, on their return, stopped at his house and accused him of it. He asked what made them think he had done it. They told him no other man in the neighborhood would do such a nasty trick; that he was worse than a hog and they would have satisfaction for that trick. After some altercation respecting it, he got a pail of cider and gave them as much as they would drink, which cheered them all up and they went off in good humor, laughing at those who fared the worse.
Samuel Swartwout was reputed to have been a very strong man, and naturally easy and very good natured, not easily provoked to anger nor easily scared. He, by hunting and trapping, obtained a supply of meat and some other necessaries for his family. He had a valuable farm, but had no help to work it. Laborers could not be hired. After Depuy married his daughter he brought some slaves from his father's, and, with these, Depuy worked the farm and produced much wheat and other grain. Swartwout was on very friendly terms with the Indians, and when he removed from the residence of his father, he settled, as has been mentioned, among a collection of Indians.
In order to give some idea of Swartwout's boldness and of having been so characterized, I will relate a certain transaction, to wit: A certain Indian in his time had made a false face of a very frightful appearance, which was obtained from him by two or three of the young men. It was said that when it was put before a man's face and a bear skin wrapped around his body, the appearance in the night was very terrifying. They gave the man so dressed the name of Santa Claus. On a certain winter evening this Santa Claus went round among the families and frightened the members of four of them by this imprudent exhibition. After this they concluded to try if they could not scare the fearless Swartwout. Santa Claus went and entered his house. Swartwout sat before the fire, and, on seeing him, rose from his chair, took hold of it, and put himself in a position to strike. Santa Claus, fearing the blow, said, "Uncle Samuel, don't strike." Swartwout told him to go out of the house, or he would split his brains, and added, "If you are the devil, or from the devil, go to where you belong."
These five men and their fathers had to encounter many difficulties to retain the possession of nearly half the land they claimed under the patent against Jersey claimants, and it appears they were well qualified in all respects to counteract them. An account of this is contained in Eager's history.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A FEW INDIVIDUALS OF THE SECOND GENERATION.
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.