ANCIENT FAMILIES OF THE PEENPACK NEIGHBORHOOD. (continued 3)

Within the present century much has been done to enlighten mankind and improve their condition, and we are under great obligations of gratitude to all the scientific men of our country for the vast improvement and discoveries they have made within my own time of life, most of which has been done by descendants of English origin, whose ancestors generally came into this country poor, to enjoy liberty in the wilds of the Eastern states, where they had to suffer the hardships of procuring a livelihood in a wilderness country, among the hazards of being exterminated by the numerous Indians who inhabited it. Now, notwithstanding their privations and all the hazards which attended their situations, they persevered, improved the country wherever they settled, defended themselves against Indian hostilities, and, as soon as practicable, introduced religious worship, literature and the study of the arts, and sciences, and became the most enlightened people in our country.

Many of their descendants have emigrated into the different States of the Union, and, wherever they have located, they have generally introduced religion, literature, and the study of the arts and sciences. They occupy the greatest part of the most important stations of life in our country, and we are indebted to them for a vast amount of improvements, and for many manufacturing establishments in different parts of our country. In religion they do not all unite. Their spirit of liberty generally dictates the individuals to join such Christian denomination as they respectively prefer, in consequence of which they have become divided generally among the different Christian denominations in our country. These different opinions in religious sentiments generally create no enmity between the most enlightened professors, who so differ in opinion where no apprehensions of evil consequences exist, but indications of these have not become wholly extinguished, and may or may not prove an injury to the welfare of our country.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

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.

[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.

CURRENCY AND MEASURES.

Previous to the Revolutionary War, and for a few years after it ended, the currency in circulation here was that of the Colony of New York, afterwards termed State of New York, which was calculated in pounds, shillings, pence and farthings.

1 pound was 20 shillings $2.50

1 shilling was 12 pence .12 1/2

1 penny was 4 farthings .01 1/25

The grain measure was a skipple, and held 3 pecks. The cloth measure was an ell, 3/4 of a yard long.

For brevity, the prices annexed to the following articles, wages, &c., is in our present currency, and the measures are those now in use.

LIVE STOCK.

Horses, from about $20.00 to $50.00

Cows, " " 7.50 to 12.50

Sheep, " " 1.00 to 1.50

GRAIN.

Wheat, per bushel $0.75

Rye, per bushel .50

Corn, per bushel .50

Buckwheat, per bushel .31

MEAT.

Beef, per cwt. $2.50

Pork, per cwt 4.00

CLOTHS.

For man's every day wear linen, unbleached, per yard $0.44

For man's every day wear linen, bleached, per yard .50

Finer qualities for Sunday wear at higher prices, linsey-woolsey, fulled and colored 1.00

Unfulled plain colored linsey-woolsey for woman's wear .75

These cloths were all woven five-quarters of a yard wide.

FLAX.

Unhatcheled, per lb $0.09

Tow, per lb. .06

WAGES.

For labor on a farm, per year, from $50.00 to $75.00

For labor on a farm, per month, from. 5.00 to 7.50

For labor on a farm, per day, except in harvest and haying, from .25 to .37 1/2

Per day for cradling grain $0.62 1/2

Per day for mowing grass .50

Baking and binding after a cradler .62 1/2

Baking only after a cradler .25

Binding after a cradler .37 1/2

Cutting timber and splitting it into rails, per hundred .37 1/2

Splitting rails, per hundred .18 3/4

Crackling or breaking flax per hundred hands full .12 1/2

Swingling flax per lb. about .03

Spinning it for common wear per lb. (women's work) .12 1/2

Weaving linen for every day wear per yard about .04

Linsey-Woolsey per yard about .07

CARPENTER'S WORK.

Per day from $0.50 to $0.72

For making the woodwork of a wagon $25.00

Of a lumber sleigh 1.50

Of a plow 1.00

Of a fanning mill 12.50

MASON'S WORK.

Per day from $0.50 to $0.75

The sums paid for the mason and carpenter's work of the dwelling house of Peter Gumaer, done about the year 1753, will show how cheap those mechanics worked at that time.

The house was 45 by 40 feet on the ground, with a cellar under the same, divided into four cellar rooms and four dwelling rooms. The walls were of stone, masoned with clay mortar and were about two feet thick, pointed outside of the house and inside of the cellar rooms with lime and sand mortar, and plastered inside of the rooms and chamber with mortar of lime, &c. The mason work of this house was done by three masons, by the job, for 30 L., equal to $75; and the carpenter's work was also done by the job, by a Mr. Wells, for the like sum of 30 L., equal to $75.

To show how cheap these mechanics worked, I have thought proper to give a further description of this house, being as follows, to wit: The two side walls were about 20 feet high from the bottom of the cellar to the plates, and the two end walls were about 28 feet high. The two walls, which divided the cellar and dwelling house each into four apartments, were about 16 feet high from the bottom of the cellar to the chamber floor. The two chimneys, with the supporting walls in the cellar and forming the fire-places, were about 40 feet high from the bottom of the cellar to their tops, and were each about 10 x 6 feet square above the upper floor, from which they were tapering towards the top of the roof, and above it were about 4 or 5 feet square.

The carpenter's work consisted of hewing, fitting and laying the cellar beams, which were about one foot square, and reached from the outside to the inside walls, also hewing, planing and laying the beams of the upper floor, which were of pitch pine timber and about 14 X 10 inches square, also hewing and planing the plates on which the roof rested, also hewing the rafters, which were about 8 x 6 inches square at the lower ends and about 5 inches square at the top end and those on the sides were about 32 feet long, and those on the two other sides, or ends, were about 26 feet long, and each pair of the long rafters contained a girth of about 25 feet long and about 8 x 6 inches square. The lath on which the shingles were nailed were of split timber, hewed 1 1/4 inch thick and about 5 inches wide, the shingles were of white pine timber 3 feet long and 1 inch thick at the butt end, shaved to near an edge at the other end; the lower and upper floors were of pitch pine boards, 1 1/2 inch thick planed on the side within the rooms.

The house contained 7 inside panel doors, four outside framed doors, and four cellar batten doors, five windows, which contained each 24 panes of glass, and panel window shutters to each window, four small windows above the outside doors and eight small chamber and cellar windows, and a large closet each side of one of the fire places. These two jobs were paid in money, which was of much more value at that time than at present.

Few country dwelling houses contain as great a weight of materials as were put into this building. It lasted until the year 1823, and, with a little repairing and a new roof, might have stood and been a good house until the present time. It contained all its first materials except a small repair of the floors before each fire place, and rebuilding the east wall, from which the pointing had been washed by northeast storms of rain and caused it to fall. The lower and upper floors, and the two end roofs, were yet water tight when the house was taken down. The roofs on the north and south sides had become leaky, and more on the north than south side. The two end roofs were very steep, and those on the sides were somewhat steeper than roofs of the present time.

BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS OF OUR ANCESTORS.

As there has been a great change in the business transactions of people in this part of the country generally within the last half century, I have thought proper to give a more particular statement in relation to that of the inhabitants formerly of our present town, than what has been mentioned in the preceding part of this work.

Commencing with the ending and beginning of the year, I will in the first instance narrate the manner in which Christmas and New Year's days were kept.

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S.

The day preceding Christmas, preparations were made to enjoy some good diets on that and the next succeeding day, by baking cakes, boiling doughnuts, &c., on which to feast, especially the second Christmas day, when neighbors visited each other and partook of the good victuals previously and this day provided. Formerly two days were kept as Christmas, and two days as New Year's throughout our valley. The first Christmas day was kept holy and reverential as Sunday, and the second as mentioned, on the evening of which the young people generally had a dance. The day previous to New Year's, the same preparations were made for both New Year's days, and early in the morning of the first day, at or before break of day, a few individuals would be out in one part of the neighborhood and salute a near neighbor with the firing of guns by his door, which awakening the inmates they speedily arose out of their beds, and, on meeting their visitors, they mutually greeted each other with the wish of a Happy New Year, after which a treat of cider was given and sometimes other liquor after it became used, and some cakes, doughnuts and apples were distributed among them. Here they were joined by one or a few of this family and proceeded to the next neighbor, where the same routine was gone through and generally one or a few individuals were added at each house, and by this means quite a company was formed by passing through the neighborhood. In my time these proceedings began to be disapproved, and gradually ceased until they became abandoned. In all other respects, the first and second New Year's days were kept in the same manner as the second Christmas day.

After these festivities were past, the people resumed their business, which was very urgent at this time of the year, in which, before my time, it was said there generally was good sleighing and they had to do a great amount of teaming in the winter season while sleighing continued, to get their wheat to market, their fire wood, post and rail timber drawn, and much other work which teams had to perform. Wheat, in the first instance, had to be taken between 50 and 60 miles distance from our present town to market, afterwards between 40 and 50 miles.

As the days are short in winter, the people before my time occupied a part of the night after dark in the evening and in the morning before daylight, for threshing and cleaning wheat, and also for taking it to market. The great amount of fire wood, post and rail timber, which had to be provided in the winter season, also made much winter work. After sleighing ended, post and rail timber had to be split, the posts holed and rails sharpened, and, as soon as the frost was out of the ground, new fences were made of these and the old fences were repaired. In 1770 and afterwards, a great amount of fuel and fencing timber was used in consequence of the large fires farmers kept up in their sitting rooms and kitchens, the smallness and scattered situation to which farms had become reduced at that time, and the necessity of dividing them into small lots for pasturing purposes.

In March and April, the flax which had not been previously dressed, was in these months all crackled and swingled, rope yarn spun, and ropes made for halters, traces, lines and other uses. Each farmer in these months prepared his hides for tanning, procured white oak bark, and laid down the hides, together with the bark and water, in troughs, to be tanned during the warm season. The linen for summer wear was principally woven in these months by the men, the manure drawn from the barnyards and stables, and flax seed and oats sowed.

In May, the corn-ground was ploughed and planted, and ploughing for buckwheat was done for the first time.

In June, the corn was hoed twice, for which it was prepared by ploughing each time between the rows one way, so that much had to be done with the hoe, and the ploughing for summer fallow was also commenced, and at an early day of the settlement sometimes finished in this month.

In July the harvesting and gathering of winter grain and oats, and the pulling of flax was all done.

In August, after meadows were made, the grass was cut and gathered for fodder, flax taken up and brought into barns, and a second ploughing for wheat was principally done in this month. (It was customary with the ancient people to plough three times for wheat and twice for rye).

In September the plowing for seed and sowing winter grain was commenced, and was continued during the month of October and beginning of November. Cider was from time to time made during these three months. The topping of corn, by cutting off the stalks above the ears for fodder, was done in September until the time of the Revolutionary War, after which this practice was abandoned and the cutting up of corn near the ground and setting it up in small shocks became a general practice, in which, improvements in performing the work, and time and manner of doing the same, have from time to time been made. Until the time of the Revolutionary War, and during that war, the ears of corn on the stalks, standing out in the field after becoming dry, were pulled from the stalks and thrown into small heaps between the rows, from which they were taken with a wagon into the barn where they were husked, sometimes by means of one or more husking frolics, but more generally by the family only. In these months and beginning of December, flax was rotted, and some of it dressed for winter spinning, and rope yarn was spun, and ropes made for cow-ropes, halters, traces, lines and other purposes for winter use.

In November, winter apples, and the few potatoes, turnips and other roots raised in those times, were brought into the cellar; and the killing and putting up of pork and beef was done in the latter part of this month and beginning of December. The manufacturing of leather, which each farmer had tanned during the season, was done at this time and made into shoes, (generally by a member of the family), also the weaving of linsey-woolsey and woolen check for winter wear, and the dressing of some flax for winter spinning. In November, each farmer generally took a load of wheat and flax seed to market, for procuring salt, pepper, iron and other articles.

The women, as well as the men, had also to perform a great amount of labor. Besides their ordinary housework, they had to spin the yarn for all their clothing, hatcheled their flax, and card their wool, bleach all their linen for shirts and some other uses, make all the wearing apparel of both men and women, and did all the knitting of stockings and mittens, which amounted to more than double the knitting now done for a family, which had become necessary in consequence of the fashion of men in former times wearing short breeches, which also made it necessary for them to wear over stockings.

All those necessary occupations made a great amount of business for our ancestors, and furnished them with a very plentiful supply of the necessaries of life. They had very little help besides that of a few slaves, which generally did not amount to more than a man and a woman slave to a family, exclusive of children and old people not able to do much. The inhabitants were generally farmers, and few laborers could be obtained by them.

CHARACTERISTICS.

The characteristics of each individual by a marriage union becoming changed in their children, form characters differing, in some degree, from those of each parent, which, being continued from generation to generation, gradually extinguish those of the original parents; but to what extent of time or how many generations would have to succeed each other before these would all become extinguished the writer cannot determine. By bringing into calculation the first pioneers as the first generation, the sixth, and a part of the fifth and seventh, are now, in 1861, on the stage of action. In many individuals of the fifth and sixth generations are yet remains of the characteristics of their respective, most anterior parentage. These are more prominent in some of the descendants than in others, and also have been inherited in a greater degree in some families than in others, and certain predominating characteristics of an anterior ancestor have been the most prevalent in the line of their descent.

CHARACTERS OF SOME OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

Very little is now known respecting the seven first pioneers. I imagine that they had all been in comfortable circumstances of life, and had become reduced so that they were in want of means for a livelihood, and became associated to obtain possession of some good land which they were not able to purchase in the settled part of the country, and had to venture to emigrate into its wilds which remained unsettled by white people but was inhabited by Indians, who at that time were thought to be a more savage and cruel people than what they in reality were.

The three Swartwouts, we have reason to presume, were best calculated for this enterprise, and that their companions must have had much reliance on them for protection. Not only were they possessed of superior capacities in respect of body and spirit for adventurous undertakings, but also were a very social, jocose, humorous and witty people, well calculated to become easily familiarized with strangers and court friendship, which first qualities were necessary to intimidate the Indians, and the latter to court and maintain friendship with them. They were an easy people and made no great exertions to acquire property by means of hard labor, but provided for a good living. Some of these characteristics have become much changed in the descendants of those who remained in this vicinity, and some of them have been inherited to the present time. The Swartwout character became much changed by the union of Major Swartwout with the daughter of the first Peter Gumaer, whose only surviving son, Philip Swartwout, became the greatest business man of his time in this neighborhood. He also was more sedate and economical than his ancestors; in other respects he had inherited the Swartwout character. A great degree of these existed in the two succeeding generations, and have not become extinguished in the sixth.

Caudebec and Guimar, reduced from a state of affluence to that of indigence, differed widely to meet such a change and undertake the task of manual labor for a living which became necessary after they landed in this country, and was undertaken by them, but, as they were not able to perform as much as men habituated to it, they received only low wages. Caudebec, being dissatisfied, told Guimar that he would not work for such low wages; Guimar replied that they had to do something for a living, and, as they could not do much, they could not expect much, and that while they labored they had their living, if no more. At the instigation of Caudebec, they went from the State in which they first landed into the State of New York, and he, having been habituated to a trading business, became introduced into the family of Benjamin Provost, who also were in such business, and was married to one of his daughters. Guimar, in the meantime, undertook the business of cleaning flax by the pound, for which he received wages according to what he did, and also became married to a daughter (as has been supposed) of a Deyo.

After these two individuals became settled in our present town, the same difference continued to exist in relation to their business transactions. Guimar, with the help of his daughters, two slaves he bought or had of his father-in-law, and one son, (his youngest child), became the greatest farmer in this town. He was very persevering in his business transactions, and severe to compel his slaves, also his daughters and son, to do all the labor they could perform. The daughters, five in number, although of delicate constitutions, did all the housework and manufacturing of all their clothing, also a part of the work on the farm and taking wheat to market. He, himself, dressed all his flax, to which business he had become habituated before he settled on his farm, which was about all the farmer's work he could do. He also was severe to enforce the moral and religious duties of his children. His descendants have, from generation to generation, very generally inherited his persevering business character to the present time; in other respects many of his characteristics have become extinguished.

Caudebec was the reverse of Guimar in respect to his business transactions, and more tender towards his children. He had much of a speculative disposition, and aimed at getting a living by easier means than that of steady manual labor, and this probably was the view of the seven first settlers and cause of their emigration to get possession of land where wild animals, fowls and fishes abounded, which, together with the cultivation of small portions of such land, would furnish means for an easy life and a better living, in respect of eatables, than what we can now enjoy.

After those individuals became located in our present town, it was necessary for them to procure a title for the land they wanted to occupy, and it appears that they selected Caudebec, as the most proper person, to send to the Governor and procure a patent for as many acres of land as would cover what they wanted to occupy.

After one of the Swartwouts, Caudebec and Guimar became owners of the patent right, they had to contend for the possession of a great part of the land they claimed and had in their possession, and it was necessary for them to devise means to counteract those who wanted to dispossess them. Caudebec, who was of a contemplative mind, must have been well calculated to assist in forming plans for that purpose, and I have understood that he, and certain individuals of his own family, officiated in some of those which were very important.

After his daughters became married, he devised means for their livelihood, by inducing the husbands of three of them, Abraham Louw, Evert Hornbeck and Harmanus Van Gordon, to locate on the east side of the Delaware river, in the State of New Jersey, opposite Shipikunk Island; and also his son James and two of his brothers-in-law to do the same, and each of them take possession of as much land on the island as was necessary for a livelihood for his respective family. This island was a body of very good river land, and the first possessor of any part of it had a right to hold what he had in possession without paying for it. It was termed King's land, and to remain unsold by his Majesty or Government. Other islands in that river were in the same situation, and the husband of another of his daughters, Westfall, located himself on the same side of the river, opposite Minisink Island, and took possession of a part of that island.

From all of which we must infer that he was a man well calculated to overcome difficulties, and had a penetrating mind. He was characterized as a sensible man. He had been educated, but to what extent is not known. He had told his family that he had been a great reader before he left his country, and that he regretted that his children did not have the opportunity to become educated. He instructed them in moral and religious duties, and was very tenacious of their characters. At a certain time two of his daughters told him that certain persons had made a scandalous report respecting them. He asked if it was true what they had said. They replied no, it was all lies. "Well," said he, "maintain good characters and let them talk; they will get ashamed of their lies."

His character, in relation to what has been mentioned respecting his mental ability, has been inherited from generation to generation by some of his descendants (who remained in this town) to the present time. The bodily capacities of his sons, in respect of size, strength and agility, I consider to have been inherited from his wife, which, although much reduced from that of those ancients, is still superior in some of the descendants of the present time to that of the generality of men. Some of those ancients, in our neighborhood, were a very talkative people and uncommonly fond of conversation, in which they embraced a great variety of topics in relation to what had transpired in this valley for a distance of sixty or seventy miles, and included a great many remarks in relation to the conduct of the people of those times and much argumentation on different subjects. I have sat many a long winter evening, and many an hour in the daytime, to hear the conversations and arguments of a few of the individuals of the second generation. These propensities, which were inherent in this family, have become much changed in their descendants of the present time. Many of these communications, remarks and arguments were entertaining and instructive, and had a tendency to induce good morality, of which they possessed more in principle than in language. I will here introduce one good remark, which one of them made in the presence of myself and a few others, which was that, "The first of anything from which trouble accrued was the cause of all the evil consequences which originated from the same."

In bodily size, strength and agility, there was a great similarity between the Swartwouts and Cuddebacks, but those I have known differed in visage. It was said that some of the ancients were superior in personal beauty and natural mental abilities to their descendants. This information I have had from different sources. The first time I saw Nathaniel Owen, who kept a store and tavern many years ago, about two miles east of the Wallkill, on the road to New Windsor and Newburgh, he told me that he had been acquainted with the old people in our two neighborhoods, and that he had never been in a place where there was so great a proportion of portly, handsome men as were in those neighborhoods, which he considered as remarkable for such a by-place as this was at that time. He named Major Swartwout, the second Peter Gumaer, William Cuddeback, Johannis (John) Westbrook and the first Peter Kuykendall as the most superior in those respects, and that their children generally were inferior to them, not only in bodily capacity, but also in natural mental ability. The ancient Swartwouts, Cuddebacks and Gumaers had black, curly hair and generally blue eyes and fair skin. The first Van Inwegen had red hair, his son Gerardus had black, curly hair and his children had black hair.

Harmanus Van Inwegen's character has been represented in this work as a bold and fearless man, which is about all that is now known respecting him. This was well known by Anthony Swartwout, Jacob Cuddeback and the first Peter Gumaer, before they procured him to locate in their little neighborhood for their assistance in defending the premises they claimed. His co-operation with them was important for all these four individuals, for he, as well as the others had become interested therein by having a portion of the land granted to him by the others, and as the saying is "He became a great spoke in the wheel" to maintain their possessions. He was always honored by his companions for his bravery and help in their struggles. He and they continued to live near neighbors in friendship and harmony until death ended their lives.

Van Inwegen had only one son (Gerardus) and one daughter (Jane). Gerardus lived a very near neighbor to my father, and I was familiarly acquainted with him in his old age for several years previous to his death. I did also sometimes see his sister; they were both small and very lean in flesh during the time I knew them, and their skin was much wrinkled, (which latter denoted they had been more fleshy in earlier life) they appeared to be more healthy and were smart for their ages. Gerardus retained his health until old age ended his life, and after his death it was said of him that he died a natural death, of old age, without sickness.

The characteristics of the father and son of this family have not been generally inherited by the children and grand-children. It has been said that Cornelius Van Inwegen, Jr., father of Moses Van Inwegen, resembled and took more after his great-grandfather, Harmanus Van Inwegen, than any other individual of all his descendants. Moses, his son, has some resemblance to his father, but I consider him to take more after the ancient DeWitt family than that of any other. There were certain traits of character which some of the children and grand-children of Gerardus inherited from him, but generally they took more after other families from whom they were also descendants.

Many of the ancient characteristics of both the Swartwouts and Cuddebacks still remain in their descendants, but I consider James D. Swartwout as possessing those of the ancient Swartwout family in a superior degree; Col. Peter Cuddeback as having the greatest resemblance to the ancient Cuddeback family; Abraham Cuddeback, son of Col. William A. Cuddeback, when in prime of life, appeared to have more of the character of his grandfather, Capt. Cuddeback, than any other of the descendants of the latter; James Devens, Esq., grandson of the second Peter Gumaer, had some resemblance of his grandfather. But all these differed in some respects from the originals. Benjamin Hornbeck, a grandson of Capt. Cuddeback, had much of the penetrating mind of his grandfather.

EMIGRATION FROM THIS TOWN.

Enumeration of families who were in this town during the time of the Revolutionary War, and of those who removed out of it after the war ended, and of those who now, in 1861, remain in it of those descendants of those ancients including marriage connections.

First of those of the upper or Peenpack neighborhood, two of whom, DeWitt and Terwilliger, were no descendants of the first four families.

The names of the heads of those families were the following, to wit:

Capt. Jacob R. DeWitt, Capt. Abraham Cuddeback,

Benjamin Depuy, Esq., Benjamin Cuddeback,

Abraham Cuddeback, Jacob D. Gumaer,

Elias Gumaer, Harmanus Van Inwegen, Esq.,

Cornelius Van Inwegen, Philip Swartwout, Esq.,

John Wallace, Peter Gumaer,

Matthew Terwilliger, Ezekiel Gumaer,

Capt. Abraham Westfall.

Of these, their children, grand-children, and great-grand-children who had formed marriage connections, and together with these had become families, the following number have, from time to time, removed from this neighborhood, to wit:

No. of family

Name.Of parents' childrenOf grand parents' childrenOf great grand parents' children

Jacob R. De Witt 8 4 0

Benjamin Depuy 7 2 0

Abraham Cuddeback 3 1 0

Elias Gumaer 7 0 0

Cornelius Van Inwegen 6 3 2

John Wallace 3 0 0

Matthew Terwilliger 4 0 0

Benjamin Cuddeback 4 14 0

Capt. Cuddeback 4 8 5

Jacob D. Gumaer 6 1 2

Harmanus Van Inwegen 3 15 0

Philip Swartwout 3 3 0

Peter Gumaer 3 1 0

Ezekial Gumaer 0 1 0

Abraham Westfall 1 0 0

62 53 9

62 + 53 + 9 = 124.

This emigration amounts to 124 families and now, in 1861, there remain 30 within the former limits of the neighborhood; gives the amount of 154 families of descendants of the men named and have formed families by connected marriages. These had their living during the time they remained in this place from the productions of the small patent of 1200 acres of land, and although it had become reduced to a low state of cultivation, more of its productions have been transferred to other people than would have supported another such a number of families. Emigration commenced about the year 1790 and has continued to the present time. The families first mentioned of, DeWitt, Depuy, Cuddeback, Gumaer, Van Inwegen and Wallace, settled on the military lands in the state of New York at Onondaga and at the Owasco and Skaneateles Lakes at an early period of the settlement of those lands, and some were among the first pioneers of the same where they all procured lands and became farmers in very comfortable circumstances, and many of their descendants, like their forefathers, have also sold their farms and removed into the western states to advance their interest for the benefit of their children. The other families have removed in all directions from this neighborhood at greater and less distances from it, but generally into the western part of this state and into Pennsylvania and different other states.

Of the four first families, who remained permanent residents in this neighborhood, twelve children became married to non-residents of the same and founded twelve families, two of which settled in the lower neighborhood and were among the first settlers in it, five in the State of New Jersey, four in Rochester and its vicinity in Ulster County, and one in Orange County, east of Shawangunk mountain. The other children of those ancients were seven in number, and formed only six families. These remained in the neighborhood until about the year 1790. From this it appears that only half as many families of the first descendants remained in it as what moved out of it, or settled in other places.

Now, if the 12 families mentioned had become settled and remained in the neighborhood, together with the other six, and increased and emigrated, in the same proportion of the latter, the amount, after deducting those of DeWitt and Terwilliger numbering 16, would now be 324 emigrated, and 90 of present residents, and the whole amount 411 families.

INCREASE OF POPULATION.

As no accurate calculation can be made of the whole number of families descended from the first four permanent residents in this neighborhood, I have adopted a rule for obtaining the number of those now in existence as near as the same can probably be arrived at without actual enumeration, by getting a ratio of increase of the first, second, and as much of the third, generation as I can ascertain; also the whole number of these from the time of the commencement of the first to the present time, in manner following, to wit:

The first four families had an increase of 18, and these had an increase of 66 families, and 27 of the latter had an increase of 129. This enumeration is made from a knowledge I have in relation to those ancients. Of these, however, there were two families of the second generation whom I could not determine, but have estimated them at the same average rate of increase as that of the others, and the remaining 39 are estimated to have produced an equal proportion of population, according to their number, as that of the 27, which latter giving an amount of 129, the remaining 39 will give an amount of 186, and both these amount to 315 families of the third generation. The average increase of each of these per family is as follows:

First 4 give a ratio of 4 1/2

Second 18 " " " 3 3/4

Third 66 " " " 4 3/4

These being compounded give an average ratio of about 4 1/2 families to one. Now a greater proportion of the fourth and fifth generations have died younger than of the three first, in consequence of which I have reduced the increase of the two former to that of a ratio of three per family, being about one-third lower than those enumerated. This is a great change for the term in which the alteration has occurred; still, the latter is about the same rate of increase as that of the United States since the year 1790 to the present time. In respect of foreign access of population the proportion which the former has acquired by intermarriages cannot differ much from that which the latter has acquired by immigration from Europe and by the importation of Africans to enslave them.

The year 1700 I contemplate to be about the medium point of time between the births of the oldest and the youngest children of the first four families, from which to the present time is 161 years and reaches on an average about the beginning of the sixth generation and leaves two unascertained whose increase on a ratio of 3 is as follows, to wit: 315 X 3—945 X 3 = 2835 families of the present fifth generation; and exclusive of these there must now be a great proportion of the fourth generation in existence, and that the whole of the present families of descendants mentioned cannot be less than 3200 now on the stage of action. The greatest part of these are now widely dispersed into different parts of our country.

The five generations have had their growth within a term of 161 years, which gives an average of 32 years for each.

LOWER NEIGHBORHOOD.

Enumeration of families in the time of the Revolutionary War, embracing the head of each family, to wit:

____ Decker.

Jacob Schoonover, Jacobus Van Fliet,

Moses Cortright, Daniel Van Auken,

Abraham Van Auken, Solomon Kuykendall,

Johannis Westbrook, Simeon Westfall,

Johannis Decker, Wilhelmus Cole,

Major John Decker, Peter Kuykendall,

Sylvester Cortright, Martinus Decker,

Anthony Van Etten, Esq., Samuel Caskey,

Levi Van Etten, Jacobus Davis.

Of these families, their children and grand-children, the following number of families have removed out of this town:

Names. No. of Parents and children No. of grand children

____ Decker 2

Jacob Schoonover 1

Moses Cortright 1

Abraham Van Auken 3

John Westbrook 2

John Decker 3

Maj. John Decker 3 6

Sylvester Cortright 2

Anthony Van Etten, Esq. 6 3

Levi Van Etten 1 4

James Van Fliet 1 4

Daniel Van Auken 11 5

Solomon Kuykendall's heir or devisee, James Van Fliet, Jr. 3

Simon Westfall 4

Wilhelmus Cole 3

Peter Kuykendall 4 4

Martin Decker 2

Samuel Caskey 1

James Davis 6 1

56 30

There may have been a few other families who have removed out of the town whom I have not known.

Of the descendants of those ancients, there now remain, as near as I can ascertain, about 5 families in this neighborhood.

These numbers, 56 + 30 + 5 = 91 families.

There now are about 20 families in this neighborhood who are of the anterior emigration from the upper neighborhood and are included in its calculations.

The following is a calculation of the number of families of each generation of the lower neighborhood, to wit:

1st generation, which was contemporary with the second of this upper neighborhood 20

2d, 91

3rd, at an increase of three families to one 273

4th, at the same rate of increase 819

The two last 273 + 819 = 1,092 families. To this last number add the 3,000 of the upper neighborhood and the amount is 4,092.

There are two of these prior generations who, by deaths, may fall short of these numbers mentioned, but I contemplate that as great an addition of families exists of the succeeding generation of each neighborhood as will amount to such loss, and that there now are at least 4,000 families in existence of descendants in some degree of the ancients mentioned.

THOMAS WHITE.

This man's services have been of greater benefit and advantage to the third generation of descendants of our neighborhood than those of any other individual, in consequence of which he ought to be held in remembrance by our descendants, and he, together with ourselves, become incorporated in our history as the first important originator of education in it. In justice to the merits of Mr. White in respect of myself, I will here state that by means of his services I have become enabled to write this history and exhibit to its readers the information it contains; and in addition thereto the enjoyment of other sources of knowledge for which and all other blessings we have reason to be thankful, not only to the individual from whom we derived the same but also to that Being who is the originator of all our enjoyments.

The benefits we (who were of the generation mentioned) have derived from him, consisted in the literature he taught us in our childhood and youth at short different periods of time in the schools he kept in our neighborhood, whereby we generally received such a portion of education as enabled each of us to transact his own ordinary business in relation to his dealings with others, which, in our time, had become more necessary than what it was in the days of our forefathers, most of whom kept no written memoranda of their dealings with each other, which in their time (during about ninety years) was unnecessary for the greatest part of them. In addition to these benefits we became more enlightened and enabled to acquire additional knowledge and information by reading, &c. Mr. White and his wife Elizabeth, came to this neighborhood in the autumn of 1776 (as near as I can ascertain) to serve its inhabitants as a schoolmaster and they became residents in my father's house together with his own family, and taught school in one of its rooms during the ensuing winter, and probably until some of their neighbors moved into it and the construction of a fort commenced, and notwithstanding the danger to which the inhabitants of our town became exposed by the invasion of the Indians, he continued to live in the house during a great part of the war, and was in it at the time when the fort was attacked.

When the enemy came in sight, he told Capt. Cuddeback that he was a King's man, but would stand by him to help defend the fort against those savages to the utmost of his power. (He was a warm friend of his native country and its laws). Mr. White was in the fort during the hard winter in the time of the war, and kept a diary from which he ascertained that no water had dropped from the roof of the house during a term of forty days in that winter.

I will here, before proceeding further with the history of Mr. White, narrate how the inmates of the fort managed to sustain themselves during the winter. When the Indians burnt the houses of the neighbors, many of the pots were damaged by these fires. These were used for keeping small fires in them in different parts of the fort house. Two large fires were generally kept up in the two front rooms, and a fire in a stove in another, and in the other room a pot with hot coals, supplied from the fire places, was kept up to warm the room for a dwelling of some of the oldest women. On the chamber, against the sides of the chimneys, pots with fire were kept, supplied with hot coals from the fire places, and also with chips and small pieces of wood.

In the northwest corner of the chamber, a small room was partitioned off for a dwelling of Mr. White and his wife, so that in winter time they were out of the great bustle of those who were in the house. A pot with fire in it was also kept in his room, and sometimes a small fire was kept in one of the foremost cellar rooms for a few soldiers. After the snow became too deep to get wood from where it was previously got, the men first broke a road to a large hickory tree, which stood in a field, under cultivation, of Benjamin Cuddeback, at about one-quarter of a mile distant from the fort. This was cut up and brought to it. The butt log, about three feet thick in diameter, was cut through and served for a log in each fire place. The next log contained all the knots of its large limbs, and could not be cut through nor split with powder, and remained there until it became rotten, long after the war ended. Next a road was broke through the snow about the same distance of the first road, to the Neversink river, which (in ordinary winters generally remained open from the mouth of Basha's kill to the Delaware river, about ten miles distant) was all frozen over with strong ice, so that teams could pass on it.

Along the east bank of the river, trees were cut, so as to fall on the ice, and thereby the men were enabled to get a plentiful supply of wood. In passing to and from the river, a spring brook had to be crossed, which in other winters generally remains open at the place where it was crossed that winter on strong ice. Much snow blew into the brook and coalesced with the water, and all froze together and formed thick, strong ice, so that teams passed over it during the coldest weather in that winter.

I will here resume my history in relation to Mr. White. A few years before he came into the neighborhood, a school house had been built in its central part, about twenty-five rods southwest of Capt. Cuddeback's residence. Mr. Thomas Kyte had been employed to teach school in this house, but, in consequence of much other business, the school was much neglected and very little education was acquired by those he taught, and after he quit, the neighborhood luckily obtained a good teacher by employing Mr. White. He had emigrated into this country from England where he had received his education, and also acquired the trade of manufacturing ropes. He said that every youth in England (when he was there) had to learn a trade, even the King's son, who was expected to become heir to the Crown, had to learn a trade, and that the King, who reigned when he was there, had been taught the trade of weaving silk.

Mr. White was a small, light-built man, very active and quick to perform the business he transacted. The action of his mind was also quick, and more suitable for acquiring a great amount of superficial knowledge than to penetrate and make deep researches into sciences which are difficult to be understood, for which a bright mind of slow action is more suitable. He was also a man of uncommon perseverance to transact the business of his trade, the teaching of his schools, &c., and, whenever he was not employed in either of these, he was generally engaged in reading or writing which he would pursue to a very late hour in the night; and early in the morning, at or before break of day, would be up out of bed, assist his wife to get breakfast, and resume his business. He was very fond of association and delighted to give and receive information, which induced him to write a great many letters to his distant friends and acquaintances, in which he was very expert and never at a loss for matter to make out a long letter, whenever he felt inclined to do it.

I conclude that Mr. White had been taught in one of the best of common schools in England, and in a very perfect manner as far as he had progressed. He was a very eloquent reader, and could perform the same with an air suitable to the nature of the subject on which the reading treated. I have always considered him to have been equal to the best of readers I have ever heard. He was also very perfect in orthography; arithmetic he did not understand as well as some other teachers we have had since his time. He said he had passed through the greatest part of Dillworth's arithmetic at school, but had forgotten some of the rules in the latter part of his assistant, which contained more arithmetic matter than the books now generally used in our common schools. He had some knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, and as much of the French tongue as enabled him to interpret the French words which were interspersed in different parts of a book I read in school the last year he taught in our neighborhood, and, by much reading, he had acquired an extensive knowledge of the English tongue. He said that when at home in his country (which he always called his home) he had free access to a library of books, and that he had read many of them on different subjects, whereby he had received the greatest part of his historical and other information of different kinds.

After his last year's service in our neighborhood he retired to the east side of Shawangunk mountain, into a neighborhood of his former residence, where he continued a few years. During this time, and one or two years previous to it, Moses DeWitt, a son of Capt. Jacob Rutsen DeWitt, a resident of this neighborhood who had, in his youth, become the best scholar in Mr. White's school, and afterwards received a small addition thereto, became well qualified for a surveyor, and was employed as an under-surveyor, when he was about twenty-one years of age, to run the line between the States of New York and Pennsylvania, and afterwards to survey some Government lands at, and in the vicinity of, Tioga Point, and thereafter he and Maj. Hardenbergh obtained the whole business of surveying the military lands in this State. While DeWitt was occupied in that business he concluded to locate in the County of Tioga, and induced Mr. White to move into it. The latter, after becoming a resident in it, became its County Clerk. Mr. DeWitt's mind became changed in respect to locating himself, and he settled in the County of Onondaga. After Mr. White's term of service as County Clerk ended, he removed to the residence of Mr. DeWitt, whose health had become impaired by exposure in the pursuit of his business of surveying, and his constitution continued to debilitate until he was taken with a severe sickness, which, after a short duration, ended his days at the age of about twenty-seven years, at which time he had acquired an estate, in wild lands, worth about ten thousand pounds, New York currency. During the time he was confined to his bed, Mr. White was his affectionate and faithful attendant, but his services did not avail to prolong life, and all hopes of enjoying the remainder of his life, together with his friend, were ended.

After a short stay he removed from the place, which had become a melancholy situation to him, into the County of Orange and bought a small farm in the westerly part of the town of Wallkill, in the neighborhood where his former friends and acquaintances, Elijah and Elisha Reeve, Esqs., Erastus Mapes, Hezekiah Woodward, Alsop Vail and others, lived, where he not only became so situated as to enjoy the happiness of associating with them, but also had access, whenever desirable, to his friends and acquaintances in his former neighborhood on the west side of Shawangunk mountain. Mr. White had no children nor any relatives in this country to attract his affections; these, consequently, became more strongly directed towards those individuals who were the most agreeable to him. He remained in the neighborhood of his residence until death ended his mortal life, and, after his decease, was buried in the graveyard at the Presbyterian church near Otisville. In and by his last will he made several small bequests to his friends, as memorials of his friendship towards them. He also directed the sum of six hundred and twenty dollars, of the avails of his estate, to be kept at interest, payable annually, for the purpose of paying for preaching one sermon in each one of four different Congregations, annually, forever, one of which was the Dutch Reformed Congregation now in Deerpark, (formerly Mahackemeck Congregation), which appears in and by the will to have been intended for the inhabitants of Peenpack, to whom he had become much attached during the different periods of time he resided in it, and consequently also for the benefit of their descendants. [FN] He also bequeathed a few other small legacies to his best friends in the neighborhood of his last residence.

[FN] The other three Churches were the Congregational Church at Middletown, and the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches in Goshen.

The characteristics of Mr. White exhibited indications of his having been descended from a respectable family in his native country. He possessed very honorable and honest principles, also those of morality and piety, which were apparent in his transactions and walks of life, and also in the doctrines he generally advanced when those qualifications became a subject of discourse.