History of Columbia County, New York
By Captain Franklin Ellis
Published by Everts & Ensign
Philadelphia, PA
1878
CHAPTER IV
Pages 21 to 27
GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
In regard to the first settlements by Europeans upon the fertile uplands and in the rich valleys and meadows that border the streams of Columbia county, we know beyond reasonable doubt that the earliest of these were made within the region which lies to the north and west of Stockport and Kinderhook creeks; and that the pioneers who first made their rude homes here were principally emigrants from Holland, the frugal but honest and brave descendants of that race of lowland freemen whom all the power and prowess of Rome could never conquer. But, when we pass beyond these facts, we are compelled to deal with suppositions and probabilities alone. There now lives no person who can tell with certainty the name of the first white man who built his house here, or who can say in what year or on what spot that first dwelling was erected.
Under the well-known maxim that "property in the soil is the first evidence of settlement," we should give priority to Major Abraham Staats (or Staets), who took out the first land patent in the limits of the present county, and who settled at the mouth and on the north side of the stream no called Stockport creek, but which at that time and in consequence of his settlement there received the name of "Major Abram's creek," by which it continued to be known for more than a century.
The major had come to Fort Orange (Albany) in 1642 with Dominie Melpogensis. He was by profession a surgeon, and had almost immediately upon his arrival been placed in that capacity in charge of the garrison of the fort. In 1643 he became a member of the council, and was afterwards president of the board, with a salary of one hundred florins. Like nearly all the others of the new-comers, he soon became anxious to participate in the great profits which were then being realized in traffic with the Indians, and so applied for and received license to trade in furs; and in the prosecution of this new calling we find it recorded that in the year 1657 he sent four thousand two hundred beaver-skins to New Amsterdam, and that at the same time he had "a considerable bowery." He was also for many years the owner and skipper of the sloop "Claverack," which plied between Albany and New York. Probably the sloop was not run by him in a general carrying trade, but for the prosecution of his own traffic. It seems reasonable to suppose that, after engaging in the various pursuits of fur-trading, river-navigation, and agriculture, he must have resigned his place as garrison-surgeon; but if so we find no record of the date of such resignation.
He married Catrina Jochemse, daughter of Jochem Wesselse, and by her had four sons,----namely, Abram (born in 1665, and in later years known as "Abram Staats of Claverack"), Samuel, Jochem, and Jacob, which last named became, like his father, surgeon to the garrison (1698 to 1708). Also, like his father, he tried navigation, and was skipper of the sloop "Unity," running between New York and Albany; besides which he was at one time one of the justices of the peace in and for the county of Albany. Abram Staats "of Claverack" married Elsje, daughter of Johannes Wendell, July 3, 1696. It is probable that he was born in the old massive stone building, which is a part of the dwelling now occupied by Mr. Joseph Wild, near the Stockport railroad station. This, however, cannot be the house first built by Major Staats as a dwelling, for we are told by Brodhead that in the year proceeding the birth of this child (viz., in July, 1664) the Indians "destroyed cattle at Greenbush, burned the house of Abraham Staats at Claverack, and ravaged the whole country on the east side of the Hudson river." It is possible that the first house was of stone, and that the Indian burning destroyed only its roof and interior work, which were afterwards rebuilt upon and within the same walls; but it is far more probable that the first house was wholly destroyed, and that the great thickness of the walls of the building which still stands (for they are fully three feet thick) was given for the double purpose of making them fire-proof and of providing a strong place of refuge in case of future savage attack.
It is certain that Major Abraham Staats occupied his lands above the mouth of the creek before the date (March 25, 1667) of his first patent; and unless he had so occupied it for some years before that time, he cannot be thought of as possibly the first settler within the county of Columbia, for the Dutch historian, Van der Donck, as early as 1656 mentions Esopus (now Kingston), Rhinebeck, and Kinderhook as the principal, if not the only, settlements along the banks of the Hudson river. The settlement mentioned by Van der Donck was at Old Kinderhook Landing, and it seems not improbable that its commencement was earlier than that of Major Staats at Claverack.
The earliest known reference (excepting the above slight mention by Van der Donck) to the settlements at Kinderhook and Claverack is embodied in a communication made some years since, by the Rev. J. Edson Rockwell, to the Columbia Republican, which we quote as follows:
"To the early records of the settlement of this region there has lately been added one of pleasant interest, for which we are indebted to the Long Island Historical Society, and especially to the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, long our minister in Holland. During his residence there, he found in his scholarly researches among ancient documents a manuscript copy of a journal of a voyage to New York, in the years 1679 and 1780, by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, two Labadist brethren who came thither in search of a home for the religious sect to which they belonged. . . . After visiting various sections around New York, they resolved to explore the shores of the Hudson river, and on the 15th of April went in search of a boat to Albany, and found one ready to leave immediately. The name of the skipper, the journal adds, was 'Meus Hogeboom, to whom we agreed to pay for the passage, up and down, one Beaver,---that is, twenty-five guilders in zewant,---and find ourselves. We gave in our names to have them inserted in the passports.' On the 19th, or four days after the boat was ready to sail immediately, the journal proceeds: 'We left New York about three o'clock in the afternoon, with about twenty passengers of all kinds, young and old, who made great bustle and noise, in a boat not so large as a common ferry-boat in Holland; and as these people live in the interior of the country and somewhat nearer the Indians, they are more wild and untamed, reckless, unrestrained, haughty, and more addicted to misusing the blessed name of God, and to cursing and swearing.' As the wind slackened they came to anchor, in order to stem the ebb tide.
"On the 20th they entered the Highlands, and on the 21st reached Kinderhook, and on the 22d came to anchor at Fort Orange or Albany. After a visit to Schenectady and Cohoes, they set out for their return on the 30th, and came to anchor at Kinderhook, where a certain female trader had some grain to be carried down the river. While waiting the process of loading, the journal adds, 'we stepped ashore to amuse ourselves. We came to a creek where, near the river, lives a man whom they usually call the Child of Luxury (t' kinderh van walde). He had a saw-mill on the creek or a water-fall, which is a singular one. The water falls quite steep in one body, but it comes down in steps, with a broad rest sometimes between them. These steps were sixty feet or more high, and were formed out of a single rock. We saw crystals lying in in layers between these rocks. They sparkled brightly, and were clear as water.' No one [says Mr. Rockwell] familiar with the scenery around Stuyvesant falls can fail to recognize the description here given of that spot as it appeared nearly two hundred years ago. 'We set sail,' continues the journal, 'in the evening, and came to Claverack, sixteen miles further down the river, where we also took in some grain in the evening. We were here laden full of grain, which had to be brought in four miles from the country. The boors who brought it in their wagons asked us to ride out with them to their places, which we did. We rode along a high ridge of blue rock on the right hand, the top of which was grown over. The stone is suitable for burning lime. Large, clear fountains flow out of these cliffs or hills, the fist real fountains and the only ones we have met with in this country. We arrived at the places, which consist of fine farms; the tillable land is like that of Schoon-ecten-deel, low, flat, and on the side of the creek very delightful and pleasant to look upon, and especially at the present time, when they are all green with the wheat coming up. The woodland also is very good for (making) tillable land, and it was one of the locations which pleased me most with its agreeable fountains.' "
The large, clear fountains here mentioned now furnish one of the sources of water-supply for the city of Hudson, and are situated a short distance east of the city, on the main road to Claverack. It is to be noticed that the name Claverack was then applied not only to what was afterwards known as Claverack Landing, where now is the city of Hudson, but also to the settlement of Major Abraham Staats, and in fact to the whole straight part of "reach" of the river between these points, "from three bare spots or clavers which appear upon the land," says one writer,---the bare spots, wherever they may have been situated, being (presumably) covered with white clover, which in this region sprang up spontaneously in every place which had been made clear by burning, or by the indolent agriculture of the Indians.
The fist settler in the vicinity of Claverack Landing, referred to in the above narrative as "Claverack, sixteen miles further down," was Jan Frans Van Hoesen, who is supposed to have settled there in 1662, the date of his purchase of the land from the Indians. Among the settlers who soon after took land adjoining his, and farther inland, were Gerrit Slichtenhorst and another Dutch pioneer, who was known by the nickname of "Jan, the red head," while the rich lands on the Claverack creek were early settled by a number of thrifty Dutch farmers, as is shown by the journal of the Labadists as above quoted.
The praises which the brethren bestowed on the low, flat lands, which they found "very delightful and pleasant to look upon at the time when they are all green with the wheat coming up," were fully merited, not only as applied to the Claverack creek bottoms, but as well to the lands through all this section of country. Some idea of their virgin fertility may be had from the account given in the journal of David Pietersen De Vries, patroon of Staten island, who in April, 1640, sailed up the North river in his own sloop, on a voyage of private exploration "to see the country there." For more than thirty leagues above Fort Amsterdam he found the banks of the river "all stony and hilly, and unfit for dwellings;" but towards the close of the day, on the 27th of April, he reached the "Catskill," where there was open land, upon which the natives were employed in planting corn. On the following day they came to "Beeren island," where there were many Indians engaged in fishing, and most beautiful meadows were seen everywhere along the river. At evening the sloop arrived at the plantation of Brandt Peelen, at Castle island. Here De Vries visited the proprietor at his house, and was astonished to learn of the great productiveness of his farm; particularly on being informed by Peelen that he had raised fine, heavy crops of wheat upon the same land for ten successive years without any interval of summer fallowing. Van Der Donck, in his description of New Netherland, confirms this. He says, "I had the land adjoining this same farm, and have seen the eleventh crop, which was tolerably good. The name of the man who did this was Brandt Peelen, a native of the province of Utrecht, and at that time a schepen in the colonie of Rensselaerswyck." This was a short distance above the north limit of the present county of Columbia, but no one will doubt that the lands here were quite as productive as those mentioned in the region immediately adjoining.
Both De Vries and Dominie Megapolensis assure us that these pioneer colonists lived in the midst of nature's richest profusion, and the "the land was very well provisioned with all the necessaries of life." The old writers assure us that both flax and hemp grew spontaneously here; that everywhere, but particularly upon the islands and along the margins of the river and the creeks, the forest-trees were interlaced and festooned with grape-vines, which in autumn were loaded with fruit "as good and as sweet as in Holland;" that nut-trees of various kinds were numerous and very productive; that wild plums were everywhere; that the hills were coved with blackberries, and the meadows and slopes with wild strawberries, which were so plentiful that the people would often "lie down and eat them, and so that in June the fields and woods are dyed red."
Captain Hudson, in his journal, said of the country on the river that "It is as beautiful a land as one can tread upon, and abounds in all kinds of excellent ship-timber; walnut, chestnut, yew, and trees of sweet wood in great abundance; and there is great store of slate for houses, and other good stones."
The woods were alive with game. There were deer, which in the autumn and in harvest-time were "as fat as any Holland deer can be," and the carcass of one of these would frequently be offered by the Indians in exchange "for a loaf of bread, or a knife, or even for a tobacco-pipe." There were also wild turkeys of surprising size, and so fearless of man that they often came down to feed with the swine of the colonists. At certain seasons of the year the land was almost overshadowed by wild pigeons, of which there were such vast numbers that they sometimes broke down trees of size by roosting upon them. Pheasants, quails, hares, squirrels, and raccoons were found everywhere, and if the desire of the hunter was for more exciting and dangerous sport, he might not infrequently find its gratification in a shot at bear, wolf, or panther. It is probable, however, that the thrifty Hollanders who settled Columbia county were not much given to hunting as a mere amusement, but only engaged in it to a limited extent as an easy means of supplying their families with food.
The great river, and the creeks as well, teemed with the finest fish, among which were the shad, and many kinds scarcely less delicious; while in the branches, particularly towards their heads, the trout existed in great abundance. There were plenty of sturgeon, too, which, as we are told, "the Christians do not make use of, but the Indians eat them greedily." Herrings* there were in myriads, so that if all other sources of supply had been withdrawn from the Indians they could, we are told, have lived on herrings alone, and had abundance. In the journal of Hudson's voyage it is stated that in the river he "saw many salmons and mullets, and rays very great." A well-informed writer, however (Dr. Mitchell, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.), discredits the statement that Hudson saw salmon in any considerable numbers in the North river, though he admits that they have been taken in it.
It must be admitted that these slow-going but shrewd Dutchmen had chosen for settlement a land which had been highly favored by the hand of nature. And there is no doubt that by the exercise of the indefatigable industry of their race they soon brought their farms to a high state of cultivation; though De Vries, writing of that period, says that, so universal had become the passion for traffic, owing to the great gains realized from it, that "each farmer became also a trader."
The greater part of those who settled here are said to have been persons who brought some amount of pecuniary means from Holland, and were not unfrequently accompanied by servants. In this they were somewhat different from most of those who had settled in upper Rensselaerwyck, who were sent out at the patroon's expense and received small advances in money or implements, to be repaid with exorbitant interest.
From the meagre lists of emigrants arriving by different ships about 1660, and in three or four succeeding years, we give the few following names, being of those who are believed to have been among the earliest settlers upon lands in this county, viz.: In ship "Brown Fish," June, 1658, Evert Luycas, wife and daughter. In the ship "Moesman," April, 1659, Gillis Mandeville. In the "Faith," February, 1659, Jannetje Teunis Van Ysselstein. In the "Gilded Otter," April, 1660, Gerrit Aartsen Van Beuren, Gerrit Cornelissen Van Beuren,---both named as "agriculturists." In the "Beaver," May, 1661, Peter Marcelis Van Beest, wife, four children, and two servants; Aert Pietersen Buys Van Beest, wife, and son; Frans Jacobsen Van Beest, wife and two children; Widow Geertje Cornelius Van Beest and daughter; Goossen Jansen Van Noort Van Beest; Hendrick Dries Van Beest; Neeltje Jans Van Beest; and Geertring Teunissen Van Beest. In the "Fox," August, 1662, Dirck Storm, wife, and six children, from the mayory of Bosch. In the "Purmerland Church," October, 1662, Ferdinandus de Mulder. In the "Spotted Cow," April, 1663, Marytje Theunis Van Beest. In the "Concord," April, 1664, Claes Melius, wife, two children, and servant.
Among the early settlers in Kinderhook was Gerrit Teunissen, who patented lands adjoining Kinderhook lake, as before mentioned. He had been a prominent man in Albany before his removal here, and was no less prominent afterwards in Kinderhook, both in military and civil positions.
From the "Documentary History of New york" we extract the following in reference to Kinderhook:
"The Said Mr. Renselaer and Capt. Teunise Report that when they came by Kinderhook they founde ye People Very much Inclined to mutiny, who were Preparing themselfs to come hither [to Albany], by reason of a letter which they had Received of Jacob Milborne to come up to Albany in all Speed to Recieve Priviledges and Libertyes. So yt they had much adoe to stop them; however, some did come."
The date ws 1689, and the occasion referred to was the return of Killian Van Rensselaer, of Albany, and Captain Gerrit Teunise (or more properly Teunissen), of Kinderhook, from Connecticut, whither they had been sent to convey to the governor and council of that State the thanks of the convention (then sitting at Albany) for the proffer of troops by Connecticut,† for the protection of the New York frontier against a threatened attack by French and Indians. Milborne was then at Albany, where he had been sent from New York with fifty men by Leisler, ostensibly to protect them and the fort, but really, as it was supposed, to gain possession of the fort, which was then being held by the adherents of the sovereigns, William and Mary. The extract is given here because of its reference to a state of mutiny among "the people" of the place, as it seems to show that even at that early time the population had already grown to be very considerable.
It is a matter of great regret that we are unable to give as extended list of the early comers to the northern part of the county. The portions nearer to the Massachusetts line and bordering on it were settled at a much later day, and by a different race; that is by people of English, Irish, and Scotch extraction, who came in chiefly from the New England States.
SETTLEMENTS ON THE LIVINGSTON LANDS--THE PALATINES.
The settlements in the south---upon the Livingston grants---were commenced about half a century later than those in the northwest, and by a very different race and class of men. On the 2d of January, 1702, the Earl of Bellamont, in a communication to the lords commissioners of trade, wrote in reference to these tracts as follows: "Mr. Livingston has on his great grant of sixteen miles long and twenty-four broad but four or five cottages as I am told; men that live in vassalage under him and work for him, and are too poor to be farmers, having not wherewithal to buy cattle to stock a farm." This was certainly a very poor showing of progress made during his seventeen years of occupancy, and it does not appear that much, if any, improvement on this condition of things was accomplished in the eight or nine years following that time; and so, when it was proposed by Queen Anne to furnish an asylum and home in her American possessions for a large body of refugees from the Lower Palatinate, in Germany (many of whom had before served in her armies,‡ and who now asked her bounty, having been driven from their homes by the ravages of the French), the opportunity was embraced by Mr. Livingston to secure the location of the greater part of them on lands which he sold to the queen for the purpose,---having in view the prospective advantages to accrue from such settlement by appreciation of his manor lands,, and in other ways, as will appear.
The first of the Palatines (about fifty in number) arrived in New York in 1708, and were settled on a tract on the west side of the Hudson, in the county of Ulster. The second immigration of these unfortunate people occured in June, 1710, when the ship "Lyon" arrived at New York, having on board a large number, who were disembarked on Nutten (now Governor's) island, and were there cared for at the expense of the government. During the month following several other ships arrived, also bringing many hundreds of the Palatines, who were similarly disposed of.
Upon the question of the location of lands upon which to establish them, it was at first proposed that they be sent to the Mohawk, and Governor Hunter ordered a survey to be made for the purpose; it being the intention of the government that they should be employed in the manufacture of tar and other naval stores, and serve as barrier against the northern Indians. It was, however, the opinion of the governor that the Mohawk lands would not be found adapted for this purpose, and in a letter addressed by him to the board of trade, July 24, 1710, he said, "These lands, however, I believe will be in no ways fit for the design in hand, being very good lands which here bears no Pines and lyes very remote. I shall, however, be able to carry it on elsewhere. . . .I am in terms with some who have lands on the Hudson's River fitt for that purpose, which I intend to view next week in company with Dr. Bridges, who is now with me, and gives me good Incouragement."
The person with whom he was in negotiation proved to be Robert Livingston. On the 3d of October following the governor again wrote the board of trade, saying, "I have been obliged to purchase a Tract of Land on Hudson's River from Mr. Livingston, consisting of 6000 acres, as your Lordships will observe from this imperfect draught of it, for £400 of this country money, that is, 266£ English, for the planting of the greatest division of the Palatines. It has these advantages besides the goodness of the Soile, that it is adjacent to the Pine, which by the conveyance we are Intituled to, and a place where Ships of 50 feet water may go without difficulty." This six-thousand-acre tract was conveyed by Mr. Livingston, through governor Hunter, to the queen, Sept. 9, 1710, and was identical with the territory of the present town of Germantown, except that in more recent years a small triangular tract has been annexed to that town from Clermont. The immigrants' settlements within this tract were named as follows: Annsberg, for Queen Anne; Haysbury, for Lady Hay, wife of Governor Hunter, Hunterstown, for the governor himself; and Queensbury, in still further honor of the crown. These four were collectively known as the "East Camp."
The smaller portion of the Palatines were settled upon the west side of the river, where, as the governor then wrote, "I have found a small Tract of about a mile in length along the River, which has by some chance not been granted, tho' pretended to have been purchased of the Indians by some, where I have planted the remainder." This small settlement was known as the "West Camp."
During the month of September they commenced moving to the lands assigned them on the east side of the river, and on the 13th of November the governor contracted with Robert Livingston to furnish them with bread and beer, to be delivered to them at his manor-house, at the rate of sixpence per diem for adults and fourpence for children. The number of Palatines for whom subsistence was charged during the following winter was two thousand two hundred and nine of all ages, of whom nineteen hundred and fifty-two were upon the Livingston tract, and two hundred and fifty-seven in the two camps or villages on the west side of the river.
From the very first the colonists seem to have evinced a feeling of dissatisfaction, particularly in regard to the change of location from Schoharie, which had first been selected, to the Livingston lands, where, as they believed, they were to be denied the privilege of a small, separate tract for each family, as had been promised, but were instead to be kept together in three or four large communities, to labor for life in a distasteful occupation for the advantage of those into whose power it was their misfortune to have fallen. They felt deeply grateful for the royal benevolence of the queen, but they distrusted the good faith of their immediate superiors, and chiefly that of the governor and the lord of the manor; and that this distrustful feeling was shared by some in high station clearly appears from the tenor of a letter addressed to Lord Dartmouth, March 8, 1711, by Lord Clarendon,§ in which the latter says,---
"I think it is unhappy that Colo. Hunter, at his first arrival in his government, fell into so ill hands, for this Levingston has been known many years in the Province for a very ill man. He formerly victualled the forces in Albany, in which he was guilty of most notorious frauds, by which he greatly improved his Estate. He has a Mill and a Brew-house upon his land, and if he can get the Victualling of those Palatines who are so conveniently posted for his purpose, he will make a very good addition to his Estate; and I am persuaded the hopes he has of such a Subsistence to be allowed by Her Majesty were the Chief, if not the only, Inducements that prevailed with him to propose to Colo. Hunter to settle them upon his land, which is not the best place for Pine Trees. The Borders of Hudson's River above Albany, and the Mohacks River, Schenectady, are well known to be the best places for Pines of all sorts, both for numbers and largeness of Trees. . . .The bills drawn by Colo. Hunter for one-quarter's Subsistence for 1764 adults and 445 Persons under age, in all making 2209 Person, and amounting to £470.17.11, seems to be computed according to the numbers that landed at New York in June, 1710, which, with submission, I think ought not to be, because it is certain many of them are dead.¶ . . .My Lord, upon the whole matter I am of opinion that, if the Subsistence proposed is allowed, the consequence will be that Levingston and some others will get Estates; the Palatines will not be the richer."
If, by the expression "Levingston and some others," Lord Clarendon intended the implication that the governor and Livingston were confederated in the matter, it would seem to be disproved by a letter, dated Oct. 22, 1711, from Governor Hunter to General Nicholson,¥ on the eve of the departure of the latter for England. The governor had learned that Livingston had requested Nicholson to make a report to the home government damaging to the administration of Hunter, and upon this subject the latter said,---
"I cannot forbear taking notice of this proceeding of Mr. Livingston's as a most base and Villainous practice if there be any truth in it, and I hope I have deserved that Justice from you that you will as soone as may be acquaint me with what Mr. Livingston has thought fitt to represent. I know him to be ye most selfish man alive, but I could never have believed that a man who lay under so many obligations to me as he does would take it into his head to make any Representations to my prejudice without acquainting me at least; neither can I be persuaded that after ye manner wee have Liv'd togeather, and ye mutuall confidence betweene us, you would engage yor Selfe in anything of that nature upon the Suggestions of such a man. I have suffered here by giveing him too much Countenance, And if any Man has any Advantage by ye Palatines here it is he. I beg you'l cleare that matter to me, because hee has too considerable a trust to be continued to him after soe base and barbarous a practice."
On the 1st of May, 1711, the whole number of Palatines upon the Livingston tract was 1178, and these were in a state of almost open mutiny, having resolved that they would neither continue to work at tar-making nor remain upon the tract, but that they would remove to Schoharie, and for this purpose would use force if necessary. At this juncture the governor sent to Albany, ordering a lieutenant with a detachment of sixty soldiers to meet him at the manor for the purpose of overawing the Germans, if they could not be conciliated.
Upon his arrival with the troops, demanding to know the cause of their insubordination, he was told that they would rather lose their lives than remain where they were; that they had been cheated in the contract which they had signed, it being wholly different from that which had been read to them in their own language in England, by the terms of which each family was to have forty acres of land, to be paid for at the end of seven years in hemp, timber, tar, pitch, or other productions, instead of which it was now designed to make them life-long slaves, as Mr. Cast¦¦ had plainly and insolently told them,---a condition to which they would not submit, but were determined to remove to and occupy the lands at Schoharie which the queen had designed for them.
"Whilst his Excellency was talking with the Deputys, he received Information that there was a great body of men in arms on the other side of the Brook, and having by that time a reinforcement of seventy men more, he marched the detachment immediately, and passed the Brook; the Palatines were run home to their houses. His Excellency marched to the first village, and ordered them to bring in all their arms, which they did Immediately, except a few. He could go no further that night, but the next morning marched to ye other three Villages on the same side of the River, and disarmed them all, and then returning to Mr. Levingston, sent orders to the Villages on the other side to bring in their arms that day to the Store house, to be transported to him. . . .After his Excellency had disarmed them, he sent back the detachment to Albany, and the sober and better part of the people, being secured from the rage of the hot-headed, unthinking, and misguided, met together to debate on their former proceedings, and with a general Consent came to this Resolution, to acknowledge their faults, ask his Excellency's pardon, and signify their hearty repentance. Accordingly, all the Villages by their Deputys waited on him, and some of them on their knees asked his pardon, and promised a thorough Reformation of their behavior, and an entire Resignation to his orders for the future; whereupon his Excellency pardoned them, with this Certification, that the first disobedience shall be punished with the utmost rigor the law will allow, which they received with great joy, and now they begin to demonstrate their sincerity by inquiring when they shall be set to work, and show a great desire to make a good beginning on it." (Letters of Secretary Clarke to the Lords of Trade, May 20, 1711. Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. iii. pp. 65-667.)
The energetic action of the governor had thoroughly cowed the colonists and reduced them to submission. They returned to their distasteful work in the pine woods, but it was done sullenly and with great dissatisfaction. In a letter written by Mr. Cast to the governor in the following July he said "Mr. Sacket is now busy constructing a Bridge for the conveyance of the Tar to the river-side. . . .The people, perceiving that the construction of this bridge fore-shadows the manufacture of a large number of Barrels of Tar, disapprove likewise of its erection, and say the bridge will rot before it is put to that use: Meaning that they do not intend to remain on Livingston's lands long enough to make use of said bridge. This last opinion does not disturb me. The advantage already gained over the people makes me hope to effect a complete victory over them." Such expressions as these show that among these official subordinates of Queen Anne there existed very little of the benevolent pity which had moved her to befriend the helpless Palatine exiles.
During this summer about three hundred of the arms-bearing portion of the colonists volunteered** for service in the expedition against Canada under General Nicholson. From this expedition they returned to find their families in a state approaching starvation.
The result accomplished in the manufacture of naval stores during the season of 1711 was far from satisfactory, and on the opening of the following spring the governor enforced the strictest regulations to secure subordination and efficient work,---the first and most significant of which was that a lieutenant and thirty soldiers should be ordered from the garrison at Albany to Livingston manor, "there to be posted in such manner and at such places for the better carrying on the work as Mr. Sacket shall think proper, and that tents be provided for them." The rations both of bread and beer were also reduced, as the governor found it "absolutely necessary to make the Expence for the Palatins as little as possible;" but, notwithstanding his best efforts in the direction of discipline and economy, the coming of the autumn made it apparent that the "Tarr Work" was a failure, and must be abandoned, though the governor was careful to assure the people that no such thought was entertained. At the same time he notified them that he had exhausted all the money and credit he possessed for their support, and that to prevent the perishing, and the total abandonment of the work, it was his desire that they accept any employment they could secure from the farmers in this and the province of New Jersey. Prior to this they had been threatened with severest penalties if they should dare to leave their villages, and constable were ordered "to forwarne all of the Districts that they do not Harbor any pallatines at their perrill." But now, at the commencement of winter, they were cast adrift and advised to seek for employment (which both they and the governor well knew it was impossible for them to obtain) among the farmers.
This heartless abandonment by the authorities, whose duty it was to care for them, "occasioned a terrible Consternation amongst them, and particularly from the women and Children the most pityfull and doleous Cryes and lamentations that perhaps have ever been heard from any persons under the most wretched and miserable circumstances; so that they were at last, much against their wills, put under the hard and greeting necessity of seeking relief from the Indians."
In their extremity some of their people proceeded to Schoharie, where the Indians gave them permission to settle on their lands, and promised them such assistance and protection as they were able to give. Upon which, with great labor, they cleared a track through the woods, and at the end of two weeks about fifty of their families were on their way to "the Schorie," to them the land of promise. This step provoked the wrath and fierce threats of the governor, but these they could not heed when the alternative was starvation, and before the end of March, 1713, the greater part of the Palatine colonists had left their settlements on the Livingston purchase, and passed across the mountains and through the deep snows to rejoin their neighbors on the frontier. At the commencement of the enterprise it was said and believed that the Livingston tract and the Palatine lands on the west side of the river would "enable the sending of Tar and Pitch enough, not only for supplying the Royal, but even the whole Navy of England," It was not long, however, before it became apparent that these great expectations were not to be realized. In the absence of visible result the promoters of the project in England wrote Governor Hunter, imploring him at all hazards to "send Tarr, to convince the world of the solidity of the project;" and in 1712 (Oct. 31) the governor, in writing to the Lords of Trade, mentions that the whole superintendency of the work was then in Mr. Sacket's hands, "since Mr. Bridges did so basely desert it." Mr. Bridges was a Massachusetts man, supposed to be an expert in tar and rosin-making, and was employed as such to teach the art and to superintend the work. From the above it seems evident that he soon saw that the enterprise must fail, and decided to leave it to its fate.
The entire result of the work was the production of less than two hundred barrels of tar, and then the project was abandoned in disaster.
"Such of that people as were sober and industrious," wrote Governor Hunter to the secretary of the board of trade, July 26, 1720, "remain on the Lands where I settled them at first, and which I was obliged to purchase for them on Hudson's' River for the Ends proposed by those who sent them, vizt., the Manufacture of Naval Stores. These are well enabled to subsist themselves; the rest have been wanderers." The fact is that about fifty families remained, and were allowed to locate on different portions of the tract as farmers, in which vocation it is probable that they became reasonably prosperous.
In August, 1724, it appears that there were about seventy families on the tract, of whom sixty heads subscribed their names as being desirous to continue there, while the other ten declined to remain as permanent settlers. The list referred to was prepared by the surveyor-general in obedience to an order of council, issued in consideration of the petition of Jacob S. Scherb, Christoffel Hagendorn, and Jacob Schumacker, made June 13, 1724, in behalf of themselves and the other Palatine inhabitants, praying for the issuance of letters patent for the Palatine tract to the petitioners and other occupants. The matter was referred to a committee of the council, who, at a meeting held at Fort George, Aug. 27, 1724, reported to the governor that they "Have considered of the same, and are of opinion that your Excellency may grant to Jacob Sharpe, Johannes Heiner, Johannus Kolman, and Christophel Hagendorn, their heirs and assigns, six thousand acres" (describing it by boundaries); upon which the grant was made, with certain conditions, all of which will be found more fully mentioned in the history of Germantown. Thus, such of the Palatines as remained became eventually proprietors of the lands on which they had settled, and to-day their descendants are numerous throughout the county.
From "A list of the Ffreeholders of the City and County of Albany," made pursuant to an order of court, dated June 11, 1720, and directed to Gerrit Van Schaick, high sheriff, we transcribe the names of those then resident within the present limits of the county of Columbia, as follows:
"Kenderhook and part Mannor of Livingston, viz.: Jochim Von Valkenburgh, Isaac Fausburgh, Caspar Rouse, Peter Van Alen, Lamert Huyck, Burger Huyck, Johannis Huyck, Derrick Gardineer, Peter Van Slyck, John Gardineer, Evert Wieler, Derrick Goes, Peter Fausburgh, Peter Van Buren, Jno. Goes, Mattias Goes, Luykus Van Alen, Jacobus Van Alen, Evert Van Alen, Johannis Vandeusen, Cornelis Schermerhorn, Johannis Van Alen, Gerrit Dingmans, Bartlemeus Van Valkenburgh, Thomas Van Alstine, Coonrodt Burgaert, Stephanis Van Alen, John Burgaert, Abram Van Alstine, Lawrence Van Schuak, Jurie Klaime, Guisbert Scherp, Lawrence Scherp, Hendrick Clawe, Lamert Valkenburgh, Melgert Vanderpoel, Lenerd Conine.
"In the north part of the Mannor of Livingston: Robert Livingston, Esq., Peter Colle, Killian Winne, Jan Emmerick Plees, Hans Sihans, Claes Bruise, Jonat. Rees, Coonrodt Ham, Coonradt Schureman, Johannis Pulver, Bastian Spikerman, Nicolas Smith, Baltis Anspah, Jno. Wm. Simon, Hans Jurie Prooper, Abram Luyke, Broer Decker, Jurie Decker, Nicolas Witbeck, Johannis Uldrigh, Ffitz Muzigh, Coonrod Kelder, David Hooper, Gabriel Broose, Solomn Schutt, Jacob Stover, Johanis Roseman, Nicos. Styker.
"In Claverack: Tobias Tenbroeck, Cornelis Mulder, Cornilis Esselstine, Jeremias Mulder, Derrick Hogoboom Cornelis Huyck, Isaac Vandusen, Jno. Hoose, George Sidnem, Richard Moor, John Hardyck, Hendr. Van Salsbergen, Jacob Van Hoosem, Kasper Van Hoosem, Jan Van Hoosem, Samuel Ten Broeck, Peter Hogoboo, Rob. Van Deusen, Casper Conine, Frank Hardyke, Johannis Van Hoosem, John Bout, Wm. Halenbeck, Johannis Coole, John Rees, Wm. Rees, Johannis Scherp, Andries Rees, Ghondia Lamafire, Hendrick Whitbeck, Jurie Fretts, Hendrick Lodowick, Jacob Eswin, Jurie Jan, Cloud Lamatere."
This is beyond doubt a correct list, and doubtless a very nearly complete one of all the freeholders then living within the limits of the county of Columbia. There were at that time no freeholders in Germantown, and the eastern part of the county north of Livingston manor was at that time a wilderness.
*Herrings have always been abundant in the river, though formerly more so than now. It is related that, more than a century later than the time of which we write, a vessel of one hundred tons' burden was filled at a single tide near Rogers' island, below Hudson. The Indians made great use of these fish as an article of food, drying and then pounding them into powder, to be laid away in bark receptacles for winter's use. They also understood the curing of both fish and meats by smoking.
† This proffer of troops was accepted, and they formed part of an expedition which was organized under command of General Winthrop, of Massachusetts, for the protection of the northern border and the invasion of Canada. The Connecticut contingent set out from Hartford, July 14, 1690, accompanied by Mr. Robert Livingston as a guide, and, after marching for a week "through the difficult and almost impassable parts of the wilderness," reached Kinderhook on the 21st. This was the first organized body of armed white men which ever marched through this region. They were met at Kinderhook by officers from the Albany garrison, who escorted them to that city. At Albany General Winthrop was the guest of Mr. Robert Livingston.
‡Their services having been purchased by the queen from their sovereign, the elector, after the custom of those times.
§ Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. iii. p. 656.
¶ A bill dated Sept. 5, 1711, presented by Peter Willemse Romers for two hundred and fifty coffins furnished for Palatines who died on Nutten island, seems to confirm his lordship's opinion.
¥ Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. iii. p. 675.
¦¦ Robert Livingston, John Cast, Richard Sacket, Godfrey Walsen, Andrew Bagger, and Herman Schureman formed the board of commissioners who had general charge and superintendence of the Palatine settlement. A court for the trial of Palatine cases was authorized by Governor Hunter, but with the express condition that of this court "Robert Livingston or Richard Sacket is always to be one." Richard Sacket was the first settler upon the "Great Nine Partners" in Dutchess county, before the coming of the Palatines.
**This is the term used in the ancient documents referring to the matter, but the word drafted would be more appropriate, as they went in obedience to a peremptory order for that number of men to be furnished from the Palatine settlements.
