Читать книгу The History of Orange County New York - Группа авторов - Страница 14

Table of Contents

The most interesting period of our national history was its beginnings in protests against oppressive demands and acts by the mother country, followed by a revolutionary resort to arms, and in these beginnings Orange County took a conspicuous part.

The non-importation resolutions adopted by the Continental Congress in 1774 drew the line of issue between Great Britain and her North American colonies, which started the war for independence. Perhaps their most significant feature was a call for the organization of committees of safety in every city, county, precinct and town. In the original County of Orange the people had held a convention in Goshen, which sent a delegate, Henry Wisner, to Congress, who voted for and signed the non-importation resolutions; and in the towns of Newburgh, New Windsor, Hanover, Wallkill and Goshen an opposition pamphlet which had been scattered broadcast was publicly burned and the desired committees of safety promptly selected. On April 29, 1774, the committee in New York drew up a pledge and sent it to all the counties and towns for signatures. The pledge was as follows:

"Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety; and convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which attend the dissolution of the powers of government, we, the freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of ____ do, in the most solemn manner, resolve never to become slaves; and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor, and love of our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures are recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles (which we most ardently desire) can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individuals and property."

When the signed pledges were returned to the Provincial Convention in New York it invested the committees of safety with power to appoint assessors and collectors, and these, with the committees, were directed to assess, raise and collect the quotas required for the support of the home government, and empowered to enforce collection from defaulters by "distress upon their goods and chattels." They might also arrest persons inimical to the measures which had been or might be taken. These powers were afterward enlarged by Congress, and the committees empowered to suppress the enemies of the revolutionary government. Legislative duties devolved upon the Provincial Convention until 1777, when the first Constitution of New York was adopted, and meanwhile the committees of safety attended to the execution of its laws. Methods differed somewhat in different counties. In Orange the precincts chose committees, and these constituted the county committee. A signature to the pledge formulated by Congress was regarded as evidence of loyalty to the revolutionary cause.

In the precinct lists of the Orange County signers of the pledge the signatures in Goshen embraced the present towns of Goshen, Chester, Warwick, Wawayanda, Greenville, and a part of Blooming Grove; in Mamakating those of Mt. Hope and Deer Park; Cornwall and Highlands were included in Cornwall; in Monroe parts of Blooming Grove and the present county of Rockland; in Newburgh, New Windsor and Wallkill with Newburgh. The signatures by precincts were as follows:

Precinct of Newburgh.

Col. Jona. Hasbrouck.	Henry Cropsey.
Thomas Palmer.	Wm. Harding.
Isaac Belknap.	Joseph Belknap.
William Darling.	John Stratton.
Wolvert Acker.	Lewis Holt.
John Belknap.	Samuel Hallock.
John Robinson.	Samuel Sprague.
Saml. Clark.	Burroughs Holmes.
Benj Birdsall.	Samuel Bond.
Benjamin Smith.	Thomas Campbell.
James Waugh.	James Cosman.
Abel Belknap.	Lewis Clark.
Moses Higby, M.D.	Jonathan Sweet
Reuben Tooker.	John Griggs.
David Belknap.	Saml. Smith.
Daniel Birdsall.	Jeremiah Ward.
Robert Lockwood.	Wm. Ward.
Benj. Knap.	Wm. Russel.
Saml. Westlake.	John Tremper.
Josiah Ward.	Charles Willett.
Silas Gardner.	Jeremiah Dunn.
Jacob Gillis.	Wm. Lawrence.
Wm. Kencaden.	Robert Waugh.
James Denton.	Wiggins Conklin.
John Foster.	Robert Beatty, Jr.
Hope Mills.	Abr'm Johnston.
John Cosman.	Silas Sperry.
Wm. Wear.	James Clark.
Thomas Fish.	David Mills.
Wm. Lawrence. Jr.	Caleb Cofifin.
John Kernoghan.	James Harris.
Robert Harmer.	Theo. Hagaman.
Robert Ross.	Wm. Dunn.
John Crowell.	Nehemiah Carpenter.
Obadiah Weeks.	Leonard Smith.
Francis Harmer.	Wm. Day.
William Bloomer.	John Wandel.
Abraham Garrison.	Abel Thrall.
James Marston.	Phineas Corwin.
Samuel Gardiner.	Moses Hunt.
Anning Smith.	Samuel Sands.
Richard Albertson.	Jacob Concklin.
Martin Weigand.	Joseph Price.
Wm. Foster.	John Saunders.
Wm. Wilson.	Benj. Lawrence.
Wm. Stillwell, Jr.	Richard Buckingham.
Peter Donally.	Jacob Morewise.
Charles Tooker.	Nicholas Stephens.
Leonard Smith, Jr.	Johannis Snider.
Henry Smith.	Benjamin Robinson.
James Wooden.	Andrew Sprague.
Thomas Smith.	Thomas Beaty.
Caleb Case.	Solo. Buckingham.
David Green.	Wm. Bowdish.
John Stillwell.	Jona. Belknap.
Luff Smith.	Jacob Tremper.
John Gates.	Abraham Smith.
Benj. Darby.	Cornelius Wood.
Israel Smith.	John Lawrence.
Thads. Smith.	George Hack.
Jacob Myers.	John Shaw.
Saml. Concklin.	Corns. Hasbrouck.
Isaac Brown, M.D.	Isaac Demott.
Peter Tilton.	David Smith.
John Douaghy.	John Stratton.
Ste. Stephenson.	Absalom Case.
Joseph Dunn.	John Weed.
Daniel Morewise.	Daniel Duboise.
Jonathan Owen.	Arthur Smith.
Jehiel Clark.	Isaac Fowler.
Reuben Holms.	Stephen Outman.
Nathaniel Coleman.	Saml. Stratton.
George Leonard.	Joseph Carpenter.
Elnathan Foster.	Daniel Thurstin.
Neal McLean.	John Fowler.
Wm. Palmer.	Daniel Clark.
George Westlake.	Isaac Donaldson.
Burger Weigand.	Wm. Concklin.
Tunis Keiter.	Charles Tooker.
Hugh Quigly.	John Smith.
Daniel Darby.	Isaac Fowler, Jr.
Isaac Brown, Jr.	William Wright.
Hezekiah Wyatt.	Wm. White.
Wm. Whitehead.	Daniel Kniffen.
Daniel Goldsmith.	Rob. Morrison. M.D.
Gabriel Travis.	John Dolson.
Nathaniel Weed.	Leonard Smith.

Precinct of New Windsor.

James Clinton.	William Robinson.
John Nicholson.	Arthur Carscadden.
James McClaughny.	Edward Ryal.
Matthew Du Bois.	Henry McNeeley.
Robert Cook.	William Nicols.
John Umphrey.	Roliert Boyd, Jr.
James Umphrey.	Nathan Smith.
George Umphrey.	Samuel Logan.
Oliver Umphrey.	James Denniston.
James McDowell.	Jacob Mills.
Alexander Telford.	Thomas Cook.
Robert Smith.	Daniel Clemenee.
Jonah Park.	Robert Couhan.
Scudder Newman.	John Waugh.
James Humphrey 2d.	William Gage.
John Davis.	Alexander Kernahan.
John Coleman.	William Stimson.
Joseph Young.	Henry Roberson.
Andrew Robinson.	Benjamin Homan.
William Fulton.	William Miller.
James Taylor.	William Telford.
Hugh Polloy.	John Burnet.
Samuel Given.	Joseph Realty.
Robert Burnet, Jr.	John Smith.
Timothy Mills.	James M. Oliver.
William Buchanan.	William Miller 2d.
Matthew Bell.	Charles Byrn.
Robert Thompson.	Walter McMichael.
Charles Nicholson.	George Coleman.
James Gage.	Alexander Fulton.
James Dunlap.	James Faulknor.
Robert Stuert.	David Clark.
Samuel Wood.	Nathan Sargent.
Nathaniel Garrison.	Gilbert Peet.
Andrew Dickson.	James Docksey.
George Coleman 2d.	Solomon Smith.
Peter John.	Samuel Woodward.
Samuel Lamb.	Jonathan White.
William Crawford.	Alexander Beatty.
John W. Miklan.	Jonathan Parshall.
Francis Mains.	James Greer.
James Miller.	John Mills.
John Morrison.	Thomas Eliot.
Hugh Watterson.	Robert Campbell.
Caleb Dill.	Nathaniel Boyd.
John Dill.	Charles Kernaghan.
Edward Miller.	Eliphalet Leonard.
Robert Whigham.	William Nichols.
John Crudge.	Thomas McDowel.
Robert Boyd, Sr.	James Crawford.
Silas Wood.	Joseph Belknap.
Richard Wood.	John Nicoll.
John Johnston.	Samuel Brewster.
David Crawford.	Samuel Sly.
John Morrison 2d.	Matthew McDowel.
Henry McNeeley, Jr.	Daniel Mills.
Alexander Taylor.	John Close (Rev.)
James Perry.	William Moffat.
Samuel Boyd.	William Beatty.
John Cunningham.	George Harris.
James Jackson, Jr.	Stephen King.
Isaac Stonehouse.	John Murphy.
John Hiffernan.	Benjamin Burnam.
James Smith.	Austin Beardsley.
William Park.	Thomas Swafford.
David Thompson.	Timothy White.
Nathaniel Liscomb.	Dennis Furshay.
William Mulliner.	George Mavings.
Isaac Belknap.	Samuel Brewster, Jr.
Nathaniel Boyd, 2d.	David Mandeville.
Edward Petty.	William Welling.
Robert Johnston.	Peter Welling.
Joseph Sweezey.	Hugh Turner.