Читать книгу The History of Orange County New York - Группа авторов - Страница 28

This triangular township, some eighteen or twenty miles west of the Hudson River, is in the northwest corner of Orange County, bordering upon the counties of Sullivan and Ulster. It carries a point of Orange County land well up into old Ulster County and contains the northernmost soil of the county.

It is bounded on the north by Sullivan and Ulster, on the east by Ulster and the town of Montgomery, south by Montgomery and Wallkill, and on the west by the town of Wallkill and Sullivan County.

The area of the town, as given in the last report of the Orange Supervisors, is 24,769 acres. Upon this land the Crawford assessors for 1906 placed a valuation of $664,531, and returned personal property of its residents to the value of $15,300. The total tax raised in the town that year was $8,617.89. This amount was made up as follows: General fund, $2,668.14; poor fund, $600; town audits, $2,287.12; roads and bridges, $400; railroad purposes, $2,107.50; temporary relief, $250; sworn off taxes, $185.45; treasurer's credits, $115.33.

The name Crawford came from a numerous and respectable family of Irish descent who were among the first settlers of the locality. The land was a part of the original John Evans patent referred to in other parts of this work. When this great tract was set aside the territory of this section was disposed of in many smaller grants to Philip Schuyler and others. Among the many other tracts mentioned in the Crawford titles were the 8,000-acre tract which now includes the village of Pine Bush, and the 10,000-acre tract next on the south. The following separate patents were included in the Crawford township; Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome, November 12, 1750; Frederick Morris and Samuel Heath, January 24, 1736; Jacobus Bruyn and Henry Wileman, April 25, 1722; Philip Schuyler and others, 8,000 acres, July 7, 1720; part of the patent to Jeremiah Schuyler and others, January 22, 1719; part of Thomas Noxon's patent February 21, 1737.

NATURAL FEATURES OF THE TOWN.

The general altitude of the town is somewhat higher than that of Montgomery. The general surface is a hilly upland broken by high ridges, which extend northeast and southwest. It is in fact separated from Montgomery by one of these elevated ridges known as the Collaburgh and Comfort Hills, which at times rise 200 feet above the valley. While the land is somewhat more difficult to cultivate because of the stony hills and undulating surface, the soil is very strong and productive, yielding fine crops of grass, grain and fruits and responding well to tillage. These slopes and elevations have been found particularly well adapted to the growth of fruit of a superior quality. The proximity of the mountain range is said to have a favorable influence upon the general rainfall of the region. Showers are frequent in summer and the effects of drought are less severe than in other sections not so favored.

The Shawangunk Kill or river is the principal stream, and it forms the western boundary of the town between it and Sullivan County, and afterward it also separates the town from Ulster County until the northern limit of the town is reached. This is a rapid flowing stream and affords much valuable water power at different points, which has been utilized to some extent in a variety of ways. The early settlers were quick to see the value and importance of these privileges, and they began to make use of them in their primitive manner at once.

Among the numerous tributaries to the Shawangunk in the town is the Paughcaughnaughsinque. The name is of Indian origin. There are in fact two of these subsidiary streams, the Big and the Little Paughcaughnaughsinque. They flow northward and afford additional water power at different points.

In the eastern portion of the town is a more important stream known now as the Dwaarskill. This, too, has enjoyed a great variety of orthographic nomenclature, such as "Dwaaskill," "Dwarf'skill," etc. Of course the original was bestowed by the Indians, and, it is said, was given in honor of a Chief of a small tribe which dwelt upon its banks. One of the old settlers in that region is credited with having seen this Indian Chief, who was called "Dwaase," and who had his wigwam near the old turnpike gate No. 3. Others claim, however, that the name is clearly Low or Holland Dutch, and signifies perverse or contrary because it flows north. The stream begins somewhere near the center of the town of Wallkill, not far from the Crawford Railway junction, flows through the valley parallel to that of the Shawangunk Kill, and finally leaves the town at the northeast corner.

This town also has its share of swamps, of which the historian Ruttenber says Orange County has over 40,000 acres. One of these swamps is northwest of the Sinsabaugh neighborhood, and another is southwest of Searsburgh.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS.

This being among the newer towns of the county, the specific details of its settlement are so blended with the early history of the old Wallkill precinct and that of the town of Montgomery, from which Crawford was set off, that it is quite impossible to separate them for this place.

The Weller settlement was partly upon this territory. Johannes Snyder started a small settlement in the vicinity of Searsville, where he bought a large tract of land on both sides of the Dwaarskill. He built a primitive log mill there at once, and this is down in the records of 1768 as Snyder's Mill. He seems to have been a man of means and influence, as he also built a log church soon after settling there, which was known as Snyder's Church. This Snyder family was Dutch and made the first settlement here in 1740, if not earlier. All the services in this little church was in the Dutch language, and it is recorded that the church was worn out or outgrown even before the Revolution.

Somewhere about the same time Robert Milliken built a saw mill on the Shawangunk Kill. This is referred to as Milliken's mill in the records of 1768, and this is the earliest mention of a saw mill on that stream in the records. Other mills were built there, however, in later years. First was the old flour mill of Pat. Boice, next below the Milliken mill was the Sear's grist mill, then Abraham Bruyn's flour mill, and finally Cornelius Slott's saw and grist mill combined. The latter was continued by Arthur Slott after the death of his father, and he soon built a small collection of houses there for his employees. This Slott ancestry were among the oldest settlers in the State. The family came from Holland in 1670, as the family record shows. They located first at Hackensack, N. J., and after a few years there they removed to Rockland County, and soon after that they came to Montgomery and settled on the Tinn Brook at a point afterward known as Slott Tow. Cornelius Slott engaged in farming. In 1777, while serving as an orderly sergeant with his military company, in the active defense of Fort Montgomery, he was taken prisoner and confined in the old Sugar House, New York, by the British forces for ten months. In 1785, on regaining his liberty, he sold his farm and lived in New York for the next five years. Then he bought the mill site in Pine Bush and erected his saw mill just below the mouth of the Paughcaughnaughsinque stream. The next year he also built a grist mill. There was no public road leading to his mill at the time, but he soon secured one from Hopewell.

A small early settlement near Graham's Church was made by Abraham Dickerson, an Irishman, John Robinson and Philip Decker. Philip Decker's ancestors came from Holland. When sixteen years old he drove a team from Ward's Bridge to Valley Forge with a load of corn for Washington's army. Dickerson built a saw mill on a small stream near there which was operated successfully for a time and then fell into decay. The portion of the Wallkill valley in this town was the site of the earliest settlement. These old pioneers consisted of Germans, Hollanders and Huguenots. Many of them came from the older settlements in Ulster County, and others were directly from their native land.

Robert Jordan came here from Ireland in 1771. About 1784 he settled at Bullville in this town. His brother John seems to have settled there in 1767, having arrived in this country some years ahead of Robert. Among his neighbors there about that time or a few years later, were Joseph Elder, James Barclay, Samuel Barclay, John Martin and Daniel Bull. Thomas Turner was also a land owner in the Bullville settlement to the extent of 300 acres.

In the Searsville neighborhood William Snider was among the pioneers. He purchased a large tract of land there upon which he lived many years before the Revolution. He seems to have been a man of some wealth, for at the outbreak of hostilities with Great Britain he buried a considerable sum of money in a secret place upon his property, the location of which was known only to a faithful Negro slave. After the war this Negro was awarded by his master with his personal freedom because of his loyalty and faithfulness.

An old apple orchard planted before the Revolution near Bullville, died out long years since. Nathan Johnson was the village shoemaker, going around from house to house with his kit of tools strapped upon his back. This occupation was then known as "whipping the cat" for some reason not very clear at this time. Johnson was an old shoemaker who had been employed making army shoes during the war. It was the custom at that period for those cobblers to go about at stated periods and do the family cobbling and shoe-making for the year.

William Jordan, son of Robert, became colonel of the Shawangunk regiment of militia, and he lived under every President of the United States until his death, having voted the Democratic ticket for 66 years.

Benjamin Sears is mentioned in the records as a remarkable man in many respects among the settlers in that region. Coupled with rare native talent he had a most remarkable memory of details. Nothing ever escaped him when once his mind grasped it. All his accounts were accurately kept in his mind. But his education is said to have been very limited. He served as constable in the town of Montgomery during his early life, where he had five brothers from whom there has been a long line of descendants. He also served as sheriff of Orange County for a time. And the small hamlet of Searsburgh, near the center of the town, on the Dwaarskill stream, was named for him. He established a flour and saw mill there at an early date.

Joseph Elder was of Irish descent and came into this region some years before the Revolution. He lived upon a very stony farm, and it is recorded of him that being a man of giant frame, robust and vigorous, he would gather up these stones in a leathern apron girded about his loins and carry them to the place where they were used for fence walls, instead of carting them in a wagon. Though also scantily educated, he served some years as magistrate of his town with much satisfaction, being a man of strong common sense and good judgment. He seems also to have been a pioneer pedestrian, the original Weston, apparently; for it is recorded that on a certain occasion, missing his sloop at Newburgh, which was already out of sight above the Danskammer Point, running with a fair wind, on the Hudson, on its way to Albany, young Elder started off at a rattling pace, with his musket and knapsack, to join his military company at the Capital in time or be denounced as a traitor. It is said he beat the sloop by several hours, though the precise time made is not given.