Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook Vol. 079 1994

Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book Volume 79 1994

The Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book (ISSN 0739-8565) has been published annually since 1915 by the Dutchess County Historical Society, Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602.

© copyright 1995 by the Dutchess County Historical Society All rights reserved. £dz.for Carol Kushner

Individual copies may be purchased through the Society. Selected earlier Year Books are also available.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Publications Committee is now soliciting articles for the 1995 Year Book.

Articles should be no longer than 7500 words of double-spaced typescript.

Inclusion of photographs or other illustrative material is encouraged.

Manuscripts, books for review, and other correspondence relevant to this ppblication should be addressed to:

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Publications C ommittee Post Office Box 88

Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 Publications Committee

Joyce C. Ghee, Chair

Toni Houston

Tesse Effron

Nancy MCKechnie Thomas Spence Margaret Zarfuerowski

Michael Englert Eileen Hayden

The Society encourages accuracy but carmot assume responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors.

The Dutchess County Historical Society was formed in 1914 to preserve and share the county's rich history and tradition. The only county-wide agency of its kind, the Society is an active leader and promoter of local history in Dutchess County. Principal endeavors include the publishing of historical works, and the collection and safe-keeping of manuscripts, artifacts, and other priceless treasures of the past. The Society has been instrumental in the preservation of two pre-Revolutionary landmarks, the Clinton House and the Glebe House, both in Poughkeepsie. h addition, the Society has an educational outreach program for the schools of Dutchess County.

The Society offers its members a variety of activities and special events throughout the year. For further information, please contact the Society at Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York, 12602, or telephone (914) 471-1630.

Table of Contents EARLY SOCIAL WELFARE IN DUTCHESS COUNTY INCLUDING+

THE POORHOUSE SYSTEM Sus-an D. Blouse THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW 0F 1850

Arun Banerjee THE SAMPLER AND THE AMERICAN SCHOOL GIRL-18TH AND 19TH CENTURY

ire M. Friedland SILVER RIBBON HISTORIC HOUSE TOUR:

A History of Five Homes and Their Neighborhoods

chtonia L. Mauro A TOUR OF SITES IN THE ROMB0UT PATENT Joyce C. Ghee ..................

1994 SEMI-ANNUAL AND ANNUAL MEETING REPORTS, FINANCIAL REPORT, PUBLICATIONS REPORT

77

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES, STAFF

MUNICIIIAL HISTORIANS of DUTCHESS COUNTY

81

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES of DUTCHESS COUNTY

83.

INDEX

84

Early Social Welfare In Dutchess County Including € The Poorhouse System

by Susan D. Blouse Sue is an avid student of American and English history.

Possessing a degree in Social Work from The Pennsylvania State Universdy, she has lived and worked in Dutchess County for 16 years. She resides in Starifordv{Ile Tpi±h her lousband and two children.

Methods for dealing with the social condition of pov.erty have always been controversial in the United States as well as in other countries. The dilemma seems rooted in our need to find a design both economically sound and humane. Through the centuries, our evolving moral and political climate has led the United States to ``experiment" with various policies involving relief for the poor.

The history of our social welfare system is certainly important to pursue as it affects `the history of all people, wealthy or poor. At one time the poor were at the mercy of the townspeople who chose to be generous with their wealth. Now, through taxation on the national level, we are all responsible for their relief. Methods of housing the poor have included poorhouses and shelters for the homeless. Many of the old county poorhouse buildings are still standing in counties across the State of New York. Some of them are still in use, although with different purposes than for care of the poor.

In the first part of the paper I will present the historical facts which help to explain why our nation reacted to poverty the way that it did in those early years. Then I will narrow it down to New York and finally, Dutchess County. A study of the Dutchess County poorhouse system will take up the remainder of this paper with its evolution to the present day Dutchess County Health Care Facility.

In Colonial America, relief for the poor could be divided into two types: indoor and outdoor. Outdoor relief was assistance - money, food, clothes, fuel, etc. - that was given to people who remained in their own homes. Indoor relief was placing people in the homes of others or in an official institution for the purpose of assistance.

4

Before 1664 the care of the poor was in the hands of the towns.

Outdoor relief was handled through the churches or through the collection of local taxe-s or fines. Indoor relief was handled most commonly by two different methods. The practice of auctioning off the poor to the lowest bidder was certainly the cheapest method, but probably the worst. Generally, the lowest bidder turned out to be the greediest and most cruel of the towns' citizens.

Another method of indoor relief was for the town to contract with a local person to take in the poor. Many times it was a farmer who would house the destitute people. The town would provide funds to the farmer for the care of the poor and he would put them to work on the farm.

In 1664, the Colony of New York established an official system of care for the poor. It was designed from the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601 with which the colonists were already familiar. An Overseer of the Poor was to be appointed in each county whose job was to determine who the poor were, and also to collect the taxes which would support those poor. Now the responsibility for the poor was in the hands of the counties instead of the towns. The poor were still main-

tained within their towns but the money which went toward this maintenance was the responsibility of the County Overseer.

During the next century, responsibility for the care of the poor drifted back to the towns. But the methods of indoor and outdoor relief, as described before, remained basically the same.

Important to note at this point is that a good deal of the money that was spent in the care of the poor was out of the pockets of philanthropists and private charities. The 1700's were known as a time of

humanitarianism, basically due to these three events - the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment and the Declaration of Independence. I win briefly explain why these resulted in a mood of humanitarianism.

The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals which began in the 1720's. These revivals developed a doctrine which rejected the old Calvinistic ideals of predestination, instead claiming, ``that anyone could achieve salvation through faith repentance and conversion."1 This made popular a notion of helping the less fortunate to also attain salvation through philanthropy. Even Ben Franklin, who had a reputation as one who was not careless with his money, got caught up in this movement and gave money to the poor.

The second event was known as the Enlightenment. This was a period of growth in the field of science. Sir Isaac Newton's study of planets ``established the notion of a mechanical, harmonious, 1awgovemed universe that could be understood by man through the use

5

of his reason.''2 The field of psychology was progressing through the work of Engfish philosopher, John Locke. His theories were that ``man is born without any innate ideas, original sin or anything else - he is a blank, plastic being who will be molded by his environment.''3 People who believed in the theories of the Enlightenment felt that all people were equal because they all possessed the power of reason and that since people were born without any evil intent that they all could achieve salvation. Poverty, therefore, could not be natural as it was assumed before through Calvinism. They believed that working together, poverty could be eliminated and everyone could equally share in this country's resources.

The third event which helped to form this era of humanitarianism was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It emphasized human equafity and chaflenged Americans to construct a new society based on these ideals and also be a model to the rest of the world. So the Americans were not only responsible for the salvation of the poor already in America but also for the immigrants arriving in America by the thousands.

From 1714 to 1790 the population of Dutchess County jumped from 400 to 40,000. These were mostly English, Scotch and Irish coming down from New England. Then, in the 1800's, Dutchess County received more immigrants. The Germans, Italians, Greeks, Poles and more Irish arrived coming north from New York City. Dutchess County also became a haven for the Afro-Americans, as it had always been for the Quakers.

As the population of Dutchess County continued to increase, poverty also increased. The humanitarian outlook of the 1700's changed to one of individualism. The public began to view the poor as a strain on the economy. They now began to feel that outdoor relief led to idleness and the old methods of indoor relief were not providing expected results.

In February of 1824, a report was presented to the New York State Legislature by New York's Secretary of State, J. V. N. Yates. He had been commissioned to conduct a survey of New York's poor relief.

His report was based mainly on replies to a questionnaire that he had sent to the County Overseers of the Poor throughout the state. His findings reported that outdoor relief was resulting in able-bodied poor being lazy and not even trying to find employment, often resulting in ``vice, dissipation, disease and crime."4 Indoor relief, as reported by Yates, had become a very inhumane system. Whether by auction or by contract, the poor were being treated cruelly by the people who had taken them in. Yates was espe-

6

cially concerned with the children in these situations. ``The education and the morals of the children of paupers are almost wholly neglected. They grow up in filth, idleness, ignorance and disease, and many become early candidates for the prison or the grave."5 Later in 1824, the New York State Legislature passed the County Poorhouse Act which called for one or more poorhouses to be erected in each county. All recipients of public assistance were to be sent to these institutions. The Act also created new public officials titled the County Superintendents of the Poor. The old system of Overseers was becoming too expensive to maintain and was discontinued at this time. Outdoor relief was still to be provided but only in emergencies. The new County Superintendents were to function as the managers of the poorhouses and of emergency relief funds in connection with outdoor relief.

This Act marked a general change in social welfare in the 19th century. The responsibility for the poor was now back with the county and the trend was now towards indoor relief.

Important to note is the fact that the poorhouse was created not only to relieve the distress of the poor but also to discourage ``pauperism". The advocates of the poorhouse system believed that if relief was available only within the poorhouse, then ``only the most helpless and destitute would apply for assistance, and the able-bodied shirkers who sustained themselves through public generosity would find jobs rather than face the public deprivation and degradation of the poorhouse.''6 So the poorhouse was also viewed as a way to distinguish between the worthy poor and the unworthy poor or paupers. In this way the poorhouse could actually be thought of as a reform institution but its purpose was not to reform the character of the inmates within its walls but to stimulate the people on the outside to follow the work ethic.

THE DUTCHESS COUNTY POORHOUSE SYSTEM

As I did research on the Dutchess County poorhouse, I became fmstrated at times at the lack of information that I could find during great spans of history. There was no official record keeping system in the earlier years and records from the later years are either missing or placed throughout the county, making research difficult and time consuming. I was told several times that no one has ever attempted to put together a history of the local poorhouse, which explains some of my difficulties. However, I was able to find enough information to make my journey through local history both fascinating and enlightening.

7

The City of Poughkeepsie was chosen for the site of the new poorhouse. An exact date of its opening was not to be found but I do know that it occurred during the 1820's. I would also assume that it was after the County Poorhouse Act of 1824.

The first Superintendent of the County Poor was Edgar M. Vandeburgh, who assumed this position for 6 years. Some of the other people to have held this office were Walter Woddell, for 6 years; Charles LaDue, 3 years; D.S. Tallman, 3 years; James Russell, 6 years; Myron Smith, 9 years; and Isaac N. Carmen, 12 years.

I was not able to find many records on the number of residents or of their nationafities from the earlier years. The earliest evidence that I could find to show that it even existed was an account of an event in 1832 during a cholera epidemic. It seems that the epidemic hit the poorhouse so hard that the Superintendent ``deserted the building in a panic...leaving several hundreds of inmates in an indescribable condition of disorder."7 At this time the Board of Health went in and took over, although in a Medical Society history book that I found, there is no mention of a Board of Health until 1850.8 An article in the weekly newspaper called the PongJzkeepsz.e £¢gze (an early name of the Poztgfekecz7sz.c J-ot{7`7z4zJ), dated March 14, 1838,

contains a room-by-room description of the County Poorhouse which is included in the Appendix of this paper. The Purpose for the article was not given but the Panic of 1837 may have led the public to be curious as to the population of the Poorhouse. The article said that the greatest number of paupers in the Poorhouse in 1837 occurred in January with the total being 253. The average number for that year was 230. The number of paupers at the time of the article was 286.9 Another mention of a head count was from 1851 when it was noted that, ``The county house must have_.been pretty seriously crowded at times, for an item in the £¢gJc in 1851 says there were between 400 and 500 irmates. These included of course the pauper insane, but it is hardly possible that there were proper accommodations for so large a number."10 Living conditions, of course, fluctuated with the attitudes. of the

Superintendents in charge in any given year and the number of residents. There were some years during which conditions were reported as quite acceptable. Dorothea Lynde Dix, an advocate for the mentally ill, visited the Dutchess County Poorhouse and reported its conditions to the New York State Legislature in 1844 as follows: ``The Du'tchess County-House, at Poughkeepsie, is

a model of neatness, order, and good discipline. The

8

household arrangements are excellent; the kitchens and cellars complete in every part. I have seen mothing in the state so good as these.

Every apartment in the alms-house at Poughkeepsie was unexceptionally clean, well furnished and neatly arranged. Great credit is due to those who have the immediate charge of this house, for so thorough supervis,ion, and energetic adminis= tration of its affairs. Such of the insane as were highly excitable were in clean, decent roo]us. Their well kept lodging rooms, opened upon one larger, where they could have more space, when tranquil enough to be let out. The women were in another part of the house, quite apart at all times from this division.

The state of this establishment has not always been so good as now; but in the improvements armually made, it is gratifying to discover the increasing vigilance exercised to secure respectably conducted institutions."11

The first public inspection of the Poorhouse performed by the newly formed County Board of Health was done on November 16, 1853. It revealed ``order and cleanliness everywhere apparent about the premises. . . evinces a care and attention on the part of those having the oversight to the health and comfort of these unfortunate inmates that not only entitles them to the gratitude of those under theircarebutdeservethehighestcoIrmendationfromthepublic.''12 h 1857 there was another Panic. During that winter there was an ``unusual amount of poverty and distress," meetings were held con-

cerning the relief of the poor and a charity organization, which had been incorporated in 1852, got involved called The Poughkeepsie Female Guardian Society. This was a group of the leading women in Poughkeepsie, also representing the various churches, who formed a board and raised money for the building of the ``Home for the Friendless." Women who were most active in the early years of the "Home" were Mrs. Julia A. Killey, Mrs. Theodorus Gregory and Ms. Isaac Platt. Killey left her own home for an entire year, volunteering to manage the ``Home" herself, in order to ensure that it got off to a good start.13

9

The ``Home" was designed to ``provide a home for the destitute and friendless children of the county until they can be committed to the guardianship of foster parents, or worthy families, who will train them to respectability and usefulness." It was also designed to ``furnish a temporary home and employment for unprotected and friendless females."14 This three-story brick building had accommodations for 60 residents.

During the Civil War, antagonism between the city and the county legislatures resulted in a proposition before the Board of Supervisors to move the Poorhouse to the country. On January 19th, 1863, the City Common Council appointed a committee to confer with the Board of Supervisors. It was decided that the city would be separated from the rest of the county in the matter of the support of the poor.

On April 7, 1863, Albert Emans, John Ferris and David S. Tallman were appointed by the State Legislature to sell the old poorhouse property and purchase ``other farming lands not less than 50 nor more than 75 acres, and not less than 8 nor more than 15 miles from the Hudson RIver."15 0n May 9th, 1863 they sold the old poorhouse at auction for $19,605.55 and agreed with the buyers to pay 7 percent on that amount until April 1, 1864 so that it could continue to be used as a poorhouse until the new one was built. On May 28th, 1863, they bought 74 acres, 1 rood and 29 perches of land from Daniel H. Lyon and his wife, Harmah, in the Town of Washington for $6,182.24 with a contract for an additional 29 acres, 3 roods and 29 perches adjoiring it at $55 per acre.

The new County Poorhouse was built on this property, which is south of the village of Millbrook. The main building was a two-story structure with a basement, framed in wood and filled in with bricks, covered with a slate roof. It was completed by April 1, 1864 as planned and $14,380. In October of 1864, the county poor were moved into it. However, it was not planned out properly for it is mentioned that it was ``imperfectly ventilated, destitute of conveniences for bathing, and did not admit of a proper separation of the sexes.''16 In 1864 a lunatic asylum was built on the property at a cost of $5,944.34 to separate the mentally ill from the sane paupers. It was a wooden building with eighteen cells on two floors with grated doors and barred windows. A house for the keeper was erected in 1865 along with other buildings, bringing the total spent on the new poorhouse to $45,000.

Meanwhile, the City of Poughkeepsie was making changes in the care of the city poo.r. James Emott, James H. Dudley, James Bowne, Joseph Barnard, Matthew Vassar, Jr. and Jacob 8. Jewett had been

10

named by the Legislature to become the ``Commissioners of the Alms House of the City of Poughkeepsie." The city purchased the old county house grounds, which was property right across from where the old one stood, and from 1868 to 1869, the city alms house was built. This new city poorhouse was now to be referred to as the ``ahas house" as it was felt that the old use of the term "poorhouse'' was ``vulgar.''17 Between the time of the sale of the old poorhouse and the

completion of the new alms house, something had to be done to provide care for the poor. The old poorhouse was also burned down sometime in this period of 1864 and 1869. "jind until such farm and buildings can be purchased and provided, as aforesaid, the said commissioners may hire a house and lot of ground for a term of time, as a residence for the poor of the said city, at an annual rent not exceeding five hundred dollars."18 The City Almshouse was built keeping in mind the failings of the CountyHouse.Adequateventilationwasmentionedfrequentlyinthe article that I read. Careful attention was paid to a design which would keep the men and women separate except for visits to the chapel and dining room at which time they were all together. Large bathrooms were now provided in the separate parts of the building for both sexes. ``These bathrooms are new features in Alms Houses and will go far towards promoting the sanitary condition of the paupers."19 These improved conditions in the poorhouse were reflections of the public finally becoming aware of the inhumane treatment of the poor in these institutions. When the public raised concerns about children being brought up under these circumstances, the Children's Law of 1875 was enacted. This legislation required the removal of all children between the ages of 2 and 16 to oaphanages or other places, such as the ``Home for the Friendless," which were designed especially for children. Children under 2 were allowed to remain if their mothers were also residents, a reflection of the number of unwed mothers in poorhouses.

Thetreatmentofthementallyillinpoorhousesbecameapubficissue as early as 1860, due to the work of Dorothea Dix and others. Dutchess County began construction of a state hospital in 1868 and by 1871, the Hudson River State Hospital for the hsane was opened. Many of the mentally in were still living in the poorhouses until 1890 when legislation was passed requiring their removal to state institutions.

The County continued to make structural changes to the County Poorhouse in the Town of Washington. In 1903 it was finany brought up to date with many modem conveniences also added at an expense of $60'000.

11

h 1938 a new building was added for the puapose of providing an infirmary for those who required specialized medical care. Residents of the "County Home," as it was now called, added duties of the hfirmarytotheirformerdutiesoffarming,cooking,housekeeping,etc.

In 1961, a new wing was built which is what houses the Infirmary today. The Infirmary, also called the Dutchess County Health Care Facility, is at full capacity with 62 patients. Medicaid pays for the majority of the patients but there are some who pay privately. As Medicaid does not adequately cover their costs, patients who pay privately are encouraged to choose this facility over other nursing homes in an effort to make up the difference. The fee charged to these private patients is still much less than what is charged at other nursing homes in the area. The facility is having a difficult time meeting its budget. In another effort to reduce the costs of government, this well-run, much-needed facility is now facing an attempt by some members of the Dutchess County Legislature to close its doors forever.

And finauy - if you take a walk up the hill behind the older buildings of the Health Care Facility, you will come to an overgrown cemetery called Brier Hill Cemetery. There you will discover grave markers with no names marking them but only numbers. These are the graves ofthepoor,manyofwhomdiedafterendingupinthePoorhouse.

ENDNOTES 1

Trattnor, Walter I. Froac Poor Lflzo fo WcJ/arc Sfflfc. New York: The Free Press, 1979, 33.

2

Tratinor, 34.

3

Trattnor, 34.

4

Tratthor, 52.

5

Katz, Michael 8. J7t Tire Sfendozo O/T7!e Poor7zouse. New York: Basic Books, hc.,1986, 21.

6

Katz, Michael 8. Poz7crfty a#d PoJz.ey z.7t A77cerz.ca7i Hz.stony. New York: Academic Press, hc., 1983, 58.

7

Mccracken, Helny Noble. BJ{.the Dztfchcss. New York: Hastings House, 1958, 313-314.

8

Rogels, TohaF., M.D. History Of the Dutchess Courty Medical Society 18o6-1956. T37.

9

Poztgifeapsfe fngJe. March 17,1838. "Description of the poorhouse in Dutchess county"

ro Pirtt, Edm:urd. The Eagle's History Of Poughkeepsie 1683-1905. Pougldeapsie: Plait & Platt, 1905, 190.

12

11 Dix, Dorothea L. 07i BchaJ/ a/ #zc J#s¢7zc Poof.. New York: coo Press & the New York Times, 1971, 38-39.

12Thogels,|o;hnF.,M.D.HistoryOftheDutchessCountyMedicalSociety1806-1956.T37.

13 Platt, Edmund. T7ze EagJe's Hz.sfor]/ a/ Poztgfrkeapsz.e 1683-1905. Pou8hkeepsie: Platt & Plait, 1905, 157.

14 Smith, James H. Hz.sfony a/ Dz££chess Cozt7!fty, Nezt7 york. hterlaken: Heart of the Lakes, 1980, 432.

15 Snrith, 120.

16 Smith, 120.

17 Pongfrkeapsz.e D4H7y £¢gJe. January 14, 1869, 3. "The New Aha House"

18 ¥_a±=i EFW^ard.. Fg:df Rela.tin_g Tg The Poor Of The State Of Now York. AIhany.. Weed, Parsons & Co. Pubfishers, 1870, 91.

1.9 Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle. January 14,1869, 3.

13

APPENDIX Room to Room Description of County Poorhouse Poughkeepsie Eagle March 14, 1838 PURPOSE

ROOMS 26

25

24 23

22

Garret of Main Building - 54 Men - 31 Beds 33 White boys and 1 Man(keeper) - 12 Beds Tailor's Shop -7 Men -7 Beds Aged Women Paupers - 16 Women and 2 Children - 12 Beds Nursery - 14 Children and 2 Women(keepers) -

I

SIZE

NOTGREN 33 X 21 24.5 X 21 50 X 21

24.5 X 21

7 Beds 21

Lying-in Women - 11 Women and 7 Infants -

23 X 21

8 Beds

Sewing, Spinning, Knitting - 18 White Women and Children - 12 Beds Used as Hospital for Sick and Infirm -12 White Men - 12 Beds

50 X 21

18

10 Old Vvhite Men - 10 Beds

16 X 25

17

37 Wrhite Men - 37 Beds 14 Colored Men and Boys - 12 Beds

20 19

16

15

14 13

12

17 Colored Women and Children - 10 Beds 14 Colored Women and Children - 9 Beds Lunatics, Idiots and Keepers - 9 Men - 9 Beds, Cdls Used for Lunatics, Idiots and Keepers - 5 Men -

23 X 25

64 X 25 24.5 X 21 25X21

.

25 X 18 20 X 22.5 15 X 17

5 Beds, 3 Cells 12 X 16

9

Shoemaker's Shop -2 Men -2 Beds Weaver's Shop -1 Male -1 Bed Picking Wool and Oakum

24 X 16

8

School Room

26 X 16

7

Storing Clothing Ironing and Drying Clothes Eating Room for Whole Family With Oven for Baking Cellar for Provisions

11

10

6 5

4 3

2 1

Kitchen AIo Kitchen and Pantry

12 X 16

17X7 17 X 17 80 X 18.5 16 X 13.5

20 X 22.5 21.5 X 22.5 23.5 X 18.5

14

The Fugitive Slave. Law of 1850

by Arun Baner|.ee 4ra?B.an_erj?eis.ar3sid?ntofNewYorkcdyandafirstyearstw

d`eTnt a`±, B.eng?.nip+C?rdozg _L_av S_chool, if eshiva tiniviersity in Nee?. xprT €ify. _.He_i_s a 19_9_5_ gradrate Of Vassar Cotlege. i rrun

part.ictpatedjn.theYaf.sar_FiapWorkPrbgraninhisj;ndoryear andwasani:ndernattheSociety.

In 1850 the U.S. Congress pas-sed the Fugitive Slave Law, which was a provision in the Compromise of 1850. The compronrise asserted that the new state of California would be a free state upon its adrfutlance into the union. Other stipulations of the compromise regarded theUhitedStates'futureinvolvementintheiustitutionofslavery.The Fugitive Slave Law dealt with the problem of runaway slaves who enter.ed free states. The law required slaves to be systematically captured and returned to their rightful owners. State and local governments were to aid the federal authorities in apprehending the slaves.

TheFugitiveSlaveLawof1850wouldaffectcommunitiesthroughout the north, including Poughkeepsie. Two accounts of contested fugitive slaves are recorded, including the accounts of John Bolding.

Bolding was a resident of Poughkeepsie when Federal marshalls arrested him. The interesting fact that followed his arrest was the fund I.aising initiated by various Poughkeepsie residents to buy the freedom of Bolding. Influential members Of Poughkeepsie as well as average citizens contributed, and Bolding was finally released and returned to Poughkeepsie.

The northern states of the Union initially reacted in a hostile manner to the passing of the law in 1850. Congressman from the north attempted to enact certain provisions which would allow state judges todecidewhetheraslaveshouldberetumedtobondage.Withstrong opposition from the southern portion of Congress, these provisions never came about. Abolitionist writers began a campaign to lobby against the new law. Most northerners who opposed the lair cited it asbeinguncoustitutionalforslaverytoexistinariodemdaysociety.1 Arguments which attempted to prove its uncoustitutionality were as follows. The law which had been originauy enacted in 1793 was an agreementbetweenthestates,therebystrippingCongressofanyright

15

to pass laws for the reclamation of slaves. The fugitive slaves were also denied a trial by jury and the right to cross examine witnesses.

The actual trials of the fugitives violated the rights guaranteed under habeas corpus, which were completely guaranteed in the Constitution. Another argument stated that fugitive slave commissioners enacted judgements which could only be rendered by U.S. Federal Judges. These points created conflicts of judgement between free state, slave state and Federal Judges.2 Public opinion in response to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 varied from state to state, but northerners as a whole acquiesced to the law's provision to maintain adequate relations with the south. According to Stanley Campbell, ``A group composed mostly of abolitionists was opposed to the law under any circumstances and vowed to resist its enforcement in any way it could.''3 The force behind the abolitionist movement included influential preachers in Massachusetts and New York. Reverend Charles Beecher of New York stated, ``This law is an unexampled climax of sin. It is the monster iniquity of the present age, and it win stand forever on the page of history, as the vilest monument of infamy of the nineteenth century. "4 Early opposition to the law resulted in pubhic gatherings in cities in Massachusetts, such as Boston, Springfield and Lowen. The puapose of these meetings was to voice outrage because of the passing of the law and because the provisions violated certain fundamental mles of Christianity. h some cases, white citizens who opposed the law were willing to take up arms to defend any fugitive slave in the state of Massachusetts. In Syracuse, New York, five hundred people gathered to publicly declare that they would oppose anybody who attempted to enforce the provisions in New York State. The majority of abolitionists and those who opposed the law were in the western part of New York State.5

The Fugitive Slave Law endangered the safety of free blacks living in northern states. When the black communities realized this, many of them fled further north to Canada. Campbell writes, ``Of the 114 members of the Negro Baptist Church in Rochester, New York, all but two left the country rather than face the possibility of being captuned and returned to slavery."6 h areas such as Oswego, New York, free slaves armed themselves to resist any attempt to capture them.

By 1851 most of these initial responses to the law by northern communities had stibsided. Public sentiment had swayed towards support of the conditions of the law because of the improved relations between the northern and southern states. Many feared a possible

16

conflict which could dissolve the union, and no patriotic citizen wanted to witness that. The Fugitive Slave Law became a satisfactory compromisewhich aided in sustaining the cohe;iveness of the Union. According to Campbell: i-

American clergymen, businessmen and industrialists in large cities, and politicians in congress had cooperated effectively in an effort to put down antislavery agitation. They worked diHgently to convince the public that opposition to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law would result in disruption of the Union. Because of the efforts of these three groups, the compromise was hop.efully accepted by a large major~ ity as final settlement of the slavery crisis.7

The year 1854 would mark the turning point of the anti-slavery movement. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which began the formulation of the extension of slavery into the northwest territory. The north felt betrayed. Campbell explains, ``Fearing that the Nebraska bill might set a precedent for the recognition of slave property in the free states, a great many of the Boston merchants who supported the compromise felt cheated.''8 Northerners believed that the large territory of Kansas and Nebraska should be free from slavery by law, but southern Democrats and half of the northern Democrats combined forces to pass the bill to allow slavery to enter the area. The anti-Nebraska Bill movement was then formed to work towards the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Seven state legislatures adamantly opposed the bill and demanded the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law.9 State legislatures, such as those of Connecticut and Rhode Island, publicly declared the capture of fugitive slaves to be the responsibility of the Federal government, not the states. After 1854, most of the northeast passed personal liberty laws to battle the power of the Fugitive Slave Law. The personal liberty laws declared that state legal officers should represent the slaves. The laws stated that slaves had the rights of habeas coapu.s, a trial by jury, and that the kidnapping of slaves was pinishable by imprisonment. A few states also included the provision that federal slave prisoners could not be held in state jails.10 The majority of free states which bordered slave states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, continued to support the Fugitive Slave Law instead of aiding in the possible division of the nation.

17

By 1860, South Carolina had seceded from the Union and other states in the south seemed prepared to foHow its lead. Several northern governors began to panic and asked their state legislatures to repeal the personal liberty laws. Four months before the Civil War, states such as Rhode Island repealed their personal liberty laws, while the other states began to drastically revise their laws. A few states, such as Connecticut, did not act to repeal or revise their personal liberty laws because they felt nothing could prevent the Union from dividing. .Cormecticut was correct. The repeals and revisions by other states did not stall the dissolving of the Union or the Civil War.11 Narratives of fugitive slaves who had successfully escaped to the north were distributed as propaganda to enhance the image and goals of abolitionists. In 1850, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, Harriet Tubman, a former slave, began to organize stations for the underground railway. These stations were located in New York and allowed the slaves to travel to Canada. Her work as an agent of the underground railway allowed her to make secret missions into the south to convince slaves to escape. She was known to have used spiritual singing and other methods to attract slaves. Harriet Tubman was a fugitive slave whose dangerous work might have facilitated her capture, but because of her strong beliefs against slavery, she continued to crusade for the freedom of slaves in the south.12 In Poughkeepsie, New York, a fugitive slave named John Bolding escaped from South Carolina and settled in the area. He was employed by a tailor shop on Main Street and was identified as an escaped slave by a South Carolinian staying in Poughkeepsie. The southerner contacted Bolding's owner, Robert Anderson, who began therequiredproc:durestorecoverhislostproperty.13 0n August 25, 1851, a U.S. marshall. arrested Bolding in Poughkeepsie while he was at work. In New York City he was tried before a U.S. state commissioner and was ordered to be returned to his owner. Many Poughkeepsie residents were disturbed by this action, since Bolding was forcibly seized by a U.S. marshall. Residents decided to raise the money from their community to purchase the freedom of Bolding from his southern owner. It was stipulated that the price be $2,000 and that only half the amount could be raised in Poughkeepsie, while the other half had to be raised in New York City.14 The fund that was organized was a success and various residents contributed to the cause, including Matthew Vassar, the founder of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. A total amount of $1,109 was col1ected and sent tor the U.S. marshall who had Bolding in custody.

Facts concerning the raising of the other half are unknown, but John

18

Bolding was returned to Poughkeepsie a free man. Bolding died in Poughkeepsie on April 30, 1876.15 Another account -of a fugitive slave occurred in 1860, when a slave

from New Orleans arrived in Poughkeepsie by train. He then crossed the frozen Hudson to the town of Loulsburgh. The fugitive slave told the local townspeople of his escape from the south. According to the escaped slave, he was a former free slave who was employed on a ship which transported goods to the south. When the ship was in New Orleans, he was illegally kidnapped and sold to a merchant who returned him to slavery.16 Poughkeepsie had been an area of .anti-slavery sentiment in the 19th century. The Poughkeepsie Anti-Slavery Society was established in 1835 and its membership grew after its inception.17 Along with the presence of the Anti~Slavery Society, the Dutchess County area had stations which were part of the underground railroad network leading north to Canada.

By 1860, southerners did not befieve the north was fully upholding the Fugitive Slave Law. These same southerners cited this nonenforcement as a possible cause for a future division of the Uhion. h the early 1850's enforcement of the law was effective, but by the 1860's accounts of the rescuing of slaves became quite popular. The number of slaves between the period of 1850-1860 remained constant and the law did not deter runaway slaves at all. A proper consensus to provide a comparison of the amount of slaves arrested and returned was difficult. The communities which were against the law would only report in their newspapers instances when the captured slave was rescued or freed; while other communities which supported the law did not deem it necessary to report the occurrences in their newspapers.18 Enforcement of the law during the 1850's seemed to be extremely effective. In 1851 anti-slavery societies were able to organize demon-

stratious in town halls, town squares and outside courthouses. This was prevalent in Boston, but local judges and Federal marshals completely carried out their duties even with the presence of public hostility. Many accounted cases describe the attempts of abolitionists to free slaves, but in most cases the abolitionists were tried for aiding in the escape of the slave and fined large sums of money. The Federal government employees responsible for returning the slaves allowed the enforcement of the law to be upheld, even with all the legal and human obstacles which were placed before them.19 After the secession of the states in the south, the role of the Federal government towards fugitive slaves becalne complicated. The states

19

which ha.d seceded forfeited their rights under the Constitution, but the states still loyal to the union, which instituted slavery, expected the Federal government to continue the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. Federal marshals still enforced the law because only the states in the deep south had seceded by 1861. h Lincoln's inaugural address he stated he would not interfere with slavery in the slave states. In 1858 he stated,I"I have never hesitated to say, and I do not hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of southern states are entitled to a congressional Fugitive Slave Law. "20

During the initial fighting in 1861, Union generals were harboring slaves who desired protection. h August of 1861, Congress passed the first confiscation acts that stated all slaves fighting against the Uhion would no longer be the slave owner's property. h 1862, the slaves of disloyal owners who arrived in Union territory were declared free.

Many Federal Marshalls of loyal states returned fugitive slaves to their owners, and by June 1863, six months after the Emancipation Proclamation, the Fugitive Slave Law was still being enforced. h the summer of 1863, the law seemed obsolete, but legally remained until June 28, 1864, when it was repealed. The slaves who were displaced from the south into the north were not welcomed in some cities, such as Chicago, Illinois, because local politicians felt the southern states should care for their own people.21 .The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 lasted for fourteen years. Initially the law fostered hatred in areas of the north, while the south believed that if the law were not enforced, secession was a legitimate retahation. From 1852 to the law's repeal in 1864, enforcement of the law was effective, and the initial resentment that had started in the north deteriorated. By 1852, the south felt that northerners who obstructed the seizure of their property violated their rights as slave owners.

The states that seceded partially attributed their action to the lack of respect northerners demonstrated towards the Fugitive Slave Law. In actuaHty, the number of fugitive slaves was minimal compared to the overall slave population in the slave states. Thus, the Confederate south's explanation of secession on the grounds of non-enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law was hardly justified.

END NOTES .

1

Campbell, Stanley W. T7!e Shaz7c C¢£chers. (Chapel Hill: University of North Caro.lina Press, 1968) 28.

2

Campbeu,28.

20

3

Campbell,49.

4 Canpbell, 50. `

5

Campbell,52.

6

Campbell, 62.

7

Campbell,66.

8

Campbell,84.

9

Campbell, 85.

•,

10 Campbell, 88.

11 Canpbell, 95.

12 Filler, Louis. T7ze Crztsode Agzzz.7zsf Shat)e7']/. Q`Jew York: Harper and Row, 1960) 294.

13 ``Case of the Fugitive Slave, John Bolding, Before U.S. Commissioner Nelson," PoughkeepsieEagle;6September1851,2.

14 ``Case of the Fugitive Slave, John Bolding, Before U.S. Colnmissioner Nelson", 2.

15 "Case of the Fugitive Slave, John Bolding, Before U.S. Commissioner Nelson", 2.

16 ``Fugitive Slaves," Poz!g7zkefpsz.e £4zgJe; 29 December 1860, 2.

T7"TheAn:HshaweryMovem!en±,"TheDutchessCountyHistoricalSocietyYedrbook,Z8,T943,58-59.

18 Campbell,110-112.

19 Campbell, 114-115.

20 Campbell, 189.

i

21 Campben, 193-195.

21

THE SAMPLER AND THE AMERICAN SCHOOLGIRL 18th and 19th Century

by Arme M. Friedland Ame Friedl,and is a talented needl,eworker interested in historical needle:work and its social aspects. A merri,her Of the Skylcill Chapter

Of the Embroiderers Guild Of America, Ame has studied at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and has conducted a tour of the Metrapohian Museuns' sampler exhibit for Skykill Chapter merrl: bers. Arme serves as a trustee Of the Society and is a veteran Clinton House volunteer.

The Youth with greatest talent born Is rough, while unrefined.

Leaning will every heart adorn And polish every mind.

(1806 Sampler quotation)1

To many people the names and dates on an embroidered sampler are just that, names and dates. To a few, those names and dates are an invitation to journey back in time and learn about the embroiderer and that time in which she lived. There are many forms of samplers and each one has a history of its own, including marking samplers; alphabet and numerical samplers; darning samplers; religious samplers; genealogical samplers; stitch samplers; samplers recording historical events; perpetual calendar samplers; arithmetic samplers and map samplers. For the young girl in the 18th and 19th century, needlework was a necessary part of her education and the sampler was proof of what she could accomplish.

I have accepted the ``invitation" of Ann Beadle who worked her sampler in 1806; it is a map sampler of the North American continent. This sampler, which was given to the Dutchess County Historical Society by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, has only the name and date for identification.

My challenge is to find out who Ann Beadle was, where she lived and where she went to school.

22

Before going into details of Ann Beadle's sampler, it is necessary to understand the history and importance of samplers in a girl's education. The word `sampler' comes from the Latin `exemplum' meaning ``something chosen from a number of things, a sample."2 The work-

ing of the sampler is generally thought to have been done by women.

Samplers were brought to this country by the first English settlers. hstead of a book of patterns, which was very costly and not always attainable, a woman had her sampler. This sampler was very narrow in width and quite long, and on it were recorded stitches that the women either copied from a book or leamed from a friend. The sampier, which could be added to at any time, was kept rolled up in the workbasket for handy reference when a new stitch was nee-ded.

As the United States was settled, people brought their traditions and beliefs from the old country and these, too, were incorporated into sampler work. The .area around Boston continued the English style of needlework, while Pennsylvania had a German influence.

The Engfish style had the greatest influence on sampler making until the mid 18th century and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between American and English samplers of that time.

Linen for household use was an expensive item. Some women were able to purchase imported goods while others grew and manufactured their own material. In Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1640 it was required that ``every family plant and raise flax or hemp."3 This greatly added to the work of the women, but some New England samplers were worked on homegrown and homemanufactured linen.

A girl's role was virtually mapped out at birth. She would marry, raise children and run a household. All the education that she needed was that which would enable her to carry out these functions and serve her husband; this was her function in life. Education for the girl in the 18th and into the 19th century was not felt to be of importance, but there were exceptions to this way of thinking and from enlightened women. In 1778 Abigail Adams wrote, ``1 regret the trifling, narrow, contracted education of females in my own country,''4 and in 1803, Mary Wilder White commented that ``the boy of twelve is further advanced in intellectual improvement than the woman of twenty.''5 The young girls' introduction to needlework was `plain' sewing, whereby they would learn the stitches needed to sew cloths and household linens from their mothers or other female family members. Along with `plain' sewing, girls would also need to know how to mark linens, and this technique could be learned within the famfty

23

or at a Dame school. The marking of samplers was used io instruct young girls in ways of marking the household linens and clothes.

Household linens were very valuable and they needed to be rotated to get equal wear. As well as being marked, some were numbered because ``proper housekeeping required that all clothing and household linens be marked."6 Th; Dame school was run by a widow or spinster in the area and this was considered a respectable way for a woman to earn a living.

The Dame school was a combination of nursery, kindergarten and primary school, and children as young as three years of age would attend, boys as well as girls. Many Dames were not equipped to run a school and leaming was not a very pleasant experience. Children in the 18th century were still thought to be ``marked by original sin, and hence this first training aimed at taming their will."7 Widow Tabitha Plasket, who ran a Dame school in her home in Plymouth, disciplined her students by "putting a sizeable skein of yam under their arms and suspending them from large wooden pegs on the wall of the schoolroom. ''8 When a girl finished attending Dame school, where ages ranged from 3 to 10 years and attendance was not regular, if her finily had the means, she could continue her education at a private school that advertised needlework classes. During the 18th century, there were 500 such schools in the eastern part of the country. Women would place advertisements in the local newspapers: Maryland Gazette, M:arch 27, 1751

Mary Arme March of Annapolis announces that she and her daughter would teach young Misses, all sorts of Embroidery, Turkey Work, and all sorts of rich Stitches learnt in Sampler work.9 New York Mercury, M:ay 2JO,1765

Mary Bosworth, Lately from London, takes this method to inform the public, that she has opened a school in Cortlandt street, wherein she teaches young masters and misses to read and lealm them all sorts of verse: she likewise learns young ladies plain work, samplairs, Dresden flowering on cat gut, shading with silk or worsted, on Cambrick, lawn or Holland.10

24

€}

Nezuporf Merccfry, December 19 and 26, 1758, and January 2, 1759

Sara Osbom, Schoolmistress in Newport, proposes to keep a Boarding School. Any person desirous of sending Children, may be accomodated, and have them instructed in Reading, Writing, Plain work, Embroidering, Tent Stitch, &c. on reasonable Terms.11

Many of the schools lasted only a short time and the only knowl-. edge we have of them is the newspaper advertisements. Other schools lasted longer and certain styles of sampler work can be attributed to them. One such school was run by Mary (Polly) Balch in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1785 until about six years before her death in 1831. A former student wrote:

At an exhibition of ancient and modem needle-work given for charity's sake in this city, in 1879, the most excellent specimens were loaned by those who had been pupils of Miss Balch .... A young girl's education was not thought finished, fifty years ago, unless she could sew neatly, mend, darn and knit. Miss Balch gave as much attention to the useful as to the ornamental; she was thorough in all she taught, and her school ranked with the best in the States.12

Mary Balch was known, and is known today, for the samplers worked in her school depicting historic buildings in Providence. Of all the known teachers, Mary Balch has provided the largest identifiable group of schoolgirl needlework.

Over the years, the sampler forms and their content changed. Some samplers were square in shape, while others bore a resemblance to the old band sampler of the 17th century. Each school had its particular design. For example, the Newport schools had "frollicking people" and ``elegant house" samplers. Certain types of borders identified a school and the use of backgrounds was also a way of identifying sampler origin.

Young girls from out of town attending these schools would board with friends in town or the teacher. In the larger, more successful schools, more courses were offered and visiting teachers would instruct the students in music, English and French. These schools can

25

be thought of as the forerunners of today's boarding schools. At these schools the girls would leam their ``fancy" work, more elaborate pieces which were designed for exhibition. These samplers took longer to work as they were quite intricate in design, though the marking sampler would often have a number of alphabets and this, too, was time consuming. Each girl was expected to work at least two samplers, the marking sampler and an ornate one. One young girl attending Mary Balch's school embroidered more than the required two. In one year, Clarissa Daggett at the age of 14 years, embroidered two detailed samplers and a mouming piece.13 Fancy needlework, like ``plain" sewing, was designed to help the young girl fulfill her role in life, for what could be more encouraging to a young man than to see how talented his young lady was with a needle? The finished samplers were duly framed and hung on the parlor wall for suitors to see.

Very seldom do we leam how the students felt about their sampler work, so it is interesting to find Patty Polk's inscription dated 1800:

Patty Polk did this and she hated every stitch she did in it. She loves to read inuch more.14

The designs for the samplers were not solely the ideas of the teachers. Some parents wrote requests for certain types of samplers to be worked by their daughiers. in 1787 Nancy Winsor's father requested of Mary Balch that his daughter work the State House in Providence on her sampler:

I could not send a Draft of a suitable building to put in Nancy's Sampler for we have none here (Alexandria, Virginia), and advised to have the State House in Providence put in, for it is the best proportioned building I have seen.15 As would be expected at a needlework school, many girls used the same patterns for their samplers, so there are identical samplers. As more samplers now come to light, mayb'e more connections with schools will be found. As the number of boarding schools increased, so, too, did the number of samplers being worked, with most completed between 1800 and 1830.

Religious schools were also in operation in the 18th century and two of them were very forward in their thinking regarding the education of girls. The first was opened by Moravians in Bethlehem,

26

Pennsylvania, in 1740, for the education of Moravian girls. There was also a boys' boarding school. In 1786 it was decided to open the school to non-Moravians since enrollment had declined. This school attracted many students from different parts of the eastern seaboard.

Unlike many schools of its day, the girls' education was not much different from the boys', although there was still a great emphasis on the needle arts. According to Margaret Schiffer, ``Bethlehem was one of the major sources of the most skillful needle art in America.''16 Among the subjects that a girl could study were writing in both English and German, geography, some botany, music, and arithmetic, but it was emphasized that ``the Inind was not to be cultivated at the expense of the hands."17 The second religious school to open in Pennsylvania was the Westtown School of the Society of Friends in Chester County in 1799, which is still in operation today. This school, under the control of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, was only for the children of Friends, and was taught by men and women dedicated to the principles of the Friends. Among the necessary items for the girls attending the school were their needlework supplies. As with the Moravian school, the girls' studies were almost the same as the boys, but their needlework studies were clearly laid out:

The chief difference (between the boys and girls courses) is that sewing is emphasized, and that consequently there is time only for elementary mathematics. Two weeks in six are spent in the sewing school, from which the girls go to reading and writing classes as usual, but during the rest of the time they are busy with the needle. Plain sewing comes first and darning as well. A piece twelve by eight inches must be so perfectly darned that the mending can scarcely be distinguished from the original material. This examination passed, the students undertake the complex embroidery of spectacle cases, globes representing the earth, and samplers with beautifully stitched designs bordering alphabets and moral sentiments, usually in poetry. Some of the more proficient are allowed to stitch views of the School, to be framed and exhibited as pictures, but this, as well as the making of elaborate samplers, is frowned on by the Committee as ``Superfluous" and to be discouraged.18

27

The darning sampler was not emphasized that much in the nonreligious schools, but the European influence was strong in the Quaker schools. In Holland, especially, much was made of the darning sampler, and girls would repair linens fonowing the weave or the design so precisely that it was hard to tell where the dam was.

The omate samplers of other schools had no place at Westtown or other Quaker schools. Their samplers are quite plain by comparison, fitting in with the Quaker goals: to furnish, besides the requisite portion of literary instruction, an education exempt from the contagion of vicious example and calculated to establish habits and principles favourable to future usefulness in religious and civil society.19

The embroidery of the Moravians and the Quakers should not be thought of as representative of Pennsylvania work since other private, non-religious schools were as numerous in that state as elsewhere. One distinctive sampler form was that practiced by the students of Mrs. Leah Meguier in the early 19th century. The borders were divided into squares and different motifs were embroidered in them so that this border, surrounding a central picture, made a very elaborate sampler. A sindlar style of sampler was made at the school of Mrs. Leah Galligher, Lancaster, in 1799, and it is thought that these teachers may have been the same person. This is quite possible, but sampler patterns of the same design did appear in different areas. Young girls, who had gone away to school and came home to teach, were likely to bring with them the patterns that they had learned in school. Mary Balch, Providence, Rhode Island, attended school in Newport, Rhode Island, and she took with her to the school she formed, styles that she had used as a student, later developing her own style with which she has become well known. The elaborate designs of the samplers were quite different from those of the Quaker school, but both types identifled the schools in which they were made.

Westtown, or ``Weston" as it is sometimes called, samplers were quite plain, both in embroidery and stitches used. The borders are very simple, designs are very precise, and the central part often contained a religious verse: Fountain of Being, teach us to devote, To thee each purpose, action, work and thought, They grace our hope, thy love our only boast,

28

By all distinctions in the Christian lost, Be this in every state ourwish alone, Almighty, wide and good, they will be done.20 .. '

•

i

In Dutchess County, the Society of Friends came together at the Yearly Meeting in 1793 to consider the education of children. A committee was established in 1795 to establish a school, and on December 20, 1796, the Nine Partners School was opened in what is now south Millbrook. About 40 students enrolled, and by the end of the fist year there were a total of 100. h the Friends schools the chfldren learned the four ``R's": reading, writing, arithmetic and religion.

Nine Partners, like other Friends schools was coeducational, because ``from very early days Quakers approved coeducation because they accorded woman a place equal to that of man."21

-`

The goals of the new school were set out to explain what would be provided and expected: 1. Religious education.

2. Coeducation - Boarding school 3. True democracy.

4. The practice of tolerance.

5. College preparation and general courses.

6. Simple living.

7. Individual differences recognized, encourage-

ment rather than punishment. £

8. Long academic year -two terms of 24 weeks each.

9. As low tuition as possible.

10. Christian education implied Philanthropy.22

At the Boarding School Committee meeting in 1807, the Ininutes of the meeting read:

at the close of the last quarter the number of scholars was 63, the present number is 98 - 53 boys and 45 girls, all of whom are in good health and appear to be cheerful and contented.23 In the early years of the Nine Partners Boarding School, only primary and grammar grades were offered. Today the school is much

29

larger, offers higher grades of school, and is located in Poughkeepsie. In 1807 Lydia P. Mott had charge of the sewing school. Four samplers on display at the school, dated 1802, 1804, 1827 and 1829, are all in the style described as being associated with the Quaker schools.

Once a girl at the Westtown school had mastered the art of darning, she was then able to go on to the next phase of her needlework education: the globe sampler, or globe cover. Westtown is the only known school to have specialized in this type of sampler. One such sampler, made in 1814 by Ruth Wright, was made of plain-woven light blue silk covering a stuffed sphere. Couched in blue silk longitudinal lines; tropics of Capricorn and Cancer done in red silk; equator, Arctic and Antarctic circle in white silk; the continents and countries are outlined in white thread in a very fine couching stitch; names in black ink.24 Early in the 19th century and particularly after 1803 and the Louisiana Purinase, the map sampler gained popularity as another method of sampler making. At this time, a stamped-linen map, ``with the Louisiana Territory boldly delineated was quickly produced expressly for needleworkers."25 The best known school for map sampiers was the Westtown school, although map samplers were also worked in other parts of the country. Map samplers are rare in America and there are very few in existence. The earliest known map sampler in America is that of Frances Benton, Newport, Rhode Island, dated 1775. It is an oval silk map of France showing every province outlined and named.26 In 1809, C. Anderson of the `Frankford School' - no further identification - embroidered a sampler showing the two hemispheres.

According to Bolton and Coe, ``In four comers are figures representing America, Europe, Asia and Africa."27 Maria Merritt, Pleasant Valley, New York, in 1817 also embroidered a map sampler showing the two hemispheres: the countries were outlined in chenille yard and the background was silk.28 As in many map samplers, Maria's name was placed in the cartouche in the lower part of the sampler with the date and place name. It is not certain if the place name was that of the school or where the student lived.

Map samplers of states were also embroidered. Elizabeth Stevens, New York Public School No. 13, in 1810 embroidered a sampler of Massachusetts, worked in ``French knots, chain, stem, tent, satin and

30

cross stitch,''29 Towns were identified and rivers shown, but not named. In 1829, Elizabeth Ann Goldin, of New York, provided an abundance of information on her map sampler of the state of New York. The information embroidered on her sampler was in stem, back and cross stitch: Lake Erie is the celebrated scene of Perry's victory over the British fleet, September, 10, 1813. Lake Champlain is celebrated for the victory gained by MCDonough over a British fleet of far superior force, Sept. 11, 1814. Long Island is the most important island belonging to the state of New York 140 miles in length and from 10 to 15 broad, contains three cornties and numerous flourishing towns, population (?)7,000. Albany is the capital.:30

Not all the map samplers were accurate in their details and some young embroiderers confused their geographical facts. Frances Wade in 1798 endeavored to make a map samplers of North and South America, and her mistakes are summed up by Eva Johnston Coe:

The `€reat War' has not played such havoc with the map of Europe as did the little needlewoman with the countries of our hemisphere. Chile and Patagonia have changed places; the `Amazon country' occupies a big section of Brazil; Florida is more than half as large as the portion marked `United States.' New Mexico is even larger, and Louisiana is tucked in snugly above, right in the heart of the continent; while Canada, a detached section toward the top of the map, does not touch the United States at all.

Altogether it would be difficult to find a more unusual conception of the Western Hemisphere, and one wonders if it were due to a vivid imagination or ignorance on the part of her instructors.31 In 1808, Mary Franklin of Pleasant Valley, New York, worked a map sampler of North and South America, very detailed and apparently accurate. Mary outlined her countries, which were in a whitewoven silk background, in chenille. The water is painted blue, and longitudinal lines and place names are in ink. The shield containing Mary's name, date, and town is in the upper left-hand comer.32

31

Two quite different map samplers are recorded in Pennsylvania.

One, which is a map of that state, is made entirely of needle-lace patterns 6n a net ground, with all countries worked in a different lace pattern. The embroiderer is not known, but the sampler is dated circa 1840.33 The second sampler is titled ``Map of the United States" and was worked by Mary H. Walter in 1813. This map shows about half of the country and is very ornamental. Around the map is a floral border and around this frame is a border of cream-colored quilled ribbon.34 The working of map samplers was more common in England during this time period, used as a means of instructing the student in geography. Some interesting facts can be leamed from map samplers.

An English map sampler shows the island of Tasmania cormected to the Australian continent, but Tasmania was not found to be an island until 1798.35 0n many samplers showing Great Britain, the North Sea is named the German Ocean and these facts help the historian date the samplers. One early 19th century English map sampler, of the county of Norfolk, include interesting markings and these are thought to indicate ``beacons placed in readiness for the expected invasion of Napoleon."36 Gradually, American girls' education was expanded to include painting, and boarding schools employed teachers in this subject as it was felt that painting could enhance the embroideries. During the early part of the 19th century, on some samplers, particularly those showing people, it was quite common to paint objects in, or attach painted pieces. When faces were painted in, it gave the people depicted more of a natural look. On map samplers delicate blue painting represented the ocean or lakes. Also the young schoolgirl was taught to do reverse painting on glass, and this, too, enhanced her embroidery by providing a frame for her work. However, a major problem regarding reverse painting as a frame for needlework, as far as historians are concerned, is that often the student would sign her name and date her piece of work on the glass, which did not stand up to much handling. Once the glass was broken, all record of the embroiderer was lost.

During the latter part of the 18th cenhiry and continuing into the 19th century, girls were still schooled in the fine arts that would ensure them, hopefully, of a husband. These schools were little more than finishing schools that taught the young girl the refinements of life. Upon leaving the boarding school, she was ``1ittle more than an ignorant schoolgirl with a lot of accomplishments."37 In the 19th centu.ry, many changes took place in the education of girls, and consequently, needlework would not hold as important a

32

position. Although it was still thought necessary for a girl to sew in order to maintain a household, she was taught subjects that would make her more well informed. h the past, sampler-making had been seen as necessary, for if she were to depend on her sewing as a livelihood, she must know how to mark liners and do plain sewing, and if she were to be in charge of a household, she would have to know how to instruct others in such tasks if she did not want, or need, to do them herself. Nothing more was needed in the way of education; this left the girls unsuited in raising a family. Dr. William Buchan, at the end of the 18th century stated:

It is common to see women, who are supposed to have had a very genteel education, so ignorant, when they come to have children, of everything with which a mother ought to be acquainted, that the infant itself is as wise as the parent.38

The ornamental arts came under attack because it was felt that these subjects should be secondary to the academic subjects; ideally the girls should have an education similar to that of boys'. Female academies and seminaries were opened to follow this new idea of educating young women, although some older boarding schools changed their names to accommodate this new style of education but did not change their curriculum. Mrs. Emma Wfllard, speaking to the New York state legislature in 1819, said:

The ornamental branches which I should recommend for a female seminary are drawing, painting, elegant penmanship, music and the grace of motion.

Needlework is not here mentioned. The best style of useful needlework should either be taught in the domestic department or made a qualification for entrance; and I consider that useful which may contribute to the decoration of a lady's person, or the convenience or neatness of her family. But the use of the needle for other purposes than these, as it affords little to assist in the formation of the character, I should regard as a waste of time.39

It was not only those who were intent on improving the lot of the schoolgirl whose opinions were recorded. The schoolgirls left their own records in the letters they wrote. Eliza Southgate wrote, "I

33

found the mind of a female, if such a thing existed, was not worth cultivation. "4o

Tc

Gradually, the system began to change, but this was destined to be a very slow process. The domestic scene was still to be the stage for the young woman, but now housewifery and the domestic life were ideals for which to aim. She was to be the best housewife possible and was educated accordingly. Catherine Beecher, who introduced domestic science into the female curriculum, wrote in A T7'e¢fz.sc o7t Domestic Economy

The proper educatich of a man decides the welfare of the individual; but educate a woman and the interests of the whole finily are served.41

One forward-thinking young lady, in 1812, wrote to her fiance informing him of her intentions to continue her studies at another school. She was twenty at the time and wrote of "devoting myself principally to study.''42 This would seem to be an apt answer to Eliza Southgate's question ``Do you suppose the mind of a woman the only work of God that was made in vain?''43 At last the young woman was beginring to be seen not as an omament but as a contributing member of society. Her life would still be restricted in many ways for years to come, but a change had been made for the better.

Sampler-making, as it had been practiced, was now a thing of the past, although some forms of sampler-making were necessary to educate girls who would use sewing as a livelihood. New methods of marking were introduced in the mid-19th century, the sewing machine was invented, and the embroidered sampler did not fit in with the fast-changing times. With the introduction of Berlinwork, embroidery was .becoming commercialized and the embroiderer no longer had to ponder over her own pattern because it was now stamped on canvas that could be purchased. Young children no longer learned their alphabets and numbers with samplers as they had done at Dame schools, and the sampler, which had been such an important part of a young girls' education, became a collector's item.

ENDNOTES 1

Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eva Johnson Coe, A7#erz.ca7t Sfl77€pzcrs: 1921. Reprint (New York: Weathervane Books, 1973) 269.

2

Anne Sebba, S¢77zpzers, Fz.z7e Ce7€fzjrz.es a/a Ge7!fzc Crrzfi: (New York: Thames and Hudson, Inc., 1979) 6.

34

3

Glee Fchieger, Necc7 £7zgha7ccZ Sfl77zpJers fo 1840: Q4assachusetts: Old Sturbridge, Inc., 1978) 5.

4

Betty Ring, Lei Vz.r£#e Be fl Gctz.dc fo TJzce: (Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983) 35.

5

RIng'36.

6

?use:\ Furrows Swan, A Wintertlour Guide to American Needlework.. (NIew York.. Crown Pubhihers, Inc., 1976) 13.

7

Susan Bunows Swan, PJ¢z.7z fl#d Ffl7Iey: Orew York: Holt, Rinehart and Wiuston, 1977) 47.

8

Mary M. Davidson, PJz.77zozfffe Colony S¢7xpJcrs: (Massachusetts: The Charfugs, 1975) 15.

9

Julia Cherry Spruill, Wome7c's Lzrg fl7zd Work z.7{ £he So#£her7t CoJo#z.es: rpt. 1938, 0`lew York:

W.W.Norton and Company, 1966) 199.

10 Glee Krueger, A G¢ZJcny a/A7Hcrz.czz7t S¢mpJcrs: (New York: E.P.Dutton, 1978) 8.

11 RIng, 47.

12 rig, 102.

13 RIng, 134-135.

14 Bolton and Coe, 96.

15 Swan, Plain and Fancy, 57 alrd 59.

16 tylalgaI_e±_I. ?chiffer, Historical Needlework Of Pennsylvania.. Q`Ie:w Yode. ChaLrles Sc±bner's Sous, 1968) 15.

17 Sebba, 100.

18 Schiffer, 44.

19 Sebba, 100.

20 Schiffer, 45.

21 Sesqui-Centennial Programme, Oakwood School, Poughkeepsie, New York, 24th April, T984. They Butlded Better Than They Kinew T796 - 1:946, 2.

22 Sesqui-Centennial Programme, 3.

23 Sesqui-Centennial Programme, 3.

24 Swan, A Winterthur Guide to American Needle:work, 21. 25 Sebba[,102.

26 Bolton and Coe, 21.

27 Bolton and Coe, 219.

28 Susan Burrows Swan, "Appreciating American Samplers, Part H," £fldy A77cerz.ca7t Lzre, April, 1984, 44.

29 Bolton and Coe, 226.

35

30 Bolton and Coe, 164.

31 Bolton and Coe, 107.

92 Srwan, A Winterthur Guide io American Needlework, 2JO.

33 Schiffer, 65.

34 Schiffer, 65.

35 Lanto Synge, A7zfz.q#e Ncedzezt7ork: (Dorset: Blandford Press,1982) 116.

36 Pamela Clabbum, Sfl77€pJcrs: (Bucks., England: Shire Publications, 1977) 18.

37 Srwan, Plain and Faney,72..

38 SwaI\, Plain and Faney, 73.

39 Ring, 243.

40 Swan, 74.

41 Swan, 76.

42 RAg, 218.

43 Swan, 74.

36

SILVER RIBBON HISTORIC HOUSETOUR A History of Five Homes and

Their Neighborhoods by chtonia L. Mauro Antonia Mauro, a native of Pougivkeepsie and a graduate of Marist College, is an Art Educator at Holy Trinity School in Pougivkeepsie and worked on the Society's History Trunk series.

Im 1993/1994 she produced the Si:iver RIbborl rEour Of five homes in Pouglckeepsie. Ilond serves on the Society's Board Of Trustees.

During the real estate adventures of the mid-19th century, men and women of means believed in the progress of land expansion. As the Village of Poughkeepsie (incorporated in 1799) prospered, its residents began investing in the rural perimeters of the city limits. There were always farms on the outskirts of the Town of Poughkeepsie, but the development noted here determines objectives unlike the needs of the Dutchess County farmer. The outgrowth of these rural areas close to city lines was founded in good, social, economic sense.

An investor of sound mind and body sought for himself and his family a location with many assets. Many of these investors held positions or owned businesses in the city and desired a comfortable dwelling within reasonable distance to work and church. Sanitation was a new concept and did not see true gain until the latter part of the 19th century. Diseases, unlikely to visit households today, were frequent and unwelcome then. So the urge to live in a healthy environment motivated many. They sought fresh air, garbage-free drives, trees, and enough area to cultivate fruit, vegetable and flower gardens. They implored, as well, space to be ambulatory in the reinforcement of good health. Real estate developers advertised the convenience of location and guaranteed a lifestyle liberated of the unhealthy annoyances of city life. These new areas spoke of country marmers for the city folk.

In its infancy, this was an age of environmental awareness.

Curious visitors lined up to view expansive scenes of the vanishing

37

American frontier in the galleries of New York City. The Hudson River School of painting paid tribute to the natural beauty of the disappearing landscape, memorializing territories yet to be negotiated by the white man. On a ;maller scale, local concern also focused on the preservation of the rural terrain. The cry for land conservation went out nationally.

In all, the lure proved successful. The drive along Southeast Avenue from Trhity Square during the 19th century revealed a narrative of growth that included a cast of citizens significant in the history of Poughkeepsie. Continuing in a southeasterly direction, the ride invited one into the 20th century. The farms ahd estates along Hooker Avenue (Southeast Avenue renamed) extended themselves to new and inviting neighborhoods through the efforts of a new generation of real estate investors. These familiar rural areas gave way to the construction of homes in the exciting styles of the day, such as Arts and Crafts, Bungalow, Shingle, Stick, and revivals, such as Tudor and Colonial.

The Common Council of the day approved and named new streets and avenues as expansion warranted. The motivation of the individuals who ventured these stakes tells the stories related to the properties admired today.

AN INTRODUCTION T0 THE EAST SIDE OF HOOKER AVENUE

The turn onto Circular Road appears to be ordinary, while traveling the routes of the day, until one observes the location. What was once a quiet drive now reveals 20th century homes on the right and the green of a city park on the left. Small remnants in their odd placings stir questions about an age gone by. Tall trees define walks and drives. Houses speak of residential lifestyles and personal goals.

Jagged rocks thrusting through the earth boldly stand guard over time, reminding us of a wildemess conquered.

The Jacob-Lasher House is now situated on property that was originally developed nearly 150 years ago. To reorient the reader to the geographical area discussed, the property location is #92 Hooker Avenue, on the eastern corner of Circular Road and Hooker Avenue.

Facing east, Bartlett Park is immediately north between Hanscom Avenue and Circular Road, bordered by Hooker Avenue on the eastern side and the Forbus Hill Apartments on the western side.

The history of this area from Hanscom Avenue to DeGarmo Place reaches back into the late 18th and early 19th centuries. For the most part, as the Village of Poughkeepsie was nurtured by its citizens, the

38

territory at hand remained wildemess. Some pockets of growth were

:it:bdHisshtrei!t::pmrof::i,=::fsa:¥::::FL:rBan.:c:eT.e=s.ff:i:e::kwe:; for example, referred to as just north of the Bartlett Park lands, may have derived its name from settlements on farmland owned by Lewis DUBois. Mr. DUBois, a French settler, farmed land in this vicinity in 1770 and sections continued to be owned by descendants over the decades. The name Boicetown may be a derivative of DUBois in an attempt by the French immigrant family to denationalize the surname for easier identification in an English-speaking colony.

Between Boicetown and the village center on the east side of Southeast Avenue lay a dormant tract of land. The region remained an untamed area with various owners dividing its possession legally.

Early descriptions disclose a wildemess with potential. It was a combination of lowlands and hills and thick brush enmeshed with assorted trees, including a variety of flowering specimens. The textured terrain included peculiar embankments and obtrusive rock formations in the ground.

By the mid 19th century, as envirormental concerns surfaced and real estate adventures erupted on rieighboring farms and lands, the present Bartlett Park area stood undeveloped. By 1857, a gentleman of Poughkeepsie, with serious concerns in landscape cultivation and a need for property, began to buy the individual lots that comprised the tract. With excellent proximity to the city center and in a healthful environment of natural beauty, Mr. John P.H. Tallman secured all the titles to the land ``and soon thereafter began to reclaim them, bringing out their latent qualities and adhering to nature in their development, until they become unrivalled. "1 John TalJman was an organizer of the City Bank in Poughkeepsie in 1860 and was a member of the Board of Directors of the First Street Railroad in 1869. A prominent member of Poughkeepsie society, Mr. Tallman was considered a horticulturalist and through his abilities and skills nurtured this rustic scene into a refined estate. IIis endeavors included his home built in 1860 and several out-buildings. in James H. Smith's Hz.sfony o/ D#fc7zess Co#7tfty an illustrated narrative of Tallman's

place reads, ``The grounds abound(ed) in fruit and ornamental trees, having thirteen varieties of evergreen trees.''2 Mr. Tallman named his estate ``Cedar Hill" after the large cedar trees present near the location of the gate to the property. He continued to reside there until 1869, when he sold Cedar Hill to Mr. Robert M. Taggart.

Originally a resident of Paterson, New Jersey, Robert M. Taggert was also the grandson of Charles Dan forth, founder of Dan forth

39

Locomotive & Machine Co. of that city. Mr. Taggart began his quest for the perfect country home ``which would combine health and all that makes a home desirable."3 Consequently, in 1869, Mr. Taggart procured 10 of the 14 acres of Cedar Hill from John Tal]man, including all structures there upon. It appears Mr. Taggar,t continued to maintain the natural beauty instituted and nurtured by Tal]man. He encouraged the estate gardens and upheld the architecture of the landscape, continuing to address the maintenance of the drives, walks, lawns and flower-beds. Early sketches show hills and dales framed by rock formations and delicate trees. Classical urns are shown overflowing with arrangements and statue sculpture dots the drive. The spreading lawns gave way to mountain scenery and city views.

The clapb`oard house, erected by John Tallman, stood on top of a hill located in the southeast area of the estate. The house still stands in an altered state. The style evoked the popular tastes of the day.

Modern architects of the time were designing a ``cottage" home for urban living. Seeking simplicity and the advantages of rural life, this style promised healthy living, incorporating nature's presence and positive influence with the most modem conveniences. The original Cedar Hill home of John Tallman was presented with a front protruding gable with decorative trim on the eaves. There were simple columns and a porch with a square tower on the north end. Dormer windows extended from all four sides of the tower and vertical band siding reached down from the base of the tower roof.

The hill on which the house was constructed dropped off severely in the rear. As Circular Road winds west, the original stable still stands in excellent condition. It was erected in 1881 by Mr. Taggart.

This building was considered to be state of the art compared to similar structures in the county. It boasted city water hook-up and gas lighting.

As the 19th century progressed, ML & Ms. E. White purchased the property and added north and south wings. They named their establishment Brooks Seminary when they opened their private school adding to Poughkeepsie's national reputation as a center for education.

Eventually Mr. & Ms. White decided to close their school and sold the property and the buildings to Dr. Charles Barlow, a dentist, with an office on Liberty Street in Poughkeepsie. Dr. Barlow held no interest in education so he transformed the huge building info a hotel. He named the establishment ``The Windsor" and it was known for ``catering to less conventional guests than the hostelries further downtown.''4 Apparently the original cottage-style home remained in the ownership of the Taggarts. According to deeds in the Department of

40

Records in Dutchess County, "On June 6th, 1894, Robert and Jennie Taggart sold their Cedar Hill estate in the City of Poughkeepsie to Mr. Smith L. DeGarmo for $25,000. (These) lands were bordered by Dr. Charles Barlow and by lands `formerly owned' by Langdon Hoag, John MCNeil, Dr. Samuel Tuthill and Homer A. Nelson.''5 The real estate transaction between Mr. DeGarmo and Mr. Taggart initiated a new chapter in the history of the Bartlett Park lands.

Mr. Smith Lawrence DeGarmo was born on October 10, 1842, on the DeGarmo family farm in Highland of Ulster County, New York.

He was the son of David and Phoebe Lawrence DeGarmo. David was originally a tanner who moved young Smith and the rest of the DeGarmo family across the Hudson to Hibemia in Dutchess County.

In 1866, the DeGarmo family once again moved, this time to Salt Point in Dutchess County. Smith's early education was in common schools as well as New Paltz Academy and later private schools.

Apparently ready to accept the responsibility of position, Smith DeGarmo moved to Poughkeepsie in 1868, acquiring employment as a clerk in a furniture goods store. h 1869, DeGarmo went to work for William Bross. In his capacity as clerk, he became very proficient in the handling and sales of dry goods.

His abhities and performance were recognized the following year, 1870, by the Messrs. Luckey and Platt, proprietors of their own dry goods establishment. During this time he became employed by Luckey and Plait and went on to generate business for the two men.

Smith DeGarmo's genuine, entrepreneurial skills were recognized early in his tenure when the owners promoted him quickly. They ascertained, ``we have been paying Mr. DeGarmo probably the largest salary received by any clerk on the street and we are satisfied that he fully earns it by the new business alone which he brings us.''6 0n February 1, 1872, Smith L. DeGarmo became a partner in Luckey Platt & Co.

in 1875, David DeGarmo, father to Smith passed away at his home in Salt Point. Following his father's death, Smith built for his widowed mother, Phoebe Lawrence DeGarmo, a lovely home in Millbrook. She lived the rest of her hie there until her death in 1894.

The house still stands today.

By 1894, when Smith DeGarmo bought Cedar Hill, he was Hving with his wife, Beatrice, in the residential hotel, Morgan House, on the comer of Academy and Catherine Streets. Mr. DeGarmo continued to demonstrate prowess in business matters as he increased his own portfolio with successful real estate transactions. Shortly after he

41

closed on Cedar Hill, Mr. DeGarmo's real estate shares expanded with his new interests on the west side of Hooker Avenue.

AN INTRODUCTION T0 THE WEST SIDE OF HOOKER AVENUE This tract of land, once a rural region of the Town of Poughkeepsie, generates another chapter in the expansion and history of the City of Poughkeepsie, with a new cast of characters from the past.

Nearly every settlement during early colonial America possessed small churches of varied denominations. Family histories of their communicants can still be traced through birth, marriage and death records. These, especially, are validated by the presence of a graveyard almost always on the property of the church. Edmund Platt writes in his Hz.sfory a/ Po#gfekeepsz.e, ``Before 1850 the village of

Poughkeepsie had begun to surround most of the little denominational graveyards in the village.''7 During the earlier part of the 19th century there is some evidence that a village community cemetery was discussed and perhaps even planned. Platt further speculates that these plans may have been a result of the cholera epidemic of 1842 when discussions for a singular, rural cemetery could have been initiated. James Bowne and Egbert Killey were appointed, at a village meeting, to select a committee. The purpose of the committee was to investigate land possibilities for a rural cemetery for Poughkeepsie since village population growth and death demanded its attention. It was suggested to Mr. Matthew Vassar that he participate financially in the produce of st±ch property. An association for the cemetery was formed on December 30, 1852, after Mr. Vassar invested in fifty acres. of land on the east side of Eden IIill for approximately $8,000.00. The

extent of this land began at the border of the present Hooker Avenue and rolled west over Whitehouse Avenue, Barnard Avenue, South Hamilton Street and down toward South Avenue, adjoining what is now the present ``Springside" property.

The committee included Mr. John P.H. Tallman (original proprietor of ``Cedar IIill"), William W. Reynolds, W.C. Sterling, and George Van Kleeck. They rejected the tract purchased by Mr. Vassar. Certainly, this was the age of the ``landscape architect" such as Calvert Vaux.

Landowners turned their focus inward to the cultivation of their gardens and grounds. So, in his wisdom, Matthew Vassar chose one of the most prominent men in this field to develop plans for his new home, Andrew Jackson Downing. `Springside' became a recognizable standard in the conduct of estate-plarming.

42

The location of the cemetery was moved to the property of Judge Smith Thompson, who had been buried in the Livingston fanuly plot in 1843. This land was located directly west of Springside on the current Rural Cemetery property. Meanwhile, Matthew Vassar constructed a cottage and other out-buildings. He used the cottage as a residence for several summers. The future of the Vassar acreage did not continue as the original estate. A deed in the Department of Records for Dutchess County reveals that on ``May lst, 1869, executors of Matthew Vassar's estate sold a large portion of those lands called Springside and owned by him in his life, for $45,000.00 to Mr. John 0. Whitehouse."8 It lay partially in the city of Poughkeepsie and partially in the town of Poughkeepsie, extending from borders that reached from the present Hooker Avenue to Academy Street.

Historically, these lands and surrounding others became known as the Whitehouse Farm.

John 0. Whitehouse was born on July 19, 1817, in New Hampshire.

He was the son and grandson of William Whitehouse. John Whitehouse was the second oldest son of thirteen children. He moved to New York State at the age of seventeen when he found a position as a clerk in Brooklyn, then a rural suburb of New York City. About 1837, John took a similar position in New York City. He went on to build his fortune at age twenty-two when he opened his first shoe factory in Brooklyn. One year later, he married Miss Fannie Smith.

Mr. Whitehouse's endeavors in shoe manufacturing proved to be extremely lucrative as he continued to open and maintain factories in Delaware, Massachusetts and New York. Enticed by their brother's success, four more Whitehouse brothers made their way to New York to join in the shoe business and were as successful. By 1860, John 0.

Whitehouse had tasted both the sweet and sour of ]jfe. While amassing a large fortune in the world of Brooklyn commerce, privately, John and Fannie Whitehouse buried a son and a daughter. Attracted by the beauty and healthfulness of rural Poughkeepsie, Whitehouse moved his family upstate. James H. Smith recounts this transition in his Hz.sfony o/D#£c7zess Coc{77fty, ``Soon, after removing to Poughkeepsie,

and in 1863, Mr. Whitehouse purchased one of the most attractive residences with ample grounds, near the city, and soon after added to it the adjoining beautiful estate of Mr. Matthew Vassar, senior, knoun as `Springside.'''9 John Whitehouse's removal to Poughkeepsie was not motivated by retirement. A bright, active and industrious gentleman, Whitehouse constructed in the city what was then known as the largest factory. His shoe business employed several hundred people

43

and he mastered its accomplishments until his death. Even in the face of adversity, Whitehouse prospered. When his factory was hit by lightning in July of 1879, he rebuilt it on an even larger scale and continued to operate this location along with others in New York City and elsewhere.

The inevitable had come to pass for Whitehouse. Upstanding, civic-minded gentlemen of education and good business-sense were often pursued to campaign for public office by their comrades of the community. So, ``In 1872, Mr.Whitehouse was prevailed upon to run for Congress on the Liberal-Democratic ticket, and he was elected by a handsome majority."10 His district included Dutchess, Columbia and Putnam Counties and he was re-elected in 1874 again on the Horace Greeley ticket which originally won him public office.

During the Civil War, he maintained complete support of the Union.

His civic interest spurred him to adopt a private policy of investment for the betterment of his city. Estimates are that Mr. Whitehouse spent nearly $800,000 in enterprise including the Poughkeepsie & Eastern Raiiroad, the City Railroad, the Plough Manufactory, the Iron Works, the Driving Park, the Fa]lkill Bank, the Poughkeepsie Bridge and the Pougivkeepsie Dally News.

At home, John and Fannie Whitehouse kept an estate farm which allowed them the peace and reflected the prosperity of a successful life. Located across South East Avenue from the Tallman/Taggart estate, ``Cedar Hill," Whitehouse Farm was regarded as one of the beautiful real estate holdings of its day. With a drive off South East Avenue, the estate rolled west from the gatehouse. Whitehouse's original real estate included the George Wilkinson farm and buildings, known before the Civil War as the Benjamin North place.

After securing part of Springside from Matthew Vassar's estate, the Whitehouse Farm was developed to ensure healthful, rural fiving. The homestead included a pond, grapery, carriage buildings, barns, stables and other out-buildings. The home of John and Farmie Whitehouse was by all accounts described as an attractive edifice which commanded mountain views from its elevation. Today, amongst the hills and knolls of what was the farm and surrounded by homes, it is difficult to place the extent of the estate and imagine its pastoral charm.

In August of 1881, John 0. Whitehouse died at age 64. He left behind his wife and one daughter, Josephine. Of his four sons and two daughters, five pre-deceased him. Josephine married Eugene N. Howell and moved to Philadelphia. A last will and testament filed in County Surrogate Court describes an estate value of nearly $4,000,000 to be inherited by his wife and daughter.

44

Eugene and Josephine Howell began the business of real estate expansion upon the inheritance of Whitehouse Farm. Over the next few years, Howell sectioned the land and added city streets, sculpting new neighborhoods into the growing city. Originally between South Hamilton Street and Hooker Avenue, this former private property now expanded. Tracing a westerly direction beyond Hooker Avenue, with Osbome on the south side and the current Dwight on the north side, Whitehouse Avenue was engineered, as well as was Bamard Avenue, then known as Howell Avenue. Crescent Road and Loockerman Avenue, in their novel half-circle fashion, became incorporated. At approximately the same time, Adriance Avenue opened and intersected Whitehouse and Howell traveling west. Originally called Springside Road, Adriance began as a private drive that led to Matthew Vassar 's summer home.

Much of this progress began in 1894 and owes its success to Smith L. DeGarmo. It was in this year that his father, David DeGarmo, passed away. Apparently Smith nurtured an inheritance into a vast real estate fortune on both sides of Hooker Avenue.

From his home on Cedar Hill on the east side of Hooker Avenue, Smith L. DeGarmo observed his investments at work. He called his enterprise ``DeGarmo Knolls," and over the years, sold lots to an interesting list of citizens prominent in Poughkeepsie history. The roll call included Atwater, Lown, Luckey, Lumb, Wilbur, Reyn61ds, Schwartz, Radcliffe, Adriance, Harding, Platt, Elting, Morgan, Tobey and the City of Poughkeepsie for the ``right of way". Two of these notables escort us into the next chapters of house history - Frederick North Morgan and Earle Deyo Tobey but certainly not without the real estate of Mr. Henry Lathrop Young.

THE BARD-MORGAN HOUSE, #3 DW.IGIIT STREET

Directly north of the Whitehouse Farm and almost opposite the intersection of Forbus Street and Hooker Avenue on the west side, began the perimeters of the lovely "Cedarwood" home of Henry Lathrop and Mary Dwight Young. Born in Brooklyn on August 28, 1818, he was the son of Henry L. and Mary L. (Hyde) Young. Henry's birthright committed his future to strong principles as ``His family was of English extraction and Quakers in religious belief."11 While the family's business was in hardware, there is some evidence of the Young's involvement with Tiffany of New York and he may have been a partner at some point. Until age 26, Henry was employed by his father as a clerk and the following year at his father's suggestion

45

he removed to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Henry Young, the elder, held land rights in Avon Springs and sent his son to oversee operations.

By the mid 1840's, Henry met and married Miss Mary E. Dwight of Utica, whose father founded the First Bank of Western New York.

As they began to have children, an important decision affecting their future took place. No longer enthralled with the mountain farm life they had endured, Henry and Mary resolved that in the best interest of their children, a more metropolitan atmosphere would be better suited for the family. So, in 1853, with land purchased for them by Henry, the elder, the Youngs moved downstate to Poughkeepsie.

Their lands, known as "Cedarwood," were gracious and serene, and their home, of Colonial style, stood testament to a family and its gifts to Poughkeepsie until it burned down in 1958. ``Cedarwood" was located at 98 South Hamilton Street in the city. ``It stood upon an elevation commanding a beautiful view. It was surrounded by spacious grounds. Mr Young delighted in flowers and shrubbery, and his grounds were a delight to lovers of either.''12 The manicured cedar hedge which topped the stone wall has grown to trees.

Rermants of the wall remain, flirting with glimpses of the Young's 19th century gentry lifestyle.

While the setting calls the actors to a performance free from the colnlnitments of ordinary players, Henry L. Young determined early in his residency in Poughkeepsie to become involved in the welfare and development of the community. He is described in his obituary as a gentleman of ``modest" but ``sterling integrity." Sterling, indeed, Young's reputation and position were deliberately polished to salute such a fine 19th century city gentleman. It further read, ``In his habits, Mr. Young was a wholesome example of simplicity. Although credited with being a wealthy man, he was unostentatious, plain in his apparel, reserved in his manner, but underneath that reserve were warm sympathies which never resisted deserving appeal."13 Despite investments outside of Poughkeepsie, Young's main focus of philanthropy was this city. Young, while born Quaker, assumed the beliefs of Presbyterian faith and later became an elder of the First Reformed Church. He was also generous with the Rescue Mission, Y.W.C.A, Y.M.C.A., Va'ssar College, and Home for the Friendless. His

business ventures included the Savings Bank and Farmers and Manufacturers Bank. `, In 1894, while Smith L. DeGarmo was engaged in the transactions

to buy land owned by Mr. Eugene N. Howell, he also attained rights to ``Cedarwood." Directly opposite Hanscom Avenue on the west side of Hooker Avenue, just north of the Whitehouse Farm gate-

46

house, was incorporated Dwight Street, (named for Mrs. Mary Dwight Young). Mr. Young continued to reside at 98 South Hamflton Street, offering his land east toward Hooker Avenue for sale.

Henry L. Young died on Saturday, April 7, 1900, at 7:30 A.M. from pneumonia in his home. ML Young was survived by his wife and four of his five children, including William Young, who married Miss Dolly Innis of Poughkeepsie and eventually bought Locust Grove on the present Route 9 from Mr. Samuel F.B. Morse. It was Mr. Henry Young's granddaughter, Mss Amette Young, who endowed her family's estate as a historic site.

By 1896, Smith L. DeGarmo had sold a lot on the new Dwight

Street to a gentleman of the city of Poughkeepsie by the name of Mr. Frederick North Morgan. Frederick Morgan was the son of Walter S. Morgan who died unexpectedly in 1880. While descending the stairs in his father's residence in the Morgan block, he fell head-first and died instantly of a broken neck. Walter was the son of Caleb Morgan, a townsman of the village. Frederick Morgan became associated with the First National Bank of Poughkeepsie. In 1896 he built his ShingleStyle home, and in 1910, records show DeGarmo sold Morgan an additional lot.

A three-story home with ionic columns supporting mantels withi.n, it represents one of the multiple styles exhibited on this street. Innovative for its time, Dwight Street is an exciting blend of architectural types. As one observes the assortment of homes along the gentle bend of the road, one is reminded of Tudor Revival, Spanish Revival, and Colonial Revival, as well as Colonial.

Resplendent styles, these homes were dignified by the craft of leading professionals of the day. `The advising architect, (was) Horace Trumbauer, known for planning Philadelphia's picturesque turn-ofthe century neighborhoods with their tree-lined winding roads. At least two local architects, Percival M. Lloyd and DUBois Carpenter are represented by houses in this district.'14 Three Dwight Street features an exterior of shake shingles in sawtooth design with omamental diamond patterns. The smaller paned windows reflect the Colonial period, as the home does not entirely depart from the Romantic Revival period. The foundation is constructed with mortar joints. A wonderful oriel bay window supports the staircase. The blind panel on the west side in the nriddle of the chimney speaks of Tudor touches.

CEDAR HILL AND THE PUTNAM HALL SCHOOL

It is unclear at what point in time Smith DeGarmo detached his ``Cedar Hill" property by boundary from the existing Bartlett Park.

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Bartlett Park has an eventful, yet confusing history. The topographical evidence today does little to validate the past. This remains true because of the engineering feats accomplished during the tract's transformation into a city park. Gone are the drives of "Cedar Hill" and Putham Hall. Gone are the huge building which served as Brooks Seminary, the Windsor Hotel and finally Putnam Hall. Gone is the original location of Hanscom Avenue and the turns of Circular Road.

What takes us back in time, however, are the wonderful jagged rocks described in Robert Taggart's ``Cedar Hill," and the existing trees which in their positions define a phantom drive. The carriage house is in excellent condition and Smith DeGarmo's home stands atop a hill once guarded by stately cedars. Stripped of its Downingesque charm, its ghostly profile against the city's sky beckons us back to an age of gentlemen conducting matters of business in the dining rooms of the Morgan House and the Amrita Club.

Soon after, Dr. Charles Barlow, then proprietor of the Windsor Hotel, leased his building to Vassar College. Putnam Hall was founded in 1901 by Miss Ellen Bartlett and Miss Frances Welbasky. The school was eventually moved to the Windsor Hotel after arrangements for finance were finalized by Miss Welbasky's cousin, William Putnam Page. ML Page, an attorney in Boston, assisted the two women in financial support, and in return, they expressed their gratitude with his name affixed to the new institution.

Putham Hall began as a small school which catered to the preparatory education of young ladies seeking to fulfill their requirements for admission into Vassar College. For a few years, Putnam Hall barely survived with 100 students and remained solvent only through a rental agreement with Vassar College for resident students.

For several years, Vassar collegians roomed at Putnam Hall, rising each morning to board the ``barge" which transported them up Hooker Avenue and into Bull's Head for their daily classes at the col1ege. Students were advised to return to Putnam by 7:00 P.M. and acknowledged that the transport of any young lady after that time would require a chaperone to help her find her way through the ``wildemess" of the Town of Poughkeepsie.

Miss Bartlett's Putnam Hall remained a conspicuous part of the Poughkeepsie community and maintained an outstanding reputation in the field of education. Students were almost always guaranteed admission into the northeast's finest colleges after a tenure with Miss Bartlett. At its finest hour, Putnam Hall's emollment totaled over 300 students. However, the escalating costs of private education that featuned the luxury of boarding caused enrollment to decline. Because of

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the expense and the new preference for public education, Puthini Hall could no longer compete for students. In the Fall of 1934, Putnam Ham closed its doors. The building remained unoccupied until 1938 when an auction was held there offering all of its contents including books, beds, kitchen appfiances and even cutains. h 1940, with all of its taxes paid, Putnam Hall was razed. htentions were to sell lots for cottagestyle homes, but the plans never materialized.

Shortly thereafter, through the efforts of her attorney, Miss Ellen Bartlett offered the City of Poughkeepsie Planning comlnission her Putham Hall land as a city park.

THE LICHTENBERG-TOBEY HOUSE, #16 BARNARD AVENUE

Smith L. DeGarmo continued to affect the course of this house's history even after his real estate transactions with the Bartlett Park area. On May 18, 1912, according to a deed filed in the Department of Records of Dutchess County, Smith L. DeGarmo sold a parcel of land on the existing Bamard Avenue to Mr. Earle Deyo Tobey.

Earle Deyo Tobey was born on December 22, 1883, in the City of Poughkeepsie to Arthur G. and Flora Deyo Tobey. Mrs. Tobey was descended from a long line of Deyos, from Ulster County, noted in the Hudson Valley for their role in the Revolutionary War. The patemal side of the Tobey family became famous for their literary abilities. According to the Hz.sfony o/ ffec H#dso7£ V¢Zzcy, ``Earle's

grandfather, Henry L. Tobey, was a newspaperman and a contemporary of Horace Greeley and was credited with writing many of Greeley's political speeches. ''15

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Earle D. Tobey's father, Arthur G., was also an important joumaHst. Highly respected in his field and an upstanding citizen of the Poughkeepsie community, Arthur G. Tobey joined the Sc£7tcz¢y Co#7'z.cr newspaper in this

city in 1873 just one month after it was founded. h 1888, ML Tobey purchased the Scz7tdey Co#rz.cr. A chronicle of journalistic integrity under the leadership of Mr. Tobey, the Cot{7`z.er continued unbroken publication for 60 years.

Arthur and Flora Tobey raised Earle and his sister, Florence, in their Queen Arme home at 52 Hooker Avenue, now called ``Har]in House".

Florence Tobey eventually married Mr. Thomas W. Murphy. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy made their home at Murphy Farm on Hooker Avenue opposite the Ruppert Driving Range a?ark) which is now occupied by the neighborhoods extending from Vassar Farm to South Grand

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Avenue. Their home, which still stands, was erected here because of Mr. Murphy's interest and holdings in fine race horses.

Earle Deyo Tobey attended Riverview Military Academy of Poughkeepsie and later Princeton University. After earning his degree, Earle Tobey entered the field of advertising and also dabbled in building construction. However, because he was born into the third generation of newspaper publishing, Earle assumed duties for his father as editor of the S#7td¢y Co2z7'z.€r. In 1908 shortly after Earle

joined management at the Co#rz.e7', Arthur G. Tobey relinquished all duties to his son.

On June 6, 1911, Earle Deyo Tobey married Miss Florence Dudley.

Six months later, Arthur G. Tobey died of apoplexy at his home on December 7, after only four days of illness. As stated previously, less than six months later the lot at #16 Barnard Avenue was bartered between Mr. Tobey and Mr. DeGarmo.

DeGarmo Knolls and the expansion of Dwight Street created a canvas of architectural configurations crafted by the inclinations of both designer and owner. The result was an exciting palette of homes reflecting trends and aesthetic sensibhities. #16 Barnard Avenue is an excellent example of Arts and Crafts architecture. The style is expressive of the variables which represented trends in early 20th century lifestyles and influences. The heavy eaves, with huge, brackets supporting remind us of roof-lines characteristic of Oriental building styles. This preference for a foreign-look in the home decorative arts was an outgrowth of the enthusiastic appreciation of the exotic. Transportation and communication put Americans in better touch with unfamiliar areas of the world.

Incorporating the exotic into one's home, interior or exterior, displayed sophistication and ability to recognize and live comfort-ably with the latest intemational styles.

Mr. and Mrs. Tobey's home is a well-integrated structure that challenges the eyes from all sides. The plain is a varied one offering many textures. The lines of the house are multi-leveled and as one circles the building, the innovative placement of the structure stimulates interest. Not only is the house placed on top of a hill, but, the rear side adjusts to the severe slope with the ingenious arrangement of an open-air porch rising up over the garage. A handsome semi-circle wall supports the surrounding landscape of the carvedaway hill.

The house also features twelve-over-one windows and a colohialstyle stoop. This use of familiar architectural aspects is reinteapreted

in the curved steps and rounded bucket seats. The unusual use of vertical strap ornamentation on the columns appeals to the attempt to ``hold" together a myriad of influences.

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Earle and Florence Tobey and their three children Marion, Jean and Arthur, were communicants of the Presbyterian Church Mr Tobey belonged to the Amrita Club, Y.M.C.A., Rotary Club and the jinerican Newspapers Association. Mr. Tobey died in suddenly mid-November 1935, at age 51. Among the figures in Poughkeepsie history to eulogize Mr. Tobey in the Pongfekeapsz.c S#7zd¢y Cozzrz.er were Dr. I. Wilson

Poucher, Isaac Platt, Joseph Perlmutter, VVIuam DeGarmo Smith, John 8. Grubb, Frederick N. Morgan, Judge Charles J. Corbally, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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WILLIAM DEGARM0 SMITH AND THE JACOB-LASHER HOUSE, ffl2 HOOKER AVENUE On April 29, 1915, Smith L. DeGarmo passed away. After suffering a stroke five months earlier, Mr. DeGarmo rallied often, but was stricken again for the last time a few days before he died. Present at his bedside were his wife, Beatrice, and his nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. William DeGarmo Smith. His wake in his home had extended hours because of the lack of room. Mr. & Mrs. Smith L. DeGarmo had no children, so upon his death, it appears that Mrs. DeGarmo and W.D. Smith inherited most of Smith's estate.

William DeGarmo Smith was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Edgar Smith of Millbrook. Mrs. W.E. Smith was a sister to Smith DeGarmo. W.D., as he was known to all, was born in Salt Point on May 28, 1875, and received his education in Millbrook. His father's branch of the family operated a general store in Millbrook where W.D. was employed. h 1901, W.D. joined Luckey, Platt & Co. Eleven years after entering the employ of the store, he became secretary and treasurer and two years later, in 1914, became its vice-president. The following year he became president and general manager. In 1949, W.D. was elected chairman of the board.

Prior to Smith L. DeGarmo's death, W.D. Smith acquired property from him on the west side of Hooker Avenue which was part of DeGarmo Knolls. He built his elegant home, still standing, at 83 Hooker Avenue.

On May 22, 1943, Mr. Smith's first wife, Lyra Foote Matteson Smith died at her home of cancer at age 67. Lyra and William DeGarmo Smith had four sous. Silas died at 7 weeks old; the cause of death was Hsted as indigestion. Three more sous survived: William .'

Matteson, David DeGarmo and Lawrence Steere.

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Lichtenb erg-Tob ey House

Photograph by Annon Adalns

Mountz-Sickley-Lawrence House

Photograph by Armon Adanrs

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In 1951, William DeGarmo Smith was honored at a surprise party at Christ Church. He was celebrating his 50th anniversary with Luckey, Platt & Co. and his associates presented him with a sterling bowl in recognition of his service. Mr. Smith was active in city planning and zoning. He was also vestryman, clerk and warden of Christ Episcopal Church. Mr. Smith was also involved in the Chamber of Commerce, Amrita Club and the Triune Lodge.

After the death of his wife, Lyra, W D. married Maude Wi]liamson.

W.D. Smith died on September 24, 1958. All three of Mr. Smith's sons were also employed by Luckey, Platt & Co. Upon Smith L. DeGarmo's death, W.D. Smith inherited vast holdings from him. Deed records

show a new agenda of land transactions converting from Smith DeGarmo's name to William DeGarmo Smith. Inaugurated by Mr. DeGarmo, land development on both sides of Hooker Avenue remained in the family as Mr. Smith continued the trend.

After his uncle's death, W.D. began to dismantle DeGarmo land holdings in favor of smaller lot sales which produced comfortable profits hisThis increasing portfolio. the offering was ``Cedarfor Hill." once elegant estateIncluded also fell in victim to new-wave neighborhood expansion. The Cedar Hill dissection plotted land segments offering building opportunities with front facades either on Hooker Avenue or facing the Putham Hall property on Circular Road.

On September 19, 1923, William and Lyra Smith sold the comer lot on the south side of Circular Road to Mr. and Mrs. Irving Lasher.

That year Mr. & Mrs. Lasher constructed a lovely five-bay Colonial Revival home. Still sporting its original shutters, the Jacob-Lasher house at 92 Hooker Avenue has a sleeping porch on the south side.

This addition to a typical Colonial reflected the health concerns of these earlier decades to gather fresh air on a daily basis for reinforcement. Accessories such as this rendnd us of the assemblage process that took place when owners selected styles for their homes. The purist ideal in architecture gave way to an aesthetic appreciation of many styles and the challenge of using them together to create new living spaces. The railings above both porches are Chippendale in style, graced by finials in a classical urn shape. One is reminded of the classical sculpture and flower pots featured in early sketches of ``Cedar ELl1" across the road.

On the north side, the closed-in porch is guarded on the comers by columns in groups of three. Molding around the house is accented by modillions. The driveway is laid brick, and beyond the garage is the sunken garden on the east side of the property.

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Irving G. Lasher Was born on November 20, 1878, in Saratoga County. Mr. Lasher grew up on the family farm and was educated at local schools and Albany Business College. He was frst employed by General Electric Co. and then by the Schenectady Contracting Co. His interest with construction continued when he became assistant master mechanic with Raymond Concrete Pile Company of New York.

Arriving in Poughkeepsie in 1919, he became associated with Lloyd E. Spoor who arrived in Poughkeepsie in 1912 and had his own contracting concern. Together these gentlemen formed their own branch of Schenectady Contracting Co. before becoining SpoorLasher Company, Inc. Mr. Lasher was a member of the Amrita Club, the Masonic order, and the Dutchess Golf and Country Club.

Irving G. Lasher died in March 1931 at age 52. Mr. Lasher had been on vacation in Florida when he became ill with influenza. After his return to Poughkeepsie, he contracted sleeping sickness and died.

Mr. Lasher was survived by his wife, May, and daughter Barbara, a student at Putham Ham. Mrs. Lasher continued to live at their home until selling to the Sedgewick family of the elevator business.

THE JONES-SAGUE HOUSE, #42 BARNARD AVENUE

As the twenties roared into Poughkeepsie, real estate fever rolled up and down the hills and dales of DeGarmo REolls on the west side of Hooker Avenue: This history of land ownership in these neighborhoods begins with Matthew Vassar, on to John 0. Whitehouse and Henry L. Young, and into the hands of Smith L. DeGarmo and his nephew William DeGarmo Smith. As DeGarmo Knolls was developed, sections, as well as individual lots, were bought by individuals for private investment.

By the early 1920's, a successful engineer and land developer secured a large tract of DeGarmo Knolls. His name was Ross Hasbrouck and he called his company Whitehouse Knolls.

Ross Hasbrouck was a member of the old and honored family of Ulster County. Descended from Jean Hasbrouck who migrated here in 1673 from northeastern France, Ross was a son of Frank Hasbrouck, a lawyer. Frank's family was directly descended from the elder brother of Jean Abraham. Frank and Esther Jackman Hasbrouck had four children, including Ross.

Ross attended Riverview Military Academy in Poughkeepsie and Massachusetts hstitute of Technology. Trained as an engineer, Mr. Hasbrouck worked for radroad companies and was enticed to act as

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engineer for the Pennsylvania Terminal Yards of New York. During the World War I he held the rank of captain as engineer.

After his tenure of surveying bridges in New Jersey, Ross returned to Poughkeepsie where he purchased twenty-three acres of the former Whitehouse Farm. Mr. Hasbrouck began building on speculation and immediately created for himself an unequaled reputation in land development. Hasbrouck's motivation is best summarized in his biography in Hz.sfony o/ flee H#dso7€ V¢Zzey: ``He did a mar-

velous job of land-scaping, utilizing natural features of the land, which he embellished, and also created streets to provide artistic contour with the land-scape. Many fine homes have been created, among them being the Herman Schatz residence, the John Satorius home, and those of Theodore Van Kleeck Swift, Baltus Van Kleeck and Franklin Poucher.''16 Concerned for the preservation of local heritage, Mr. Hasbrouck was a member of the Holland Society, the Dutchess County Historical Society and the Sons of the American Revolution.

By 1928, the Jones-Sague House at #42 Bamard Avenue had been erected, and the city of Poughkeepsie directories validate occupancy

by David and Constance Dutton, he being a salesman for Dutton Lumber Colp. However, deed records reveal a change in ownership from Ross Hasbrouck to Milton and Elizabeth Wend. It appears Ross Hasbrouck built #42 Bamard Avenue on speculation and it did not sell well. The new owners, ML & Mrs. Wend, transferred this land to their daughter, Katherine. From 1928 to 1930, Mr. & Mrs Dutton rented this new house apparently from Mss Wend. Over the years, small lot sales, part of the present property were accessioned to complete the estate.

By late spring of 1930, Katherine Wend sold the house and property at #42 Barnard Avenue to Professor Mary Landon Sague and her close friend, Olive M. Lammert.

Mary Landon Sague was the primary owner of #42 Bamard Avenue with residency for thirty-nine years. Professor Sague was a dedicated teacher and a tireless community worker involved with many charitable efforts in Poughkeepsie. Mary was born on September 29, 1885, in Burlington, Vermont, to Sealand Whithey and Helen Weeks Landon.

Her father was an educator and schoolmaster and her mother a descendant of Joseph Weeks, an original settler during the 1790's of Hardwick, Vermont.

Education, a priority in the Landon household, brought Mary Landon to Poughkeepsie when she enrolled for classes at Vassar College in 1903. With only Main and Quad buildings existing for dormitories, Mary was among many Vassar girls who boarded else-

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where, including large family homes and Putnam Hall. Mrs. Sague recalled with affection in an issue of ``the Vassar Tatler," the ride to the college each moming on the `foarge" and how hereafter she was allowed in her room just long enough for tea in the afternoon.

Mary Landon graduated from Vassar in 1907 and joined the faculty in the Chemistry Departlnent in 1908. In 1920, she received her doctoral degree from Columbia University, where she was a Goldschmidt Fellow. Professor Landon, as she was known to earner students, was appointed chair of the Chemistry Department and remained there until her retirement in 1952. On June 18, 1954, the library in the Sanders Laboratory of Chemistry at Vassar was informally dedicated to Professor Sague in the presence of the college's president, Miss Sarah Gibson Blanding, and Dr. Henry Noble Maccracken, president emeritus.

In 1928, Mary Landon married Mr. James Edward Sague, a widower, from the Town of Poughkeepsie. James Sague was born in 1863 to Horace and Harriet Kelsey Sague. He was educated in Poughkeepsie city schools and graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken in 1883. During the fall of 1890, he married Miss Jeanette Kenyon of Brooklyn, New York. Members of the Kenyon Family were then residing in their large Tudor Revival residence in the Town of Poughkeepsie called ``Cliffdale."

In May of 1910, announcements were made of the real estate venture by James E. Sague and Clarence Kenyon of Brooklyn. Together they purchased and divided the 500 acre Boardman estate, south of Vassar College and bordering on New Hackensack Road. Mr. Sague took the section lying south and Mr. Kenyon the north. Mr. Sague immediately began building a bungalow for himself, and Mr. Kenyon engaged the skills and talents of architect Percival M. Lloyd. The Kenyon house was to be a very fine structure of hollow tile construction with stuccoed exterior and tile roof. This country residence was to include barns and stables, a garage and other out-buildings. Both Kenyon House and ``Cliffdale" still stand in the town of Poughkeepsie.

Mr. James E. Sague held various positions with many raiiroad companies and was also the mechanical engineer for the Jamaica Railroad in the West Indies. Later, he became the first vice-president of the Worthington Pump Machine Corporation and assistant chairman of Middle States Oil of New York. Nationally known as a mechanical engineer, he was president and treasurer of Sague Really Company, hc. of Poughkeepsie.

The economic history of Poughkeepsie will most remember Mr. Sague for his engineering achievement of New Market Street.

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Through his efforts, the map of Poughkeepsie in the city's business section changed successfully. He conceived and developed the new district referred to as the "whiteway."

After Jeanette Kenyon Sague passed away, James met and married Professor Mary Landon. They continued residence in Mr. Sague's home ``Cliffdale." Unexpectedly, in May of 1930, Mr. James E. Sague

died at his home, at age 67, from a stroke. He was survived by his wife, Mary Landon, a daughter, Mrs. E. Sterling Carter, his brother, former Mayor John K. Sague, and two sisters, Mrs. Jesse J. Graham and Mrs. Harry S. Bock. Mr. Sague was a member of Christ Episcopal Church, the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and was also a director of the Vassar Bank and the First National Bank.

James and Mary Sague were married for only two short years. After his death, by the end of 1930, Mary Landon Sague and her close friend Olive Lammert bought #42 Barnard Avenue from Katherine Wend.

Deed records show that two years later Ms. Sague was the sole owner tlds property.

Professor Sague remained a vital part of the Poughkeepsie colnlnunity throughout her residence in this city. She was president of the Dutchess Area Community Chest, president of Family Service Associates, tmstee of Vassar Bros. Hospital, a member of the American Association of University Women, and director of Visiting Nurse Service and the Gallaudet Home for Deaf Mutes. She was also very active in Poughkeepsie Family Welfare, handling cases personally.

With fiscal finesse and fine entrepreneurial skills, James E. Sague developed a portfolio of distinction for himself and his business, Sague Really Company, hc. An example of his professional behavior was revealed in the March 29, 1931, issue of the Pongfekeapsz.c S#7zd¢y Co#7'z.c7'. It states, ``the 315 acre estate of James E. Sague was sold to

Dr. Norton Pennock for $50,000. Dr. Pennock's intention was to develop the land for upscale residential purposes.''17 During their marriage, Mary assumed some of the same curming for commerce as her husband. Over the years Mary Landon Sague held officer positions with Sague Really Company, hc., the business of her husband's

faly.

By spring of 1961, the retired chemistry professor became a ``wardrobe mistress." Begiming in June of 1957, Mrs. Sague began

collecting period clothing. The collection ranged from full-hooped dresses from the mid-1860's to flapper specialties of the 1920's. Mrs. Sague's intentions were to loan them to Vassar College for use in their centennial celebrations of 1961. In later years, they were used as costumes in the Drama department's productions.

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From the simplest dimity skirt to elegant Worth gowns, Mrs. Sague's treasure of textiles originated during her 50th reunion at Vassar. A classmate suggested Mary take outfits removed from her aunt's attic for the upcoming centennial. The college was delighted at the idea but could not provide space for storage. So, Mrs. Sague stored them at her home. Accounts tell of the day a truck backed up to her door with huge packages containing the trousseau of Miss Helen Kenyon's mother. Eventually she amassed over 75 costumes. The centennial celebrations and programs record Vassar students attired in these delightful outfits, portraying famous figures in Poughkeepsie and Vassar's history, such as Miss Hannah Lyman, Mrs. Catherine (Matthew) Vassar and hAlss Lydia Booth.

Professor Mary Landon Sague died on March 12, 1971, in Springfield, Vermont.

Built on speculation by Ross Hasbrouck, #42 Bamard Avenue was

a modern concept in architecture, but remained, for most of its existence, in the hands of a woman with old-fashioned values. One does wonder if Mr. Hasbrouck met with difficulty in marketing his investment because of its unusual style. Perched on top of a knoll once possessed by Poughkeepsie's famous Vassar, Whitehouse and DeGarmo, it stood out then, as it does now, as a dramatic appeal to new sensibilities and encouraged potential home owners to flirt with modem life.

This was the end of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Poughkeepsie's first adventure with this unusual style of timber accents was displayed in #37 Adriance Avenue in a Gustav Stickley house. The Jones-Sague house is a French-influenced Arts and Crafts style, mirroring the changes and preferences of the European trendsetters of the day. The walls are solid, poured concrete eleven inches thick. Interior sills are scored and stained. The solid oak doors have hand-forged hardware and the drapery hardware is fashioned to resemble spears. The exterior is stucco, and one can feel the craftsman's hands at work in the rounded sills supporting the windows.

With a transom overhead, the windows are steel-framed casement folding outward.

A 1938 addition was built by Mary Landon Sague, and the mantel in the upstairs sitting room with colonial influences is a real departure from the original theme.

Mary Landon Sague had a special place in her heart for her gardens and maintained a gardener to keep the estate in bloom. The present owners tell us they are always uncovering bits of pottery in the soil, a signature method of drainage by Mrs. Sague's gardener. On May 4, 1938, an article in the Pongfekecz7sz.e S£¢r-£77£c7prz.sc featured the

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Poughkeepsie Garden Club's annual review caravan visiting city homes known for their landscape architecture. Mrs: Sague's home appeared on the tour that year....

THE MoUNTz-SICKLEy-LAI^rRENCE HousE #37 GARFIELD PLACE

The last house featured in the Silver Ribbon IIistoric House Tour History does not, indeed, hold that status except for the chronology of this article. With its handsome appearance and distinguished past, #37 Garfield Place holds an honored seat in Poughkeepsie's history.

Located in a historic district, #37 Garfield Place is member of the National Register of Historic Places in New York State.

In 1799, when the village of Poughkeepsie was officially incorporated, the only house shown in.the current Garfield Place area was one belonging to the family of Lawrence Van Kleeck. Platt's Hz.sfony a/ Poc{gJzkecpsz.c clarifies the evolution of this specific real estate by veri-

lying that ``the building is referred to on a map of Poughkeepsie in 1790 as the ``white house" and appeared just south of Montgomery Street at the end of Ragged Lane. The ``white house" is described as two and one-half stories high with four genteel rooms on a fl6or and a commodious cellar under the whole, with good well of water, and about sixty-two acres of good land with a good meadow and orchard belonging to the same. One can suspect that some important Revolutionary meetings said to have been held here..."18 The house and property of the Van Kleeck family was most likely located in an area called ``The Little Commons." Eventually, this area came into the possession of a gentleman named Bronson French.

Platt writes ``Begirming in 1805, Bronson French, through a series of real estate transactions, acquired title to this acreage; and thereafter this area became known as the ``French Place.''19 By 1836, French sold nearly all of his property to Mr. John Bames, Mr. Caleb Barker, Mr. George Corlies and Mr. Richard Varick for $25,437.50. Land development began immediately as the gentlemen divided the land into building lots. Streets were opened up and, at auction, lots on the new South Liberty Street went for $25.00 a foot.

Lots continued to be sold over the next several years with Mr. George Corlies encouraging the promotion and expansion of these new neighborhoods in Poughkeepsie. However, during the panic of 1837, Mr. Corlies and other investors endured losses which slowed development. With determination and wise investments, Mr. CorHes was able to insure his land holdings.

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George Corlies was born on January 11, 1804, in New York City to Phoebe Ludlum and Benjamin Corlies. Raised as a Quaker, he received his early education at Nine Partners Boarding School in Millbrook. He, and his wife Elizabeth, had a son, Mr. Jacob Corlies, and a daughter who died early.

Dedicated in his role as businessman and co-partner in the drygoods jobbing trade of his father, Mr. Corlies' health became directly affected. So, in a decision to remain able-bodied, in 1834 he purchased a farm on the Post Road, three miles south of Poughkeepsie.

Two years later, Mr. Corlies and the other previously mentioned partners engaged in what would become the historic real estate transaction, the inception of South Liberty Street.

The home of Mr. George Corlies was the first erected on South Liberty Street. At #28, Mr. Corlies built his home permanently, taking residence in the city of Poughkeepsie. All of the land to the west of the home-site was farm land with an extensive view of the Hudson Rivei. Susan Puretz, in her account, Hz.sforz.c G¢r/Ziezd PJ¢cc, quotes Mr.

Jacob Corlies as telling of ``...standing at the rear of the house and being able to count as many as seventy sloops and schooners on the river."20 The house was described as having the typical kitchen and dining area in the basement with a front and back parlor and two bedrooms. ``Mr. Corlies was responsible for planting over 1000 shade trees in his

neighborhood."21 His efforts were not confined to his own land, however, as he spread the trees throughout the neighborhood as far as the Nelson House.

Eventually, George Corlies moved his family to South Hamilton Street where he built a new home. That exquisite structure, now falnous for being the home of Captain John C. Brinckerhoff, is located at #85 and is currently the Rutherford School of Ballet as it has been for many generations.

The Po#gJzkeapsz.c D4zz.Zy £4zgzc eulogized Corlies as ``an alderman of

the City of Poughkeepsie and also involved with the board of education. He served as alms house commissioner and a trustee of the Old Ladies Home. Acting as an original founder and trustee, George Corlies was especially fond of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.

Here, he was very instrumental in planning the landscape architecture of the grounds.

"In 1874 he married Amy, daughter of the late Aaron Frost, of this city, who survived him."21 Mr. Corlies finished his life on Montgomery Street in Poughkeepsie at the home of his son, Jacob.

He died on May 27, 1892.

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For the next thirty years, since George Corlies built the first home on South Liberty Street, other investors began erecting houses in new styles and old revivals, creating a tapestry of architecture found nowhere else in the city. h 1881, the name South Liberty Street was officially changed to Garfield Place in an effort to memorialize the death of the President. In 1882, Mr. John C. Sickley built his home at #37 Garfield Place.

An eclectic version of the predondnate Victorian styles of the day,

the current owners refer to their home in the Queen Arme style. The house is a comfortable blend of features found in a variety of architectural fashions employed during this time period. The SickleyLawrence House displays some Eastlake influences as well as an exciting mix of architectural plays. The Queen Anne styles were especially known for their exterior texture, tantalizing the eye as one reviews the surfaces all around. This house displays a number of lovely accents which individualizes its appearance on the street.

There is wonderful vertical patterning with bonded segments and paired and triple windows reminiscent of the late 19th century. The vertical bands on the exterior are not structurally supportive, but, along with other architectural inflections, are much like the ``trims'' appliqued onto the fabric of the house and rendering a textured finish. The windows set between these bands are aesthetically placed.

The later sleeping porch is polished with accent comer boards.

John C. Sickley was born on August 29, 1855, in Springfield, New Jersey. Of Dutch ancestry, his parents were Mary Bradbury and John C. Sickley. He was raised on the family farm in New Jersey until he came to Poughkeepsie in 1870 with his mother. His great-grandfather was Mr. John Bradbury, an Englishman, who wrote Br#dz7#7ry's Tr#z7cZs z.77 A77zcrz.co. Mr. Sickley graduated from the public high school and

then commenced reading law in the offices of Judge Nelson and later Mr. Crummey. Mr. Sickley practiced law for a few years in the city after passing the bar in 1877.

In 1887, he was appointed city librarian and held that position for thirty-eight years. A plaque at Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie commemorates his service. He was with the library when it was still in charge of the Board of Education. Mr. Sickley was admired for his keen sense of humor, enjoyment of people, and enthusiasm for his work. Acting more in the capacity of curator, Mr. Sickley's duties included overseeing the collections of books and initiating the modem methods of cataloguing.

During World War I, the American Library Association organized camp libraries at boot camps around the country. The service was

63

established to give soldiers access to libraries. Librarians such as John Sickley supported the war effort by giving their time and skills to these establishments. Mr. Sickley was released from Adriance to serve time at an army camp in Greenvme, South Carolina.

John Sickley followed the progress and growth of the city library even in its quest for a permanent home. After 1843, when the Board of Education was controlling the library, the collection moved frequently. Some of these locations included sharing the building with the village ponce justice until 1872, when it was moved to Washington Street. It remained there until 1898, when the Adriance Memorial Library was constructed.

During the time Mr. Sickley was librarian and the library was on Washington Street, Mr. I. Reynolds Adriance was chairman of the library committee for the Board of Education. The men shared a genuine interest in the matters and fate of the city's library as well as a fine friendship. Recognition of the congested space of the present establishment motivated Mr. Adriance to persuade his brothers and sister to consider a new building in the memory of their parents at 103 Market Street.

John C. Sickley and the board of trustees moved forward in the plans to accomplish the task. Designed by New York architect, Charles F. Rose, the white marble French Renaissance building was dedicated in October 1898 to John P. Adriance by his children.

The Adriance family spared no expense in the erection of the building. From the bronze lamposts out front, to the oak trim, elaborate plasterwork, and dome which was Ht at night, everything was stateof-the-art for its day. The furniture styles and layout of the reading rooms were in imitation of the Astor Library of New York City. In sunrmary of the public appreciation and support of the new edifice, the Poc{gJzkeepsz.c D¢z.Zy E¢gze of October 15, 1898, states, ``A11 the mater-

ial and workmanship have been the best that could be procured and the library as it stands completed, is not only a thing of beauty, but substantial and permanent, which our children's children will use with satisfaction and pride."22 Mr. Sickley continued to serve in the capacity of librarian at Adriance Memorial Library until his death. However, he was also on the board of the Vassar Brothers Institute and secretary of the Dutchess County Historical Society. He is also remembered for acting as a founder and first president of the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club. He was married to Miss Olivia Townley from New Jersey.

Mrs. Sickley pre-deceased him and a daughter, Miss Katherine 0.

Sickley, survived Mr. Sickley, who died of pneumonia in his home

64

on #37 Garfield Place (after being ill for less than one week) on November 20, 1920.

In 1922, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Lawrence purchased #37 Garfield

Place from Miss Katherine 0. Sickley. Mr. Lawrence was general manager and president of CoHingwood and Seamon. Formerly, Mr. Laivrence was employed by a coal company in New York City. When he heard the Collingwood and Seamon coal company of Poughkeepsie was for sale, Mr. Lawrence purchased it and moved his family north.

The company was a merger of two independent coal operations. Mr. George Seamon's original coal yards were located on Parker Avenue in Poughkeepsie along the railroad tracks. It included stables, buldings, and a trestle. Remnants of the business endure on Parker Avenue in over-grown weeds behind weakened fences. Collingwood's original coal yard was located behind the Bardavon Theater.

"Dr. Lawrence was born on June 3, 1889 in New York City, the daughter of Lydia Bossert and John S. Maeder. She graduated from the Horace Mann School in New York and later New York Medical College. She was the first woman to go on calls with the ambulance at Metropolitan Hospital.''23 While raising her family, Dr. Lawrence did not practice medicine. However, during the 1940's, with her children grown, Dr. Lawrence decided to re-enter the medical profession. She applied to the Hudson River State Hospital and was irrmediately offered a position. For four years during World War 11, she operated the out-patient service of the Hospital. ``On October 4, 1917, she married Clinton Lawrence in New York City who died July 15, 1949. Dr. Lawrence passed away on January 21, 1984 at age 94. A member of the First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie, Dr. Lawrence was on the board of directors for the Gallaudet Home for the Deaf, the Vassar-Warner Home and the Children's Home.''24 Dr. Lawrence was survived by her son, Dr. Clinton E. Lawrence, and two daughters, Mrs. Ruth Mccomb and Mrs. Jane Beaman.

Mrs. Jane Beaman has many wonderful memories of her parents' home and her family life. When the Lawrence family arrived in Poughkeepsie, Jane was age 3. She recalls her parents' concern for a

healthful environment in which the children might thrive. The birth of a new baby warranted the need for a sleeping porch. Protocol for child-rearing during the 1920's called for afternoon naps in the fresh outdoor air. However, the political air surrounding the workforce in the coal industry determined new strategy in the Lawrence household.

65

During the winter of 1922 and 1923, John L. Lewis, president of the coal union, called for a coal strike. The Lawrence family began receiving threats from unhappy customers demanding their supply of coal. Mr. Lawrence was concerned for the safety of his children.

Fears of kidnapping forced the Lawrences to design a sleeping porch on the second level. This addition allowed the child's perambulator to be wheeled ``outside" for a safe and healthy afternoon respite.

Dr. Comelia Lawrence always maintained household staff to assist her in the care of her home and family. Mrs. Beaman tells of dinher as a family with their uniformed cook/maid waiting table. She usually was summoned by a small bell which Mrs. Beaman affectionately recalls as having the shape of a lady with a full skirt.

By 1934, Mrs. Beaman was off to Emma Willard School, leaving Putnam Hall after its closing. This was a milestone year for modemizing one's home and the new age found its way to #37 Garfield Place as well. Mrs. Beaman states this was the year (since their live-in cook/maid was no longer needed to maintain residency) that as the Lawrences became the second farfuly in Poughkeepsie to own a dishwasher! Dr. Lawrence did, however, retain the services of a housekeeper and laundress.

CONCLUSION The Silver Ribbon Historic House Tour of the Dulchess County Historical Society was a fund-raiser celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Society. Through the House Tour., the Society restated its commitment to work towards the promise of architectural preservation in the county. The history told here revitalized the image of Poughkeepsie. It featured a brighter, historically rich side of a city not always positively portrayed. The initiative of the Society was to offer people an opportunity to view Poughkeepsie at its best and become involved with its past.

The houses on the tour are lc;.cated in areas of the city that unfolded a new chapter in the history of Poughkeepsie. The setting of this history was farmland and the players were prominent men and women involved in real estate adventures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As we traveled south on Hooker Avenue and visited neighborhoods east and west, we witnessed the town/city line advancing through time. It became a historic trail marked by a new cast of characters who created wonderful homes. A rich tapestry of architectural styles was woven on the avenue and, in the vicinities sur-

66

rounding it, featuring revivals with personal accents and, in many, ``state of the art" modern conveniences. The same cultural evolution took place in other areas of Poughkeepsie, such as the expansion of Garfield Place.

The Sz.Jz7cr Rz.bz7o7z Hz.sforz.c Ho#se To#r of 1994 paid tribute to men

and women from a unique, historic heritage befitting these Poughkeepsians, their family lifestyles and economic privilege. The demographics may have been smaller, but, the community spirit was at large. In a biography of Mr. Earle Tobey, whose home on Bamard Avenue was shown, the glorification of Poughkeepsie is humorously related in reference to the Pongfekeepsz.e S#7cdey Coz47`z.cr which Tobey

and his family owned for two generations. It states ". . . a Sunday without the Co#7'z.er would be a Sunday ill-spent. The Co#7`z.er follows

its devotees to far places, and it has been not at all unco]rmion to find a Poughkeepsian travel bent, sitting on the Egyptian pyramids leisurely turning the pages of the Co#rz.cr./''25

ENDNOTES 1

I?in_es_I. Sm±I+, History Of Duchess County, New York, 1683 - 1882, (trlterlaken, Now York: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1980), 450.

2

Smith,450.

3

Smith,450.

4

Putham Hall Historic School To Be Razed, PongJzkeapsz.c Ncct7 yorker 10 April, 1938.

5

Dutchess county clerk's office, Department of Records Lz.ber 275, 6 June,1894:178.

6

Smith L. DeGarmo Passed Away Friday, Poz!gfrkeepsz.e £¢gJe Nezt7s 1 May, 1915:1

7

E_F=:1T!± P+_z[_±,_:|h.e.Fagle's History Of Pougivkeepsie (Interlaken, New York:Heart Of the I,akes Publishing.1987),148.

8

Dutchess County Clerk's Office, Department of Records Lz.bcr 150, 1 May, 1869:212.

9

Smith,455.

10 Obituary: Hon. John 0. Whitehouse Po#gfekecpsz.e Szzztdny Coz£77.cr 28 August, 1881

11 Pouglkepsie Sunday Courier 8 ALprH, T900.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Division for Historic Preservation New York State Parks & Recreation, Hz.sforz.c Archz.£echarc &DecorativeArisConsultan±slnventory,Pouglkeepsie,NewYorkT0Ang;list,T9sO.

67

15 History Of the Valley Of the Hudson, RIDer Of Destiny 1609 -1930, Vch. 5, 4:19.

16 History of the Valley, 526.

17 James E. Sague Estate Is Sold to Dr. Pennock Po#g#kecpsz.c Sc£7zdny Cozfrz.cr 29 March, 1931.

18 Platt, 66.

19 Platt' 66.

2J0 Srusan Pulctz, Historic Garfield Place: A Study Of a Victorian Street in an Urban Setting, (New Pal±z) 1971, 6.

21 Obituary: George Conies, PoztgJzkeapsz.e £¢gze Nezt7s 28 May, 1892.

22 Adriance Library A Beautiful Building, Pong7zkeapsz.c fngzc Nczt7s 15 October, 1898.

23 Obituary: Dr. Comelia Lawrence, Pocfg#kecpsz.e Jocfr7c¢Z 22 January, 1984.

24 Ibid.

25 History of the Valley, 420.

Photographs of Silver Ribbon homes by Annon Adams.

68

A TOUR OF SITES IN THE ROMBOUT PATENT Revised by Joyce C. Ghee from D#£cfeess Ht.sfony Ways #1 The Rombout Pale:at and Si:±es in the

RomboutPatendRelatedtoCatharynaRomboutBrett Joyce C. Cthee, a native Of Dutchess County and a trustee Of this Society, has the distinction Of being one Of the co-founders Of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Vat-Kill in Hyde Pdrlc,Now York.

Her i;nderests in history, music and palnding, as well as her years

Of service as Dutchess County Historian serve her wel.I as consultan± to a variety of area cultural institutions. (

From the moment that it was created on November 1, 1683, to the present, division of the county's territory into publicly controlled and privately owned parcels has been an ongoing and integrated process, the history of which can be traced though documentary and structural evidence related to those who caused or participated in the land trausactious.

The original boundaries of the county as stated in `` An Act to Divide the Province and Dependencies into Shires and Counties" in COLONIAL LAWS OF NEW yoRK were somewhat vague: ``From the bounds of the County of Westchester on the southside of the Highlands along the east side of Hudson's River as far as Roelof ` Jansen's Creek and eastward into the woods twenty miles." *

Surveys were slow and difficult in the wildemess that was Dutchess, leading to many boundary disputes.

THE PATENT PROCESS.

By royal decree, treaty and legislative action, the British Crown first established its sovereignty over all the land in the province of New York, reconfirming Dutch land grants and clarifying the validity of Indian claims. Under English law all land belonged to the government, as represented by the Crown, and could be transferred to private ownership only by issuance of a Crown patent or open public

69

document granting what was a royal privil.ege (land ownership) to another under specific conditions. The process in Dutchess, which had been determined to be Indian territory, involved three parts. ..^. .,

1. Application for license from the provincial governor (at the time, Thomas Dongan) to negotiate with the individual tribes. :

2. Issuance by the provincial government of a deed or a transfer of title by extinguishing Indian ownership and establishing the terms of transfer to new owners.

3. Granting of a Crown patent relinquishing royal ownership and establishing the terms thereof, e.g, outright gift or quitrent.

From 1685 to 1731 a series of patents issued by the Crown delivered all of Dutchess into the hands of private owners and set the stage for intemal divisions of the original municipalities.

The more than 85,000 acre Rombout Patent, encompassing lands in Poughkeepsie, La Grange, Wappinger, Fishkill, East Fishkill, and Beacon, was the first of these.

A license to negotiate with the hdians was issued February 8, 1682, to two New York City businessmen, Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck. A third businessman, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, was brought into the partnership after the process was begun.

On August 8, 1683, by deed of sale, the land was transferred for about $1,250 in merchandise and coin. On October 17, 1685, the Crown patent was issued; 1985 marked the 300th anniversary of that first Crown patent in Dutchess County.

Its bounds, like those of the county, were vaguely described: ``Beginning from the South side of a Creeke called the Fishkill...along said Hudson's River, 500 rodd beyond the great Wappins Kill and into the woods foure hours goeing." It was also long in being surveyed. In 1708, heirs of the family further subdivided the property among them. `Stone walls, erected later, often mark their subdivisions.

Individual patterns of sales and leases within these private holdings have provided the framework for the growth of population centers in southern Dutchess and the preservation of open spaces that can still be seen in a tour of the Romb6ut.

70

PUBLIC SITES IN THE PATENT.

Dutchess is fortunate to have extant, after 300 years, a number of sites and landscapes directly related to the original patentees or their heirs, which we may still enjoy. .+

A- ROMB0UT-BEEKMAN BOUNDARY MARKER Stringham Road, LaGrange.

Aerial photographs of Dutchess County taken since the 1930's reveal the huge outlines of property divisions marked out over a three century period, often in stone. In June:1983, an article by LaGrange historian Emily Johnson for Taconic Press showed us how, with a lot of sleuthing using deeds, old maps and ~some digging through the brush along the way, these original boundary lines could literally be unearthed. A new historic marker, erected in 1985, points to one section of these many walls outlining patents or patent divisions.

B- NIMHAM MONUMENT At the intersection of Routes 52 and 82.

The Wappinger Indians, a loose federation of nine tribes within the Algonkian peoples, occupied the lands encompassed by the Rombout Patent and burned their council fire at Fishkill Hook. The Wappani or ``Dwellers of the East Bank" did not view land as a commodity to be bought and sold and therefore are unlikely to have understood the philosophy behin'd the permanent transfers inherent in the patent process. No doubt they only assumed that they were sharing fishing and hunting rights. Daniel Nimham, the last sachem of the Wappinger, died in the Revolutio`nary War fighting for the American cause, but his people lost another long and bitter battle with the government to reclaim lands that he and they felt had been unjustly taken from them. His monument was erected by New York State in 1937 and is inscribed: ``Daniel Nimham, Chief Sachem of the Wappinger Indians, Born in Dutchess County, Was Killed in Engagement at Cortland's Ridge, N.Y. August 31, 1778, Defending the American Cause." .+I

C- VAN WYCK HOUSE I-84 at Route 9:

Catharyna Brett sold 959 acres of her land in Fishkill to Cornelius Van Wyck of Long Island in 1732. He built the smaller east wing of the house shortly thereafter. His sons built the main section of the

71

house in 1756. The farm has been the site of much historical activity as the center for the Continental Army's main northern supply depot during the Revolutionary War and was also thought to be the setting for Jame.s Fenimore Cooper's famous novel THE SPY, and the place where Enoch Crosby's mock trial was staged. The house, threatened by demolition during the construction of Route 84 and the nearby shopping mall, was saved and restored during the nation's Bicentennial of the American Revolution by the Fishkill Historical Society, which now operates it as a public museum and education center. On July 4, 1976, the society erected a monument constructed of over 100 stones donated by related Revolutionary War sites from Maine to Georgia. Of special interest is the exhibit of Indian artifacts found on the property which predate the patent by thousands of years and verify Wappinger territorial claims.

D- THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH 0F FISHKILL At the intersection of Routes 9 and 52 in Fishkill Village.

An .original stone structure, considerably smaller, begun in 1725 and completed in 1731, was generously supported by Catharyna Rombout Brett, and in deference to her wishes, she was buried here. Subsequent enlargement of the building in 1786 changed placement of the outer walls, interior design and altar. The present church, with it towering steeple and rounded windows framed by red brick quoins, is a distinctive landmark. The church has served not only the uses of its congregation but also as a site of meetings of the New York Provincial Congress and as a Revolutionary War prison.

E- TIORANDA BRIDGE South Avenue over the Fishkill Creek in Beacon.

The bounds of the Rombout Patent are expressed as ``beginning at the South side of a creeke called the Fishkill by the Indians Matteawan." From the plank deck of the Tioranda bridge, one can see the mouth of the Fishkill and the marsh where a few overgrown stones outline what is thought to be the remains of Madame Brett's mill. The bridge, which is owned by the City of Beacon, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 in deference to its unique, late 19th century bowstring and truss design in cast iron.

The red circles, which are its hallmark, no longer serve the original structural purpose, but are essentially guard rails. The city has undergirded and reinforced the bridge with piers in the interest of public safety.

72

F- MOUNT BEACON Route 9D in Beacon.

Local folklore holds that Francis Rombout's negotiations with the Wappinger indians began upon a low plain and that it was agreed that all the land on this side of the river that he could see would be his. Rombout is then supposed to have climbed to the top of Mount Beacon and staked his claim on the basis of what could be viewed from its summit. Down through our local history, Mt. Beacon has been an important landmark. Visible from as far away as Hyde Park (certainly not within the patent), it received its name from the signal fires which were stacked upon its top to be burned, if needed, during the Revolutionary War. At the turn of the 20th century, its fame centered upon an incline railway leading to a resort at the summit.

G- MADAME BRETT HOMESTEAD Van Nydeck Avenue and Route 52, Beacon.

Neither Francis Rombout nor his partners ever lived in Dutchess. He viewed his interest in the patent as essentially an investment, a legacy for his daughter Catharyna, who was only four years old when he died. Catharyna married a young naval officer, Roger Brett, at age sixteen and the two young people headed north circa 1709 from New York city to homestead in the wildemess. Their home, on what is now Van Nydeck Avenue, was probably built sometime before 1714. Widowed at an early age when her husband was swept overboard in a storm on the Hudson, Madame Brett proved a strong and courageous manager of her land and properties, which included a criticauy located mill and the Frankfort warehouse at the mouth of the Fishkill. Unlike many other patentee families, she sold much of her land outright, thus encouraging permanent settlement and the growth of what then was Fishkill and Fishkill Landing. Her house has a number of notable features, including its traditional herb garden and unique, handmade scalloped shingle siding. Since 1954, with support from the Beacon community, it has been preserved as an historic house museum by the Melzingah Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.

H- MOUNT GULIAN Sterling Street, Beacon.

Gulian Verplanck, the second partner, also never lived in Dutchess County, and died before the patent was issued. In 1730, forty five years after his death, his grandson Gulian began construction of the

73

Verplanck family homestead on his share of the divided patent. The present structure, a gambrel roofed, fieldstone, Dutch-vernacular farmhouse, is a faithful reconstruction, completed in 1976, of the original which burned in 1931. It was here, on May 13, 1783, that the association of citizen soldiers called the Society of the Cincinnati was established by Washington's officers at the end of the Revolutionary War inspired by the Roman General Lucius Quintus Cincimatus. It is operated as a public historic site and community resource under the auspices of the Mount Gulian Society.

I- STONY KILL Route 9D in the Town of Fishkill.

When the patent was divided among the heirs in 1708, the Verplanck family holdings included what is now Stony Kill Environmental Education Center. Unlike Madame Brett, the Verplancks chose to keep their property intact through lease hold rather than sale.

Agreements with tenants provided for thoughtful Verplanck stewardship of the land and improvements to it, such as development of orchards and pastures and construction of buildings. Stone house, the oldest structure on the farm, was built of fieldstone from the property in Dutch Colonial style before 1740 by one of the Verplanck tenants. In 1836 James De Lancey Verplanck took title to 1000 acres and began to build ``Stonykill," the manor house, which was completed in 1843. The property, through successive generations of Verplancks, was devoted to agriculture and kept intact until 1942 when, by agreement, 756 acres was given to the New York State Education Department as an agricultural preserve. Finally in 1973, it was acquired by the Department of Environmental Conservation for development as an Environmental Education Center.

I

I- BREWER-MESIER HOMESTEAD Intersection of East main Street and Route 9D, Wappingers Falls.

Set in a charming village square, this building at first appears to be Victorian. A closer look shows its growth over the years. A portion of lands within the Patent along the Wappingers creek was sold in 1741 to Adolphus Brewer, a miller. Mills on the creek provided the basis for growth in the settlement that would in 1874 become the Village of Wappingers Falls. The house, like the village, grew as owners' needs dictated. The original modest shelter became, under Pieter Mesier, a roomy Dutch Vernacular farmhouse and store where in 1777 the famous Dutchess County ``Tea Party" took place during the

74

Revolution. In its last major remodeling as a home, fashionable Victorian touches were added. It presently houses village offices and the police department.

K- B0WDOIN PARK Sheafe Road, Town of Poughkeepsie.

Five Hundred rods beyond the Wappingers Creek, along the Hudson River bounds of the patent, is an area long disputed as lying within two overlapping land grants of the Rombout and Lassinghs.

Bowdoin Park, acquired by Dutchess County in 1975, includes much of what has been sometimes called the Lassen/Lassingh/Lossing patent. Pieter Lassingh, a brewer from Albany, claimed to have acquired the land through Arnout Viele, who received it from the Indians before the Rombout/Veaplanck/Van Cordtlandt patent was issued. Lassingh and Viele pressed that claim for a number of years before it was approved by the provincial government in 1704.

Lassingh had apparently occupied the land from 1688. Lassingh (Lassen, Lossing) family members continued to live and farm the land as legal owners for generations thereafter. Archaeological digs at points around the park and on the adjoining Tri-Municipal Sewer District lands have indicated the presence of Indian occupation here for more than 5000 years and have clearly established the presence of the Lassinghs from the early 1700's through the remains of farm buildings and family burial pl.ots.

L- DUTCH CEMETERY Robinson Lane, Town of Wappinger.

The cemetery is the family burial plot of the Montfoorts, who were farmers in the area. The property is currently owned by the Town of Wappin8er.

M- STORh4 FAMIIjY SLAVE CEMETERY Phillips Road in Hopewell Junction.

Early in the fall of 1984, Dutchess county Legislator Sherwood Thompson and a group interested in black history in Dutchess County enlisted the help of East Fishkill ELstorian Henry Cassidy to undertake the task of researching and restoring this slave cemetery located on Phillips Road near Stormville. The Storms, a family of farmers, were early purchasers within the Rombout Patent. Although not a popular institution in the North, slavery was indeed a part of comlnunity life until 1828. Farmhands, who led hard lives in the fields and in the

75

houses of their owners, were buried in plots set apart from their owners in graves marked by rough stones from the field. This one has a stone that has been cut and marked.

N- VASSAR COLLEGE CAMPUS Raymond Avenue, Town of Poughkeepsie.

The main portion of the Vassar College campus lies within the patent. It includes lands between the Casper Kill and the Wappinger Creek within the 500 rod limit established in the description. An early mill built along a tributary of Jan Casper's Creek has now been dammed to form Sunset Lake. Rombout House, faculty housing on the Vassar Farm, honors the land's provenance. Vassar has within its possession a deed from Andries Teller, 1730, establishing the links to the patent.

1st Reformed Church of Fishki]l

76

Semi-Annual Meeting June 25,1994 0lana State ffistoric Site, Hudson, N.Y.

The home of Hudson River painter, Frederick Church was the site of our Semi-annual meeting. Prior to picnic supper on the lawn, informative tours of the mansion were provided to members and guests by the docents of Olana. The history of the property, the lives of the Church family, the eclectic furnishings of the widely traveled family were all topics covered on the tour.

Following supper, a short business meeting was held with President Shaughnessy presiding. Reports were given on the state of the Society. The Director urged members to interest friends and neighbors in becoming new members and to continue the support of Society programs and endeavors. Following the meeting, the group assembled in the visitor's center for the program.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Kevin J. Avery, Ph.D., Assistant Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Avery based his presentation on the Frederick Church painting, Hc¢7'f o/ #zc A72des. Avery, employing a

double screen slide projection, matched his own trip to South America with the journey taken by Frederick Church over a century earlier. Dr. Avery was able to point out facets of the great painting by showing the areas- jungle, valley, mountaintop - that Church had

see#:%::c:oou= i:s:Ere tvhTteavgee±oF#TsatocL:nurag±thea::eneangFr:Ein , Ryan. 0lana is operated by New York State Office of Parks and Recreation as is Clinton House.

Annual Meeting November 18,1994 Danny Kaye Theatre in the Conrad Hilton Library Culinary hstitute of America, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The fabled pastries of the CIA bakers were the just desserts of those attending the Annual meeting. Members and guests enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy the culinary delights, participate in the fund-raising raffle and chat with fellow members in the lobby of the theatre before the business meeting and program in the Danny Kaye Theatre. The gift of the family of actor Danny Kaye, the theatre was designed for the purpose of viewing state of the art cooking demonstrations. The late actor was a renowned practitioner of Chinese cooking and his collection of cooking implements and Chinese art are well displayed.

77

Clare Brandt, a Rhinebeck resident and author of the biography of Benedict Amold, M¢77 z.77 €fee Mz.r7ior, gave a very fine presentation on

Arnold. Her interpretation of his life, beginning with his formative years and through his military career, his marriage, his treachery during the Revolution and finally his death in exile in England, had strong psychological overtones. The heretofore unexplored proposition that he was victim of feelings of inferiority were explored by the author.

DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY STATEMENT OF REVENUE & EXPENSES DECEMBER 31, 1994

Revenues:

investment Income Membership & Other Gifts, Grants & Donations TOTAL REVENUE:

$ 3,897.00 23,073.00 37,189.00 $ 64,159.00

Expenses:

Payroll & Employee Benefits Utilities, Insurance & R/E Taxes Office, Affiliations & Professional Museum, Library & Program Depreciation Interest on Mortgage Genealogy & Misc. Sales & Services Miscellaneous Expense Excise Tax TOTAL EXPENSES:

$ 51,424.00

REVENUE OVER EXPENSES

$ 12,735.00

78

$ 22,389.00 13,772.00 5,607.00 4,961.00 1,732.00 1,644.00 1,120.00 168.00 31.00

\

Dutchess County Historical Society 1994 Officer and Trustees Edward J. Shaughnessy, Presz.de7zf

Millbrook, New York E. Peter Kmlewitch, Vz.ce-Presz.de7c£

New York, New York Margaret Zamierowski, Secref¢ny

Hyde Park, New York Catherine Gerardi, T7ig¢s#rer

Millbrook, New York

1994

Stephanie Mauri E. Richard O'Shea Lorraine Roberts

Hyde Park, New York LaGrangeville, New York Wappingers Falls, New York 1995

Joseph D. Quirm Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt Susan Vvhalen

Salt Point, New York Pleasant Valley, New York Millbrook, New York

1996

Mary in Lohrey

Poughkeepsie, New York Hyde Park, New York Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie, New York

Joyce Ghee Kristen Kermedy

Antonia Mauro 1997

Newburgh, New York Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie, New York

Larry Diker Michael Englert Arme Friedland John A. Wolf

Pleasant Valley, New York STAFF

Eileen M. Hayden, Dz.71ecfor

Debra Zwillinger, Bookkeeper

79

THANKYOU

VOLUNTEERS Kermeth Folster Arm Friedland James Davison Mary Lou Davison Stephanie Mauri

Doris Washbum Eleanor Weidenhamlner

SPECIAL THANKS The Board of Trustees and the Director would like to give special thanks to Debra Zwillinger for her outstanding service to the Society and its members from January, 1992 to the present. Debra has been a valuable asset to the Society. Although Debra has left the Society for a new position, her presence will be missed. Again, we wish to thank her for au she has contributed to D.C.H.S.

(Thank You page courtesy of ML3, inc.)

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MUNICIPAL HISTORIANS of DUTCHESS COUNTY COUNTY HISTORIAN Vacant CITY HISTORIANS Beacon, Joan Vanvoorhis, 82 North Walnut Street, Beacon, NY 12508 Poughkeepsie, Vacant

TOWN HISTORIANS Amenia, Kenneth Hoadley (Acting), RRl, Box 688, Amenia, NY 12501 Beekman, Gay Kendall, 4 Baker Road, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533 Clinton, William MCDermott, Box 208, Clinton Comers, NY 12514 Dover, Edward Hogan (Assistant Historian), Craig Lane, Dover Plains, NI 12522 East Fishkill, Everett Lee, Rushmore Road, Stormville, NY 12582` Fishkill, Willa Skirmer, Charlotte Road, Fishkill, NY 12524 Fishkill (Village), Rodney Koopmans, Dutch Reformed Church, 55 Main Street, Fishkill, NY 12524 Hyde Park, Diane Boyce, 22 Russet Lane, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 LaGrange, Emily Johnson, Moore Road, RD4, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

Milan, Vacant Millbrook, David Greenwood, RR1, Box 227, Millbrook, NY 12545 Millerton, Marian Smith, Mill Road, Mi]lerton, NY 12546

North East, Vacant Pawling, Nancy Kelly, Box 28, RR2, Route 292, Holmes, NY 12531 Pine Plains, Little Nine Partners Historical Society, P. 0. Box 243, Pine Plains, NY 12567 Pleasant Valley,I Olive Doty, RD2, Wigsten Road, Pleasant Valley, NI 12569 Poughkeepsie, Jean Murphy, 74 New Hackensack Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 Red Hook, I. Winthrop Aldrich, ``Rokeby," Barrytown, NY 12507 Red Hook (Village), Richard Coons, 34 Garden Street, Red Hook, NY 12571

Rhinebeck, Nancy Kelly, 60 Cedar Heights Road, Rhinebeck, NI 12572 Rhinebeck (Village), Rhinebeck Historical Society, P. 0. Box 291,

ELebeck, NY 12572 Stanford, Dorothy Burdick, Route 82, Stanfordville, NY 12581

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Tivoli, RIchard Wiles, 29 Montgomery Street, Box 267, Tivoli, NI 12583 Unionvale, Irena Stolarik, N. Smith Road, LaGrangeviue, NY 12540 Wappinger, Brenda Von Berg, 34 Prospect Avenue, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Wappingers Falls, Victoria Kolb, 31 Liss Road, Wappingers Falls, NI 12590 Washington, Carndne DiArpino, P. 0. Box 80. Route 343, Dover Road, Millbrook, NY 12545

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HISTORICAL SOCIETIES of DUTCHESS COUNTY Amenia Historical Society

Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling, Inc.

P.O. Box 22

Amenia, NI 12501

P.O. Box 99

Pawling, NY 12564

Beacon Historical Society P.O. Box 89

Pleasant Valley Historical Society

Beacon, NI 12508

P.O. Box 766

Beekman Historical Society

Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

P.O. Box 165

Poughquag, NI 12570

Egbert Benson Historical Society of Red Hook

Bowdoin Park Historical and Archaeological Society

P.O. Box 1813

Red Hook, NI 12571

85 Sheafe Road Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Rhinebeck Historical Society P.O. Box 291

Clinton Historical Society

Rhaebeck, NY 12572

C]inton Comers, NY 12514

Roosevelt/Vanderbilt Historical Association

The Town of Dover Historical Society Dover Plains, NY 12522

P.O. Box 235

Hyde Park, NI 12538

East Fishkill Historical Society

Stan ford Historical Society

P.O. Box 245

Stanfordville, NY 12581

Hopewell Junction, NY 12533

Union Vale Historical Society

Fishkill Historical Society

P.O. Box 100

P.O. Box 133

Verbank, NI 12585

FishRE, NY 12524

Wappingers Historical Society

Hyde Park Historical Society

P.O. Box 174

P.O. Box 187

Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Hyde Park, NI 12538

Washington Historical Society

LaGrange Historical Society

Millbrook, NI 12545

P.O. Box 112

LaGrangevine, NI 12540

Little Nine Partners Historical Society P.O. Box 243 Pine Plains, NY 12567

North East Historical Society NIerton, NY 12546 83

HveEX Board of Education, 63, 64 Boarding School Committee, 28 Boardman Estate, 58 Bock, Mrs. Harry, 59 Boicetoun, 39

A Treatise on Domestic Economy, 34

Abraham, Jean, 56 Academy Street, 41, 42 Adaus, Abigail, 22 Adriance Avenue, 45, 60 Adriance, John P., 64 Adriance, I. Reynolds, 64 Adriance Memorial Library, 63, 64

Bolding, John, 15, 18, 19 Bolton and Coe, 30 Booth, Lydia, 60 Boston, 16, 19 Bowdoin Pal.k, 75 Bowne, James, 10, 42

Africa, 30 Albany, 31 Albany Business College, 56

Bradbury, John, 63

Alexandria, Virginia, 26 America, 30 American Association of University Women, 59 American Library Association, 63 American Newspaper Association, 51 Amrita Club, 48, 51, 55, 56 chderson, C., 30 Anderson, Robert, 18 Astor Library, 64 Armapohi, Maryland, 24

Brazil, 31

Brett, Catharyna Rombout, 71, 72, 74 Brett, Roger, 73 Brewer, Adolphus, 74 Brewer-Mesier Homestead, 74 Brier Hill Cemetery, 12 Brinckerhoff, John C., 61, 72 British Croon, 69, 70 Brooklyn, New York, 43, 58 Brooks Seminary, 47 Bross, William, 45 Buchan, Dr. William, 33 Bull's Head, 48 Burlington, Vermont, 57

Asia, 30

Atwater, 45 Avon Springs, 46 Balch, Mary (Polly), 25, 28 Bardavon Theater, 65 Bard-Morgan House, 45 Barker, Caleb, 61 Barlow, Dr. Charles, 40, 48 Barnard Avenue, 42, 50, 57, 59, 60 Bamard, Joseph, 10 Bames, John, 61 Bartlett, Ellen, 48, 49 Bartlett Park, 38, 39, 47 Beacon, New York, 71, 72 Beadle, Arm, 22, 23 Beaman, Jane, 65, 66 Beecher, Catherine, 34 Beecher, Rev. Charles, 16 Benton, Frances, 30 Bethlehem, Permsylvania, 26, 27 Bicentennial, 72 Blanding, Sara Gibson, 58

Calvinism, 6 Canpbell, Stanley, 16, 17 Canada, 16, 19

Carmen, Isaac N., 8 Carpenter, DUBois, 47 Carter, Mrs. E. Sterling, 59 Casper Kill, 76

Cassidy, Heny, 75 Cedar Hill, 39, 41, 42, 44, 47, 48 Cedarwood, 45, 46

Chamber of Commerce, 59 Chicago, nlinois, 20 Children's Home, 65 Children's Law of 1875, 11 Chippendale, 55 Christ Episcopal Church, 55, 59 Cincinnatus, Lucius Quintus, 74 Circular Road, 38, 40, 48

84

Dudley, James H., 10 Dudiey, Florence, 50 Dutch Cemetery, 75 Dutchess Area Community Chest, 59 Dutchess County, 11, 28, 37, 69, 71, 73

City Almshouse, 11 City Bank, 39 Civil War, 10, 17, 44 Cliffdale, 58, 59 Coe, Eva Johuston, 31 Collinwood and Seaman, 65

Dutchess County Deparinent of Records, 41, 43, 49

Color[idLavsofNowYJork,69

Colony of New York, 5 Columbia County, 44 Columbia Uhiversity, 58 Common Council, 10, 38

Dutchess County Historical Society,

Compromise of 1850, 15, 20

Dutchess Golf and Country Club, 56 Dutton, Constance, 57 Dutton, David, 57 Dutton Lunber Coap., 57 Dwi8ht Street, 47

22, 57, 64

;

Dutchess County Health Care Facifity, 4, 12

Comecticut, 17 Constitution of the United States, 20

Continental iny, 72 Cooper, James Fenimofe, 72 Corbally, Charles, 51 Corlies, Any Frost, 62 Corlies, Benjamin, 62 Corlies, Elizabeth, 61, 62 Collies, George, 61, 62, 63 Corlies, Jacob, 62, 63 Corlies, Phoebe Ludlum, 62 Cortland's Ridge, New York, 71 County Overseer, 5, 6 County Poorhouse Act, 7, 8 County Surrogate Court, 44 Crescent Road, 44 Crosby, Enoch, 72 Crummey, Mr., 63 `

East Fishkill, 70

Eden rm, 42 Elizabethan Poor Laws, 5 Elting' 45 Emaus, Albert, 10 Emma Vvillard School, 66 Emott, James, 10 Enfightenment, 5 Europe, 30 Falkill Bank, 44

I

Department of Records, 41, 43, 49 Dix, Dorthea Lynde, 8, 11 Dongan, Thomas, 70 Downing, Andrew ]ackson, 42

Fandly Service Associates, 60 Farmers and Manufacturers Bank, 46 FeITis, John, ro Finger Lakes, 46 First Bank of Western New York, 46 First National Bank, 47 First Presbyterian Church, 51, 65 First Reformed Church, 46 First Reformed Church of Fishkill, 72 First Street Railroad, 39 Fishkill, New York, 71 j Fishkill Creek, 70, 71, 73 Fishkill Historical Society, 72 , Fishkill Hook, 71 Fishkin Landing, 73 .

Florida, 31, 56 Forbus Hill Apartments, 38 Frankford School, 30 Frankfort Warehouse, 73

DUBois, Lewis, 39

Franrfu, Mary, 31

Daggett, Clarissa, 26 Darforth, Charles, 39 , Danforth Locomotive & NIchine Co., 39 Daughters of the American Revolution, 22, 73 Declaration of Independance, 6 Degarmo, Beatrice, 51 DeGarmo, David, 45 Degarmo Bcholls, 45, 50, 51, 56

Degarlno, Phoebe Lawrence, 41 DeGarmo Place, 38 DeGarmo, Smith L., 41, 45, 47L49, 61

85

French, Brouson, 61 French Place, 61 Frost, Aaron, 62 Fugitive Slave Law, 15-20 Gallaudet Home for Deaf Mutes, 59, 65 Galligher, Leah, 28

Jewett, Jacob 8., 10

Johnson, Eddy, 71 Jones-Sague House, 56, 60

Kansas Nebraska Act, 17 Kenyon, Clarence, 58

Kenyon Fandy, 58 Kenyon, Helen, 60 Killey, Egbert, 42 Killey, Julia, 9

Garfield Place, 61-63, 66 General Electric Co., 56

German Ocean, 32 Goldin, Elizabeth, 31 Goldschmidt Fellow, 58 Graham, Mrs. Jesse, 59 Great Awakening, 5 Great Britain, 32 Greeley, Horace, 49 Greenviue, South Carolina, 64 Gregory, Mrs. Theodorus, 9 Grubb, John, 51

LaDue, Charles, 8 LaGrange, 71 Lake Champlain, 31 Lake Erie, 31

Lammert, Olive M., 57, 59 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 28 Landon, Helen Weeks, 57 Lasher, Barbara, 56 Lasher, IIving G., 55, 56 Lasher, May, 55, 56 Lassingh, Pieter, 75 Lawrence, Clinton, 65, 66 Lawrence, Dr. Clinton E., 65 Lawrence, Dr. Comelia, 65, 66 Leetorm, 39

Hanscom Avenue, 38, 48 Harding, 45 Hardwick, Vermont, 57 Harlin House, 49 Hasbrouck, Esther Jackman, 56 Hasbrouck, Frank, 56 Hasbrouck, Jean, 56 Hasbrouck, Ross, 56, 60 Highland, New York, 41

Lewis, John L., .66 Lib eral-Demo cratic, 44

Historic Garf ield Place, 62 History Of Dutchess County, 99, 4:3

Liberty Street, 40 Lichtenberg-Tobey House, 49

History of the Hudson Valley, 49, 57

Little Co-ous, 61

Lloyd, Percival, 47, 58 Hoag, Langdon, 41 Locke, John, 6 Holland Society, 57 Locust Grove, 47 Home for the Friendless, 9, 11, 46 Long Island, 71 Hooker Avenue, 38, 43, 44, 49, 55, 66 Loockerman Avenue, 45 Horace Mann School, 65 Louisburgh, 19 Howell Avenue, 45 Louisiana, 31 Howell, Eugene, 44-46 Louisiana Purchase, 30 Howell, Josephine Whitehouse, 44, 55 Lowell, 16 Hudson River, 69, 70 Lown, 45 Hudson River School, 38 Luckey, 45 Hudson RIver State Hospital for the Luckey and Platt, 41 hsane, 11, 65 Luckey Platt & Co., 41, 51, 55 Hyde Park, New York, 73 Lunb, 45 Lyman, Harmah, 60 hds, Dony, 47 Lyon, Daniel H., 10 Lyon, Harmah, 10 Jacob-Lasher House, 38, 51, 55 Maccracken, Henry Noble, 58 Jamaica Railroad, 59 History Of Pougivkeapsie, 42, 61

86

I

Madame Brett Homestead, 73 Maeder, Lydia Bossert, 65 Maeder, John, 65 Main Building, 57 Main Street, 18

Newton, Sir Isaac, 5 Nine Partners School, 28, 29, 62 Ninham, Daniel, 71 Ninham Monument, 71 Norfolk, 32

March, Mary in, 24

North drerica, 31

Mayland Gazctte, 2:4

North, Benjamin, 44 North Sea, 32 Old Ladies Home, 61 0sbom, Sara, 25

Massachusetts hstitute of Technology, 56

Mccomb, Ruth, 65 MCNeil, John, 41

Melzingah Chapter, 73 Merritt, Maria, 30 Mesier, Pieter, 74 Metropolitan Hospital, 65 Middle States Oil, 58 Millbrook, 29, 41 Montfoort Family, 75 Montgomery Street, 62 Moraviaus, 26, 27, 28 Morgan, Caleb, 30 Morgan, Frederick North, 45, 47, 51

Morgan House, 48 Morgan, Walter, 47 Morse, Samuel F. 8., 47 Mott, Lydia P., 30 Mount Beacon, 73 Mount Gulian, 73 Mount Gulian Society, 74 Mountz-Sickley-Lawrence House, 61, 63 Murphy, Thomas W., 49, 50

0sbome Road, 45 0swego, New York, 16 Page, Willialn Putnam, 48 Parker Avenue, 66 Paterson, New Jersey, 39 Permock, Norton, 59

Perusylvaria, 31 Pennsylvania Terminal Yard, 56 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 27 Plasket, Tabitha, 22 Platt, Edmund, 42, 61 Platt, Mrs. Isaac, 51 Pleasant Valley, New York, 30, 31 Polk, Patty, 26 Post Road, 62

:.

Poucher, Franklin, 57 Poughkeepsie Anti-Slavery Society, 19 Pouglkeapsie Dady Eagle, 62, 64 Pougivkeepsie Daily News, 44 ,,

Poughkeepsie Family Welfare, 59 Poughkeepsie Female Guardian Society, 9

Napoleon, 32 Negro Baptist Church, 16 Nelson House, 60 Nelson, Homer A., 41, 63 New Hackensack Road, 58 New Market Street, 58 N6w Orleans, Louts,iana, 19 New Paltz Academy, 41 New York City, 17, 31, 38, 44, 64 New York Medical College, 65 New York Provincial Congress, 72 New York Public School No. 13, 31

Poughkeepsie Garden Club, 61 Pou8hkeepsie, New York, 15, 17, 30 Poughkeepsie, City of, 8, 10, 11, 41, 45, 48, 49

Poughkeepsie, Town of, 37, 38, 47, 48 Poughkeepsie, Village of, 37, 42 Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, 43, 62 Poughkeepsie Savings Bank, 46 Pouglkeepsie Star-Enterprise, 60 Pougivkeapsie Sunday Courier, 49-51, 59 , 6FT

Poughkeepsie Tennis Club, 64 Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad, 44 Presbyterian Church, 51 Princeton University, 49 Providence, Rhode Island, 25, 26, 28 Puretz, Susan, 62 Putham County, 44

NewYlorlcMeroury,2:4

New York State, 43 New York State Legislature, 6-8, 33 Newport Mercury , 2:5

Newport, Rhode Island, 25, 28, 30

87

Putnam Hall School, 47, 49, 55, 56-58, 66Smith, Lyra Foote Matteson, 51, 55

Smith, Maude W., 55 Smith, Myron, 8

Quad Buildings, 57 Quakers, 27, 28, 45, 62

Smith, Silas, 51 Smith, Winiam D., 51, 55, 56 Smith, William M., 51 Society of Friends, 27, 28 Society of the Cincinnati, 74 Sons of the American Revolution, 57 South America, 31 South Carolina, 18 South Hamilton Street, 45, 46 South Liberty Street, 61-63 Southeast Avenue, 38, 39 Southgate, Eliza, 33, 34 Spoor, Lloyd E., 56

Radcnffe, 45 Ragged Lane, 61 Raymond Concrete Pile Company, 56 Rescue Mission, 46 Revolutionary War, 62, 71-73 Reynolds, 45 Reynolds, William W., 42 Rhode Island, 18 Riverview Military Academy, 50, 56 Rochester, New York, 16 Roelof Jansen's Creek, 69 Rombout, Francis, 70, 72 Rombout House, 76 Rombout Patent, 70 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 51 Rose, Charles F., 64 Rotary Club, 51, 59

Spoor-Lasher Company, hc., 56 Springfield, New Jersey, 63 Springfield, Massachusetts, 16 Springfield, Vermont, 60 Sterling, W.C., 42 Stevens, Elizabeth, 30 Stevens hstitute of Technology, 58 Stickley, Gustav, 60 Stony Kill Environlnental Education Center, 74 Storm homily Slave Cemetery, 75 Stormville, 75 Stringham Road, 71 Sunset Lake, 76 Swift, Theodore Van Kleeck, 57 Syracuse, New York, 16

Ruppert Driving Range, 44, 49 Russell, James, 8 Rutherford School of Ballet, 62 Sague, Horace, 58 Sague, James Edward, 58, 59 Sague, Jeanette Kenyon, 58, 59 Sague, Harriet Kelsey, 58 Sague, John, 59 Sague, Mary Landon, 57-61 Sague Really Company, 58, 59 Salt Point, New York, 45 Sanders Laboratory of Chemistry, 58 Saratoga County, 56 Sartorius, John, 57 Schatz, Herman, 57 Schenectedy Contracting Co., 56 Schiffer, Margaret, 27 Schwartz, 45 Seaman, George, 65 Sedgewick, 56 Sickley, Katherine 0., 64, 65

Tacoric Press, 71 Taggart, Jerhie, 41 Taggart, Robert M, 39, 40, 48, 51 Talhaan, ML John P. H., 39, 40 TThan, D. S., 8, 10 Tasmania, 32 Teller, 76

Thompson, Judge Smith, 43 Thompson, Sherwood, 75 Tiffany of New York, 45 Tioranda Bridge, 72 Tobey, Arthur G., 49, 50

Sickley, John C., 63-65 Sickley, Mary 8., 64

Smith, Fande, 43

Tobey, Earl Deyo, 45, 49, 50, 51, 67 Tobey, Flora, 49 Tobey, Florence, 49

Smith, Lawrence, 51

Tobey, Heny L., 49

Sickley, Olivia Towuley, 64

88

Tobey, Jean, 51 Tobey, Marion, 51 Townley, Ehizabeth, 65

Westchester County, 69 Weston, 28 Westtown School, 27, 30

Travels in America, 64

White, Mr. & hdrs. E., 40

Tri-Municipal Sewer District, 74

White, Mary Wflder, 22 Whitehouse Avenue, 42 Whitehouse, Fannie, 43 Whitehouse Farln, 44-46, 57 Whitehouse Knons, 56 Whitehouse, John 0., 43, 44, 56, 61 Whitehouse, William, 43 Whitney, Sealand, 57 Wilbur, 45

Tdity Squar.e, 38 Triune Lodge, 51

Trunbauer, Horace, 47 Tubman, Harriet, 18 Tuthill, Dr. Samuel, 41 United States Congress, 15 Utica, New York, 46

VVIilkiuson, George, 44

Van Cortlandt, Stephanus, 70, 71 Vandeburgh, Edgar M., 8 Van Kleeck, Baltus, 57 Van RIeeck, George, 42 Van RIeeck, Lawrence, 61 Varick, RIchard, 61 Vassar Bank, 59 Vassar Brothers Institute, 64 Vassar, Catherine, 60

Wuard, Mrs. Emma, 33 Windsor Hotel, 40, 48 WTusor, Nancy, 26 Woddell, Walter, 8 World War. I, 57, 63 World War 11, 65

Worth, 60

WorthingtonPunpMacrieCoap.,58 Wright, Ruth, 30

Vassar College, 18, 46, 48, 57-60

Y.M.C.A., 46, 51 Y.W.C.A., 46

Vassar Farm, 49, 76 Vassar Hospital, 59 Vassar, Matthew, 18, 42-45, 56, 61 Vassar, Matthew Jr., 10

Yates, J. V. N., 6

Young, inette, 47 Young, Heny, 4547

Vassar Tlatler, 58

Young, Mary Dwight, 4547

Vassar-Wamer Home, 65 Vaux, Calvert, 42 Ver Planck, Gulian, 70, 73 Ver Planck, James, 74 Viele, Amout, 75 Visiting Nurse Service, 59 Wade, Frances, 31 Walter, Mary H., 32 Wappani, 71 Wappinger Creek, 71 Wappinger hdians, 71, 72 Wappius Kill, 70 Washington Street, 64 Washington, Town of, 10, 11 Weeks, Joseph, 57 Welbasky, Frances, 48 Wend, Elizabeth, 57 Wend, Katherine, 57;9 Wend, Milton, 57 j Western Henrisphere, 31

Young, Mary L., 45

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89

Greetings Dr. I)dward J. Shanghnessy Millbrook, NI :-H.E§ Safety ... Security ... Soundness

pettltk nf grttlbrrmk Franklin Avenue, Millbrook . 677-5321 A country bank...with that hometown personal touch MEMBEF3 FDIC

rwed{asifettJ

Hc>usE - aARDENs - cARRIAc=E HOusE Open:

June through September Wednesday, Friday a Saturday Noon Co 5 PM

House and Carriage House by appointment only

90

For the great times of your life.I lJisit tlJe slore thai sparkles... with tTuty

I ire jou}ed]i. diamonds. geTnstones, tLkzlcbes a distinctive giftu}are.

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. 39 faynond A;`,c,,uc9r=E:#c:enThcF=g±eypeie Gzlkri 91+297L«33

Best Wishes to Dutchess Co. Historical Society fi.oin Jciyce Ghee & Joom Spence

Consultants

12 Keys Productions Serving Non-prorit Organizations

progr:itbp,Tnanni:|gg:,i::;:ttu!ie:ss=rch.

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7J 7f= fty We Are The Bank Of The Hudson.

3 cOLLEGrvlEw AVENUE IrouGHKEEpsiE, Ny 1 2603 (9]4) 471 -3640

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Books-Records Old Prints AutAppraisals Old Issues of

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mtchess County Histories ® EOUALOPPORTIJNITYIENDER

93

MEMBER fl)lc

C®hlc 44Z[ya Newspapers Prize winning community newspapers covering Dulchess County.

Gazette Advertiser

Celebrating our 150th year

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Leonard Klein Arthur L. Gellert Stephen E. Ehlers Paul J. Goldstein John A. Geoghegan Lillian S. Weigert

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Counsel Sheldon Cutler Raina E. Maissel Richard 8. Wolf

• Poughkeepsie . Rye . Lake Success .

The Dutchess County Historical Society is selling

CATHARYNA BRETT Portrait of a Colonial Businesswoman

by Henry Cassidy For more information contact the Dutchess County Historical Society, P.O. Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 or call (914) 471-1630

fe &, §reeff, 93.6 .

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

11 RAYMOND AVENUE

P.O. BOX 2990 POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12603

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(914.) 454-1200 TELECOPY:

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The Dutchess County Historical Society is selling the

History of Poughkeepsie by Edmund Platt

and

Dutchess Cduhty A Pictorial History `by

John Jearmeney

and Mary L. Jearmeney

For more information contact the Dutchess County Historical Society, P.O. Box 88, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 or call (914) 471-1630

96