Secretary's Minutes-September 29, 1925-June 29, 1926

Secretary's Minutes

ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE

SEPTEMBER 29, 1925

On Sept. 29th, the Society went upon its Annual Pilgrimage under the leadership of Miss Helen W. Reynolds.

At ten o'clock sharp everybody collected on the summit of College Hill, where Miss Reynolds gave them an interesting and instructive talk on the various points of historical interest about the city and along both sides of the Hudson, "The Long Reach" from the Dans Kammer at the south to "Krum Elbow" at the north.

From College Hill the procession of over forty automobiles wound its way down through the city past many points of historic interest, stopping at the old Rust Plaets made famous by Miss Reynolds in her book on Poughkeepsie. Here, through the courtesy of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. John Van. Benschoten, after another very interesting talk by Miss Reynolds, camped and enjoyed their basket lunch. From here they visited the. Mesier House and Park at Wappingers Falls. Hence to Swartwoutville, the old home of that staunch old patriot of the Revolution, General Jacobus Swartwout, who was Colonel Commandant of Militia. Here we enjoyed another historical sketch by Miss Reynolds and were given the freedom of the house by Mr. and Mrs. Pinckney, the present owners. We then visited the old home of Colonel John Brinckerhoff, another of Dutchess County's Revolutionary heroes. We then returned homeward, stopping at the home of Mr. and Mrs.. Stringham at Fishkill Plains. This beautiful house, built early in the 18th century, known as the Ver Planck-Van Wyck house, has been occupied by members of these two distinguished Dutchess County families ever since.

From here the party dispersed for their homes.

SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1925

The Semi-Annual meeting of the Society was held at Vassar Institute, Oct. 16, 1925, President Adams, presiding.

The minutes of the last meeting and meetings of Trustees Were read and also a brief account of our very successful pilgrimage on Sept. 29th, in which over 150 members participated.

The secretary reported upon the healthy growth of the Society.

Miss Reynolds reported that the 1925 Year Book was about to be issued.

The following thirty-three new members were elected: Mr. Peter R. Sleight, Miss Elizabeth L. Flagler, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Thew, Mrs. William H. Willis, Mrs. How-

7

ard Scofield, Major Eugene Van Nest, Miss Olga Adams Lawson, Mrs. Robert S. L. Hadden, Mrs. Dwight R. Sedgwick, Mrs. Jay Hurd, Mrs. John H. Van de Water, Mrs. William W. Ballard, Jr.; Mrs. Cecil Parker, Mr. J. Donald Haggerty, Miss Florence W. Olivet, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert F .Hart, Mr. Oscar H. Bundy, Dr. Henry W. Berth°lf, Mr. Elmer 0. Hapeman, Mrs. Theodore C. Lundy, Mr. and Mrs. 0. C. Pinckney, Miss Edna C. Albro, Miss Ruth Morgan, Mrs. Robert P Huntington, Mrs. Edwin C. Upton, Miss Bertha Budd, Mrs. John Franklin Kitts, Miss Mary A. Hart, Mrs. George D. Olivet, Mrs. May W. Husted.

Mr. Edwards offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved: "That the secretary of the Dutchess County Historical Society be instructed to convey to the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of St. Paul's Church, Poughkeepsie, the sympathetic interest of this Society in the approaching observance of the ninetieth anniversary of the Church."

The Society then adjourned to the Nelson House where the members partook of the usual social time at luncheon with President Adams as toastmaster. The principal speaker was Major Wm. B. Dwight, who gave a -,Tery interesting and instructive address on General Baron von Steuben, the organizer of the Army of the American Revolution.

Other addresses were made by our fellow-members, Mrs. Gilbert L. Lewis and Poultney Bigelow. Secretary.

MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES

APRIL 6, 1926

A meeting of the Trustees was held at the Amrita Club, April 6, 1926. Present: Mr. Adams, Mr. Booth, Dr. Le Roy; Mr. Van Vliet, Mr. Mylod.

Various matters of interest to the Society were discussed, especially the coming sesqui-centennial celebration.

The following new members were elected: Mrs. Frank P. Hoag, Mrs. James Murray Bogle, Miss Martha W. Beckwith, Mrs. Harold K. Joseph, Miss Rosalie Fellows Bailey, Mr. Henry T. Lumb, Mr. Henry B. .Cornelius, Mrs. Gurden Swift, Miss Belle Halstead, Miss Ida Halstead, Miss Mary J. Macomber.

Secretary.

ANNUAL MEETING

FRIDAY, MAY 21st, 1926

The Annual Meeting of the Dutchess County Historical Society was held Friday, May 21st, 1926, at Vassar Institute, Poughkeepsie, New York, at eleven A. M. President Adams presiding.

The minutes of the fall meeting and the meeting of the Trustees were read by the Secretary.

The Society then proceeded to

elect officers for the ensuing year, with Mr. Mylod in the chair. The following officers were elected: William P. Adams, President; Colonel J. E. Spingarn, Vice-President, Town of Amenia; Mrs. Samuel Verplanck, Vice-President, City of Beacon; Jacob Brill, VicePresident, Town of Beekman; William J. Browning, Vice-President, Town of Clinton; The Hon. John A. Hanna, Vice-President, Town of Dover; Mrs. Edward Barnes Stringham, Vice-President, Town of East Fishkill; William E. Verplanck, Vice- President, Town of Fishkill; The Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vice-President, Town of Hyde Park; Joseph H. Van Wyck, Vice-President, Town of La Grange; John P. Fulton, VicePresident, Town of Milan; Darwin Morse, Vice-President, Town of North East; Miss Martha Akin Taber, Vice-President, Town of Pawling; Frank Eno, Vice-President, Town of Pine Plains; J. Adams Brown, Vice-President, Town of Pleasant Valley; James F. Baldwin, Ph.D., Vice-President, Town of Poughkeepsie; John S. Wilson, M. D., Vice-President, City of Poughkeepsie; William S. Massonneau, Vice-President, Town of Red Hook; Douglas Merritt, Vice-President, Town of Rhinebeck; Wilson Carpenter, VicePresident, Town of Stanford; Mrs. R. Theodore Coe, Vice-President, Town of Union Vale; Lenox Banks, Vice-President, Town of Wappingers; Oakleigh Thorne, Vice-President, Town of Washington; J. Wilson Poucher, M. D., Secretary; Irving D. Le Roy, M. D., Treasurer; Mrs. George B. Waterman; Assistant Treasurer; Henry Booth, Curator; Irving D. Le Roy, M. D., Trustee; Henry Booth, Trustee; Thomas Newbold, Trustee.

President Adams then resumed the chair, thanking the members for the honor bestowed upon him.

The report of the Treasurer, Dr. Irving D. Le Roy, was submitted and accepted, and will be appended in other minutes.

Members elected were: Mrs. Frank P. Hoag, of Wingdale, from annual to life membership; Miss Caroline Ware, Mrs. Lionel Nightingale, Mrs. George H. Landis, Mrs. Joseph Flagler, Mrs. John R. Schwartz, Lieutenant Colonel William L. Burnett, Mr. Adna F. Heaton, Professor Carl H. Tibbitts, Poughkeepsie; Mrs. Louise Barnes, Mrs. George Jennings, Miss Everetta Kilmer, Beacon; Mr. and Mrs. G. Edward Masten, Pleasant Valley; Miss Margaret Monahan, Mrs. John D. Coleman, MTS. Fred C. Taber, Mrs. Luther Benson, Pawling; Mrs. Albert W. France, Hyde Park; Mrs. William C. Sproul, Mrs. William M. Roach, Chester, Pennsylvania; Mrs. George Forbes, Elkridge, Maryland; Mr. R. Theodore Coe, La Grange, N Y.

The Secretary reported that the present membership of the Society was approximately six hundred, but he declared that he was not satisfied with this *membership for Dutchess County and urged members to interest their friends. If each member should send in only one name the Society could very soon be doubled and it was only

9

through the support of a large membership that the Society would be able to accomplish the important object for which it stands.

Miss Helen W. Reynolds of the Year Book Committee reported satisfactory progress.

The annual pilgrimage was discussed. Mr. Frank B. Howard moved that the pilgrimage committee be empowered to furnish bus accommodations for members who have no automobiles, which was carried.

The President announced that Mr. Poultney Bigelow offered the Society a Mauser rifle captured from the Germans in the late war. Accepted.

The sesqui-centennial was discussed.

Mr. Theodore Rogers Brill suggested marking the birthplaces of Benson J. Lossing at Beekman and the Colonel Vander Burgh place at Poughquag. The suggestion was adopted by the Society and VicePresident Brill of the Town of Beekman was appointed a committee for this purpose.

Mrs. Theodore de Laporte spoke on the Rhinebeck celebration.

Miss Reynolds spoke on the sesqui-centennial of the events which occurred in Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County during the Revolution and offered the following preamble and resolution:

Whereas: After the defeat of General Burgoyne at Sarato9:a and the failure of General Vaughan's raid up the Hudson, the river above the Highlands remained in the possession of the Americans;

And whereas: With the Highlands as a barrier to British advance from the south, Dutchess County was from 1777 to 1783 the seat of civil and military affairs;

Be it resolved: That the state historian, in charge of plans for the observance of the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Revolutionary period be and hereby is requested to make suitable provision for recognition of the fact that from 1777 to 1783 Poughkeepsie was the capitol of the State of New York, the residence of the governor and the scene of the sessions of the legislature; that Fishkill was the center of the continental army, with officers' headquarters, an encampment of troops, a soldiers' hospital and a military prison; while the road across the county was the allimportant route of communication between New England and the South; furthermore, Dutchess County furnished many soldiers, a large proportion of the provisions used by the army and paid more in taxes than any other county in the state.

Mr. Mylod moved that the Society contribute one hundred dollars to be used to help defray expenses of the various sesqui-centennial celebrations, urging that the historical committee furnish an appropriate float for the Fourth of July parade. Motion adopted.

The Secretary reported the following resignations: Dr. E. R. Richie, Brewster, New York; Miss Mary Lewis, Annandale, New York.

The Secretary reported the following members had died since the

10

last meeting: Mrs. Irving D. Le Roy, Pleasant Valley, New York; Professor Charles Colton, Pleasant Valley, New York; Mr. Edgar Briggs, Pleasant Valley, New York; The Reverend Edward P. Newton, Hyde Park, New York; Dr. Henry. A. Gribbon, Poughkeepsie, New York; Dr. Walter G. Ryon, Poughkeepsie, New York; Professor J. Leverett Moore, Poughkeepsie, New York.

It was moved and carried that the Fall Meeting be held at Rhinebeck.

The Society then adjourned to the Nelson House where one hundred and fifty members partook of luncheon. President Adams presided as toastmaster. After luncheon, the Reverend Frederick S. Arnold addressed the Society on the subject, "Historical Values."

Miss Martha W. Beckwith of Vassar College spoke on old folk lore and folk songs which are fast disappearing from our communities At the close of her address, several of the old folk songs of the colonial period were admirably interpreted by three of her young pupils.

Secretary.

MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1926

A meeting of the Trustees of the Dutchess County Historical Society was held at the Amrita Club on Tuesday, June 29, 1926; present: Mr. Adams, Miss Reynolds, Mr. Mylod, Mr. Van Vliet, Mr. Booth, Mr. Dows and the Secretary.

After discussion, it was moved and seconded the Annual Pilgrimage in the Fall be made this year in the northeastern portion or the county and that the President, M. Adams, be empowered to appoint a Pilgrimage Committee.

A resolution was passed that: the Assistant Treasurer, Katherine B. Waterman, is hereby authorized to draw checks upon the account of the Society with the Poughkeepsie Trust Company, to pay bills and to collect and deposit dues; and further that the Assistant Treasurer is hereby authorized to pay the honorariums of the Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer in June and January in semi-annual payments on the basis of $100.00 a year to the Assistant Secretary and $50.00 a year to the Assistant Treasurer.

Members elected were: Mr. James A. Kerr, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; Mr. Richard F. Maher, Dover Plains, N. Y.; Henry Richard Van Vliet, 2nd, Staatsburg, N. Y.; Stephen Olin Dows (life member), Rhinebeck, N. Y.; Mr. and Mrs. John H. Hinners, New Hackensack, N. Y.

Secretary.

11