Finally, in November, Zion Church at Wappingers Falls rejoiced that a century had passed since it was founded. About 1830 Mrs. Matthew Mesier ( Joanna Schenck) of Wappingers Creek (as Wappingers Falls was then called) gathered a group of children together and, under an apple tree that grew on the site of the present parish-building, started a Sunday School. In 1833 the Reverend George B. Andrews established his home near Hughsonville (south of Wappingers Creek) and, seeing Mrs. Mesier's good work among children, he assembled a number of adults, organized a congregation and on February 26, 1834, obtained incorporation. Land for a church was given by Matthew Mesier and Henry Mesier and on November 15, 1834, the corner-stone of the present handsome stone church was laid. That stone church of 1834 is in 1934 a center for the village of Wappingers Falls, not only in its beautiful physical aspect but in the influence radiating from it. To Rhinebeck, to New Hackensack and to Wappingers Falls the Year Book offers congratulations upon the memorable past, and best wishes for a future of equal worthiness.
THE DUTCHESS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF 1845 - 1846 The editor of the Year Book is indebted to Miss Agnes J. Criblez of Wassaic and Poughkeepsie for a memorandum of seven items, published in the Poughkeepsie Journal and Eagle in 1845 and 1846, which report the organization of "The Dutchess County Historical Society," and which are recorded here for the information of the society of the same name of 1914-1934. How much might have been accomplished for Dutchess had the society founded eighty-eight years ago continued in existence to the present day! Traditions would have been garnered, documents preserved, information of many kinds and in many forms placed on file. But, alas, after a good beginning the Historical Society of 1845-1846 disappeared without trace and, today, all that is known of it is comprised in a few paragraphs salvaged by Miss Criblez. As revealed by the newspaper articles, Robert G. Rankin of Berry Hill, Fishkill, wrote a letter to the Poughkeepsie Journal and Eagle in 19
