The Colonial Dames of Dutchess

THE COLONIAL DAMES OF DUTCHESS

Henry Noble MacCracker

The Colonial Dames, like the Daughters of the Revolution, are in their true image separafed by an entire culture from their image in the public mind of today. My dear sister-in-law, Mrs. John Henry MacCracken, used to invite me to meetings of the New York Colonial Dames. She was an English Constable, and on her mother's side of Dutch descent; with her sister the very head and center of Knickerbocker New York. Cool, composed and quiet, her companions did not differ by an eyelash from the earliest editions that hung upon the walls in the best Knickerbocker residences.

The name "Knickerbocker", as everyone knows, was stolen from old Dutchess and pre-empted by its coiner, Washington Irving, in his famous, but devastatingly spoofing mockery, Knickerbocker's History of New York.

The true Knickerbockers still reside in the villages of northern Dutchess, honored with the rest of the simple and solid founders of its first commonwealth.

Their namesakes in New York City were very indignant to be thus labelled for generations with their upstate counterparts. Washington Irving showed great discretion in masquerading behind the guise of anonymity. The true Knickerbockers and their true sisters of old Dutchess are the very opposite of both images, neither of aristocrats in silken gowns and of the ignorant and blowzy viragoes. Dutchess records, both in their portraits and in their writings, present the very antithesis of these false images. Meanwhile, their name adorns clubs, villages, theatres and hotels.

As I pushed my way through the wilderness of manuscript and early printing in the county records, and found these remarkable women on every page, I vowed at the time that some day I would lay my own little wreath of tribute, of respect and of affection on their overgrown churchyard of memory.

We begin, of course, with the remarkable Catheryna Brett, daugter of Francois Rombout, once mayor of New York City. The family stemmed from old Mechlin in Flanders, where the cathedral still bears the ded:cation to St. Rombout. We have Catheryna's letters as our proof that she must have looked more like a Valkyrie than a frowzy frau of Flanders. Picture her for yourself riding astride at the gallop through the untrodden wilderness along the Indian trails of the great patent owned jointly by Francois Rombout, Gulian Verplanck, and Stephanus Van Cortlandt, her leather breeches homemade, tanned no doubt with the local hemlock, and modeled upon her late husband's hunting habit. Roger Brett, a young naval lieutenant and visitor of the British lord, governor of New York, must have been a frequenter of the first race track of New York on Long Island, where free foxes

*Dr. MacCracken, President Emeritus of Vassar College, former President of the Historical

Society, has contributed many valuable articles to the Year Books.

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were chased and deer leaped out from the bushes in the sand ridge. One of her guardians — her father had died when she was very young — was Paulus Richards, whose vineyards on Long Island suggest that the hunters visited his hunting grounds for more than one purpose.

Why did she ride in such a hurry? In one case, at least, she had just heard that landlookers were abroad and had fallen afoul of her surveyors, recasting her lines of property along what is now very nearly the eastern patent of Poughkeepsie at the gates of Vassar.

She was taught nothing, except how to live. English she never mastered; her spelling was monolithic. But when a lady writes of being "pusselt", what does that tell of her character, my learned graphologist?

As a girl in New York, Catheryna Brett was brought up with the daughters of another famous Dutchess County family, that of Dr. Samuel Staats. His six beautiful girls married into the best American families of the Middle States. One of their grandsons was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, another was Chief Justice of New Jersey, another married an earl's daughter, another edited the text of the United States Constitution. In my book Old Dutchess Forever, I repeated the story which a High School dramatist might some day expand as a "period piece" of how Nicholas Van Rensselaer once came courting an older daughter, who prinked before her mirror upstairs, while downstairs her sister entertained the Lord of the Manor so successfully that on her arrival downstairs she found her sister betrothed to him.

The stories of Catheryna Brett and her friends are legion; but we must hurry on, leaving her busy dosing the old Indians of whom hundreds lived at her very doors; turning up conveniently at a childbirth; dosing a friend suffering from "the vapors"; or d'etating to her attorney the exact terms of her latest real estate deal; fighting for every foot of her estate, and resisting with resolution the encroaches and depredations of her homeless Indian neighbors.

Catheryna Brett was a Fleming, but Christina Rockefeller of Germantown was doubtless of the nationality that gave her birthplace its name. She married her cousin, another Rockefeller, and thus together they probably strengthened the heredity of persistent courage that has marked their descendants ever since.

I cannot forbear the inclusion of two colonial dames with great Dutchess interests, who married Scotsmen of noble birth, and rivalled them in their business acumen.

Mrs. Archibald Kennedy, a Schuyler by birth, had a son who became an earl, a grandson who was a marquis. She and her husband owned Governor's Island. Yet she watched her lord so closely that in his will he assured her that every penny she had brought as her dowry was now restored in full, "as when she came to me."

Her cousin, Mrs. James Alexander, was the wife of the man who brought the Oblong to Dutchess. She owned thousands of acres just

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across the Hudson River from Poughkeepsie, as well as land in the Oblong, and yet husband James could not get her to leave off her shopkeeping during an illness. So long as she could crawl to the store, there she would be at it, he wrote his confidential friend, Cadwallader Colden.

But her trade went far overseas. She also exported Hudson River lumber and wheat abroad, be it added; James it was who sold silks and laces next door, just off Wall Street.

Let us take one of the more gentle kind, Catherine Livingston Garrettson, who lived on the aristocratic River Row of great estates. She was herself a modest, devout and devoted Methodist, the queen of hospitality and the lifelong friend of all the many Methodist circuitrider preachers who came her way. She gave such encouragement to the poetic gifts of a maid servant, Maria James from Ireland, that her poems were published by a Columbia professor, himself one of the Dutchess County Potters.

Of the many interesting women of the Livingston family, two more may be chosen. Mrs. Richard Montgomery, widow of the young Irish general who was killed in his assault on Quebec, left memoirs that have perhaps helped more than any other to picture the colonial scene for us. Her mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, left her name in Margaretville, the Delaware County seat. She not only brought up a large brood of her own famous children, but provided a school for the children of her neighbors. While in New York, she had kept on the lookout for a good teacher and found one in a carpenter shop. She carried Robert Scott off to Rhinebeck triumphantly; he built with his own hands one of the first and certainly the best of the early schools, and left behind so honored a name that the Colgates tried to tempt him with an offer of the presidency of Colgate College. He, however, stuck by his school, teaching his pupils, as he himself remarked, "to learn to think for themselves."

Mrs. Margaret Beekman Livingston managed her own great estates and collected her rents. One of the relatives has left the unforgettable picture of her sister, Mrs. Albert Pawling, who drove her four-horse wagon around what is now the village of Pawling as she collected her rents from the farmers and carted off victoriously their payments "in kind" of wheat, fat hens, and fatter calves.

Of an entirely different strain was the Pawling Quaker maiden 1VIehitable Wing, who married the wild Irishman William Prendergast, and remained true to him through his riots and rodomontades over the Pawling roads and by-ways. She is best remembered for a horseback ride: she rode to New York and back to save her husband's life, obtained a pardon for him from a discrete governor, and returned in time to prevent the execution.

Janet Livingston personally reveals herself as an aristocratic lady.. Mehitable Wing was a humble Quaker. Catheryna Brett is buried beneath the altar of the Dutch Church in Fishkill.

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Still another of these intrepid daughters of the wilderness was Hannah Sackett DeLancey, whose husband Stephen DeLancey was one of the most violent of the Tory soldiers. She was herself a patriot of the deepest Dutch blue. Her neighbor Sybil Ludington of Patterson, sixteen-year-old daughter of a colonel in the patriot militia, is honored in sculpture for her Paul Revere ride through the mountains of lower Dutchess to rouse the militia as the English rode north to Danbury in 1777.

Equally intrepid, though for a different cause, was Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, who went to prison for her convictions, and returned when free to dance with the rest of the courageous Shaker dam2s of Lebanon.

And now let me give you a scene like one from Brueghel, in the raiding of Brinckerhoff's grocery store. In 1776, the women came from all parts of Dutchess and removed the proprietor's wares because they found the unpatriotic tea among them. It was the Dutchess women, not the men, who gave Dutchess its own private "tea party."

I have not conscientiously sought out these energetic women from any others. The history of Dutchess is full of such women even down to our own day. I recall Mrs. Maturin Livingston of 1837, who called herself "Grandma Grundy" as, she wrote her weekly chronicle of the best New York society for her nostalgic daughter married in North Carolina. Mrs. Livingston built the house, now a national shrine, the gift of her granddaughter Ruth Livingston Mills (Mrs. Ogden Mills). She worked all day long in her garden with her eleven children. Her letters still remain in manuscript. Some day they will delight those who enjoy old letters with their picture of the first Mrs. Astor, and the beginnings of aristocratic convention among the Knickerbockers of New York.

In my own time, I remember three women.

Mrs. Richard Aldrich, a descendant with Mrs. Ogden Mills of the Livingston family of Red Hook, who toured the United States with Julia Ward Howe in one of the first suffrage campaigns. With her patriotic energy, she did more than anyone else to bring about the first United States Army Nurse Corps, and won the Congressional medal of honor.

Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, the distinguished historian of Dutchess County, co-authored with Dr. J. Wilson Poucher a superb book on Dutchess County Gravestones, and delightfully delineated the old Dutch houses of the Hudson Valley. For many years she was editor of this Dutchess County Year Book. As a model of local historical research, let me urge you, if you possess one, to preserve her volume Poughkeepsie, the Origin of Its Name, another superb example of true research at the local level. President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped to finance her splendid volume of Dutchess County houses and the records ,of his St. James Church.

So, at least, is Old Dutchess, but only if history stands security for it. Dutchess County Doorways will, long after Old Dutchess has

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vanished into the gaping jaws of the metropolis. The whole volume is a tribute to the fairest of counties.

Let me add a word to the newcomers. Dutchess is Old Dutchess, because it was one of the ten original old counties named by James, the Duke of York and Albany, and later the King of England. He stamped regality and empire on his "old" province, with Kings, Queens, Orange (his daughter Mary's title), Albany (Scotch title), Ulster (Irish title), and Suffolk (English title). No other province was ever so sanctified by a king of divine right; none was ever so stubborn in defense of all its many peoples and stocks.

No book in my library is more honored than is Miss Reynolds' opus magnum, Dutchess County Doorways, and Other Examples of Period Work in Wood. Mr. and Mrs. Willis Reese of Wappingers Falls sponsored the volume, as President Roosevelt had sponsored her Dutch Houses of the Hudson Valley.

The Doorways remains to me the greatest exemplar of true history, as it was preached and exemplified by Professor Lucy Salmon of Vassar, who, with her friend and associate, Adelaide Underhill, did so much to make our Adriance Library the pride of the county. The Doorways is humble, but living history, which envelopes and gives us a security nothing can take away. "The past, at least, is secure," thundered Webster of historic Bay State. Yes, Daniel; in history.

After quoting at some length from a short address of John Masefield, English poet-laureate, about his native Herefordshire, Miss Reynolds runs on in one of her charming notes: "With a feeling closely akin to that which the Poet-Laureate expressed for Herefordshire, this book has been conceived and prepared. So much love for Dutchess County has gone into its making!

And while these pages are of prose, the spirit that called them forth was that of poetry, the poetry of affection for a homeland. Dutchess

County is for many the place with which they have all those deep and tender ties that are formed by men and women through their experiences of life and where, by those contacts with birth and death and family life, with pain and pleasure, work and play, ambition and achievement, they have won a vision of something beyond."

Now, a living embodiment of this noble company, I pay tribute to Amy Pearce VerNooy, descendant of a distinguished Revolutionary hero in Pawling, who brought our British Tories to terms. Mrs. VerNooy has wandered about her beloved heritage as a true antiquary celebrating the founding of the early circuses, the shining group of silversmiths in the early days of the 19th century, Fiddler's Bridge and many other curious places, people and products. Her work is distinguished among the historians of the state in regions far removed from Dutchess. It was indeed fortunate for her that our old county was broad enough to entertain all the oddities, as well as our many "regulars." Our Bulletin

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owes such merits of style as it possesses to Mrs. VerNooy's skillful work as editor.

Although a mere man, I have tried in these light sketches to give you a group of gallant women, not because they rode like men, or fought like men, or ruled like men, but because they wrought the full potential of their own womanly powers. We still talk condescendingly of women by saying that she thinks, or acts, or talks "like a man." The Dutch women were every one of them involved very deeply in their household, their gardens, in husband and children, church and county, with equal address. Out of their independence and their tolerance came to flourish here the suffragists Deborah Willets and Lucretia Mott; the national leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriet Stanton Blatch, the latter a graduate of Vassar College and president of the American Women's Party, who saw the bitter struggle come to its climax in the Nineteenth Amendment. The daughters of Maturin Livingston left their Staatsburg gardens to make New York first among the states in philanthropy. Dutchess history without such women as the Morgan sisters is a poor thing indeed, even more among the sisters of mercy than among the leaders of society.

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JACOBUS SWARTWOUT, RESIDENT OF ROMBOUT PRECINCT

Joseph W. Emsley*

Poughkeepsie's Dr. J. Wilson Poucher described Jacobus Swartwout as an outstanding yeoman of the Revolutionary period, and southern Dutchess resident, who closed out his military career as a brigadier general under General George Clinton, seven-term governor of New York. The description aptly fits the personality and character of the doughty resident of Rombout Precinct and early Fishkill township.

Perhaps insufficient emphasis has been placed on the pioneering, early settler character of the activities af the Swartwout family in Dutchess. General Swartwout, more frequently identified as Captain or Colonel Swartwout, was a member of the second generation of the Swartwouts in the county. His father, Jacobus, was elected supervisor of the South Ward, Dutchess County, the first Tuesday of April, 1722. Undoubtedly one of the earliest settler-freeholders of the southern part of the county, he shared that distinction with such "old-timers" as Jacobus Terbos, variously identified as Jacobus Ter Boss, who was elected overseer of highways in the same election. Others named to the ward offices included: John Montross, constable and collector; Peter DuBuys (DuBois), assessor; Johannes Ter Boss, Jr., assessor; Jan DeLange, overseer of King's Highway; Jan Buys, surveyor of fences; Garritt Van Vliet, surveyor of fences; Henry Vanderburg, clerk.

Jacobus was admitted to membership in Fishkill's Dutch Reformed Church June 17, 1732. He was the holder of nine sittings or five places in a pew.

Governor Clinton, recognizing his integrity and ability, appointed him in 1743 a justice of the peace. Swartwout and James Duncan thus were named contemporary justices of peace and assistant to the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, sitting in Dutchess County.

All of the foregoing is set forth in "The Swartwout Chronicle," 1338-1899, by Arthur James Weiss, IVI.A. in the edition among the collections of the Madam Brett House, Beacon. The doughty character of the Swartwouts is evident in the earliest settlers among the Low Countries ancestors in Long Island. Among them was Tomys Swartwout, who with Jan Snedeke and Jan Stryker solocited Director General Stuyvesant for the right of settling "on a level reach of wild land," a settlement known as Mid-wout or IVIidwoldem, 25 miles eastward of the city of Grinigen."

Thomas Swartwout and his wife, Hendrickje Barent, were admitted to the church of New Amsterdam. But the Swartwouts and other early settlers became the victims of Indian tribes who resisted the colonists at every step. Four of the latter were slain because reportedly the West India Company had not satisfactorily settled tribal claims. At one point, Jan Snedaker called upon the director general to liquidate a claim of Indians placed at 500 guilders, the described equivalent of $200.

* Joseph W. Emsley is a Trustee of the Historical Society and is the author of several articles of historic interest that have appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

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JACOBUS SWARTWOUT

Resident of Rombout Precinct

2

During the summer of 1653, Long Island colonists were reported to have been robbed of horses and other property, and Tomys Swartwout became known as an advocate of the oppressed colonists. The Dutch settlers were reported to have lost 100 persons, and 150 more were captured in an uprising, which resulted in the flight of many of the colonists to New York's Manhattan as a place of refuge.

Prominently figuring in the Swartwout family after the turbulent early New Amsterdam settlement was Roeloff Swartwout, who became a collector of the King's revenue in Ulster County April 11, 1690. Thomas, his oldest son, married about 1682 to Lysbeth Gordiner, was described as a highly respected yecman of Ulster County, who made his home in Hurley.

Jacobus Swartwout, first in line among descendants of the family to settle in southern Dutchess County was listed on one of the early maps as a freeholder in the Wiccopee area. Also there were Johannes Buy and Johannes Ter Bos. South of their holdings was the Indian's Mimham's Wigwams.

The elder Jacobus died April 3, 1749. He was buried in the Fishkill Dutch Reformed Church graveyard. His will dated December 1, 1744, left to h:s oldest son, Thomas, 60 pounds, or the choice of one of his "Negroes." To his five sons, Thomas, Cornelius, Rudolphus, Samuel and Jacobus he bequeathed equal divisions of his estate.

Cornelius, among the five sons, gained recognition at the age of 36 as a captain of a company of Dutchess volunteers. The company, in a campaign of 1758 against the French Canadians served under Major Gen. Ralph Abercrombie at Fort Ticonderoga. Jacobus, the principal subject of this article, in the subsequent year was appointed captain of another company of Dutchess volunteers which helped to effect the withdrawal of French troops from Ticonderoga and Crown Point leaving the forts free for occupation by the English forces. Again in 1760, Captain Jacobus was placed in command of another company of local volunteers which served with distinction.

In addition to his military service in the French and Indian wars, Captain Swartwout was commissioned December 31, 1769, as one of the coroners of Dutchess County.

Jacobus Swartwout, destined to win the highest local area recognition in the Revolution for command of forces which guarded the Wiccopee Pass of the Highlands and in the tremendous assignments of assembling supplies and stores for Hudson Valley forces at Fishkill, became the commanding colonel of brigades of militia for these purposes. Ncit wanting in courage, he was colonel of troops which moved south to aid in the defense of King's Bridge against the British. He eventually was to win advancement as a brigadier general, as did Governor George Clinton before him. Washington, Clinton and men of Swartwout's caliber had a good deal in common. All three carried on the arming and rearming of forces during seemingly endless periods of the Revolution, amid Tory defections and struggles in order to fill military quotas and provide necessary provisions for the armed forces.

He was like Clinton, who despite reversals at Forts Montgomery and anton, on the west side of the Hudson, proved himself to be an

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indefatigable leader in rallying and re-rallying forces to ward off the enemy until victories were accomplished elsewhere.

Jacobus Swartwout, a six-footer and physically strong, was characterized by one county historian as a person of remarkable stamina even after he reached the age of 80. T. Van Wyck Brinckerhoff, in his Historical Sketch of the Town of Fishkill wrote that General Swartwout would "ride away his wheat to the river and lift his bag upon his shoulder with the ease of a young man."

This was the man who occupied one of the best preserved historic houses in the present All Angels Hills Road, a short distance from Route 82. Within a mile are two other famous structures—the Col. John Brinckerhoff house, in the present Lamola Road, south of Route 52. Still standing also is the "Rendezvous" building where top Revolutionary figures gathered — the Captain Jacob Griffin Tavern, in the east side of Sprout Creek.

RESIDENCE OF GENERAL SWARTWOUT

Not surprising was the immediate significant role which the beginning Captain Swartwout played when first steps were taken in Putchess for the formation of the Continental Army. The first meeting of a Committee of Observation of the Rombout Precinct (then embracing a large part of Dutchess County) was held at the Jacob Griffin "Rendezvous" tavern July 13, 1775. A second meeting was held July 29 at the same inn and a third meeting August 15. The committee then formed included as chairman Dirck G. Brinckerhoff; Captain Jacobus Swartwout, deputy chairman; John H. Sleight, clerk. Others of the group were Jacobus DeGraff, Captain Isaac Hageman, Elias Van Benschoten, Captain Joseph Horton, Thomas Storm, Colonel Abraham D. Brinckerhoff, John Myers, John S. Brinckerhoff, John A. Brinckerhoff, Richard Van Wyck, Henry Godwin, John Langdon, William Van Wyck, Captain Jacob Griffin, Matthew Van Benschoten, Captain

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Isaac Ter Boss, Henry Schneck, Henry Rosecrans, Jr., and Dr. Theoderus Van Wyck.

Within a few days, action was taken to designate sub-committees, which were charged with the job of gathering firearms from Tories, requesting them to part with their firelocks for use by the Continental forces. Upon proper appraisal of the firearms with compensation to the Tories, the committees were authorized to forceably take the firelock.

Persons designated for this assignment were: for the District of Captain Southard's company, Dirck G. Brinckerhoff, John H. Sleight, Isaac Ter Bos, Theodore Van Wyck, and Henry Godwin; for Captain Griffin's company, Jacobus Swartwout, Jacob Griffin and John Myer; for Captain Beedle's company, Henry Schneck and William Van Wyck; for Captain Horton's company, Richard Van Wyck, John A. Brinckerhoff and Henry Rosecrans, Jr.; for Captain Leyster's company, Matthew Van Benscoten and John G. Brincherhoff.

Signers of the pledge of service on the Committee of Observation included Swartwout family members besides Captain Jacobus as deputy chairman, the following: his two brothers, Rudolphus and Samuel; two sons of Samuel, Jacobus and Johannes; two sons of Jacobus' deceased brother, Captain Cornelius, Jacobus C. and Cornelius, all of Rombout Precinct. The Poughkeepsie branch of the family also were patriotic and prompt in signing the pledge. Among them were: Johannes Swartwout, then 60; his nephew, Barnardus, son of a deceased brother, Abraham; and three sons, Barnardus, Minnard, also known as Myndert, and John. Orange County members of the family also were signers.

On June 28, 1775, officers were designated for four area infantry regiments, and also, on July 8, for a company of artillery. Captain Jacobus Swartwout, by appointment of the Provincial Congress was designated muster-master of four companies of troops to be raised "in defense of American liberty." Meanwhile, all of the four infantry regiments served in the Canada campaign of 1775-76 under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery. Thus, after re-enlistments to April 15, 1776 involving the area men who accompanied Montgomery to the historic assault on Quebec, the New York men were reported in the Swartwout Chronicle to have borne a conspicuous part in the ill-fated campaign, when Montgomery was killed.

The Chronicle related that the first person named Swartout to serve in the Revolution was Cornelius, son of Johannes and Neeltje van der Bogaerdt Swartwout, of Poughkeepsie Precinct. He served in the Third Reg*ment from Ulster under Colonel James Clinton.

The Provincial Congress authorized the raising of two regiments of Minute Men in Dutchess County. On September 2, 1775, Captain Jacobus Swartwout was appointed as field officer of one of the battalions, advancing to the rank of colonel. Others of the designated officers included John Bailey, lieutenant colonel; Malcolmn Morrison and Henry Schneck, majors; Joshua Carman, Jr., adjutant and Henry Godwin, quartermaster. Officers of the other battalion were: John Van Ness, colonel; Cornelius Humphrey, lieutenant colonel; Robert G. Livingston, Jr. and James Reed, majors; Reuben Hopkins, adjutant and Joseph Ketcham, Jr., quartermaster.

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The sixth person of the Swartwouts to become an active participant in the war was Lieutenant Abraham Swartwout of Poughkeepsie, who was appointed captain of one of four regiments.

Turning to a history-making incident reported by county historian Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken in his "Old Dutchess Forever," Captain Abraham Swartwout was disclosed to be the member of the family who contributed his blue cloak "to form the field of stars in the first star spangled flag of the United States carried in battle." This was at Fort Stanwix, where the Dutchess regiment was stationed, Dr. MacCracken said, adding that Swartwout, "being a thrifty Dutchman, decided to put a bill in for eight shillings for his cloak, 'for the colors,' as he put it." Thus did Abraham Swartwout enter history, the county historian noted.

The youngest of the Swartwouts to join the military was Barnardus, only son of Captain Barnardus, born in New York City, September 26, 1761. He enFsted in November, 1776, a month after he became 16. And he joined Colonel Jacobus Swartwout's regiment encamped at Fishkill.

An early figure placed Colonel Swartwout's total number of men at 364, among five regiments under the then Brigadier General George anton. However, accounts from the "Public Papers of George Clinton, Vol. 5" show that eventually Colonel Swartwout had command of a brigade of militia numbering as many as 1,586 officers and rank and file enlisted men.

This total was accounted for in a report of June 3, 1779, entitled the "Return of a Brigade of Militia of the County of Dutchess under the Command of Jacobus Swartwout, Colonel, commanding. The brigade had been assigned to defend the "Passes at Wiccopee" of the Highlands. Seven colonels serving under Swartwout in that one command included: Morris Graham, John Frear, John Field, Roswell Hopkins, Henry Luddenton (family name now known as Ludington, after which Ludingtonville hamlet on the new Route 84, Putnam County, was named) ; Abraham Brinckerhoff and James Van Der Burgh.

Jacobus Swartwout was one of the first assemblymen elected from Dutchess County to serve in Governor Clinton's first administration. Others elected from Dutchess and inducted into office at Kingston July 9, 1777, were: Egbert Benson, Dirck Brinckerhoff, Anthony Hoffman, Gilbert Livingston, Andrew Morehouse and John Schneck. Governor Clinton and the Council of Safety administered the government pending the organizat'on of the Legislature September 10.

Swartwout was so well thought of in a civil, as well as military capacity, that he was also elected a State Senator, after serving in the lower branch of the Legislature. He was a senator from 1784 through 1795.

Swartwout had served as assemblyman before receiving his commission as brigad'er general, March 3, 1780, placing him in command of a brigade of militia of Dutchess County.

Twenty-nine members of the Swartwout family served as officers in the Revolution.

Apparently a conservative in politics, Jacobus Swartwout, although winning highest possible recognition in a local area command, was

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among delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convent:on of 1783, at Poughkeepsie, who voted against ratification. He, like Governor Clinton, upheld the states' rights position, which although not prevail:rig to defeat ratification, ultimately was believed to be an important factor resulting in the adoption of the Bill of Rights.

Jacobus Swartwout was a "tough Dutchman," as historian MacCracken has character.zed him. He lived during a per*od whel toughness was demanded in war and the first stages of constitutional government. He, like Governor Clinton, from a statewide standpoint, was a well respected leader in his home county.

The photographs of Jacobus Swartwout and of his residence, now the resid-nce of Mr. and Mrs. Edward V. V. Cunningham, are through the courtesy of the Melzingah Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution National Society. The photographs were taken from the Swartwout Family Chronical at the Madam Brett House.

Travelling.— On Wednesday of last week there were two hundred passengers landed at this place from the day boats. Upwards of one hundred and fifty of these passengers, besides other travellers, dined at the Poughkeepsie Hotel on the same day. The regular travel to and through our town is three times as great this season as it has been at any former period. The Poughkeepsie Eagle, July 1, 1835

AN OPINION. One of the "old inhabitants" of Poughkeepsie, a capitalist, a property holder and a gentleman who delights to give his opinions on things generally, visited the Collingwood Opera House yesterday and after viewing it, remarked that "Poughkeepsie is now within a mile and a half of hell." The Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, January 16, 1869

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THE REFORMED CHURCHES OF DUTCHESS COUNTY 1716- 1966

Baltus B. Van Kleeck

The Reformed Churches of Poughkeepsie and Fishkill celebrated during the year the 250th anniversary of the founding of the two churches. Established in 1716, they were the first churches of any denomination in Dutchess County, and these two original Reformed Churches as well as the others that followed, have been important factors in the areas of the County which they have served.

A vast majority of the early settlers in the Hudson Valley were of Dutch birth or of Dutch descent; so it was natural that the people of the river settlements looked to Holland and the Classis of Amsterdam for the establishment oi Dutch Reformed Churches as the various communities grew.

The first Dutch Reformed Church in America dated back to 1628 when the Collegiate Chu:::ch of New York was organized. The Collegiate Church of New Yor c is an association of churches possessing common revenues administered under the joint pastorate of several ministers. The Collegiate Church o:E New York is believed to be the oldest church of any denomination in America. Other early Dutch Reformed Churches were Fort Orange, now Albany, 1642, followed by Kingston in 1659, New Paltz 1683, and Kinderhook 1712.

It was on October 10, 1716, that Dominie Petrus Vas, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church of Kingston, installed the first consistory of the Poughkeepsie church, two elders, Michael Parmentier and Peter DuBois, and two deacons, Elias Van Benschoten and Peter Parmentier. Dominie Vas then journeyed on to Fishkill and installed the first consistory of that church.

In 1716 records show that Dutchess County contained but 455 inhabitants, 67 "heads o:E families."

Several years elapsed before the two churches called a pastor, public worship continuing with the reading of a sermon by a layman, and when possible a neighboring minister visited the churches to administer the Lord's Supper and the sacrament of baptism. In 1730 the congregations of the two churches united in calling a pastor. Finding none in this country available, they sought advice of several Dutch Reformed pastors in Holland. A document dated April 13, 1730, signed by Peter Parmentier, Johannes Van Kleeck, Laurens Van Kleeck, and Myndert Van den Bogart representing Poughkeepsie, and Peter DuBois, Abraham Buys, Abraham Brinckerhaff and Hendrick Phillips of the Fishkill church, presented a call for a minister to a small group of clergymen in Holland.'> A year later word was received that a selection had been made and that the Reverend Cornelius Van Schie would sail for America in June.

After a voyage of three months Dominie Van Schie reached New York on September 9, 1731, and was met by the Reverend Gaulterus DuBois, one of the pastors of the Collegiate Church of New York. Records of the two Dutchess County churches show that Pastor Van

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THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH FISHKILL, NEW YORK Founded 1716 Photograph courtesy Poughkeepsie Journal

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Schie was introduced to the consistories at the residence of Deacon Laurens Van Kleeck and that he was "welcomed heartily."

In the meantime the first edifice of the Poughkeepsie Dutch Reformed Church had been completed in 1723 on land conveyed in 1716 to the church by Jacobus Van den Bogart and described as follows: "Scituated Lyieng in pochkeepsing and butted and Boundett on the Nord Sid to the Rood that runs to the Eastard, on the west along the Rood that runs to the Sout, in length one hunderid and fifty foot, and in breth one hunderid and fifty foot, being a four squaer Lodt." The boundry "Rood to the Eastard" is present day Main Street, that described as "Rood to the Sout" is present day Market Street. In other words the first Dutch Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie was built at the southeast corner of Main and Market Streets. The small structure was of wood, and no doubt was built by the labor of many members of the congregation.

The original church on the south side of Main Street proved not large enough for the congregation's needs, and in 1760 a building committee was appointed, charged with planning a new church and the raising of funds for that purpose. It was decided to purchase land on the north side of "East Lane" (Main Street), opposite the site of the first church, land owned by Mr. Gale Yelverton. The property had a frontage on Main Street of about fifty feet but after a depth of sixty feet, became much wider and continued in a northerly direction for a total depth of about four hundred feet. The new church was built of stone and faced Main Street, but back from the street line about ninety feet. The area around ar d to the rear of the building became a burial ground. The actual location of the church is clearly shown on a map of the Baltus Van Kleeck lomestead made by Henry Livingston, dated May 1800. The ground Floor of the church contained three aisles with thirty pews, and there was a gallery across the back and down the entire lengths of the east and west walls. The Master's book of the church mentions "386 sittings, one pew always reserved for the Magistrates." This second edifice of the Reformed Church remained standing and in use until 1822 when it was torn down and the Main Street frontage was offered under a ground lease for the development of mercantile buildings. The rear portion of the land continued to be used as a cemetery for many yea:1-5.

Evidently the church on the north side of Main Street had become inadequate for the requirements of the congregation in the growing community, for on January 9, 1822, consistory recommended to the congregation that steps be taken immediately to build a new church "to accommodate the congregation." A committee of five members was appointed to select a suitable site and to plan a new edifice. Two months later the congregation met and approved a recommendation of the building committee to build the new church on the "east side of the parsonage lot." Some years prior to 1822 the Dutch Reformed Church had acquired a piece of land on the south side of Main Street at the top of the hill, property that now is identified as the southwest corner of Main Street and Little Washington Street. The latter street did not exist at that time and joined Main and Union Streets many years later.

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A small frame house which served as a parsonage stood on the lot. It was voted to build a new parsonage on the westerly portion of the land and to place the church "at the top of the hill."

During construction of the third edifice of the Reformed Church, the Supervisors of Dutchess County gave the congregation permission to use the Court Room for church services. Nearly a year later, December 16, 1822, the church consistory met and Colonel Henry A. Livingston, chairman of the building committee, reported the new edifice completed and delivered the keys to the Reverend Dr. Cuyler, the pastor. Consistory returned thanks to Colonel Livingston and his committee "for the intelligent, unwearied, and economical manner in which the duties had been performed," and also thanked the Supervisors of the County "for the kindness in granting to the congregation, free of rent or charge, the use of the Court Room for holding public worship."

The 1822 Reformed Church was built of brick with a lofty tower in the center of the north or front wall. Originally the pulpit was at the north end of the church, but in 1854 the interior was changed, the pulpit moved to the south end and the pews reversed. The third Reformed Church had a rather short life for it was destroyed by fire on Sunday, January 18, 1857, shortly after the conclusion of the morning service. The Weekly Eagle of January 24, 1857, carried the story under a headline "FEARFUL FIRE:" "On Sunday last, at about half past twelve o'clock, in the midst of a strong north wind and cold almost unendurable, our citizens were alarmed by the ring of an alarm of fire. . . . there was a prompt rally from all quarters, when it was found that the roof of the First Reformed Church was on fire. The flames were increasing with fearful rapidity, fanned to a fury by continuous blasts of wind. Efforts to save the church had to be abandoned, and attention directed to the buildings around that were in great danger from the sparks that were flying in all directions. The entire roof, being composed of cedar shingles laid on pine backing, sent up a mass of red flames, the extent and grandure of which can hardly be imagined. As the flames got hold of the steeple, they ascended with a rapidity that occupied but a few minutes until the red volume shot up to the summit, presenting a fearful column of fire far up toward the clouds. Down came the lofty spire with a tremendous crash, the old bell and clock perished with the rest."

Many years later, 1893, Dr. Van Gieson, pastor of the church published a short history of the church and recounted a story about the fire. At the morning service that day a Presbyterian clergyman was in the pulpit, and after preaching the sermon, prayed that the church might become "a burning and shining light" in the community. Dr. Van Gieson comments: "Not a few of the congregation, remembering his petition, expressed surprise that it should have been answered so soon and in such an unexpected manner."

Immediately after the destruction of the church an offer from the Second Reformed Church tendering the use of their house of worship to the congregation of the First Reformed Church until a new building could be erected. The consistory of the First Reformed Church accepted

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temporary shelter and at the same time voted to rebuild on the same site a church to replace the one destroyed.

The Second Reformed Church had been organized in 1847 chiefly by members of the First Reformed Church and others who were residents of the fast growing Poughkeepsie north of Main Street, the Mansion Street and Mill Street section, presently the Third and Fifth Wards. The congregation of the Second Reformed Church had purchased land on Mill Street at the northeast corner of Mill and Catherine Streets and there had constructed a handsome brick church and a parsonage. The Second Reformed Church was an important Poughkeepsie church for many years. One of the pastors of prominence was Dr. William Bancroft Hill who was appointed to the faculty of Vassar College and served the college for many years.

To replace the edifice destroyed by fire, the First Reformed Church built its fourth church, a very handsome brick building with a clock tower. It had a high vaulted ceiling, a broad center aisle and with balconies extending across, the rear and down both the east and west walls. The pulpit was of very graceful design and when the church was opened on Septembei 7, 1858, the structure was hailed as one of the finest church buildings in the Hudson Valley. It served a large congregation for many years, and for the greater part of its use was under the pastorship of Dr. A. P. Van Gieson who came to Poughkeepsie in 1867 and continued as pastor until his death in 1906. There was no individual in the area who was better known or more admired than Dr. Van Gieson. He was revered and loved by every congregation of every faith, and his counsel and his advice were sought not only by Poughkeepsie residents but also by those living in the entire Hudson Valley.

During the early years of this century, a marked change in the residential portion of Poughkeepsie took place. Business buildings replaced many of the homes in the western and northern portions of the city, and the automobile allowed families to build new homes at a distance from their places of business. As Poughkeepsie grew in population the churches, such as the First Reformed Church on Main, Street, found a marked shrinkage in membership, and felt an inability to attract young people who were establishing homes in the southeastern sections of the city and in the adjoining townships.

Dr. Clifford P. Case had succeeded Dr. Van Gieson as pastor of the First Reformed Church, and he advocated the joining of the two Reformed Churches, and as soon as feasible, the acquiring of suitable land for the construction of a new church that would serve the residential areas for many years in the future. The first meeting of the two congregations was he: d in the autumn of 1912 and it was evident that an overwhelming majority of the members favored a merger. For the next several months the consistories of the churches met and worked out the plans of consolidation. It was agreed that the Main StreetWashington Street property should be placed on the market and that the Second Reformed Church should be used for worship until a new church could be constructed. Dr. Case was invited to become the pastor

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of the merged churches and he accepted the call. Final services at the First Reformed Church were held on October 12, 1913.

It was not until the summer of 1921 that the new church was commenced, the delay being caused in a large measure to the years of the first World War. Dr. Case had passed away in the spring of 1920, and. Dr. J. Addison Jones was called to the Reformed Church in September of that year. The site chosen for the edifice was the corner of Hooker and Hanscom Avenues, and the cornerstone was laid on October 15, 1921. The handsome fieldstone church of Gothic design was .dedicated and occupied on January 7, 1923. An addition of the spacious area for the Church School has completed, for the time being, the building program. The Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie is one of the leading churches in the community. The Reverend Franklin J. Hinkamp is the minister of the church, having been called to Poughkeepsie in 1945.

The Reformed Church of Fishkill was buillt in 1731, fifteen years after the organization, on land still occupied by the church. The original building probably was square, built of stone, and with a gambrel roof surmounted by a short spire. The spire contained a bell and was capped by a weathercock. Land was deeded by Cathryna Brett, the daughter of Francis Rombout, one of the original partners of the Rombout Patent (1683), to Jacob DuBois, an elder of the church. This transfer took place in 1759, and at about the some time adjoining land was purchased by the church from Obadiah Cooper and his wife. The title of the Brett property remained in Mr. DuBois' name until 1790 when the title passed to the minister, elders and deacons of the First Protestant Church of the Town of Fishkill. During the Revolution the church was the scene of the 1776 Prov:ncial Convention when it was necessary for the delegates to flee from White Plains as the British advanced into Westchester County. In the war years the building was used to confine prisoners of war, and it is said that Enoch Crosby of James Fenimore Cooper's "The Spy" escaped from this military prison.

Following the Revolution the church became too small for the needs of the congregation and also it was in some disrepair. In 1785 it was decided to rebuild the old edifice, and Jacobus S wartwout acted as chairman of a committee to draw up plans and to raise the necessary funds for the project. Some of the walls and materials were used in the reconstructed building which was complete and ready for use some years later. In the next several years further changes were made, the central door being installed on the east side and columns for the support of the gallery added. In 1854 new pews were placed in the church and an arched ceiling and pulpit alcove built.

To celebrate the 250th birthday of the Fishkill Church, the members of the congregation as well as visitors from far and near enjoyed many interesting events. The minister, the Reverend Arthur W. Landon, opened the celebration on October 9th at the Sunday service by outlining the early history of the church and telling about many of the people who helped establish and build the church. On another "Homecoming" Sunday several of the former ministers of the Fishkill Church participated in the service and the old edifice was filled to capacity.

The Reformed Church of Fishkill is located in a village and in

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surrounding country that is full of history. It is doubtful that there are any buildings in Dutchess County still in use that pre-date the old church of 1731, and it continues to be, under the leadership of the Reverend Arthur Landon, a very vital part of the community.

In addition to the two churches, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill which were the original Reformed Dutch churches in Dutchess County, there are seven others of the denomination as follows: Rhinebeck (1731), Hopewell (1757), New Hackensack (1758), St. John's, Upper Red Hook (1788), Hyde Park (1792), Glenham (1837), Arlington (1910). The Federated Church of Millbrook is a result of a merger of the Reformed Church of Millbrook (1866) with the Friend's Meeting and the Methodist Church of Millbrook. Several other Reformed churches that were established in Dutchess County were discontinued or changed to other denom::nations many years ago.

The succession of ministers of the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill churches shows the two churches shared a minister from 1731 until 1774, in fact for a period they shared two pastors, 1765-1772, the Reverend Hendricus Schoonmaker and the Reverend Isaac Rysdyck. At that time a great controversy was raging in the entire Dutch Reformed denomination, and its effect was felt for some years thereafter. There were two parties known as the "Coetus" and the "Conferentie," and the issue was one of ecclesiastical independence. The Dutch Churches in America were dependencies of the Church of Holland and had no ecclesiastical body higher than the church consistory, no power of procuring a minister except through the Church of Holland. In fact a young man, born in America, was forced to journey to Holland to become ordained, a long, expensive and time consuming procedure.

Hendricus Schoonmaker was born in Ulster County in 1739 and studied for the ministry under the Reverend J. H. Goelschius of New Paltz. He was called to the Poughkeepsie-Fishkill churches in 1763 by the group called the "Coetus," consisting for the most part of the younger men of the churches. The call was vigorously opposed by the "Conferentie," those who would not consider breaking away from the mother church and who deemed it nothing less than sacrilege to consider a minister who had not been ordained in Holland. The difference of opinion resulted in a call being sent to Holland by the "Conferentie" and answered by the assignment by the Church of Holland of the Reverend Isaac Rysdyck to the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill churches. His arrival and installation took place in 1765.

When the Reverend Mr. Schoonmaker presented himself for installation as minister, the opposing party took possession of the church in Poughkeeps'e and the young minister's installation service took place under an apple tree at the parsonage lot. Perhaps the Dutchess County churches did not suffer as severely as others during the years of contention where but a single church was involved. The records of the two Dutchess County churches indicate that the two ministers preached on alternate Sundays in Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. In each place the party favoring the preacher would attend the service, the opposing party stayed at home. The services continued without interruption, and as far as it can be determined, the two pastors always remained very

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good friends, allowing the members of the congregation to carry on the bitter battle. It was many years before the factions became reconciled and the injury wrought by the contention was repaired, even though in 1771 a suitable plan of Union was accepted by the meeting of ministers and members of consistory representing the Reformed Churches in America, held in New York.

In 1774 the congregations of the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill Dutch Reformed Churches agreed to dissolve the union of the two churches, and each church sought its own minister. The succession of ministers of both churches as recorded is as follows:

POUGHKEEPSIE AND FISHKILL Cornelius Van Schie 1731-1733 Benjamin Meynema 1745-1756 Jacobus Van Nist 1758-1761 Hendricus Schoonmaker 1763-1774 Isaac Rysdyck 1765-1772 POUGHKEEPSIE FISHKILL

Stephen Van Voorhees 1773-1766 Isaac Blauvelt 1783-1790

Solomon Froeligh 1776-1780 Nicko:as Van Vracken 1791-H04

John H. Livingston 1781-1783 Cornelius Westbrook 180 6-183 0

Andrew Gray 1790-1794 George Fisher 1830-1835

Cornelius Cuyler 1809-1833 Francis Kip 1836-1870

Samuel A. Van Vranken 1834-1837 Asher Anderson 1875-1880

Alexander M. Mann 1838-1857 M. Bros Thomas 1881-1888

George M. McEckran 1858-1867 Benjamin Dickhaut 1889-1896

Acmon P. Van Gieson 1867-1906 Abel Henry Hu'zinga 1895-1905

Clifford P. Case 1906-1920 John Reginal Duffield 1905-1910

J. Addison Jones 1920-1945 Cornelius Vandermel 1910-1916

Franklin J. Hinkamp 1945- Charles Herge 1916-1931 Robert White 1932 Alexander Wouters 1932-1938 Earle Van Arsdale 1939-1942 John E. Lovejoy 1942-1948 Robert M. Runge 1950-1954 Kenneth E. Vos 1954-1962 Arthur W. Landon 1962-

Note 1. The first call for a pastor of the Poughkeepsie and Fishkill churches, written in the Dutch language, is recorded in the books of both churches. The following translation, probably by Dr. A. P. Van Gieson, was published in a book written by birn in 1893, entitled "History of the First Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie."

"Copy of the Power of Attorney Call to the Very Reverend Messrs. Herm, Van de Wal, Joh. Hegelis, Leonard Beels, and Tibs. Reytsma for a preacher for Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill."

As the inhabitants of this beautiful and fruitful region under God's goodness are still daily increasing in number, and in particular the descendants of those who several years since coming out one after another from Holland chose this country for their dwelling place, and avowed themselves to be members of the Low Dutch Reformed Church;

So also the congregations of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill (lying along the North River on the east side, the southernmost part consisting of the Fishkill about twelve, and the northernmost of Poughkeepsie, sixteen Dutch miles from New York), are under God's providence so increased that they constitute a reasonable number of church members (howbeit still very few in number, patt*cu'arly at the Fishkill), who on each Lord's Day attend the public worship of God under the reading of a sermon, etc., hitherto established at either village, while one and another neighboring Low Dutch Reformed

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minister, thereto invited by us at certain times in the year, administer the Holy Sacraments. But earnestly desiring that we, like other congregations, may be able to enjoy the blessedness of the preaching of the Word of God and what appertains thereto by a pastor and teacher settled among us, to the end that thereby both old and young may be 'better advanced in the right knowledge of the pure doctrine of the gospel, that we may more regularly observe our becoming worship, and that the more zealous confirmation of the true faith in Christ with true godliness may be encouraged, etc., which, above all, is among us in the highest degree necessary, because they are so many who are as sheep having no Shepherd:

Therefore all the members of the congregations of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill have agreed with each other to call from Holland a preacher for both congregations. Likewise they have thereto authorized us, the undersigned Elders and Deacons of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill, for the forwarding of this pious work; and we to this end, from every one of the aforesaid members and other residents joined with us, have received a voluntary subscription for a certain sum for the making up of a sufficient yearly salary for a Low Dutch Reformed minister, according to our small ability; but in the goodness of God they are now so increasing that it seems to us that it will in a short time be much greater.

Accordingly, after taking counsel and advice from several ministers of the Low Dutch Reformed Church in this land, we, in our ecclesiastical assembly, after calling on the name of God, have resolved to convey to you, very Rev. Sirs, Herm. Van de Wal, John Hegelis, Leonard Beels and Tib Reitsima, these presents of authority for the calling of a Low Dutch Reformed minister for our congregations. We therefore also with these our presents of authority do convey to you, very Rev. Sirs, Herm. Van de Wal, John Hagelis, Leonard Beels, and Tib. Reitsima, all requisite authority, right, and power, that as wholly representing us for the Low Dutch Reformed congregations of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill in the province of New York under the crown of Great Britain in America, you, either unanimously or by a majority of your whole number, may call an orthodox, suitable and edifying Low Dutch Reformed ordained pastor and preacher to undertake among us the preaching of the gospel, the catechetical instruction, and the administration of the Holy Sacraments according to the institution of Christ, and jointly with the officers of the Churches to exercise diligently and prudently the Church discipline, and further to do all that is required by and appertains to the office of a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, according to God's Holy Word, and the good order of the Church, after the manner of the Synod of Dort, Anno 1618 and 1619, and the custom prevailing in the Low Dutch Reformed churches in this country. And in particular, in order to a somewhat more exact definition of his service with us, the preacher who, through you, Rev. Sirs, shall thus be called for our congregations, shall, health permitting:1st. On each Lord's Day preach twice, and in the afternoon treat a catechetical subject according to the Heidelberg Catechism. 2nd. His Reverence shall on the first Sunday preach at Poughkeepsie, and on the next at the Fishkill, and so shall continue by turns.

N.B. The two Churches are situated about two and a half Dutch miles distant from each other. 3rd. In the wAiter time, from the first Sunday in November to the first Sunday in March, on account of the wide dispersion of the people and their dwellings, there shall be preaching only once on each Lord's Day; and also, according to custom, on the first and second days of Christmas time, likewise on the New Year and Ascension Day and an Easter and Whitsunday. 4th. At least six months in the year his Reverence shall every week catechise in the neighborhood in which there was preaching on Sundays, at such time and place as may be most agreeable to him. 5th. The Lord's Supper shall be administered four times a year, equally for both congregations, to wit:—twice in Poughkeepsie and twice in the Fishkill, or oftener, as the Consistories and the preacher may deem advisable. 6th. The preparatory service is as often to be held on Thursdays before

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the Lord's Supper, and the Thanksgiving service in the afternoons following the mornings on which the Lord's Supper shall be administered. 7th. The pastoral visiting shall be attended to at least twice a year, once for each village, at the most suitable time decreed by the consistories.

That now you, Rev. Sirs, may seek out for our congregations such a suitable man (being a person either married or unmarried and not more than thirty-two years old) and move him to the undertaking of this service, we thus promise his Reverence:1st. The sum of seventy pounds, New York money, each year for the first five successive years, and then from the sixth year eighty pounds, New York money, a year. 2nd. These sums shall be paid to his Reverence during his faithful ministry among us by the Elders and Deacons, or their order, the just half to be promptly paid each half year. 3rd. The time of his salary shall begin with the lifting of the anchor of the ship on which he shall sail hither from Amsterdam. 4th. Furthermore his Reverence with his family shall also enjoy free passage. 5th. He shall reside either in Poughkeepsie or in Fishkill, or thereabout, as shall be found most fit and to his best satisfaction, and in such place both congregations shall, at the first opportunity, build for him a suitable dwelling and from time to time shall keep it in good repair. 6th. The congregation with whom he chooses to live shall furnish him sufficient firewood for summer and winter from year to year, to be piled by his house. 7th. The congregations shall at his coming present him with a suitable horse, bridle and saddle, but afterwards, he shall provide himself with a horse for all necessary going about in his ministry among his people. Therefore shall the congregations present his Reverence from year to year three pounds additional money, three morgens of pasture, also a garden in suitable fence, and at the first opportunity shall plant an orchard with a hundred fruit trees. 8th. Also, whenever he preaches or renders any other service in that portion where he is not residing, he shall be provided with free lodging and board for the time being.

All this, we, the undersigned Elders and Deacons of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill promise to his Reverence:— (A.) According to the written subscription and the voluntary obligation of the members of both congregations and of other residents with us being sufficient for the full making up of the aforesaid salary. (B.) And for the prompt fulfillment of all these we oblige and bind ourselves "qualitate qua," i.e., as present Elders and Deacons, likewise that the same shall be done by all and every one who after us from time to time shall be called to be Elders and Deacons of our congregations, and that before that they shall be installed in their respective offices, to wit, by subscribing also this instrument of calling (according to the custom here in several congregations in these parts), in pursuance of the action taken by all who among us have ever been invested with the office of Elder and Deacon. (C.) Also both congregations of one accord have obliged themselves by signature that the union between Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill shall not be dissolved in other than an ecclesiastical manner, under the superintendence of at least two ministers of the most Rev. Classis of Amsterdam, or some preachers in this land called from Amsterdam and corresponding with the most Rev. Classis of Amsterdam, and chosen thereto with the consent of both congregations, and that under approbation of the Rev. Classis of Amsterdam.

This then being our sincere intent and complete authority thus according to all the aforesaid to call a suitable and edifying minister for our congregations, we pray the Great Shepherd of the sheep, our Great God and Saviour, who by His Spirit gathers His flock under the ministry of the gospel in all places and out of all people, that He may be pleased to follow these terms of our call with His blessing, to that end humbly requesting that you, very Rev. Sirs, out of consideration of the great needs of our congregations, be pleased to take the trouble to seek out and find a suitable man for our congre-

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gations, and having found him to move him to accept the ministry and to come to us at the first suitable and convenient time, see:ng that a zealous servant of Jesus Christ may here win a good harvest for the extension of His Kingdom and the glorifying of His name.

Assuring him who comes to us as our pastor and teacher that we shall hold his Reverence in such esteem, love, and honor as is due to an upright minister, we shall await his coming with desire, and pray God to make prosperous ways for him. Meanwhile we will always acknowledge your good service to us with gratitude, and will pray God that He may crown with His favor and follow with His blessings your persons, ministry and families, to the magnifying of Hs most Holy name in the winning and saving of many souls. Amen. Signed:

FOR POUGHKEEPSIE THE DEACONS THE ELDERS

LAURENS VAN KLEECK, PIETER PARMENTIER, HIS JOHANNES VAN KLEECK. M. VAN DE (X) BOGAART, MARK

FOR FISHKILL ABRAHAM BRINKERHOFF, PIETER DUBOYS, HIS ABRAHAM BUYS. HENDRIX (X) PHILLIPS, MARK

Further signed:

I, the undersigned, testify, as correspondent thereto invited, that this subscribing is done after calling on God's name in the ecclesiastical meeting of the Elders and Deacons of the united Churches of Poughkeepsie and the Fishkill, the 13th of April, A.D., 1730.

VINCENTIUS ANTONIDES,

Minister at Flatbush, etc., on the Long Island.

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THE FEDERAL PERIOD IN DUTCHESS COUNTY 1789- 1825 BACKGROUND AND ARCHITECTURE

Baltus B. Van KIeeck,

The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 provided a gateway to the West and insured New York's position as the Empire State with the Hudson River as a principal channel of communication. The maiden voyage of the steam powered Clermont in 1807 and the building of turnpikes back from the River to the hinterlands in the early 1800's.. were other important strides in transportation which greatly enhanced the economic development of the State and the Hudson. :Valley in the Federal period. The first regular stagecoach had begun operating between Albany and New York in 1785, only 40 years before the opening of the Canal.

New York had stood fifth in population in 1790, ranking behind Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. In the following three decades, New York's population increased fourfold from 340,000 to 1,372,000, largest among the states, and it became the biggest port in the country. Massive immigration, especially from New England, and the distribution of Tory and other large landholdings encouraged settlement and stimulated economic growth. For example, the River town of Catskill had eight houses and one sloop in 1792. Only eight years later, it was a thriving village of 156 houses with eight sloops and a schooner to help transport local produce.

Throughout the Federal period, New York remained predominantly an agricultural community. The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars caused severe economic dislocations in Europe and created export demand for American farm produce, especially wheat. But in the' Hudson Valley, a sh'ft from raising grain to dairy farming began with the Embargo of 1807 and accelerated with the movement of low cost western grain through the Erie Canal. The rise of important commercial and shipping interests in New York City to handle this trade was a natural consequence and excess capital generally found its way into such activities rather than into domestic manufacturing. While the relative power of the landed aristocracy declined with economic growth and the surge of population, great new fortunes like Astor and Vanderbilt, founded on trade and transportation, were developing and in time would leave their mark on the Hudson Valley.

The political influence of the landed families, who were mainly of Federalist persuasion, had been gradually declining even before the Revolution and this trend continued after ratification of the Federal Constitution in Poughkeepsie in 1788. The delegates to the Poughkeepsie Convenfon were anti-Federalist by more than two to one but the vote for ratification carried in the face of a threat of secession by New York City and the southern counties. Anti-Federalist sentiment of the

*Baltus B. Van Kleeck, Jr., is a graduate of the Oakwood School, Poughkeepsie, and Princeton University. He is a resident of the Town of Milan, Dutchess County.

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Clintonians continued strong throughout the period when George Clinton and his nephew, Dewitt Clinton, dominated State politics. George Clinton came from Newburgh, an area noted for its relatively small but prosperous farms, and was governor during most of the last quarter of the 18th century. He was succeeded in influence by Dewitt Clinton who was instrumental in the building of the Erie Canal.

With the death of Hamilton in 1804, the Federalist Party itself ceased to be a power in State politics. But if this group suffered by comparison with colonial times in its influence on the affairs of New York State, it also provided many distinguished public servants to the new Federal government, notably Hamilton and John Jay.

The people who built and lived in the outstanding Federal houses in the Mid-Hudson Valley were by no means typical of the population at large. Many of them had town houses in New York and sometimes Albany and did not use their country places year around. Although • diminishing at the time, slavery was still widespread, and the country seats were well staffed with servants. The places of the old families with agrarian and commercial interests in the neighborhood tended to be self-sufficient but this was less true of the summer country seats of the New York merchants. In addition to the landed aristocracy and merchants, there were a number of country seats owned by men like Morgan Lewis and John Armstrong who had distinguished themselves in the Revolution and often later made a career of politics.

These people were rich, often well educated, and comprised a small segment of society which could afford the leisure of landed gentry. Quite often their name was Livingston or they were related to that remarkable family which itself was tied by marriage with other great landed families of the Valley, notably the Beekmans, the Schuylers and the Van Rensselaers. A single generation of one branch of the family, Chancellor Livingston's, will illustrate the background of this society.

When Chancellor Robert Livingston sailed up the Hudson on the Clermont's maiden voyage, he could view on the east bank between Staatsburgh and his own Clermont a number of distinguished houses recently built by members of his immediate family. Many more distant relatives lived on this stretch and to the north and south of it. One brother-in-law had been Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court and served two terms as governor. Another served two terms as assemblyman and eight terms in the State Senate before becoming Secretary of State for New York. A third was a famous Methodist circuit rider. Still another was serving as Minister to France after being a United States Senator and would later become Secretary of War during the War of 1812. The Chancellor's brother Edward, the eminent jurist, was Mayor of New York, a Congressman and United States Senator, Minister to France and Secretary of State under Jackson.

The Chancellor himself was a delegate from New York to the Continental Congress of 1775-1777 and later served with Franklin, Jefferson, Roger Sherman and John Adams on the committee which drafted the Constitution. As Chancellor of New York, he administered the oath of office to Washington in 1789. He was later Minister of France and negotiated (with James Monroe) the Louisiana Purchase

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in 1803. He assisted the experiments in the steam engine of his brotherin-law John Stevens and was a financial backer of Robert Fulton.

In size, influence and distinction, the Livingston family surpassed all others and was in fact a dominant force in the upper class society of the day. It was, nevertheless, representative of many of the State's leading families who built houses near the shores of the Hudson at this time.

In the early part of the Federal era, New York City was swept by recurrent epidemics of yellow fever, and landholders and speculators up the River were not slow to advertise the benefits of the bucolic life to the city's merchants. Several important houses that survive today were built by the merchants themselves and by the local landed aristocracy which often had close ties with commercial interests in New York. Many of these houses were built on the more hospitable east side of the River between Hyde Park on the south and Hudson on the north, affording their owners vistas of the River and the Catskill IVIountains beyond to the west.

While the significant houses of this period in the Hudson Valley are larger and more refined than those of the colonial times, they lack the polish of the best examples of Federal domestic architecture in the cities along the Atlantic Coast. The few architects of the time, many of them immigrants from Europe, practiced in the coastal centers; the Mid-Hudson Valley was distinctly provincial. Even where money was not a consideration, the lack of tools, materials, and trained craftsmen was widespread. Owner-builders often designed their own houses and supervised construction, using local materials and workmen and one or more of the many building guides which were usually of European origin. A local artisan might have served an apprenticeship in New York City and there were traveling craftsmen who specialized in various details. These men, however, were working from memory rather than from specific example.

The Federal house of the region was more consciously elegant than its colonial predecessor, but this added grandeur was accompanied by few comforts. It was common at this time to abandon the enclosed staircase which had proved useful in conserving warmth. But the coal grate and stove, introduced and adopted in Pennsylvania many years before, were little used and even disliked in the Hudson Valley well after 1800.

The two story house, a rarity in the Mid-Hudson Valley before the Revolution, was common after 1790 and the use of local brick for construction became more widespread. Lightness was an obvious characteristic in design, materials, colors and shapes. Furniture, too, became lighter and was often decorated with gilt and inlays. Plaster was used extensively and in delicate detail. Panelling declined and wallpaper became fashionable. A few examples of hung wallpaper of the period survive.

The typical Federal house of a prosperous citizen in the Hudson

Valley measured 55 feet across the front and 45 feet deep, large by then prevailing standards but modest by comparison with the mansions of the later part of the 18th century. The two story brick structure was

45

covered with a hipped roof and had four chimneys whose fireplaces were set at the center of the outside wall of the four principal downstairs rooms. Kitchens were in the basement or an attached structure. Numerous buildings surrounded the house including barns, stables, coach house, ice house, cider mill and carpenter shop, but, with changing needs, not many of these outbuildings survive to the present day.

Several of the outstanding houses of the Federal period are discussed below. In most cases, records do not indicate an exact date of construction and this is also true of the many porches, wings, alterations and detail of later years. We find only a few houses that remain substantially unaltered today.

SCHULYER HOUSE

Schuyler House, also known as "The Grove," was built by Philip J. Schuyler about 1795 on land acquired by Henry Beekman, an ancestor, in 1703 and passed down through several generations of heirs. A stone house, stone grist mill and saw mill existed before 1795 but do not survive. It is said, however, that stones from the grist mill were used for construction of two bridges over the Landsman's Kill which runs through the property.

The original Schuyler House was brick, nearly square in proportions and two full stories high. In the 19th century wings were added to the north, south, and east and a third story and porch were also built, but the dimensions of the original house are still clearly defined. According to family tradition, Daniel Webster designed the library on the north side. Although substantial changes have been made over the years, two original mantels of typical Adamesque design remain in the north portion.

Philip J. Schuyler was the son of the noted Revolutionary War general, Philip Schuyler. Accord:ng to a family story, the huge black walnut tree on the west lawn results from a black walnut planted by the General on one of his visits to his son. This tree now measures 18 feet 3 inches in girth.

Schuyler House is owned by Bard College and used as a girls' dormitory. It is located at the junction of routes 9G and 308, one and one-half miles east of Rhinebeck.

HOUSE OF ROBERT SANDS

The Sands House is adjacent to Schuyler House and was built at about the same time, probably from the same plans. Robert Sands moved to Dutchess County in his early years from Long Island where Sands Point bears his family name. He married the widowed mother of Philip J. Schuyler's wife, Phoebe Carman Rutsen. There was a close association between the Schuyler and Sands families.

Robert Sands operated mills and a store on the Landsman's Kill, later added a dock and storehouse on the river front, and ran sloops for passengers and freight between Rhinecliff and New York City.

The house retains much of its early character and has been very

46

little altered over the years. The west porch was added in the later 1800's but the front door and brass knocker, some early panelled shutters on the downstairs windows, inset arches over the windows, quoins at the angles of the walls and dentil pattern at the eaves are all original. Inside many original mantels and details also remain, as does the basic plan of the house. The southwest corner of the basement contains two enclosures wh:ch it is said were used for unruly slaves. In these respects, it is the "purest" of the Federal houses discussed here.

The Sands house is now owned by Mrs. Rupert W. K. Anderson, a direct descendant of Robert Sands, and has never been out of the family.

WILDERCLIFF

Wildercliff was built in 1799 by the Reverend Freeborn Garrettson, a well known itinerant Methodist minister of the day who married Catherine Livingston, youngest of the six sisters of Chancellor Livingston, one month before her forty-first birthday. His career as a circuit rider covered 51 years and their home was a stopping place for Methodist ministers from all over the world.

The original house was clapboard, two stories, rectangular in shape with a gambrel roof. The downstairs was divided into four rooms of equal size and had no hallway. The entrance, now radically altered, was on the north side to a northwest room from which a fi ght of stairs led to the rooms above. The present location of the stairs is believed to be slightly different but the original hand rail remains. A good example of a mantel of the period is in the southwest parlor.

A veranda on the south was added between 1830 and 1850 and the east and west wIngs at a later date. The dormer windows to the south, with gambrel tops, were also added after 1850.

The name Wildercliff comes from two Dutch words, "wilden cliff," meaning "rock of the Indians." It refers to a worn and crude figure of an Indian cut in a rock on the shore of the River near the house. Early references to this rock mention two figures, one of which has long since worn away, but the origin and meaning of the figures remain a mystery. Another petroglyph, also of Indian figures but with carvings of different workmanship, exists on the west shore at Esopus six miles to the south and is believed to mark the northeast corner of the New Paltz patent.

Wildercliff, the home of Professor and Mrs. Frederick W. Dupee, commands an extensive view of the River to the south. It is located on Mill Road about three miles southwest of Rhinebeck.

IVIAIzEFIELD

Maizefield was built around 1795 and is shown on a map dated 1797 as the home of David Van Ness. The deed by which Van Ness took title to the property is missing and it is not known whether he built the house or acquired house and land together. It is typical of many Other brick houses of the period in dimensions and details, measuring 54 feet by 40 feet, with 10 foot nine inch ceilings, a center hall and

47

four large downstairs rooms approximately 19 feet square, each with a fireplace. The kitchen was in the basement until the 1930's.

The third floor, southwest extension, porches, french doors and a west wing now removed were 19th century additions along with much of the detail work and plaster decoration. An original mantel remains in the front-right downstairs room and the front door and frame, fireplace trim and door frames on the second floor are also of 1795. The staircase, originally in the rear of the center hall, was removed to the west wing and then replaced in the right center of the hallway in the 1930's when the west wing was torn down.

A member of a distinguished Columbia County family, Van Ness served as an officer in the Revolutionary War and later became a general in the militia, an assemblyman and state senator. He was probably a merchant in Upper Red Hook on the Columbia County line before his appointment as postmaster at about the time he acquired Maizefield and moved three miles south to Red Hook, known formerly as Hardscrabble and Lower Red Hook.

William P. Van Ness, a nephew, was the intimate friend of Aaron Burr and served as his second in the duel with Alexander Hamilton. A son, Jacob, is said to have carried the challenge to Hamilton and at least one historian claims Burr found refuge in Maizefield before his flight to South Carolina in July of 1807.

Maizefield, on West Market Street in the Village of Red Hook, is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eggert.

CALLENDAR HOUSE

Callendar House was built in 1794 by Henry G. Livingston, apparently as a speculative venture, and sold in 1795 to Philip Livingston, grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The house is described in an advertisement of January 1795 as measuring 56 feet across the front, 42 feet in depth, and two stories high with single wings at each side 22 feet square.

The general plan of the house is unaltered today although there have been a number of incidental changes. The siding, clapboard at first, is now stucco and the roof was originally hipped. The west veranda was added in the 1830's, partly blocking a palladian window over the west door. The wings, unusual at so early a date, are now two stories high.

Callendar House stands on an open bluff close to the river. The center hallway runs the fill width of the house and a visitor entering the front door on the east has an immediate and striking view of the river and mountains to the west through the windows framing the west door.

On the long south lawn running down to North Bay, stands a giant beech tree whose lower limbs trail on the ground, giving it an unusual rounded shape from top to bottom.

Callendar House, the home of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Osborn, is about one-half mile west of the Village of Tivoli.

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MONTGOMERY PLACE

Montgomery Place was built between 1802 and 1805 by Janet Livingston Montgomery, eldest of ten children of Judge Robert and Margaret Beekman Livingston and widow of General Richard Montgomery who was killed in the battle of Quebec in 1775. Mrs. Livingston, who survived her husband by 53 years, built one of the last stone houses in Dutchess County.

Montgomery Place is the only important house of the Federal period whose builder-owner was a woman. Originally two stories in height and rectangular in outline, it was extensively enlarged in 1844 by her sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Livingston, and again in 1863 by Mrs. Edward Livingston's daughter, Mrs. Barton. Both additions were made from plans and designs of the eminent architect, Alexander Jackson Davis. The north pavilion, west porch and south wing date from 1844, as do the formal gardens and much of the landscaping. The present east portico and terrace, the balustrade around the roof and most of the unusually elaborate and profuse detail work was done in 1863. The interior of the original house remains much as it was in the early 1800's and contains furnishings of the period, as well as wallpaper.

Andrew Jackson Downing, the Newburgh aesthete and landscape architect whose writings on landscaping defined the taste and style of the 1840's and 1850's, accorded the grounds his highest praise in his book Rural Essays; ". . . one of the most perfect flower gardens in the country . . . on the whole nowhere surpassed in point of location, natural beauty, or the landscape gardening charm it exhibits." The grounds and setting remain impressive today. There are extensive views of the River and mountains to the west and northwest.

Montgomery Place has passed by will through seven generations of owners and has never been sold. Now the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Wh:te Delafield, it is located about one mile off the River Road one mile north of Barrytown.

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EDUCATION: A MORAL DUTY The Views of Benson J. Lossing on Education as revealed in The Poughkeepsie Casket

Regina D. Fitzpatrick*

Described by Henry Noble MacCracken as ". . . the most productive of Dutchess penmen," Benson J. Lossing, LL.D., achieved, through his prodigious writing, the eminence of American Historian. More than forty volumes dealing with important historical events and people whose lives were significantly involved in the making of history were written by this singular, self-made man. It is of particular interest to note, however, that while Dr. Lossing received acclaim for his historical works, obscured in the shadow of his greater achievements are the earlier writings published in his literary magazine, The Poughkeepsie Casket. A study of the many essays contained in the fifty-two issues which came out semi-monthly for two years2 reveals the dedication of the young editor to lofty ideals and noble ambition. He wrote earnestly to uplift man's thinking and to direct his attention to a recognition of the individual's responsibility to self and society. It was in this manner that Benson J. Lossing strove to influence and promote the ideals of education.

Of his own formal education, very little can be said, for Benson Lossing, having been orphaned at eleven, attended common school in Beekman only until the age of fourteen. Immediately afterward, he was apprenticed to a watchmaker in Poughkeepsie.3 There he set out to learn not only the trade, but to acquire, in what must have been a self-styled plan of diligent study, the education which was to lay the foundation for his literary career. There are no facts written down to tell how the young man set about to devour the myriad of books he must have digested in his pursuit of knowledge. But it is conceivable that the proximly of the unique bookstore of Paradete Potter figured importantly in his sources of informat:on.

Dr. MacCracken in _Blithe Dutchess comments that the Book Store made a very good substitute for a school of adult education. "Schools were for the few, and good teachers hard to find."4 Potter's Bookstore, owned by the publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal, became a kind of political and literary club, for it drew to its reading room the politicians, the big businessmen, and the bankers. They came to read the New York papers and they stayed to discuss the issues of the times. Located at Main and Liberty Street, just around the corner and one block east from Market Street and Lossing's shop, Potter's must have tempted Benson to take every opportunity to be present to Isten to the lively debates, and to read the books for sale. Potter's books covered a broad range of interest, and Dr. MacCracken notes that "in 1830 books were big business in Dutchess."5 The books

*Mrs. Fitzpatrick is a graduate of study. She is a teacher of English Hunter College and is presently engaged at the Arlington Junior High School and in is graduate active in numerous community activities.

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available could have been those which equipped the self-styled student with the background in mythology, astronomy, history, botany, music, art, biography, and literature which is disclosed through his writings in the Casket.

Certainly the young apprentice had an eager and quick mind, for in just six years he was admitted in partnership with his employer; but he shortly abandoned the business to embark on a literary career with the Poughkeepsie Telegraph.6 Two years later he was given the responsibility to edit the Poughkeepsie Casket and herewith began his efforts to an-swer the challenge put to him. The Casket became for him an instrument of inspiration and instruction. It is impossible to read through the issues and not be struck by his concern for the nobility of man's thoughts and actions. In many ways his writings reflect the Emersonian Transcendentalism, for he likens man's actions to nature and extols the vital relationship of the natural to the supernatural. In a short <C . . . piece on "Happiness" he writes a plant of exquisite beauty; but that it it . . . is: is an exotic from a brighter sphere. It hath been transplanted into the garden of human nature . . . It is only within the heart where true piety hath prepared the soul that it flourishes in its pristine beauty, and it is from thence that its fragrance is exhaled, making the atmosphere of social life, redolent with the perfume of virtuous benevolence . . ."7

With such admonitions, Benson Lossing aimed at creating and sustaining in his follow:ng a right conscience. Undoubtedly it was through the ideal that within the pages of the Casket would lie the gems of thoughts and jewels of wisdom, that the name for the magazine was chosen.

Very early in the publications, in the second issue of Volume I, Benson Lossing writes the first of significantly numerous articles in which he devotes himself to the subject of education in one aspect or another. It is no less than a coincidence that he who had only the common-school elementary education should become a champion of a cause which greatly needed the interest and support of the people. Secondary Education had not yet become "popular." It was still for the select few who could afford to send their sons (and sometimes daughters) to the pr:vate academies (or seminaries for girls). The people in the towns, for the most part, were interested in the celebrities, or political movements, or a compelling speaker; "but they were not so avid for learning in any real sense."8 The common-school, while partially state-supported, was still struggling to secure a toe-hold in the district. "There is perhaps, no class of men of which the great bulk of society is composed, whose influence upon the human family is so extensively felt as that of schoolmasters . • ." So wrote Lossing, in an article in which he deplored the lack of praise and "emolument dealt out by an ungrateful world."9 At a time when the establishment of the common school was met with parental indifference and taxpayers' opposition, the editor of The Casket waged a continuous campaign to alert society to the importance of a basic elementary school education for all. Lossing pursued the need for competent, adequately paid teach-

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ers, and he urged the cooperation of all parents; those of the wealthy and independent class, and those of the poorer class. "Another important thing is the cooperation of the richer with the poorer classes in sustaining common schools. Let all the children of the district drink at one common fountain of knowledge at the commencement and much more respectability will be attached to the common school than at present."1°

The lack of "respectability" for common schools derived from the fact that parents were required to sign a "pauper's oath," swearing to inab'lity to pay tuition in order for the children to attend school, free of charge. This proviso had been incorporated into the law which had been passed in 1812 for the establishment of common-schools throughout New York State.11 The state legislature had provided for funds to be given to those villages which could match the grant. Many parents who were actually unable to pay any fees preferred to keep their children at home rather than sign the humiliating oath. Parents who were able to afford private schools preferred to send their children where they would not have to be in contact with the underprivileged. The democratic spirit prevailed more in the up-state regions, however, and free education did receive greater support earlier in the rural areas.

In Platt's History of Poughkeepsie, he writes that "Schools became the pride of the village and by 1841 they were at their height; but there were as yet no free schools."12 It is certainly of significance that prior to that date, between 1836 and 1838, Benson Lossing was penning essay after essay to place the value of education before the eyes and in the minds of his reading public. He was greatly concerned about the lethargy of the people, and in a lengthy essay which he captioned "Education"13 he queried: ". . . what is to be done? Shall we slumber in apathy, with the belief that education and all its attendant blessings are things of spontaneous growth, and that the intellectual soil needs no careful and laborious culture for its reception and sustenance? . . . we shall see the vast machinery of our government deranged for the want of a proper balance and corrector . . . Our common school system . . . needs vast improvement to make it effect its designed work . . . The defects may be speedily remedied by concerted public action."

The young editor possessed a clarity of vision surprising, perhaps, in one who was still to attain his twenty-fifth year. He looked beyond his time to anticipate the establishment of systems which he deemed of inestimable value. He suggested that the school system of Prussia "would operate beneficially on society here."14 By then, in that country, parents were obliged by law to send their children to school. And, just as he was an early advocate of compulsory education, so too was Lossing one of the first to express the advantages of the community libraries. "Let all in a neighborhood furnish, therefore, their whole stock of books be it great or small . . . by which scheme a large library might be formed for mutual benefit . . . We throw out this hint for the consideration of our country readers."15

The importance of reading did not receive less attention than any of the other aspects of education, and Lossing wrote extensively on this, a favorite subject. In pointing out its value he was concerned not only

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with the quantity of reading, but with quality. Indeed, he cautioned unprofitable reading as a "criminal waste of time." He advised further: "There is no employment more rational, more congenial to the taste, or more subservient to the moral worth of human intelligence than a practice of wholesome reading."16 At other times he wrote at length on such subjects as study'''. and "the might of the mind,"18 in which he pleaded with young people to apply themselves to books and "mental effort" for greater attainment.

To further point-up the foresight of Lossing, one can cite another piece of writing as notably significant. Seven years before the teachers of Dutchess County held their first meeting to organize, in 1843,19 he had writen an article in The Casket advocating that such a meeting take place. In a September issue in 1836, Lossing wrote of a scheduled con-ven-Con of teachers which was to have organized in Albany, but which had been neglected. He deemed this regretful and urged that the Call to meet be repeated, notwithstanding the difficulties involved in convening. ". . . In the meantime, we would suggest the propriety of calling a county-convention of teachers and those friendly to the cause of education, to be held at some period not very remote, and some place where a great number would probably attend."2°

He had written in his essay of the countless reasons for the need of such a convention. Lossing possessed an insight into the teachers' dilemma which could only have come from careful scrutiny and a close appraisal of the school situation. He spoke of the individuality of effort on the part of the teachers and the disrepute in which the profession was held because of these disparities. It seemed clear that in order to elevate the standard of education it was necessary for teachers to convene, ". . . for the purpose of an interchange of sentiment, and becoming acquainted with each other's views in relation to the promotion of the cause of education."2" Having pin-pointed the need earlier, Lossing must have read with considerable interest and some gratification that the Teachers' Convention of Dutchess County adopted as their first tenet, "That the office of the Teacher is entitled to respect."22

By that time Benson Lossing was deeply involved in writing American history, and his first book had been published. It almost seems that the historian-to-be tried to set down, in the two years that he edited The Casket a sampling of all the ideals with which he hoped man to become ennobled. He advised, taught, and suggested wisely on many subjects, but the one theme that recurred throughout was education. Nor did he seem ever to be without some new thought to add to what he had already written. He considered it important to keep people informed on the innovations and progress in the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind.23 In one of the later issues Lossing wrote enthusiastically of something else which had captured his interest. Alert to their prom:se for the future, he praised two books he predicted would start a novel trend in educational literature. In an article captioned "Juvenile Books," he wrote: ". . . and is written in a style to please the juvenile taste, and with a clearness in conveying ideas which cannot fail to interest, wh:le it awakens in children a spirit of inquiry into the

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mysteries of nature."24 The books in question were judged by Lossing to be valuable because they dealt with intellectual material in language simple enough for the children to grasp.25

Editorially, Lossing addressed himself frequently to parents directly, reminding them of their duty and responsibilities concerning the education of their families. In one issue he devoted space to a listing of points for parents to consider at the approach of the school's opening in September. 26 Included were the admonitions to send everyone to school who could be spared; books were to be bought willingly; children were to be taken to school when weather prohibited their walking; and among other things, parents were to be sure to provide an area for quiet study-time. Again, he urged that respect for the teacher must be taught by the parents. Inherent was his advocation of cooperation between teacher and parent, and thus did he stand as a proponent of P.T.A. long before its inception.

Interwoven through Lossing's varied discourses on Education was one aspect of learning to which he devoted considerable energy. Benson Lossing was an ardent champion of "female education," and he wrote numerous pieces on one phase or other of the subject. He saw so much potential in the "Female Mind" that he wrote an article on it, so entitled.27 He had great enthusiasm for the numerous academies which were beginning to open their doors to female students. Just a few years prior his early writings, the Dutchess County Academy had run an advertisement in which the trustees were pleased to announce that: c`. . . Mr. Fay, principal, has consented to receive under his tuition a class of young ladies to be taught the principles of Composition, Belles Lettres, Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy and Evidences of Christianity. The principal and the trustees believe that the public will be benefited and the institute be honored by such a measure.28

Benson Lossing threw his ardent support behind this bold experiment and continued to write enlightening essays. When the Poughkeepsie Female Academy °penal its doors :n 1836, he devoted many articles to keeping the publ:c informed of its aims and achievements.26 In his usual farsighted manner, he predicted the empty years which stretched before women who reach that "sober season of life . . . and for that, education should lay up its resources."30 He was keenly aware of the vital role of the woman in society and deplored the narrow view taken by many regarding the need for female education. Encouraged by the move "to uncha'n woman from the shackles of ignorance" he cautioned all that she must receive "knowledge so necessary to the wife and mother, to whose care is intrusted the infantile guidance and formation of character of the statesmen, who are hereafter to wield the destinies of this great Republic."31

In his endeavor to support education for women, Lossing was certainly one of the pioneers; since, despite the existence of the several academies for females which flourished in Dutchess County, New York State "was a laggard in promoting education for women."32 The first institute of higher learning did not open its doors until Elmira Female College was founded in 1855. Ten years later, Vassar College was

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opened in Poughkeepsie, the second college for women in New York State. It was with Vassar that Lossing was later to form a special attachment.

Through the countless articles written while he edited The Casket, young Lossing revealed his unfailing devotion to promoting the cause of education. Nor did this interest pale as time passed and he devoted himself to greater literary challenge. In succeeding years he spent his waking hours, primarily writing American history, but he remained alert to the needs of his community. It is not surprising that he was asked to serve as a member of the executive committee of Vassar College. In fact, Dr. Lossing33 was held in such esteem that in 1867 he was asked to write a memoir of the college and its founder, Matthew Vassar. In a special letter, directed to him by the secretary of the college, Mr. Cyrus Swan stated: . . . that Mr. Lossing . . . eminently qualified for such a labor • . . be requested to prepare in such form and style as his judgement, experience and taste, and the greatness of the enterprise may suggest, a history of the college and its founder.34

The issues of The Casket contain such a wealth of writing on such diverse subject matter that they serve to foreshadow the abundant harvest from Lossing's prolific pen. The writer, indefatigable in his efforts to promulgate noble ideals later wove the integrity of man's intellect and spirit into the basic facts of history and geography.35 In the light of his greater achievements, each of his earlier essays, by itself, dims in importance. The impact of all, however, is great, and one cannot read through them without feeling the strength of the spirit that guided his writing. Nor can one easily negate the probability of his positive influence during the time of his writing.

He wrote of himself: "My life has been one of activity, and I hope useful, and I trust I have added a mite to the treasury of knowledge which will in some degree benefit mankind."36 Lossing was actually able to realize some concept of his worth, for he did receive recognition in his own country and abroad.37 In all the acclaim which befell his literary achievements however, no stress has ever been placed on the individual contribution he made during the struggle to elevate public education to its rightful plane in society. Even in the very last issue which The Casket published, a small article of just six lines is reprinted; thus attesting to his driving concern for the people to act. "Education Statistics — New York City has 83 flourishing public schools with 17,000 pupils. Yet there are supposed to be near 20,000 children, between five and fifteen years of age, who do not, from neglect of parents and guardians, attend any school."38

So were his thoughts directed, and so did he wish to direct others. Perhaps it is not possible to measure the contributions of Benson J. Lossing to the growth of education; yard-sticks are not so easily applied. But it is possible to assess the man, and in terms of his own words to the people of his time; it can be said with certainty that he answered the call to the challenge. . . . I rejoice to see this subject (public education) brought clearly before the pubEc by a course of lectures, either oral or written, from

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the tongue or pen of some person more qualified than I . . . It is the subject of vast importance and calls loudly for a champion to defend it from the inroads of ignorance.39

ANNOTATIONS

1. Henry Noble MacCracken, Blithe Dutchess (New York, 1958), p. 331 2. The Poughkeepsie Casket, Volumes I and II (Poughkeepsie, Jan. 2, 1836—

Dec. 17, 1836 (and) April 21, 1838—April 6, 1839) Hereinafter all references to this work will be written as Casket 3. Americana; Library of Benson J. Lossing, a (New York, 1920) Preface (biographical notes) 4. MacCracken, P. 323 5. Ibid, P. 326 6. Edmund Platt, H:story of Poughkeepsie, (Poughkeepsie, 1905) P. 104 7. "Happiness," Casket (Jan. 2, 1836) I, 1, p. 4 8. MacCracken, p. 298 9. "Schoolmasters," Casket (Jan. 16, 1836) I, 2, p. 15 10. "Common Schools," op. cit. (Dec. 3, 1836) I, 25, p. 199 11. Ellis, Frost, Syrett, German, A Short History of New York State, (Ithaca, 1957), pp. 317-318 12. Platt, p. 145 13. "Education:" Casket (Oct. 6, 1838) II, 13, p. 103 14. "Connom Schools," loc. cit. 15. "Neighborhood Libraries," Op. cit. (Oct. 8, 1836) I. 21, p. 167 16. "Reading," Op. cit. (May 7, 1836) I, 10, p. 79 17. "Study," Op. cit. (Jan. 30, 1836) I, 3, p. 23 18. "The Might of Mind," Op. cit. (July 28, 1838) II, 8, p. 59 19. MacCracken, p. 284 20. "State Convention of Teachers," Casket (Sept. 24, 1836) I, 20, p. 159 21. Ibid 22. MacCracken, p. 283 23. "Deaf, Dumb and Blind:" Casket (May 21, 1836) I, 11, p. 87 24. "Juvenile Books," Op. cit. (March 23, 1839) II, 25, p. 199 25. cf. Jane Taylor, Physiology for Children; also "Uncle Davy," First Lesson in Christianity (American Common School Association, 1839) 26. "To Parents," Casket (Feb. 9, 1839) II, 22, p. 174 27. "The Female Mind," Op. cit. (Nov. 3, 1836) I, 23, p. 183 28. Poughkeepsie Journal, April 11, 1826, p. 3 29. "Poughkeepsie Female Academy," Casket (Oct. 22, 1836) I, 22, p. 175 30. "Education of Daughters," Op. cit. (June 16, 1838) II, 5, p. 35 31. "Female Education," Op. cit. (May 19, 183.) II, 3, p. 17 32. Ellis, Frost et al p. 324 33. Americana, Intro. — In 1855, Hamilton College conferred the degree of

A.M. on Benson Lossing, and the same degree was awarded him by Columbia College in 1870. In 1873, The University of Michigan conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. 34. Benson J. Lossing, Vassar College and Its Founder, (New York, 1867)

Preface 35. cf. Benson J. Loss:ng, The Hudson from the Wilderness to the Sea (New

York, 1866) 36. Americana, intro. 37. cf. Thompson Cooper, Men of the Time (London, 1875) Dictionary (of contemporaries) 38. Casket, (April 6, 1839) II, 26, p. 203 39. "Common Schools," loc. cit.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Americana; Library of Benson J. Lossing. New York: Anderson Auction Co., 1920 Buck, Clifford. Lossing Memorabilia (early editions, clippings, letters, recollections) : Personal Interview. Cooper, Thompson. Men of the Time. London: George Routledge Ellis, Frost, Syrett, Garman. A Short History of New York State. Ithaca:

Cornell University Press, 1957 Hasbrouck, Frank. History of Dutchess County, N. Y. Poughkeepsie: S. A.

Matthew, 1909 Lossing, Benson, J. The Hudson (from) the Wilderness to the Sea. New York:

Virtue and Yorston, 1866 Lossing. Benson, J. Vassar College and Its Founder. New York: C. A. Al-vord, 1867 MacCracken, Henry Noble. Blithe Dutchess. New York: Hastings House, 1958. Platt, Edmund. History of Poughkeepsie (1683-1905). Poughkeepsie: Platt and

Platt, 1905 Poughkeepsie Casket. Two Volumes. Poughkeepsie: Kelley and Lossing, 1836, 1838-39 Poughkeepsie Journal. (Volumes on Microfilm) Poughkeepsie: Paraclete Potter, 1826-1832 Smith, James H. History of Dutchess Co., N.Y. (1683-1882). Syracuse: D.Mason and Col, 1882.

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CHRIST CHURCH POUGHKEEPSIE 1766- 1966

Shirley L. Sartori*

In 1756 The Rev. Samuel Seabury of Hempstead, Long Island, described Dutchess County as "a country of a large extent, containing about 10,000 souls, with only one Dutch Minister, one Presbyterian or Independent Minister, and one Quaker's Meeting but that little attended . . ." In 1761 he further wrote ". . . the friends of Church, in common with their neighbors, having been very much scattered in their situation from one another, it is hard to come to a resolution with regard to the place to fix the Church on . . ."

On Christmas Day 1766 The Rev. John Beardsley did preach his first sermon in newly-formed Christ Church, but on looking back its first fifty years appear to be only a prelude to its real life. For two generations we see hopeful beginnings that ended in disappointment, and the most striking aspect to the modern mind is the length of time required to accomplish an undertaking.

It was five years from the time Mr. Beardsley first visited the scattered Anglican families in Dutchess County from Connecticut in 1762 until he was able to settle his wife and children here in the spring of 1767. It was another six years until the Church Charter was granted by King George III and signed by Governor William Tryon on March 9, 1773, and almost two more years until the church itself was built and consecrated on Christmas Day 1774.

Before the Revolution, Anglican ministers were sponsored in the colonies by The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which paid part of their support. In order to afford a minister, the people of Poughkeepsie had to join with people of Fishkill to supply a glebe or farm for his living, plus £,60 per year salary, and share his services and time.

Location of the glebe continued to be a problem until Mr. Beardsley himself chose Poughkeepsie. For many years there was litigation over land acquisition in Poughkeepsie, in addition to Fishkill's continuing fears that their rights had .not been adequately protected in the Charter. In spite of this, relations between the two parishes remained friendly and cooperation between them continued until 1810. Friendship and support from the Dutch community was also strong in the early years.

But enjoyment of the church was short-lived as war came closer and everything English came under suspicion. In July of 1776 services were stopped in the church and the building was closed for the duration of the war. Mr. Beardsley continued to live in the Glebe House but his outspoken Tory sympathies were intolerable to the Committee of Safety, and in December of 1777 he and his family were taken to New York and turned over to British authorities there. Many early

*Mrs. Herbert D. Sartori is a member sary celebration of the church. She is M.S. degree in Education from State the Hagan-Spackenkill School. of Christ Church and was active in the 200th annivera graduate of the University of Missouri, received an University, New Paltz, and is a 1st Grade teacher at

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supporters of the church lost property and wealth, even freedom, and many left the area. Others remained, held annual elections to the vestry in accordance with the Charter, and quietly watched over the church's property until the war ended in 1783.

As soon as peace was declared the congregation tried to engage Mr. Henry Van Dyck, of Stratford, Connecticut, as Rector and were joined by members of the Dutch and Presbyterian churches which had also suffered during the war. However, Mr. Van Dyck had not been ordained, and there were no Bishops in America to perform such ordinations.

This was a serious situation for the Episcopal Church in America and in 1874 the Rev. Samuel Seabury, son of the Missionary to Dutchess County, having been elected Bishop of Connecticut, sailed to England to seek consecraeon there. The English clergy were not willing to cooperate with him, so he proceeded to Scotland. In November 1784 he was consecrated by the Bishops of Scotland and returned to America the following summer. In 1786 the whole body of the Episcopal Church in America prepared an appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury that an Episcopate be established in the United States. Through the offices of John Adams, Minister to St. James at the time, agreement was reached and in 1787 and 1790 three B'shops were consecrated, thus assuring the English Succession in Amer:ca and laying the foundation for the young church in this country.

In the meantime, although Mr. Van Dyck had been ordained in 1785 by Bishop Seabury, the first Episcopal priest ordained in this country, personal difficulties detained him in Connecticut and Christ Church remained without a Rector until his eventual arrival in May 1787.

At this time, and for some time thereafter, the congregation had more spirit than money for their earlier prosperity had been badly shaken by the war. Although pews were built and rented in 1784, and a bell installed in 1789, the mortgage on the church itself was still outstanding and after Mr. Van Dyck's departure in 1791 the glebe and house were sold to satisfy it. The next two ministers, The Rev. George H. Speren and The Rev. John J. Syrs, remained only for brief periods; the salary was small and there was no house for their use.

In 1798 Trinity Church in New York gave help by turning over a mortgage on a New York property to Christ Church which eventually rearzed enough to purchase a house on the southeast corner of Cannon and Academy Streets in time for the arrival of The Rev. Philander Chase. This brilliant, erratic and enthusiastic man stayed five years before leaving precipitously for New Orleans. The next Rector, The Rev. Barzillai Bulkley, remained only three years and in 1809 the congrega;Con again appealed to Trinity in New York for assistance. Trinity responded with the promise of $250 per year for five years to help establish a good man in Poughkeepsie and the congregation was finally in a position to attract the kind of man it needed.

The coming of Dr. John Reed in 1810 began a period of firm and steady growth. For thirty-five years until his death in 1845 he was devoted to the parish and to the spiritual life within the Episcopal

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Church. As Poughkeepsie flourished, so did Christ Church. Its position as county seat and river town, as well as its close ties with New York City, brought people of vigor and imagination to Poughkeepsie, many of whom found their spiritual and intellectual home in Christ Church.

In 1828 Dr. Reed acquired for the church a tract of common land in the southeast part of the town, the present site of Christ Church, whrere he created "the English burying-ground," laying out burial plots and paths and planting trees and shrubs. By the 1830's the original church at Market and Church Streets was no longer adequate for its growing congregation. It was demolished, with difficulty because it had been so strongly built, to make way for a larger one constructed on the same site. At that time the old graves were moved from the churchyard to the burying ground where some of them still remain and others were of course added over the years, including that of Dr. Reed which is near the northwest corner of the lot.

During its lifetime the second church was the scene of three memorial services for national figures wherein the whole community participated. The first, a month after its consecration, was for General Lafayette in July 1834, the second in May 1841 for President William Henry Harrison, and the third in April 1865 for President Lincoln. In May 1861 it was the first building in town to fly the flag after the firing on Fort Sumter.

Among those newcomers attracted to Dr. Reed and Christ Church was a young lawyer named Homer Wheaton who proceeded to study for the ministry. He became assistant to Dr. Reed in his failing years and remained on as Rector after the latter's death until 1847. He was both scholarly and spiritual, worked diligently with the Sunday School started by Dr. Reed, and established the first church library.

He was succeeded by Dr. Samuel Bud who served from 1847 to 1866. Dr. Buel was a man of brilliant intellect but difficult manner who finally left pastoral work for teaching in theological seminary where he was eminently successful.

The next decade from 1866 to 1875 were in the care of Dr. Philander K. Cady, a man of charm and spiritual devotion who had been named for the earlier, exciting Philander Chase after the latter became Bishop of Ohio.

Through the generations Christ Church was a creative force in the life of Poughkeepsie, and many of its leading citizens were among her communicants. As early as 1812 several Christ Church communicants were the founders of St. James Parish in Hyde Park. In the 1830's a group of prominent businessmen calling themselves the Improvement Party, many of them Christ Church laymen, established Mansion Square and the adjoining streets as an area of fine homes, and formed the founding vestry of St. Paul's Church in 1835. In 1859, during the rectorate of Dr. Buel, The Church of the Holy Comforter was founded to meet the needs of people living near the river, an inconvenient distance from either Christ Church or St. Paul's. In 1871 clergy and laity of all three churches joined forces to establish Poughkeepsie's first hospital, St. Barnabas, which remained active until 1887 when Vassar

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Brothers Hospital was opened, after which the money in the fund was used to aid needy residents who were sick.

From 1845 to 1884 an elementary school was maintained by Christ Church for needy children and later two young ladies' seminaries, The Poughkeepsie Female Academy, 1859-1886, and Cottage Hill Seminary, 1860-1873, had close ties with the church although not sponsored by it.

Within the church itself throughout this time there had been an increased appreciation of music in the worship service and a gradual enrichment of vestments and liturgical furnishings reflecting the High Church movement in the Episcopal Church as a whole. Christ Church had traveled a long, strong road since the discouraged days at the beginning of the century.

The rectorate of Dr. Henry L. Ziegenfuss from 1875 to 1894 broke this parochial calm by the very power of his enthusiasm and devotion. The theology of the day was rocked by two disturbing elements: first the Higher Criticism of German scholars who were subjecting the Bible to the same critical analysis they applied to other early writings, and second Charles Darwin's Theory of Natural Evolution which challenged the Biblical story of Creation. Such was Dr. Ziegenfuss's scholarship that he was able to reconcile these ideas with a true belief in God and present to his parishioners a religious concept that was, to the younger ones at least, more vital and challenging than the earlier Puritanical and Fundamentalist beliefs. His enthusiasm was contagious and the parish took on a new air of vitality. In 1887 construction of a much larger church was begun in the southwest corner of the burial ground acquired in 1828. Much of the cost had been contributed by Mr. Albert Tower, a parishioner of great wealth, and he had promised to make up whatever amount remained that the church could not supply. Before he could make good his promise he died suddenly, leaving the church with a large debt in addition to the increased costs of maintaining a more expensive building. Shortly thereafter, in 1894, Dr. Ziegenfuss died, leaving his church its legacy of anxiety.

The Rev. Samuel A. Weikert became Rector until 1900 but not until the church received a bequest of $10,000 in 1899 was any real progress made in reducing the debt.

In December of 1900 there came a man particularly suited to meet the needs of the church, just as a century earlier Dr. Reed had met the particular needs of the church at that time. Dr. Alexander Griswold Cummins was a man of great executive and organizational ability and he set about the church's affairs in a manner that revitalized his parishioners. Establishing the principal of endowment funds, he put the church's finances on a firm foundation and in 1903 the rectory, another gift of the Tower family, and the cloister, which was paid for by the church, were constructed. In the 1920's a building for Sunday School classes and community hall were added. For forty-five years Dr. Cummins inspired great devotion in his parishioners and served them with equal devotion. Throughout his ministry Dr. Cummins published the Christ Church Chronicle which soon reached far beyond the parish and

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became the voice of liberal, Low Church theology in the first half of the twentieth century.

Since the death of Dr. Cummins the church has moved away from its Low Church position under the directions of Dr. James A. Pike from 1947-1949, Dr. Robert E. Terwilliger from 1949 to 1961, and Dr. R. Rhys Williams from 1961 to the present. Once again the church is reassessing its teachings in relation to new forces in the world. Words written in 1910 by Helen Wilkinson Reynolds in The Records of Christ Church might well have been written today: "Today, it finds itself in the midst of changes taking place at large and locally, and, alive to its duties and its privileges, is doing all that in it lies to adapt itself to its environment . . . to transcend sectarianism, to deliver a vital message, and to 'act in the living Present,' is the standard the parish has set for itself."

In this spirit Christ Church observed its Bicentennial throughout 1966 with a backward and a forward look. On April 24th a Service of Christian Unity was held with First Presbyterian Church, Trinity Methodist Church, First Congregational Church and delegates from other Poughkeepsie churches. On June 2nd the public was invited to a recital dedicating the newly installed organ to the memory of Dr. Cummins.

At Sunday morning service on October 16th the congregation was divided into six groups led by young guides to look closely at stainedglass windows, memorials, plaques and gifts which reflect the devotion of earlier generations. The original Charter and Seal, which are on permanent loan to the New York Historical Society in New York City, were brought home for the occasion and displayed. The following Sunday models and charts were displayed projecting Poughkeepsie's growth, Christ Church as an inner-city parish, and goals for the future.

On November 29th clergymen and representatives of all religious groups and colleges in Poughkeepsie, city and town officials, former clergy of the church and friends from a wide area attended the 200th Anniversary Dinner. Finally on Christmas morning a Service of Thanksgiving commemorated that first service held on Christmas Day 1766.

This article has necessarily omitted accounts of laymen. The two volumes of the above-mentioned The Records of Christ Church present an unusually detailed history of the church since its earliest days. An accumulated pile of records, long desregarded, were salvaged by Dr. Cummins and turned over to Helen -Wilkinson Reynolds. Her first, narrative, volume was published in 1910 as part of the celebration of Dr. Cummins' tenth anniversary here. The second volume, published in 1919, includes lists of individual births, deaths, marriages and other church records.

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ADRIANCE MEMORIAL LIBRARY 125 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

Arnold P. Sable*

"I believe most honestly that we have here placed in our grasp a mighty power for good, for books influence the popular mind more than we stop to realize."

So proclaimed Mayor Hull of Poughkeepsie in October 1898 at ceremonies marking the completion and opening of the new public library building at 93 Market Street. The French Renaissance structure, erected at a cost of $66,134.62 — probably costing well over one million dollars if duplicated today — was one of the numerous gestures made during the Age of Philanthropy in the United States in the wake of the amassment of fortunes after the Civil War.

It was a gesture that would be almost unthinkable today in our era of high taxation, government subsidies, and of demands made on le:sure time by the mass media. It was a noble gesture. The five Adriance brothers, in memory of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. John P. Adriance, had given the building to the City of Poughkeepsie. The public library stood for human betterment; books were to exert their good influences upon every citizen. Haying good books available for the free use of all the community's inhabitants was a sure sign that man could be bettered, that Progress was good, and that one's life could be improved.

This is the story of the Adriance Memorial Library, the public library of Poughkeepsie, whose beginnings go back to 1841, a library whose growth mirrored the changing tastes and attitudes of our country. This is also the story of the celebration the library undertook in 1966, during the Era of Publicity, to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

Collections of books available to citizens of the community have been a tradition of long standing in Poughkeepsie. As far back as the 1790's a privately owned "library" was in existence at the Dutchess County Academy which stood on the corner of Academy and Cannon Streets. In the early nineteenth century Poughkeepsieans had access to other short-lived book collections: in subscription libraries where readers paid a membership fee in order to obtain access to the books; and at booksellers, such as Paraclete Potter, who rented books to the community. The formation of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum of Literature, Science, and Mechanical Arts in 1838, through the union of the Mechanic's Association and the Lyceum of Natural Science, brought still another book collection to the community.

All these activities helped prepare the way for the early establishment of a public library in Poughkeepsie supported by tax funds, earlier than nearly every community in the United States. Some localities did boast libraries of long standing, but these libraries, although

*Arnold P. Sable, a member of the Dutchess County Historical Society, is Director and Secretary of Adriance Memorial Library.

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public, were subscription (or "association") libraries and were maintained by private membership, some well into the Twentieth Century, be Tore their municipality took over and provided tax support.

Library tax support in Poughkeepsie came via the New York State Act of April 17, 1838, stipulating that certain monies of the United States, deposited with the State,'were to be spent for education. Under this Act $1,315.00 was allocated in 1839 to the Lancaster School in Poughkeepsie, a rickety, anemic school on the verge of closing. The Lancaster School used the money mostly for operating expenses, managing to keep its doors open until 1843. But a small sum was set aside for the purchase of books. Their availability was announced in the Poughkeepsie Telegraph, February 3, 1841:

The trustees of the Lancaster School give notice that their

LIBRARY, consisting of 680 Volumes, will be opened for the use of the inhabitants of the Village of Poughkeepsie, subject to the

REGULATIONS, concerning the use of Books in District Libraries, prescribed by the Superintendent of Common Schools, at the store of the Librarian, Stephen H. Bogardus, south side of

Main-street, on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays from 1 o'clock to 8 o'clock P.M. January 19th 1841.

This opening date, January 19, 1841, was officially adopted by the Adriance Memorial Library Board of Trustees on January 10, 1938, upon the advice of Miss Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, local historian and library trustee, as the city library's founding date. It established the Poughkeepsie library as the oldest tax-supported public library in New York State and the third oldest in the country, following Peerborough, New Hampshire (1833) and Arlington, Massachusetts (1837), the earliest tax-supported public libraries.

The fact that the Lancaster collection was being housed in a saddler's shop at 336 Main Street, or that Stephen H. Bogardus, the saddler, was its "librarian," did not seem to disturb the good citizenry. The books continued to be housed amidst saddle leather and the hamrr.er:ng of nails until 1843, 1,71fl 'ft free public schools were established. The new Board of Education took the Lancaster School under its wing, and the library collection became part of the school system. The books were removed to a room of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum, Union and Little Washington Streets.

Eleven years later, in 1854, the City of Poughkeepsie was chartered, giving recognition to the Board of Education as the custodian of the library which "shall hereafter be known as the city library of Poughkeepsie." In 1852 the library was moved to the "Library Building" on Main Street across from the present City Hall, in quarters measuring 35 by 40 feet and leased for $150.00 a year. By this time, the collection numbered 4,000 books.

The library was again moved in 1862 to the first floor of the Court House, to two rooms which had once been the county jail. When the c ty erected a building on Washington Street and Lafayette Place (1872), the library was assigned to the first floor and the High School to the second. Here it remained until 1898 when the 23,000 books then in the collection were moved for the last time to the present build-

6 4-

ing at 93 Market Street. None of the other buildings which once housed the library is still standing.

The Adriance family, whose name is inextricably associated with the library, were prominent Poughkeepsie manufacturers of the famous "Buckeye" mowers sold around the country and abroad. Active in civic affairs in the community, in 1898 the children of Mr. and Mrs. John P. Adriance, as a memorial to them, gave the present building to the city. In 1900 the city charter was amended and a separate Board of Library Trustees created. The marble building opened its doors with a collection of 24,000 volumes.

The finest architectural embellishments went into the creation of the Adriance Memorial Library French Renaissance building. White marble, brought from Adams, Massachusetts, was used for the exterior, while variegated and Tennessee marble adorned the hall and portico. Painstaking craftsmen, typical of the period, helped erect the quartered oak woodwork and the carvings of painted plaster. It fell to Charles Frederick Rose, of 1 Madison Avenue, New York, to draw up the architectural plans. Mr. Rose was no stranger to Poughkeepsie, having lived there from 1870 to 1882 with an office at 333 Main Street from 1879 to 1882, across the street from where the city library was originally housed.

The Poughkeepsie reading community continued their active demands upon the library. In 1923 a four-story addition was built in the rear to house the Children's Room and the three floors of stacks. These twenty-five years had seen the City grow from 24,000 population to about 37,000, and the library to 62,000 books. It was a time when John E. Adriance, then President of the Board of Trustees, would say with confidence: "Every public library is a permanent continuation school fostering Americanism and true democracy in the community."

With this long, rich background of service, and with the intent to =Ind the community of the past and present activities of Poughkeepsie's public library, in December 1965 a "lay committee" met to make plans for celebrating the 125th anniversary. Chairman of the committee was Mrs. Charles A. Butts, Vice President of the Board of Trustees. Other members included: Richard A. Dwelley, Vice President and General Manager of WKIP ; William F. Gekle, Advertising Director, Luckey, Platt, and Company; Edwin H. Rozell, Editorial Director, Poughkeefisie Journal; Mrs. Amy VerNooy, local historian and former Head of Local History, Adriance Memorial Library, Arnold P. Sable, library director; and John P. Adriance, President, Board of Trustees. It was agreed to extend the celebration throughout 1966, and thus was created the library's "Anniversary Year." Special activities during the year were developed to draw attention to the uniqeness of the Poughkeepsie Library.

The Anniversary Year Committee chose January 23, 1966, for an Open House following the example set by the library in 1941, when an Open House commemorating the 100th anniversary was held in January. This would be the opening of year-long observances. The library staff prepared two exhibits of old photographs from its Local History Collection: "Two Bridges, Two Eras," illustrating the con-

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struction of the railroad bridge and the Mid-Hudscn vehicular bridge; and "We Gather Together," views of groups of Poughkeepsieans taken at different eras. A collection of congratulatory letters and telegrams, and an exhibit of artifacts made in Poughkeepsie were also featured highlights for that Sunday afternoon to which the public was invited. Unfortunately, the weather refused to cooperate, and January 23 to 30 saw the biggest blizzards of the season! "Education For An Urbanizing Society" was the title of a Symposium held on May 9 at the YWCA, co-sponsored by the library and the Dutchess County Library Association. The Symposium, chaired by the nationally known author, Richard Rovere, drew an enthusiastic audience who kept the panelists late with questions. Participating in the panel were: Dr. Florence H. Gottdiener, obstetrician and gynecologist; Dr. Edna Macmahon, Professor of Economics, Vassar College; Dr. Jack Patton, Associate Professor of Psychology, Dutchess Community College; and Haig Shekerjian, children's author and illustrator.

The Creative Dramatics Classes from the library produced the next Anniversary Year event. Mrs. Irene Cullinane, former children's librarian, directed a pageant describing a child's view of Poughkeepsie history, held at Our Lady of Lourdes' auditorium on May 21. Children from the Creative Dramatics Classes, which were directed by Mrs. Cullinane as part of the library's service to children, wrote and acted in the delightful "reworking" of local history; "How Poughkeepsie Grew And Grew."

Item: When Abraham Lincoln visited Poughkeepsie and his throat had a tickle while he made a speech, what did the good citizens of Poughkeepsie offer him in his moment of distress? Nothing but a good, old-fashioned Smith Brothers cough drop, of course! So did Poughkeepsie children in 1966 play imaginatively with history.

A Public Book Sale, the second since the successful one in 1964, was held on Saturday, September 17, from 9 to 5 p.m. A total of 10,800 books — discards and duplicates — were sold for 10 cents per volume, enabling the library to raise funds to be used towards the purchase of a Children's Traveling Library (popularly known as the "Story Bus"). An estimated 3,000 persons attended the all-day sale. The library expects to hold its increasingly popular book sales every two years.

The Anniversary Year Committee worked hardest on developing possibly one of the most effective examples of publicity ever to be produced by a public library. The sound slide documentary, "A Library In History," was the end result. Completed in October, with a splendid script by William F. Gekle, the slide talk in its first seven months had been seen by over 7,400 adults and school children at 68 different showings. The photographer responsible for the superb collection of slides was James Casazza, Staff Photographer, IBM. The slide talk was narrated by John J. Kuhn, Program Director of WKIP and produced and directed through the indefatigable efforts of Richard A. Dwelley. This splendid effort was a tribute to the talent of these creative individuals.

Around Christmas time the big sign over the library's front

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entrance came down. For twelve months it had stood fast through the ravages of snow, rain, sun and snowballs pelted by mischievous youth: "One Hundred And Twenty-Five Years of Public Library Service." The Anniversary Year was over. The sign was taken to the library's south basement where it would await another day, another use. The regular day-to-day business of the library would continue in this place "where people and ideas may come together." The Adriance Memorial Library could look forward to its next 125 years with confidence and pride.

Thomas Whalen III, a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes High School and a shelver at the library, would write in 1966 about Poughkeepsie's library these words printed in the "Keepsake Of The 125th Anniversary Year":

A candlestick to hold before men's eyes,

A light that shines more brightly every year,

A golden setting burnished with nigh a dozen dozen years

Of use and life: that is what our library is.

Its glory is not the fine furled flourishes of leaf and pillar

Nor even the time-hallowed stone that lies beneath.

No, it is the light that sheds its benison afar

And spares a gleam to light its setting.

Our glory is illumined by the light we hold —

The greatest treasure that we have because it holds them all

And shows the way to others yet unseen.

Our history shows the power of the light that has not died for twice two thousand years,

Which follows thinking men wherever they go.

And so our goal in years to come will only be

To hold the light more high before men's eyes

And let its brightness grow with mankind's growth;

To spark the future as well as guard the past.

Thus do we strive, and thus we serve, we bearers of the light, As treasure-trove of time-dimmed past, and guide to futures bright.

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THE WEST MOUNTAIN MISSION*

John Tartaro grew up in the town of Pawling and knew, perhaps better than any other person, the story of the West Mountain Mission. He has set down his reminiscences in a delightful account of the days when the mission was needed and when it flourished.

Under the patronage of the Episcopal Church in Dutchess County the mission was started in 1892, when Albert C. Burdick came to the area and undertook to create a school and recreation center for the families of a neglected spot in the county.

Beginning in a small, rented house, Mr. Burdick made friends and conducted his school. With hard work and the united efforts of many volunteer helpers, he constructed his Neighborhood House (des'gned by Stanford White), with its school room and chapel. He welcomed the assistance of anyone who offered time, money, talent or abilit:es in any line. He organized regular school classes for the children and arranged for help and instruction in sewing, cooking, housekeeping and gardening for the women. In the evenings it was the custom for the older people to gather for playing games, singing, dancing, theatricals, lectures or for religious services.

Mr. Burdick conducted the simple religious services in Neighborhood House and at Dover Plains and other nearby villages. He played the organ for a Methodist congregation at Poughquag for many years and was available for services and help at any time.

The neighbors, rich and poor, were generous in their contributions. The summer people of Quaker Hill and Pawling and the year-round residents all helped the mission. They arranged fairs, concerts, card parties, art exhibits and various other benefits. The well known artists of the area, Benjamin West Clinedinst, Walter C. Hartson, Alfred Klotz, F. Luis Mora, George Laurence Nelson, George Glenn Newell and Arthur J. Powell, among others, loaned their paintings and some of them gave instruction in drawing and painting to the classes. Mrs. Carl Akeley, Dr. Angelo Patri and Lowell Thomas were some of the noted speakers on occasion.

The book is a tribute to the memory of Albert C. Burdick who spent most of h's life as director of the missionary effort. For many years he supplied the vital force and was the untiring mainstay of the mission. Between the lines the reader will find that Mr. Tartaro, the author of the little book, had no small part in everything that occurred at the mission and was a dependable supporter of all of its' activities.

It is good to have this record of an institution which influenced the lives of many persons in its neighborhod. In another generation, due to the rap'd economic changes in the county, all remembrance of a successful social experience could otherwise be lost.

AMY VER NOOY

"The Mission, a story of Pawling and the bygone days, is the title of a small book, written by John Tartaro of Pawling, and published in 1966, $1.00.

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