The Cook Mills A Century Old

five belonging or in any wise appertaining Unto the said GERRIT VAN BENTHUYSEN and to his heirs and assigns forever so that the said GERRIT VAN BENTHUYSEN or his heirs and assigns shall and may from time to time and att all times hereafter by force & virtue of these presents lawfully and peaceably have hold use possess and Enjoy the said granted and bargained premisses in manner as aforesaid so that they the said Barent Van Benthuysen Peiter Van Benthuysen and Abraham Van Benthuysen for themselfs their Heirs Executors and administrators or any under them doth Covenant and Ingage the above demised or granted Premisses unto the said GERRIT VAN BENTHUYSEN and to his heirs and assigns forever IN WITNESS whereof the to this present have hereunto sett their hands and seals the day and year first above written. SIGNED SEALED & DELIVERED in the Presence off-ZACHARIAS HOFFMAN-MARTIN HOFFMAN BE IT REMEMBERED that on the twentieth day of April one thousand seven hundred eighty four before me ANTHONY HOFFMAN Esquire one of the judges of the inferior Court oc Common pleas for Dutchess County personally appeared ZACHARIAS HOFFMAN one of the Witnesses to the within written Instrument who being duly sworn on his Oath declared that he saw BARENT VAN BENTHUYSEN-PIETER VAN BENTHUYSEN-JACOB VAN BENTHUYSEN and ABRAM VAN BENTHUYSEN seal and deliver the same as their voluntary act and Deed for the uses and purposes therein mentioned and that he also saw MARTIN HOFFMAN the other Witnesses thereto and that he the Deponent also subscribed his as a Witness and I having perused the same and finding no material razures or interlineations therein do allow the same to be recorded - - -

Anth. HOFFMAN

Dutchess County ss: A True Copy Examined & Compared with the Original Deed and Map the Twenty Eighth day of August anno 1786 - - -

P. Henry Livingston Clerk

JACOB (LS) VAN BENTHUYSEN BARENT VAN BENTHUYSEN (LS)

ABRAM VAN (LS) BENTHUYSEN PEITER VAN BENTHUYSEN (LS)

Readers may be interested to know that further ecological information may be found in a monograph titled, Hudson River East Bank Natural Areas, Clermont to Norrie, by Erik Kiviat, published 1978 by The Nature Conservancy. Copies are available at cost plus postage ($4.60) from Hudson River Heritage, Inc., Box 287, Rhinebeck, N.Y. 12572.

"Well, Tom," said a blacksmith to his apprentice, "you have been with me now three months and have seen the different points in our trade; I wish to give you your choice of work for a while. What part of the business do you like best?" "Shuttin° up shop and goin' to dinner."

Conversing a short time ago with our respected fellow townsman, Geo. H. Ellsworth, Esq., of Madalin, about the great improvements made in the working of iron within the time that he can remember, I learned so many items of interest that I have thought it would be interesting to your readers and useful to give permanence to the record. The family show the result of hereditary for the father of my informant (Henry Ellsworth), was also a son of Vulcan, and the third generation are now carrying on the flourishing blacksmithing business located in the village. The shop of Henry Ellsworth was located near to the entrance of the avenue leading to the river seat of the late Chancellor Livingston, and to Mr. Ellsworth's skill and ingenuity was intrusted the making of the iron work for the thousand and one things with which the Chancellor experimented in the improvement of his estate. Although Mr. Ellsworth has practically retired from the business, having by his industry and economy secured a handsome competence, yet such is the force of habit he still takes a lively interest in seeing the sparks fly from the molten iron and looking into the weird fire of the forge. He says when he commenced life the rule was to serve an apprenticeship of seven years, and after that it was the custom to work as a journeyman for two or three years before setting up in business for oneself. As an instance of the fashionable economy of that day, he says it was the custom in the summer for all boys, and for that matter most men, to wear, instead of shoes, their bare feet, and he remembers, many a time assisting his father as striker at the anvil, when the red hot cinders from the iron falling on his bare feet made him dance to a livelier tune and with a greater earnestness than is ever seen in a ballroom. Now French calf garters are in fashion for the shop. In his father's day charcoal was largely used on the forge, pea or Liverpool coal coming in use generally much later, and if charcoal could not be easily procured, it was burned or made at the shop. The best of charcoal in that day, that which had the diamond in it, could be bought for 6 cents per bushel, and its use made the old fashioned blacksmith shop visible at night for long distances, by the column of sparks that ascended from the chimney. The rule was to work at night until 9 o'clock, from the 20th of September to the 20th of March. Horseshoes were made from tough iron bars split by cutters into thirds and then welded from both sides and made into shape, such shoes wearing almost as thin as a knife blade without breaking; now the bars are bought of the right size for making the shoes, or the shoes are bought ready made with the nails to put them on. Then the nails were